Archives for August 2013

Season 1, Episode 22: “Family Ties”
***** out of *****

“You want the leviathan, the leviathan gunship-offspring, the other escaped prisoners, the defector Aeryn Sun, and especially you want the one called Crichton. Well, I want my freedom. Interested?”

So we’re at the first season finale. The crew struggles for a way to escape from Scorpius with both Moya and her baby unharmed. Rygel and Crais try to defect. Crais succeeds and runs off with the baby while Moya starbursts away and Crichton, D’Argo, and Aeryn are stranded.

This is really the best episode so far, but it couldn’t BE the best without so much that’s come before it. Everyone is pressed into a corner here and making extreme choices[1] because they’re out of options. Yet without earlier episodes, we wouldn’t be nearly so engaged in the situation. As it is, I can still remember when it first aired; after the episode ended I immediately told a friend and fellow fan and said, “Watch the finale NOW!”

Despite it being the last episode of the season, the episode has a number of Farscape firsts: It’s the first mention of Aeryn’s mother, as well as her and her father’s choice to have her. It’s the first time Crichton has caused mass destruction. It’s the first mention of Scorpius being a Scarran half-breed. [2] On the other end of the spectrum, it’s the last time we see John’s dad’s ring.

It’s arguable that Crais gets more development in this episode than he has to date. His seeking asylum aboard Moya is a great ironic twist. Things have come a long way since episode one. After a season-long chase, Crichton and Crais have their confrontation not a showdown, not in a battle, not a gunfight, but in a quiet conversation between bars. It’s a character moment, and it works so well, because both actors, both characters, are fully engaged.

A lot of shows would create tension and interest with a lot of action. This episode does it nearly all with character interaction and circumstance. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. Moya’s crew is cornered, their lives are at stake, as is Moya’s and her baby’s. They’re struggling–and failing at every turn–to find any way out that doesn’t require at least one person’s death, and nearly every interaction amid the crew is one that underscores the feeling that they’re all gone to die or never see each other again very, very soon. When the action does come at the end–and even then it isn’t so much an action set-piece, the pot is nearly boiling over…and then someone steals Talyn away and lights the fire on the whole emotional powder keg[3]. It’s one of the most emotional TV cliffhangers that I’ve ever encountered.

I have to admit that when Pilot announced that someone has boarded Talyn, in the split second before they cut to Rygel still there on Moya, I thought it was Rygel[4] who was trying to make off with Talyn. After all, he’d already done it once that episode, right? Okay, maybe I’m slow. But it was the last time I ever gave Crais the benefit of the doubt for the entire run of the show.

Fantastic episode. And too many good quotes to pick just one[5].

Last line:
“It may not matter. D’Argo’s unconscious.”

Other Comments:
Where the hell did Chiana get all of that food? (To say nothing of the time to make it!) And how come Crais got to go to the feast but Crichton didn’t? Did the DRDs mix up the invites?

We learn that the Aurora Chair would apparently kill Hynerians instantly. Possibly even if they have a booster-seat.

——
[1] I love that it starts out with Rygel already aboard a transport pod and rocketing his way toward betraying the others to save his own skin.

[2] “Scarran” was originally just supposed to be a throw-away alien species, but obviously it became a lot more than that…

[3] Black delivers Aeryn’s, “Crais, you listen to me now! You stop what you are doing and you leave the ship NOW!” in such a way as to be heart-wrenching even after having seen it multiple times before.

[4] “Sparky, Spanky, Fluffy, Buckwheat the 16th…”

[5] So here’re some more!

“I am a Dominar of action!”

“Fear accompanies the possibility of death. Calm shepherds its certainty.”

“You went there to sell us out, Rygel.”
“You bet your shiny blue ass I did. But I didn’t. So make the most of it now.”

“I thought I would live much longer.”
“I never thought I would live this long.”

“You saved my life.”
“Pass it on. When someone else needs it, return the favor.”

“We all have windows of usefulness. If we don’t take advantage of them, our careers may fade. For example: My instincts tell me that your career may well be on the rise.”

And to take a break from the book plugging for a few moments, let’s do another Farscape rewatch! (Well, I’ll do it. You read it.)

Season 1, Episode 21: “Bone to Be Wild”
**** out of *****
“Distress call. Directed at us?”
“How stupid is THAT?”

Crichton, D’Argo and Zhaan investigate a distress call on a shockingly verdant asteroid, Scorpius gets himself a command carrier, Aeryn bonds with Moya’s baby, and Crais has a bad day.

With three separate plotlines going, this episode straddles the line between self-contained sci-fi tale and ongoing character development. The bit on the asteroid with M’lee and Br’nee has the feel of earlier episodes in the season, and this is not a bad thing.[1] First it gives us the twist about M’lee being dangerous, which is a little predictable: Right from the start, something seems…off about her. But that predictability lulls us (and John) into complacency in order to better trick us later by doing a double-switch and making Br’nee the bad guy after all.

The other two plotlines are less about plot and more about relationships (though those relationships of course do affect the plot). Scorpius’s ruthless intelligence is further developed as he seizes the opportunity to avail himself of Crais’s command carrier, and Crais is broken down just a little more in a way that gets him to the place he’ll need to be in for the next episode. Meanwhile, Aeryn and the baby get the viewer to the place THEY need to be in the next episode. Black does a great job portraying Aeryn’s bonding with the baby, and all she’s really doing is acting against a set! When Pilot tells her Moya wants Aeryn to name him, she tears up.

I remember that this episode kept surprising me with regard to Crais’s continuing to be not dead. I’d thought he was killed in the chair in the previous episode. (I was actually disappointed on first watching to find out that he wasn’t.) Then later, when Braca comes in at the end and talks to Crais and Crais is unresponsive, I again thought he was dead for a few moments.

Speaking of which, it’s Braca! And he gets lines this time!

Stark is curiously absent from this episode. He escaped with John last episode, now, nothing. Apparently the writers just plain forgot about him at first [2].

This is also the episode we learn that Zhaan is actually a sentient plant (though there’d been hints throughout the season), which is a nice touch. She can also apparently turn invisible when surrounded by plants [3], but she’ll never do this again. Even being a plant, I’m not really sure that Zhaan’s justifiable in her taking offense at John’s “stinking plants” comment, since none of the plants on the asteroid that all M’Lee’s people died for were sentient.

Last line:
“As a matter of honor, sometimes we must be willing to give of ourselves.”

Other Comments:
Br’nee is played by Marton Csokas, who also plays Celeborn in The Fellowship of the Ring. This amuses me.

Scorpius’s growly-voice when Crais attacks him took me by surprise the first time, and added another layer to the usually refined character.

There apparently were plans to bring M’lee back, but they never got around to it.

——
[1] In fact, I understand this subplot had originally been intended for earlier in the season.

[2] When he comes back, they give him a, “Hey, thanks for letting me borrow that transport pod!” throwaway line.

[3] Watching that the first time made me go, “Errr…whah?”

Season 1, Episode 20: “The Hidden Memory”
**** out of *****
“Your oath means nothing to me, you made sure of that. You destroyed EVERYTHING. I lost EVERYTHING because of you! Do you know what I learned while I was away from you? Everything I lost isn’t worth a damn. And I don’t want to go back to your past.”
“I—ORDER you!”
“You ORDER me?! You will never order me again!”

And now part two of two! Or part two of four. Or part two of the rest of the entire series. Or something. Aeryn gets better, John gets rescued, Crais gets brain-frelled, and Jilina gets…dead. Oh! And Moya has a baby or something.

I like this episode, but for some reason I’m having trouble thinking of what to say about it beyond a series of notes on particular moments. So I’m just going to go with that! (I hope to return to a more coherent commentary in the next episode.)

It’s quite delightful to see Jilina get Crais into an utterly screwed situation that winds up with him in the Aurora Chair, and even more delightful to see Scorpius calmly maneuver him into it[1]. Later, when Aeryn lives Crais in the Aurora Chair screaming, I really thought she’d killed him. And as you might guess from the chosen quote, the moment she confronts him right before is one of my favorite moments in Farscape, and one reason I think Claudia Black is possibly the best actress in sci-fi TV.

This might be one of the few times we see Zhaan firing a weapon. And D’Argo blew a guy’s arm off! On screen! Ah, cable.

I wonder, is Chiana being selfless when she’s trying to help Moya give birth, or is she just worried that she’ll be killed if it shoots its way out? And speaking of the baby, this is the first time we find out that he’s not a normal leviathan.

A side note about Stark: This episode is one of the reasons that I don’t believe (at this point) that he’s actually crazy[2]. He’s hyper-stressed, he’s on edge, but he’s rational, compassionate, and calm when he lets his crazy façade down. His comforting Crichton after the chair has utterly frazzled the latter is very touching[3].

Last line:
“Kiss me.”

Other Comments:
Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but I would’ve rated this episode 4.5 stars, but for one single shot that really irritates me for no rational reason. When Jilina steps out with a gun right after Scorpius catches John before he’s about to escape, it’s done in kind of a slow-mo thing that’s…just really looks off to me. Yeah, I’m a jerk. I was disappointed that she died, though.

Stark mentions that he was keeping from Scorpy the memory of a place he saw when he was a boy. After watching the series, I believe that now refers to Katratzi, though I don’t figure the writers had that in mind just yet.

——
[1] “Do what you know in your hearts is the right thing. Put Crais in the chair.”

[2] Yet.

[3] “You’re not crazy, are you, Stark?” “No. But if they think I am, they don’t bother me so much.”

Season 1, Episode 19: “Nerve”
**** out of *****

“This is MY side! That’s YOUR side! This is my side, you stay on your side! My side, your side! My side, your side! My side! YOUR SIDE!  …You were just in my chair, too, weren’t you?”

Okay, this is it. They’ve officially launched the dren along a trajectory that will take it directly into the fan. Aeryn’s wound in A Bug’s Life has damaged her paraphoral nerve. To save her life, Crichton infiltrates the Peacekeeper gammak base posing as Larraq, is reunited with Jilina, and finds himself in the comfy chair of a jolly leather aficionado named Scorpius.

Things are now officially Farscape as we know it. Well, okay, so it was Farscape before now, too, but it just “grew the beard,” so to speak.[1] It’s our first episode with Scorpius, our first episode knowing about the wormhole knowledge in John’s mind, our first exposure to Stark, and we even get a little bit of Brakka trailing behind Crais. (Hey, how come Brakka never got to wear the bicycle seat-hat when he got promoted?)

The episode has a bit of an epic feel to it, though I’m not sure if that’s just due to my foreknowledge of how things develop from this point and how key all of this is to the rest of the series. On the other hand, it does give us a large new locale with the gammak base, and brings Crais back into the picture. Or maybe it’s due to it being only part one of a two-parter (or, arguably, part one of a four- or five-parter). In fact, it’s Farscape’s very first two-parter, and the point when the show arguably becomes much more serialized.

John’s getting a lot of practice imitating Peacekeepers, and he does quite well–for a while, anyway. His attempt to intimidate his way past having to do the genetic scan puts me in the mind of a D&D player trying desperately to pull a bluff and failing[2]. Darned good thing Jilina was there. He’s already changed from who he was when she first met him.

Chiana gets a lot of screen time here, what with going with John to the base and playing Larraq’s…companion. As we’ve not seen nearly as much of her as we have the others, it’s a good opportunity to show us more of her character. She’s great playing the magician’s assistant role, as it were, keeping eyes on her while John pulls some nerve tissue out of a hat. She’s also perfectly willing to lie to Jilina about John’s feelings for Aeryn so as to keep her working on their side. I do have to say, though: Chiana’s tralk routine is a bit…irritating…in larrrrge dosessss…

And, of course: Scorpius. Quite possibly one of the best villains in the history of television. Sinister, cold (er, figuratively speaking), menacing, and mysterious. He shows up Crais within moments of his arrival. Even if we don’t really know yet just who Scorpius IS, it’s clear who’s in charge there. Even the tone of his voice is perfect. Dignified, patient[3]. He’s like a cat having a conversation with a mouse. It just accentuates his ruthlessness. Wayne Pygram[4] is absolutely perfect here.

You know, given the whole “memory chair” thing, most shows would’ve likely taken this opportunity to do a clip show. The fact that they didn’t use it for that makes the episode that much better, really.

Also, Stark be crazy!

Last line:
“Crichton will tell us.”

Other Comments:
Hey, how come Moya never seems to get any bigger due to her pregnancy?

In hindsight, I can tell that they’re still working on Scorpy’s make-up. It looks less natural than it does in future episodes.

——
[1] Ironically, the worst episode of Farscape is when Crichton actually grew a beard.

[2] Think Crichton would’ve played D&D at some point in his life? He’s got the imagination for it. Sure, he’s the buff sort, but so is Vin Diesel, and he plays…

[3] So calm, so matter-of-fact: “That man is an impostor. Seize him.”

[4] My apologies to people named Wayne, but it’s always struck me as amusingly incongruous that the sci-fi nightmare that is Scorpius is played by a “Wayne.” Hee hee. Wayne!