![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieThis weekend, I continued with my Farscape rewatch. So the subject of this post? ‘The Way We Weren’t’ and ‘Home on the Remains.’
TWWW:
Excellent, excellent episode.
If I didn’t love Pilot already. I would have fallen in love with him after this ep. The scene where he says ‘but I so desperately wanted to see the stars’ to justify to himself his prior course of action, really breaks my heart.
You know, one of the biggest reasons I wouldn’t try Farscape for years, not until S4 in fact, was the ‘muppets.’ No way could I watch a scifi show with puppets. But that’s the thing. I forget Rygel and Pilot are puppets. They are complicated characters, like the rest.
Another thing that I was thinking about with this ep, is how Farscapian. There are no true innocents here. Not really. Farscapian universe won’t let them be. Anyone who starts out innocent is forced to lose it, sooner or later. Crichton and Pilot are both innocents we see lose it. Pilot’s actions led to the death of the previous Pilot, he compromised to serve PKs. Crichton started the show out as a wide-eyed idealistic pacifist and look what he became end of S4, strapping a nuclear bomb on himself, offering the Universe to Scorpius for a mere chance to get Aeryn back.
No one starts out evil, or damaged, or guilty in FS. Even Scorpius, much as I loathe him, we really find out later what made him who he became. But (and that is why I love Farscape), there is always a possibility of grace. Of moving on, damaged and tarnished, and making new happiness and actively trying to find peace and goodness. Aeryn gets a chance to rediscover herself away from the brutality of PKs. She gets a chance to be a full-fledged human being. Pilot gets the bond with Moya. Crichton, messed up beyond any recognition by the end, gets a chance at family, peace, and rediscovering innocence through his child.
So much of this ep is about choices and past and that’s another thing I love about FS. It’s not big on ‘fate.’ Aeryn and Crichton is my huge, huge, almost unrivaled OTP but they are not ‘destined,’ ‘fated,’ or any of that junk. They met at the time there was a possibility and their relationships developed from there. If Crichton did propose to Alex and she accepted and they stayed on Earth, I can see him being happy. He’d never have hit his full potential for feeling (or for suffering) but he would have been a happy guy. And for Aeryn, the moment was right. She loved Velorek but she couldn’t really allow herself to express it or to feel it fully, in PK society. Ironically, it’s her experience with Velorek, combined with her experience with his Mother telling her she is special, that was that little push that prompted her to take to Crichton’s words of ‘you can be more’ in the Premiere.
I really love the scene where he comforts her after she’s had an exercise session and her hands are raw from the punching bag. He just holds her, as she cries. And she cries messily, unprettily, very real.
And that shot of them sitting across the PK symbol from each other, as she quietly tells him about the past, and they are not touching (I love that he knows it’s not the time for cuddling, that she needs her space to collect herself) and it’s so symbolic: that red stripe between them.
One of my favorite quotes occurs there, actually.
Aeryn: You may have noticed that at times I held you at a distance.
Crichton: Many times. Vast distances.
It’s just the way they say it. Quiet.
This is a gender reversal in their relationship, isn’t it? She is the one who has problems opening up (Crichton is the only one she allows herself to be vulnerable with and it’s been a long hard process to earn it, for him). He is the one who comforts her, who wants her to talk. He is the emotional one, the one with the heart like a carpet for her to walk on. She prefers action and it’s hard for her to navigate the emotional landscape. And yet, Crichton is never weak. He is never diminished because of caring, or being the emotional one. I like it.
I also love the attitude everyone has on discovering Aeryn has been aboard Moya before (which looks grey and dull, not the gorgeous colors of now). I love that the show doesn’t shy away either from confronting that no, she did have an ugly past, it’s not just the words, and the fact that ultimately what she is now wins over for her shipmates from what she was then.
The thing with Velorek, the betrayal. I think the scene with her Mother when she was a child was so crucial for her actions post-Velorek. If she didn’t have that ‘differentness’ implanted, she could have become even more martinet like after Velorek. But instead, it gave her a sliver of an opening…
I could go on and on and on forever, but I’ll just mention two little things here. One is, I love the shot when Aeryn and John drop from the ceiling into Pilot’s den in unison. Two? The tag. First time I saw it, it killed me dead. When Aeryn and John are talking and she tells him that he reminded her of Velorek and he asks ‘And you say you loved that man?’ and they stare at each other and away with all the questions and answers they are afraid of saying, in their eyes.
Home on the Remains
Not as good as TWWW. Duh. So some very short comments on it.
I love the visuals of the pollen floating through the ship. I have never felt entirely comfortable with Zhaan because underneath her calm, even good demeanor, there is madness waiting to peep out and the show never lets you forget it. Here it really manifests when she is in starvation mode and it’s scary and surreal and oddly beautiful.
Second comment is that we get some glimpse into what Chiana’s life was before Moya, and why she was all spikes when she came on board. Her loyalty is manifest here as is her lack of self-worth (in an odd fashion): she is OK with whoring herself to get Zhaan a meal(!!!!!) (and I love how both John and D’Argo would much rather kill the guy). And so is her darkness: she kills the guy in a pretty gruesome way. I really do think she is the one who killed the Nebari keeper in the ep she first appeared.
And here is the start of Chi and D’Argo. I squealed at the kiss. And some of my fave quotes are here. I love Aeryn’s snide ‘I get to babysit the blooming blue bush and you get to play with your favorite little tralk’ and Crichton’s ‘you can eat anything if it’s fried’ is sort of a catchphrase in the Mousie household.
I also love the scene with Rygel on the sled and Rygel biting John and John biting back. Yeah. Farscape=awesome insanity.
I’ve been browsing through TWOP’s Farscape recaps and they are hit or miss, but I love that the nickname for Bialar Crais is Bipolar Crais. Totally fits :D Also, just merely reading Jacob’s recap of the tag of one of my all time favorite episodes, S4’s WSS Part 3, made me sniffle. GUUUH. Oh. John.
But where's the Downer Tag? Oh, here it is. John leans back against their bed, drinking from a flask. Aeryn lies behind him on the bed, propped on a pillow. John's like, "Stark, huh." She hums at him. He gestures with his booze. "Everything old is new again. Except, the old thing's getting really old." He takes another drink and sets the cup aside. He's staring out at nothing. He needs to take a goddamn nap.
"Hi, honey," he chuckles sadly. "Guess what I did at work today? I wore a bomb. A nuclear bomb, in a field of flowers." He closes his eyes and sighs; Aeryn turns to look at him.
"I could get lucky. Tomorrow I could have a bigger bomb." She raises up on her elbows, staring now.
"I could kill more people. Maybe they'll be innocent people. Children, maybe." She watches him, and he swallows, hollowed out. He finally looks up at her, and she reaches out to touch his hair. He closes his eyes, under her hand, as she strokes his tired head. He lowers his face into the crook of his elbow, hiding his face. She rests her hand in his hair. He laces his fingers with hers. He begins to sob.
TWWW:
Excellent, excellent episode.
If I didn’t love Pilot already. I would have fallen in love with him after this ep. The scene where he says ‘but I so desperately wanted to see the stars’ to justify to himself his prior course of action, really breaks my heart.
You know, one of the biggest reasons I wouldn’t try Farscape for years, not until S4 in fact, was the ‘muppets.’ No way could I watch a scifi show with puppets. But that’s the thing. I forget Rygel and Pilot are puppets. They are complicated characters, like the rest.
Another thing that I was thinking about with this ep, is how Farscapian. There are no true innocents here. Not really. Farscapian universe won’t let them be. Anyone who starts out innocent is forced to lose it, sooner or later. Crichton and Pilot are both innocents we see lose it. Pilot’s actions led to the death of the previous Pilot, he compromised to serve PKs. Crichton started the show out as a wide-eyed idealistic pacifist and look what he became end of S4, strapping a nuclear bomb on himself, offering the Universe to Scorpius for a mere chance to get Aeryn back.
No one starts out evil, or damaged, or guilty in FS. Even Scorpius, much as I loathe him, we really find out later what made him who he became. But (and that is why I love Farscape), there is always a possibility of grace. Of moving on, damaged and tarnished, and making new happiness and actively trying to find peace and goodness. Aeryn gets a chance to rediscover herself away from the brutality of PKs. She gets a chance to be a full-fledged human being. Pilot gets the bond with Moya. Crichton, messed up beyond any recognition by the end, gets a chance at family, peace, and rediscovering innocence through his child.
So much of this ep is about choices and past and that’s another thing I love about FS. It’s not big on ‘fate.’ Aeryn and Crichton is my huge, huge, almost unrivaled OTP but they are not ‘destined,’ ‘fated,’ or any of that junk. They met at the time there was a possibility and their relationships developed from there. If Crichton did propose to Alex and she accepted and they stayed on Earth, I can see him being happy. He’d never have hit his full potential for feeling (or for suffering) but he would have been a happy guy. And for Aeryn, the moment was right. She loved Velorek but she couldn’t really allow herself to express it or to feel it fully, in PK society. Ironically, it’s her experience with Velorek, combined with her experience with his Mother telling her she is special, that was that little push that prompted her to take to Crichton’s words of ‘you can be more’ in the Premiere.
I really love the scene where he comforts her after she’s had an exercise session and her hands are raw from the punching bag. He just holds her, as she cries. And she cries messily, unprettily, very real.
And that shot of them sitting across the PK symbol from each other, as she quietly tells him about the past, and they are not touching (I love that he knows it’s not the time for cuddling, that she needs her space to collect herself) and it’s so symbolic: that red stripe between them.
One of my favorite quotes occurs there, actually.
Aeryn: You may have noticed that at times I held you at a distance.
Crichton: Many times. Vast distances.
It’s just the way they say it. Quiet.
This is a gender reversal in their relationship, isn’t it? She is the one who has problems opening up (Crichton is the only one she allows herself to be vulnerable with and it’s been a long hard process to earn it, for him). He is the one who comforts her, who wants her to talk. He is the emotional one, the one with the heart like a carpet for her to walk on. She prefers action and it’s hard for her to navigate the emotional landscape. And yet, Crichton is never weak. He is never diminished because of caring, or being the emotional one. I like it.
I also love the attitude everyone has on discovering Aeryn has been aboard Moya before (which looks grey and dull, not the gorgeous colors of now). I love that the show doesn’t shy away either from confronting that no, she did have an ugly past, it’s not just the words, and the fact that ultimately what she is now wins over for her shipmates from what she was then.
The thing with Velorek, the betrayal. I think the scene with her Mother when she was a child was so crucial for her actions post-Velorek. If she didn’t have that ‘differentness’ implanted, she could have become even more martinet like after Velorek. But instead, it gave her a sliver of an opening…
I could go on and on and on forever, but I’ll just mention two little things here. One is, I love the shot when Aeryn and John drop from the ceiling into Pilot’s den in unison. Two? The tag. First time I saw it, it killed me dead. When Aeryn and John are talking and she tells him that he reminded her of Velorek and he asks ‘And you say you loved that man?’ and they stare at each other and away with all the questions and answers they are afraid of saying, in their eyes.
Home on the Remains
Not as good as TWWW. Duh. So some very short comments on it.
I love the visuals of the pollen floating through the ship. I have never felt entirely comfortable with Zhaan because underneath her calm, even good demeanor, there is madness waiting to peep out and the show never lets you forget it. Here it really manifests when she is in starvation mode and it’s scary and surreal and oddly beautiful.
Second comment is that we get some glimpse into what Chiana’s life was before Moya, and why she was all spikes when she came on board. Her loyalty is manifest here as is her lack of self-worth (in an odd fashion): she is OK with whoring herself to get Zhaan a meal(!!!!!) (and I love how both John and D’Argo would much rather kill the guy). And so is her darkness: she kills the guy in a pretty gruesome way. I really do think she is the one who killed the Nebari keeper in the ep she first appeared.
And here is the start of Chi and D’Argo. I squealed at the kiss. And some of my fave quotes are here. I love Aeryn’s snide ‘I get to babysit the blooming blue bush and you get to play with your favorite little tralk’ and Crichton’s ‘you can eat anything if it’s fried’ is sort of a catchphrase in the Mousie household.
I also love the scene with Rygel on the sled and Rygel biting John and John biting back. Yeah. Farscape=awesome insanity.
I’ve been browsing through TWOP’s Farscape recaps and they are hit or miss, but I love that the nickname for Bialar Crais is Bipolar Crais. Totally fits :D Also, just merely reading Jacob’s recap of the tag of one of my all time favorite episodes, S4’s WSS Part 3, made me sniffle. GUUUH. Oh. John.
But where's the Downer Tag? Oh, here it is. John leans back against their bed, drinking from a flask. Aeryn lies behind him on the bed, propped on a pillow. John's like, "Stark, huh." She hums at him. He gestures with his booze. "Everything old is new again. Except, the old thing's getting really old." He takes another drink and sets the cup aside. He's staring out at nothing. He needs to take a goddamn nap.
"Hi, honey," he chuckles sadly. "Guess what I did at work today? I wore a bomb. A nuclear bomb, in a field of flowers." He closes his eyes and sighs; Aeryn turns to look at him.
"I could get lucky. Tomorrow I could have a bigger bomb." She raises up on her elbows, staring now.
"I could kill more people. Maybe they'll be innocent people. Children, maybe." She watches him, and he swallows, hollowed out. He finally looks up at her, and she reaches out to touch his hair. He closes his eyes, under her hand, as she strokes his tired head. He lowers his face into the crook of his elbow, hiding his face. She rests her hand in his hair. He laces his fingers with hers. He begins to sob.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-24 02:33 am (UTC)I am late to Farscape for the same reasons you cite: the muppetry and makeup just made it seem far too out-there, and I never thought I'd get past it (nor did I think those characters would ever be written as well as they are - I thought they were all just unusual visuals). This is the last show I saw myself falling for.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 04:00 am (UTC)Best friend tried to get me into FS for years but it just sounded too trippy. Then I randomly saw Dog with two Bones, S3 finale. I had no clue what on earth was going on, but was hoooooked.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-24 09:58 am (UTC)I'm a "late bloomer" too, caught up in when BB joined the cast of SG-1. I used to fangirl for SG-1 until then; and then Farscape made me realise what quality television *is*.
Thank you for the reminder!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 04:04 am (UTC)I only checked FS out at the end of S3. My friend tried to get me to watch it for years but I thought it sounded much too odd. Little did I know.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-24 10:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 04:03 am (UTC)