Farscape episode review wrocs Jeremiah Crichton 1.14

Home ¤ Episodes In-Depth ¤ Jeremiah Crichton ¤ Info ¤ Ramblings

NOTE: This isn't exactly a review, or an in-depth column. This is the original "WROCS" (Weekly Round up of Cool Stuff) written when this episode first aired back in July of 1999, and posted on the SciFi Channel's Farscape bulletin board. It has been minimally edited so as to be comprehensible now, and to the general public.

Jeremiah Crichton

Info
Jeremiah Crichton ¤ Top ¤ Info ¤ Ramblings

Season 1, Episode 14
Original air date........ 30 July 1999
Written by ................ Doug Heyes, Jr
Directed by .............. Ian Watson

Guest Cast:
Natalie Mendoza.....Lishala
Kevin Copeland......Rokon
John O'Brien........Kato-Re
Deni Gordon.........Neera
Tania Mustapic......Maid

Ramblings
Jeremiah Crichton ¤ Top ¤ Info ¤ Ramblings

After the recent string of very intense episodes, "Jeremiah Crichton" was not so much a let-down as a puff piece. Almost a bit of relief, a respite from anything dark, or disturbing, or that would make your brain hurt if you thought about it too much. I have to admit, I'm spoiled, and I enjoy those make-you-think episodes tremendously. This was strictly-for-fun.

They can get away with this type of script periodically, but if they were all like this, we wouldn't be the dedicated fans that we are now. It would be just another new-planet-of-the-week show. How many times have we seen the "mistaken for a God" plot? Didn't that originate on Gilligan's Island? Usually when Farscape takes on such a stock storyline, they punch it up with enough twists and turns, and manage to work in some serious character development, that we don't have to care about them retreading a chestnut.

This outing was the least successful to date in trying to freshen up an old idea. Does that mean I hated it, I thought it was dreadful? Not by a long shot -- but this episode falls firmly into the "froth" category, and it succeeded on that level. To compare this to "They've Got a Secret", "Till the Blood Runs Clear", or everyone's favorite,"The Flax" is like comparing Mad TV to any work by Shakespeare. I like them both but they are too different to judge on the same scale. So I'm not even gonna try.

Still and all, there was some Cool Stuff happening...

Moya's having more pregger problems. I sympathize, it seems when you are harboring offspring your own metabolism turns against you, in favor of the fetus, in too many ways to count. Pilot seemed quite on the up-and-up this week, but once again we didn't get enough of him. I expect that all of the extensive work with Rygel was a big drain on the puppetry resources going into this ep.

"The Girls"
What little we saw of them was terrific. In fact, the best scenes of the episode occurred on Moya. More continuing story-line here, with the reminders that Zhaan has left the Delvian Seek, for now. It was interesting to see the dynamic between Aeryn and Zhaan. Aeryn is growing more and more comfortable with herself and her ability to solve problems with something besides the use of force. And she is maturing emotionally too -- to the point where she can admits she needs Crichton, even if it was hard for her to do so.

You must note that D'Argo followed Aeryn's lead in the matter of continuing the search, when Zhaan began counseling against it. Zhaan too seems to be gaining more respect for Aeryn. We haven't spent any time, really, looking at the relationship between these two but I do think Zhaan has been dismissive of Aeryn and Aeryn's soldier mentality. She has tended to treat Aeryn like a child, much the same way she treated Crichton. Finally in this episode they work together more or less as equals, and between the two of them actually save The Boys' hides.

D'Argo's oath is not lightly given. We saw that in "Till the Blood Runs Clear", but now again. Think about it, they have been searching for Crichton for the local equivalent of three months, and D'Argo still wants to continue the search. Interesting tidbit of Luxan physiology... Zhaan accuses D'Argo of being motivated by the guilt in his "hearts", and he replies that his hearts and what goes on in them are no business of hers. Of course she was right, but how cool is it to learn that D'Argo has more than one heart? I wonder if we'll ever get D'Argo into that scanner-thingy down in the lab? Getting back on point, though -- it was D'Argo who defended John to the rest of the crew, saying that they drove Crichton away. And even at the beginning of the episode he was uncharacteristically charitable to John when he said, "It's almost always your fault. " Can't win for losing, Crichton... D'Argo was terrific on the planet, though -- talk about the calvary coming over the hill! (Unfortunately, that was one of the more predictable plot points, but it was still fun to watch it play out.) Along with Rygel, I wondered why D'Argo didn't guess that there would be a sacred text. What does this imply about Luxan religious beliefs? Do they even have any? Something to think about.

Rygel, ah, I believe the Royal Hynerian Guard [a Rygel defense group resident on the SciFi bulletin board] will have their work cut out for them this week. The "Slug who would be King" tried to make a good show of it, but wasn't allowed to. The puppetry work on Rygel was really wonderful. I do so enjoy watching him, he's so expressive, and he really wasn't disgusting at all in this episode. Or maybe I've lowered my standards, I don't know. Yes, he did that wonderful royal wave, and he was so self-satisfied when he was "recognized", we saw his typical arrogant self. But he truly was sorry that the Acquarans had been abandoned by his ancestors, and when he discovered the duplicity of the priestans, in the changes they had made to the Timbala, his first thought was to set the record straight for the people.

One scene I absolutely adored was when, after calling him a false god, a native [John Eccleston, Rygel's cheif puppeteer in Season One] literally picks him up by the scruff of the neck and begins walking towards the pyre with him. He is so tiny, it was such a great image. Also, the scene of him trying to walk on the beach. We must be reminded that His Eminence is actually aquatic and it is therefore quite understandable why he should be so ungainly on dry land. About the whole "rising up and leading the people to the light" shtick, it fell flat with me. Too similar to too many other similar plots. Once we knew Rygel was a "god", we knew that he would somehow manage to fulfill the prophecy despite his lack of knowledge, experience, or whatever. It was still cool to see the look on his face when it actually did work, though!

John, when a girl tells you that offering to share food is a sign of "fondness", and you ask her if she wants it boiled or barbecued, you are telling her you like her, in a romantic way. That's unequivocal. Next time don't be so dense and try to hide behind the "just friends" line. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. And please, if you want to do the beard thing, don't cover up so much of that gorgeous face with it! A nice, close-trimmed beard & 'stache would be fine, I think JC could carry them off with no problem. But the BBB (big bushy beard) look just doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid. Other than those nitpicks, I have nothing to complain about, lots to compliment.

As much as I didn't like the beard, all those early scenes of John "fishing" were awesome. The cut-off sleeves on the gray tee (which, along with those pants, are now headed for the rag bag on Moya) were a nice touch, too. I particularly enjoyed the last big action scene, where John is staving off Rygel's execution -- the fight was well-choreographed and wonderfully executed. Loved the "Sparky" and "The Slug who would be King" lines, too. For a scientist-type, John has a great way with words sometimes. His "peace" speech, when he describes in only a few sentences how nasty, brutish, and likely-to-be-short his life has been since popping out of the wormhole was really wonderful. The weariness in his voice rang true, as did his desire to stay on this peaceful planet.

Guest stars...the locals were just gorgeous. I do sometimes wonder why the native populations ALL wear exactly the same few colors in their clothing. It is not realistic, but stylistically it works wonderfully. The only problem with the guests is that they were limited to playing stock roles in a re-tread story: the spunky chief's daughter (she even tried the Pocohontas move!), the wise chief, the ambitious and conniving priest, the less-than-brilliant, strong, handsome son of the ambitious mother. They all did what they could with the little they were given to work with.

Hmmm Eye Candy rating of 8, would be higher but I really detested that beard. The music was lovely in this episode but not as compelling as in the past few, but that only makes sense given the context. I enjoyed the varied drumming we heard during the dance sequences. The costumes were quite inspired this week, particularly all the different variations we saw during the ceremony.

There were a couple of serious, thought-provoking moments in this episode. In an off-hand manner, this episode dealt with faith and religion. There is a scene where Crichton tells Lishala that her religion is wrong and her faith is misguided. Guess what? Crichton was wrong...it turns out that Rygel really was the savior, even if he was not a god. So what conclusions are we supposed to draw from that? That even though mundane beings have been screwing around with the word of the deity for generations, there is still a kernel of truth there to justify our faith? Somehow I don't think we need to be learning this particular lesson from FarScape, so I'm going to let it go. We can debate religion elsewhere.

The second serious issue is that they did it again! They completely upset the hierarchy of power on this planet -- the chief priestan is "displaced" , does that mean kicked out of the priesthood, or banished? At any rate, she was obviously a person of significant influence and power, and now she's gone. In fact, the whole way of life of the locals is about to change. Significantly, Rygel granted them their freedom to stay. It seems that freedom in any shape or form is hard to come by in this quadrant of the universe. But I think we can add the Acquarans to the growing list of potential allies that Moya's crew seems to be accumulating.