"Trust me. I'm a lawyer."
Standard disclaimer: this post and/or the comments may and probably will contain spoilers for the entire series. Previous episode posts here.
After I finished Season 1, I watched "Re:Union," the original Season 2 premiere that was remade into "Dream a Little Dream," on the Starburst Edition DVDs. I think the decision to go with a stronger season opener was the right one, because "Mind the Baby" both resolves the cliffhanger and puts a lot of the pieces in place for the new season. "Dream a Little Dream" is a much less dynamic story; when I first saw the show, I was puzzled by its timing, by why they were revisiting what the other half of the crew had been doing after the destruction of the gammak base at this particular point, but the timing makes sense as a way of repurposing existing footage during a run of stand-alone episodes before the season's arc kicks into gear. And I think "Re:Union" is too scattered, trying to cover too much area, whereas "Dream a Little Dream" was honed down to the essential bones of the plot, the courtroom drama episode and what it says about Zhaan's relationships with her crewmates and with herself.
I have a bias. An Aeryn-less episode is a difficult thing for me. Eliminate John and D'Argo from the picture too and it's all the more difficult. I have a tremendous amount of affection for Zhaan and Chiana and Rygel, but the absence of all of the characters I am most intensely interested in makes this episode a bit of a slog for me. That said, I really like Zhaan's crisis, her understandable lack of faith in Chiana and Rygel's ability to rescue her, and their oddly effective partnership. It's moving when Zhaan admits that she's been drawing her strength from the warriors in the group, as she literally leans on an imaginary John. She's divided the people in Moya into two groups: those she can rely on, and those who rely on her. And when she loses what she sees as the wellspring of her strength, all she has left is her doubt and her helplessness. She's in prison again, and this time she doesn't think she'll be able to get out, because she doubts her own strength.
But in her despair, she has underestimated Chiana and Rygel. They may act like squabbling children, but they're both very sharp people who have managed to survive for a very long time in hostile conditions. And Zhaan has inspired in them a rare desire to help someone else, which is a strength she doesn't see in herself. There is a wonderful natural affinity between Chiana and Rygel, the way they understand each other's motives, appreciate each other's ability to lie and cheat and weasel, a genuine and organic respect, and it's something I'm very glad the writers develop. The courtroom drama in the episode may be a little tired and static, the Moya Ex Machina of the Light of Truth a bit contrived, but Rygel and Chiana work together under the constraint of having to put on an honest defense, finesse that constraint to cheat just a little bit, use Chiana's wiles and Rygel's sharp eye for meaningful details to pull off a rescue Zhaan didn't even think possible, and that's a satisfying thing.
And in the end, Zhaan can share this story with John, as they have always been able to share their feelings. It's an interesting role reversal of their relationship in the first season, Zhaan coming to John with her inner turmoil, John listening, his own troubles safely locked away where he doesn't have to think about them, much less share them with someone else. That lack of return communication, the withdrawal, the turning inward, trying to keep a lid on his own panic and growing mental deterioration, is going to cause him more and more trouble in the coming months.
The concept of a planet of lawyers, creating an ever more complicated body of law to justify their existence, is interesting in a satirical sort of way, and I like a lot of the visual design, although the courtroom is a little too Alice-in-Wonderland for my tastes. And although the struggle between the utilities and the lawyers comes across as a bit abstract, this episode is a good example of how, even when it doesn't completely work, the makers of Farscape pay a lot of attention to creating a complex local culture and political climate for our heroes to get caught up in because their luck is bad and they're in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After I finished Season 1, I watched "Re:Union," the original Season 2 premiere that was remade into "Dream a Little Dream," on the Starburst Edition DVDs. I think the decision to go with a stronger season opener was the right one, because "Mind the Baby" both resolves the cliffhanger and puts a lot of the pieces in place for the new season. "Dream a Little Dream" is a much less dynamic story; when I first saw the show, I was puzzled by its timing, by why they were revisiting what the other half of the crew had been doing after the destruction of the gammak base at this particular point, but the timing makes sense as a way of repurposing existing footage during a run of stand-alone episodes before the season's arc kicks into gear. And I think "Re:Union" is too scattered, trying to cover too much area, whereas "Dream a Little Dream" was honed down to the essential bones of the plot, the courtroom drama episode and what it says about Zhaan's relationships with her crewmates and with herself.
I have a bias. An Aeryn-less episode is a difficult thing for me. Eliminate John and D'Argo from the picture too and it's all the more difficult. I have a tremendous amount of affection for Zhaan and Chiana and Rygel, but the absence of all of the characters I am most intensely interested in makes this episode a bit of a slog for me. That said, I really like Zhaan's crisis, her understandable lack of faith in Chiana and Rygel's ability to rescue her, and their oddly effective partnership. It's moving when Zhaan admits that she's been drawing her strength from the warriors in the group, as she literally leans on an imaginary John. She's divided the people in Moya into two groups: those she can rely on, and those who rely on her. And when she loses what she sees as the wellspring of her strength, all she has left is her doubt and her helplessness. She's in prison again, and this time she doesn't think she'll be able to get out, because she doubts her own strength.
But in her despair, she has underestimated Chiana and Rygel. They may act like squabbling children, but they're both very sharp people who have managed to survive for a very long time in hostile conditions. And Zhaan has inspired in them a rare desire to help someone else, which is a strength she doesn't see in herself. There is a wonderful natural affinity between Chiana and Rygel, the way they understand each other's motives, appreciate each other's ability to lie and cheat and weasel, a genuine and organic respect, and it's something I'm very glad the writers develop. The courtroom drama in the episode may be a little tired and static, the Moya Ex Machina of the Light of Truth a bit contrived, but Rygel and Chiana work together under the constraint of having to put on an honest defense, finesse that constraint to cheat just a little bit, use Chiana's wiles and Rygel's sharp eye for meaningful details to pull off a rescue Zhaan didn't even think possible, and that's a satisfying thing.
And in the end, Zhaan can share this story with John, as they have always been able to share their feelings. It's an interesting role reversal of their relationship in the first season, Zhaan coming to John with her inner turmoil, John listening, his own troubles safely locked away where he doesn't have to think about them, much less share them with someone else. That lack of return communication, the withdrawal, the turning inward, trying to keep a lid on his own panic and growing mental deterioration, is going to cause him more and more trouble in the coming months.
The concept of a planet of lawyers, creating an ever more complicated body of law to justify their existence, is interesting in a satirical sort of way, and I like a lot of the visual design, although the courtroom is a little too Alice-in-Wonderland for my tastes. And although the struggle between the utilities and the lawyers comes across as a bit abstract, this episode is a good example of how, even when it doesn't completely work, the makers of Farscape pay a lot of attention to creating a complex local culture and political climate for our heroes to get caught up in because their luck is bad and they're in the wrong place at the wrong time.