Off the edge of insanity: Farscape's Liars, Guns and Money...
I was going to write about Locket, Ugly Truth and Clockwork Nebari but I want to talk about LGM instead.
Liars, Guns and Money is my second favorite multiparter in all of Farcape, behind only We are screwed in season 4.
Interestingly they both involve Crichton on the ragged edge of sanity and a rescue by one member of the OTP by the other, willing to do anything it takes. In LGM it's Aeryn willing to do anything (including offering anything (by implication herself)) to get Crais to help to rescue John. In WASS it's John selling his soul to Scorpius. And of course, the insanity in LGM is literal but in WASS it's because John derails utterly when Aeryn is in danger.
Have I mentioned how much I love Farscape's set design? The gorgeous golds and deep reds, and misty greys? Since this is near the end of the season, the guys here outdid themselves, both with the design of the shadow depository, and the 'critters' from the disgusting/dangerous/alluring Natira, to our old friends the Zenetians or Volkarians.
You know, as I was discussing with fire_snake, Crichton has a huge self-sacrificial complex. When Scorpy offers to give back D'Argo's son in exchange for Crichton, he has no idea how effective a carrot he is dangling in front of John. It's Crichton's own private way of self-destructing. He is, in a lot of ways, walking with so much guilt (because he cannot reconcile what he had become with his inner moral compass of his upbringing) and in a way the only value he sees is as 'victim' to other. Part of the reason he latches on to Aeryn so desperately is because of that same sense of guilt and nullity. She is his one link to sanity: I love the scene in the despository where he is completely losing it and he grabs her and desperately kisses her, as if she is his long drink of water, as if doing so clears his head. And it's true, Aeryn is the only one who is important enough to get through (of course when, as in DMD, even she finally cannot, that is when tragedy occurs). And that is true in later seasons, no matter how obsessed or catatonically destroyed he becomes (I am thinking of the end of PKW when it's Aeryn and his child who bring him out).
Oh, and that scene when he desperately and incoherently wants to tell her how he feels. Because he can feel his inner self slipping and it feels as if it's almost the last chance. And she tells him he doesn't have to say it. And the end of that part 1, kills me...when he tells her, so quietly and stumblingly, sounding so incredibly young and vulnerable 'I meant what I said...didn't say' and she says she knows. And she pulls his head down and puts it on her shoulder (this is such a their thing, he did it to her earlier). He is this beautiful broken thing, isn't he?
He is an emotional masochist, also. The scene with D'Argo blaming John for the failure of the plan? In a way, John is actually wanting to hear something like that. He loves self-flaggelation the way Scorpy loves his cooling rods. Speaking of D'Argo, I spend most of this three parter wanting to hit him. I have no problem with his being so fixated in rescuing his son. That's praiseworth monomania and something everyone on Moya shares about some topic or other. What I hate is his lashing out and blaming and guilting everyone for things outside their control. That especially applies to Crichton, who is already emotionall and psychologically almost gone.
I do love Chiana in these eps. She is so strong and passionate and loyal. She might be a horrid gf, but as a friend and a family member she is amazing. And I love Stark in this one...he is even more insane than John, but he has reason to be, doesn't he? And his beautifully lucid moments are even more beautiful for all that. It's sort of John/Aeryn through a different mirror, isn't it: Zhaan/Stark. Both men are huge victims of Scorpius. I love the scene of his holding Zhaan as she takes Moya's pain. I know it's not a ship a lot are interested in, but it was always my favorite secondary ship.
I love Crais in this, with his snark, and sophistry, and newlt-found hotness, and his helping but getting Aeryn off the hook for the debt. His 'basket without any holes' comment is my favorite.
I also love Rygel in this and his Durka-popsicle and I love Bekesh who 'learns to kill again.' This is the harsh world of Farscape. How everything has changed: the scene with John trying to get Bekesh to give or use the glove? Can you see Crichton even of half a season ago do it? It's the equivalent of a heroin dealer trying to inject a recovering addict. But then a lot of it is John's own disintegration, but a lot of it is imbalance by the chip: he lashes out at inner lack of control (I think of disturbing scene when he sticks a gun at Stark because Stark made a snarky comment. And it's John. Formerly gentle sweet John. Doing it to Stark of all people).
But that is the thing: losing his mind must be triply horrifying to John. Not only is he a scientist, someone who relies on logic and sanity so much, it is, as he says earlier 'only thing I have left' (thus, per farscape rules, it needs to be taken away. FS is all about demolishing and rebuilding Crichton). In a way, it's relief for him to learn that the imaging of Scorpy have a real basis, he is not going insane as much as he thought (oh, and that amazing anthem scene!).
But that, of course, leads to the surrender. I find that scene so viscerally uncomfortable. John trying to maintain at least some dignity, desperately, even though you see everything in him is beyond terrifying and it takes everything he has not to flinch (hello, visceral reaction to yur former torturer) but Scorpy is walking around him the way someone does a piece of meat at a market, not letting him have anything left.
Even later, John with Natira...you know, it occurred to me, humor, black as it is, is John's last available resort to keep some control, to not give in utterly.
When D'Argo brings Jothee (who I dislike btw) to meet John at the end, and John begs, begs D'Argo to kill him? Kills me. And John is red-eyed, and desperate and so caught in his private hell. I want to cry for him. Not even being allowed to kill yourself by the mind control? That is all sorts of hirryfing.
Nothing like an uplifting way to end an episode. Next, the cheerfest that is DMD.
Anyway, I could go on forever but I better stop.
Liars, Guns and Money is my second favorite multiparter in all of Farcape, behind only We are screwed in season 4.
Interestingly they both involve Crichton on the ragged edge of sanity and a rescue by one member of the OTP by the other, willing to do anything it takes. In LGM it's Aeryn willing to do anything (including offering anything (by implication herself)) to get Crais to help to rescue John. In WASS it's John selling his soul to Scorpius. And of course, the insanity in LGM is literal but in WASS it's because John derails utterly when Aeryn is in danger.
Have I mentioned how much I love Farscape's set design? The gorgeous golds and deep reds, and misty greys? Since this is near the end of the season, the guys here outdid themselves, both with the design of the shadow depository, and the 'critters' from the disgusting/dangerous/alluring Natira, to our old friends the Zenetians or Volkarians.
You know, as I was discussing with fire_snake, Crichton has a huge self-sacrificial complex. When Scorpy offers to give back D'Argo's son in exchange for Crichton, he has no idea how effective a carrot he is dangling in front of John. It's Crichton's own private way of self-destructing. He is, in a lot of ways, walking with so much guilt (because he cannot reconcile what he had become with his inner moral compass of his upbringing) and in a way the only value he sees is as 'victim' to other. Part of the reason he latches on to Aeryn so desperately is because of that same sense of guilt and nullity. She is his one link to sanity: I love the scene in the despository where he is completely losing it and he grabs her and desperately kisses her, as if she is his long drink of water, as if doing so clears his head. And it's true, Aeryn is the only one who is important enough to get through (of course when, as in DMD, even she finally cannot, that is when tragedy occurs). And that is true in later seasons, no matter how obsessed or catatonically destroyed he becomes (I am thinking of the end of PKW when it's Aeryn and his child who bring him out).
Oh, and that scene when he desperately and incoherently wants to tell her how he feels. Because he can feel his inner self slipping and it feels as if it's almost the last chance. And she tells him he doesn't have to say it. And the end of that part 1, kills me...when he tells her, so quietly and stumblingly, sounding so incredibly young and vulnerable 'I meant what I said...didn't say' and she says she knows. And she pulls his head down and puts it on her shoulder (this is such a their thing, he did it to her earlier). He is this beautiful broken thing, isn't he?
He is an emotional masochist, also. The scene with D'Argo blaming John for the failure of the plan? In a way, John is actually wanting to hear something like that. He loves self-flaggelation the way Scorpy loves his cooling rods. Speaking of D'Argo, I spend most of this three parter wanting to hit him. I have no problem with his being so fixated in rescuing his son. That's praiseworth monomania and something everyone on Moya shares about some topic or other. What I hate is his lashing out and blaming and guilting everyone for things outside their control. That especially applies to Crichton, who is already emotionall and psychologically almost gone.
I do love Chiana in these eps. She is so strong and passionate and loyal. She might be a horrid gf, but as a friend and a family member she is amazing. And I love Stark in this one...he is even more insane than John, but he has reason to be, doesn't he? And his beautifully lucid moments are even more beautiful for all that. It's sort of John/Aeryn through a different mirror, isn't it: Zhaan/Stark. Both men are huge victims of Scorpius. I love the scene of his holding Zhaan as she takes Moya's pain. I know it's not a ship a lot are interested in, but it was always my favorite secondary ship.
I love Crais in this, with his snark, and sophistry, and newlt-found hotness, and his helping but getting Aeryn off the hook for the debt. His 'basket without any holes' comment is my favorite.
I also love Rygel in this and his Durka-popsicle and I love Bekesh who 'learns to kill again.' This is the harsh world of Farscape. How everything has changed: the scene with John trying to get Bekesh to give or use the glove? Can you see Crichton even of half a season ago do it? It's the equivalent of a heroin dealer trying to inject a recovering addict. But then a lot of it is John's own disintegration, but a lot of it is imbalance by the chip: he lashes out at inner lack of control (I think of disturbing scene when he sticks a gun at Stark because Stark made a snarky comment. And it's John. Formerly gentle sweet John. Doing it to Stark of all people).
But that is the thing: losing his mind must be triply horrifying to John. Not only is he a scientist, someone who relies on logic and sanity so much, it is, as he says earlier 'only thing I have left' (thus, per farscape rules, it needs to be taken away. FS is all about demolishing and rebuilding Crichton). In a way, it's relief for him to learn that the imaging of Scorpy have a real basis, he is not going insane as much as he thought (oh, and that amazing anthem scene!).
But that, of course, leads to the surrender. I find that scene so viscerally uncomfortable. John trying to maintain at least some dignity, desperately, even though you see everything in him is beyond terrifying and it takes everything he has not to flinch (hello, visceral reaction to yur former torturer) but Scorpy is walking around him the way someone does a piece of meat at a market, not letting him have anything left.
Even later, John with Natira...you know, it occurred to me, humor, black as it is, is John's last available resort to keep some control, to not give in utterly.
When D'Argo brings Jothee (who I dislike btw) to meet John at the end, and John begs, begs D'Argo to kill him? Kills me. And John is red-eyed, and desperate and so caught in his private hell. I want to cry for him. Not even being allowed to kill yourself by the mind control? That is all sorts of hirryfing.
Nothing like an uplifting way to end an episode. Next, the cheerfest that is DMD.
Anyway, I could go on forever but I better stop.