So this is the first REAL episode with Pacey Poof back and all totally reconstituted and looking dreamily handsome in the way only he can. Now the show can get back to being awesome! Yeah!
Maybe not. So. Fast.
As the great American counter-culture poet e.e. cummings (that's how the man liked it written) once wrote:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
And that is essentially how I view this back and forth relationship between Peter and Olivia. Once upon a time, Olivia was trapped in another universe whilst Peter sluttied it up with a version of her, who also fell for him but was different. And Olivia and Peter both agreed that he should have known the difference because love transcends time and space.
So now the writers have flipped the switch and it is Peter who is fully aware and Olivia who is clueless about her feelings. Shouldn't her love for him transcend time, space, realms, and reality too? Shouldn't her love for him be an immediate attraction, much like the two cylons in BSG (I will try not to spoil this for those who intend on watching some day) who could not be kept apart? Or the individuals in DOLLHOUSE who had an attraction to each other that trumped the technology, so that even when they weren't aware of it, they were simply drawn to each other as if perfectly tuned to magnetically attract.
If I am to be sold on this great love between Peter and Olivia, shouldn't there be a fuckin' electric charge going off inside both their naughty parts the second they see each other? Seriously, I don't need them to get together anytime soon. But give me a break here, writers. Don't try to sell me on Olivia, a trained and very intelligent field agent who sees very strange things all the time, NOT BEING IMMEDIATELY AWARE OF THE OBVIOUS! That she is Pacey Poof's dearest love, and he is hers.
Instead the writers are going to try to make us believe that Olivia has to discover this and then somehow fall in love with him again while (most likely) developing feelings for her partner and eventually falling for him.
Now, I am no shipper. In fact, I like to hunt shippers like they are demons and I am Dean Winchester. I like to kill them, then piss into their eye sockets, and then shit in their mouths while eating a burger and drinking beer. So this isn't about some shippery need for those two kids to be together. In fact, I would have done even worse things to keep them apart. I would have had her happily married when the 4th season started... with kids! Yeah, with fuckin' kids. And she would have thought her life was perfect and then... oh shit, she would take one look at Peter and her entire universe would cave the fuck in.
GO!
But no. That won't happen. Oh well.
As for the episode, it was good. The stuff between Pacey Poof and Walter was good. Walter's inability to allow himself to feel happiness is something I can buy. It is within character. Peter kind of having some fun with what he knows and how others don't know him, while also feeling the frustration of what that would be like, is believable. Though, there are definitely some logic problems with the way he is being treated, but I will let others dissect those.
I also liked the case-of-the-week, mostly because much of its weight was handed to a capable actor who was able to deal with the various emotions the character should go through. Granted, the end of the story was way too predictable and you would think these professionals would make sure that any survivor of an attack by a fuckin' shape-shifter would be secured by ten 250lbs super agents.
My major issue is the Peter and Olivia one and only because I think it could become even more lame than Jackson said he thought it was prior to the end of season 4. Sure, the writers may impress us down the line but I don't feel any great weight to the relationship right now.
My second biggest worry is that the Peter existing in this world issue will be swept under the rug for 10 episodes, or more, instead of dealing with it head-on and diving into a solid narrative for the whole season without the need for these cases-of-the-week.
If I had to rate this episode, I would give it:
88.44 out of 100.
The imprisoned Peter factor was enjoyable and the case-of-the-week was executed well. Walter's inability to allow himself to be happy was a nice touch. But the the Peter and Olivia issue wasn't as thrilling as it should have been and that brings the episode down for me. And yeah, since you know someone is going to comment on it, I know the name of the episode is "Novation." Figure it out on your own.