The flip from Crais to Scorpius as villain is such a wonderful fake-out. I suspect the pass from Scorpius to Grayza was supposed to be an equal escalation, but it wasn't.
I have a thesis that I've never quite licked into shape.
Basically, Aeryn is living up to a Peacekeeper standard that *nobody else takes seriously*. Crais has long-term relationships with several different women: nobody on his ship (except our high-minded commando girl) is ignorant that his second-in-command is also his mistress. Velorek knows that he can work the system to keep Aeryn with him; wossname-the-Ghost offers her something very similar. Senior command in the Peacekeeper fleet keep mistresses openly; Grayza's authority in the miniseries comes from her being the C-I-C's mistress and mother of his child. (Ugh. Ughity ugh ugh.)
Everywhere you look there's monogamy; apparently Aeryn was the only one listening to the Peacekeeper Anti-Sex League lectures.
Basically, Aeryn is living up to a Peacekeeper standard that *nobody else takes seriously*.I have some vaguely formed theories about what makes a typical Peacekeeper and why we seem to meet so few of them during the course of the show too, which I will hopefully be able to pull together at some point. With the relationships you mentioned, there are strong hints of emotional attachment, but how that attachment may or may not relate to monogamy in any of the cases is never spelled out, and it's possible they weren't very strongly related. (I think Velorek comes the closest to tying the two together.) But even in the realm of the non-sexual, Crais was very open about his attachment to his brother, and presumably family feeling of that kind is also forbidden
( ... )
Monogamy was completely the wrong word to have used; I should have said "pair-bonding". There was an (unsatisfied) expectation from all of Crais's women that they had a claim for special treatment from him.
Right now my (hazy) mental model is that Velorek was probably, like Crais, a conscript and therefore had existing non-Peacekeeper expectations of intimate relationships. That doesn't explain what the Hell was up with Grayza and her porthole maternity wear.
So I think that along with her belief that Peacekeepers were doing the universe a service by enforcing order, etc., trying to make herself believe that emotional attachments are bad is a very consistent thing for her to do.
Oh, yes. Especially post-Velorek, if she ever admitted that relationships were possible, she'd crumple into a tiny heap of sharp-edged fragments. As she did.
Right now my (hazy) mental model is that Velorek was probably, like Crais, a conscript and therefore had existing non-Peacekeeper expectations of intimate relationships.
Or perhaps military tech grew up under different rules? Gilina, the tech, certainly didn't seem to exhibit the kinds of inhibitions about relationships that Aeryn did. Although I think your speculation is probably more likely. We have all these little glimpses and flashes of PK society, and it's interesting to try to fill in the holes.
I have no idea what was up with Grayza in the mini, though (aside from the fact that they had to work in Rebecca Riggs's pregnancy, and wow did she pull of heavily-pregnant-and-yet-completely-skanky well). It doesn't match at all with Aeryn's family backstory.
Especially post-Velorek, if she ever admitted that relationships were possible, she'd crumple into a tiny heap of sharp-edged fragments. As she did.
Yes! This really crystallizes for me what a huge step that was for her, to give up that justification and face what she'd
My suspicion is that Talyn might have had a chance if he'd imprinted on Aeryn rather than on Crais. Crais made a terrible parent not just because of his insanity but because of his ineffectual and conflicting orders.
Yes, and after a certain point, Crais's instability and Talyn's began magnifying each other. I suspect you're right that Talyn would at least have had a shot if Aeryn--who is nothing if not purposeful and able to control herself in everything but the most extraordinary circumstances--had been the one to influence his early development.
I admit I find it hard to watch Crais in that chair, in a way I don't find it when John is there. There's something about seeing the villain we've come to know and, as you point out, understand, screaming in agony that just *gets* me -- and it did even before I knew what he was to become. I dunno, maybe the actor just plays physical pain more convincingly? I shudder even to remember it.
Scorpius's obsession with John is something else entirely--cold, clinical, impersonal, something that has very little to do with John himself.
It may start out that way, but it sure doesn't end up that way! By the end of the show, Scorpius' obsession is *searingly* personal. One might even say, slashily so. (:
BTW: I have vids that you must come to see. Email me about schedules!
I admit I find it hard to watch Crais in that chair, in a way I don't find it when John is there.
For me, it's just really different. John is someone I sympathize with without reservation here, whereas with Crais, I feel like despite what he's done, he doesn't really deserve this, that now that he's been stripped of his rank and power and his vengeance and his dignity, he's too naked to have to face more. It's extremely clever writing, because I really loathed Crais at this point when I first watched the show, and yet Scorpius was so monstrous that I felt that even Crais did not deserve Scorpius.
It may start out that way, but it sure doesn't end up that way!
Hee! True. But the relationship takes a while to get off the ground; part of the horror of Scorpius for me at first was that coldness, that impartiality, the sense that no emotion would sway him, that he maybe didn't even have them.
I have vids that you must come to see. Email me about schedules!Will do! Alas, the next couple of weeks are totally packed, but things
( ... )
I adore the "radiant Aeryn Sun" scene for many reasons--there is so much happening between them in those few moments, with those brief words to each other, but I think what gets me the most is how amazed and grateful he is that she's alive, and that she's come to get him out of that hellhole, just at the point where he was coming to feel sure he was lost.
What I think I love is that John's at just about the lowest point he could be, yet he so looks happy the moment Aeryn walks through that door. And if she's healthy enough to rescue his ass, suddenly the torture and pain become worth it to him. She's alive and they, once again, have a future.
I think Talyn was pretty much doomed to an unhappy existance thanks to the Peacekeepers, but I do think a more calming influence could have prolonged his life.
And if she's healthy enough to rescue his ass, suddenly the torture and pain become worth it to him.
Yes! He's happy that she's come for him, but mostly he's just happy that she's there.
I always felt so terrible for Talyn (who is, yes, just a collection of sets and CGI, I do realize this) because he had that genetic interference to begin with, but pretty much as soon as he was born, it was amplified by the competing influences around him--his mother the Leviathan and Crais the unstable PK, who both speak to his heritage and instincts in totally contradictory ways. Aeryn would at least have been able to help him make sense of those conflicts, because she understood both.
So, in this round of Stark: Asset or Liability? Stark scores a solid point in the Asset column. I have this impression of him mostly getting in the way, if not downright harmful, in later seasons, and I'm curious to see whether that's actually based on reality, so I'm actually keeping score here.That's the impression I have too. I really, really liked him in his season 1 episodes, and was glad to see him come back. But he started bugging in season 2, and my dislike of him really started in Liars, Guns and Money, when he told Crichton: "Do nothing, it's what you do best anyway", implying that this was what D'Argo had said. I pretty much couldn't stand him after that. And yes, he often got in the way, like when he panicked during the heist and started smashing the equipment instead of helping. I haven't rewatched everything, but I see him as the character who starts to do something useful and completely flails and panick right when he's needed the most. After all, Chiana lost sight for good because he couldn't do "his job". It was only
( ... )
I think Stark and Zhaan more than any other characters were bent to the purpose of plot on Farscape, and it's a little startling because it's otherwise so rare on the show. I just loved Stark in these episodes, when he first showed up, and I was really puzzled by his later trajectory, because he seemed so all over the map. I never got to the point of really disliking him, but he confused me, because I feel like he was really inconsistently written.
Comments 13
I have a thesis that I've never quite licked into shape.
Basically, Aeryn is living up to a Peacekeeper standard that *nobody else takes seriously*. Crais has long-term relationships with several different women: nobody on his ship (except our high-minded commando girl) is ignorant that his second-in-command is also his mistress. Velorek knows that he can work the system to keep Aeryn with him; wossname-the-Ghost offers her something very similar. Senior command in the Peacekeeper fleet keep mistresses openly; Grayza's authority in the miniseries comes from her being the C-I-C's mistress and mother of his child. (Ugh. Ughity ugh ugh.)
Everywhere you look there's monogamy; apparently Aeryn was the only one listening to the Peacekeeper Anti-Sex League lectures.
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Right now my (hazy) mental model is that Velorek was probably, like Crais, a conscript and therefore had existing non-Peacekeeper expectations of intimate relationships. That doesn't explain what the Hell was up with Grayza and her porthole maternity wear.
So I think that along with her belief that Peacekeepers were doing the universe a service by enforcing order, etc., trying to make herself believe that emotional attachments are bad is a very consistent thing for her to do.
Oh, yes. Especially post-Velorek, if she ever admitted that relationships were possible, she'd crumple into a tiny heap of sharp-edged fragments. As she did.
Reply
Or perhaps military tech grew up under different rules? Gilina, the tech, certainly didn't seem to exhibit the kinds of inhibitions about relationships that Aeryn did. Although I think your speculation is probably more likely. We have all these little glimpses and flashes of PK society, and it's interesting to try to fill in the holes.
I have no idea what was up with Grayza in the mini, though (aside from the fact that they had to work in Rebecca Riggs's pregnancy, and wow did she pull of heavily-pregnant-and-yet-completely-skanky well). It doesn't match at all with Aeryn's family backstory.
Especially post-Velorek, if she ever admitted that relationships were possible, she'd crumple into a tiny heap of sharp-edged fragments. As she did.
Yes! This really crystallizes for me what a huge step that was for her, to give up that justification and face what she'd
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Scorpius's obsession with John is something else entirely--cold, clinical, impersonal, something that has very little to do with John himself.
It may start out that way, but it sure doesn't end up that way! By the end of the show, Scorpius' obsession is *searingly* personal. One might even say, slashily so. (:
BTW: I have vids that you must come to see. Email me about schedules!
Reply
For me, it's just really different. John is someone I sympathize with without reservation here, whereas with Crais, I feel like despite what he's done, he doesn't really deserve this, that now that he's been stripped of his rank and power and his vengeance and his dignity, he's too naked to have to face more. It's extremely clever writing, because I really loathed Crais at this point when I first watched the show, and yet Scorpius was so monstrous that I felt that even Crais did not deserve Scorpius.
It may start out that way, but it sure doesn't end up that way!
Hee! True. But the relationship takes a while to get off the ground; part of the horror of Scorpius for me at first was that coldness, that impartiality, the sense that no emotion would sway him, that he maybe didn't even have them.
I have vids that you must come to see. Email me about schedules!Will do! Alas, the next couple of weeks are totally packed, but things ( ... )
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What I think I love is that John's at just about the lowest point he could be, yet he so looks happy the moment Aeryn walks through that door. And if she's healthy enough to rescue his ass, suddenly the torture and pain become worth it to him. She's alive and they, once again, have a future.
I think Talyn was pretty much doomed to an unhappy existance thanks to the Peacekeepers, but I do think a more calming influence could have prolonged his life.
Reply
Yes! He's happy that she's come for him, but mostly he's just happy that she's there.
I always felt so terrible for Talyn (who is, yes, just a collection of sets and CGI, I do realize this) because he had that genetic interference to begin with, but pretty much as soon as he was born, it was amplified by the competing influences around him--his mother the Leviathan and Crais the unstable PK, who both speak to his heritage and instincts in totally contradictory ways. Aeryn would at least have been able to help him make sense of those conflicts, because she understood both.
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