Farscape
"The Way We Weren't"

Air Date: April 15th, 2000

A three-cycles old recording sheds harsh light on both Pilot's and Aeryn Sun's (Claudia Black) pasts, causing turmoil among Moya's crew.

Let me start by thanking Tony Tilse and the SFX crew for stunning, evocative images and Naren Shankar for his words that linger in the mind. Together they craft a story that allows viewers to see two distinct worlds that existed in the same location.

The aspect of the story that deals with Aeryn's involvement in the former Pilot's death reminds me of newsreel excerpts of the Nuremberg trials. "I was only following orders," proclaimed the Nazi officers. Blessedly, Sun doesn't lamely offer the same excuse to escape responsibility which allows the story to continue as well as allowing her crew mates to come to grips with actions. I'm not advocating that they forget because they can't. She's done some bad things as proven by the recording.

I'm also not excusing Officer Sun's actions in service, but I find her to be a better role model than political assassin Zhaan (Virginia Hey) who murdered a lover during sex. Zhaan, The Hypocrite Of The Hour Award winner, proclaims hotly she cannot sanction the murder of a helpless creature. Hello? How dare she even think of taking the moral high ground with Aeryn Sun after she helped D'argo (Anthony Simcoe) chop off Pilot's arm in "DNA Mad Scientist"?

Poor Pilot. Where do I start? Survivor's guilt about the former Pilot that died to pave the way for his journey to the stars? The hidden fact that the one with whom he shares DNA is one of the agents of his predecessors demise? His pure intense desire to travel and be more than what others say he can be that is now marred by what has happened in the past? Pilot's stratospheric world looks so beautiful to my terrestrian eyes but even a gilt cage is still a cage. Seeing him scared out of his shell in the Peacekeeper world made me think he'd made a Faustian deal to fulfill a dream. Will he be the happy gentle creature the crew knows and loves now that he knows what he knows? I hope so.

In the end however, the others forgive Aeryn Sun, their friend and valued crew mate who is no longer the Peacekeeper she once was. True to Velorek's words, Aeryn has thrived in a different environment, become a different woman able to reason for herself and actually feel free to... well, feel.

Guest Alex Dimitriades plays so well the multifaceted (Editing Manager's note: ... and stone cold fox...) Lieutenant Velorek that I hope fervently that we see more of him in future episodes, even if his screen presence is limited to mere flashbacks. Though he's a thinking man who won't buy into the Peacekeeper party line, he obviously has a heart under his rough exterior which he extends to Aeryn. Not a surprise, because to him she seems to have a spark of intelligence hidden under the guise of a blindly obedient grunt. I thought it was just too sweet to see him fall in love like a fool, making his heartbreak and betrayal at Aeryn's hands hurt and disappoint so keenly.

In spite Aeryn's actions, somehow I get the sense she really gives a damn for him too. She urges him to undo what he's done to Crais' project just before Crais and his storm troopers show up and take him almost literally from Aeryn's arms. Tears almost threaten to give her away as she hears Velorek's ambiguous last words: "You are special". A parting shot or a tip of the hat? We may never know. Claudia Black must have had to rummage in the Hurt Closet big time if she is into method acting to fuel her performance -- she did too well this episode portraying hurt and confusion trying to put a name on her emotions just to be able to explain to Crichton about her past. The chemistry between her and Dimitriades was effortlessly believable even in the literally and atmospherically dark environment in which they lived.

I hope I conveyed what an intensely emotional episode "The Way We Weren't" was. I would definitely recommend it as the best so far of Season Two's offerings, something not to be missed.

-- Vivian E. Lee

Farscape airs at 8 and 11pm EST, Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel.