ikkokusenkin
02-19-2011, 09:35 AM
For me, Walter has slowly proved his mettle over the past few episodes. For example, we saw two episodes ago how he let go of Peter when the Observer convinced him that he would have to choose between saving Peter and saving 'the girl.' In this episode, he doesn't refuse to give Broyles the controls to the Amber-dispersing contraption even though Peter and Olivia are up in the apartment. You can see that he's hesitant but he does it nevertheless. Then there's the fact that he helped with developing the Amber in the first place and then strongly recommended it be used. I think Walter is shaping up to be an excellent rival to Walternate with the redeeming quality that he still thinks about the effects of his actions (e.g. his introspection that he is becoming too much like Walternate.) On the other hand, I think Walter is also learning to appreciate Walternate's choices and the reasons behind them a bit more now.
The only wrinkle is that he might use Walternate's choices as a crutch to justify the same choices on our side (because he assumes that Walternate has already thought of all the other options that he can possibly think of and then discarded them in favor of what he actually did). For example, he quickly jumps to the Amber as the only possible solution and is slightly reluctant to consider Olivia's theories about emotions causing the rift. This might mean that Walter can miss some good, potentially more benign solutions to problems?
The only wrinkle is that he might use Walternate's choices as a crutch to justify the same choices on our side (because he assumes that Walternate has already thought of all the other options that he can possibly think of and then discarded them in favor of what he actually did). For example, he quickly jumps to the Amber as the only possible solution and is slightly reluctant to consider Olivia's theories about emotions causing the rift. This might mean that Walter can miss some good, potentially more benign solutions to problems?