"Bone to be Wild"
Airdate: January 21, 2000
While Moya, her crew and child continue to hide in an asteroid field from Peacekeepers, the crew receive a distress call. Against their better judgement, Crichton (Ben Browder), Zhaan (Virginia Hey) and D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), make a trip to an asteroid to investigate. What they find is one monster and one victim. But telling them apart is a lot harder than it looks.
Br'nee, played by Marton Csokas (Xena's old man Borias) manages to convey emotion through the prosthetics he wears by using his voice to great effect. One feels bad that he's so tortured and isolated. Yet he's used the time well in that he's gotten in touch with his inner sociopath. Case in point his capture of Zhaan, his screams of she's mine, and his justification for keeping Zhaan as if she were just another moss sample.
Em'lee (Francesca Buller) at first inspires suspicion but after seeing through Br'nee's psycho killer charm one can't help feeling sorry for the calcivore. Much like von Frankenstein's Monster, Em'lee is truly a slave to her bioengineered nature. It seemed a poetic justice that the creation turned on the creator as Em'lee did. Though, unlike von Frankenstein's Monster, Em'lee acts out of survival instinct, and not malice.
Crichton seems to have recovered from Gilina's death quite well, which stands as further proof of his growing loss of naiveté in favor of street smarts and a suspicious nature. The old Crichton wouldn't have even thought to threaten the botanist in regards to Zhaan's safety. Additionally, his evolution as a character seems to be marked by a change in dress. As he assimilates into the culture of the universe in which he finds himself, his nature becomes more martial more suspicious and he no longer wears the sunny yellow spaceman suit that marked him as Not of This Universe at the beginning of the series. Common sense aside, his adoption of a Peacekeeper commando captain's uniform marks his psychological transformation from naive earth oddity to a bit of a hardened bad-ass.
On the other hand Auntie Aeryn seems to be wearing a lieutenant's red and black uniform more often lately. She is learning to think for herself and will no longer go along with the Peacekeeper party line. While it has been developing over time, confronting Crais seems to have sped up the process. She reminds me of Michelle Pfeiffer's Isabeau in Ladyhawke; freeing herself from slavery to one's nature by confronting the man who cursed her. Aeryn is (Dare I say it?) endearing as she spends quality time with Moya's baby. But what will she christen Junior?
And speaking of Junior, he's an impressive half leviathan, half attack vessel. It's obvious from his markings that he's been Peacekeeper altered. Perhaps Scorpius himself had a hand in engineering the new breed of superleviathan, of which Junior is the first successful birth. This combined with Scorpius' acute insight into the nature of both human and non human alike could account for his knowing how to flush Moya and her baby out of the field. Baby's engineered environment is as sleek inside as he is streamlined outside. His aggro red lighting on the interior makes me think he could be a pretty impressive war machine without Moya and Auntie Aeryn's guidance.
During the course of the episode, Crichton discovers an amazing fact about Zhaan. She's a plant. The revelation that the beautiful mystic is a plant explains a lot, like the photogasms for one, and the striking cool hues of her skin for another. Perhaps it could explain her prowess as healer as well.
The Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) and Crais (Lani John Tupu) B plot thickens. With each encounter the professional and personal tension gets hotter and hotter. The tug of war over power turns physical. What possesses Crais to attack a superior officer? Is he that furious? Under normal circumstances I don't think Crais would have risen to even the most skillful bait of even a being like Scorpius. That he does lose his cool so easily says just as much about him as it does about Scorpius' refined bitchery. Something about him just seems tired. Perhaps the confrontation at Sun's hands and the time in the Chair did it. Crais may well have to defect as now that his secret is out no one will ever trust his judgment or his word again. He's caught between a leviathan and a hard place.
But the biggest question of the episode is where is Stark? Granted he doesn't ask to stay it seems yet he's not seen making good-byes. He just vanishes. It's a shame to introduce such a potentially intriguing character only to discard him like a three day old red herring. I'm still hoping he'll pop up in a later episode.
"Bone to Be Wild" is one of those few episodes I've seen where the A plot and B plot are equally interesting. It's not as edge of your seat as "Nerve" or "Hidden Memory" but it's definitely a decent hour of television.
-- Vivian E. Lee
Farscape airs at 8pm EST, Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel.
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