"Family Ties"
Airdate: January 28, 2000
After Rygel betrays his crewmates to the Peacekeepers, they must take desperate measures to avoid recapture.
I expected Crais (Lani John Tupu) to defect but was amused to see him seek asylum from Moya's crew considering he has no life beyond incarceration, execution or court martial. Following desperate logic, he's willing and capable of damn near anything which he summarily proved by kidnapping Talin, Moya's newborn child.
I expected better from Rygel, though. But as Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) astutely pointed out, "the weakest link is often the smallest one." "I am a dominar of action", he retorted. Talk about your errant child syndrome. This goes way beyond Crichton's temper flare up in "Jeremiah Crichton" as Rygel actually went way out of his way to sell out his comrades.
Not that someone like Crais or Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) could be trusted to honor any kind of agreement. We've seen proof that both men have few principles; both are willing to sacrifice the people under their command to pursue their agendas. This By Any Means Necessary code later extends to Crais kidnapping Moya's son.
Speaking of the Crais and Scorpius B plot, the fact that the time the two spent spatting on screen was brief seemed indicative of just how much the balance of power had shifted completely in Scorpius' favor. As expected, after the Captain's defection due to the Scorpius-heavy atmosphere on his ship, Scorpius took advantage of Crais' irrevocable contamination to take over. That same ship, with its small fleet of Prowlers, threatened Moya and her child and crew and that is when crunch time began in earnest for this ersatz family of fugitives.
In light of Rygel's betrayal, his shipmates had to do some serious damage control to counteract whatever information he had most likely given to the Peacekeepers. Thankfully the exposition and setup went right to the point allowing the action and tension to start immediately, spurred on by Rygel's rashness.
I imagine the emotion-meter went into the red when Rygel compounded his offense by bringing the man who's made every second of their lives hell on board. I seriously wondered if Crichton would kill Crais after D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) gave him a taste of the beatdown he (D'Argo) owed him (Crais). Especially as when Browder delivered the line, "if life were fair, you'd be dead.", the camera panned suggestively from Crichton's face to his hand holding a loaded pistol, then it fuzzed out and sharply focused on the pistol.
Despite the focus on Rygel, Crichton got most of the screen time. However, he did share hero duties with D'Argo. This was D'Argo's day to rule and nothing would keep him from his heroic death or from letting Crichton have all the fun in the suicidal mission. He was his usual surly self when he argued with Aeryn, yet cracked a corny joke with Crichton at the end. I can't help it -- I just wanna kiss Anthony Simcoe for making such a cute funny!
But that's not to say that the boys had all the fun.
Zhaan (Virginia Hey) played anarchist with her usual mystic grace, gleefully making and testing bombs in one scene and somberly performing a blessing ceremony in another. And Chiana (Gigi Edgely) was the tart with a heart. She reminded me so much of Space: Above and Beyond's Cooper Hawkes. She had the same wounded quality and was genuine in her affection and gratitude towards Crichton, but, of course, muddles it with the street rules mentality that allowed her to survive for so long. The scene featuring the tender kiss she plants on Crichton was funny in small part and largely sad.
Not to be sexist, but I find it interesting how caring for Talin has brought out the protective (I won't say maternal) instinct in Officer Sun. I don't expect her biological clock to start ticking any time soon but it's sweet how the baby Leviathan bonds to the least likely person in the crew.
"Family Ties" is definitely an episode chock-full of farewells. People part with each other in their own ways: Crichton telling Rygel about himself, Chiana making a Last Supper, the conversation between Crichton and Aeryn about their parents and Zhaan's blessing.
One only hopes for reunification of Moya and Talin; and the crew who has become a tightly knit, if a bit Jerry Springerish, familial unit. This was a season finale serve with some interesting, if predictable, plot turns and memorably well-acted scenes. I can't wait for the adventures that lay in store in Season Two.
This is Vivian Lee, somewhere in the Universe.
-- Vivian E. Lee
Farscape airs at 8PM on Fridays on the The Sci Fi Channel.
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