Mental As Anything

Hi everyone,

This review may be a bit subdued as just this morning the space shuttle Columbia exploded on reentry leaving no survivors of it’s 7 member crew. It’s a sad day today for the world, and for space flight. And it connects back to Farscape in many ways, but most notably that it was footage of Columbia taking off that was used in the Pilot of Farscape.

Here’s to the crew of Columbia, who dared to make the dreams of Farscape a reality. You will be missed.

Otherwise this review as always contains HUGE HONKIN' spoilers for Mental As Anything, and all ideas are my own.

Overall:

• We’ve been wondering what happened with D’Argo and Macton since the beginning of the season, and finally we find out. For our patience we’re given an intense, emotional storyline where D’Argo is forced to confront some old fears about himself and what he may have done, as well as finally take revenge on the man responsible for Lo’Lans death. It may not be a truly happy ending, as D’Argo finds out that he did actually hit his wife while in hyper-rage. But having discovered the truth about what happened with Lo’Lans murder, brought "justice" to Macton, and given some comfort in the depth of Lo’Lans love for him, D’Argo can now work through his past and move on. It’s an amazing episode for Anthony Simcoe, and an intense storyline.

• Unfortunately it’s surrounded by a lot of other crap, but I’ll complain about that in the Bad.

And Crichton:

• More Obligatory Crichton Bashing, as he’s knocked down and out by Katoya, locked in a really hot cage and burnt more times then I want to count. This WACKer eppy gets a He Can Stand The Heat Now Get Him Out Of The Kitchen rating.

At least he didn’t die.

The Good:

• Once again I gotta praise Anthony Simcoe, who gives us an amazing performance filled with anger, rage, sadness, despair, longing, love, friendship, self-doubt, resolve, and more...and this under a mask!

• Ah, so in all those boxes Aeryn got Crichton a big screen TV and a stack of DVD’s! Makes sense, and you gotta love the idea of the two of them snuggling in bed watching Star Wars.

• "We’ll watch TV, we’ll eat popcorn, and act like normal people."

• It was nice to finally see Crichton make reference to the death of his friend DK, and attempting to go after the one responsible for sending the creature.

• Crichton does a great job of supporting D’Argo while still being the voice of reason. He’ll help his best friend no matter what, but won’t let him do something stupid like try and kill Macton during the course. And D’Argo obviously appreciates it, check out the sigh he gives when Crichton tells him, "I got your back."

• "It ain’t gonna happen, Ms. Krebaple." Does that mean that Crichton is Bart Simpson?

• Rygel doesn’t get much to do in this eppy, but he has a great little bit as he goes to take on the Charrid. It is his one chance to fight on an equal playing field...the size of his body no longer matters, only the size of his will. And after over 100 cycles as a prisoner of PK’s like Durka, his will is stronger then just about anyones.

• It’s a war of wills while being held prisoner...so it’s appropriate that Crichton starts whistling the Colonel Bogey March best known from "The Bridge on the River Kwai". It was originally written by F.J, Ricketts, and then adopted by the British troops during WWII who supplied it with offensive lyrics about Hitler, Himmler, and Goering. Who knows what offensive lyrics Crichton was supplying.

• "I’m violent when I choose to be. And right now I choose not to kill you. But that could change."

• There’s a parallel between Crichton having to use his rage, anger, and pain and focus to tear off the grate and get the key...to D’Argo using his focus to calm his mind and dissipate his rage, anger and pain to get Macton.

• Great Scene 1: D’Argo and Macton confront each other in the Mind Game to reveal the truth about Lo’Lan. I believe Macton truly did love his sister, and did what he did out of some twisted, skewed sense of that love. Perhaps his hatred of other species and his PK training played a part, or perhaps it really was any bruises he found on Lo’Lan. And D’Argo expresses his love unconditionally in the shock and pain he shows when sudden outbursts in the Mind Game have terrible consequences to Lo’Lan. In the end Macton is left with a truly awful fate, locked in the horrible moment as he beats the sister he’s just killed. Both men do a wonderful job!

• Gotta love Crichton, covered in some of D’Argo’s body fluids, asking if he should drive. I just don’t want to know what fluids those are.

• "Grayza does not want Earth. Grayza wants you."
  "Why do I always attract the psychos?"

The Bad:

• If Aeryn and Crichton are trying to hide this relationship, they’re doing a poor job by hiding out together and then trying not to show up places together.

• Crichton has a really crappy sub-plot in this eppy. First, why would he agree to do ANYTHING Scorpy advocated, even if it was to gain information about the being that killed DK? Second, why does anyone think Crichton needs more mental training against pain? He’s survived the Aurora Chair, torture by Grayza, pain from just about every being he’s met, PLUS he’s already gone a round getting tortured by a Scarran and won. Third, why is Crichton being such an idiot when it comes to getting the key?! He’s wearing a Gi with long sleeves and long pants that could easily serve as a net to catch the key if strung up between the bars over the coals. Or perhaps using that Gi to wrap around his hands so he doesn’t burn himself when retrieving the key. Or why not have D’Argo find out where the key’s are dropping from and grab one? Instead it’s a good idea to burn some flesh off?! Come on, Crichton has proven his intelligence and ingenuity dozens of times when trapped in difficult situations. Once again he’s simply made stupid for plot purposes.

The Nitpicky:

• In D’Argo’s hologram of Lo’Lan from "They’ve Got A Secret", Lo’Lan is a brunette. Perhaps she dyed her hair?

• The outfits, actions, and fighting style used by Katoya and those in the Mind Game very much match a Dojo for many martial arts classes. In fact the way they bow to each other is exactly how we bowed in Karate.

• Loads of questions about Macton. Did he seak out D’Argo and plan this whole thing? Was this just a coincidence that Macton and D’Argo were here together and Macton took advantage of that? Is Macton still a PK, or did he have permissions from High Command to be in Tormented Space?

• Scorpy tells Crichton, "Grayza wants you." Heck, who DOESN’T?!

"This need not be difficult."
"But it probably will be." -Katoya and D’Argo

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