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360degreesasthecrowflies · 7 years ago

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FarscapeWatch: 2.05 ‘The Way We Weren’t’

It’s been a minute, but we’re back in business. The season 2 reactions continue as I continue my first watch of Farscape!~

It's a flashback episode! This bodes well coming so early in the series after effectively a repilot as this season started.

Okay so we're in Moya...or are they just saving money by re-using the set, because either I'm watching a low-quality pitched-up version, or that's not Pilot??

Ladypilot? I like her. So something bad will happen no doubt. Just like Crais's lady second in command last season.

Are we watching a recording? Interesting flashback. Oooh yep they kill that Pilot and its...really quite brutal. Ugh Crais pfo.

And there's the stinger. Aeryn was part of the crew killing the previous pilot of that Leviathan. Which...actually is Moya. And it's Chiana that's found this recording, wuh oh. Good thing she and Aeryn have such a camaraderie and positive history so far... (Although we do seem to be retconning the character development in Taking the Stone away in these last few episodes).

So we enter the episode, and now we're all watching the tape...the whole crew, including Aeryn. Rygel right away stirs the pot, and I'm starting to see a Rygel-Chiana teamup connection. Rygel is somehow a lot more tolerable with someone else on his 'team', so to speak. So right away they all (minus John, I'm sure) jump to the conclusion that Aeryn has been deliberately concealing this past from them as some kind of long-held plan of her own, and really... I just don't think it's been seeded enough that Aeryn might be a traitor. She's been portrayed so far as The Main Girl even over Chiana who's had a lot of narrative focus, her entire character and arcs have been based around her being an outcast from her people, so what does she have to gain by playing what's by my reckoning now at least a months-long game against the rest of them and faking all kinds of emotional responses? Nah, not buying it. But the downside is that then makes the rest of the cast look bad, and I like those guys.

So they start to be paranoid that Aeryn might have come across - or even tortured! - them themselves in the past as they were on Moya at this time, three cycles - that is, three years, I think - ago. Aeryn denies it and John backs her up. Zhaan has a nasty little remark about being shocked that Aeryn would kill a Pilot but...Zhaan, she was ordered to, it would've been her own head on the block if she didn't. And Aeryn rightfully points out that Zhaan had no problem with cutting THEIR Pilot's arm off just out of her own selfishness. Chiana actually chips in as the voice of reason here and points out, had none of them actually thought to understand what it meant that Aeryn was a Peackeeper? She did bad things. So I wonder will this be an introspective episode about all that kind of thing?

Again, I imagine this kind of thing came up in the fandom at the time, but perhaps it's possible that Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel, being the characters they are, just DIDN'T ever think too deeply about Aeryn's past - or even hid it from themselves so they could work with her. Chiana of course, the wildcard, has no such qualms. Being real though, they've all done plenty bad, Zhaan and D'Argo are canonically killers, even if they had reason, and Rygel and Chiana probably aren't squeaky clean either. Pot kettle much?

And we're into flashback with Aeryn ominously noting relationships. Romantic, perhaps? I'm just ready for John's whiny dudebro to rear its head again just as we'd started to move past that if it turns out she's gasp been with someone else before.

So the first thing that's established is that not only is Aeryn emotionless and focused because she's a Peacekeeper, her singlemindedness and adherence to procedure and policy are actually intense even by Peacekeeper standards. This Aeryn is very firmly Lawful Neutral, an alignment I'd say she keeps but adheres less strictly to at this point in Farscape real-time, veering into True Neutral. On that note, my imagined alignments for all our leads so far: Rygel = Chaotic Evil verging on Chaotic Neutral, Chiana = Chaotic Neutral, textbook, D'Argo = Neutral Good, Zhaan = True Neutral, John = Chaotic Good, Crais = Lawful Neutral. Pilot...hard to say, because Pilot's not been a character for long. Though going by last episode, perhaps that's due to change this season.

Flashback!Moya introduces a 'friend' of Aeryn's from the off. A male friend. Hmmm...

It's revealed that Aeryn also unknowingly facilitated the new Pilot, our character known as Pilot (this will get confusing fast >.<) being brought aboard Moya. It's decided that he should not be told about this tape and immediately the camera cuts to Chiana, hmm, I wonder if *someone* is going to show Pilot the tape??? Presumably he would not be happy to see Aeryn killing one of his kind, to be fair, would anyone be? This is going to go terribly wrong, isn't it.

Back into flashback. It seems that Aeryn's friend is a softly-softly approach kinda guy with his attitude to the imprisoned Pilot, but willing to change to overt violence in front of superiors like Crais. Peer pressure or looking after number 1? We also learn that Pilots are much more intelligent than human(oid)s, or at least, can handle a multipilicty of concepts far better than our brains could.

So we have a lot of Peacekeeper internal politics. Crais is a hard slavedriver who wants Aeryn's superior to work faster and do things ASAP no matter the damage that may cause. Aeryn's man disagrees, but has no choice as he's inferior. Also somehow Aeryn is always in the background in these scenes, although it seems to be the case that she's a lot lower down the chain. Just chance, perhaps?

Minor aside, a shot showing that Aeryn DID in fact see Zhaan while as a Peacekeeper and was not at all bothered to see her captured. So she didn't mention that. On that note, I'm unsure who's privy to these flashbacks - is she telling John in private, or just thinking of them herself and we viewers are looking in, or are we looking in as if we were there for the context of what she's feeling now, becoming privy to information np-one else on Moya is?

Okay so it's revealed why Aeryn is in the background; she's been trying unsuccessfully for a while to get Crais's attention to request a transfer, and has been rebuffed coldly every time. Here he just walks away while she's speaking, sheesh.

Back to present day. It's all weighing on Aeryn's mind and she beats her punching bag until her hands are bloody. John comes to her and they talk, we get some indepth on Peacekeeper culture. Emotions are just about forbidden, especially positive ones, and bonds are also discouraged. Romance is tacitly forbidden, but sex is fine as a biological need for stress relief. It's interesting, the latter - I wonder if that was shocking in the late 90s, because it feels like that's a more common or more accepted perspective on sex at least, today, emotional and abusive other parts aside.

CALLED IT. Aeryn and..Valorik? (I’m going to call him V) were totally bangin'. But possibly also developing feelings for each other, at least inklings of, maybe onesided, maybe both ways? Which is of course, the biggest forbidden fruit. So back then, baby Aeryn was playing on a knife edge of breaking the rules, interesting.

(Possibly slightly kinky sex too, there's a bit of grabbing there and chocking, wow)

ALSO CALLED IT. John seems dumbfounded that Aeryn used to be "lovers" with someone else, and is struck speechless and stammering. Sorry sunshine, but you're both at least mid-twenties, did you really think you were her first? You were ENGAGED or nearly it anyway back on Earth! Aeryn admits now that this guy was her something special that she'd had feelings for - which puts an interesting spin on her requesting a transfer earlier in the episode, and not for the first time either - perhaps easier to run from the situation than deal with the conflict in her vows and her feelings? (Also, still working out John and Aeryn's relationship right now...it feels like Official Couple, but it's interesting how John has now been very much accepted, even as a leader, if his partner is still privy to being outcast at literally a minute's notice...)

Well, now Pilot's seen the tape. "How did he get hold of that?" John asks. Well, John, you're on a ship with two wildcards and two characters who distrust Aeryn, is it rocket science? Pilot calls Aeryn - Officer Sun - in to see him, and does NOT sound happy.

Let me take this moment to note how different Aeryn looks with her hair down and long. She's like a different woman.

Aeryn claims to closer to Pilot 'than any other two beings on this ship' as she still has his DNA inside her. Guess she and John have been using space condoms then? (sorry)

So Pilot attacks her, and tbh, I'm Team Pilot on this one. Aeryn's view that being reminded of what she had done - tacit admission that she forgot, it mattered that little to her! - is just as bad on her as Pilot discovering she killed one of his kind coldbloodedly is pretty much not equivalent I think. "I killed someone which is bad, but it's hard on me too because I forgot and only now feel guilty!" is a pretty weak defence.

Now Pilot's having a flashback. Of being 'installed' into the ship, which is literally being inserted into the driver's seat...and then wired in so he's rooted in. Eesh.

So, we have some interesting ethical things arising. Moya's previous Pilot refused to do as she was told so was killed by the Peacekeepers. Pilot was installed, but was aware on installation that the ship had had a previous Pilot who was now dead in order for him to be installed. Moya was at the time unaware and Pilot fears he will be rejected. Also, the PKs are going to forcibly install Pilot, instead of going through a year-long bonding process, they aim to do it within approximately two days. That's a lot. In the present day, Pilot now refuses to fly the ship - echoing the previous Pilot - unless Aeryn leaves. But... I feel like the fact that it is the same ship that Pilot himself was installed in, also, perhaps, benefiting from the previous one's death, complicates things. He did not, in the flashback, seem to be under the impression that he would be the ship's first ever Pilot.

So Rygel showed Pilot the tape. And Chiana's mad at him for it, god I love her, you never know what she's going to do.

Zhaan and Aeryn scene. Zhaan tends to Aeryn after Pilot's attack on her throat, but is a little rough intentionally and makes some snide remarks too. Interesting little scene, at first Zhaan seems to be very angry with Aeryn, but when she starts to pack to leave, then, relents and apologises; Aeryn only did as she was told. An interesting time-wise parallel comes here, because at the same time as Aeryn was obediently following orders, the other leads were already imprisoned for grossly breaking what was expected of them by murder, theft, or rebellion. Who is right, though? Arguments can be made both ways. And what was John doing three years ago? Probably...similar to Aeryn, following orders, following the rules, and possibly not worrying about the ethics of the situation either.

Back to flashback. More ethics, which is interesting. Aeryn wishes to follow her orders, but her feelings - and what Mr V is telling her - are coming into conflict with those orders, almost suggesting the Peacekeeper system may effectively be two-tier. One rule for the grunts, another for those high up enough for High Command to turn a blind eye. V wishes for Aeryn and he to be assigned together again and stay as partners - and he can make it happen. He also badmouths Crais which horrifies Aeryn - outright "insubordination", but V justifies it to her as observation - likely something else she has learned to value in the military. I'm reminded of Asimov's robots realising that in order to fulfil objective #1 - prevent humans from coming to harm by inaction, humans actually have to be harmed sometimes to save them from themselves or each other.

To complicate things even more. V wishes to sabotage Crais to save the Leviathan, Moya, for fear that pursuing Crais's plans will kill it. V is telling Aeryn, his forbidden lover this - although hearing about it puts them both in danger and makes her an accessory. Tricky, tricky.

Just one little aside as well. V insists that he knows what Aeryn feels, and that if she does as he says and leaves with him, she'll be so much happier. That's a nice parallel to John - but not an all-out positive one, because in both, Aeryn's choice and what she actually wants is being subordinated.

Back to flashback with Pilot, and we learn that not only was Pilot's plugging-in to Moya painful, the pain *never went away* and he has just been living with it, accustomed to it, since then! Sheesh. Further, Pilot has only been accepted by Moya in the first place because she was tortured into submission.

Well this is good. Pilot, feeling guilty, has now unplugged himself from Moya by effectively amputating part of himself that was plugged in. Plus side, he's no longer in pain, minus side...he's no longer in control of the ship, so she effectively has no brain to maintain all the things that need done. Aeryn blames herself for this all and no doubt the flashbacks will let us know why...

Awh, Aeryn's solution is that Pilot needs to talk about the time back then, which is something she's learned from John, I quite like that. John of course seizes on this to pressure Aeryn to talk to HIM which...okay, but it's not all always about you buddy. Just let her do her thing, she's a grown-up.

Flashback to Aeryn and V, alone, intimate. She tells him she will go with him. She admits fear of the unknown, though, and he tells her she has it in her to be able to survive elsewhere - which is heartbreaking, because we know she since has, when she in the past didn't believe she could. She just never could have imagined the circumstances that would occur in.

So it turns out that Aeryn sold V out for his treason. PLaying by the rules and being good was more important. But it's understandable, it's how she was raised, and she was protecting herself, too. Even as he is dragged away, V tells her she's special, even in a proud tone - nobody else would have attempted this, that is, she has turned him in for the reward of being able to get her transfer that had failed so many times before. In a way, she has, ironically, gone about getting that through less than official, or typical channels.

Back to present, and it's heavily implied that V was tortured to death for his treason. Tough on Aeryn, tougher on him, of course.

Aeryn and John, present day, drop from above into Pilot's chamber, bypassing the sealed door. Pilot uses two DRD guards to attack, but John and Aeryn are able to shoot and disable them, approaching and holding Pilot at gunpoint, wow, that escalated fast.

Okay I love how Aeryn doesn't get his talking thing. So she pushes Pilot to talk by shouting at him and threatening to shoot him up here and now if he doesn't. Smooth. It's revealed that separated, Pilot will starve, life support will fail and the others will die, and only Moya will survive.

Aeryn offers herself to be killed by Pilot if he will spare the others. Pilot is humbled, and reveals that it is not just those brought up memories he's been struggling with; he feels just as at fault as Aeryn, because...

Flashback again. V on Pilot's planet, which again complicates good-guy-V that's been portrayed throughout the whole episode. It's revealed that Pilot was informed, and knew going in that in order for him to become a Pilot of that ship - at his young age, before he had been decreed ready - the existing Pilot would have to be killed and removed, and at the time, was although morally torn, happy with that. He was in effect, happy to facilitate another's death just so that he was able to see the stars - perhaps making him a criminal worse than any of the others on the ship in that sense, who killed in desperation or for the greater good. It is his guilt that was dredged up by the tape.

Aeryn convinces Pilot that they have both come a long way since they were those people. Pilot is convinced to reconnect with Moya in a rudimentary manner, but which will lead to a natural, non-painful bond, mutually between the two of them. He will though have less control now, a nice plot McGuffin for later no doubt, but it's thematic so I'm not bothered by it.

Coda, John and Aeryn alone again. Aeryn makes the point that V and John both said to her "you can be so much more" which I didn't pick up on, but hmm. Of COURSE John then tries to fish for a love confession out of her, and we close just on a positive musical cue as the two just look at, and then away from each other. Goddd just give her a minute dude. But they are cute together and I'm getting more a sense that she's just reserved about things of that nature this season than that she's actively not interested and he's pursuing obliviously because she's a humanoid who's the right colour and shape for him.

Okay, that was a lot! I quite liked this one, this season is shaping up already a lot stronger than this time in season 1. 7 to 7.5/10 for this one. Let's get into the breakdowns:

CHARACTER BEATS

JOHN

John...actually doesn’t have a whole lot to do this episode, except what’s required of him as the Designated Hero (be present for the solution of every plot element) and as the framing device for the flashback narrative. I feel like despite John’s prodding, Aeryn comes on her own to most of the solutions and means to reach solution in this episode. Having said that, he is a little more respectful of her this episode than he was last season (”Aeryn, do this, but I haven;t got time to tell you why. Obey me, woman!”) which is a pleasure. I still feel like his leadership hasn’t quite been narratively justified yet though, some more infighting from the others or incapability to work together in his absence would bring me more around to that viewpoint.

CHIANA

Chiana was, as usual, a delight, and for once this time actually wasn’t the progenitor of the plot through carelessness or not thinking about the impact of her actions. She didn’t have a whole lot to do here, though she did get the ball rolling. Still shows a tendency to be out for herself and crucially, only really rely on herself, as as soon as eyebrows are raised about Aeryn this episode she mainly makes herself scarce; interesting that her behaviour in ‘Crackers’ isn’t actually that far off her normal or baseline unlike the large divergences shown by the other characters in that episode. I wonder if that speaks to her baseline being madness or unpredictability, or if there’s a psychic strength there to her.

ZHAAN

First up, Zhaan ditched her horrible gold collar in this episode and looked a lot better for it, although the actress (I haven’t learned names yet) looked oddly shapeless in some scenes, almost like the gown was cut to cover up a pregnancy. No clue whether or not that was the case though, it may well just have been an unfortunate - or otherworldly, I guess - cut. I actually didn’t like Zhaan so much in this episode for the few scenes she made an appearance - she was unreasonably bitchy, I felt. Its possible she was just a little stressed out and acting out, but she didn’t feel like season 1 Zhaan - perhaps just wrongfooted by something she with all her foresight had failed to foresee. I felt Zhaan abused her power and influence in a few scenes here in a petty way I don’t expect from her, even if she did later show remorse. Still, character depth is always interesting.

D’ARGO

Shockingly, in this episode, D’Argo didn’t have a lot to do. This is becoming a recurring theme. There were some positive scenes of camaraderie with John (the rock-paper-scissors to decide who would intercede between Aeryn and Pilot was a nice touch) and I suppose tacit camaraderie with the rest of the crew by siding with them - although, I may have expected from history for D’Argo, the honourable warrior, to side with Aeryn, the honourable warrior. There’s some closeness with Pilot at the end, too, which builds on a (I think) season 1 scene where D’Argo played him music. Perhaps most interestingly, I don’t think he’s shared many scenes with Zhaan lately - yet is kissing her in the credits at the start of every episode, particularly interesting given the team-up with Chiana last episode. I will be keeping a close eye on proceedings.

RYGEL

I actually...didn’t hate Rygel here. Even though he caused the plot and stirred everything up by showing Pilot the tape, it did ultimately have good outcomes, allowing both Aeryn and Pilot to work through some trauma and improving Pilot and Moya’s in-the-background relationship. And he also at least claimed to have acted out of a sense of duty and honour, which...is fair, and also does in a twisted way fit with Rygel’s established perhaps old-fashioned traditional values. You’re alright, little man.

PILOT

This was...very much a Pilot episode, that actually gave surprising depth to, and made me care about a puppet. Two puppets, actually. I’m shocked at how formidable LadyPilot managed to be in her few seconds of screentime, and I’m actually a little sad for Moya - a character who’s literally a set - losing that connection and maybe still never knowing what happened. Dark. Lots about Pilot here; the big benevolent nonviolent alien turning out to be not only smarter than any of them, but also essentially a cold-blooded murderer worse than any of the rest of them was quite the twist. I’m also starting to wonder how far in advance and with what consequences the seemingly offhand monster-of-the-week plot of giving Aeryn Pilot DNA in season 1 was planned to have a lasting reach and effect on future plots. Perhaps it’s ironic to talk about a puppet becoming three dimensional.

AERYN

Woh boy, a lot to get into here. This episode is a little of an Aeryn character study, delving into her past alongside Pilot’s and revealing a past romance, unhappiness with how she was treated as a Peacekeeper, and a tendency to try and keep her head down and get on with it that remains in the Aeryn of the present day. A real duality is revealed in Aeryn in this episode; she has been tempted in the past and has resisted the temptation, but at the same time has cut herself off from happiness in favour of yes, safety, but also misery. She is not a risk-taker, though she is at the same time both a tactician and a warrior, which is an interesting combination of attributes and adds depth to the character she seemed to be early on this time last season. Seeing a Peacekeeper-heavy episode, we are also as viewers privy to how much of the Peacekeeper motto and policies are actually bent or broken by the people themselves and how Aeryn’s devotion to the rulebook is somewhat atypical.

WHAT THIS EPISODE ESTABLISHED:

Pilot actually has a history! And a dark one. John and Aeryn are actually not together despite hints pointing that way so far this series. Aeryn was rule-abiding even for a Peacekeeper, and everyone who isn’t John on Moya is still quick to distrust her. Crais was a dick even by Peacekeeper standards. And Peacekeepers aren’t as united a bloc of people as has been made out so far in the series. Also do we all just live on Moya now?

CHARACTER RANKING SO FAR AS OF 2.05:

1) Chiana

2) Aeryn

3) John

4) Pilot

5) D’Argo

6) Zhaan

7) Rygel

That’s us for this episode of FarscapeWatch until 2.06, ‘Picture If You Will’! (which seems to be perhaps a Chiana episode from previews!) Check out the #farscapewatch tag to keep up with the series, and/or read all my reactions in the masterlist which you can find here and linked on my blog’s main page

#farscapewatch #farscape #farscape fans #farscape season 2 #john crichton #aeryn #no spoilers #zhaan #d'argo #chiana #moya #sci fi #reactions #reviews #tv review #90s #throwback

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