Farscape review John Quixote Oops I Got Fooled Again part 2

Home ¤ John Quixote: "Oops, I Got Fooled Again"

John Quixote: "Oops, I Got Fooled Again"
Ross Ruediger ¤ 30 July 2002

PreRamble ¤ Set Up ¤ The Key ¤ Conclusions and Final Thoughts

Set Up

The story begins with a brainy little red herring involving the burgeoning camaraderie between Scorpius and Sikozu as they play John's chess game from opposite sides of his containment. ("What became of your lamb, Clarice?") Whatever's up with Scorpy and Sikozu, it's more intriguing than John and Aeryn these days. (If it hasn't already been called, I'd like to make it official that I'm the first Scorpius/Sikozu shipper.) Immediately we meet up with John and Chiana in a transport pod. Pip is orgasmically involved in a game of her own - an organic-looking virtual reality diversion, whilst John predictably dwells on recent events involving Aeryn. For a brief moment he seems to suspect that Scorpius is the father of Aeryn's baby; the poor guy is not in a good place. Suddenly, there's a call from Moya - it's "Captain" D'Argo, walking with Noranti and Aeryn, informing John "We're having a small problem with Scorpius". Probably not what John needed to hear at this particular moment.

Chiana, still mesmerized by the game, grabs John away from the business at hand and literally drags him into the virtual world. The pair is "transported" back to the Gammak Base of Season One's "Nerve/The Hidden Memory" arc and they both sport their clothing of the time period as well. Who should turn a corner? Only Crichton's "other" love of the UT - the Peacekeeper tech girl, Gilina (again portrayed by the beautiful Alyssa-Jane Cook). The sporadic Farscape viewer will simply not get this…oh, they'll get that she's a stunner - but they probably don't know that she died in Crichton's arms once upon a time. Hot on her hysterical heels is the man himself, Scorpius, looking every bit the threat he did upon his first appearances in that very story arc. The casual viewer is also not privy to the fact the Scorpius was largely responsible for the death of this frantic woman. But John, and Browder most certainly, are all too aware of the power this perverse revisionism holds. Enter a crazier than ever Stark the savior, guns blazing, and intent on destroying his leather-clad tormentor.

With Stark's blast, John and Pip are again transported, only this time to a virtual fantasyland, and each in equally fantastic garb. As they stand at the base of an obviously fake looking medieval tower, a voice is heard from above. It's Aeryn - well, the face is Aeryn's, but the blond Rapunzel wig, lisping Southern accent, and princess get-up betray the truth, so to speak. John informs Chi they have to leave the game due to the possible emergency in reality, only to discover that the game's "off" switch isn't working. A television set falls from the tower, seemingly giving this virtual John Crichton true pancake status.

And then the opening credits roll. Again Farscape effortlessly demonstrates how much it's able to cram into three minutes.

We rejoin the dynamic duo of John Quixote, and a virtual Stark (much different in tone than the one seen previously) appears, only to reveal the Banik slave himself was the "neural template" for the game, based on what he knew of John's life (it did begin with the Gammak Base). Stark outlines that in order to escape the game, John must locate and kiss the fairy-tale princess - Aeryn? Presumably. Well, that or just go through the nearest green door. He babbles on about the princess, ugliness enslaved, and how only a sword can set her free. He also gives John three tiny white orbs (ping-pong anyone?) that can be used, one at a time, to summon virtual Stark for clues as the game is played.

I suspect what makes "John Quixote" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" (and to a degree "Revenging Angel") great Farscape, is that viewers are allowed to take away from them whatever suits their own perceptions, steeped in symbolism as they are. What I enjoyed most about "John Quixote" is what eventually became my key to understanding what Browder was doing with the episode: the game has been designed to mirror and distort John's perceptions, based on Stark's observations. Given that, we must take each character met on the journey and dissect them using this logic.

First up is the late Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, whom here is presented in a most grotesque fashion - not only is she no longer the beautiful Delvian priestess, but she is also not even female. She appears as an obese, Delvian male played, ironically enough, by "Won't Get Fooled Again" director Rowan Woods. Can we assume that Stark's observation of John's relationship to Zhaan, was rooted in the idea that John never truly saw the inner beauty of Stark's beloved? That John only saw her as an aged hippie, a cryptic-mystic prone to fits of violence, who blissed out at the mere drop of a ray of light? Well, for the sake of my critique, we're gonna have to.

Before long, John and Pip encounter the game's version of Rygel - a guarded individual, with only his own agenda at heart: he blocks their path to the next level. (The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Sir Didymus from the Jim Henson film Labyrinth?) The duo cleverly dispatch with him, but not before the bizarro-Hynerian has employed his gastrointestinal powers to try to stop them. Again, John is only able to see his shipmate in the most simplistic of terms. Frustrated by their lack of progress, John summons Stark with one of the orbs and they are led through a hole in the pavement. (This scene took place in the parking garage previously seen in "Won't Get Fooled Again"!)

The next level is where the symbolism becomes clearer still - a Hansel and Gretel-ized kitchen, featuring D'Argo as not much more than a sadistic controller with only an appetite and a wont for confrontation. Hanging above him in a cage, are a virtual Jool and Chiana, each pleading to their captor, "Eat meeeeeeee!" (A subtle nod on Browder's part to the S3 tale of the same name?) The ménage is taken to its most twisted, base level. John sees a green door across the room, and they both head for it. Simultaneously, a D'Argo tongue-lashing knocks Chiana unconscious and John opens the door and exits the game. Time to contact Moya and leave this foolishness behind.

Go to part 3, The Key.