Farscape S3: Fractures

[moonshayde]

I popped in the next episode that I needed to watch.



Great episode. Okay, I could have done without the puppets banging each other, but I just pretend that never happened.

While I enjoyed The Choice, I do feel like this was a far better episode and the perfect follow-up. The premise wasn't so great, but the character interactions were interesting.

I don't have much to say except for whatever reason, I loved Crais in this episode. John and D'Argo continue to make me smile and the cool distance between John and Aeryn was well played.

I have to say that I do believe this show really did need the threat of Scorpius to work. While I liked episodes on and off during S1, the show never really grabbed me. And I hate the crack episodes with undying passion.

One of the problems I had with this show initially was Crais. Crais never really worked as a full out main villian for me. He works so much better as this gray area character, a person who is self-serving but will do the right thing when necessary but will quickly resort back to betrayal and underhandedness when he can. Scorpius, while not a black and white villian either, just exudes that type of urgent threat that was lacking with Crais. And this is why I've enjoyed most of S2 and S3, and why I feel the end of S1 worked better. I still don't see this show as the greatest show that hit television, but it's enjoyable. And it's angst free for me since I'm watching after the show has ended.

I'll see what I think come the next episode. I don't have much of S3 left to go.

*sigh* I am in cleaning mode so I guess I should get back to that. I am tossing soooo much stuff. And I want to get rid of a ton of stuff too. Maybe I'll figure out how ebay works and put some fannish stuff up there and then if I have other stuff that people want, I might just announce it here and give it away. We'll see. I have tons of crap.

Comments

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with you re: Crais. He works so much better once he gets all these shades of grey. It still took a really long time for him to start to grow on me, though--partly because I think Lani Tupu overacts, so his portrayal of the character just bothers me a bit--but it was "Fractures" that finally did it.

And you're right that muppet sex is best forgotten.

I find it interesting that you like this episode better than "The Choice," overall. I find them both uneven episodes--both have great highs and lows. But for me the highs in "The Choice" are just about as high as they get: Claudia Black is so stunning, and I really have an irrational Xhalax thing. But "Fractures" is an entirely different kind of heartbreaking: the reunion of the family that just cannot be reunited as it was before. I love that Farscape refuses to hold back when it comes to emotional pain.

I predict that you won't much like the next episode--sort of a mix between boredom and annoyingness--but it's an important set-up for the "Into the Lion's Den" two-parter, which, at least in my mind, is the very best of Farscape. Part two is my favorite episode of the entire series, and possibly one of the most stunning 50 minutes of television I've ever seen. (My praising it so highly almost guarantees you won't like it, doesn't it! ;) )

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

It's natural for me to like an episode like Fractures over The Choice. I'm very much an ensemble person. I adore character growth, development, and trials, but I like those issues within an ensemble structure. And while Claudia Black did a fantastic job in The Choice, I just found it too singular. I don't tend to enjoy episodes for any show that has one character that dominates too strongly. So the Xhalax and Aeryn stuff was great--the rest was too drawn out for me.

Fractures was the reverse. The story itself was not very strong but the emotional interplay between characters sold me on it.If the cast had not reunited in this one, then I probably wouldn't have liked it as much.

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

So the Xhalax and Aeryn stuff was great--the rest was too drawn out for me.

This is a common complaint--and a justified one. I salute them for giving Aeryn's grief its own episode, but on the other hand, there's not enough in "The Choice" to really hang an episode on. All of the fake Talyn Lyczak stuff really annoys me (but some of that may have to do with how I feel about the idea of the real Talyn Lyczak). But with all its flaws, "The Choice" remains one of my top five eps (in many ways probably my second-favorite), just because I love Aeryn and Xhalax So. Frelling. Much. :)

And what I like about "Fractures" is exactly the ensemble-ness of it all, the uneasy reunion, the emotions simmering below the surface. minervacat has just fallen hard for Farscape and was talking about how much it's a show about home and family--finding and making those things. And she's only seen through season 1, so she won't know this yet, but it's also a show about what breaks home and family apart, and what it might take to put them together again. And "Fractures" hits at those things so well. But forasmuch as I love the special Farscape crack, there's a bit too much silly in this episode: the muppet sex, Jool and Crais and the Boolite. The lows are lower for me than the lows of "The Choice," and the highs aren't as high. But I can absolutely see why it would appeal more to you.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I happen to like both Crais and the crack episodes (although I often like the crack episodes with substance, like Scratch and Sniff over the ones like Vita Mortis), but I am a notoriously easy person to please :)

The best part of this episode for me, however, is the John/Aeryn stuff. It's just SO heartbreaking. I am currently rewatching Season Three In No Particular Order and I find the separate story lines have less impact if they are not shown side by each.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Vita Mortis? That one doesn't ring a bell. I wonder if I'm not there yet.

And you know just how I feel about crack episodes ;)

I really hated Crais when I first started watching. Really. And not in the good hate way. He just rubbed me the wrong way. He was a joke to me.

I am not sure if it was the actor or just the role he had. When he got the whole Tayln stroyline I started to like him a lot more. And I much prefer Scorpius as a main villain. He just has style.

But the John/Aeryn stuff of S3 has been very very good. I like them more in S3 than I did in S2. And I don't have many good things to say about S1 LOL

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

It's that one in season two where the Old Luxan Hag tries to steal Moya's lifeforce by seducing Dargo...it made me stop watching for almost a month before Isa talked me into continuing. It might even be called something else...I kind of ignore it.

I definitely like Crais as a Cartoon Villain and Scorpios as a...well, also as a cartoon villain, but he's Apocalypse whereas Crais is...I won't say Magneto because Magneto is was awesomer...The Joker maybe? That sort. In all honesty I just thought Crais was funny. And the PeaceKeepers crack me up.

[officersun524.livejournal.com]

Well, just to jump in on any Farscape discussion. I liked "The Choice" because it was so dark and depressing and Aeryn had earned her day (as had CB).

But "Fractures" is equally heartbreaking. I agree about the lows--the lows in "Fractures" (as someone noted, Muppet Sex, and silliness with Crais and Jool) don't quite cut it for me. The lows in "The Choice"...I really didn't think there were all that many of them but, then again, Claudia Black dominated the episode and I'm usually pretty easy to please when that's the case (although it didn't quite work with "Memento Mori" but that's another subject altogether, and another show).

anyway. The pain of "Fractures" is about as rough as "The Choice". And even though the next episode is fraught with annoying stuff, the "B" Talyn story is also more heartbreak for John and Aeryn. Their last scene in the episode is really telling of their respective states of mind. For me, that carries the episode.

Without a doubt, season 3 is my favorite. And I do like the crack episodes, because they are CRACK! and I am an addict ;)

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

I didn't hate The Choice. And I feel that CB did a great job. And the stuff between her mother and herself was fantastic. I also actually liked Rygel in that episode. I'm just more of an ensemble cast type of person. So I gravitate more toward episodes with group interactions.

And no, it didn't quite work in Memento Mori which is too bad. I'm thinking it is better that I saw SG-1's CB episode first before Farscape's. Then I didn't have to expect too much ;)

You're the second person that told me the next episode isn't all that. I'll have to wait and see how I feel after I see it. I'm curious, though.

But I have to agree that so far, I'm finding S3 the best.

And well, I'll pass on the crack and you can have a blast with it my place ;

[officersun524.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was too bad about MM...I didn't blame it on Claudia, of course (I never do, but at least I'm honest about it). LOL. I liked the opening scene with Daniel and the scene where she regains her memory. Ok, I sort of liked the Cam/Vala stuff only because it was funny, not because it actually made a lot of sense.

anyway, back to Farscape...Rygel was great in "The Choice". There are often times where you can see his value. Most of the time he's being a putz, but sometimes his wisdom and compassion come through, and that's saying a lot when you consider the acting is coming from a puppet.

"I Yensch, You Yensch" is definitely a set up for the last three but there are more heartbreaking John and Aeryn moments to be had which make it worth the time spent watching the episode.