Farscape Rewatch: Bringing home the Beacon (4.16)
Wiki summary: Moya's female crew head for an asteroid outpost, hoping to find a device that will help disguise Moya. It's not long before Peacekeepers and Scarrans arrive at the station, intending to sign a peace treaty which will spell disaster for the Luxan race unless Aeryn can stop them.
This truly is Farscape: Feminine Addition, since we don't just get Aeryn, Sikozu, Chiana and Noranti, but also Grayza and, introduced in this episode, Scarran War Minister Akhna, only the second named female Scarran (with Scorpius' tormentor/teacher Tauza as the first), and the last role for Mrs. Ben Browder on the show. While I had vaguely remembered liking the episode, and that there was a Noranti-and-Chiana-undercover scene, I hadn't recalled the Akhna-and-Grayza negotiations until watching them, and I have to say, I'm positively impressed. This is the first time since her debut in s3 that Grayza comes across as a power to be taken seriously and not because she's handing out sex pollens. Which is all the more remarkable because until and a bit more than this point of the story, the show has positioned her as being in the wrong from the start, i.e. the Scarrans had been presented as not wiling to negotiate any kind of compromise.
Now, what Grayza suggests in this episode by itself isn't presented as good, either - throwing the Luxans to the dogs in exchange for more Unchartered Territory -, especially since like many an English speaking sci fi show, I'm sure the the writers wanted to evoke the Czechs being thrown to the dogs in 1938/Chamberlain association. (Just a bit more subtle than JMS in s2 of Babylon 5 when he actually has a character meant to be Space Chamberlain say "peace in our time".) But firstly, she presents her case well (and successfully bluffs re: the wormhole technology), secondly, she comes across as meaning it when she later tells Aeryn that if Akhna hadn't backstabbed her, she'd have stuck to this agreement, and thirdly, the show so far has made it clear that in terms of firepower, the Scarrans surpass the Peacekeepers and would win a direct conflict, so from a PK pov, Grayza seeking to prevent a war which as far as she knows her people won't be able to win by trying to accomplish a mutually beneficial agreement actually is a valid strategic choice.
(Not the best one; for starters, sacrificing an already proven ally like the Luxans would ensure anyone else the Peacekeepers count on as allies will know they can't rely on any treaty, which means they'll be isolated in the more than likely case of needing allies in the future. But still valid in a no good situation.)
Approaching Akhna, someone she knows to be ambitious and feeling passed over for advance also makes sense. And best of all, the negotiation scene between two female villains is played without it feeling the narrative patronizes either one. Here, Grayza doesn't come across as a failed Servalan wannabe but like someone you really can believe rose as high among the Peacekeepers as she did (and not just because of the boob sweat).
As for our heroines: Sikozu gets to display her linguistic and local savvy, always aware she's still everyone's first choice for suspect-as-traitor, while the scene in which we see Aeryn react to what she finds out about Grayza and Akhna is perhaps the first time since s3 that the show provides Aeryn with a specific ex Peacekeeper reaction again. (And note that Grayza, no fool in this ep, later talks to her as a Peacekeeper, not as an overgrown Mean Girl.) Meanwhile, Chiana and Noranti get the comic relief subplot, though I have to say that either's disguise really is not worth the money they paid because they don't look that different to me. (Different skin and hair color does not a different Chiana make.) Ditto for a younger Noranti. The two of them making out and visibly enjoying themselves while doing so is a neat subversion of the usual "Two regulars, inevitably m/f, have to pretend to be lovers to fool the enemy in pursuit" cliché. It's noticeable, though, that by now our lot have incorporated Noranti's skillset as part of their tactics. Aeryn thanking her as also a far cry from everyone going WTF about Noranti (for understandable reasons) in the early episodes.
Lastly: the big cliffhanger with the reveal Aeryn has been switched out against a Doombot bioloid, complete with dramatic shootout in which John kills the doppelganger. Watching this again, it struck me that this might be where Moffat had the idea for Amy and the Ganger from. Though not necessarily; exchanging a regular with a copy is a tried and true trope, it just usually gets dragged out longer. Happening here, immediately after the John-and-Aeryn reconciliation, it smacks of a painfully obvious ploy to drag out the anguish of the leading pair again. But I'll reserve my rant on this for a later episode, as this is only the cliffhanger, and this particular episode, I liked a lot.
The other episodes This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1458369.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
This truly is Farscape: Feminine Addition, since we don't just get Aeryn, Sikozu, Chiana and Noranti, but also Grayza and, introduced in this episode, Scarran War Minister Akhna, only the second named female Scarran (with Scorpius' tormentor/teacher Tauza as the first), and the last role for Mrs. Ben Browder on the show. While I had vaguely remembered liking the episode, and that there was a Noranti-and-Chiana-undercover scene, I hadn't recalled the Akhna-and-Grayza negotiations until watching them, and I have to say, I'm positively impressed. This is the first time since her debut in s3 that Grayza comes across as a power to be taken seriously and not because she's handing out sex pollens. Which is all the more remarkable because until and a bit more than this point of the story, the show has positioned her as being in the wrong from the start, i.e. the Scarrans had been presented as not wiling to negotiate any kind of compromise.
Now, what Grayza suggests in this episode by itself isn't presented as good, either - throwing the Luxans to the dogs in exchange for more Unchartered Territory -, especially since like many an English speaking sci fi show, I'm sure the the writers wanted to evoke the Czechs being thrown to the dogs in 1938/Chamberlain association. (Just a bit more subtle than JMS in s2 of Babylon 5 when he actually has a character meant to be Space Chamberlain say "peace in our time".) But firstly, she presents her case well (and successfully bluffs re: the wormhole technology), secondly, she comes across as meaning it when she later tells Aeryn that if Akhna hadn't backstabbed her, she'd have stuck to this agreement, and thirdly, the show so far has made it clear that in terms of firepower, the Scarrans surpass the Peacekeepers and would win a direct conflict, so from a PK pov, Grayza seeking to prevent a war which as far as she knows her people won't be able to win by trying to accomplish a mutually beneficial agreement actually is a valid strategic choice.
(Not the best one; for starters, sacrificing an already proven ally like the Luxans would ensure anyone else the Peacekeepers count on as allies will know they can't rely on any treaty, which means they'll be isolated in the more than likely case of needing allies in the future. But still valid in a no good situation.)
Approaching Akhna, someone she knows to be ambitious and feeling passed over for advance also makes sense. And best of all, the negotiation scene between two female villains is played without it feeling the narrative patronizes either one. Here, Grayza doesn't come across as a failed Servalan wannabe but like someone you really can believe rose as high among the Peacekeepers as she did (and not just because of the boob sweat).
As for our heroines: Sikozu gets to display her linguistic and local savvy, always aware she's still everyone's first choice for suspect-as-traitor, while the scene in which we see Aeryn react to what she finds out about Grayza and Akhna is perhaps the first time since s3 that the show provides Aeryn with a specific ex Peacekeeper reaction again. (And note that Grayza, no fool in this ep, later talks to her as a Peacekeeper, not as an overgrown Mean Girl.) Meanwhile, Chiana and Noranti get the comic relief subplot, though I have to say that either's disguise really is not worth the money they paid because they don't look that different to me. (Different skin and hair color does not a different Chiana make.) Ditto for a younger Noranti. The two of them making out and visibly enjoying themselves while doing so is a neat subversion of the usual "Two regulars, inevitably m/f, have to pretend to be lovers to fool the enemy in pursuit" cliché. It's noticeable, though, that by now our lot have incorporated Noranti's skillset as part of their tactics. Aeryn thanking her as also a far cry from everyone going WTF about Noranti (for understandable reasons) in the early episodes.
Lastly: the big cliffhanger with the reveal Aeryn has been switched out against a Doombot bioloid, complete with dramatic shootout in which John kills the doppelganger. Watching this again, it struck me that this might be where Moffat had the idea for Amy and the Ganger from. Though not necessarily; exchanging a regular with a copy is a tried and true trope, it just usually gets dragged out longer. Happening here, immediately after the John-and-Aeryn reconciliation, it smacks of a painfully obvious ploy to drag out the anguish of the leading pair again. But I'll reserve my rant on this for a later episode, as this is only the cliffhanger, and this particular episode, I liked a lot.
The other episodes This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1458369.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.