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dangermousieYesterday’s episodes were Different Destinations and Eat Me which are two of the darkest FS episodes out there. Seriously. Don’t watch them when you are depressed, it might make you want to bang your head on the wall.
In fact, I think DD is the single most depressing, bleakest episode of Farscape and one I find hardest to watch. There are more heartbreaking episodes out there, true. Episodes I ended up sobbing in (DMD for one). But the reason DD is so profoundly bleak is that the message, the meaning of the story seems to be: there is no point in trying, anything you do makes it worse and there is nothing you can do to make it right.
Because the whole situation is ultimately no one’s fault? Or everyone. I suppose, if you want to really attenuate the blame, you can blame John, because he wanted Stark to be comforted. Stark is, after all, now near catatonic in his loss of Zhaan. I think his initial composure was just shock and it wore off and he descended into this. I think that part of the reason that John wants to comfort Stark is because John is, despite everything, despite the fact that it has been beaten out of him until there is only narrow scope, is innately kind. But another part is that I think John recognizes a certain kinship, with insanity in Stark, and with loss of love driving one mad. It’s further and twisted but there and I think John has a certain ‘here but for the grace of God go I reaction. I love the scene with D’Argo, Aeryn, John and Stark, where Aeryn, frustrated, turns to D’Argo if he is feeling lonely because he and she are the only ones not hearing voices in their head. Or I am thinking of a later scene in ‘Meltdown’ when John tells Stark that Aeryn ‘is my Zhaan.’
But yeah, to give borderline insane, grieving, and very powerful energy being a vid which is half peace treaty, true, but half last battle? Bad idea. But no one in their right (or even wrong mind) would expect a tear in time created by Stark.
We can’t blame John for it any more than we can blame Stark for creating the tear, or D’Argo and Aeryn fighting when they got there (they are attacked) etc etc.
And John almost did fix everything right, if that nurse didn’t shoot the general at the last minute. I understand her, but I just want to shake her and yell ‘stupid woman.’
The is one of the episodes I get mildly frustrated with the crew playing ‘pin the blame on John’ game. It. Is. Not. His. Fault. UGH. Stop. I know, I know, emotional masochist. Still, come on.
I love the surreal scene of Scorpy playing the harmonica, in cowboy boots with ‘Andy’ on them. And I love Stark’s kindness, even in the midst of his own grief and madness, towards the little girl, Citrina. I never realized before that when he hugs her, once she said she never cried when her father died, he is crying instead and for her. Another transfer of sorts.
Or Aeryn, amazing Aeryn, learning that the PK hero Deacon was still a hero, just a very different one, and that underneath the propaganda myths is truth of honor, and the past where PKs were not yet perverted but were defenders of truth and justice.
And having to send this kid to die and it ending up meaning nothing in the scheme of things, except another burden for her.
I love D’Argo’s moment of bonding with the kid, as well. But he is not as distraught at the end because ultimately, both he and Aeryn are tougher, soldiers from birth by nature and nurture and culture and blood. Unless it’s the death of a few very specific people, they can function on, stiff upper lip, no wound on them as bad as John’s, who is despite it all, just a talented amateur.
And so we end the episode with John utterly hollow, broken, sitting there just sifting sand through his fingers, because yes, they minimized the damage but the nurses were slaughtered anyway. And I love that, as always, it is Aeryn who is there for him at his lowest, who is there to answer his hopelessly decent person’s ‘What was the point? [of the murders]’ with her PK-nihilistic ‘There probably was no point.’
And the fact that John tried to go back, to fix it, or to save them and die trying is…GUH. I love Crichton so much. Of course, I really don’t see how it’s his fault (not even not leaving the guns, they couldn’t leave future technology), so it’s just his enormous sense of responsibility (just as that is what made him talk to Nurse and tell her they were leaving, as if he wanted to be focal point for blame later).
Got these from Farscape-Caps.
I love this shot:
Jool. LOL. (Btw, am I slightly insane for sort of entertaining the possibility of her and Crais? Based on Fractures?):
Stark in his loss of Zhaan:
John trying to comfort Stark:
OMG. OTP!!!!
Stark imitating Zhaan. He is so broken:
That scene sort of kills me, because despite it all, he can still take on someone’s grief:
Broken, broken, broken John:
Chi and Aeryn talking about John. I love that despite how different the two are, they are so cohesive. A sort of stern older sister, wild younger one:
Shattered John (he never gets truly used to the cruelty of the Universe. I wonder if it’s because he’s had a safe, proper childhood. It makes him fight because of his burning sense of injustice, but it also makes him vulnerable).
And Aeryn, always there (someone pointed out that her name, ‘Aeryn Sun’ is really ‘air and sun,’ two essentials for living. Because that is what she is to John. I have no idea if the makers thought of it, but how incredibly appropriate.)
Eat Me, despite being the closest Farscape came to sheer horror, is not as nihilistic as DD.
I love that when John thinks D’Argo and Chiana are dead, he goes all out mad, blusteringly and loudly and definitely so. He doesn’t get scared in general (unless it’s few very specific things) he gets angry.
Of course, this ep starts the heart-breaking ‘Two Johns’ arc and really addresses the issue of what makes one’s self. Because the two Johns are not an original and clone. They are two equals, two Crichtons. Identical (as the scene with rock paper scissors shows). And there is no easy out.
There is no such comfort for the crew as to think that the other was a copy because they themselves feel like ‘me.’ Not when they see the evidence. Chi is good at repressing though.
The scenes with the mad people eating the Leviathan (and OMG, John shooting at them, YES), and perpetually cutting off Pilot’s arms to eat and waiting till regeneration and cutting them off again? Horrifying beyond measure.
And John, so angry, so mad, so trying to figure it all out that any desire for help is swallowed by the horror, to wait for later time.
And Kaarvoc, probably the scariest villain ever because he is completely mad and completely insane and seriously, the world that he has created is horror without end.
I love Jool as the comic relief, of course. Heeee. No one cares if she dies, though they do protect her, and as the audience member, by main interest in her are the wacky things happen to her, a sort of relief that this time it’s something comically bad, not gut-rippingly awful happening to a character you love.
Here are a few stills from Eat Me, from Farscape-Caps.
Double. As if he needed another psychic attack:
And Aeryn watching:
In fact, I think DD is the single most depressing, bleakest episode of Farscape and one I find hardest to watch. There are more heartbreaking episodes out there, true. Episodes I ended up sobbing in (DMD for one). But the reason DD is so profoundly bleak is that the message, the meaning of the story seems to be: there is no point in trying, anything you do makes it worse and there is nothing you can do to make it right.
Because the whole situation is ultimately no one’s fault? Or everyone. I suppose, if you want to really attenuate the blame, you can blame John, because he wanted Stark to be comforted. Stark is, after all, now near catatonic in his loss of Zhaan. I think his initial composure was just shock and it wore off and he descended into this. I think that part of the reason that John wants to comfort Stark is because John is, despite everything, despite the fact that it has been beaten out of him until there is only narrow scope, is innately kind. But another part is that I think John recognizes a certain kinship, with insanity in Stark, and with loss of love driving one mad. It’s further and twisted but there and I think John has a certain ‘here but for the grace of God go I reaction. I love the scene with D’Argo, Aeryn, John and Stark, where Aeryn, frustrated, turns to D’Argo if he is feeling lonely because he and she are the only ones not hearing voices in their head. Or I am thinking of a later scene in ‘Meltdown’ when John tells Stark that Aeryn ‘is my Zhaan.’
But yeah, to give borderline insane, grieving, and very powerful energy being a vid which is half peace treaty, true, but half last battle? Bad idea. But no one in their right (or even wrong mind) would expect a tear in time created by Stark.
We can’t blame John for it any more than we can blame Stark for creating the tear, or D’Argo and Aeryn fighting when they got there (they are attacked) etc etc.
And John almost did fix everything right, if that nurse didn’t shoot the general at the last minute. I understand her, but I just want to shake her and yell ‘stupid woman.’
The is one of the episodes I get mildly frustrated with the crew playing ‘pin the blame on John’ game. It. Is. Not. His. Fault. UGH. Stop. I know, I know, emotional masochist. Still, come on.
I love the surreal scene of Scorpy playing the harmonica, in cowboy boots with ‘Andy’ on them. And I love Stark’s kindness, even in the midst of his own grief and madness, towards the little girl, Citrina. I never realized before that when he hugs her, once she said she never cried when her father died, he is crying instead and for her. Another transfer of sorts.
Or Aeryn, amazing Aeryn, learning that the PK hero Deacon was still a hero, just a very different one, and that underneath the propaganda myths is truth of honor, and the past where PKs were not yet perverted but were defenders of truth and justice.
And having to send this kid to die and it ending up meaning nothing in the scheme of things, except another burden for her.
I love D’Argo’s moment of bonding with the kid, as well. But he is not as distraught at the end because ultimately, both he and Aeryn are tougher, soldiers from birth by nature and nurture and culture and blood. Unless it’s the death of a few very specific people, they can function on, stiff upper lip, no wound on them as bad as John’s, who is despite it all, just a talented amateur.
And so we end the episode with John utterly hollow, broken, sitting there just sifting sand through his fingers, because yes, they minimized the damage but the nurses were slaughtered anyway. And I love that, as always, it is Aeryn who is there for him at his lowest, who is there to answer his hopelessly decent person’s ‘What was the point? [of the murders]’ with her PK-nihilistic ‘There probably was no point.’
And the fact that John tried to go back, to fix it, or to save them and die trying is…GUH. I love Crichton so much. Of course, I really don’t see how it’s his fault (not even not leaving the guns, they couldn’t leave future technology), so it’s just his enormous sense of responsibility (just as that is what made him talk to Nurse and tell her they were leaving, as if he wanted to be focal point for blame later).
Got these from Farscape-Caps.
I love this shot:
Jool. LOL. (Btw, am I slightly insane for sort of entertaining the possibility of her and Crais? Based on Fractures?):
Stark in his loss of Zhaan:
John trying to comfort Stark:
OMG. OTP!!!!
Stark imitating Zhaan. He is so broken:
That scene sort of kills me, because despite it all, he can still take on someone’s grief:
Broken, broken, broken John:
Chi and Aeryn talking about John. I love that despite how different the two are, they are so cohesive. A sort of stern older sister, wild younger one:
Shattered John (he never gets truly used to the cruelty of the Universe. I wonder if it’s because he’s had a safe, proper childhood. It makes him fight because of his burning sense of injustice, but it also makes him vulnerable).
And Aeryn, always there (someone pointed out that her name, ‘Aeryn Sun’ is really ‘air and sun,’ two essentials for living. Because that is what she is to John. I have no idea if the makers thought of it, but how incredibly appropriate.)
Eat Me, despite being the closest Farscape came to sheer horror, is not as nihilistic as DD.
I love that when John thinks D’Argo and Chiana are dead, he goes all out mad, blusteringly and loudly and definitely so. He doesn’t get scared in general (unless it’s few very specific things) he gets angry.
Of course, this ep starts the heart-breaking ‘Two Johns’ arc and really addresses the issue of what makes one’s self. Because the two Johns are not an original and clone. They are two equals, two Crichtons. Identical (as the scene with rock paper scissors shows). And there is no easy out.
There is no such comfort for the crew as to think that the other was a copy because they themselves feel like ‘me.’ Not when they see the evidence. Chi is good at repressing though.
The scenes with the mad people eating the Leviathan (and OMG, John shooting at them, YES), and perpetually cutting off Pilot’s arms to eat and waiting till regeneration and cutting them off again? Horrifying beyond measure.
And John, so angry, so mad, so trying to figure it all out that any desire for help is swallowed by the horror, to wait for later time.
And Kaarvoc, probably the scariest villain ever because he is completely mad and completely insane and seriously, the world that he has created is horror without end.
I love Jool as the comic relief, of course. Heeee. No one cares if she dies, though they do protect her, and as the audience member, by main interest in her are the wacky things happen to her, a sort of relief that this time it’s something comically bad, not gut-rippingly awful happening to a character you love.
Here are a few stills from Eat Me, from Farscape-Caps.
Double. As if he needed another psychic attack:
And Aeryn watching:
