I must admit I hardly even recalled this episode as I sat down to rewatch it, and hey, maybe that's a good thing... I get to watch it twice?
Turns out the reason I had a hard time remembering it was there weren't too many memorable scenes. This is a solid, well-crafted episode serving as the n-th installment of the "Scarran/Peacekeeper threat to The Galaxy And Life On Earth." It's not as you can complain that nothing happens - that's rarely a valid complaint against the show anyway.
Short story, the girls are looking for a cloaking device for Moya at some run-down outpost (okay, okay, not really but...) Aeryn gets kidnapped(?) and Grayza tries to broker peace with the Scarrans by offering them the Luxan worlds in return for concessions in the Uncharted Territories (that didn't work out too well.)
All in all, though, the proceedings sort of lacked that extra oomph to me, as most of the character moments seem to be rehashing past performances. You know, Chiana acting the pinup girl (in fierce competition with Sikozu these days, I might add,) Aeryn with her obligatory heroic sacrifice, etc. (Then again, this is an old show by now so this might be somewhat expected.)
Still, I don't think any Farscape fan could feel disappointed with this outing. It certainly drives the main plot forward, so it's not a "skippable" episode. All characters give a good account of themselves (on a shallow note, wasn't Sikozu's hair just extra shiny in this one?) It also introduces Akhna as the main Scarran antagonist in capturing Grayza and Braca, and the actress gives a solid performance.
... and I think that's what I'm supposed to take away from it, anyway. A show with 22 episodes per season is bound to have some filler and some setup episodes, and this is one of them. Reviewing them like Rectify or Counterpart would be missing the point - they don't really need a whole treatise. I had fun. Giving Chiana, Sikozu and Noranti a bit more screentime than usual was a nice touch.
Though seriously... were those "disguises" really supposed to work?
I'll let you be the judge:
Francesca Buller's Akhna is my favourite of the four characters she played, so calculating.
ReplyDeleteChiana and Noranti's disguises were worful but that is part of the fun.
It is shocking when John shoots Aeryn in the face, there must have been some doubt, but the inside of bioloid Aeryn was really creepy,
I liked the documentary as a device to examine Earth's insecurities and lack of readiness for alien contact. I also liked the character study of how our alien crew reacted to being on earth.
ReplyDeleteHaving D'Argo, Noranti, Rygel and Chiana all speak fluent English was the only jarring point. I think perhaps there needed to be a hint Bobby may have had translator microbes but the general audience wouodnt.
Crichton is unravelling having lost Aeryn again and his despair of not knowing where or how to find Aeryn is awful.
In desperation John has no choice but to go to Scorpius for help and make a bad deal. But Scorpius has been a step ahead the whope time, he already knew Aeryn was the key to getting John to cough up up the wormhole knowledge. He has been very patient, but having John and the boys doing mental training, left Aeryn vulnerable to abduction and he knew via Bracca where and when the secret the PK and Scarran meeting wouod go down.