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dangermousieFirst off, a few final thoughts on PK Tech Girl.
Crichton likes Gilina but it’s clearly not love. Wistful or not, he has no problem letting her go.
And that confirms that really the emotional impetus of the ep is on Aeryn, and her reaction to encountering PKs again, however marginally. And Aeryn and John. I just love that tag, which is all sort of wonderful and really proves that Crichton understands her (and she realizes that) and that he knows how she feels and he is there for her.
I also love that when Gilina and Aeryn shake hands, Aeryn is near tears. Because at least one of her people understands she is not a traitor, in her exile. Just as when she tells Gilina about banishment being the worst and contamination, I love the look on John’s face as it’s sinking over and over again how much she’s lost.
Oh and that bit earlier on, when John and Gilina are trapped with the approaching Sheyang and John is muttering to himself that Aeryn will get here? I love his belief and his hope. It’s such a pattern for them later to rescue each other hell or high water but here it’s only incipient. And I love the way he looks at her when she shows up, blows the Sheyang away and goes ‘sorry about the mess.’ I can’t say his heart is in his eyes, not yet. But it’s such a precursor to the ‘This is the Radiant Aeryn Sun’ in AHM, one of my favorite moments ever.
That Old Black Magic: Crichton and Co. go down on a commerce planet and…it’s too good to spoil, honest.
I looooove Maldis. Not ‘love’ as in ‘want to bring home to Mother’ or anywhere in the same Universe as Mother, but for sheer psychotic fun.
Maldis is pure evil, but the thing that is fascinating with him, he is a serial killer/psychopath/sociopath type. Unlike all the other antagonists in Farscape (whether there for an ep or for the entire show) there is nothing he wants except to kill and to revel in inflicting it. Actually, he doesn’t even revel in it. It’s a matter of fact thing…dinner. His very simplicity of goal makes him both much less terrifying than Crais or Scorpius or Scarrans or Grayza, and so does the fact that, powers aside, he is not super clever. He can push buttons, true, but if Crais was capable of reasoning, he’d get nowhere. He is defeated relatively easily.
But the thing that I find by far the most interesting thing in this ep is what Maldis does to John. What his actions do.
Yes, John’s descent into being hunted awake and asleep, into loss and torture and madness, and into a sharp-edged gorgeous mess really begins with AHR and truly truly commences with Nerve/AHM.
But.
But.
I think TOBM is where the first step really is, the first baby step.
This is where John is confronted, fully, for the first time, with the horrible fact that you can explain, you can reason, and you can be right, but it won’t matter. You are helpless to stop being hunted and the other person will not listen no matter what you say, what you do. He will still want to kill you, for crazy reasons, or maybe just because he’ll enjoy it. John had clung to the hope that if only he can explain to Crais what really happened, that it wasn’t John’s fault, that it was an accident, that Crais would understand, would cease the crazy pursuit. John is a great believer in communication, before this ep.
The thing that really kills me in this ep is a very little thing. John has just explained everything to Crais, put his heart and soul into it and Crais…believes him. And then adds that he believes it was an accident, now. But, he adds, it doesn’t matter.
And what kills me is the look on John’s face. His normal, sane world is falling apart around his ears. It’s as if he cannot believe it, as if he is realizing there is nothing he can do, there is no reasoning, to normalcy, no hiding place. (And how interesting, this is also the first ep where he is literally hunted throughout. Someone in close pursuit, inflicting pain. Like an animal. Or a fugitive. Better get used to it, John).
In a way, John would have been better off if he thought that Crais didn’t believe him. But the fact that Crais does and it makes no difference? It’s John’s first true view of the cruelty and senselessness of the Universe.
And the fact that Crais is not even listening to John’s very true assessment of Maldis, a plan about how to get out of there etc is just…a final blow, I think.
And of course, there is a scene that makes me wince A LOT, which is where Crais dislocates John’s shoulder and John has to pop it back in himself. OUCH. And also, John is made of awesome (and I love how this show doesn’t trivialize pain. John is in severe pain throughout. And he doesn’t have magical fighting skills. And he used to own a motorcycle when younger. EEEEE! *faints*).
And this is also the first ep John snaps. After failure to reason, after the pain, after everything, after illusory hope of survival. He really goes for Crais, he really attempts to kill him. He doesn’t only because Maldis removes Crais.
And he realized he will now never be free of Crais, who in probably the worst thing we’ve seen him do, kills his loyal second in command so he can continue with the craziness. He is displacing feelings of guilt re: failing to protect his brother in the worst way. How un-Trekian that nothing gets fixed, John doesn’t get through, everything only gets worse.
And that’s not all the darkness really. There is the darkness around Zhaan, who has spent cycles trying to suppress inner demons but released them to defeat Maldis.
I think the coda really sets the seal on Crichton’s new loss-of-mooring, his future darkness. Because he reaches out to Zhaan at the end, offers help (and I think his cheery ‘it’s all over’ is a defense mechanism, an over-reaction, an attempt to convince himself, to retreat into sane world) and Zhaan hurts him. It’s brief, and she snaps out of it and is horrified, but still. It’s Zhaan: the sane maternal one. And it’s not because she is drugged or mind-wiped or whatever. It’s Zhaan herself, it’s what’s inside her, just her. There is no safe place in the world of cruelty.
Side note: the crew really is more and more cohesive, isn’t it? D’Argo and especially Aeryn were going to fight Maldis, not leave John behind.
And also another note: significantly, Zhaan didn’t agree to help, to unleash her inner savage etc until she realized that she also would be next on Maldis’ hit list.
I’ve also found an awesome Farscape vid (spoilery for the show but not PKW):
And also, still on Farscape, I bring you some amazing fic I found recently. I've never been able to write in FS-verse because...am not good enough, honest.
But people manage, and manage brilliantly.
Symbiote Dreams: Five Things John Crichton is Thankful For by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seattlescaper. It's short and terse and reads like poetry. It's probably one of my newest favorite things. And the last line kills me. In a good way. It does spoil (somewhat) for all of Farscape, so be warned.
Lattitude and Longitude bythassalia. Bodies as maps is about the closest I can come to describing this, but this is just poetry, again. Spoilers though first ep of S4. Vague.
Skin and Bone bythassalia. Normally I don't care for PWP because...what's the point? But this is such a beautiful, painful exploration of John and Aeryn (and in so few words, too) that I couldn't resist. Maybe I am a sucker for this because it deals with my all time favorite FS moment: the end of WSS Part 1, with John and Aeryn in her room. Spoilers for 'A Human Reaction' and WSS Part 1.
Crichton likes Gilina but it’s clearly not love. Wistful or not, he has no problem letting her go.
And that confirms that really the emotional impetus of the ep is on Aeryn, and her reaction to encountering PKs again, however marginally. And Aeryn and John. I just love that tag, which is all sort of wonderful and really proves that Crichton understands her (and she realizes that) and that he knows how she feels and he is there for her.
I also love that when Gilina and Aeryn shake hands, Aeryn is near tears. Because at least one of her people understands she is not a traitor, in her exile. Just as when she tells Gilina about banishment being the worst and contamination, I love the look on John’s face as it’s sinking over and over again how much she’s lost.
Oh and that bit earlier on, when John and Gilina are trapped with the approaching Sheyang and John is muttering to himself that Aeryn will get here? I love his belief and his hope. It’s such a pattern for them later to rescue each other hell or high water but here it’s only incipient. And I love the way he looks at her when she shows up, blows the Sheyang away and goes ‘sorry about the mess.’ I can’t say his heart is in his eyes, not yet. But it’s such a precursor to the ‘This is the Radiant Aeryn Sun’ in AHM, one of my favorite moments ever.
That Old Black Magic: Crichton and Co. go down on a commerce planet and…it’s too good to spoil, honest.
I looooove Maldis. Not ‘love’ as in ‘want to bring home to Mother’ or anywhere in the same Universe as Mother, but for sheer psychotic fun.
Maldis is pure evil, but the thing that is fascinating with him, he is a serial killer/psychopath/sociopath type. Unlike all the other antagonists in Farscape (whether there for an ep or for the entire show) there is nothing he wants except to kill and to revel in inflicting it. Actually, he doesn’t even revel in it. It’s a matter of fact thing…dinner. His very simplicity of goal makes him both much less terrifying than Crais or Scorpius or Scarrans or Grayza, and so does the fact that, powers aside, he is not super clever. He can push buttons, true, but if Crais was capable of reasoning, he’d get nowhere. He is defeated relatively easily.
But the thing that I find by far the most interesting thing in this ep is what Maldis does to John. What his actions do.
Yes, John’s descent into being hunted awake and asleep, into loss and torture and madness, and into a sharp-edged gorgeous mess really begins with AHR and truly truly commences with Nerve/AHM.
But.
But.
I think TOBM is where the first step really is, the first baby step.
This is where John is confronted, fully, for the first time, with the horrible fact that you can explain, you can reason, and you can be right, but it won’t matter. You are helpless to stop being hunted and the other person will not listen no matter what you say, what you do. He will still want to kill you, for crazy reasons, or maybe just because he’ll enjoy it. John had clung to the hope that if only he can explain to Crais what really happened, that it wasn’t John’s fault, that it was an accident, that Crais would understand, would cease the crazy pursuit. John is a great believer in communication, before this ep.
The thing that really kills me in this ep is a very little thing. John has just explained everything to Crais, put his heart and soul into it and Crais…believes him. And then adds that he believes it was an accident, now. But, he adds, it doesn’t matter.
And what kills me is the look on John’s face. His normal, sane world is falling apart around his ears. It’s as if he cannot believe it, as if he is realizing there is nothing he can do, there is no reasoning, to normalcy, no hiding place. (And how interesting, this is also the first ep where he is literally hunted throughout. Someone in close pursuit, inflicting pain. Like an animal. Or a fugitive. Better get used to it, John).
In a way, John would have been better off if he thought that Crais didn’t believe him. But the fact that Crais does and it makes no difference? It’s John’s first true view of the cruelty and senselessness of the Universe.
And the fact that Crais is not even listening to John’s very true assessment of Maldis, a plan about how to get out of there etc is just…a final blow, I think.
And of course, there is a scene that makes me wince A LOT, which is where Crais dislocates John’s shoulder and John has to pop it back in himself. OUCH. And also, John is made of awesome (and I love how this show doesn’t trivialize pain. John is in severe pain throughout. And he doesn’t have magical fighting skills. And he used to own a motorcycle when younger. EEEEE! *faints*).
And this is also the first ep John snaps. After failure to reason, after the pain, after everything, after illusory hope of survival. He really goes for Crais, he really attempts to kill him. He doesn’t only because Maldis removes Crais.
And he realized he will now never be free of Crais, who in probably the worst thing we’ve seen him do, kills his loyal second in command so he can continue with the craziness. He is displacing feelings of guilt re: failing to protect his brother in the worst way. How un-Trekian that nothing gets fixed, John doesn’t get through, everything only gets worse.
And that’s not all the darkness really. There is the darkness around Zhaan, who has spent cycles trying to suppress inner demons but released them to defeat Maldis.
I think the coda really sets the seal on Crichton’s new loss-of-mooring, his future darkness. Because he reaches out to Zhaan at the end, offers help (and I think his cheery ‘it’s all over’ is a defense mechanism, an over-reaction, an attempt to convince himself, to retreat into sane world) and Zhaan hurts him. It’s brief, and she snaps out of it and is horrified, but still. It’s Zhaan: the sane maternal one. And it’s not because she is drugged or mind-wiped or whatever. It’s Zhaan herself, it’s what’s inside her, just her. There is no safe place in the world of cruelty.
Side note: the crew really is more and more cohesive, isn’t it? D’Argo and especially Aeryn were going to fight Maldis, not leave John behind.
And also another note: significantly, Zhaan didn’t agree to help, to unleash her inner savage etc until she realized that she also would be next on Maldis’ hit list.
I’ve also found an awesome Farscape vid (spoilery for the show but not PKW):
And also, still on Farscape, I bring you some amazing fic I found recently. I've never been able to write in FS-verse because...am not good enough, honest.
But people manage, and manage brilliantly.
Symbiote Dreams: Five Things John Crichton is Thankful For by
seattlescaper. It's short and terse and reads like poetry. It's probably one of my newest favorite things. And the last line kills me. In a good way. It does spoil (somewhat) for all of Farscape, so be warned. Lattitude and Longitude by
thassalia. Bodies as maps is about the closest I can come to describing this, but this is just poetry, again. Spoilers though first ep of S4. Vague. Skin and Bone by
thassalia. Normally I don't care for PWP because...what's the point? But this is such a beautiful, painful exploration of John and Aeryn (and in so few words, too) that I couldn't resist. Maybe I am a sucker for this because it deals with my all time favorite FS moment: the end of WSS Part 1, with John and Aeryn in her room. Spoilers for 'A Human Reaction' and WSS Part 1.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 06:26 pm (UTC)And I blame you and your posts.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 07:22 pm (UTC)But yes, if you like angst and totally awesome OTPs and off-the-wall humor and did I mention angst?
Totally a good thing to watch.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 10:05 pm (UTC)Anyhoodle, on the off chance that you haven't found this fic yet, I'd highly recommend reading In the Company of Ghosts (http://www.johnskeedvabbq.com/ff_ghostsmain_max.html) by KodiakkeMax. It's a massively interconnected and intricate AU where one tiny moment in the pilot (not to be confused with Pilot) is shifted a few degrees. They follow the story all the way through, and the parallels and changes are breathtaking!
Fair warning though, ya might want to set it aside for a free day, as it's mucho long.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 04:58 pm (UTC)But thanks for the rec, I haven't read it yet.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 11:17 pm (UTC)This is what hit me too upon rewatching this ep - the realization that talking is not going to work. It comes down to violence and strength in the end. This is also a contrast to the early part of season 1 where John does talk his way out of a bunch of situations (I am of course asserting this without ready examples) but there is more of that vibe at any rate.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-09 12:17 am (UTC)Yay for Farscape fic recs! Since I came to the party so late, I like being pointed in the direction of good Farscape fics.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-09 04:08 pm (UTC)I'm always struck by the fact that so many of these first episodes have Aeryn coming face to face with something that reminds her of what she's lost.
As much as this is John's show--because, of course, it is--and as much as we hear about D'Argo, Rygel and Zhaan wanting to go home and the great lengths to which they'd go to get there, we also get this pulse in the background of Aeryn's loss. Lots of time it plays out on her face and sometimes it's the point of the episode.
But some of these moments are pure expression: the look on Aeryn's face when Gilina tells her that her entire unit was demoted upon her defection as they view the burned body of one of her crewmates. The look on her face in "A Bug's Life" when Larraq tells her she would have been good in special ops. Even the expression on her face when John tells her she can be more. You can see that play of uncertainty--she knows she wants to stay, has to stay, but she knows she absolutely cannot.
And, of course, the kicker is her confrontation with Crais in "A Hidden Memory."
I'm sure 99% of this is due to Claudia Black who, in my mind, is one of the most expressive actresses on television.
Those of you who haven't watched this show yet--you're missing some good stuff.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 05:03 pm (UTC)You are absolutely right. And I just finished DNAMS and there she is confronted with that irreparable loss even more starkly. She is alone. Even John can (at that point) theoretically go home. But not her.
CB is incredible. She can act so much with her eyes.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 10:00 pm (UTC)