Farscape Rewatch: PK Tech Girl (1.07.)
Apr. 26th, 2020 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWiki summary: The hulk of the legendary Peacekeeper ship, the Zelbinion, holds a pleasant surprise for Crichton, but Rygel must confront the time spent on the ship where he was tortured by the sadistic commander Captain Durka, while the crew work to reactivate the ship's shields to defend themselves from an attack.
This was the episode when I decided to stick with the show, so I've got a soft spot for it, but I do think it holds up upon rewatching. Every one in the ensemble - except Pilot - gets character stuff to do, the menace of the week, the Sheyang, offers a solid suspense plot as our heroes have to figure out a way not to outfight but to outwit the opposition wiht a mixture of bluffing skills and tech repair, and Gilina is a likeable (seemingly) one shot character, the first Peacekeeper other than Aeryn herself to come across sympathetically. That she's the "tech girl" of the title is good world building, showing that PK society does not consist solely of people with the primary skill/job of fighting or flying.
Gilina is, of course, also that easily resented trademark of a show in its early states, the romance of the week before the endgame pairing gets together. (And it's worth recalling Farscape started in a sci fi tv context where long term pairings between regulars weren't unheard of anymore - B5, DS9 - but still far more unusual than romances of the week.) Here I admire how the show manages to on the one hand make her hitting it off with Crichton believable - he's still primarily a scientist, they bond over their mutual tech expertise as well as physical attraction and his compassion for her situation - but don't let that be her only purpose in the expisode. Just as important, if not more so, is what she presents to Aeryn: a look back to the world Aeryn, and this is important, hasn't left voluntarily but has been forced out, a possible road not taken. Being on board a dead Peacekeeper ship is haunting for Aeryn for all the reasons Crichton lists at the end of the episode, but speaking of a living Peacekeeper, no matter that it's one from a different "department", so to speak, is worse. But not completely. I love how Claudia Black plays all the myriad of different reactions Aeryn has to Gilina throughout the episode, from interrogating her (she gets to be Officer Sun again) to the understanding in her face that Gilina will not give the Moya crew away (and not just because of Crichton). Gilina not considering Aeryn a traitor anymore at the end means something because there's a part of Aeryn, despite her development so far, that longs to return home - if she could, as Gilina still can.
At the same time, this episode also offers a stark reminder of just how brutal PKs can get via the first Rygel subplot without a single moment of him being the comic relief. When he first says he's been tortured on board this ship, first time watchers may think he's talking hyperbolically, because Rygel, and then we quickly see no, he means just that. He was tortured.For years and years and years. That Rygel is played by a puppet and we never in the Durka flashbacks see, as some grimdark shows probably would insist on showing us, the full gore, so to speak, is absolutely immaterial; those are devastating scenes. Rygel facing Durka's corpse (or so he thinks) may be 101 pop psychology; the earlier scene where Rygel spits at Gilina and says it's bad enough he has to share living space with "one of these abominations" (meaning Aeryn) is a visceral reminder how deep those scars go, and how relatively shortly ago Aeryn was indeed part of the forces of oppression (and torture).
The Zhaan and D'Argo interaction here comes across as if it should pre-date, not post date "Thank God It's Friday, Again", and indeed Amazon Prime as opposed to wiki lists the episodes in reverse order. But I suippose I can buy D'Argo being a bit resentful at first about Zhaan coaching him in the art of lying because of male pride. Zhaan's practical compassion with Rygel is what stands out for me re: her scenes. A character like Zhaan, who often like here plays the "wise counsillor" role (in different ways to D'Argo and Rygel) in this episode, can come across as treacly or one dimensional, but the way Virginia Hey plays it gives me the sense that Zhaan knows what she's talking about re: confronting your demons.
Trivia:
- Aeryn's ability to carry parts of the storage far easier than Crichton is neat reminder again that Sebaceans are depicted as physically stronger than humans.
- for all that Aeryn admitting, mid-argument, she's attracted to Crichton is fun, their last quiet conversation at the end of the episode, that "I stand corrected" is the big emotional relationship building moment forme here
- fluid dropping from dessicating corpses: definitely the most gruesome entry in Farscape's fascination with physical by products so far; well, we are mostly water....
- that wiki summary is one of those bizarro types of tv guide misleads - "a pleasant surprise for Crichton", what?
The Other Days
This was the episode when I decided to stick with the show, so I've got a soft spot for it, but I do think it holds up upon rewatching. Every one in the ensemble - except Pilot - gets character stuff to do, the menace of the week, the Sheyang, offers a solid suspense plot as our heroes have to figure out a way not to outfight but to outwit the opposition wiht a mixture of bluffing skills and tech repair, and Gilina is a likeable (seemingly) one shot character, the first Peacekeeper other than Aeryn herself to come across sympathetically. That she's the "tech girl" of the title is good world building, showing that PK society does not consist solely of people with the primary skill/job of fighting or flying.
Gilina is, of course, also that easily resented trademark of a show in its early states, the romance of the week before the endgame pairing gets together. (And it's worth recalling Farscape started in a sci fi tv context where long term pairings between regulars weren't unheard of anymore - B5, DS9 - but still far more unusual than romances of the week.) Here I admire how the show manages to on the one hand make her hitting it off with Crichton believable - he's still primarily a scientist, they bond over their mutual tech expertise as well as physical attraction and his compassion for her situation - but don't let that be her only purpose in the expisode. Just as important, if not more so, is what she presents to Aeryn: a look back to the world Aeryn, and this is important, hasn't left voluntarily but has been forced out, a possible road not taken. Being on board a dead Peacekeeper ship is haunting for Aeryn for all the reasons Crichton lists at the end of the episode, but speaking of a living Peacekeeper, no matter that it's one from a different "department", so to speak, is worse. But not completely. I love how Claudia Black plays all the myriad of different reactions Aeryn has to Gilina throughout the episode, from interrogating her (she gets to be Officer Sun again) to the understanding in her face that Gilina will not give the Moya crew away (and not just because of Crichton). Gilina not considering Aeryn a traitor anymore at the end means something because there's a part of Aeryn, despite her development so far, that longs to return home - if she could, as Gilina still can.
At the same time, this episode also offers a stark reminder of just how brutal PKs can get via the first Rygel subplot without a single moment of him being the comic relief. When he first says he's been tortured on board this ship, first time watchers may think he's talking hyperbolically, because Rygel, and then we quickly see no, he means just that. He was tortured.For years and years and years. That Rygel is played by a puppet and we never in the Durka flashbacks see, as some grimdark shows probably would insist on showing us, the full gore, so to speak, is absolutely immaterial; those are devastating scenes. Rygel facing Durka's corpse (or so he thinks) may be 101 pop psychology; the earlier scene where Rygel spits at Gilina and says it's bad enough he has to share living space with "one of these abominations" (meaning Aeryn) is a visceral reminder how deep those scars go, and how relatively shortly ago Aeryn was indeed part of the forces of oppression (and torture).
The Zhaan and D'Argo interaction here comes across as if it should pre-date, not post date "Thank God It's Friday, Again", and indeed Amazon Prime as opposed to wiki lists the episodes in reverse order. But I suippose I can buy D'Argo being a bit resentful at first about Zhaan coaching him in the art of lying because of male pride. Zhaan's practical compassion with Rygel is what stands out for me re: her scenes. A character like Zhaan, who often like here plays the "wise counsillor" role (in different ways to D'Argo and Rygel) in this episode, can come across as treacly or one dimensional, but the way Virginia Hey plays it gives me the sense that Zhaan knows what she's talking about re: confronting your demons.
Trivia:
- Aeryn's ability to carry parts of the storage far easier than Crichton is neat reminder again that Sebaceans are depicted as physically stronger than humans.
- for all that Aeryn admitting, mid-argument, she's attracted to Crichton is fun, their last quiet conversation at the end of the episode, that "I stand corrected" is the big emotional relationship building moment forme here
- fluid dropping from dessicating corpses: definitely the most gruesome entry in Farscape's fascination with physical by products so far; well, we are mostly water....
- that wiki summary is one of those bizarro types of tv guide misleads - "a pleasant surprise for Crichton", what?
The Other Days
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 04:53 pm (UTC)*nods* Yes. Other shows might have left the non-humanoid, Henson crafted characters as comic relief at least until the second season, but Rygel here gets a storyline as serious and tragic as any of the human-shaped characters, and it works completely.
On Luxans never lying to their enemies - I take that line as another sign of D'Argo being young and naive. If I remember rightly, when we finally meet full-time Luxan soldiers in "The Peacekeeper Wars" they're a lot less idealistic.
I'm also reminded of "Vulcans never lie" (introduced as a rule n the Star Trek verse in an episode in which, unless I misremember, a Vulcan lied), and "Minbari never lie" (also introduced in the same episode where Lennier tells us the get-out clause to the rule. (And that's not mentioning the fact our main Minbari has been less than honest to Sinclair, then Sheridan from the get go. Picard quote of the hour: A lie of omission is still a lie! Anyway. Whenever someone in a sci fi say says "species X never lies", I automatically assume they're either naive or lying themselves.