Farscape: They've Got a Secret Rewatch

August 4, 2015 5:21 PM - Season 1, Episode 10

While inspecting access shafts D'Argo is flushed into space. The DRDs turn on the crew and Moya cuts off life support, while the crew attempts to find the cause from a revived but delusional D'Argo. [via]
posted by [insert clever name here] (7 comments total)

I liked this one too. Not so gross out, but still disturbing in its own way.

- nice ensemble acting from the cast - Team Moya actually starting to gel despite (or because of?) last episode's events. I think everyone was so ashamed/traumatised by the Namtar thing that they decided to work together for a change.
- more continuity! OK, we're not sure exactly how much time has passed, and I have to assume that Zhaan made up with Pilot at some point on her own, but things follow on from previous eps - Aeryn's Pilot DNA, the fact they're still digging out PK devices from Moya, mention of the control collar etc. And we see that even Leviathans are vulnerable to the ongoing nonconsensual body invasion themes - the clear biological nature of the shaft D'Argo fell down points to a very disturbing situation. Crichton's discussion about 'enslaved beasts of burden' adds on another unpleasant layer. Of course at this point we don't know the whole story and will have to wait until S2.
- D'Argo backstory. Bearing in mind his age, D'Argo's basically a teenage Dad, isn't he? On the run from the Space Nazis, with his wife and an 'evil' hybrid child. Romeo and Juliet meeting very harsh PK reality, and suffering terrible consequences. This also expands D'Argo's story by putting Jothee into the mix. And introduces the handy Luxan ability to survive in hard vacuum without a spacesuit. Anthony Simcoe really brought some depth to D - he starts the ep being his typical impulsive bad-tempered self, and then all this aggression is peeled back to reveal a hidden personal tragedy beyond what was suspected.

Other stuff: this ep starts building on all that gratuitous J/A touching. They are clearly closer after Namtar, even in a bickering way. I think they hinted at the beginning of the ep that Aeryn was still affected by Pilot's DNA because her speech felt more elaborate and Pilot-like and she was totally into her tech thing. It was nice to see her looking after Pilot and working with his controls. Like I mentioned last ep, people started speccing all kinds of cool stuff about her abilities, most of which never happened, but it was good fun at the time. And emotional growth indicated by the fact she reached out to D at the end which is a real turnabout from the usual PK contempt.

Zillions of DRDs! I love the bit where John is surrounded by them - eyes in the night. Rygel being tickled and forced into piggyback rides was good fun too.

In fact, the only thing I didn't like much was the Peruvian panpipey music.
posted by along came the crocodile at 10:08 AM on August 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

So this is probably the most important episode that I don't really like. Part of that is that on re-watch the animating mysteries the plot depends on (what's up with D'Argo and Moya) aren't there. Part of that is that I don't find Farscape's usually admirable tendency not to go into too much detail about technical aspects doesn't serve it well with D'Argo's on again/off again hallucination. Part of that is the way that D'Argo's plot to me seems disconnected from the Moya plot; he's just kind of wandering around, and none of the other characters really seem to act like the info he has is vital to solving the mystery. For me the episode just never really gells into a whole.

This is still a hugely important episode though. D'Argo's family, and his quest to restore/recreate it is going to animate the character for nearly 2 seasons. It also shows that to a certain extent, his identity as a Luxan warrior is a front. This was hinted at during "Thank God it's Friday, Again", but this episode makes it explicit that before his imprisonment D'Argo was living in seclusion with his wife and son. It's also where D'Argo's character starts softening to become the

Moya's pregnancy and her offspring are crucial to a lot of the upcoming episodes. Then there's Aeryn and her growth; in addition to her new abilities, her acceptance of D'Argo and Lolan's relationship and of Jothee is an explicit rejection of Peackeeper ideology. So, very important, I just don't find that it works overall.

There are a moments I like though. Rygel's reaction to being cast as Jothee is great, as is Aeryn's increasing anger at being stuck to the floor. Her bellowing "Crichton!" while he's absorbed in a technical discussion with Zahn makes me laugh.
posted by Grimgrin at 4:58 PM on August 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

I really wish I had more to say about these episodes early in season 1, but on a rewatch the best I can usually do is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. There's lots of important stuff here, especially this episode, but already knowing whats going on lowers the stakes so much that I usually end up skipping a bunch of these to get to "Durka Returns"
posted by hobgadling at 6:03 AM on August 6, 2015

So this is probably the most important episode that I don't really like.

That's kind of how I feel about "That Old Black Magic," as it does a lot of work, at least for Crais, but I don't like the form the writers make it happen in.

Watching this episode again, I wish I had paid more attention to D'argo's reaction to Aeryn, as a Peacekeeper woman. Though, I don't think there'd be much or any reaction going on. I assume D'argo's treatment by his wife's family and the Peacekeepers in general would have resulted in a pretty firm line being drawn on how he reacts and thinks of the race, outside of his wife. I love he carries a hologram of his family around with him, embedded in his chest, but goodness, Jothee the toddler is incredible ugly looking! I feel awful for stating that, but baby Jothee just ruins the hologram. I blame whomever was behind designing a young Luxan/PK child's appearance.

Rygel and D'argo win the best pairing for altered state of mind event.

Of course, to a degree, we also have the pleasure of knowing that D'argo was essentially doused in Leviathan sperm or something. That's never really brought up directly and I wonder how D'argo would react to being told as much.

I was surprised by Pilot's ignorance on behalf of Leviathan pregnancies. Do Leviathans only have children before they pick up a pilot?

I definitely enjoyed the growing C/A.

I agree, the use of D'argo's backstory as the B plotline just didn't gel that well with Moya's problems being the A story.
posted by Atreides at 9:56 AM on August 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Watching this episode again, I wish I had paid more attention to D'argo's reaction to Aeryn, as a Peacekeeper woman.

Maybe he prefers to think of her as a soldier before anything else because it avoids all kinds of painful/problematic things. I don't know the Luxan attitude to interspecies relationships but it strikes me that D must be pretty open-minded to have fallen for a Sebacean. In a way it foreshadows John, Aeryn and little D.

Something else this episode brought to mind was the theme of carrying secrets/hidden knowledge in the body and mind. D'Argo's hologram, Aeryn's DNA, Moya's pregnancy triggering device. Foreshadowing for John? I would love to know how far in advance this show was plotted out, because when you watch interviews the impression you sometimes get is that everything was very collaborative and even improvised on occasion. There's quite a good if long one the BBC did with Claudia Black which gives you the strong impression they were flying by the seat of their leather pants scriptwise now and again.

Claudia Black BBC interview 2005 FarScape

I was surprised by Pilot's ignorance on behalf of Leviathan pregnancies. Do Leviathans only have children before they pick up a pilot?

Or is it our particular Pilot that's ignorant because he basically jumped the queue? Maybe the Elders conveyed knowledge to the ones who were judged ready that our Pilot didn't get?
posted by along came the crocodile at 1:23 PM on August 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

Well IIRC, Scorpius was only intended to have a 4 character arc, Harvey was never meant to be a thing at all, Stark was never intended to be a recurring character, and neither was Lt. Braca. So as far as I can tell, what looks like foreshadowing in Farscape is just as likely to be, the writers going: "Hey, that was neat, let's do more of that". Which may be why John gets tortured so much. "Hey, Browder suffers really well. Write more stories where John gets fucked up."
posted by Grimgrin at 5:00 PM on August 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

So as far as I can tell, what looks like foreshadowing in Farscape is just as likely to be, the writers going: "Hey, that was neat, let's do more of that".

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right on that. Still, even if it is all unintentional foreshadowing in terms of long-term plotting, it still adds a kind of richness/extra depth on rewatching, especially if you just take what's on the screen and not the BTS stuff. I do like that this rewatch is making me notice certain themes and motifs that will reappear and get deeper/more intense for the characters as time passes, stuff that maybe I wasn't quite so aware of on the first watch.
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:48 PM on August 6, 2015