"Half of this galaxy has my memories."
Standard disclaimer: this post and/or the comments may and probably will contain spoilers for the entire series. Previous episode posts here.
I've been trying to pin down why I find this episode dissatisfying, and I think it boils down to two main issues. One is that while it's build on an interesting idea-the spectrum of Crichtons, and the reactions of his friends to the different traits along that spectrum-the execution is terribly heavy-handed and the resolution is too pat, uncharacteristically so for Farscape, so the emotional tone feels all wrong. The other is that it's a very John-centric episode, but not one that moves his story forward or develops his character in any meaningful way, so the ensemble balance feels all wrong too-the emphasis is on John, but for reasons that feel more like defaulting to the main character than organic development of his story, and while I do think the show does this in other episodes too, it strikes me as particularly blatant here. In this episode, John gets a glimpse of his future and doesn't like where he's heading. But as the entire rest of the series makes clear, this trajectory is inexorable; John Crichton is driven to do increasingly terrible things to prevent worse things from happening, and mercy is a dangerous luxury he can't often afford. He'll never be the coldly calculating future version of himself, will never make choices that are not influenced by love and friendship, but he's already on a road to a harder and more destructive self. Perhaps one of the reasons this episode seems so heavy-handed to me is that the simple moral of the story is not supported by the much more complex narrative of the overall series.
John's own reaction to his primitive self is telling, because before he understands what the creature is, he just wants to get a gun and hunt it down. He's harsh with PrimitiveJohn at first, tired of being messed with by this latest in a series of mind-frells. Chiana is the one who reaches out to this form of himself, whereas once John himself would probably have been the first to do so, back when he was more open and curious, less wary and damaged. Chiana values most the part of John that is emotional, his heart, his willingness to give. It's a part of him that is still strongly present in this episode-he's literally the midway point between pure emotion and pure logic here-but that's falling by the wayside. It's the part of him that's not capable of surviving at the expense of others, but the definition of "others" is becoming more and more restricted-his friends, his family-and he's going to be increasingly willing to survive at the expense of strangers, to trade an entire command carrier or Scarran outpost full of lives for his survival and the survival of those he loves.
I think it's important that it's Chiana who reminds John of that part of himself, because as much as John is teaching Aeryn to feel, Aeryn is teaching John to survive; John's emotionality is something that Aeryn is both drawn to and considers dangerous. Aeryn's attitude towards the situation, the multiplicity of John, is something that, in retrospect, I find fascinating because I think it presages her attitude toward John's twinning in Season 3. She has decided that there's one John, her John, the real John, and she doesn't have any use for the other ones; there is no room in her mind for complexities or doubts. When Aeryn first came on board Moya, back when she was used to thinking of other species in terms of inferiority and contamination, I think it worked in John's favor that he looked Sebacean, because it lessened the number of prejudices she had to overcome to see him for what he is. EvolvedJohn uses the "trust me" line, but it comes from an alien form with alien attitudes, and she's not having any of it. But he is able to surprise her enough to knock her out-he may not be her John, but she's let her guard down a little more around him than she might have around a stranger, and I suspect it's because she's unprepared to associate that kind of ruthlessness with any form of John.
One thing I do like about this episode is that it continues to make John's uniqueness far more of a burden than a blessing. The probe wants a sample of him because it has never seen a human before; the others are safe because this is their part of the universe and they are individuals among multitudes of their kind. John's still a stranger, and that will continue to be a problem, when he kisses the princess, when he needs neural fluid and the diagnosan has to use an Interon because it's the closest match. And because of that, the use of clothing in the episode is kind of interesting. PrimitiveJohn, the human ancestor, wears John's IASA flight suite, a relic of his human past; EvolvedJohn wears a Peacekeeper uniform, which makes sense as the only spare clothing they could scrounge that would fit him, but also symbolizes not only EvolvedJohn's attitude towards others but, in some ways, John's own future-he is unique as a human out there, and his children will be half-Sebacean.
I've been trying to pin down why I find this episode dissatisfying, and I think it boils down to two main issues. One is that while it's build on an interesting idea-the spectrum of Crichtons, and the reactions of his friends to the different traits along that spectrum-the execution is terribly heavy-handed and the resolution is too pat, uncharacteristically so for Farscape, so the emotional tone feels all wrong. The other is that it's a very John-centric episode, but not one that moves his story forward or develops his character in any meaningful way, so the ensemble balance feels all wrong too-the emphasis is on John, but for reasons that feel more like defaulting to the main character than organic development of his story, and while I do think the show does this in other episodes too, it strikes me as particularly blatant here. In this episode, John gets a glimpse of his future and doesn't like where he's heading. But as the entire rest of the series makes clear, this trajectory is inexorable; John Crichton is driven to do increasingly terrible things to prevent worse things from happening, and mercy is a dangerous luxury he can't often afford. He'll never be the coldly calculating future version of himself, will never make choices that are not influenced by love and friendship, but he's already on a road to a harder and more destructive self. Perhaps one of the reasons this episode seems so heavy-handed to me is that the simple moral of the story is not supported by the much more complex narrative of the overall series.
John's own reaction to his primitive self is telling, because before he understands what the creature is, he just wants to get a gun and hunt it down. He's harsh with PrimitiveJohn at first, tired of being messed with by this latest in a series of mind-frells. Chiana is the one who reaches out to this form of himself, whereas once John himself would probably have been the first to do so, back when he was more open and curious, less wary and damaged. Chiana values most the part of John that is emotional, his heart, his willingness to give. It's a part of him that is still strongly present in this episode-he's literally the midway point between pure emotion and pure logic here-but that's falling by the wayside. It's the part of him that's not capable of surviving at the expense of others, but the definition of "others" is becoming more and more restricted-his friends, his family-and he's going to be increasingly willing to survive at the expense of strangers, to trade an entire command carrier or Scarran outpost full of lives for his survival and the survival of those he loves.
I think it's important that it's Chiana who reminds John of that part of himself, because as much as John is teaching Aeryn to feel, Aeryn is teaching John to survive; John's emotionality is something that Aeryn is both drawn to and considers dangerous. Aeryn's attitude towards the situation, the multiplicity of John, is something that, in retrospect, I find fascinating because I think it presages her attitude toward John's twinning in Season 3. She has decided that there's one John, her John, the real John, and she doesn't have any use for the other ones; there is no room in her mind for complexities or doubts. When Aeryn first came on board Moya, back when she was used to thinking of other species in terms of inferiority and contamination, I think it worked in John's favor that he looked Sebacean, because it lessened the number of prejudices she had to overcome to see him for what he is. EvolvedJohn uses the "trust me" line, but it comes from an alien form with alien attitudes, and she's not having any of it. But he is able to surprise her enough to knock her out-he may not be her John, but she's let her guard down a little more around him than she might have around a stranger, and I suspect it's because she's unprepared to associate that kind of ruthlessness with any form of John.
One thing I do like about this episode is that it continues to make John's uniqueness far more of a burden than a blessing. The probe wants a sample of him because it has never seen a human before; the others are safe because this is their part of the universe and they are individuals among multitudes of their kind. John's still a stranger, and that will continue to be a problem, when he kisses the princess, when he needs neural fluid and the diagnosan has to use an Interon because it's the closest match. And because of that, the use of clothing in the episode is kind of interesting. PrimitiveJohn, the human ancestor, wears John's IASA flight suite, a relic of his human past; EvolvedJohn wears a Peacekeeper uniform, which makes sense as the only spare clothing they could scrounge that would fit him, but also symbolizes not only EvolvedJohn's attitude towards others but, in some ways, John's own future-he is unique as a human out there, and his children will be half-Sebacean.