Farscape: Family Ties (Part 1) Rewatch
September 16, 2015 1:12 AM - Season 1, Episode 22 - Subscribe
When Rygel decides to sell out the crew of Moya to the Peacekeepers, the crew must come up with a way to escape capture. Their luck changes when Rygel returns along with Crais. They formulate a risky plan to destroy the Gammak Base.
This is a pretty good climax to a distinctive and entertaining first season.
I like how the episode ties the Crais plotline up - admitting his pursuit of Crichton had nothing to do with his brother in the end - and relaunches it when he takes off in Talyn. The fact that CB and LT work so well together, whether it's as Aeryn and Pilot or Aeryn and Crais, is a great bonus for the show. I wish we'd had one less Jeremiah Crichton and one more Crais episode to build his character even further. Aeryn was in awesome bad-tempered snarkmode this ep, but her scene with Pilot was so touching. (They are practically related, let's face it.) Also, some hints of Aeryn's family story to come. Then there's Aeryn's relationship with Crais, with that hinted at sexual interest in her and his usurping of her place as Talyn's mentor.
Also nice to see the show's other great romance. Scorpy and Braca, finally get under way. There were some great lines and moments. Rygel being Rygel, John's message to his dad, TeamMoya finally admitting they're very fond of each other in their own ways, John kissing Rygel, D'Argo's 'I need to pee'. And it all culminates in a patented Farscape 'blow it all to frell and then watch everything go horribly, horribly wrong' plan.
On to Season 2!
posted by along came the crocodile at 12:38 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
I like how the episode ties the Crais plotline up - admitting his pursuit of Crichton had nothing to do with his brother in the end - and relaunches it when he takes off in Talyn. The fact that CB and LT work so well together, whether it's as Aeryn and Pilot or Aeryn and Crais, is a great bonus for the show. I wish we'd had one less Jeremiah Crichton and one more Crais episode to build his character even further. Aeryn was in awesome bad-tempered snarkmode this ep, but her scene with Pilot was so touching. (They are practically related, let's face it.) Also, some hints of Aeryn's family story to come. Then there's Aeryn's relationship with Crais, with that hinted at sexual interest in her and his usurping of her place as Talyn's mentor.
Also nice to see the show's other great romance. Scorpy and Braca, finally get under way. There were some great lines and moments. Rygel being Rygel, John's message to his dad, TeamMoya finally admitting they're very fond of each other in their own ways, John kissing Rygel, D'Argo's 'I need to pee'. And it all culminates in a patented Farscape 'blow it all to frell and then watch everything go horribly, horribly wrong' plan.
On to Season 2!
posted by along came the crocodile at 12:38 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
That last shot of D'Argo and Crichton floating over the exploded base is so beautiful.
posted by chaiminda at 5:33 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by chaiminda at 5:33 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
This episode does a couple of big things that stand out for me. First, we see another side of Crais, and it gives an idea of why and how Crais got to be a captain. He's not just a rage driven lunatic, but someone with the guts to walk onto a ship with three people who have a demonstrated willingness to kill him, and the cunning to walk out with a gunship. It's also interesting that he never quite apologizes, and it's never exactly clear that he's changed. Everything he does could be explained by an attempt to reform. Everything he does could equally be explained by the time in the Aurora chair and his loss of rank refocusing his hatred onto the Peacekeepers rather than the Moya crew.
Then there's Chiana; for me, her abortive attempt to have sex with John snapped something into focus about her characterization. Chiana's pre-Moya life seems to have been transactional. She was tolerated because of what she would do for others. It's explains why someone as self interested as her was so desperate to "earn her keep". It's also pretty clear that she was part of these transactions when necessary. Chiana's behavior being the result of a horribly damaging past, and her not really having the tools to deal with things as they are on moya as a consequence, made me much better disposed to the character. As always YMMV but for me it moved her out of 'manic space pixie dreamgirl' territory. I also like that there's no Pygmalion arc coming for her, the show never feels the need to have her change who she is.
Overall going back through the first season was interesting, because it gave hints of what else Farscape could have done had Scorpius and the wormholes not become the motivating factors for the overarching plot, and had the chemistry between Claudia Black and Ben Browder made anything other than an Aeryn/Crichton relationship patently absurd. Just off the top of my head, the Luxans, the Illanics and their time warping black hole weapons, the Nebari, Durkha, hell, the secret to producing hybrid gunships. They all could have been massively expanded on in later seasons. There's enough there (though probably not enough in the makeup budget for some of them) to sustain an ongoing arc. As for relationships, one thing that struck me is how plausible an Aeryn/D'Argo relationship could have been, absent Aeryn/John. On the flip side John/Chiana could also have worked out, given what we've seen of the character's interacting.
along came the crocodile: Scorpy and Braca is more of a tragic romance for me. I kind of picture Braca struggling with the knowledge that no matter what he does he'll never be John Crichton. Never be the true object of Scorpius' obsession.
posted by Grimgrin at 6:30 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
Then there's Chiana; for me, her abortive attempt to have sex with John snapped something into focus about her characterization. Chiana's pre-Moya life seems to have been transactional. She was tolerated because of what she would do for others. It's explains why someone as self interested as her was so desperate to "earn her keep". It's also pretty clear that she was part of these transactions when necessary. Chiana's behavior being the result of a horribly damaging past, and her not really having the tools to deal with things as they are on moya as a consequence, made me much better disposed to the character. As always YMMV but for me it moved her out of 'manic space pixie dreamgirl' territory. I also like that there's no Pygmalion arc coming for her, the show never feels the need to have her change who she is.
Overall going back through the first season was interesting, because it gave hints of what else Farscape could have done had Scorpius and the wormholes not become the motivating factors for the overarching plot, and had the chemistry between Claudia Black and Ben Browder made anything other than an Aeryn/Crichton relationship patently absurd. Just off the top of my head, the Luxans, the Illanics and their time warping black hole weapons, the Nebari, Durkha, hell, the secret to producing hybrid gunships. They all could have been massively expanded on in later seasons. There's enough there (though probably not enough in the makeup budget for some of them) to sustain an ongoing arc. As for relationships, one thing that struck me is how plausible an Aeryn/D'Argo relationship could have been, absent Aeryn/John. On the flip side John/Chiana could also have worked out, given what we've seen of the character's interacting.
along came the crocodile: Scorpy and Braca is more of a tragic romance for me. I kind of picture Braca struggling with the knowledge that no matter what he does he'll never be John Crichton. Never be the true object of Scorpius' obsession.
posted by Grimgrin at 6:30 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was being slightly tongue in cheek there re: Scorpy/Braca, but yeah, Braca will always come second to Crichton in that regard.
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:29 PM on September 16, 2015
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:29 PM on September 16, 2015
Re: Scorpy/Braca, it was received, and responded to, in that spirit.
Thinking on the episode some more; it was the way Crais was deemed "Irreversibly Contaminated" in this episode that made me think it was an ideological judgement rather than anything to do with actual time spent or species classification. Of course it could also be how Scorpius wrote up the report.
posted by Grimgrin at 4:42 PM on September 17, 2015
Thinking on the episode some more; it was the way Crais was deemed "Irreversibly Contaminated" in this episode that made me think it was an ideological judgement rather than anything to do with actual time spent or species classification. Of course it could also be how Scorpius wrote up the report.
posted by Grimgrin at 4:42 PM on September 17, 2015
"Oh just to be in the warm glow of all this testosterone" has been a staple statement of mine since this aired. It was nice to hear it again in context. It's a great Season ender, and so beautifully shot. The goodbyes - and non-goodbyes - are so touching, even though we know it's not the end end.
posted by gemmy at 6:35 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gemmy at 6:35 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
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Props for Crais on making the big move.
posted by Atreides at 7:32 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]