Farscape meta: BoD, WGFA, The Locket
Sep. 19th, 2007 12:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieYes, still Farscape. Watched 'Beware of Dog' (I like the ep but it suffers from my impatience to get to WGFA), Won't Get Fooled Again and The Locket (which I find unsettling, but probably like less than any other John/Aeryn shipper).
Here is meta.
Beware of Dog is a solid, good episode, but like the next to last ep of S1, it suffers from my desire to get to the episode following it.
I admit, in the rational light of day, the plot of this ep isn't the most coherent thing ever, but I don't mind. What sticks with me isn't the parasite plot, not even the Vork (hideous and annoying as that thing was, I felt very sad when it died), but the whole underpinning theme (soon to become a full-blown symphony) with Crichton seeing Scorpy and slowly going insane...
Throughout the episode, he is playing that chess game, and you think it really is against himself, only to realize at the end, as Scorpy's imaginary figure shows up, that this is who he has been playing against all along. And Scorpius' parting comment about a trap (and he doesn't mean chess) is chilling in light of what happens the rest of the seasons. Because play as hard as he might, at this point, all John is to him is a pawn.
The scene that sticks the most with me though, is John and Aeryn at the end, and he finally confides in someone (of course it will be her) that he sees Scorpy everywhere. And she is worried but not sure how to react (but I love her being utterly supportive. So different from early Aeryn, where to show weakness in front of her was not to be thought of) and he stonewalls help, really, by saying he will ask for help like she does. Their roles are slowly reversing, aren't they? Soon she will be his mental stability and his grip on humanity, and not the other way as it was in the beginning.
And he tells her he won't lose his mind, 'it's the only thing I have left.' The wealth of helpless bitterness in that (and the truth, and the fact that he will lose even that) really stay with me much after this ep.
Won't Get Fooled Again is one of my all time favorite episodes. In fact, it is in the running for THE favorite non-multi-parter, together with Terra Firma and Constellation of Doubt (both from S4). I love how a little off-kilter it is even in the beginning: when John wakes up in a world that's a little too candy-bright, too sharp-lit.
I love his reactions to yet another species messing with his mind: it starts as a blase-angry acceptance, a sort of weariness tinged with hysteria. 'Oh, we are at it again,' but this emotion is something that degenerates into panic and devastation soon enough, because Crichton, no matter how he likes to pretend, is simply not twisted enough for the games others play with him.
This episode has some utterly hilarious moments (Crais in heels, Rygel as the boss, anything with D'Argo), some moments that are both funny and disturbing, and then some moments that are truly horrifying. Starting with when John's dead mother is first brought up, the Scarran can tell that he has hit something that will help him drive Crichton over the edge, and the whole thing turns repulsive pretty quick. It starts with her talking to him, and it kills me that even though he knows she is dead, and that he tries to fight it, he can't help but want to be hugged, to be held by her again. He holds her even as he breaks down and he just looks so weary. And her comment about his lost innocence, and the fact that he has killed and that is why he cannot sleep at night is just...it's so enormous, because it's of course, his own subconscious talking to him here, but he so wants to believe he is worthy of consolation. And then later, in one of the most wrenching scenes, she appearsagain, with the IV and sick, and probably the way she looked as she was dying and begs him to stay with her 'this time' and he just goes to pieces, and he is weeping, unprettily, he looks utterly destroyed and is crying 'this is cruel, this is cruel' and stumbles away. That is just KILLER. Or the bit where he sees his parents bicker over whether it's better to have him or a dog. And then there is the 'Oedipal' scene. Farscape never shied away from tabboos or oddness: witness the scene in the same ep with Rygel in dominator outfit *yikes* but that scene is one of the closest I ever came to watching through my fingers. The wonder is not that Crichton goes insane by the end of this season, but that it took this long!
Another thing that is so notable is Crichton's off-hand nihilism. How different from the other, earlier 'mess up his mind'ep, AHR: he crashes the car he is in, he shoots at the assembled fake!Moyans. And there is no pause, he just does it: he doesn't know what it would lead to, but his reaction is almost automatic.
The scenes with Harvey (and that is the ep he gets named in!) are brilliant: Crichton, laughing without any mirth, naming his chip (because everything is so insane, this is about the most sane thing of the bunch), Harvey revealing everything only to erase it. The last scene when Crichton tries to mouth what he has learned and not being about to make sounds, able to at first, only through sheer stubborness, but then losing even that. That so made me think of end of S2 and him equally mute, contorted on the surgical table.
And, of course, Aeryn. This time I noticed that when 'Bettina' kisses 'Gary,' even though he knows both are fakes, the look he gives them? Whoa. But you know what gets me? The scene with the disco ball. Because John's subconscious believed more than anything that Aeryn would come and save him. After all, she 'is the Radiant Aeryn Sun.'
Yeah.
This ep is funny, heartbreaking, brilliant and disturbing. You know what struck me this time? There is so much hurt, but no comfort at all. It ends as disorientingly as it begins.
I've only started The Locket, so meta on it later, but I do say I love it when Old!Aeryn tells John she forgot how beautiful he is. Now, if only young Aeryn said it ;)
Here is meta.
Beware of Dog is a solid, good episode, but like the next to last ep of S1, it suffers from my desire to get to the episode following it.
I admit, in the rational light of day, the plot of this ep isn't the most coherent thing ever, but I don't mind. What sticks with me isn't the parasite plot, not even the Vork (hideous and annoying as that thing was, I felt very sad when it died), but the whole underpinning theme (soon to become a full-blown symphony) with Crichton seeing Scorpy and slowly going insane...
Throughout the episode, he is playing that chess game, and you think it really is against himself, only to realize at the end, as Scorpy's imaginary figure shows up, that this is who he has been playing against all along. And Scorpius' parting comment about a trap (and he doesn't mean chess) is chilling in light of what happens the rest of the seasons. Because play as hard as he might, at this point, all John is to him is a pawn.
The scene that sticks the most with me though, is John and Aeryn at the end, and he finally confides in someone (of course it will be her) that he sees Scorpy everywhere. And she is worried but not sure how to react (but I love her being utterly supportive. So different from early Aeryn, where to show weakness in front of her was not to be thought of) and he stonewalls help, really, by saying he will ask for help like she does. Their roles are slowly reversing, aren't they? Soon she will be his mental stability and his grip on humanity, and not the other way as it was in the beginning.
And he tells her he won't lose his mind, 'it's the only thing I have left.' The wealth of helpless bitterness in that (and the truth, and the fact that he will lose even that) really stay with me much after this ep.
Won't Get Fooled Again is one of my all time favorite episodes. In fact, it is in the running for THE favorite non-multi-parter, together with Terra Firma and Constellation of Doubt (both from S4). I love how a little off-kilter it is even in the beginning: when John wakes up in a world that's a little too candy-bright, too sharp-lit.
I love his reactions to yet another species messing with his mind: it starts as a blase-angry acceptance, a sort of weariness tinged with hysteria. 'Oh, we are at it again,' but this emotion is something that degenerates into panic and devastation soon enough, because Crichton, no matter how he likes to pretend, is simply not twisted enough for the games others play with him.
This episode has some utterly hilarious moments (Crais in heels, Rygel as the boss, anything with D'Argo), some moments that are both funny and disturbing, and then some moments that are truly horrifying. Starting with when John's dead mother is first brought up, the Scarran can tell that he has hit something that will help him drive Crichton over the edge, and the whole thing turns repulsive pretty quick. It starts with her talking to him, and it kills me that even though he knows she is dead, and that he tries to fight it, he can't help but want to be hugged, to be held by her again. He holds her even as he breaks down and he just looks so weary. And her comment about his lost innocence, and the fact that he has killed and that is why he cannot sleep at night is just...it's so enormous, because it's of course, his own subconscious talking to him here, but he so wants to believe he is worthy of consolation. And then later, in one of the most wrenching scenes, she appearsagain, with the IV and sick, and probably the way she looked as she was dying and begs him to stay with her 'this time' and he just goes to pieces, and he is weeping, unprettily, he looks utterly destroyed and is crying 'this is cruel, this is cruel' and stumbles away. That is just KILLER. Or the bit where he sees his parents bicker over whether it's better to have him or a dog. And then there is the 'Oedipal' scene. Farscape never shied away from tabboos or oddness: witness the scene in the same ep with Rygel in dominator outfit *yikes* but that scene is one of the closest I ever came to watching through my fingers. The wonder is not that Crichton goes insane by the end of this season, but that it took this long!
Another thing that is so notable is Crichton's off-hand nihilism. How different from the other, earlier 'mess up his mind'ep, AHR: he crashes the car he is in, he shoots at the assembled fake!Moyans. And there is no pause, he just does it: he doesn't know what it would lead to, but his reaction is almost automatic.
The scenes with Harvey (and that is the ep he gets named in!) are brilliant: Crichton, laughing without any mirth, naming his chip (because everything is so insane, this is about the most sane thing of the bunch), Harvey revealing everything only to erase it. The last scene when Crichton tries to mouth what he has learned and not being about to make sounds, able to at first, only through sheer stubborness, but then losing even that. That so made me think of end of S2 and him equally mute, contorted on the surgical table.
And, of course, Aeryn. This time I noticed that when 'Bettina' kisses 'Gary,' even though he knows both are fakes, the look he gives them? Whoa. But you know what gets me? The scene with the disco ball. Because John's subconscious believed more than anything that Aeryn would come and save him. After all, she 'is the Radiant Aeryn Sun.'
Yeah.
This ep is funny, heartbreaking, brilliant and disturbing. You know what struck me this time? There is so much hurt, but no comfort at all. It ends as disorientingly as it begins.
I've only started The Locket, so meta on it later, but I do say I love it when Old!Aeryn tells John she forgot how beautiful he is. Now, if only young Aeryn said it ;)
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 08:51 am (UTC)I agree with you that BoD is the intro to all that was destroyed in Crichton by Scorpius and that damn mind chip. He is slowly slipping and roles are reversing. I love that Aeryn gives him her full support that she is there even though she cannot fullyunderstand it - not yet.
WGFA is a tour de force of laughs and hurt. I just love this ep, and not so much for its hilarity but for the Angst and the slow downward spiral of Crichton's into insanity. Pushing the envelope, they sure did.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 10:41 am (UTC)and I love how starkly WGFA contrasts with Human Reactions - various aliens screwed him so good that he isn't even trying to believe this is an Earth anymore, just goes on offensive off the bat. and this scene with his mother? heartbreaking (the only worse one is where he's trying to warn her in Terra Firma, but she goes away and never listens. oh, John).
no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 04:27 am (UTC)The bit that gets me the most is John begging D'Argo to kill him at the end of LGM, because even that has been taken away from him. It always kills me.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 04:29 am (UTC)Oh yes. It's heartbreaking that he starts so normal, so innocent, and it's all gutted out of him.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 04:29 am (UTC)But yes, one day, meta shall rule the world.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 04:38 am (UTC)I have a confession. I cannot get past vol 3 of W J. I don't dislike it or anything but it is just too fluffy to hold my interest. Please tell me someone's arm gets amputated or similar ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 09:17 pm (UTC)I've stumbled on this line - and he's got no reason to want to keep John happy except for the reason that most people have which is that the insanity is as sharp as sweat in the air and most rational thinkers want to keep it tamped down. (http://thassalia.livejournal.com/364119.html#cutid3) in
no subject
Date: 2007-09-21 04:54 am (UTC)Such a great description.
And I too do not see why Moyans just didn't strap him down. I guess they never really understood madness (they are all so practical) of the sort engulfing him until it was too late.