Die Me Dichotomy

Hey everyone.

Give me a second...*sniffle* *HONK*...ok I think I can stop crying for a minute to write this review. As always this contains huge honkin’ spoilers, and all ideas are my own.

Overall:

• It took me a while to review this episode because I didn’t want to watch it again. It’s hard to describe, it was an amazing episode that was filled with so much...any lesser scifi show would only have delt with one or two of the issues this episode brought up. Farscape manages to juggle them all beautifully.

So if it was so amazing why didn’t I want to watch it again? While the obvious answers are the death of Aeryn and the lobotomizing of Crichton...it more then that, or else I just wouldn’t want to watch the last 10 minutes. No...what makes this episode so difficult to watch is because we’re watching this whole family fall apart. After two years they’re breaking up...Aeryn is dead, Crichton may not survive, Rygel is leaving, Crais and Talyn will probably leave, Chiana and D’Argo may leave with Jothee, Moya herself may die...that’s what happens in life, "families" form and separate. But that doesn’t make it any fun to watch.

And Crichton:

• After being taken over by the ScorpyChip, knocked out by a stun-tongue, and being a nurse to his own lobotomy...I think even Crichton is wishing he’d have died.

The Good:

• Everyone’s performance in this episode was outstanding, especially the emotional ending with Aeryn’s death...but extra special credit goes to Ben. Not only do we get a heartwrenching acting job of him playing John Crichton...but he plays Scorpious and the middle ground InsaneCrichton as well. Wow.

• Rygel continues to show that he’s not just a greedy bastard...
  "I’m sorry Rygel, I misjudged you."
  "It’s becoming your carrier."

• I loved the alien doctor, with his musical language and great costume!

• Once again we get the wonderfully brutally honest Jothee...to have gone though the phase of hating his heritage so much as to mutilate himself, and yet come out of it still loving and having faith in his father, that’s one tough kid. Poor D’Argo doesn’t quite know how to react, but he should be proud.

• In fine Farscape fashion Aeryn and Crichton finally say those three little words..."I love you." But Aeryn really says it to Scorpy, and Crichton says it when Aeryn is dead.

• For dramatic tension there’s no better (or worse) moment as when Scorpy/Crichton gently takes Aeryn’s head, all the while the two are muttering words of mutual love and respect...and as the music just jacks up the tension and they say they love each other and then SNAP!

• Looks like Jothee has his father’s tongue. :-)

• Damn if Crais isn’t a great character this episode! He really has turned himself around, truly trying to help Crichton, being honest about Aeryn joining him and Talyn "if Crichton doesn’t survive", and that emotion over loosing Aeryn...wow...

• Poor D’Argo is just not having a good day. Between trying to deal with Crichton’s chip, Moya’s injury, building a relationship with Jothee and keeping one up with Chiana it’s no wonder he’s snapping at anyone who comes in distance!

• I loved watching Stark and D’Argo all numb... "Ah can’t feel ma tongue!" It was a great little comic moment we really needed in the middle of such a dark episode.

• I knew...I just knew in my GUT that Chiana and Jothee were going to "get along" quite well. Jothee is very much like D’Argo, except he’s much younger and is more interested in going out and seeing the world...two qualities that would make him even more attractive to Chiana.

• I was on the floor over drugged Pilot!! So that was some great refer, eh man?! :-)

• Poor Zhaan, so concerned over Crichton that she’s ready to take his final wishes just in case, only to be brutally tricked by Scorpy/Crichton...and then her crying out to Crichton because he’s gone...wow...

• "Ah the radiant Ms. Officious. So sure, so confident in the void of space. Crichton was trained to fly in atmosphere, against gravity. Welcome to our world, Baby."

• The sequence where Aeryn ejects from the Prowler and plummets to her death is especially heartwrenching as we not only watch Aeryn and Crichton struggle to say goodbye, but see everyone on Moya react...clinging to whoever is near, unable to breath, unable to help in any way...*sniffle*...aw damn I’m gonna cry again...

• The background music for Aeryn’s funeral was the "Agnus Dei" (Lamb of God), one of the parts of the Mass Proper, but also used in the Requiem Mass. The text is: "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Dona eis requiem sempiternam" (Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Grant them eternal rest) Rather appropriate music...and interestingly enough is scored so the chords end on a major, uplifting note...but then quickly fade to something darker when Crichton asks for D’Argo’s knife. Rygel’s words of "Be at peace" work very well in that context. It’s a wonderful bit of scoring there...and especially powerful for us music geeks who’ve had to play ten million Requiems.

• The funeral itself was painful and wonderful and touching...and interesting in that we see all the different customs of everyone piled together to give a funeral.

• And now for the Didn’t Expect You To Make Me Cry moment: Crais, on the verge of tears, telling Talyn how much he regrets not being able to show Aeryn something that would have made her "the happiest soul among us"

• "To bad, eh?"
  "Yes, but that’s life."

• Payback is a bitch...and Scorpy makes it ironic to as he sings The Star Spangled Banner just before entering the operating theater...the same thing Crichton sang to leave Scorpy to die at the Depository.

• "Don’t need a translator microbe for that one, do we?"

• Well at least the chip is finally out of Crichton’s head...that’s a good thing, right?

The Bad:

• How exactly did Scorpy/Crichton get out of the restraints and into the Farscape?

• So in that whole Aeryn death sequence we are treated to horrified looks from everyone...except Pilot! Even Rygel got a few seconds to look upset and he wasn’t nearly as close to Aeryn as Pilot was!

• NO NO NO! I want to know if Crichton kept Aeryn’s memories!!!!!

The Nitpicky:

• Everyone’s always saying how wonderful Crichton looks in leather...well guess what folks? We finally get him in leather from head to toe....bleh...

• OK wait...I could have sworn Scorpy/Crichton snapped Aeryn’s neck! Now she had a skull fracture?!

• I’m really surprised that D’Argo went ahead and handed over his knife to a being who’s under the influence of Scorpy, the one who just killed Aeryn...and also has already begged to be killed.

• I knew no one died in that depository...especially not Scorpy or Braka.

• Why does the medical facility get Aeryn’s body? I mean personally I think it’s a plot point in order to freeze her before she really dies so she can be revived later (remember the talk about how all the beings in the storage area were not dead yet?)...but you’d figure she’d want to be "buried" in space.

Awful prediction of the week: 

• I wager Crichton and Aeryn both survive to re-unite on Moya...I’ll even bet Crichton did keep those memories of Aeryn...but now unable to talk he can’t tell a live Aeryn "I love you".

Unanswered Questions:

• Will Moya survive?

• Will Crichton survive? And will he recover his ability to speak or are we going to be without those wonderful pop-culture references from now on?

• How will they revive Aeryn (because I refuse to believe she is dead for good)

• What did Talyn and Crais find that they thought would make Aeryn so happy?

• Will Chiana accept D’Argo marriage?

• Who will stay and who will go?

Man that sounded like a soap opera! It’s gonna be a long 2 months till season 3.

"I am reminded of a word you actually brought to this vessel...Hope."
-Aeryn, about Crichton

Lauren (OboeCrazy)
SACCer #1: The Most Vocal Defender