Musings of the Obsessive Kind

Am now on second half of S2 and love it so freaking much! My favorite episode was the one with Chuck and Sarah in the suburbs because so much shippiness and h/c and it killed me how after it all she shut him down (this is her coping method, isn't it?) And his face!

I am, however, a fickle shipper apparently, because two eps later I actively wanted Sarah to hook up with that hottie British agent. I am, apparently, a multi-shipper.

Have a MV:



And another:



Also, am I insane for thinking Chuck is pretty much a non-scifi, much more comedic sibling of Farscape? I mean the whole thing with the smart sweet geek who is being hunted by everyone for something that has been placed in his brain and the tough, violence-bred-into-her woman who has trouble emotionally opening up. And the guy is totally devoted to her. Only I cannot see Chuck ever going 1/10 as dark as FS ever went (by the end, Crichton is a burned-out, violent, PTSD-ing shell, at least until the very end of PKW when something happens...). But I clearly have a trope.

Yesterday was the turn of "Unrealized Realities," an ep I really like (from then on, despite somewhat uneven beginnings, s4 becomes an unstoppable juggernaught of awesomeness).

Anyway, here are my thoughts.

* Chiana may not seem to be the best relationship guru (seeing how her one relationship that wasn't a one-night stand, imploded) but she actually is, when it comes to Aeryn and Crichton - her comment back in s2 about how he'd have to go fast with the body and slow with the soul with Aeryn was spot on (too bad he wasn't listening) and her advice to Aeryn here, that neither English nor wormholes are something she has to learn to win him back but something else is - that is very on-point. What is broken in their relationship (and yes, yes, I know he's taking lakka to prevent Scorpy from realizing how crucial Aeryn is to him (and doubling the doze, omg - that says volumes about intensity of his feeling) but lakka or not, there really is an issue there and his disappointment and anger) is trust and a sense of security.

* Crichton's attitude to yet someone else chasing him for his mind/messing with his mind, has evolved from A Human Reaction, Won't Get Fooled Again and even John Quixote - he is matter-of-fact, 'what else is new' mixed with controlled anger.

* How very Farscapian that Crichton sees a myriad of 'unrealized realities' and not a single one of them is in any way pleasant. The fact that his current reality is the best of the bunch is pretty horrifying. All the unrealized realities go from bad to worse to worst and, significantly, the worst reality (even worse than the one where Earth is taken by Scarrans and Scorpius is his father), the one which gets Crichton to tell Einstein to kill him, is the one where he betrays all his friends and loved ones and allies with Crais - no matter how messed up he goes, no matter how a shadow of his former sane/non-violent self, he will always be ready to give up his life for those he loves. (Side note - ahhh, I miss Zhaan and Crais and Jool and seeing them again was wonderful).

* On realities front, I loved seeing the one where Sikozu was a Scarran spy simply because Crichton looks amazing in PK leathers and Sikozu looked awesome doing her anti-gravity shooting thing. (Maybe she should hang out with River). I do think the worst fate would be the one he faced near the end - not to be remembered at all, not to be important enough to matter to anyone (which is something that Crichton will never be - unmemorable, love him or hate him).

* Ahhhh, the irony of that ending - I find it fascinating that Crichton was concentrating so hard of thinking of 'home' and so he is at Earth not Moya. Which makes sense - he's lived on Earth a lot longer than he has on Moya. But I think it is also because he has not yet fully realized how incompatible he is with Earth, how Moya is where he belongs. Crichton knows he'd pick Aeryn over Earth but he doesn't yet know that even leaving that choice out of the equation, he can't pick Earth any more - the uncharted territories and all the horrors and emotions that happened to him made him into someone very different than the man he was when he left.

Also, my DVD boxset of S1 of First Wave has got here. EEEE! I've been craving to have DVDs of this since forever. Though at the rate they are releasing them, I'll get s3 when I am 80.

On the drama front, I checked out first ep of Dream High 2. It's cute and poppy and not particularly involving but is something I'll probably watch when more eps are out. I think this is pretty much Korean High School Musical - silly and shallow but fun and with wholesome high school singing. I confess I have more interest in Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, not in the least because that title is pretty much insane.

Yesterday was the turn of "Unrealized Realities," an ep I really like (from then on, despite somewhat uneven beginnings, s4 becomes an unstoppable juggernaught of awesomeness).

Anyway, here are my thoughts.

* Chiana may not seem to be the best relationship guru (seeing how her one relationship that wasn't a one-night stand, imploded) but she actually is, when it comes to Aeryn and Crichton - her comment back in s2 about how he'd have to go fast with the body and slow with the soul with Aeryn was spot on (too bad he wasn't listening) and her advice to Aeryn here, that neither English nor wormholes are something she has to learn to win him back but something else is - that is very on-point. What is broken in their relationship (and yes, yes, I know he's taking lakka to prevent Scorpy from realizing how crucial Aeryn is to him (and doubling the doze, omg - that says volumes about intensity of his feeling) but lakka or not, there really is an issue there and his disappointment and anger) is trust and a sense of security.

* Crichton's attitude to yet someone else chasing him for his mind/messing with his mind, has evolved from A Human Reaction, Won't Get Fooled Again and even John Quixote - he is matter-of-fact, 'what else is new' mixed with controlled anger.

* How very Farscapian that Crichton sees a myriad of 'unrealized realities' and not a single one of them is in any way pleasant. The fact that his current reality is the best of the bunch is pretty horrifying. All the unrealized realities go from bad to worse to worst and, significantly, the worst reality (even worse than the one where Earth is taken by Scarrans and Scorpius is his father), the one which gets Crichton to tell Einstein to kill him, is the one where he betrays all his friends and loved ones and allies with Crais - no matter how messed up he goes, no matter how a shadow of his former sane/non-violent self, he will always be ready to give up his life for those he loves. (Side note - ahhh, I miss Zhaan and Crais and Jool and seeing them again was wonderful).

* On realities front, I loved seeing the one where Sikozu was a Scarran spy simply because Crichton looks amazing in PK leathers and Sikozu looked awesome doing her anti-gravity shooting thing. (Maybe she should hang out with River). I do think the worst fate would be the one he faced near the end - not to be remembered at all, not to be important enough to matter to anyone (which is something that Crichton will never be - unmemorable, love him or hate him).

* Ahhhh, the irony of that ending - I find it fascinating that Crichton was concentrating so hard of thinking of 'home' and so he is at Earth not Moya. Which makes sense - he's lived on Earth a lot longer than he has on Moya. But I think it is also because he has not yet fully realized how incompatible he is with Earth, how Moya is where he belongs. Crichton knows he'd pick Aeryn over Earth but he doesn't yet know that even leaving that choice out of the equation, he can't pick Earth any more - the uncharted territories and all the horrors and emotions that happened to him made him into someone very different than the man he was when he left.

Also, my DVD boxset of S1 of First Wave has got here. EEEE! I've been craving to have DVDs of this since forever. Though at the rate they are releasing them, I'll get s3 when I am 80.

On the drama front, I checked out first ep of Dream High 2. It's cute and poppy and not particularly involving but is something I'll probably watch when more eps are out. I think this is pretty much Korean High School Musical - silly and shallow but fun and with wholesome high school singing. I confess I have more interest in Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, not in the least because that title is pretty much insane.

*cosmic scream*

Rockne S. O'Bannon (i.e., the man who brought us Farscape!!!) has a new upcoming show on syfy, called Defiance, which seems to be a post-apocalyptic space Western - I've always liked Westerns but Firefly made me kinda incoherent about the space Western thing.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't screw it up, TPTB! Please! Because it makes me remember Farscape and Firefly and other awesome awesome awesome things.

(Yes, I realize the above is not from either of the eps discussed. But I don't have any APM or CbC caps and I love the above shot. Bonus points if you guess which ep it's from).

4.09 - A Perfect Murder

First off, I still do not get the reason for showing same conversations different types with more bits filled in. Other than this, it's an episode that makes my not-so-inner shipper squee.

Clearly, Crichton has to rely more and more on drugs to keep his feelings for Aeryn in check. When he feverishly hunts for the drug because he hears her speak English - ohhhh. I can see why this an especially vulnerable point for him because it is both a memory related to her 'choosing' Talyn-John (because that's why/how she really picked up English) but it also signifies acceptance of who he is, his background, even a callback to younger, more naive Crichton's hope of taking her home with him. He doesn't yet realize neither of them fits on earth any more.

Aeryn is having a hard time in this ep too, and I am not just referring to her and John's mindwipe. She is someone who's tried so hard to get away from being an automaton, a mindless killer - sure, she still kills now, but she needs a reason or a cause beyond 'orders.' And yet the bugs render her a mindless automaton again, worse than she was in PKs.

And the end, with John and Aeryn forced to point guns at each other, knowing they will be forced to kill each other, and resisting the most they can, but knowing it's a losing battle. It takes this extremity to bring out the conversation about the coin toss - it is only the knowledge of death that makes John desperate and fearless enough to bring the coin toss and say he thinks it ended badly - i.e., he still wants Aeryn. And it takes equal desperation and fearlessness for Aeryn to agree. And then when the compulsion is broken, you can see them on the floor, and their fingers are touching through his gloves and they can't help but touch each other's hands - tiny, almost unconscious gestures, but so huge in meaning considering where they are in their relationship (and later, he touches her again, at the grave of the prefect she killed - it's like he cannot shut off his longing and their comfort off right away).

In other news, the whole clan thing reminded me of medieval Scotland and Chiana's line to the priest about whether it's true they "give great...religious experience" cracked me up.

But the thing that interested me most was Crichton's offhand comment in response to a query about Aeryn being difficult "Should have met her mother." !!!!!! But the only one who met her mother was Talyn-John!!!!!!! I know they never addressed it explicitly, but in FS, nothing is meaningless, so I always believed that on some level, Moya-John got 'merged' with Talyn-John/got his memories, on a subconscious level.

4.10 - Coup by Clam

It's funny, this used to be the only episode of FS that I actively disliked, but I actually really enjoyed it this time. I think after having a baby, my gross-out threshold has disappeared (this is the most body-fluid happy ep of the show). Leaving aside the hilariousness of Crichton in drag (ugliest woman ever), what I really loved both Rygel's and Scorpius' ruthlessness. Rygel feeding the molluscs to the doc, thus condemning him to a hideous but well-deserved death = so chilling, so Rygel, so kinda awesome. (And this wasn't his motivation, but it does prevent the doctor from killing/blackmailing more people). And what struck me about Scorpius is what an unusual 'bad guy' he is - he doesn't particularly enjoy the horrific things he does (unlike e.g., Grayza) because all his hatred is reserved for the Scarrans. But he cares only about his goal and the means are immaterial. (I do wonder what he'd do with himself if Scarrans got obliterated - he would lose all meaning in life).

(Yes, I realize the above is not from either of the eps discussed. But I don't have any APM or CbC caps and I love the above shot. Bonus points if you guess which ep it's from).

4.09 - A Perfect Murder

First off, I still do not get the reason for showing same conversations different types with more bits filled in. Other than this, it's an episode that makes my not-so-inner shipper squee.

Clearly, Crichton has to rely more and more on drugs to keep his feelings for Aeryn in check. When he feverishly hunts for the drug because he hears her speak English - ohhhh. I can see why this an especially vulnerable point for him because it is both a memory related to her 'choosing' Talyn-John (because that's why/how she really picked up English) but it also signifies acceptance of who he is, his background, even a callback to younger, more naive Crichton's hope of taking her home with him. He doesn't yet realize neither of them fits on earth any more.

Aeryn is having a hard time in this ep too, and I am not just referring to her and John's mindwipe. She is someone who's tried so hard to get away from being an automaton, a mindless killer - sure, she still kills now, but she needs a reason or a cause beyond 'orders.' And yet the bugs render her a mindless automaton again, worse than she was in PKs.

And the end, with John and Aeryn forced to point guns at each other, knowing they will be forced to kill each other, and resisting the most they can, but knowing it's a losing battle. It takes this extremity to bring out the conversation about the coin toss - it is only the knowledge of death that makes John desperate and fearless enough to bring the coin toss and say he thinks it ended badly - i.e., he still wants Aeryn. And it takes equal desperation and fearlessness for Aeryn to agree. And then when the compulsion is broken, you can see them on the floor, and their fingers are touching through his gloves and they can't help but touch each other's hands - tiny, almost unconscious gestures, but so huge in meaning considering where they are in their relationship (and later, he touches her again, at the grave of the prefect she killed - it's like he cannot shut off his longing and their comfort off right away).

In other news, the whole clan thing reminded me of medieval Scotland and Chiana's line to the priest about whether it's true they "give great...religious experience" cracked me up.

But the thing that interested me most was Crichton's offhand comment in response to a query about Aeryn being difficult "Should have met her mother." !!!!!! But the only one who met her mother was Talyn-John!!!!!!! I know they never addressed it explicitly, but in FS, nothing is meaningless, so I always believed that on some level, Moya-John got 'merged' with Talyn-John/got his memories, on a subconscious level.

4.10 - Coup by Clam

It's funny, this used to be the only episode of FS that I actively disliked, but I actually really enjoyed it this time. I think after having a baby, my gross-out threshold has disappeared (this is the most body-fluid happy ep of the show). Leaving aside the hilariousness of Crichton in drag (ugliest woman ever), what I really loved both Rygel's and Scorpius' ruthlessness. Rygel feeding the molluscs to the doc, thus condemning him to a hideous but well-deserved death = so chilling, so Rygel, so kinda awesome. (And this wasn't his motivation, but it does prevent the doctor from killing/blackmailing more people). And what struck me about Scorpius is what an unusual 'bad guy' he is - he doesn't particularly enjoy the horrific things he does (unlike e.g., Grayza) because all his hatred is reserved for the Scarrans. But he cares only about his goal and the means are immaterial. (I do wonder what he'd do with himself if Scarrans got obliterated - he would lose all meaning in life).

1. Chuck. Sometimes I like light and cooky, and seeing clips and vids on youtube made me think I may like it.

2. Warehouse 13. Mr. Mousie is a fan and I like scifi...

3. Fringe. I was sold by parallel universes. Also, apparently there is shippiness, if the mv below is any indication.



4. Haven. I am most excited by this one! First off, Mr. Mousie loves it, and since we are both fans of Firefly and Farscape and Buffy and Dr Who and a billion other things, we have similar tastes. Plus, I was digging around on youtube, and it triggered my memory that this is a show where one of the characters is a guy who cannot feel a single thing except - the only thing he can feel is heroine's touch. Sold. Have a MV for them...



I am skipping Lost Girl, because it seems to me to be a bit too Laurel K. Hamilton for my tastes.

Oh, and apparently the first season of First Wave is on DVD! Guess who just bought it? I used to love that show 10+ yrs ago - nothing like hot people fighting an alien conspiracy while being hunted by the government. Plus, mmmm, Sebastian Spence.

On a final note, I realized I never watched Babylon 5. The horror! Not only is it Mr. Mousie's all-time favorite show, it's a scifi classic. Luckily, I just bought the entire series on DVD for Mr. Mousie for Valentine's Day, so I know what we are watching in February :)

Oh, and just finished Farscape 4.08, I Shrink, Therefore I Am. It's not an ep for which I have a lot of meta, but I do like the Crichton has to take almost constant hits of the drug to be able to function clear-headedly and not get overwhelmed with 'Aeryn is in danger Aeryn Aeryn Aeryn!' And I love how the show mocks technobabble. Plus, Rygel being unselfish and Crichton snarking on Scorpy are always great.

One of the pleasures of my rewatch is that Mr. Mousie is as much of a fan as I am, so we do it together :)



Now, on to the ep. JQ is one of my favorite episodes, because the 'John is in a made-up world, created to fuck with him' is a favorite thing of mine (I prefer both 'A Human Reaction' and the brilliantly insane 'Won't Get Fooled Again' but JQ is still wonderful).

This time around what struck me was that TPTB were both insane and brave and take huge risks - this episode is entirely off-kilter and would make no sense to anyone who is not a long-time FS watcher (I actually remember seeing the scene with Chiana and John in the parking lot before I ever watched FS and thinking that whatever this was, was done under influence of drugs and I didn't want to watch it. Now I love it).

The candy-colored 'game' world is fascinating and funny as hell (but with a cruel, cruel bite as anything in FS. It's probably the darkest show I've watched), but the sequences that always get me are when Crichton thinks he's back on Moya and the end.

The sequence on Moya just showcases how full of nightmares John's world is, how his imagination is truly a funhouse of horrors - this is really his worst fear made flesh, isn't it? All his friends captured and enslaved because of him, Aeryn working with Scorpius and mentally enslaved by him and betraying Crichton, and he in a cell, writing wormhole equations in his own blood.

I think that this is the episode that finally pushed Crichton into trying to distance himself from Aeryn by any means possible (and being Crichton, he can only control his feelings and his longing through the emotion-numbing lakka drug, and as we see later, even that fails). Because that game shows him in sharp relief how Aeryn is his one fatal vulnerability - he automatically assumes she is the princess he needs to kiss to escape the game so she clouds his head, but it's not even that. It makes him realize unequivocally that his being who he is put Aeryn and her unborn child in danger, how easily Scorpius can use them if he ever realize just how 'beyond hope' for her he is. That nightmare scenario sets in sharp relief what can happen if he doesn't let go. She is his greatest weakness, but he is her greatest threat. (And how right he is proven to be - he offers wormholes to Scorpius to save her in Constellation of Doubt in probably the darkest he's ever been, in my favorite scene. And she gets tortured because of him in Prayer).

Oh, and how I miss Zhaan. Seeing her here briefly brings it all back...

Have an appropriate MV...



ETA: Thinking more about this ep, two more things come to mind - John's fuck-you impatience with yet another mindfuck and his recklessness about his own life are very present - he just jumps off the top of the tower without knowing it would reset everything. And Zhaan's question as to whether he wasted her sacrifice and he should find out what he's doing with his life 'before more innocents die for the love of you' hits square in his guilt-ridden/self-loathing psyche and I am sure is part of what drives him to try to distance himself from Aeryn (though a small part of it must be a desperate desire to just stop feeling, stop hurting).

One of the pleasures of my rewatch is that Mr. Mousie is as much of a fan as I am, so we do it together :)



Now, on to the ep. JQ is one of my favorite episodes, because the 'John is in a made-up world, created to fuck with him' is a favorite thing of mine (I prefer both 'A Human Reaction' and the brilliantly insane 'Won't Get Fooled Again' but JQ is still wonderful).

This time around what struck me was that TPTB were both insane and brave and take huge risks - this episode is entirely off-kilter and would make no sense to anyone who is not a long-time FS watcher (I actually remember seeing the scene with Chiana and John in the parking lot before I ever watched FS and thinking that whatever this was, was done under influence of drugs and I didn't want to watch it. Now I love it).

The candy-colored 'game' world is fascinating and funny as hell (but with a cruel, cruel bite as anything in FS. It's probably the darkest show I've watched), but the sequences that always get me are when Crichton thinks he's back on Moya and the end.

The sequence on Moya just showcases how full of nightmares John's world is, how his imagination is truly a funhouse of horrors - this is really his worst fear made flesh, isn't it? All his friends captured and enslaved because of him, Aeryn working with Scorpius and mentally enslaved by him and betraying Crichton, and he in a cell, writing wormhole equations in his own blood.

I think that this is the episode that finally pushed Crichton into trying to distance himself from Aeryn by any means possible (and being Crichton, he can only control his feelings and his longing through the emotion-numbing lakka drug, and as we see later, even that fails). Because that game shows him in sharp relief how Aeryn is his one fatal vulnerability - he automatically assumes she is the princess he needs to kiss to escape the game so she clouds his head, but it's not even that. It makes him realize unequivocally that his being who he is put Aeryn and her unborn child in danger, how easily Scorpius can use them if he ever realize just how 'beyond hope' for her he is. That nightmare scenario sets in sharp relief what can happen if he doesn't let go. She is his greatest weakness, but he is her greatest threat. (And how right he is proven to be - he offers wormholes to Scorpius to save her in Constellation of Doubt in probably the darkest he's ever been, in my favorite scene. And she gets tortured because of him in Prayer).

Oh, and how I miss Zhaan. Seeing her here briefly brings it all back...

Have an appropriate MV...



ETA: Thinking more about this ep, two more things come to mind - John's fuck-you impatience with yet another mindfuck and his recklessness about his own life are very present - he just jumps off the top of the tower without knowing it would reset everything. And Zhaan's question as to whether he wasted her sacrifice and he should find out what he's doing with his life 'before more innocents die for the love of you' hits square in his guilt-ridden/self-loathing psyche and I am sure is part of what drives him to try to distance himself from Aeryn (though a small part of it must be a desperate desire to just stop feeling, stop hurting).

Out of morbid curiosity, I tried Lucinda Brant's Noble Satyr, driven by the fact that a lot of irate reviewers said it was a blatant rip-off of Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades, one of my favorite books.

Short version - yes, it's a rip-off. But that is not even the crime here, the crime is that it is so deadly dull. The sole advantage, such as it is, over TOS, is that TOS, written in 1926, does not have sex scenes, and NS does. I'd trade every sex scene in existence, however, for a sense of humor, character development, and protagonists I care about.

TOS, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is one of the earliest novels of Georgette Heyer, the founder and patron saint of Regency romance. (Though TOS is actually set in France in 1750s, i.e., Georgian era). It created a lot of tropes that are still used, but nonetheless reads very fresh. There is cross-dressing, chases, revenge, murder attempts, family secrets, and the good old (though I suppose not so old back then) 'rake redeemed by a love of a woman' set-up. Our hero, the Duke of Avon, who has a well-earned awful reputation and is 40 without any desire to settle or slow down, comes across our heroine, Leonie, when she is dressed as a boy, "Leon." Intrigued by her resemblance to his long-standing enemy, he decides to hire her as his page. And the story goes from there...

So, why do I love TOS so and found NS a horrible bore?

1. This is such a funny, witty, biting novel. I literally laughed out loud repeatedly.
2. Leonie is probably one of my favorite Heyer heroines (and 'pig person' is an insult I adopted :P) She's hot-tempered, impatient, brave, unconventional, blunt and reminds me freakishly of Chiana from Farscape, minus Chiana's love of sexual experimentation.
3. Most 'hardened rake reformed by a love of a good woman' stories either bore me, leave me incredulous, or both, but here it actually works. For one, because Leonie is not a 'good woman' by a standard definition, being prone to rages, fully cognizant of Avon's reputation and being fine with it, and at one point lamenting to Avon that he didn't kill her father but should have :) She puts him on a pedestal and he actually ends up working to be worthy of it. For another, Heyer is great at character development and the biggest delight of the book to me is watching the slow change in their relationship - it starts with her adoration of him for being rescued from the slums and his indifference, progresses to his being fond and amused by her, and by the end, she's the one who's winding him around her finger. I always thought it was pretty symbolic that they start with her kneeling to him (as his page) and end with him kneeling to her. They are a very unconventional couple, but it works. Oh, and the age difference is addressed (and doesn't bother me in 1750s upper class anyway).
4. Secondary characters crack me up.
5. Cross-dressing!

I always wished they made a movie out of it...

Not related,, but I looooove this fanvid of Farscape, that concentrates on John's insanity...