Farscape Rewatch: "Infinite Possibilities (Part 2): Icarus Abides" (3.15)
Wiki summary:
The Ancient helps John construct a device to destroy a Scarran Dreadnought to prevent them from leaving with wormhole technology. Furlow, only motivated by commercial interests, steals the device. John reclaims it but is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation in the process. The Scarran Dreadnought is destroyed, and John soon succumbs to his poisoning, dying by Aeryn's side.
Turns out I had slightly misremembered the resolution to the Harvey-takes-over-and-tells-Aeryn cliffhanger, i.e., the show immediately addresses why the neural clone would do such a nonsensical thing. (My vague memory had been that Jack kills the clone, which is technically true, but I hadn't recalled that this last takeover was in fact textually the attempt to take John with him into death by provoking Aeryn into shooting.) Anyway, I still think it feels more like something dictated by out of story concerns; in the last episode, to provide a shock cliffhanger, in this episode so that TalynJohn can check all the perfect happiness wish list items before having to die. (Being free of his inner Scorpius certainly ranges beneath Aeryn and Aeryn agreeing to come to Earth with him, but it's there.)
This said, it doesn't take long, and I have no quarrel with the remaining episode. This includes Furlow attempting to sell our heroes out, killing Jack while she's at it because he's in the way, and thereby indirectly causing John's death. (Since Jack-the-Ancient was the only one able to to face the radiation without dying of it.) I remember back in the day hearing there were complaints because Furlow had been likeable in her cheerful amorality so far, and now she'd gone from shade of grey to villain. But the thing is, I don't think Furlow is any different in this two parter than she was in her original episode. She's always been very clear on the fact that making money out of the shiny tech is her No.1. goal. I don't think she's faking liking John, either. But she definitely likes profit more, and has no ethical restraints about the use these inventions are put to. In a season where "it's never just science!" develops into a major theme, and other scientists are both parallels and contrasts to John Crichton, this fits. Also, while today backstabbing is par the course in tv, back when this show was original broadcast, I thought that the audience basically was trained to expect that self professed "money and self preservation first!" guys would always in a crunch come to the hero's (or heroine's aide), no matter how much they protested their self interest at first, and so it was safe to like them. They'd never sell out anyone the audience actually cared for. So Furlow doing just what she'd always given to understand she'd do felt like a refreshingly honest storytelling decision at the time. (Maybe if Furlow had died, I'd feel differently, because back then and even now, female amoral types who aren't played as sex objects are incredibly rare. But the show lets her survive to hunt for profit some more.)
Something I hadn't noticed back then, or had forgotten until this rewatch: Aeryn trying very hard not to kill the lone Charrid, to let him run away instead of just shooting by default. It's just one short scene, but it's a neat detail to show how Aeryn has changed since the start of the show.
Something I did notice then, and am still wondering now: when Aeryn agrees to go with John to Earth, neither of them mentions MoyaJohn. In the AU where Furlow didn't doublecross our lot and TalynJohn does not die, let' assume they do, in fact, go to Earth. (With or without Talyn, though my guess is TalynJohn, now equiped with the ability to open and navigate wormholes, could take just his module and keep the armed to the teeth teenage Leviathan who is about to lose adopted Mom Aeryn far, far away from his home planet.) Do they tell actual Jack Crichton there's another version of John still in the Unchartered Territories? Does Aeryn consider that going with one John means leaving another for good, or has she blocked the existence of MoyaJohn out of her emotional awareness at this point? I'm just curious.
The death, or rather, deaths: I stand by my claim from last week that Jack-the-Ancient's demise would be more poignant if the show had developed him and his relationship with John first. TalynJohn's death, otoh, was poignant, though the episode is blazingly open about how manipulative all this is told. He gets all his wishes fulfilled first - clone removed forever/Scorpius no longer a threat, the wormhole technology mastered, Aeryn not only tells him she loves him in as many words but agrees to come with him to earth. It's a set up where he has no choice, and he's allowed to be human about it - the way Ben Browder plays John's anger and frustration, even a note of despair, just by his expression(s) when he realises what this means, what he'll have to do, make the ensueing bravery that of someone three dimensional instead of a square-jawed hero. And the death by radiation is tv friendly in that you don't see any gruesome burnings, and gives John to say goodbye to everyone. (Evidently the same type of radiation that kills Spock in Wrath of Khan.) Like I said, I can see the strings pulled, and yet, and yet, it still works on me. Though I will admit John saying to Rygel "you still can't have my stuff" was the biggest emotional beat, but look, I'm still the world's sole John/Rygel shipper.
Lastly: this is a good episode for Stark. He's allowed to be competent at fooling a lethally dangerous foe with his act, the way he was when originally introduced, and could show his compassion towards the dying John. I need to keep this emotionally with me, because the way I recall it, in the next episode he's in I want to strangle him.
The other episodes This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1438356.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
The Ancient helps John construct a device to destroy a Scarran Dreadnought to prevent them from leaving with wormhole technology. Furlow, only motivated by commercial interests, steals the device. John reclaims it but is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation in the process. The Scarran Dreadnought is destroyed, and John soon succumbs to his poisoning, dying by Aeryn's side.
Turns out I had slightly misremembered the resolution to the Harvey-takes-over-and-tells-Aeryn cliffhanger, i.e., the show immediately addresses why the neural clone would do such a nonsensical thing. (My vague memory had been that Jack kills the clone, which is technically true, but I hadn't recalled that this last takeover was in fact textually the attempt to take John with him into death by provoking Aeryn into shooting.) Anyway, I still think it feels more like something dictated by out of story concerns; in the last episode, to provide a shock cliffhanger, in this episode so that TalynJohn can check all the perfect happiness wish list items before having to die. (Being free of his inner Scorpius certainly ranges beneath Aeryn and Aeryn agreeing to come to Earth with him, but it's there.)
This said, it doesn't take long, and I have no quarrel with the remaining episode. This includes Furlow attempting to sell our heroes out, killing Jack while she's at it because he's in the way, and thereby indirectly causing John's death. (Since Jack-the-Ancient was the only one able to to face the radiation without dying of it.) I remember back in the day hearing there were complaints because Furlow had been likeable in her cheerful amorality so far, and now she'd gone from shade of grey to villain. But the thing is, I don't think Furlow is any different in this two parter than she was in her original episode. She's always been very clear on the fact that making money out of the shiny tech is her No.1. goal. I don't think she's faking liking John, either. But she definitely likes profit more, and has no ethical restraints about the use these inventions are put to. In a season where "it's never just science!" develops into a major theme, and other scientists are both parallels and contrasts to John Crichton, this fits. Also, while today backstabbing is par the course in tv, back when this show was original broadcast, I thought that the audience basically was trained to expect that self professed "money and self preservation first!" guys would always in a crunch come to the hero's (or heroine's aide), no matter how much they protested their self interest at first, and so it was safe to like them. They'd never sell out anyone the audience actually cared for. So Furlow doing just what she'd always given to understand she'd do felt like a refreshingly honest storytelling decision at the time. (Maybe if Furlow had died, I'd feel differently, because back then and even now, female amoral types who aren't played as sex objects are incredibly rare. But the show lets her survive to hunt for profit some more.)
Something I hadn't noticed back then, or had forgotten until this rewatch: Aeryn trying very hard not to kill the lone Charrid, to let him run away instead of just shooting by default. It's just one short scene, but it's a neat detail to show how Aeryn has changed since the start of the show.
Something I did notice then, and am still wondering now: when Aeryn agrees to go with John to Earth, neither of them mentions MoyaJohn. In the AU where Furlow didn't doublecross our lot and TalynJohn does not die, let' assume they do, in fact, go to Earth. (With or without Talyn, though my guess is TalynJohn, now equiped with the ability to open and navigate wormholes, could take just his module and keep the armed to the teeth teenage Leviathan who is about to lose adopted Mom Aeryn far, far away from his home planet.) Do they tell actual Jack Crichton there's another version of John still in the Unchartered Territories? Does Aeryn consider that going with one John means leaving another for good, or has she blocked the existence of MoyaJohn out of her emotional awareness at this point? I'm just curious.
The death, or rather, deaths: I stand by my claim from last week that Jack-the-Ancient's demise would be more poignant if the show had developed him and his relationship with John first. TalynJohn's death, otoh, was poignant, though the episode is blazingly open about how manipulative all this is told. He gets all his wishes fulfilled first - clone removed forever/Scorpius no longer a threat, the wormhole technology mastered, Aeryn not only tells him she loves him in as many words but agrees to come with him to earth. It's a set up where he has no choice, and he's allowed to be human about it - the way Ben Browder plays John's anger and frustration, even a note of despair, just by his expression(s) when he realises what this means, what he'll have to do, make the ensueing bravery that of someone three dimensional instead of a square-jawed hero. And the death by radiation is tv friendly in that you don't see any gruesome burnings, and gives John to say goodbye to everyone. (Evidently the same type of radiation that kills Spock in Wrath of Khan.) Like I said, I can see the strings pulled, and yet, and yet, it still works on me. Though I will admit John saying to Rygel "you still can't have my stuff" was the biggest emotional beat, but look, I'm still the world's sole John/Rygel shipper.
Lastly: this is a good episode for Stark. He's allowed to be competent at fooling a lethally dangerous foe with his act, the way he was when originally introduced, and could show his compassion towards the dying John. I need to keep this emotionally with me, because the way I recall it, in the next episode he's in I want to strangle him.
The other episodes This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1438356.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.