Farscape Rewatch: Mental as Anything (4.15)

[selenak]

Wiki: Scorpius takes Moya's male crewmembers to a place where they will receive special training. While Crichton is subjected to conditions that will help him fend off Scarran heat, D'Argo comes face-to-face with Macton, his wife's killer who claims that D'Argo himself killed her in a fit of hyper-rage.



Aka, the one with all the boys, whereas next week's is the one with all the girls. I have no idea why the writing team decided to split up the cast by gender for two episodes, but I do recall I liked the all female episode better the first time around. Not to say I disliked this one. I mean, the premise is a bit flimsy and patently an excuse so D'Argo can confront his brother-in-law. Mind you, I hadn't even recalled there was a reason given for this trip other than "Scorpius wants all the male characters, but really just John, to train on Dagobah to become a Jedi" , which considering how little the regulars, especially John, for understandable reasons, usually heed what Scorpius wants would have been even more suspension of disbelief straining. But no, we actually do get another reason, declared to be the true reason, i.e. they want to find out what the Skreen from two episodes ago was and whom it reported to, and the Jedi Master, err, mental trainer might know. This is makes a bit more sense, though the idea that only he would know what a Skreen is... never mind. Anyway: like I said, the premise is a plain MacGuffin so a plot in which a key bit of D'Argo's backstory can be confronted and wrapped up can proceed. It's the last D'Argo centric episode of the show, and actually a pretty good one. It doesn't just rehash material from season 1.

The mind game D'Argo's brother-in-law Macton tries with him is viciously effective because up to a point, the audience itself, like D'Argo, can't be 100&% sure, given we've only seen the events of the past through D'Argo's eyes so far, we do know he's capable of attacking friends in hyper rage, and he does have blackouts in that state. But what really makes this well written and executed, especially in terms of D'Argo's character, is that he figures out the truth not via third party interference but based on his knowledge of his wife. Not just because Lo'Laan promised him to tell him if ever during a hyper rage he'd hurt her, but because Macton overdoes it by presenting her death as a suicide and completely ignores Jothee's existence. Whereas D'Argo might be able to believe Lo'Laan would break the promise of telling him if he'd hurt her in a mistaken expression of loyalty and love, but not that she'd leave her son in such a situation.

I also appreciate that while D'Argo is still struggling with what to believe, in addition to a D'Argo and John conversation early on, we get one between D'Argo and Rygel on the subject. Talks between these two that aren't about D'Argo being angry at Rygel's greed are rare, and here we see how well they've come to know each other by now. Also, Rygel's pragmatic but (in this case) not callous attitude is different from the one John took earlier, and I have to express my awe at the Henson workshop's creations again because you can see Rygel's facial reactions while D'Argo is talking, expressing his feelings. Amazing.

Speaking of Rygel: something else I had forgotten before this rewatch was that he gets to duel and defeat a Charrid in the willpower/focus competition. Like Rygel says, it's one where Size Does Not Matter, and I must admit I'm fannishly pleased he got to do that.

Meanwhile, John and the writers prove they're fans of The Bridge of the River Kwai. I do wonder how much of the audience now is still familiar enough with Lean's movie to instantly recognize the tune John is whistling and know why he does in this particular situation? BTW: John Crichton as played by Alec Guinness, now there's a weird mental AU. This said, as opposed to the D'Argo main plot, John's stint in the heat cage doesn't reveal anything new on either a Doylist or Watsonian level.

On to next week and the all female episode!

The other episodes

Comments

[redfiona99]

>> It's the last D'Argo centric episode of the show, and actually a pretty good one.<< It does lead to the question of whether there'd have been another one if Peacekeeper Wars was a whole season rather than a mini-series. (This is not just because I want more D'Argo - it's mostly because I want more D'Argo.)

[selenak]

I don't blame you, feeling much more for D'Argo on this rewatch round than I used to. (I did like him before, but on this rewatch, I've come to love the character.) And yes, I think there'd have been another episode. Also presumably his reconciliation with Chiana and his son would have been a leisurely storyline.