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selenakWiki summary: After being transformed into a bronze statue, Crichton is beheaded then found by a Peacekeeper agent. Later, Crichton, D'Argo and even Scorpius must rescue Chiana from a Scarran. Meanwhile, Zhaan and Pilot confront one of Moya's creators.
I feel this third part is the weakest of the trilogy - not that it's outright bad, but the Chiana kidnapping by the Scarran and her rescue feel really contrived (why would D'Argo answer "Chiana" when the Scarran asks who might know where Crichton is?), Aeryn's subplot struck me as being mostly there to justify why she's not trying to rescue Crichton and can be told what her problem is re: emotional pain vs physical pain (I'm never a fan of a character being told by another character how they feel), and the fact that a) Katralla could be impregnated with Crichton's DNA without any sexual contact whatsover and b) Tyno can replace Crichton as her consort just lampshades just how thin the justification for the arranged marriage was to begin with. And of course Crichton-as-a statue surviving a beheading and having his severed head able to carry on conversations is really pushing it, even for Farscape. (This is why John and Aeryn being reassembled at the start of The Peacekeeper Wars just carries on Farscape tradition.)
And yet, I wasn't bored one minute. Despite my criticism of the Aeryn subplot, it's just endearing to watch her rescue her random companion whom she has zilch romantic interest in and who is of no use to her instead of leaving him behind; it shows Aeryn's core decency beneath all the PK training. Zhaan setting up a trap with the DRDs to vacuum clean a god into space was great, even though the solution to this particular subplot feels awfully contrived - I mean, if this whole thing was meant as a test not of Moya (or Pilot) but of Zhaan, in order to ensure Moya would not be exploited by her crew to breed more gunships, how does the result prove this won't won't happen? It shows is that Zhaan is very protective of Moya and Pilot, cares deeply for them and will try to defend them, fine. But firstly, Zhaan isn't the only passenger (and the Builders know that), secondly, depressingly enough, deeply caring for someone yet hurting them/exploiting them is, alas, not always mutually exclusive. The main story of the trilogy is a take on the arranged marriage trope, and through the majority of human history, parents who in varying degrees cared much for their children thought nothing of marring them off to someone without giving them a choice in the matter. I'm sure the Empress cares deeply for her daughter, too.
The Scorpius scenes, including the reveal that Scorpius has just been faking his weakness in the big showdown (thus emphasizing his plots within plots mindset), all provide us with (at the time) new background information - the Scarran disdain for "mutants" (as far as I recall, future eps will use "halfbreed" as sneer instead), meaning the Scarrans are as racist as the Peacekeepers, the reason for Scorpius' suit and cooling rod, the way Scorpius identifies with the Sebacean side of his heritage, and his pragmatism (as evidenced in his chats with D'Argo) when it comes to making allies in dangerous situations. John not killing him at the end: considering the reveal to come, do we think it's at this point John's own decision, or is it, shall we say, influenced? (Mind you, that Scorpius is willing to play along does make sense in the future knowledge he is aware John is literally unable to kill him at this point, though John does not know this yet.) Despite John having hardened, I think it might still be his own decision. (I.e. if Scorpius had been shooting at him, of course he'd have killed him, but he's not yet able to dump a seemingly helpless man into acid, despite said man having tortured him.)
The John/Jenavian one night stand smacks of David Kemper being aware that John and Aeryn are moving into emotional monogamy territory, so he throws one last girl of the episode fling at him; it comes across as a bit of a James Bond interlude in a non-Bondian story, but then again, Jenavian herself is a Bond Girl type of character. (I don't mean that critical, but in the sense of Barbara Bach's Russian spy in The Spy Who Loved Me.)
Finally: Claudia Black's facial acting as Aeryn offers the compability flask to John in the final scene is just wonderful and intensely moving, and worth the entire episode to me. (And I'm not a John/Aeryn shipper as such.)
The Other Episodes
I feel this third part is the weakest of the trilogy - not that it's outright bad, but the Chiana kidnapping by the Scarran and her rescue feel really contrived (why would D'Argo answer "Chiana" when the Scarran asks who might know where Crichton is?), Aeryn's subplot struck me as being mostly there to justify why she's not trying to rescue Crichton and can be told what her problem is re: emotional pain vs physical pain (I'm never a fan of a character being told by another character how they feel), and the fact that a) Katralla could be impregnated with Crichton's DNA without any sexual contact whatsover and b) Tyno can replace Crichton as her consort just lampshades just how thin the justification for the arranged marriage was to begin with. And of course Crichton-as-a statue surviving a beheading and having his severed head able to carry on conversations is really pushing it, even for Farscape. (This is why John and Aeryn being reassembled at the start of The Peacekeeper Wars just carries on Farscape tradition.)
And yet, I wasn't bored one minute. Despite my criticism of the Aeryn subplot, it's just endearing to watch her rescue her random companion whom she has zilch romantic interest in and who is of no use to her instead of leaving him behind; it shows Aeryn's core decency beneath all the PK training. Zhaan setting up a trap with the DRDs to vacuum clean a god into space was great, even though the solution to this particular subplot feels awfully contrived - I mean, if this whole thing was meant as a test not of Moya (or Pilot) but of Zhaan, in order to ensure Moya would not be exploited by her crew to breed more gunships, how does the result prove this won't won't happen? It shows is that Zhaan is very protective of Moya and Pilot, cares deeply for them and will try to defend them, fine. But firstly, Zhaan isn't the only passenger (and the Builders know that), secondly, depressingly enough, deeply caring for someone yet hurting them/exploiting them is, alas, not always mutually exclusive. The main story of the trilogy is a take on the arranged marriage trope, and through the majority of human history, parents who in varying degrees cared much for their children thought nothing of marring them off to someone without giving them a choice in the matter. I'm sure the Empress cares deeply for her daughter, too.
The Scorpius scenes, including the reveal that Scorpius has just been faking his weakness in the big showdown (thus emphasizing his plots within plots mindset), all provide us with (at the time) new background information - the Scarran disdain for "mutants" (as far as I recall, future eps will use "halfbreed" as sneer instead), meaning the Scarrans are as racist as the Peacekeepers, the reason for Scorpius' suit and cooling rod, the way Scorpius identifies with the Sebacean side of his heritage, and his pragmatism (as evidenced in his chats with D'Argo) when it comes to making allies in dangerous situations. John not killing him at the end: considering the reveal to come, do we think it's at this point John's own decision, or is it, shall we say, influenced? (Mind you, that Scorpius is willing to play along does make sense in the future knowledge he is aware John is literally unable to kill him at this point, though John does not know this yet.) Despite John having hardened, I think it might still be his own decision. (I.e. if Scorpius had been shooting at him, of course he'd have killed him, but he's not yet able to dump a seemingly helpless man into acid, despite said man having tortured him.)
The John/Jenavian one night stand smacks of David Kemper being aware that John and Aeryn are moving into emotional monogamy territory, so he throws one last girl of the episode fling at him; it comes across as a bit of a James Bond interlude in a non-Bondian story, but then again, Jenavian herself is a Bond Girl type of character. (I don't mean that critical, but in the sense of Barbara Bach's Russian spy in The Spy Who Loved Me.)
Finally: Claudia Black's facial acting as Aeryn offers the compability flask to John in the final scene is just wonderful and intensely moving, and worth the entire episode to me. (And I'm not a John/Aeryn shipper as such.)
The Other Episodes
no subject
Date: 2020-10-25 05:59 pm (UTC)In terms of plots within plots, I suddenly wondered this time if Tyno's statement that metallising John a second time would kill him was actually true or not.
And this is yet another example of Zhaan being forced to win by using violence, despite all her good intentions. It's distinctly Farscape and in the same tradition of "That Old Black Magic" that, whereas most stories would have her winning over Kahaynu by offering to die in Moya's place, she wins him over by trying to kill him to avenge her. (And her continued rage at his game-playing is refreshing compared to the way certain other stories handle such things.)
no subject
Date: 2020-10-25 06:28 pm (UTC)I guess one could fanwank since he was after Crichton along with everyone else, he might have speculated Crichton might show up to rescue her. But yes, that's part of why this entire sequence feels so contrived to me.
Tyno: I did wonder this time around, too. Especially since it occured to me that once Crichton is gone, the Empress has no way to check the claim, since there are (as far as we and Tyno know) no other humans around.
And her continued rage at his game-playing is refreshing compared to the way certain other stories handle such things.
Very true. Especially since Moya and Pilot really had to go through basically agreeing to their own execution.