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selenakWiki summary: Chiana is given a picture that predicts the future. It depicts the death of Chiana, followed by the rest of the crew who appear to die one by one in self-fulfilling prophecies.
One of the Farscape episodes I somehow never got around to watching. I somehow also had avoided getting spoiled for this being Maldis: The Return. Mind you, I did vaguely recall seeing references to Maldis returning at some point but never remembering myself in which episode this was. So now I know.
I wonder whether if I had watched this during the original run instead of missing it, I'd have been afraid Chiana was really, truly dead. After all, she'd been the late arrival in s1, and while she'd gotten an impressive episode focused on her since then, they hadn't get done so much with her that I wouldn't have believed the show capable of killing her off. As it was, watching, I was more focused on how the show on the one hand seemed to have a meta moment about this - the Aeryn and John conversation/argument starting with Aeryn arguing they should get rid of Chiana and Rygel - , and on the other for the first time signalling D'Argo hasn't just started to like Chiana, he likes her. This said, it's still a bit more tell than show, because we've seen more of Chiana's growing relationships with Rygel than with D'Argo. And most of all with John, but John is the main character. Speaking of Rygel, his reaction to Chiana's "death" is just the right balance of his usual selfish pragmatism and actual fondness/grief. Also: burning to death is horrible, and right until D'Argo shatters in front of us, thus signalling this isn't "real" death after alll, the episode plays it straight.
From the moment D'Argo's becomes glass shards, the episode switches tone to "does Zhaan actually have a plan and will she defeat the villain of the hour?". While I still have a problem with Maldis - not helped by the irresistible Buffy association that made me inwardly (mis)quote "now who's a nasty little fear demon?" - , the Zhaan and John scenes in this episode, continuing their s1 connection when he helped her through her spiritual crisis(es), really worked for me. Including the part where she shoves him into his (fake) death by electricity to hasten proceedings, as a reminder of Zhaan's own ruthlessness.
Costume note: they're really pushing it with Aeryn showing more and more skin this season. Had not noticed this during the original watch. Incidentally, in terms of Aeryn this episode's placing directly after The Way We Weren't I find a bit baffling, not least because John's "will you always keep us at a distance?" feels way off after last week.
The Escher like dimension Maldis puts everyone in: hello, Logopolis (from Doctor Who). It felt a bit video gamey, which ruins the spookiness, and of course Maldis himself - well, he's too tacky to really take seriousy, see above re: Buffy quote.
All in all: after a series of powerful episodes a merely okay one - not bad, but not as stellar as the last few.
The Other Episodes
One of the Farscape episodes I somehow never got around to watching. I somehow also had avoided getting spoiled for this being Maldis: The Return. Mind you, I did vaguely recall seeing references to Maldis returning at some point but never remembering myself in which episode this was. So now I know.
I wonder whether if I had watched this during the original run instead of missing it, I'd have been afraid Chiana was really, truly dead. After all, she'd been the late arrival in s1, and while she'd gotten an impressive episode focused on her since then, they hadn't get done so much with her that I wouldn't have believed the show capable of killing her off. As it was, watching, I was more focused on how the show on the one hand seemed to have a meta moment about this - the Aeryn and John conversation/argument starting with Aeryn arguing they should get rid of Chiana and Rygel - , and on the other for the first time signalling D'Argo hasn't just started to like Chiana, he likes her. This said, it's still a bit more tell than show, because we've seen more of Chiana's growing relationships with Rygel than with D'Argo. And most of all with John, but John is the main character. Speaking of Rygel, his reaction to Chiana's "death" is just the right balance of his usual selfish pragmatism and actual fondness/grief. Also: burning to death is horrible, and right until D'Argo shatters in front of us, thus signalling this isn't "real" death after alll, the episode plays it straight.
From the moment D'Argo's becomes glass shards, the episode switches tone to "does Zhaan actually have a plan and will she defeat the villain of the hour?". While I still have a problem with Maldis - not helped by the irresistible Buffy association that made me inwardly (mis)quote "now who's a nasty little fear demon?" - , the Zhaan and John scenes in this episode, continuing their s1 connection when he helped her through her spiritual crisis(es), really worked for me. Including the part where she shoves him into his (fake) death by electricity to hasten proceedings, as a reminder of Zhaan's own ruthlessness.
Costume note: they're really pushing it with Aeryn showing more and more skin this season. Had not noticed this during the original watch. Incidentally, in terms of Aeryn this episode's placing directly after The Way We Weren't I find a bit baffling, not least because John's "will you always keep us at a distance?" feels way off after last week.
The Escher like dimension Maldis puts everyone in: hello, Logopolis (from Doctor Who). It felt a bit video gamey, which ruins the spookiness, and of course Maldis himself - well, he's too tacky to really take seriousy, see above re: Buffy quote.
All in all: after a series of powerful episodes a merely okay one - not bad, but not as stellar as the last few.
The Other Episodes
no subject
Date: 2020-09-13 04:34 pm (UTC)While they introduce the D'Argo/Chiana relationship properly this episode, they also show the faultlines in it - note how Chiana is infuriated by D'Argo telling her to "be sensible".
Also, you can see how soldierly Aeryn still can be by how unhesitatingly she kills "Kyvan"... it's my personal feeling that while she becomes more compassionate, she stays Lawful Neutral right through the show.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-13 04:56 pm (UTC)Maldis: denigrator of cartoons?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-13 05:02 pm (UTC)