Farscape Rewatch: Durka Returns (1.15.)
Jun. 14th, 2020 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWiki summary: A collision with a Nebari ship brings a Nebari criminal named Chiana to Moya, along with a mentally cleansed Captain Durka much to the surprise of Rygel.
This is one of episodes that stuck most vividly in my mind, and yet, after many years of not watching, it turns out there were things I either hadn't recalled (Chiana's voice sounds somewhat differently here from how Gigi Edgley plays the character later, I think) or misremembered (nope, the head-on-a-stick thing happens seasons later). In any event: this is really one of the keepers in this show.
The Nebari and the concept of mind cleansing: seasons before there's an episode called "A Clockwork Nebari", it's obvious someone has read "A Clockwork Orange" or watched the Kubrick movie based on it. It's incredibly creepy, perhaps even more so than the overt fascism of the Peacekeepers. Something I regret: the the first time I watched this episode, one of the few things in Farscape I was spoiled for was that Chiana would become a regular, so the question of how much or little trustworthy she is wasn't there for me emotionally. Mind you, given everyone but Crichton and Aeryn is an ex-convict on this ship, they were amazingly quick to take Salis' word on her being a dangerous criminal, without, other than Crichton, asking what exactly she'd done.
Speaking of John, I think at this point in the show you can see a difference already to how he was at the start. He's appalled by the way Chiana is treated, and he (correctly) later believes he can persuade her to team up, but he's also far more cautious suspicious than he'd have been earlier in the show; he doesn't take it for granted anymore that just because she was imprisoned by the bad guys, she's good. And he doesn't end the episode with a warm welcome but with "we have rules" and the question as to where she was when Salis was killed. This is still a man with compassionate instincts but one who has been in the Uncharted Territories for a while.
Something else I noticed about Chiana - the distinct body language is already there from the get go - and all kudos to Gigi Edgley for providing Chiana with this - though the voice like I said sounds somewhat different; it's also that Chiana comes across as younger in future episodes than she does here, possibly because the writers hadn't yet decided on much of her background or personality beyond what we see in this ep.
Before I get the Hynerian side of the Force, one more thing that occurred to me during this rewatch, re: the mind cleansing. I would say the Farscape narrative definitely thinks it's evil, with Zhaan - who knows that she herself would qualify as much anyone for such "treatment" - voicing the objection in her confrontation with Salis, an objection that includes even Durka, whose previous crimes are not in doubt. The fact that the Nebari government, i.e. an authoritarian state, uses it to keep its citizens in line also clearly signals to the audience This Is Not Good. Otoh, Babylon 5 in its first few seasons devotes two episodes to the fact its future human society doesn't have the death penalty, it has the "death of personality" penalty, by which serial killers and the likes are condemned to have their memories erased and being given new memories and a personality that wants to serve society. Bear in mind here this is not one of the show's elements that only comes into play once Earth society starts to turn more and more authoritarian, then fascist. This is a punishment devised by a democratic human society.
The first episode in which the question comes up could be read as endorsing it or the speech of the station's security chief about the virtues of the death penalty because the murderer in it is presented as unambigously evil and bent on harming the guest stars and the regulars alike. The second episode, otoh, presents us with a post-death of personality character, like Durka here, who has early on no idea about his past and whose new self is presented as a good person serving others, who is, once courtesy of the episode plot memories of his old self's murders are telepathically projected on him, horrified and disgusted. (He's also played by Brad Dourif in a great performance.) This is one of B5's few explicit "moral lesson" episodes as Sheridan, who befriended and pitied the new self and can't understand why the victims' families would still pursue revenge to the point where Dourif's character does in fact die, is at the end of the episode presented with the killer of the man he'd befriended who now in turn has been given a new personality with new memories and is off to serve society that way, and realises his own emotional reaction is not to make a difference between the old and new self. In a tv show who otherwise regards brainwashing as unambigously evil, though, it's interesting that the only sympathetic regular who questions this punishment is Garibaldi in the first episode, for whom it's not enough. The second episode has Brad Dourif's character, whose new rebuild character is a monk, wonder and torment himself from a moral and theological perspective once he's figured out the truth, i.e. of course he's horrified by the crimes, but how can it be repentance if he can't remember committing them, how are his current morals even worth anything since he didn't choose them, they were given to him. But what isn't questioned by the characters, per se, is whether "let's mindwipe an evil ciriminal into becoming a new and better person" is something a society seeing itself as democratic and committed to human rights, including those of criminals, should do. And that, of course, is a question the original Clockwork Orange does ask.
On to why this is another fabulous outing for our Dominar. Durka himself, either "mind cleansed" or with evilness restored, isn't particularly interesting; it's Durka as a catalyst that makes him effective. The episode fully commits to showing (again) just how deeply traumatized Rygel is, at no point tries to get a cheap laugh out of the fact he's tiny when trying to attack Durka upon first seeing him alive; later, when Durka has him on the table, it's as horrifying a prospect as Durka planning to torture Aeryn, and Rygel's having come out of the other end of fear and defying him is played as just such a big character moment as it would be were Rygel a humanoid character. Truly, this show commits to its non-human aliens in such a fantastic way, and that's why I'm still mad when recalling, say, Edward Olmos interviews in which he says he only agreed to play Adama in the rebooted Battlestar Galactica under the condition that there would be no aliens, because otherwise otherwise how could you have series drama. Bah.
The two scenes between Rygel and Aeryn in this episode were especially striking for me this time around. To Aeryn, the Zelbinian had been a positive legend, a point very important in PK Tech Girl, and it says something about the fact that Rygel while not seeing himself as a friend to any of his shipmates (or vice versa) understands by now Aeryn well enough to make the one point that really impacts on her when, in the first scene, pointing out that whatever else is true about Durka, he faked his death and left his crew to die, which makes him not just abhorrent by the standards of Peacekeeper prisoners like Rygel but also by those PK standards Aeryn was taught and in which she still believes even if her own people feel short of them - you don't leave your comrades behind to die. It's this what she brings up when talking to Durka later.
Aeryn until now did not have much time for Rygel, and there's no reason, from her pov, why she should have. But what makes the second scene is that it's not "thanks for saving my life", which a lot of other shows would have gone for - Aeryn for her part knows Rygel well enough, too, to know that his taunting of Durka was about his own history with Durka, not about her - but about acknowledging his bravery. That she does so by handing him a weapon back and also messing with him by saying he handled himself like a Peacekeeper is very Aeryn, and very the prickly way our regulars by and large still interact with each other.
Trivia:
- in the middle of all the suspense and angst, it cracks me up that post regaining of his original personality and Salis' death, Durka takes the time to give himself a hair cut so he looks like the Durka of Rygel's nightmares again. Speaking as someone with long hair: this really takes a lot of time, especially if you do it not with scissors and razors but a knife. Priorities, Durka!
- So: any opinions on whether Chiana or Durka killed Salis, since we never find it out? I know the creators said it doesn't matter, and I see their point, but they, fandom is there for idle speculation?
- Like I said, Chiana as a future regular was something I was already spoiled for during my first watch. For anyone who watched without knowing this back then: were you surprised she stayed on board at the end? Fannish osmosis tells me there were originally objections and suspicions before Chiana became as embraced as the rest of the regulars were, since she was the first one to join the gang who wasn't part of the initial set up from the pilot. Was that true for you?
The Other Days
This is one of episodes that stuck most vividly in my mind, and yet, after many years of not watching, it turns out there were things I either hadn't recalled (Chiana's voice sounds somewhat differently here from how Gigi Edgley plays the character later, I think) or misremembered (nope, the head-on-a-stick thing happens seasons later). In any event: this is really one of the keepers in this show.
The Nebari and the concept of mind cleansing: seasons before there's an episode called "A Clockwork Nebari", it's obvious someone has read "A Clockwork Orange" or watched the Kubrick movie based on it. It's incredibly creepy, perhaps even more so than the overt fascism of the Peacekeepers. Something I regret: the the first time I watched this episode, one of the few things in Farscape I was spoiled for was that Chiana would become a regular, so the question of how much or little trustworthy she is wasn't there for me emotionally. Mind you, given everyone but Crichton and Aeryn is an ex-convict on this ship, they were amazingly quick to take Salis' word on her being a dangerous criminal, without, other than Crichton, asking what exactly she'd done.
Speaking of John, I think at this point in the show you can see a difference already to how he was at the start. He's appalled by the way Chiana is treated, and he (correctly) later believes he can persuade her to team up, but he's also far more cautious suspicious than he'd have been earlier in the show; he doesn't take it for granted anymore that just because she was imprisoned by the bad guys, she's good. And he doesn't end the episode with a warm welcome but with "we have rules" and the question as to where she was when Salis was killed. This is still a man with compassionate instincts but one who has been in the Uncharted Territories for a while.
Something else I noticed about Chiana - the distinct body language is already there from the get go - and all kudos to Gigi Edgley for providing Chiana with this - though the voice like I said sounds somewhat different; it's also that Chiana comes across as younger in future episodes than she does here, possibly because the writers hadn't yet decided on much of her background or personality beyond what we see in this ep.
Before I get the Hynerian side of the Force, one more thing that occurred to me during this rewatch, re: the mind cleansing. I would say the Farscape narrative definitely thinks it's evil, with Zhaan - who knows that she herself would qualify as much anyone for such "treatment" - voicing the objection in her confrontation with Salis, an objection that includes even Durka, whose previous crimes are not in doubt. The fact that the Nebari government, i.e. an authoritarian state, uses it to keep its citizens in line also clearly signals to the audience This Is Not Good. Otoh, Babylon 5 in its first few seasons devotes two episodes to the fact its future human society doesn't have the death penalty, it has the "death of personality" penalty, by which serial killers and the likes are condemned to have their memories erased and being given new memories and a personality that wants to serve society. Bear in mind here this is not one of the show's elements that only comes into play once Earth society starts to turn more and more authoritarian, then fascist. This is a punishment devised by a democratic human society.
The first episode in which the question comes up could be read as endorsing it or the speech of the station's security chief about the virtues of the death penalty because the murderer in it is presented as unambigously evil and bent on harming the guest stars and the regulars alike. The second episode, otoh, presents us with a post-death of personality character, like Durka here, who has early on no idea about his past and whose new self is presented as a good person serving others, who is, once courtesy of the episode plot memories of his old self's murders are telepathically projected on him, horrified and disgusted. (He's also played by Brad Dourif in a great performance.) This is one of B5's few explicit "moral lesson" episodes as Sheridan, who befriended and pitied the new self and can't understand why the victims' families would still pursue revenge to the point where Dourif's character does in fact die, is at the end of the episode presented with the killer of the man he'd befriended who now in turn has been given a new personality with new memories and is off to serve society that way, and realises his own emotional reaction is not to make a difference between the old and new self. In a tv show who otherwise regards brainwashing as unambigously evil, though, it's interesting that the only sympathetic regular who questions this punishment is Garibaldi in the first episode, for whom it's not enough. The second episode has Brad Dourif's character, whose new rebuild character is a monk, wonder and torment himself from a moral and theological perspective once he's figured out the truth, i.e. of course he's horrified by the crimes, but how can it be repentance if he can't remember committing them, how are his current morals even worth anything since he didn't choose them, they were given to him. But what isn't questioned by the characters, per se, is whether "let's mindwipe an evil ciriminal into becoming a new and better person" is something a society seeing itself as democratic and committed to human rights, including those of criminals, should do. And that, of course, is a question the original Clockwork Orange does ask.
On to why this is another fabulous outing for our Dominar. Durka himself, either "mind cleansed" or with evilness restored, isn't particularly interesting; it's Durka as a catalyst that makes him effective. The episode fully commits to showing (again) just how deeply traumatized Rygel is, at no point tries to get a cheap laugh out of the fact he's tiny when trying to attack Durka upon first seeing him alive; later, when Durka has him on the table, it's as horrifying a prospect as Durka planning to torture Aeryn, and Rygel's having come out of the other end of fear and defying him is played as just such a big character moment as it would be were Rygel a humanoid character. Truly, this show commits to its non-human aliens in such a fantastic way, and that's why I'm still mad when recalling, say, Edward Olmos interviews in which he says he only agreed to play Adama in the rebooted Battlestar Galactica under the condition that there would be no aliens, because otherwise otherwise how could you have series drama. Bah.
The two scenes between Rygel and Aeryn in this episode were especially striking for me this time around. To Aeryn, the Zelbinian had been a positive legend, a point very important in PK Tech Girl, and it says something about the fact that Rygel while not seeing himself as a friend to any of his shipmates (or vice versa) understands by now Aeryn well enough to make the one point that really impacts on her when, in the first scene, pointing out that whatever else is true about Durka, he faked his death and left his crew to die, which makes him not just abhorrent by the standards of Peacekeeper prisoners like Rygel but also by those PK standards Aeryn was taught and in which she still believes even if her own people feel short of them - you don't leave your comrades behind to die. It's this what she brings up when talking to Durka later.
Aeryn until now did not have much time for Rygel, and there's no reason, from her pov, why she should have. But what makes the second scene is that it's not "thanks for saving my life", which a lot of other shows would have gone for - Aeryn for her part knows Rygel well enough, too, to know that his taunting of Durka was about his own history with Durka, not about her - but about acknowledging his bravery. That she does so by handing him a weapon back and also messing with him by saying he handled himself like a Peacekeeper is very Aeryn, and very the prickly way our regulars by and large still interact with each other.
Trivia:
- in the middle of all the suspense and angst, it cracks me up that post regaining of his original personality and Salis' death, Durka takes the time to give himself a hair cut so he looks like the Durka of Rygel's nightmares again. Speaking as someone with long hair: this really takes a lot of time, especially if you do it not with scissors and razors but a knife. Priorities, Durka!
- So: any opinions on whether Chiana or Durka killed Salis, since we never find it out? I know the creators said it doesn't matter, and I see their point, but they, fandom is there for idle speculation?
- Like I said, Chiana as a future regular was something I was already spoiled for during my first watch. For anyone who watched without knowing this back then: were you surprised she stayed on board at the end? Fannish osmosis tells me there were originally objections and suspicions before Chiana became as embraced as the rest of the regulars were, since she was the first one to join the gang who wasn't part of the initial set up from the pilot. Was that true for you?
The Other Days
no subject
Date: 2020-06-14 11:15 am (UTC)Given the way their society functions - inasmuch as you can say it is a functioning society at all - I'd be surprised if more of them aren't batshit.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-14 11:46 am (UTC)