Month of Awesome Women: Astrid Farnsworth (Fringe)

[such_heights]

"I've been taking computers apart since I was like, six."

Astrid Farnsworth



Astrid Farnsworth, the criminally under-used Junior FBI agent and computers and linguistics genius. She's smart, funny, capable, patient and hugely underappreciated by the show.

In many ways she is the everywoman of the show at this point, as she's not directly caught up in all of the weirdness. I get the impression that she might actually look forward to going home at the end of the day and maybe even stand half a chance at thinking about something else for a while. She's endlessly good to Walter which is always impressive, and she never asks for the recognition that she totally deserves. Instead, she works and works away at problems until she solves them with her awesome brain power, whether she's applying it to mathematics or Latin (nnngh).

However, it is my personal canon that this is partly made up for because when she goes home at the end of the day there is this awesome girlfriend waiting for her who doesn't particularly care about her job and just wants to snuggle on the sofa and eat ice cream and watch movies. Right? Right. On tumblr, musesfool suggested this could be Veronica Mars.

ASTRIIID. I LOVE YOU. HAVE MORE TO DO IN THE COMING EPISODES.

---

I don't have a fanwork rec for Astrid! Sadface! Please rectify in the comments if you have links to hand. I do however recommend Jasika Nicole's tumblr, sugar booty, where she posts art and answers fan questions and talks about queer activism sometimes and in general is amazing.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

♥ ♥ ♥

[were_duck]

ASTRID! I love her so much! OMG Fringe is back on my TV this week yaaaay!

I really enjoyed this alt!Astrid-centric Yuletide fic from this year, everything in its right place written by vnilla.

[aoftheis]

ASTRID! ♥ ♥ ♥

Also, for a fanwork -- I love the fic were_duck mentioned, and Help Wanted is also lovely. :)

[musesfool]

The Art of Fugue was another really good Astrid story from yuletide.

♥

[miarrow]

YOU KNOW IT.

I've basically said all I have to say on Astrid in that meme I haven't finished for fear of accidentally rewatching all of LotS which I could have done by now:

I love her and Walter’s relationship, it’s sweet and tender and funny, but I want to see what Astrid herself gets up to (and beret wearing Altstrid as well). She’s Walter’s assistant/handler and really puts herself into the job a lot more than someone else might. She’s patient with Walter, but not afraid to put her foot down on certain things. Astrid is clearly smart and usually the go-to gal for computer related research, but she also is getting her hands dirtier and dirtier with some of Walter’s more … unusual experiments.

My biggest wish is to see an entire episode in Astrid’s Point of View, with the main plot being sort of the in the background, so we can get a deep look into her head and see what her life is actually like, but I’d settle for her having more interaction with Olivia.

[st_aurafina]

(Ooh, the 'share' button on AO3 is a bit awesome!)

This is Astrid and Alternate!Astrid, and an exploration of their different non-neurotypicalities, via higher mathematics.

Private Universe (2396 words) by lilacsigil

(Full disclosure: this was written by my partner.)

[futuransky]

I love Astrid! And I just yesterday discovered how TRULY AMAZING Jasika Nicole is. Now I sort of want to find out where she lives and follow her around.

In conclusion, ASTRID ASTRID ASTRID. And fanworks links in the comments for me to read, \o/

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

1) Love Astrid so much and yes she is crimminal underused. I love the few epoisodes we get where there is her and Walter bonding time.

2) I LOVE your personal canon. May I adopt it too?

3) I was going to rec you "Help Wanted" but someone got there first!

[rheanna]

YAY ASTRID YAY. I agree with this post 100%!

[rhivolution]

Thanks for the tumblr link--her art is fab!

[gorgeousnerd]

This was excellently timed; I strongly suspected I was going to get an ebook reader for my birthday, and I picked out the name Astrid for it months ago! And I got Fringe on Blu-Ray! And OMG NEW FRINGE TONIGHT YAY

*bookmarking this for the recs in the comments*

[lorax]

I keep waiting for an Astrid-centric episode as I catch up on Fringe, and am left wanting.

On the other hand, I like the idea of Veronica Mars waiting for her at home more than whatever the show would show us probably, anyway. Heh.

[beccatoria]

ASTRID. Honestly, I love her with everyone. She even makes Peter likeable. I was just so flappy when Walter went to HER with the revelation that Bell had left him a controlling interest in Massive Dynamic. She always has these amazingly touching little moments but the show just...doesn't capitalise on them. It's frustrating. I wish they'd give her more time with Olivia too - I'm sure they would have a friendship that would break my heart just as much as her and Walter.

REC:

Spare is a post-ep for 3x09 by chaila43.

[such_heights]

Awesome, thank you! :D

[such_heights]

Astriiiid! :D

[such_heights]

Oh brilliant, thanks!

[such_heights]

I clearly missed out by not getting to the Fringe section this year, thanks!

[such_heights]

Yes, yay that is a perfect summary. <333

[such_heights]

Oh, that sounds brilliant, thank you! :D

[such_heights]

I know, isn't she fabulous? I totally second you in your sentiments!

[such_heights]

ASTRIIIID, in short!

[such_heights]

\o/!

[such_heights]

It's so great! I'm always happy when she updates.

[such_heights]

Yaaay, excitement all round! :D OMG NEW FRINGE.

[such_heights]

Right? I keep hoping, but with less and less expectation. :(

[such_heights]

Yes, that was a really fantastic scene between her and Walter, I love how much he trusts her.

And ooh, how had I missed that fic, thanks!

[hibernate]

I love Astrid! Sometimes I get wrapped up in how brilliant Olivia is, because she's such a central part of the show, but Astrid is amazing too and I do wish we got to see more of her. She and Olivia should be BFFs, yes.

Full disclosure: this fic was written for me in a ficathon, but I LOVE IT SO MUCH. when we’ve been here a thousand years by blahnicity (Astrid/Olivia)

(Um, hi. I'm new.)