Archives for September 2013

Season 2, Episode 5: “The Way We Weren’t”
****1/2  out of *****

“Oh, it’s perfectly fine to cut off one of his arms, then, is it Zhaan?!”

A recording is found that reveals Aeryn to not only have been aboard Moya before but to have taken part in the execution of her first pilot. It’s angst, regret, and anger all around, and a really fantastic character episode. As usual, Claudia Black does a fantastic job, and Pilot himself is as real and alive as any of the non-puppet characters.

This is another episode that contributed to my never, ever trusting Crais. Yes, Aeryn killed a pilot under orders, but Crais is the one who gave those orders—with apparent malice and zero remorse. He was an “insane military commander” even before his brother was killed. Yes, his brother’s death screwed him up, but we see here that ruthlessness lurked in him even during his regular duties. Am I judging Crais more harshly than Aeryn? I suppose that’s open to debate.

This episode also gives a deeper understanding of Pilot; how desperate he was to be bonded to a leviathan and the guilt he’s been hiding since that bonding. His anger at Aeryn is at least partially transferred self-loathing for his part in the first pilot’s death and the torture Moya underwent so she would accept him[1]. He’d never mentioned the pain, and likely accepted it previously as penance for his own crimes.

It’s interesting that, in the entire course of the series, no one ever brings up the question of whether or not Pilot has an actual name, or if he’d even like one. It would have been nice if someone had asked him, and this would have been one of the best opportunities for it.

Last line:
“And you say you think you love this man?”

Other Comments:
Pilot says he’ll have less control for a while. I don’t remember if that ever had any actual effect.

I felt bad for Pilot being wrapped up in the cargo bay like that.
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[1] “Chop off an arm and all he can muster is a few snotty remarks…”

Season 2, Episode 4: “Crackers Don’t Matter”
****1/2 out of *****

“What the hell is this?”
“Heat-deflecting paste. You’ll burn up in there without it.”
“Smells like puke.”
“I pre-digested it to increase it’s potency.”
“It’s PUKE?!”

And here we have quite possibly the weirdest, most fun, most disturbing Farscape episode so far. It’s never a good sign when people are crawling across the ceiling.

A blind-ish fly-man thing by the name of T’raltixx comes aboard promising to make modifications that will help Moya hide from the Peacekeepers and winds up driving everyone insane as part of a plan to…get a bunch of light. (I confess, I never quite bought the whole “my species needs light!” thing. What, he can’t just go out and buy a whole crapload of floodlights?)

As I said, this is a fun episode. Clearly the actors were having a ball getting to explore their characters going crazy. John and Aeryn arguing with pulse pistols, Pilot getting anti-social and twitchy[1], Harvey making his debut before he even officially existed[2], and, well, that disturbing scene between John and Chiana in the passageway. And in what other episode do we get to see John dressed up in a cape with a sword and shield and covered in puke?

Last line:
“Hey Zhaan. How do we take it all back?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah.”

Other Comments:
I’m still hating Zhaan’s outfit.

Aren’t pulsars supposed to, ya know, pulse? I could be wrong about this, but…

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[1] Creepy, really. Kudos to the puppeteers.

[2] “Kill her! Then we’ll have pizza! And margarita shooters!”

Season 2, Episode 3: “Taking the Stone”
**  out of *****

“Lately, do I seem…a little crazy to you?”
“What do you mean, ‘lately’?”

Chiana learns that her brother Nerri has died and, to deal with her grief, hooks up with a bunch of irritating constantly-baked teenagers with terrible hair who live on a graveyard planet. Also, Rygel’s new look haunts him (literally), and it would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their Luxan.

While I like Chiana, this episode is one of my least favorite of the season. It’s just…boring. The Rygel subplot is a bit incidental and doesn’t really go anywhere, even when it tries to give D’Argo and Zhaan something to do on the side. The drama on the planet is dull. The little bit with Chiana’s suicidal tendencies and Aeryn’s understanding is occasionally interesting[1], but there’s too much story gristle around that meat for it to redeem the episode.

It’s a shame that Crichton didn’t turn around at the start when Chiana told him she needed to talk. Edgley plays Chiana’s pain really well, and Crichton being too absorbed in his own task to see that makes me feel for her all the more. Plus, if he’d just seen that something was wrong at that point, this whole episode might have been avoided.

Crichton continues to be very protective of his crewmates. Heck, he’s willing to play Mushroom Roulette[2] just to get some information that MIGHT help Chiana. He’s a more extreme personality than he used to be, and is beginning to notice his own instabilities…

Last line:
“Let’s get out of this dead place.”

Other Comments:
So where are the pre-teens? These kids are obviously procreating.

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[1] Aeryn clearly has more experience with people dealing with grief than Crichton does.

[2] With a one-in-four chance of dying, no less.