Farscape Rewatch! — “The Flax,” “Jeremiah Crichton”

Posted by Ashley on February 11, 2010 · 20 Comments 

WEEK SEVEN
[Permanent Archive Here]

As this little Rewatch project goes further along I find myself becoming more excited. This show just keeps getting better and better as it goes along (with the occasional dud thrown in here or there), and I haven’t seen some of these episodes since I first watched them. When the series was first released on iTunes I purchased my favorite episodes and have since watched those to death, but some of these others feel almost brand new. In fact, the only episodes from the first season that I have seen multiple times are “Premiere” and “A Human Reaction.” This is yet another reason why finally receiving my complete series DVDs felt like being six years old on Christmas morning.

These two episodes are very different from one another. “The Flax” is a very important episode in terms of the shows long-term goals and is executed very well on all fronts. “Jeremiah Crichton,” on the other hand, pretty much fails in every way possible.

1X13 — “THE FLAX”

We open in one of Moya’s transport pods; Aeryn is teaching Crichton how to fly the thing and he isn’t catching on as fast as she would like. Meanwhile Aeryn is having her best hair in the series so far: excellent body, minimum frizz. And I’m not just saying that. It’s important for later. While Aeryn and John are out in BFE, on Moya Rygel is whining to a very annoyed Zhaan about how he misses his thousands and thousands of servants (mostly female) and how he’s “bored, bored, BORED,” and then D’Argo comes in bitching about how pregnant Moya is so moody and he can’t take it anymore and everyone is SO WHINY. Rygel’s over in his Thronesled like a large baby, banging his toy and D’Argo and Zhaan are like SHUT UP. Back on the pod, Crichton is trying to get Aeryn to have fun (“I have no need for speed”), but she’s cranky, too. And just while everyone is getting along so swimmingly, an unidentified thing pulls the transport pod into its wake, frying some systems, and throwing Crichton and Aeryn around and bashing their heads into walls.

Crichton comes to first and frantically begins shaking Aeryn awake. Something is holding them in place, but the sensors can detect nothing. Back on Moya, Rygel, Zhaan, and D’Argo are still going at it cabin-fever style when an absolutely ear-splitting frequency begins to sound. Once he has their attention, Pilot informs them that a very strange vessel has asked permission to board. A little later, a piratey sort of fellow greets them, calling himself Staanz. He says he’s there to warn them about something called “The Flax,” a practically invisible net put in place by Zenetan pirates — Staanz calls it a “magnadrift mesh” — that Moya is dangerously close to (and which Crichton and Aeryn have obviously already hit). In command, Staanz introduces himself as a garbologist — a connoisseur of what other people throw away — and that is certainly evident by his outfit. He looks like a cross between a sexually hyper teenager and a hobo. Anyway, as soon as D’Argo gets the chance, he’s hoisted up in the air and confessing everything: how he used to be Zenetan, how they used to wait around for ships to get caught in The Flax and then blackmail their victims for release, but now he’s just a simple garbologist, he swears! He pulls down his pants to show them his tattoos, but they also end up seeing that he is missing his stick and balls, ahem. He says that unlike most anthropoid bipeds, his species isn’t cut from the “standard mold.” While we are left to ponder this mystery, Crichton and Aeryn have to find a way to restore temporary power and communications, The Flax having nixed both. Crichton re-routes the auxiliary systems while Aeryn sends a message buoy to Moya.

After discovering Staanz wearing Luxan boots, D’Argo makes a deal with him. If Staanz takes D’Argo to the defunct Luxan ship so D’Argo can get his hands on some navigation fibres that he “desperately needs,” Staanz can have anything else on the ship that he likes. Still not knowing what they’re caught in, Crichton and Aeryn attempt to break free from The Flax by force but only manage to short out even more systems, light a bunch of shit on fire, and thus trapping themselves further. Aeryn’s message buoy reaches Moya so D’Argo and Staanz set out to find them, minus a little Luxan detour; also, Zhaan is seriously about to kill Rygel. Remember she’s still angry from last episode. He better watch his little ass. With everything going to shit on the pod, Crichton and Aeryn mutually decide that they better fix up the pod as much as possible because waiting for D’Argo and the other McFights-A-Lots isn’t really the smartest of options. Anyway, because D’Argo decided to take his little detour, Zhaan has to distract the Zenetan pirates who show up, while Rygel is busy getting all high on his Hynerian hookah. Surprisingly, it’s Rygel who ends up doing the distracting; he baits the Zenetan pirate captain, Kcrackic, into a game of glowy-glowy space chess (or whatever it’s called), but he doesn’t do it on purpose. I don’t think. Anyway, on the pod the environmentals are damaged but they can’t fix it because they need to use the torch, and they can’t use the torch because of oxygen build-up, so Aeryn suggests depressurization: fix it in their spacesuits. And then they get knocked around some more and Crichton lands on top of Aeryn, and she’s all “You comfortable? Can I get you a pillow?” No, really. That’s what she says. I’m not making this shit up. But when they go to de-pressurize, they discover that one of their spacesuit helmets is broken and there’s only one left. “So one of us gets to die,” says Crichton.

And apparently it gets to be Crichton. Aeryn’s helmet won’t fit him, despite her offer to use the Sebacean kill and nerve shots, so it’s gonna be Crichton who plays dead while Aeryn fixes the O₂ line. He teaches her how to fix it and how to give him CPR, not trusting the nerve shot to bring him back. Meanwhile, D’Argo and Staanz have been caught in The Flax but manage to break free, with Staanz’s technology, and Rygel raises Kcrackic’s suspicions when he uses a move that Staanz taught him. Aeryn injects Crichton with the killshot — but not before he gets all metaphysical on her — and when he is out (I really don’t want to write “dead”), she vents the ship of all atmosphere. While she attempts to fix it, D’Argo and Staanz detect all the vented atmosphere; Staanz surmises that Aeryn and Crichton are out of luck. So does Aeryn, apparently. She gives up trying to fix the line when it becomes too close to Crichton’s oxygen deadline and decides to revive him, but becomes knocked unconscious herself. Over on Moya, Rygel loses his game to Kcrackic, who wants to know the whereabouts of Staanz, and Rygel gives in, just as D’Argo is trying to rationalize his decision to get to the Luxan ship first. And all the while this is happening, Aeryn has woken up and is frantically trying to revive Crichton via CPR (the nerveshot vial shattered). When she finally revives him, it seems in vain. They only have about a half an hour’s worth of air left.

While D’Argo is busy catching a clue, Rygel tells Zhaan that he was bluffing all along. He had Pilot change the comm frequencies and lost the game to Kcrackic on purpose. And Aeryn and John have no idea what’s happening outside, whether the others are coming to find them or not. It’s cold in the pod, so Crichton pulls Aeryn close. As the prospect of death creeps closer, Aeryn gets kind of chatty. She wants to know what Crichton saw when he was momentarily dead. She’s positively weepy, and they’re both scared out of their minds. So of course, they start making out. HARDCORE. Just as they’re about to get to the good stuff, D’Argo decides docking would be a good idea and he walks in on them disheveled and ashamed on the floor. Aboard Staanz’s, uh, “ship,” Staanz is tied up, but that doesn’t stop him — no, her — from asking D’Argo to join her, the female of the species, as her companion. She’s lonely and considered quite the Zenetan beauty. D’Argo stammers his way out of the room, leaving Staanz still tied up. It’s very awkward. And speaking of awkward, Crichton and Aeryn’s post-hook-up talk is pretty much the definition. Both agree it was a heat of the moment thing and that it won’t happen again. Except when Aeryn says “never,” she looks like she means “MORE” and John’s glancing over at her all horny eyed. Then he gets an idea and walks over, “Just to be certain,” he says, “You are the female of your species, aren’t you?” As an answer, she grabs his man parts and squeezes a little (all of which happens out of frame, of course) and asks him if that answers his question. He walks off, smiling mischievously, and they both turn to look back at one another. Aeryn smiles to herself. Crichton’s probably going to jerk-off somewhere after that groping, and honestly? I think he has pretty much earned it.

Trivia

• Claudia Black joked that this was her favorite episode from the first season because she got to kiss Ben Browder. Oh, honey, it was only the beginning.
• At the end of the scene when Crichton asks Aeryn if she is the female of the species, neither one of the actors were scripted to turn around and look at the other. It was a complete coincidence that they both ad-libbed the look over their shoulders at the same time. The director liked it and kept it.

Metaphorically Speaking

I’m going to attempt to keep this brief (ha!) because my brain is fried, and also because my favorite part of this episode has nothing to do with themes and structure and everything to do with kissing, thus leaving me incapable of my normal standard of writing. This happens when the shipper part of your brain takes over the thinking part of your brain, which is known as a “hostile takeover.”

So aside from the kissing, there are some interesting things going on here. Everybody keeps mentioning how slow Crichton is at learning things, and maybe he is, in comparison, but I think the end of the episode makes it clear that he’s pretty normal and that it’s their senses of perception that’s off. Crichton is the one who fixes the tech in the pod (Aeryn says she is trained not to fix ships but in how to procure — read: steal — new ones). Crichton is the one who knows how to manually revive someone (Aeryn is dependent on a technology she doesn’t understand, and which is taken out of her reach by chance), and John is the one who ultimately wins Aeryn over to his side. By the end of the episode, we have Aeryn voluntarily acknowledging that she doesn’t want to die alone, something every Peacekeeper is trained to do almost from birth. So it’s this lovely parallel structure where each character goes from one end of the spectrum — Aeryn from being the teacher to being the student, and Crichton from being the student to the teacher — and meets in the middle. We go from “I don’t need you and you’re inferior” to “I will not let you down, John,” and it’s believable and awesome. And then! We also have Aeryn choosing to save Crichton over the attempt to fix the ship, which is both fatalistic and sweet. Fatalistic, because she’s choosing death over loneliness, and sweet because . . .  she’s choosing death over loneliness. This is why I love this show.

As for the others, we’ve got Zhaan, who is basically just a glorified judgment giver. She’s still pissed from last week, and she doesn’t trust anyone on board Moya (excepting Crichton, because of their “bond”). But this trust does have a function; it serves to highlight our own trust issues with D’Argo and Rygel, especially Rygel. The episode plays on our knowledge of Rygel’s cowardice and greed. In many ways, Rygel is a loose cannon. He’s always motivated by the same thing: what is best for Rygel — but the loose cannon part comes in to play so much because we never know what he’s going to decide is in his best interest. For awhile in “The Flax” we believe it’s monetary greed, and that it has blinded him to their danger. But Rygel isn’t stupid. He values his own hide, which he knows might be forfeit if the Zenetans are allowed to walk all over them. D’Argo’s dilemma is a little more on the nose. He must choose between saving Crichton and Aeryn, and boarding a ship that might someday be able to lead him to his son. Logically, the choice is clear, but D’Argo’s emotions often cloud his judgment in very damning ways. They make him very selfish, especially in comparison to John, whose emotions often lead him to doing the right thing for the right reasons. In the end both D’Argo and Rygel make the right choice, but in his own eyes, D’Argo has failed. Not only did he allow himself to ignore the peril Crichton and Aeryn faced, but he also feels he abandoned the idea of his son in favor of a more immediate family, so:  “On every front, I failed.”

As a sidenote, I really enjoy how this episode plays around with gender and sex. We’ve got Staanz the Zenetan, who looks male, but is in fact female and very much attracted to D’Argo, which gives the whole Farscape universe a surreal, up in the air quality that makes us question what is natural. And then we’ve also got Aeryn grabbing Crichton’s crotch in order to prove a point, which despite being “off-camera,” is pretty obvious. It’s also, of course, just the beginning of the Crichton/Aeryn romance, and I think it’s a pretty good start.

Trash Bin

I had a complaint while watching, but it obviously wasn’t important enough to remember, so disregard!

– – –

1X14 — “JEREMIAH CRICHTON”

D’Argo and Crichton are attempting to remove a blockage (probably gaseous in nature) from one of Moya’s systems when they start arguing. D’Argo blames Crichton and then Crichton flips out because all of his Earth-based fuel is gone and now he’s totally dependent on “your” technology, and then D’Argo is all “MY technology!?” so Crichton storms off, and they are both basically two teenage girls. He runs into Zhaan and practically bites her head off, and then Aeryn, who doesn’t understand what “going for a drive” means. She also doesn’t understand why Crichton is such an asshole to her and she lets him drive off in his module as Moya’s ass is about to explode or something. Pilot tells them that she must decompensate for amnexus fluid build-up or some other hooey-talk and that to protect her fetus, she’s preparing for immediate Starburst. With Crichton still outside. Which is exactly what happens. When Crichton sees what’s happening, he gets this fantastic look on his face like a little kid being ditched by his parents on the first day of school. “You guys are bugging out on me?!” Starburst. Oh, shit.

Flashing forward three months, we find Crichton lounging on top of his module on a tropical-climed alien planet wearing nothing but cut-offs and a scraggly beard. The module is set on the edge of a lake and Crichton is waiting for his lure to catch something. Did I mention that he’s half naked? ‘Cause he is. The trap snares an absolutely enormous crab and then a pseudo-Asian woman wearing a heinously ugly purple outfit walks up, attempting obviously to flirt with Crichton. Her name is Lashala, and she calls the planet Acquara. After some non-cute bantering, Lashala gives Crichton a “map of the sky” to help him get home. (Which means she’s even stupider than she looks, because don’t you think if that was the only thing stopping him he would have been gone three months ago?) And then this big dude Rokon comes busting in all butt-hurt that Lashala never gave him a map of the sky, and paradoxically while I dislike both of these characters, I enjoy the overall feeling the episode is giving us that Crichton knows them and their planet well. I like the idea of Crichton embracing his inner hermit, of him being an inhabitant of this world, but not a part of it. Or maybe I just like the idea of Crichton half naked in the tropics. Rokon says that it’s pointless anyway because Crichton will never get home, not from Acquara, and Crichton says maybe that’s okay, because Acquara is the first place where he’d be okay with that. You know, one man alone in the wilderness with his manliness, and maybe some Indians. That sort of thing.

Up on Moya we learn that, largely because of the guilt and sense of duty felt by D’Argo and Aeryn in regards to Crichton’s present situation, the Moyans have been looking non-stop for Crichton ever since he disappeared. But Zhaan has had it. She wants to give up the search and move on, even as D’Argo and Aeryn wish to press on. On Acquara, Crichton is invited by the Grondeer (chief) Kato-Re to sit beside him, as Kato-Re wishes to accept Crichton as his daughter’s choice of husband. Crichton responds that there was a reason he set up camp outside of their village; he doesn’t wish to interfere. And then this bitch Neera — Rokon’s mother, a priestess — starts harping all over Rokon about how Crichton is stealing his woman, and honestly, she’s half the reason he’s such an asshole. Meanwhile, D’Argo and Rygel have since landed on the planet and they soon lose all power: to the pod, Rygel’s Thronesled, D’Argo’s Qalta blade, and communications. D’Argo heads off long-leggedly, leaving Rygel to toddle along after him. As Crichton is walking back to his module, he’s attacked by Rokon and a contingent of men, who are there to make sure that Rokon “has nothing to fear from Lashala” (loving Crichton, that is), but honestly are you out of your purple-silk wearing mind? How in the holy Hell do you think that killing the man she loves is in any way endearing? Are you a fucking moron? Do you have squid for brains? Honestly. Thank God D’Argo comes along, saving Crichton’s ass. And the first thing that D’Argo says to Crichton? “You smell like dren.” (But he says it affectionately.) Crichton: “Get the Hell away from me.”

While Neera is making ugly idiot faces and racist comments at Kato-Re about D’Argo, Crichton and D’Argo return to the module to find Rygel all cutely asleep. Seriously, his little feet are adorable. Crichton is slightly mollified when they explain that Moya Starburst on her own and that they didn’t abandon him, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re stuck on the planet now. But then Crichton and D’Argo are captured and forcibly brought — with Rygel hiding in a bag — to Kato-Re, who deems them dangerous, and really it’s kind of an awful scene in every way (except for this look that Browder and Simcoe pass between them when Neera calls D’Argo a “man-creature”). Anyway, just as all Hell is about to bust loose, Rygel comes crawling out of his bag and the episode finally gets interesting. Rygel bears an eery resemblance to a statue the Acquarans hold, and they clearly “believe he’s you’re God,” as Crichton says. But no, says Rygel, “A sovereign.” And just like that, Rygel saves their lives by doing absolutely nothing. He says that this planet must be one of the many tens of thousands that make up his empire, even though it’s in the Uncharted Territories. Unfortunately there also seems to be some confusion about whether the Acquarans believe he’s their Dominar, or their Savior. Meanwhile, Neera is still a dirty secret keeper, and there’s something about a ceremony, and Crichton is really confusing the crap out of tiny little Princess Lashala. The poor grief-stricken little thing tells Crichton that the prophecy is that Rygel should “rise up and lead them to the light,” and that if he doesn’t, he will be killed. And this whole thing is just . . . ugh. The only good part about it is Rygel’s speech to D’Argo about the history of the Acquarans, how Rygel X abandoned them on the planet on purpose, stranding them so that they would always be worshipers of the house of Rygel, and that a lot of it has been made up by “Priestans” (like stupid Neera) to “elevate themselves.” He honestly sounds regretful while telling D’Argo all this, and I like him when he’s being honest.

The whole next sequence can only be described as “awkward.” The Acquarans turn on Rygel (with the help of Neera), who is only trying to make amends, for once, for the wrongs his ancestors committed against them. D’Argo and Crichton escape and find a set of coordinates sent down by Aeryn and Zhaan, and with them, Crichton manages to destroy the source of the power-suck thing by putting Rygel’s hands in slots or whatever. Ever so coincidentally, Rygel happens to be on his Thronesled at the time, and it “rises up into the light.” Sigh.

Trivia

• The title of this episode is a reference to the 1972 movie Jeremiah Johnson starring Robert Redford. It’s about a man who leaves behind civilization to become a trapper in the Rocky Mountains, and it is Ben Browder’s favorite movie.
• Rygel’s original puppeteer John Eccleston can be seen on-screen as the native running with Rygel on his arm.
• Crichton’s beard is fake, and during the course of the episode noticeably shifts positions.
• As John is returning to the village at the beginning of the celebration a camera can be seen rolling by in the bottom left-hand corner of one of the shots.
• We learn in this episode that Luxans have more than one heart.
• The episode’s filming was hit with problems: a hail storm hit and threatened to destroy the sets, with stones the size of cricket balls coming through the creature shop windows and roof.

Metaphorically Speaking

I don’t really have much to say in the way of the positive for this episode, which is surprising because I don’t remember hating it the first go-round. But, unlike last week’s episodes, which improved upon a second viewing, “Jeremiah Crichton” can’t hold it’s own weight. Of course with Farscape — as with any quality show — there are always going to be little moments that are worth your trouble, but overall, this episode just doesn’t work (the many reasons why, I detail below).

Some things I got from the episode that didn’t suck: Crichton’s situation is finally hitting him. It isn’t just an adventure anymore, and these aren’t just “aliens.” They’re people, and they, like Earth people, can be as annoying as fuck. Hence the hissy fit. I also liked the idea that Crichton has now spent equal amounts of time on Acquara as he did on Moya. The sense of time this episode plays with is fun, and I’m sure that was the feeling they intended you to come out of it with . . . only it doesn’t last. Also, for 1999 that’s pretty original storytelling. The whole Crichton interfering thing might be a dig at the Prime Directive (there you go, Jen), as the creators intended the show to be the anti-Trek, and also because one of them (or more) used to write for Star Trek: TNG. But I liked when Rokon asked Crichton: “Can Acquara live with you?” A dig at colonialists and empires, obviously, but it’s pretty on the surface. I also enjoyed briefly, before they ruined it, the idea that in Acquaran culture, women were the ones responsible choosing a mate (and probably other things as well).

So the only things that are notable/important about this episode going forward is that it establishes two things. First: this is  the first time the Moyans show loyalty to one another, six months earlier, they wouldn’t have given a shit about Crichton disappearing off into space, and they certainly wouldn’t have wasted their energy in trying to get him off the planet. They are — finally! — becoming a team, if by nothing else than by the bond of the experiences they share. And second: that Crichton desires above almost everything else, peace.

Trash Bin

The thing that I hate most about this episode is really just a symptom of what’s really wrong with it.

The priestan Neera is probably the worst character ever on the history of this show — and I could be wrong, there might be someone worse and I’m just not remembering them, which is why I put the “probably” in there — she is the epitome of the word “annoying” so much so that she surpasses it. Other words one might use to describe Neera: domineering, false, overbearing, nagging, stupid, asshole . . . whatever. But my hatred doesn’t come from a false place. The character is one dimensional and shallow, and that fact isn’t helped at all by the one-note portrayal of the actress. In the first place, characters like Neera have always been a pet peeve of mine: characters whose ego gets in the way, whose sense of entitlement is unreal and cartoonish, like a soap opera. And that’s mostly the fault of the writers, who based the character on a plot need rather than having the character, I don’t know how to word this, actualize herself? She was a tool rather than a character. And secondly, I expect much more from Farscape. This whole episode is kind of pedestrian, not up to Farscape levels of quality at all.

Additionally, the idiocy of Rokon’s masculine mind games with Crichton (at the urging of his plot point mother) completely ruined whatever good effects the female centered culture was having on me, and the whole Rygel storyline might have been an effective commentary on religion and colonization, but it fell so hard on its ass and ended up just being stupid (with some fun Rygel moments thrown in, I’ll admit). On top of all this, the Acquaran costumes were ridiculous, not only because they were ugly, but because I’m supposed to believe that a culture who isn’t even capable  of working any type of machinery would be able to produce purple silk in such vast quantities? But maybe that’s just me. Anyway, the important part is that it’s ugly.

Perhaps the most uncharacteristic thing about this whole episode is that it didn’t work as a cohesive whole. The tension set up in the teaser was in no way resolved, nor did it function on anything other than a surface level (plotwise, to get Crichton down and trapped on the planet). But the first five minutes were good?

– – –

Crichtonisms

• “Southern metaphors, darling. You ain’t heard the half of them.”
• “This is gonna hurt like crap!”
• “It’s colder than a frog’s ass.”
• “There’s no time for any stupid human anything, and I’m sick of it, Aeryn. I’m sick of Napoleon the fourteenth, I’m sick of Blue, I’m sick of Tentacle Boy, and guess what? I’m sick of you. I’m sick of this whole turd-burp end of the universe.”
• “Since I left my home, I’ve been hunted, beaten, locked up, shanghaied, shot at . . . I’ve had alien creatures in my face, up my nose, inside my brain, down my pants. This is the first time, the first place, where I’ve found peace.”

PuppetWatch!

• Nice touch in “The Flax”:  somebody thought to add lip sweat to the puppet as Rygel was coming down off of his hookah high.
• The crab-thing in “Jeremiah Crichton” was pretty cool. It kind of made me want to dip things in butter.
• The CGI for Rygel in “Jeremiah Crichton” was just terrible. Yuck. I know that’s not a puppet or even a responsibility of the Creature Shop, but still.

– – –

“Crackers Don’t Matter!”

• “The Flax” marks Aeryn and Crichton’s first kiss, which reminds me of one of my favorite YouTube videos from a Farscape fan convention during Black and Browder’s stint on Stargate SG-1. “Oh, honey,” says Claudia Black, “Ever since I started Farscape apparently my lips have no other purpose but to eat chocolate and kiss you.” I also like how Browder makes fun of MICHAEL SHANKS. This one is nice, too, but there are tiny spoilers so beware.
• Aeryn: “It’ll be all right if I can get it out. Can you pass me that axe?”
  Crichton: “Yeah. What are you gonna do with it?”
  Aeryn: “I’m going to hack my foot off.”
  Crichton: “Oh, no, well let me then.”
  Aeryn: “Just give it to me!”
• I really, really wish they would have shown us Crichton teaching Aeryn CPR. Really a lot.
• The dude who plays Kcrackic is a horrible actor. His evil laugh is pathetic.
• The look on Anthony Simcoe’s face as D’Argo catches Crichton and Aeryn in the act is just priceless. Perfect. That entire scene has wonderful timing actually. The looks and glances, the reaction shots. Love it.
• Random thought: I like all the leather they wear, and not just because it looks good or because it’s an S&M thing (which one might argue, the show has going for it), but because I like how it sounds. They all — especially Crichton, Aeryn, and D’Argo — crinkle and creak.
• Rygel: “This isn’t the happy reunion I’d planned on.”
• Not coincidentally, the DVD commentary for “Jeremiah Crichton,” featuring Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Rockne O’Bannon, and David Kemper is entitled “When Bad Things Happen to Good Shows.”
• Death count as of “Jeremiah Crichton”: Crichton, 5; D’Argo, 3; Rygel, 2; Zhaan, 1; Aeryn, 1; Pilot, 1; Moya; 1.

 

– – –

Classic Moments in Farscape, #7

[John and Aeryn wait for death.]
John: I thought Peacekeepers were trained to fight alone, survive alone . . . die alone.
Aeryn: [speaking with difficulty] Well, it appears my training is failing me. I don’t want to die alone.
[John reflexively pulls her closer to him.]
Aeryn: What did you see?
John: Hmm?
Aeryn: You know, after the killshot, when you were dead. Did you see the things that, you know, that humans believe. The light, friends . . .
John: No. No I didn’t. All I saw was black. [John looks over at her and she looks terrified.] I don’t know, maybe Sebaceans are right, maybe there’s nothing after this, maybe . . . maybe . . . I wasn’t supposed to die that time.
Aeryn: Well, maybe you’ll find out for certain this time.
[She looks up at him, he looks down at her. They both want the same thing at the exact same moment. Slowly they move in until their lips touch. It’s clear where this is going once they are on the floor ripping each other’s clothes off. And then there is a loud noise.]
Aeryn: [with a neckpiece still around her face] Is somebody docking?
[In walks D’Argo, his mouth open in shock or disgust, or both.]
John: D’Argo! Um, what took you so long?

– – –

Coming up on the Farscape Rewatch: “Durka Returns,” “A Human Reaction”

Filed under Ashley, TV · Tagged with dvd, farscape, rewatch