Farscape thoughts...

[dangermousie]

(Thoughts aren't really about Chiana but the image is too pretty to pass up)

Mr Mousie and I finished Dog with two bones and Crichton Kicks rewatch.



Every other time I've watched the DWTB ep, I always assumed the title refers to Crichton - and it does, even if for him, it's not about the decision of what he wants more, Aeryn or Earth, that is at issue (it's been pretty clear to everyone, Crichton included, that he'd pick Aeryn over Earth, for some time) but his having to realize that he HAS to choose - despite what Aeryn might have talked about with Talyn-John, she would not fit on earth at all - even if he gets the chance to go home and she agrees to go with him, it won't work out.

But this time it hits me that the dog with two bones is also Aeryn - she also wants two entirely incompatible things - to not be hurt and to stay with Crichton. But she can't have both - if they are together there is every chance he might die - caring is opening oneself to hurt in any event but with the lives they lead...

I think that is why she finally agrees to a coin toss - that takes agency out of it, frees her from a choice it hurts her to make (and which on some level she still refuses to make, leaving but refusing to say good-bye and make it final).

As to Crichton Kicks, it demonstrates yet again that without Aeryn and without the Moyans, Crichton descends into something pretty close to obsessive insanity. Oddly, while I still don't like Sikozu (my least favorite Moyan ever), I don't viscerally loathe her this time...

Comments

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

how much of your dislike - or anyone's really - do you think could be attributed to the inevitable fallout that surrounds the introduction of a new character in an existing show, when that character is introduced prior to a new season starting? [see any Doctor and/or Companion casting news ever, for example]

so much froth gets stirred up in any fandom when anyone changes the mix, as it were, and that froth becomes very hard to avoid. i've always wondered, then, how much of even a passive influence on anyone's initial perceptions of a character the dust-up can cause.

because so much time has passed now, do you think you could be perceiving Sikozu differently? or maybe it's a simple matter of now watching having full knowledge of events, which, imho, always alters character perception.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen season 4 yet, but when I started season 3, one of my first thoughts was that people probably hated Jool for the same reasons (and because she's spoiled and haughty and bitchy, but I kind of loved her on sight for the same reasons, and Zhaan is my favorite character.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I rather adored Jool from the start - I thought she provided a neatcomic relief to a very very dark season. Mr Mousie loathes her though (he is just fine with Sikozu).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I loved Jool from the start, too. Chiana took a bit to grow on me(now my favorite after Zhaan and Aeryn), but otherwise, I love all the Moyans so far. Granted, Rygel is kinda more like this stain that you get used to and decide you like after it doesn't go away, but...

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

Jool had a lot of the same reactions, yes. and i totally loved her on sight for the same reasons you did. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't know - the first episode of Farscape I saw was Dog with Two Bones so I did not have a cast dynamic I was used to that Sikozu disrupted. I think the reason she so got on my nerves previously was the smug superiority when I thought she wasn't superior to any of the Moyans (she was smart and had useful skills but so did they). Of course, that was what? Eight years ago? I think I just got older and mellower and while I still think she has an unjustifiably superior attitude, it stopped bothering me - in fact I rather feel sorry for her now - it's her sense of superiority that proved to be her ulitmate downfall - otherwise how would anybody sane think they could pull one over on Scorpius.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

there's a wacky ep to start with. the roomie's first was Revenging Angel. i was always, "watch this show! it's good", and she caught it one night while i was at work. i always felt a bit bad about that. heh.

i've always felt kind of sorry for her, but i think for different reasons. of course i don't remember in any pristine sort of sense now, but i think she struck me as someone very, very scared and her smug superiority was a defense mechanism.

looking back on her now, though, i wonder if that was true - my perception. i wonder if it was simply programmed into her, and she, knowing what she was, would probably genuinely feel superior to most beings.

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

I think that is why she finally agrees to a coin toss - that takes agency out of it, frees her from a choice it hurts her to make (and which on some level she still refuses to make, leaving but refusing to say good-bye and make it final).

I always had the feeling she was gonna leave no matter what; she was only doing it to make Crichton feel better. This is making me want to watch that scene again even though it's so painful. Aeryn is cruel in that scene but you can't blame her, not at all.

Sikozu's alright, but I'm not fond of the fourth season in general - it was too unbelievable for me that they let Scorpius come on board. The Peacekeeper Wars fixed everything all the things I had problems with in the fourth season though.

Crichton Kicks has one of my favorite scenes ever though - Crichton painting the walls with the DRD. It's adorable, and it's so John - everything's gone to shit but he's still optimistic.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I cannot blame Aeryn at all - shutting away emotion is the only way she can cope. I do think she meant the coin toss thing (or did at that second - she is so conflicted in that scene - she suggests it after he starts walking away i.e. she "won").

I think the second half of season 4 is my favorite stretch of Farscape ever but the first ten or so eps of it are a bit uneven. I didn't mind Scorpy on board because for John, Aeryn and her demands would trump everything and for the rest their enmity is a lot less personal...

I love that scene in CK!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Jool: The dog without a bone who really really wants one and doesn't like this thing where every person she knows is leaving her.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Awwwww. I adore Jool - a lot of people don't, including Mr. Mousie (who likes every other female in the cast) but I do.