Farscape season 3 done
Quick and dirty spoiler-free impression: wow. I heard this season was regarded as the best, and like the first two seasons there's a bit of a lull before it really gets interesting but once it does man. Man. Still collecting my jaw from the floor.
• In my last entry, I speculated at length what Aeryn's death and resurrection would mean for the crew. Turns out I was wholly incorrect and it's a subject that wouldn't be lingered on too long, because it turns out there was an even greater consequence of Aeryn's resurrection. This worked for me and I favored it over my initial prediction.
• That said, I miss Zhaan! I knew beforehand her actress had to leave because wearing all the makeup and shaving her head was a serious detriment to her health (good on her, by the way--she's still alive and healthy today!), but I didn't know it'd be so soon. Her final goodbyes to the Moya crew were lovely.
• "...Different Destinations" was a great "war is bad no matter what" episode. The ending really suckerpunched me--at the beginning I was enjoying Crichton geeking out over history and expected a fun time travel episode; I don't know how I didn't know better, at this point. I loved the episode's emphasis on war's futility and how any decision made results in lives lost. It's heartbreaking. And I loved the ending with Crichton looking through the goggles to see the tragedy he had a hand in making (any episode ending with a traumatized Crichton is an immediate win for me). Also seeing D'Argo's fatherly nature play outside his relationship to his son was sweet, even if it didn't end well.
• Aeryn/Crichton is so so good. "Green-Eyed Monster" was a bit of a stressful watch for me, but I absolutely loved how it concluded, with Crichton doing right by Aeryn and honoring (what he misunderstands to be) her wishes to be in a relationship with another man, before Aeryn clears it up and chews him out for withholding what he knew, culminating in an adorable scene of him showing her the stars and his star-naming hobby and revealing he named his guide after her*.
Loved seeing them be a power couple, loved them saying their "I love you"s before a dangerous mission, loved seeing them be horny for each other (how much did I love the fact that Aeryn groped and slapped his ass in the sex mist episode**? SO MUCH), loved them just full-on loving each other.
* This also makes me wonder what he named his pulse rifle, Winona, after--it may be revealed along the way, but for now I'd like to think it's his sister he mentioned last season.
** How much do I love the fact this show has its own sex pollen episode but it's sex mist? Again, so much.
• Aeryn was AMAZING this season. I've always been fond of her, but the material she was given here was just outstanding and made that fondness blossom into full-on adoration. "The Choice" may have been my very favorite episode of this season--she was so hot drunk and disheveled and brooding in that Blade Runner-inspired city and I'm a sucker for a reverse fridging with the boyfriend being killed off to further his girlfriend's womanpain (and the scenes of her imagining Crichton there were ;_;) as well as that fraught, grey-area tragic relationship with her mother.
Speaking of, the subplot between Aeryn and her mom was so tasty. It's so refreshing to see this sort of mom-daughter relationship I usually get to see with father-sons--the emphasis on the daughter looking up to her mother, the mom having a hand in the father’s death, the father being this sort of fridged beacon for both of them.
I also loved that we got to see more of Aeryn's background as a Peacekeeper--not as a solider, but simply as someone who lived there. There's so much packed into the short scene where Jool says "It must have been awful" and Aeryn looks at the soldiers playing a game at a table and sees a flashback of herself playing that very game with her friends, smiling! and laughing!, and responding, "It wasn't." It informs us of so many things--that Aeryn did, in fact, have a life she had a reason to be attached to beyond being born into service, that she did have positive feelings that didn't go repressed while being a Peacekeeper, that nothing's as black and white as we initially thought. Her trying to reconnect with an old friend and failing was wonderfully sad.
• I feel bad for Jool. She woke up from a peaceful life into a war-torn part of the galaxy with her cousins dead and no one who likes her. I don't blame the crew for being fed up with her (especially with how she treats Chiana), but I also don't fault her for complaining.
I wish we got to know her on the same level as we do the rest of the cast and am tentatively holding out hope that happens--but for now, I'm enjoying deducing what we can learn from her actions and behavior. Initially, she comes off as little more than a shallow spoiled brat and who's a jerk to Chiana, but over time, and beyond her medical expertise, she shows she's actually a kind person at heart who wants to see the best of everyone. She explores D'Argo's ship in hopes of getting to know him better, she discourages Aeryn from returning to her Peacekeeper life, even her treatment of Chiana can be read as "You can be so much more than this, to me" (being a flawed character of course means her intentions, while good, can still hurt others). It's also telling that Crichton's major perception of her is one of a diplomat, preferring to talk things out (much like he would--and I'm sure wishes he still could--in season one), calling back to when he first met her and recognized how similar their situations were.
• Crichton starts out the first half of this season being mouthier than usual, which at first I thought was strange, then thought maybe it was just the increased amounts of stress on top of losing Zhaan. Then I realized oh. It's because he nearly lost his ability to speak permanently. Add having Harvey in his head and learning having Harvey in his head was constantly hurting him to that and it's no wonder he was shouting all the time.
It's neat to see that pay off when Harvey's removed from the head of one of his clones and he's back to his normal, quieter mode (still snarky, but mostly sensitive and soft). Meanwhile, his other clone learns to adapt with Harvey instead of actively shutting him out.
• Scorpius's backstory was so appropriately hardcore; sympathetic to the point of giving him depth without softening his edges. At first I thought revenge against the Scarrans seemed too simplistic an end goal for him, but now I've really come around to it. His motive is passion-fueled, but also strategic from his point of view.
• I knew about the Looney Tunes episode and was looking forward to it and it delivered. It was a really cool storytelling and character study-ing device to have Crichton consider how to approach D’Argo from every present crew member’s POV and actually play them out--including Harvey's! An episode that's as fun as it is psychological. (Also hot damn, that animated Aeryn.)
• With the introduction of a sympathetic Scarran character into the story (who so far seems to be a one-off appearance), I'm hoping we get more information on the Scarrans and their history soon, or at the very least have the common perception of them interrogated in some meaningful way. I'm not buying the "all Scarrans are evil", especially after the show has gone to such painstaking lengths to establish nuances and complexities of its world.
• I was surprised how much the clone Crichton arc ended up surprising me in the best ways. Loved the different John perspectives re: wormhole technology--I almost forgot Other John hadn’t seen Scorpius's backstory.
• Absolutely adored seeing Crichton and Aeryn's different fighting skills on display in "Into the Lion's Den". We saw them kick Peacekeeper soldiers together that communicated they're equals, but Aeryn’s still the more willingly combat-oriented of the two. Part of it was no doubt Crichton wanting not to set off the bracelet, but his avoiding especially grueling combat is also true to the character.
• Favorite part of "Into the Lion's Den Part" was of course when Scorpius fucking stabs his own hand to inflict pain upon Crichton and incapacitate him, then bends him over the table, threatens to destroy his planet and make him watch, then roughs him up a bit.
• At first I wasn’t sure if Crichton attacking Crais after his false betrayal was in-character--then went, "That's just an understandable reaction to betrayal" and then went "He didn’t see Crais’s earlier redemption arc as Other Crichton, remember?" I think if it were Other Crichton, he may have gotten angry but in a more sad, sullen way, and wouldn’t have been as willing to let Crais go when he agrees to a suicide mission. But it's not a cold-hearted decision on Current Crichton's part, either--you can still see the conflict in his eyes when he steps out the room, looking around, eyes watering.
• I love how much this show explores platonic intimacy. John and Pilot’s goodbye, with John tenderly touching Pilot and pressing his forehead against his was just so touching and beautiful.
• Crichton showing Scorpius the wormhole to distract him was really clever to the point I forgot that was his intent. In fact, the reason it works so much is that you can tell John genuinely wants Scorpius to see it before it's destroyed--because he understands and sympathizes with Scorpius so much and he knows for all Scorpius sees the wormhole as a tool for revenge he’s also just as enamored with it on a wondrous level as John is (just as John initially sees it as a tool for getting home, etc).
• The choice John had to make to destroy the wormhole project, knowing it'd be a weapon in anyone’s hands no matter how well-intentioned, was so good. Strappa being another individual enamored with it on a scientific level and going “But what about its scientific value?” and Crichton putting his foot down “No as long as there’s potential for it to be a weapon it’s unsafe and no one can easily be determined as ‘more’ or ‘less’ dangerous” was so good. I loved Crichton's respect for him, and the pain we see in him as he removes the knowledge per his request via the Chair.
• I am so, so elated that Crichton is now in more danger than ever with him as the only being in the entire galaxy burdened with the knowledge of wormholes, it's giving me a ridiculous high thinking about it. I was worried with Scorpius no longer being on his tail (I'm hopeful that also changes) the stakes would be gone but no, they're back and they're more dire to Crichton than ever. I hope they're here to stay--I don't want a sense of safety, I want a sense of constant personal danger for Crichton! Please put him in even more distressing situations next season.
• I also love that it’s acknowledged that, even with the intention of rescuing the people on board, there's still going to be casualties from blowing up the ship. Even the most ideal solution isn’t guaranteed to spare everyone.
• I'm sad to see Crais go, but his arc was rewarding. Loved the speech he made and the point made with it in Scorpius's active decision to go to the Peacekeepers vs Crais and the others' forceful enlistment.
• Scorpius and Crichton sending each other off, Crichton offering Scorpius an exit--I keep saying "so good" but what else can I say? So good. I love how Crichton's come to respect Scorpius, and Scorpius's graceful acceptance of defeat.
• The season finale thoroughly fucked with my head and my heart from beginning to end. I loved it. A story that follows a bombastic climatic moment in the story with quiet melancholy before the real danger creeps in? I love it.
• The old woman was lying, and I think she was lying about Aeryn's pregnancy, too--but I'm also wondering if she possibly told the truth. I could see either outcome.
• Awful but I love seeing Crichton get mind raped again. I love that it keeps happening to him--and this time it was a consequence of helping someone. It's going to fuck with his already shaken up trust issues, the poor guy. (Can't wait.)
• I was apprehensive of Harvey being demoted from a real, tangible threat to Crichton to being a sort of cute comic relief sidekick to him, but that actually ended up being a reductive reading of the character on my part. At first he's a parasite, then he's a prisoner, now he's a symbiote. I love the development, and I love how it cycles back to when we were formally introduced to him in "Won't Get Fooled Again" and his promise of protecting Crichton.
And because I guess I'm incapable of talking about Farscape without mentioning something I found inappropriately hot--the "Your wellbeing is irrevocably mine" line took me by surprise. It was so hot.
• The new intro gives me chills. It didn't, at first, but after seeing all I've seen it sinks in differently.
May have more thoughts but I need to start that final season.
• In my last entry, I speculated at length what Aeryn's death and resurrection would mean for the crew. Turns out I was wholly incorrect and it's a subject that wouldn't be lingered on too long, because it turns out there was an even greater consequence of Aeryn's resurrection. This worked for me and I favored it over my initial prediction.
• That said, I miss Zhaan! I knew beforehand her actress had to leave because wearing all the makeup and shaving her head was a serious detriment to her health (good on her, by the way--she's still alive and healthy today!), but I didn't know it'd be so soon. Her final goodbyes to the Moya crew were lovely.
• "...Different Destinations" was a great "war is bad no matter what" episode. The ending really suckerpunched me--at the beginning I was enjoying Crichton geeking out over history and expected a fun time travel episode; I don't know how I didn't know better, at this point. I loved the episode's emphasis on war's futility and how any decision made results in lives lost. It's heartbreaking. And I loved the ending with Crichton looking through the goggles to see the tragedy he had a hand in making (any episode ending with a traumatized Crichton is an immediate win for me). Also seeing D'Argo's fatherly nature play outside his relationship to his son was sweet, even if it didn't end well.
• Aeryn/Crichton is so so good. "Green-Eyed Monster" was a bit of a stressful watch for me, but I absolutely loved how it concluded, with Crichton doing right by Aeryn and honoring (what he misunderstands to be) her wishes to be in a relationship with another man, before Aeryn clears it up and chews him out for withholding what he knew, culminating in an adorable scene of him showing her the stars and his star-naming hobby and revealing he named his guide after her*.
Loved seeing them be a power couple, loved them saying their "I love you"s before a dangerous mission, loved seeing them be horny for each other (how much did I love the fact that Aeryn groped and slapped his ass in the sex mist episode**? SO MUCH), loved them just full-on loving each other.
* This also makes me wonder what he named his pulse rifle, Winona, after--it may be revealed along the way, but for now I'd like to think it's his sister he mentioned last season.
** How much do I love the fact this show has its own sex pollen episode but it's sex mist? Again, so much.
• Aeryn was AMAZING this season. I've always been fond of her, but the material she was given here was just outstanding and made that fondness blossom into full-on adoration. "The Choice" may have been my very favorite episode of this season--she was so hot drunk and disheveled and brooding in that Blade Runner-inspired city and I'm a sucker for a reverse fridging with the boyfriend being killed off to further his girlfriend's womanpain (and the scenes of her imagining Crichton there were ;_;) as well as that fraught, grey-area tragic relationship with her mother.
Speaking of, the subplot between Aeryn and her mom was so tasty. It's so refreshing to see this sort of mom-daughter relationship I usually get to see with father-sons--the emphasis on the daughter looking up to her mother, the mom having a hand in the father’s death, the father being this sort of fridged beacon for both of them.
I also loved that we got to see more of Aeryn's background as a Peacekeeper--not as a solider, but simply as someone who lived there. There's so much packed into the short scene where Jool says "It must have been awful" and Aeryn looks at the soldiers playing a game at a table and sees a flashback of herself playing that very game with her friends, smiling! and laughing!, and responding, "It wasn't." It informs us of so many things--that Aeryn did, in fact, have a life she had a reason to be attached to beyond being born into service, that she did have positive feelings that didn't go repressed while being a Peacekeeper, that nothing's as black and white as we initially thought. Her trying to reconnect with an old friend and failing was wonderfully sad.
• I feel bad for Jool. She woke up from a peaceful life into a war-torn part of the galaxy with her cousins dead and no one who likes her. I don't blame the crew for being fed up with her (especially with how she treats Chiana), but I also don't fault her for complaining.
I wish we got to know her on the same level as we do the rest of the cast and am tentatively holding out hope that happens--but for now, I'm enjoying deducing what we can learn from her actions and behavior. Initially, she comes off as little more than a shallow spoiled brat and who's a jerk to Chiana, but over time, and beyond her medical expertise, she shows she's actually a kind person at heart who wants to see the best of everyone. She explores D'Argo's ship in hopes of getting to know him better, she discourages Aeryn from returning to her Peacekeeper life, even her treatment of Chiana can be read as "You can be so much more than this, to me" (being a flawed character of course means her intentions, while good, can still hurt others). It's also telling that Crichton's major perception of her is one of a diplomat, preferring to talk things out (much like he would--and I'm sure wishes he still could--in season one), calling back to when he first met her and recognized how similar their situations were.
• Crichton starts out the first half of this season being mouthier than usual, which at first I thought was strange, then thought maybe it was just the increased amounts of stress on top of losing Zhaan. Then I realized oh. It's because he nearly lost his ability to speak permanently. Add having Harvey in his head and learning having Harvey in his head was constantly hurting him to that and it's no wonder he was shouting all the time.
It's neat to see that pay off when Harvey's removed from the head of one of his clones and he's back to his normal, quieter mode (still snarky, but mostly sensitive and soft). Meanwhile, his other clone learns to adapt with Harvey instead of actively shutting him out.
• Scorpius's backstory was so appropriately hardcore; sympathetic to the point of giving him depth without softening his edges. At first I thought revenge against the Scarrans seemed too simplistic an end goal for him, but now I've really come around to it. His motive is passion-fueled, but also strategic from his point of view.
• I knew about the Looney Tunes episode and was looking forward to it and it delivered. It was a really cool storytelling and character study-ing device to have Crichton consider how to approach D’Argo from every present crew member’s POV and actually play them out--including Harvey's! An episode that's as fun as it is psychological. (Also hot damn, that animated Aeryn.)
• With the introduction of a sympathetic Scarran character into the story (who so far seems to be a one-off appearance), I'm hoping we get more information on the Scarrans and their history soon, or at the very least have the common perception of them interrogated in some meaningful way. I'm not buying the "all Scarrans are evil", especially after the show has gone to such painstaking lengths to establish nuances and complexities of its world.
• I was surprised how much the clone Crichton arc ended up surprising me in the best ways. Loved the different John perspectives re: wormhole technology--I almost forgot Other John hadn’t seen Scorpius's backstory.
• Absolutely adored seeing Crichton and Aeryn's different fighting skills on display in "Into the Lion's Den". We saw them kick Peacekeeper soldiers together that communicated they're equals, but Aeryn’s still the more willingly combat-oriented of the two. Part of it was no doubt Crichton wanting not to set off the bracelet, but his avoiding especially grueling combat is also true to the character.
• Favorite part of "Into the Lion's Den Part" was of course when Scorpius fucking stabs his own hand to inflict pain upon Crichton and incapacitate him, then bends him over the table, threatens to destroy his planet and make him watch, then roughs him up a bit.
• At first I wasn’t sure if Crichton attacking Crais after his false betrayal was in-character--then went, "That's just an understandable reaction to betrayal" and then went "He didn’t see Crais’s earlier redemption arc as Other Crichton, remember?" I think if it were Other Crichton, he may have gotten angry but in a more sad, sullen way, and wouldn’t have been as willing to let Crais go when he agrees to a suicide mission. But it's not a cold-hearted decision on Current Crichton's part, either--you can still see the conflict in his eyes when he steps out the room, looking around, eyes watering.
• I love how much this show explores platonic intimacy. John and Pilot’s goodbye, with John tenderly touching Pilot and pressing his forehead against his was just so touching and beautiful.
• Crichton showing Scorpius the wormhole to distract him was really clever to the point I forgot that was his intent. In fact, the reason it works so much is that you can tell John genuinely wants Scorpius to see it before it's destroyed--because he understands and sympathizes with Scorpius so much and he knows for all Scorpius sees the wormhole as a tool for revenge he’s also just as enamored with it on a wondrous level as John is (just as John initially sees it as a tool for getting home, etc).
• The choice John had to make to destroy the wormhole project, knowing it'd be a weapon in anyone’s hands no matter how well-intentioned, was so good. Strappa being another individual enamored with it on a scientific level and going “But what about its scientific value?” and Crichton putting his foot down “No as long as there’s potential for it to be a weapon it’s unsafe and no one can easily be determined as ‘more’ or ‘less’ dangerous” was so good. I loved Crichton's respect for him, and the pain we see in him as he removes the knowledge per his request via the Chair.
• I am so, so elated that Crichton is now in more danger than ever with him as the only being in the entire galaxy burdened with the knowledge of wormholes, it's giving me a ridiculous high thinking about it. I was worried with Scorpius no longer being on his tail (I'm hopeful that also changes) the stakes would be gone but no, they're back and they're more dire to Crichton than ever. I hope they're here to stay--I don't want a sense of safety, I want a sense of constant personal danger for Crichton! Please put him in even more distressing situations next season.
• I also love that it’s acknowledged that, even with the intention of rescuing the people on board, there's still going to be casualties from blowing up the ship. Even the most ideal solution isn’t guaranteed to spare everyone.
• I'm sad to see Crais go, but his arc was rewarding. Loved the speech he made and the point made with it in Scorpius's active decision to go to the Peacekeepers vs Crais and the others' forceful enlistment.
• Scorpius and Crichton sending each other off, Crichton offering Scorpius an exit--I keep saying "so good" but what else can I say? So good. I love how Crichton's come to respect Scorpius, and Scorpius's graceful acceptance of defeat.
• The season finale thoroughly fucked with my head and my heart from beginning to end. I loved it. A story that follows a bombastic climatic moment in the story with quiet melancholy before the real danger creeps in? I love it.
• The old woman was lying, and I think she was lying about Aeryn's pregnancy, too--but I'm also wondering if she possibly told the truth. I could see either outcome.
• Awful but I love seeing Crichton get mind raped again. I love that it keeps happening to him--and this time it was a consequence of helping someone. It's going to fuck with his already shaken up trust issues, the poor guy. (Can't wait.)
• I was apprehensive of Harvey being demoted from a real, tangible threat to Crichton to being a sort of cute comic relief sidekick to him, but that actually ended up being a reductive reading of the character on my part. At first he's a parasite, then he's a prisoner, now he's a symbiote. I love the development, and I love how it cycles back to when we were formally introduced to him in "Won't Get Fooled Again" and his promise of protecting Crichton.
And because I guess I'm incapable of talking about Farscape without mentioning something I found inappropriately hot--the "Your wellbeing is irrevocably mine" line took me by surprise. It was so hot.
• The new intro gives me chills. It didn't, at first, but after seeing all I've seen it sinks in differently.
May have more thoughts but I need to start that final season.