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Farscape: What Was Lost, Part 1: Sacrifice

And now, on Farscape…

“Can you believe it? We’re here, we’re alive, and no one is trying to kill us.” Yeah right, Jool. Just give it five minutes.

Most of our intrepid crew has arrived at the Planet Arnessk. I love that place; it’s beautiful to look at, and has interesting tunnels and courtyards. The cliffs and the sea are spectacular. The only problem with the place is that the populace has vanished, and something called the Darnaz Probes are making the summers go magnetic. I’ll see if I can explain that one, sometime.

D’Argo and Jool are very happy when John and Chiana show up. John doesn’t mind getting picked up by D’Argo, but Chi just wishes that Jool will let her go and stop babbling. I admit, I was a little put off by how excitable Jool was in this episode. She acted like they had found the Fountain of Youth, or something. I guess it is a sacred place for her people, but still, I’d like her to calm down. Rygel and Sikozu are still aboard Elack, trying to fix Crichton’s module.

The main plot is to find, and protect, the third Darnaz Probe. If it is found, it can be used to fix the planet. It can also be used as a weapon, so guess who is on their way? Yep — Braca and Grayza with Scorpy in tow. Literally, she has him on a leash. Poor little guy. She also put him in his own Aurora Chair. I don’t think that he really minded it that much, though. Scorpy has been tortured a lot in his life, it takes a lot to break him.

John runs into the Old Woman — or Grandma, which sounds better, who has a new friend with her. His name is Oo-Nii, but John calls him The Creature from the Black Lagoon. That character is a lot of fun and provides some good times here, especially with John. Grandma suggests to John that if he wants to forget Aeryn that he can use a one-legged snail-like bug thing. All he has to do is pull out its innards, and shove it up his nose. Fortunately, John declines for now, but I’m not sure of Grandma’s reasoning. Why would she want John to forget that he loves Aeryn? Maybe it’ll become clearer, in the future.


I always like the scenes where Grandma blows herbs in John’s eyes and makes him go all trippy. Ben Browder always does a good job of staggering around and acting irritated and bewildered, but then he is so good at reacting to everything and to those acting with him. Anyhow, John goes on a vision quest and sees priest-like figures dressed in red robes who are sacrificing a weird goat-lizard thing. It’s just a cool sequence with the cliff, the wind blowing Grandma’s robes around, and John seeing things from beyond… somewhere.

It doesn’t look like John (or Ben — who had to do this) is having much fun when he wakes up submerged in water with the Black Lagoon creature swimming close by. He gets more upset when Oo-Nii tells him that Granny took his gun. Her plan now is to kill Vella before she can dig up the third probe. Her plan seems a bit random, but it’s still fun to see all the ways that she torments John.

Things go from bad to worse for John when the Peacekeepers show up. Commandant Grayza wants to give a gift to John — of Scorpy's torture, but he was not impressed. Well, that is until she roofied him with her magic chest juice. Then, ewww — I must cover my eyes. Yuck, John is going to be compelled to do things with her that I just don’t want to comment on. Not cool. I don’t want to get too heavy here, but those scenes really make me uncomfortable. Poor John looks very unhappy, even while in Grayza’s thrall.

The last sequence is very good as John has flashes of visions as two red-robed little old ladies start ushering him toward a cliff. Granny wants him to die so that Grayza never knows where the third probe is hidden.

Space Oddities:

This episode was filmed at Middle Head in Sydney Harbor. It’s so beautiful, I want to go visit — only not in June through September, apparently, because there are lots of hibernating bats in the tunnels. Okay, then.

Granny is always enjoyable for me as a character. I usually don’t like grumpy old characters that say mean things just because they are old. Instead she is like a funny, busy-body maiden aunt with a weird eye in her forehead… sure, she’s a trifle crazy, but still loads of fun. Maybe it’s the way that Grandma seems to care about everything (except for good hygiene) and she seems to get the heart of the matter and is helpful, in her own wacky way.

We were shown why Braca is now following Grayza, and not Scorpius. That is one manipulative, nasty woman.

D’Argo and Jool had a moment together. The sparks were flying until Jool didn’t speak up for him when Vella called his race “inferior.”

Chiana is very good in this one: she is brave, wily, and not afraid to talk back, even though it usually means getting smacked. Rygel also was very nice to Elack’s Pilot. I like it when they show his empathic side. He doesn’t use it much, but he does have one.

That was a long jump into the water, and it was really cool looking – even though I’m sure a stunt man did that part. Rowan Woods, the director, did a marvelous job with this episode. There were many great scenes that were haunting, lovely, and perfectly framed.

That goat-lizard was named Goatzilla by the creature shop.


Cosmic Quotes:

Chiana: “She’s like… in the wall. Where’s the rest of her?”

John: “I’m not interested in your voices. You know who I’m interested in.”
Grandma: “Aeryn’s child.”

Grandma: “Forgive me, forgive me. Receive the spirit of John Crichton. He has to die. Oh, forgive me, he has to die… has to die. He’ll never tell you now."

I like this story set on Arnessk. The scenery is lovely to look at, the swamp creature is a lot of fun, and the whole crew (sans Aeryn) gets to shine. This is a beautifully made and executed episode.

Four and a half Goatzillas out of five.

Mallena loves cliffs and oceans and wishes that she did not live in a land-locked state.

5 comments:

  1. It's such a relief to have an older woman on a show.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah, Farscape season 4. You can see where they were laying the building blocks to take the story further, which they then had to cut short. The only things that I've watched on SciFi/SyFy since Farscape ended are the Peacekeeper Wars movie and, lately, The Magicians.

    I always felt like they had a hole in the show with the departure of Zhaan. One that they were trying to fill with Jool, Sikozu, and Granny, but they never got the mix right.

    Granny's "help" is kinda homicidal.

    It's been a long time since I've watched this and it's interesting to come back to it now. It holds up pretty well, though some of the CGI stuff is kind of . . . meh.
    Vella in the wall - That was so Fringe, except Fringe came later.
    Scorpius being forced to play the part of a dog is strongly reminiscent of the Lucifer/Crowley "dog" scenes in Supernatural last season. I've long had a suspicion that someone in the Supernatural writers' room has watched Farscape.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh yeah, Supernatural frequently reminds me of Farscape. Must be all that tortured hero stuff.

    I never felt like Jool fit in too well, but I do love the inclusion of Sikozu and Granny.

    Syfy is really trying to improve the quality of their shows and I love that. I'm hooked on lots of them, nowadays.

    Thanks for reading and commenting, Paladinteacher, I appreciate it.😻

    ReplyDelete
  4. Didn't care much for the Arnessk planet and all that archaeology mumbo-jumbo of a headline, but was far more intrigued by the arrival of Grayza and her "bodily aphrodisiac" that drove the likes of Braga and John a little cranky in the head.

    But she really is a nasty, calculating Femme fatale of the most sinister of proportions, which I must admit to finding deeply alluring to. The way she broke Scorpius was quite a breakthrough, especially when he becomes her cowering lapdog.

    Special mention to Chiana and Sikozu - am loving both characters; although I am finding Jool to be a bit of a 5th wheel. I don't really think the writers know what to do with her because she really hasn't added much value to the show since her arrival.

    And "Granny" is too much like yesterday's Yoda - irritating and full of it.

    I do miss Aeryn, however. I know the writers are holding back but the shoe feels a little off-balance without reassuring presence. And of course Moya and Pilot are sorely missed too; as is Crais of all people - although I know he won't be coming back (although you just never know!)

    So I have to say I am losing interest in the likes of Rygel and Jool, even Scorpius to a degree. But welcome with open arms the presence of Sikozu and Grayza

    Let the good times roll

    ReplyDelete
  5. I find Grayza really vile and misogynistic. How do writers who gave us the wonderful Aeryn Sun think its ok to write a female character as icky as Grayza? Why not an intelligent female villian who outwits Scorpius, not one who relies on body fluids to control men.

    I despise that she rapes John, whilst not as physically painful as the aurora chair mentally i think it would scar way worse, and John is already struggling enough to stay sane.

    Im also over Jools, the excitement over the archaeological dig was too much, kinda hoped Chiana would have hit her not just thrown an artefact at her. Poor D'Argo rejected by Chiana and now Jools.

    I really think they wrote Sikozu to be the less annoying and more interesting red head. I kostly like her but not the crap and inconsistent way they ended her story arc in the Peacekeeper Wars.

    Very little is explained, seems again like important plot points were omitted. This is the worst of the multipart episodes by far.

    And there is no Aeryn again. Such a shame they never showed us in parallel where she was and what happened to her during this period. It is not Farscape without Aeryn, the wait for her to reappear this season was way too long. This two parter suffers even more for Aeryn's absence.

    ReplyDelete

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