In which I post when I shouldn't
Apparently, if you're me, starting to post a TV meme means that work will dump on your head unrelentingly for the next month.
Part of it was unexpected--a massive expansion of the documentation requirements for a new feature--and part of it was unanticipated--my manager went on vacation and left me in charge of everything, and suddenly I'm reminded of why I never went into management.
And none of this work has helped me decide what is my favorite episode of Farscape.
Day 5 - Favorite episode of a favorite show
I finally narrowed it down to three!
(1) "A Human Reaction" is in many ways the defining episode of the show, the one that marks the transition from the relatively episodic and uneven establishing episodes of the first season to what the show became: a show about consequences, and about the way John's search for home became part of John's fear, and about the wormholes. The reason that it isn't my asbolute favorite episode is that while I love beyond all reason the parts of the episode that show how languages work with translator microbes (that was what made me originally sit up and say I LOVE THIS SHOW); and the terrible, hard scenes of captivity of the Moya crew in Australia; and John and Aeryn's escape, which reduced all they cared about to a fundamental partnership; I found the last 20 minutes of the episode, where John converses with the Ancients in what appears to be the bottom of the pool, a little less riveting. It's still amazing.
(2) "The Way We Weren't" is such a revelation, because this is the episode where the show, and Aeryn and Pilot, own the past in all its ugliness. She was always a soldier; she wasn't always a soldier for a good cause; and that was some wonderfully brave storytelling. The harsh lights of the past; the way the episode opened on Moya's original Pilot getting killed, and then pulled back to show Aeryn as part of that killing squad; Pilot's history with Moya and with Velorek. And especially the final scene, which ends in the most meaningful silence I've ever seen on TV.
(3) "Dog with Two Bones," which despite introducing Noranti was all about John's choices so far, and his choices going forward, and what home means to him at this point. The show had always been about John's search for home; but what home means to him has been shifting subtly over time. This is the episode where he realizes that he can't go back, and also loses all that he wants in the new home. The whole, heartbreaking fantasy is beautifully realized, from Aeryn's inability to pronounce English correctly to the Peacekeepers' invasion of Earth during John's wedding. All his dreams are ashes, and his reality isn't much better, and that's what Farscape is about.
Previous entries here.
* * * * *
In other news, let me tell you about the role of lookup keys in star schema databases! Wait, where are you going?
This entry was originally posted at http://danceswithwords.dreamwidth.org/149037.html (
comments). Comment at either site.
Part of it was unexpected--a massive expansion of the documentation requirements for a new feature--and part of it was unanticipated--my manager went on vacation and left me in charge of everything, and suddenly I'm reminded of why I never went into management.
And none of this work has helped me decide what is my favorite episode of Farscape.
Day 5 - Favorite episode of a favorite show
I finally narrowed it down to three!
(1) "A Human Reaction" is in many ways the defining episode of the show, the one that marks the transition from the relatively episodic and uneven establishing episodes of the first season to what the show became: a show about consequences, and about the way John's search for home became part of John's fear, and about the wormholes. The reason that it isn't my asbolute favorite episode is that while I love beyond all reason the parts of the episode that show how languages work with translator microbes (that was what made me originally sit up and say I LOVE THIS SHOW); and the terrible, hard scenes of captivity of the Moya crew in Australia; and John and Aeryn's escape, which reduced all they cared about to a fundamental partnership; I found the last 20 minutes of the episode, where John converses with the Ancients in what appears to be the bottom of the pool, a little less riveting. It's still amazing.
(2) "The Way We Weren't" is such a revelation, because this is the episode where the show, and Aeryn and Pilot, own the past in all its ugliness. She was always a soldier; she wasn't always a soldier for a good cause; and that was some wonderfully brave storytelling. The harsh lights of the past; the way the episode opened on Moya's original Pilot getting killed, and then pulled back to show Aeryn as part of that killing squad; Pilot's history with Moya and with Velorek. And especially the final scene, which ends in the most meaningful silence I've ever seen on TV.
(3) "Dog with Two Bones," which despite introducing Noranti was all about John's choices so far, and his choices going forward, and what home means to him at this point. The show had always been about John's search for home; but what home means to him has been shifting subtly over time. This is the episode where he realizes that he can't go back, and also loses all that he wants in the new home. The whole, heartbreaking fantasy is beautifully realized, from Aeryn's inability to pronounce English correctly to the Peacekeepers' invasion of Earth during John's wedding. All his dreams are ashes, and his reality isn't much better, and that's what Farscape is about.
Previous entries here.
* * * * *
In other news, let me tell you about the role of lookup keys in star schema databases! Wait, where are you going?
This entry was originally posted at http://danceswithwords.dreamwidth.org/149037.html (
comments). Comment at either site.