Farscape: Season 2, eps 7-22
Dec. 1st, 2008 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreThe beginning of the catchup blogging spam.
I meant to post more as I was watching, but I ended up not caring for a chunk of the middle of the season, and didn’t want to make any posts consisting mostly of “I didn’t like these episodes because of x, y, and z.” I save those posts for shows I don’t like.
The three-parter where John gets engaged to the Sebacian (sp?) princess? I…didn’t care for it much. At all, really, at least as far as the main plot goes. I know John and the princess didn’t fall for each other, and I liked that he was motivated to go along through fear of Scorpius as opposed to nobility or anything like that, but I’m really tired of “hero is chosen for bride of alien princess” type plots, no matter how it’s done. Though it wasn’t nearly as irritating as the chief’s daughter falling for him in Jeremiah Crichton. I was also annoyed that he was hooking up with a hot Peacekeeper spy while Aeryn was stuck dragging that annoying guy through the desert. This is the second female character I’ve really liked who essentially exists to be a cog in John/Aeryn, though at least she wasn’t killed off as soon as the objective was achieved. (Yes, I liked Jilina and am still irritated by the overwhelming cliché of that storyline and think she deserved much better.)
Though said, I absolutely adored Rygel’s scenes with the queen. He’s my least favorite member of the main cast, but I love it when he’s scheming. I also loved Zhaan meeting Moya’s gods, and being judged worthy. I also liked that Zhaan stays behind to meditate, and bonds with Pilot and Moya that way. The Rygel/Aeryn kiss was also a hoot, and I found it interesting that the wedding clothes were red. I wonder if it’s tied to how some Asian cultures have red wedding clothes because red is the color of joy.
The episode with the Scaren (sp?) playing mind games started out with me really liking it with John’s grading whoever was messing with his head as having improved over the last time, but later in the episode when we got to the montage of the Scaren trying to break him, I ended up a bit uncomfortable. Not because the subject matter itself made me uncomfortable, but because I almost felt like I was watching an attack on anything that wasn’t strictly whitebread heteronormative sexual practices. (Though I kind of dislike that word and how it gets used a lot of the time.) Some things, such as the bit with John’s mother, would be horrible in any context, but homosexuality, bisexuality, S&M, threesomes, men in heals, etc? Well, those aren’t exactly my things, but they aren’t inherently wrong, either, and I wasn’t particularly comfortable with how it seemed to be portrayed as they’d freak anyone out. I know this one I’m being oversensitive on, I just wasn’t comfortable watching it.
I did, though, like having Aeryn “rescue” John and then it not be real being the ultimate attack, and the revelation of the Scorpius clone in John’s head. The latter, though, is at least partly because it excuses a lot of John’s behavior during the season, which was annoying me. I also find it interesting that, unlike the others, Chiana and Zhaan initially started out with roles and personalities fairly close to their normal ones.
The episode with three John’s also bugged me, with the typical “advanced=evil, primitive=good” bit. Just like I would like it if princesses and chieftain’s daughters would just ignore heroes altogether every once in a while, I’d like it if it weren’t always assumed that too much evolution makes you evil.
But moving on to the rest…
I loved the flashback episode of when Zhaan, Chiana, Rygel and Pilot were looking for John, Aeryn and D’Argo, and how Chiana kept trying to be honest and Rygel kept failing at it. His heart was in the right place. The episode was when both characters finally really killed for me, and I liked how they ended up using the planet’s justice system without actually lying. On a similar vein, I liked the episode where Chiana’s people tried to arrest her, and she learned her brother was alive. It was the character focus that I’d wanted the episode where she learned her brother died to be. I could have done without John playing things as being stoned, but I’ll handwave that away as being the fault of the Scorpius in his head.
I liked the subplot through the season of Crais trying to adjust to single parenthood when the kid is a baby warship, and his trying to guide Talyn along more peaceful lines. I wish there had been more of that. And even though it resulted in John irritating me at times (It probably comes across otherwise a lot, but I do like John. I just don’t find him as interesting as everyone else.) I also liked head!Scorpius, and how it would punish John for acting against the real thing. I hope future seasons explore this as the psychological rape that it pretty much is.
I also loved the whole prison scam, and I like the D’Argo found his son. Except that Jothee (sp?) can’t really stay found and around, I don’t think, and I doubt D’Argo and Chiana are going to suddenly disappear, so I have some fear for how they’re going to deal with that.
To my surprise, I ended up really enjoying the D’Argo/Chiana pairing, though I’m nervous about how they’ll deal with his wanting to marry her. I also like the Zhaan/Stark thing, though I have a hard time picturing Zhaan in a romantic relationship. But then, that was more a joining of minds than a romantic joining. I keep feeling like I’m missing something by not being more into Aeryn/John. I like the pairing, I just don’t seem to get excited about it the way I should, and that seems to be a lot of what makes it a favorite for so many.
I kind of wish they’d go into what sexuality means to the aliens a bit more. Aeryn and Rygel seem to be pretty firmly heterosexual as we define it. Zhaan…I don’t really want to call her “bisexual” or “omni-sexual,” because both imply that the physical body is a contributing factor, and it seems to more be an irrelevant thing that the important part is stored in for her. Chiana, I suspect, would try anything at all. D’Argo’s line that he was “with Chiana now” when he misunderstood John’s asking him to be his best man is actually what started me thinking along these lines, because that seemed to be letting John down gently in a “bad timing” way, as opposed to expressing disinterest. (Not that I think John/D’Argo is slashy or even that D’Argo is bisexual as we think of it, it just stood out to me.)
Two final bits:
1. Do we know for a fact that Scorpius is male? Given his father’s race and the scavenger who liked D’Argo in season 1, I feel that this is a very pertinent question.
2. What’s with the whole killing Aeryn twice? When did she become Daniel Jackson? (And even though I knew she’d be better by the end of the episode the first time and I’m sure she’ll be alive again a couple episodes into season 3, I found both to be more upsetting than most fictional deaths for me.)
I meant to post more as I was watching, but I ended up not caring for a chunk of the middle of the season, and didn’t want to make any posts consisting mostly of “I didn’t like these episodes because of x, y, and z.” I save those posts for shows I don’t like.
The three-parter where John gets engaged to the Sebacian (sp?) princess? I…didn’t care for it much. At all, really, at least as far as the main plot goes. I know John and the princess didn’t fall for each other, and I liked that he was motivated to go along through fear of Scorpius as opposed to nobility or anything like that, but I’m really tired of “hero is chosen for bride of alien princess” type plots, no matter how it’s done. Though it wasn’t nearly as irritating as the chief’s daughter falling for him in Jeremiah Crichton. I was also annoyed that he was hooking up with a hot Peacekeeper spy while Aeryn was stuck dragging that annoying guy through the desert. This is the second female character I’ve really liked who essentially exists to be a cog in John/Aeryn, though at least she wasn’t killed off as soon as the objective was achieved. (Yes, I liked Jilina and am still irritated by the overwhelming cliché of that storyline and think she deserved much better.)
Though said, I absolutely adored Rygel’s scenes with the queen. He’s my least favorite member of the main cast, but I love it when he’s scheming. I also loved Zhaan meeting Moya’s gods, and being judged worthy. I also liked that Zhaan stays behind to meditate, and bonds with Pilot and Moya that way. The Rygel/Aeryn kiss was also a hoot, and I found it interesting that the wedding clothes were red. I wonder if it’s tied to how some Asian cultures have red wedding clothes because red is the color of joy.
The episode with the Scaren (sp?) playing mind games started out with me really liking it with John’s grading whoever was messing with his head as having improved over the last time, but later in the episode when we got to the montage of the Scaren trying to break him, I ended up a bit uncomfortable. Not because the subject matter itself made me uncomfortable, but because I almost felt like I was watching an attack on anything that wasn’t strictly whitebread heteronormative sexual practices. (Though I kind of dislike that word and how it gets used a lot of the time.) Some things, such as the bit with John’s mother, would be horrible in any context, but homosexuality, bisexuality, S&M, threesomes, men in heals, etc? Well, those aren’t exactly my things, but they aren’t inherently wrong, either, and I wasn’t particularly comfortable with how it seemed to be portrayed as they’d freak anyone out. I know this one I’m being oversensitive on, I just wasn’t comfortable watching it.
I did, though, like having Aeryn “rescue” John and then it not be real being the ultimate attack, and the revelation of the Scorpius clone in John’s head. The latter, though, is at least partly because it excuses a lot of John’s behavior during the season, which was annoying me. I also find it interesting that, unlike the others, Chiana and Zhaan initially started out with roles and personalities fairly close to their normal ones.
The episode with three John’s also bugged me, with the typical “advanced=evil, primitive=good” bit. Just like I would like it if princesses and chieftain’s daughters would just ignore heroes altogether every once in a while, I’d like it if it weren’t always assumed that too much evolution makes you evil.
But moving on to the rest…
I loved the flashback episode of when Zhaan, Chiana, Rygel and Pilot were looking for John, Aeryn and D’Argo, and how Chiana kept trying to be honest and Rygel kept failing at it. His heart was in the right place. The episode was when both characters finally really killed for me, and I liked how they ended up using the planet’s justice system without actually lying. On a similar vein, I liked the episode where Chiana’s people tried to arrest her, and she learned her brother was alive. It was the character focus that I’d wanted the episode where she learned her brother died to be. I could have done without John playing things as being stoned, but I’ll handwave that away as being the fault of the Scorpius in his head.
I liked the subplot through the season of Crais trying to adjust to single parenthood when the kid is a baby warship, and his trying to guide Talyn along more peaceful lines. I wish there had been more of that. And even though it resulted in John irritating me at times (It probably comes across otherwise a lot, but I do like John. I just don’t find him as interesting as everyone else.) I also liked head!Scorpius, and how it would punish John for acting against the real thing. I hope future seasons explore this as the psychological rape that it pretty much is.
I also loved the whole prison scam, and I like the D’Argo found his son. Except that Jothee (sp?) can’t really stay found and around, I don’t think, and I doubt D’Argo and Chiana are going to suddenly disappear, so I have some fear for how they’re going to deal with that.
To my surprise, I ended up really enjoying the D’Argo/Chiana pairing, though I’m nervous about how they’ll deal with his wanting to marry her. I also like the Zhaan/Stark thing, though I have a hard time picturing Zhaan in a romantic relationship. But then, that was more a joining of minds than a romantic joining. I keep feeling like I’m missing something by not being more into Aeryn/John. I like the pairing, I just don’t seem to get excited about it the way I should, and that seems to be a lot of what makes it a favorite for so many.
I kind of wish they’d go into what sexuality means to the aliens a bit more. Aeryn and Rygel seem to be pretty firmly heterosexual as we define it. Zhaan…I don’t really want to call her “bisexual” or “omni-sexual,” because both imply that the physical body is a contributing factor, and it seems to more be an irrelevant thing that the important part is stored in for her. Chiana, I suspect, would try anything at all. D’Argo’s line that he was “with Chiana now” when he misunderstood John’s asking him to be his best man is actually what started me thinking along these lines, because that seemed to be letting John down gently in a “bad timing” way, as opposed to expressing disinterest. (Not that I think John/D’Argo is slashy or even that D’Argo is bisexual as we think of it, it just stood out to me.)
Two final bits:
1. Do we know for a fact that Scorpius is male? Given his father’s race and the scavenger who liked D’Argo in season 1, I feel that this is a very pertinent question.
2. What’s with the whole killing Aeryn twice? When did she become Daniel Jackson? (And even though I knew she’d be better by the end of the episode the first time and I’m sure she’ll be alive again a couple episodes into season 3, I found both to be more upsetting than most fictional deaths for me.)
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 06:45 pm (UTC)that would be a very interesting reading of the character, and would be pretty cool if nothing contradicted it.
AFAIR Farscape only played non heteronormative stuff for laughes, creepiness, or sexiness. It's one of the things that regularly annoy me when I'm rewatching it as well; there's no concept that in the wide galaxy, sexual mores may be complex and fluid, unless it's for a cheap joke. x_x
I don't think I ever like John/Aeryn as much as I should, either, which is weird because I'm extremely fond of Aeryn, and I rather like Crighton too. On occasion, I even like John/Chianna better, perhaps on sexual chemistry alone.
And yeah, got annoyed at pretty much the same things you were. :(
no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 07:13 pm (UTC)I think they play around a bit with fluid sexuality with Zhaan, but I also think that that's because it isn't really sexual with her.
There's also the fact that...uhm...why, with all those races, would we even assume that reproduction and arousal follow all the same rules as our race. I mean, let's face it, at the core, humans are aroused so that we'll want to have sex so that the species will continue. We don't have sex solely for that purpose, and not everyone is attracted only to those they could reproduce with, or even at all, but it's pretty much why our species has a sex drive in the first place. But why, when the series is certainly interested in some aspects of sexuality being explored, is it being assumed that every other race follows our rules?
On the Aeryn/John front: I adore Aeryn. (She's my favorite after Zhaan.) I like John. I think it's a good pairing and am on board with the "meant to be" bit. I just...can't feel it as much as I think I should.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 09:52 pm (UTC)To be fair I didn't want any of them to have a happy relationship. Zhaan/Stark was appropriately painful (if only because Stark can sometimes be painful to watch...), Chiana/D'Argo I never saw as a romantic relationship but as a sex relationship. Even after he asked her to marry him I was hard-pressed to see them as 'in love' as opposed to 'in lust'. Later, when Chiana matures some and evolves for various reasons, I thought the love they felt for each other was truer.
you have every right to fear what happens with Jothee, Chiana and D'argo. Just saying.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-02 01:13 am (UTC)2. Well, they killed John, like, twice before then (and he was begging D to do it).
no subject
Date: 2008-12-02 01:17 am (UTC)It's all the fault of that scavenger in season 1...2. True. But, even without knowing she's in the rest, there's no worry about him not getting over it in a few minutes.