Farscape S01E04-05, "Throne for a Loss" and "Back And Back And Back To The Future"

[kate_nepveu]

The Pip has been sleeping poorly, which means Farscape in the wee hours.

S01E04, "Throne for a Loss"

The one with the drug-injecting forearm weapon the crew takes from one of Rygel's kidnappers, who mistakenly think he's worth a ransom.

Enh. Lots of stuff happens, but the logic seems a little thin--why did the kidnappers move Rygel out of the cell after his neighbor (the very cool shadowy critter with tentacles) convinces them he's worth something? Would the kidnappers really have just let them all go when they realized there wasn't any money in it? Yes, yes, it's very thematic, words being effective where violence wasn't, and also words undoing what words created in the first place (they'd never have kidnapped him without the lie), but it doesn't quite ring right.

(Also, Rygel dies and then is immediately resurrected, and the whole scene is very weird.)

Nevertheless, the episode is redeemed by the former captive immediately going back to the drug. The show did a nice job with that character, from the design to the makeup to the acting, it was all surprisingly effective in showing emotion considering the amount of stuff on his face. And Zhaan's "no sermons" reaction is perfect in its understatement.

S01E05, "Back And Back And Back To The Future"

The one where Crichton keeps flashing forward into futures in which a female spy, a besotted D'Argo, and/or a mini black hole kill them all.

The way it uses the long flashes of the future, starting in Zhaan's room with the mask breaking, to shove lots of plot in is cool. (Except for the second episode, I've been impressed by how the show is just full of Things Happening.) But I found this episode incredibly uncomfortable because the spy's speech patterns were DRIVING ME NUTS. They were like an itch in my brain, I could not cope at all. And I like time loop stories normally, they're custom-built for improvisational intelligence, which is one of my bulletproof story elements.

I am fairly sure that a black hole small enough to be carried on a ship is not actually a powerful weapon at all, but that's still fairly reasonable for TV show handwavery.

Put a pin in it: D'Argo's real crime.

Also, Aeryn wandering around in a sports bra was entirely gratuitous.

Spoil me and have your food ration eaten by a puppet.

*goes looking for Moya icon*

Comments

[cofax7]

Oy, it should be noted that the first half of S1 is rough, as the writers & cast find their feet. Things will improve.

Ben Browder notably comments that Throne for a Loss is the episode in which Rygel became a full character, because of the way Ben got to manhandle him...

[kate_nepveu]

Oh, I'm in for at least a medium haul, and I can see lots of ways in which it has considerable promise, don't worry.