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selenakWiki summary: While inspecting access shafts D'Argo is flushed into space. The DRDs turn on the crew and Moya cuts off life support, while the crew attempts to find the cause from a revived but delusional D'Argo.
Aka, the one where Moya gets knocked up in the series first "bottle show" (i.e. episode without any other location than the ship). Some of the tension is lost upon rewatch when you know what's going on, but I can still admire the low-level rising horror of it bieng skillfully constructed - on the one hand, our heroes starting to wonder whether Moya has turned against them and wants them dead, and aware there's nowhere else to flee in space, on the other, once you do know what's up, Moya's fear they'll destroy her child. (And of course with the full knowledge of the series, oh, Talyny.)
Something that gains completely new poignancy was John's conversation with Aeryn about how Peacekeeper Sebacean society has all but eliminanted illnesses, while John reflects on the way viruses and plagues still ravage earth. No kidding, John.
The plot device to provide us with D'Argo's backstory - the stint in space complete with D'Argo hallucinating his lost family on the faces of his shipmates after - at first struck me as a bit too clumsy, but upon rewatch I like it, not just because I know the info here that Luxans can survive longer in space than humans will come in handy, but because the acting on Anthony Simcoe's part is really touching, and it allows the other regulars to respond to his backstory in turns rather than letting him monologue the tale. The audience is also neatly lured into it, since D'Argo's first reaction to Zhaan could well be because of the previous way the show has sort-of-shipped them, until it's clear it's not Zhaan he's talking to. Rygel as Jothee is played as both comedy and tragedy, and all kudos to the Henson artists again because we see Rygel's facial expression change when he realises. Crichton as the evil brother-in-law is also the first to work out the key element of the tale, that D'Argo's wife wasn't a Luxan but a Sebacean, and that this is why the Peacekeeper brother-in-law had him arrested.
It adds yet another layer to D'Argo's relationship with Aeryn the Peacekeeper, which is why I'm glad they had the scene late in the episode. This time around, it struck me that Aeryn promises to tell no one about Jothee, no matter what, which implies that Aeryn at this point still hopes/expects to return to Peacekeeper or at least Sebacean as conforming to Peacekeeper standards society, despite her declaration in the previous episode that she'll never be able to go back. Aeryn right now reminds me a bit of Huckleberry Finn after destroying the letter he's written about Jim the slave - she's putting compassion and solidarity with her shipmate/comrade first despite still having internalized the values she was raised with (in this case "blood purity") and only begun to question them.
The two plots are connected through the theme of family, though that's only apparent after John has figured out the truth. (BTW, in retrospect the visual for the tunnel is very vulva/birth channel-like.) Given that none of them, including Pilot, know how leviathans reproduce, I don't blame them for not asking the obvious, I suppose, and probably consider the Peacekeeper device D'Argo unwittingly removed as simply a contraception filter.
Seeing Jothee as a small child is weird, given, you know, and btw makes me wonder whether the Angel writing team was into Farscape.
Lastly: the crew interaction/coopoeration is pretty good here, both first with saving D'Argo and then solving the Moya situation/mystery. Especially in contrast to the previous episode. (And Aeryn's ability to temporarily take over from Pilot, at least enough to stabilize Moya, which John comments on to Zhaan, is a reminder that we're not watching out of order and DNA Mad Scientist just happened recently.) They are starting to become a team.
The Other Days
Aka, the one where Moya gets knocked up in the series first "bottle show" (i.e. episode without any other location than the ship). Some of the tension is lost upon rewatch when you know what's going on, but I can still admire the low-level rising horror of it bieng skillfully constructed - on the one hand, our heroes starting to wonder whether Moya has turned against them and wants them dead, and aware there's nowhere else to flee in space, on the other, once you do know what's up, Moya's fear they'll destroy her child. (And of course with the full knowledge of the series, oh, Talyny.)
Something that gains completely new poignancy was John's conversation with Aeryn about how Peacekeeper Sebacean society has all but eliminanted illnesses, while John reflects on the way viruses and plagues still ravage earth. No kidding, John.
The plot device to provide us with D'Argo's backstory - the stint in space complete with D'Argo hallucinating his lost family on the faces of his shipmates after - at first struck me as a bit too clumsy, but upon rewatch I like it, not just because I know the info here that Luxans can survive longer in space than humans will come in handy, but because the acting on Anthony Simcoe's part is really touching, and it allows the other regulars to respond to his backstory in turns rather than letting him monologue the tale. The audience is also neatly lured into it, since D'Argo's first reaction to Zhaan could well be because of the previous way the show has sort-of-shipped them, until it's clear it's not Zhaan he's talking to. Rygel as Jothee is played as both comedy and tragedy, and all kudos to the Henson artists again because we see Rygel's facial expression change when he realises. Crichton as the evil brother-in-law is also the first to work out the key element of the tale, that D'Argo's wife wasn't a Luxan but a Sebacean, and that this is why the Peacekeeper brother-in-law had him arrested.
It adds yet another layer to D'Argo's relationship with Aeryn the Peacekeeper, which is why I'm glad they had the scene late in the episode. This time around, it struck me that Aeryn promises to tell no one about Jothee, no matter what, which implies that Aeryn at this point still hopes/expects to return to Peacekeeper or at least Sebacean as conforming to Peacekeeper standards society, despite her declaration in the previous episode that she'll never be able to go back. Aeryn right now reminds me a bit of Huckleberry Finn after destroying the letter he's written about Jim the slave - she's putting compassion and solidarity with her shipmate/comrade first despite still having internalized the values she was raised with (in this case "blood purity") and only begun to question them.
The two plots are connected through the theme of family, though that's only apparent after John has figured out the truth. (BTW, in retrospect the visual for the tunnel is very vulva/birth channel-like.) Given that none of them, including Pilot, know how leviathans reproduce, I don't blame them for not asking the obvious, I suppose, and probably consider the Peacekeeper device D'Argo unwittingly removed as simply a contraception filter.
Seeing Jothee as a small child is weird, given, you know, and btw makes me wonder whether the Angel writing team was into Farscape.
Lastly: the crew interaction/coopoeration is pretty good here, both first with saving D'Argo and then solving the Moya situation/mystery. Especially in contrast to the previous episode. (And Aeryn's ability to temporarily take over from Pilot, at least enough to stabilize Moya, which John comments on to Zhaan, is a reminder that we're not watching out of order and DNA Mad Scientist just happened recently.) They are starting to become a team.
The Other Days
no subject
Date: 2020-05-17 04:35 pm (UTC)The other bit that gets extra poignant in the light of later developments is Aeryn being about to cut off Moya's higher brain functions. And I thought it was interesting that John is the one of the other four who orders her without hesitation to do it - we see a bit of an emotionally ruthless side to John here with that, and the way he intentionally impersonates Macton to try to force D'Argo to catharsis.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-18 11:36 pm (UTC)Given her very different shape to humanoid bodies, what if in S1 they had instead established that she has many conduits through her, tip-to-tail, rather than a single channel like the humanoid neck to easily block/cut? Erm, the show would have ended very quickly, but it's an interesting idea.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-20 01:13 pm (UTC)Mind you, the "space whale" image did assure I'm automatically making analogies there re: Moya's physiology, but you're Right, she could have just as well been very differently constructed.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-20 01:16 pm (UTC)