Farscape Rewind: Episode 1.11

[Mr. Infamous]

This week on Farscape rewind we hit the halfway point in farscape's first season with "Till the blood Runs Clear" a fun, well executed episode that deals with how Dargo and Crichton relate to one another, as well as introducing us to another set of memorable guest stars.

The episode kicks off with Aeryn taking John for a driving lesson of sorts as he's just installed some "Moya components" onto his module. This however is apparently not a full "hetch drive" as we'll later learn. While the series never goes into too much detail about how it works, hetch drive is basically farscapes "warp drive", your general purpose faster than light gateway to the stars. There's another purpose to John's flight other than just getting a feel for the new drive though. The system they're currently in is noteworthy for its high solar flare activity and apparently high solar flare activity can trigger wormholes to appear in Farscape land (don't ask, just stare into the glittery green black hole). So, aside from just his driving lesson, John's really out hunting for wormholes and does manage to find one before long, but since this is Farscape we're watching the wormhole naturally tries to kill him, and he and Aeryn have to go in for a crash landing on the nearby planet below.

We also learn here in the intro that Delvian females are apparently really fond of solar flares, a fact that we'll be reminded of several times in this episode. Why only the females? Well because this way it's sexy and enticing for the audience you see; if they had it effect only Hynerian males instead the test audience reactions likely would have been a bit more "mixed" to say the least.

So despite Dargo's protests that John and Aeryn should just eject and abandon the module Crichton lands on the planet and we get to meet our next notable guest star, Furlow. What makes Furlow noteworthy, well in addition to reappearing later on in the series and just being an extremely fun and well executed character in general, in 99% of shows Furlow would have doubtlessly been male. The whole archetype of the brash, overweight, scummy, cigar puffing "blue collar slob" trying to pull one over on the heroes who have to rely on them forwhatever reason is almost always a role filled by a male and would typically be one of the last places a writer would even think to look to subvert a gender trope. The simple reason being that casting roles like presidents, admirals, fighter pilots and spaceship captains with women "strikes a positive blow" where as casting a woman in a role like Furlow's just serves to show that woman can be every bit as dirty, unkempt and "indelicate" as the menfolk. If you think about it it's actually a postive blow as well, as it goes toward better reflecting reality as oppossed to TV stereotypes about gender roles, but not in a way network execs are going to understand, and thus not in a way that you're likely to see very often. The only other female character I can think of from TV that also fits in this category is the foul mouthed, violent, booze swilling and anything but delicate depiction of "Calamity Jane" from Deadwood.

So again kudos to Farscape for going off the beaten path with Furlow here. She's easily one of my favorite guest characters, because even if you don't care about anything I just wrote up there, she's just a plain entertaining character in her own right, and with some great lines in this episode.

So anyway Furlow tells John everything that's wrong with his module as well as how long it's going to take her to fix it and what a total pile of crap it is just in general. She also comments here that John's ship doesn't have a Hetch drive so whatever those little engines were he stuck on it I guess that wasn't it. Weird though since he does fly between planets with it later in the series...

The big problem uncovered here though is that the wormhole flares are probably going to die down before Furlow can fix the ship, something which will become painfully relevant at the end of the episode.

So John and Aeryn decide to go for a stroll to kill some time while the ship's being fixed and happen upon some kind of PK wanted beacon from Crais that's offering a reward for the capture of Rygel, Dargo and Zhaan. Aeryn tries to grab the beacon but before she can some bounty hunters show up, requiring Chricton to bluff them into thinking he's a bounty hunter to. These "Vorcarian blood trackers" are our second somewhat notable guest stars for this episode. They will appear later but only really one of them, and in terms of my own personal preference these guys didn't really resonate with me the same way characters like Furlow or Beckesh did.

Back on the ship Dargo's getting annoyed at the delay, and since Zhaan's to busy having sungasms, he decides to go down to the planet in Aeryn's ship by himself to collect her and John and haul them back to Moya. How he intends to accomplish this isn't really clear but likely involves violence, or at the least a great deal of hot headed bitching. It's basically another moment that makes early Dargo here look like a pea-brained bullying asshole, since it's never even really explained what his hurry is to leave. Fortunately his character vastly improves later so you've really just got to ride this sort of stuff out.

Aeryn's had time to fiddle with Crais' beacon by now and discovered that it also contains a hidden message for her promising an honorable retirement if she turns over the others. John of course reminds her that Crais is almost certainly lying, and in the end we'll see that she knew as much herself. What this scene is mainly for is to show that at this stage Aeryn still would prefer to be a Peacekeeper again, it's just that circumstances make this impossible; in this case because she recognises Crais' idea of an "honorable retirement" for her would be execution. It's an important revelation of her attitudes toward the peacekeepers that we'll see change over time. Right now she would gladly rejoin them if there was a way for her to do so without either being killed herself or possibly also without having to turn over the others. So essentially then there exists a possability that if her original commander had been someone more like Scorpius rather than a hothead like Crais, someone who might have actually honoured a deal for her to return without being executed (he forgave Braca), things might have turned out much differently.

So Dargo arrives on the planet next and for some reason lands way out in the middle of the desert rather than near the settlment. I don't know why he would do this, other than to give us those nice wide angle shots of him walking through the desert, but it's a pretty dumb thing to do and unsurprisingly he gets caught by the Vocarians for it, since they had plenty of time to lay an ambush for him while he took his not so little stroll.

So the Vorcarians take Dargo back to their lair and start torturing him and we get to the real meat of the episode. This episode's contribution to the continuity is to make Dargo and John closer friends and these scenes are how it's done. Things start off with Crichton trying to talk the Vorcarians out of torturing his Luxon buddy but they start to pick up on his reluctance as weakness so he eventually has to smack Dargo around a bit to prove he's still hardcore. What he's actually doing though is ensuring that the injuries the Vorcarians have already inflicted on Dargo bleed clear, thus basically saving his life... lets see if Dargo manages to recognise this later.

Before we get to see how that turns out though Aeryn's back at Furlow's bugging her about the repairs while Furlow tries to basically tell her to f-off and go site seeing in the desert instead of hovering over her. It turns out that Aeryn does do something useful though as she manages to spot some guy messing with the module. Whoever this guy is he gets the better of Aeryn in a short fight after she's blinded by one of the solar flares. There's not going to be any typical interrogation scene either because Furlow saves Aeryn's bacon at the last minute by caving this guy's head in with some kind of giant wrench or something, killing him instantly.

Back on the ship Zhaan decides to go down to the planet next, stopping only to tease Rygel with the idea that she's completely nude behind him, why this is something to be feared and avoided is never explained. For some reason she also picks to land out in the middle of the desert, possibly to search for Dargo's dehydrated corpse near his previous landing site, and sure enough the Vorcarians pick up her scent to and plan another ambush. She's got a few more tricks than Dargo though and manages to spot their approach and also do some sort of magic to hide her scent, completely baffeling them. With the Vorcarians safely seen off she stops for a few more sungasms to celebrate.

Meanwhile Crichton's back alone with Dargo who's managed to free himself while the Vorcarians hunted for Zhaan and now we see how he's going to react to Crichton's earlier clever ploy to save his life... by trying to murder him of course. What, you were expecting something different, you were expecting him to have worked it out on his own what really happened? Like I said earlier you've just got to ride this stuff out. Dargo chases Crichton around the room with his Qualta blade while John reminds him how he chopped of Pilot's arm for a ticket home and explains how he actually saved him from the Vorcarians. All in all John does a pretty good job of calling out Dargo on his bullshit here and fortunately I think this is really the last time we'll see Dargo act like this in the series. The two shake hands here at the end of the scene and agree that they'll try to work together better in the future, allies if not friends.

The episode resolves itself with a huge gunfight as the Vorcarians catch Dargo and John escaping on their return. Dargo's now come full circle and refuses to abandon John his new "ally" in battle, so he shoots it out with the Vorcarians until Aeryn saves the day by outsmarting them. She's had Furlow hack into Crais' beacon and record a new message of him recinding the bounty on the fugitives. She plays this in the middle of the gunfight and once the Vorcarians see it they sort of just stop shooting and wander off in search of lunch.

All that's left now is to settle up with Furlow and everyone can be on their way. The crew doesn't have any money to pay for the work done on the module or the goggle rental so Furlow demands John's wormhole flight recorder data, and not just a copy but the only copy. With the flares on the planet only occuring every 5 years and a bounty on Johns head meaning he can't just stay there this basically means he loses everything he just almost died for. Your quintessential Farscape ending then, though Furlow did offer him a detail on his module before he left, though I noticed she didn't mention whether or not it was free.

All in all "Till the Blood runs Clear" is an average kind of episode elevated to above average mainly on the strength of its guest stars, as well as the gutwrenching ending. It also contains some key character development for John and Dargo as well as Aeryn. It's not top shelf necessarily but definately close, and certainly one of the best season 1 episodes we've watched thus far.

[Rustydogz]

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

So despite Dargo's protests that John and Aeryn should just eject and abandon the module

He insists on deserting Crichton and Aeryn even before their shuttle is in trouble. Oddly, back in the wizard episode, when Crichton went missing both DArgo and Aeryn went looking for him. When they found him unconscious they both went to a lot of trouble to help him. So DArgo's attitude was inconsistent. It is as though the episodes were out of order.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Crichton lands on the planet and we get to meet our next notable guest star, Furlow. What makes Furlow noteworthy, well in addition to reappearing later on in the series and just being an extremely fun and well executed character in general, in 99% of shows Furlow would have doubtlessly been male. The whole archetype of the brash, overweight, scummy, cigar puffing "blue collar slob" trying to pull one over on the heroes who have to rely on them for whatever reason is almost always a role filled by a male and would typically be one of the last places a writer would even think to look to subvert a gender trope. The simple reason being that casting roles like presidents, admirals, fighter pilots and spaceship captains with women "strikes a positive blow" where as casting a woman in a role like Furlow's just serves to show that woman can be every bit as dirty, unkempt and "indelicate" as the menfolk. If you think about it it's actually a postive blow as well, as it goes toward better reflecting reality as oppossed to TV stereotypes about gender roles, but not in a way network execs are going to understand, and thus not in a way that you're likely to see very often. The only other female character I can think of from TV that also fits in this category is the foul mouthed, violent, booze swilling and anything but delicate depiction of "Calamity Jane" from Deadwood.

There are a few others. Starbuck in the new BSG gives us the unkempt, indelicate, smoking, gambling, drinking, fighting, cigar smoking part of the equation. Then there is Marion Ravenwood of the Indiana Jones movies: indelicate, brash, and hard-drinking. But yes, not very many considering all the tv shows and movies out there.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Aeryn tries to grab the beacon but before she can some bounty hunters show up, requiring Chricton to bluff them into thinking he's a bounty hunter to.

The loud and hyper-aggresssive act John puts on for the bounty hunters becomes, oddly, his regular persona in latter seasons. Then at times he ramps up even that agressiveness.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

These "Vorcarian blood trackers" are our second somewhat notable guest stars for this episode. They will appear later but only really one of them, and in terms of my own personal preference these guys didn't really resonate with me the same way characters like Furlow or Beckesh did.

The trackers in this ep are tougher and more aggressive then the tracker in the bank robbery ep. They are like a different species.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

What this scene is mainly for is to show that at this stage Aeryn still would prefer to be a Peacekeeper again, it's just that circumstances make this impossible; in this case because she recognises Crais' idea of an "honorable retirement" for her would be execution. It's an important revelation of her attitudes toward the peacekeepers that we'll see change over time. Right now she would gladly rejoin them if there was a way for her to do so without either being killed herself or possibly also without having to turn over the others. So essentially then there exists a possability that if her original commander had been someone more like Scorpius rather than a hothead like Crais, someone who might have actually honoured a deal for her to return without being executed (he forgave Braca), things might have turned out much differently.

Yes it's a nice scene, and it shows her character development nicely; there is still conflict, she has not changed her attitudes overnight. Unlike say, Voyager, in which by episode three the Maqui and Feds are bosom buddies.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

So Dargo arrives on the planet next and for some reason lands way out in the middle of the desert rather than near the settlment.

This had no story reason for it at all. Sloppy writing.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Whoever this guy is he gets the better of Aeryn in a short fight after she's blinded by one of the solar flares.

Has she actually won a fight yet?

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Dargo chases Crichton around the room with his Qualta blade while John reminds him how he chopped of Pilot's arm for a ticket home and explains how he actually saved him from the Vorcarians. All in all John does a pretty good job of calling out Dargo on his bullshit here and fortunately I think this is really the last time we'll see Dargo act like this in the series. The two shake hands here at the end of the scene and agree that they'll try to work together better in the future, allies if not friends.

It is a nicely done scene, and is the beginning of an improved DArgo.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Aeryn saves the day by outsmarting them. She's had Furlow hack into Crais' beacon and record a new message of him recinding the bounty on the fugitives. She plays this in the middle of the gunfight and once the Vorcarians see it they sort of just stop shooting and wander off in search of lunch.

We get to see that Aeryn has some smarts. And the Vorcarians have the same attitude as the earlier ep's kidnappers: once there is no profit, forget the whole thing. Perhaps this is meant as an indication of the general attitude of crooks, or people in general, in this part of the galaxy. It is a nicer ending, if not over-used, than just having another shoot-out and the bad guys dropping after a few more rounds fired - which we have seen about a million times.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Furlow demands John's wormhole flight recorder data, and not just a copy but the only copy.

I thought this was irritating and unrealistic. Furlow admitted that the info was worth a fortune, so John had the advantage. He could tell her, what else are you giving me for the value? He could say to her, you can have part share, or keep the shuttle and good bye.

[Mr. Infamous]

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

He insists on deserting Crichton and Aeryn even before their shuttle is in trouble. Oddly, back in the wizard episode, when Crichton went missing both DArgo and Aeryn went looking for him. When they found him unconscious they both went to a lot of trouble to help him. So DArgo's attitude was inconsistent. It is as though the episodes were out of order.

Or you just found one more reason why "that old black magic" is such an awful episode.

There are a few others. Starbuck in the new BSG gives us the unkempt, indelicate, smoking, gambling, drinking, fighting, cigar smoking part of the equation. Then there is Marion Ravenwood of the Indiana Jones movies: indelicate, brash, and hard-drinking. But yes, not very many considering all the tv shows and movies out there.

I think Furlow takes it a step further. Both of those women you listed are rough yes, but in a more romantic and rougeish sort of way. They'd also both still likely be considered reasonably attractive by most guys. That's pretty much the standard that's usually followed for "tough chicks" they can be rough and tomboyish so long as they still remain for the most part attractive as well.

Yes it's a nice scene, and it shows her character development nicely; there is still conflict, she has not changed her attitudes overnight. Unlike say, Voyager, in which by episode three the Maqui and Feds are bosom buddies.

Chakotay and the others should have turned on Janeway the minute she decided to strand them all to save the Ocampa from some sort of vague threat the array might possibly pose them in the future; an action that even violated the sacred "Prime Directive".

Has she actually won a fight yet?

Other than beating up John in the premiere I don't think so no. She got beat by Matala's mysterious Wraith powers, though she did beat the Sheyang, but only by shooting him. How did she do vs the Tavleks? I don't remember.

We get to see that Aeryn has some smarts. And the Vorcarians have the same attitude as the earlier ep's kidnappers: once there is no profit, forget the whole thing. Perhaps this is meant as an indication of the general attitude of crooks, or people in general, in this part of the galaxy. It is a nicer ending, if not over-used, than just having another shoot-out and the bad guys dropping after a few more rounds fired - which we have seen about a million times.

Furlow's got some smarts to. Now that I think about it she actually could have made for a pretty interesting main character in place of perhaps Chiana, or just in addition to. She brings technical and mechanical skills to the table that none of the others have and she wouldn't end up as just the "new hot alien babe". I thought the same of Natira as well but we won't see her for a while, maybe Beckesh even could have worked but not until he gets "reborn" in season 2.

I thought this was irritating and unrealistic. Furlow admitted that the info was worth a fortune, so John had the advantage. He could tell her, what else are you giving me for the value? He could say to her, you can have part share, or keep the shuttle and good bye.

She wanted it to basically give her a head start over him. I wouldn't count on John having the advantage either, they were in her place on her planet surrounded by quite a few of her guys. If things got ugly in there they could have got pretty ugly for our heroes.

[Thyme Laird]

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

The system they're currently in is noteworthy for its high solar flare activity and apparently high solar flare activity can trigger wormholes to appear in Farscape land (don't ask, just stare into the glittery green black hole).

But there's another component to it...something that John (or his ship) did,
because he says they "created a wormhole".

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

We also learn here in the intro that Delvian females are apparently really fond of solar flares, a fact that we'll be reminded of several times in this episode. Why only the females? Well because this way it's sexy and enticing for the audience you see; if they had it effect only Hynerian males instead the test audience reactions likely would have been a bit more "mixed" to say the least.

It makes sense that the plant-based Delvians could have such a reaction to light energy.

But just the females? Whatever.

I'm still trying to figure out how it makes sense for a plant-based species
to be sexually dimorphic in the first place.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

So anyway Furlow tells John everything that's wrong with his module as well as how long it's going to take her to fix it and what a total pile of crap it is just in general. She also comments here that John's ship doesn't have a Hetch drive so whatever those little engines were he stuck on it I guess that wasn't it. Weird though since he does fly between planets with it later in the series...

Hetch drive is the standard "warp engine" in Farscape, surpassed in speed by starburst.
Perhaps he just installed the "impulse engine" technology.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

These "Vorcarian blood trackers" are our second somewhat notable guest stars for this episode. They will appear later but only really one of them, and in terms of my own personal preference these guys didn't really resonate with me the same way characters like Furlow or Beckesh did.

The Vorcarians did resonate with me
because my animal instincts have always been close to the surface.

Though I concede Furlow & Beckesh are better characters.

In this episode, Furlow didn't interest me as a character,
however, I found her much more interesting in her subsequent appearance.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Back on the ship Dargo's getting annoyed at the delay, and since Zhaan's to busy having sungasms, he decides to go down to the planet in Aeryn's ship by himself to collect her and John and haul them back to Moya. How he intends to accomplish this isn't really clear but likely involves violence, or at the least a great deal of hot headed bitching. It's basically another moment that makes early Dargo here look like a pea-brained bullying asshole, since it's never even really explained what his hurry is to leave.

Because John's tests have nothing to do with D'Argo, there's nothing for him to do there,
he wants to move on to the next thing even if he doesn't know what it is,
and he's too restless to be content to simply wait.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Aeryn's had time to fiddle with Crais' beacon by now and discovered that it also contains a hidden message for her

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

So Dargo arrives on the planet next and for some reason lands way out in the middle of the desert rather than near the settlment. I don't know why he would do this, other than to give us those nice wide angle shots of him walking through the desert, but it's a pretty dumb thing to do and unsurprisingly he gets caught by the Vocarians for it, since they had plenty of time to lay an ambush for him while he took his not so little stroll.

My guess is he thought a Luxan landing a prowler in the settlement might arouse suspicion,
not realizing a blood-tracker was there that could smell him at that distance.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Back on the ship Zhaan decides to go down to the planet next, stopping only to tease Rygel with the idea that she's completely nude behind him, why this is something to be feared and avoided is never explained.

This is the third time Rygel reacts like this towards Zhan.
Perhaps there is a bit of xenophobia in Hynerian culture.
Or perhaps we should take him at his word that he feels blue women are a turn off.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

For some reason she also picks to land out in the middle of the desert, possibly to search for Dargo's dehydrated corpse near his previous landing site, and sure enough the Vorcarians pick up her scent to and plan another ambush. She's got a few more tricks than Dargo though and manages to spot their approach and also do some sort of magic to hide her scent, completely baffeling them. With the Vorcarians safely seen off she stops for a few more sungasms to celebrate.

Perhaps she reasoned that a leviathan transport ship might draw too much attention.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Meanwhile Crichton's back alone with Dargo who's managed to free himself while the Vorcarians hunted for Zhaan and now we see how he's going to react to Crichton's earlier clever ploy to save his life... by trying to murder him of course. What, you were expecting something different, you were expecting him to have worked it out on his own what really happened? Like I said earlier you've just got to ride this stuff out. Dargo chases Crichton around the room with his Qualta blade while John reminds him how he chopped of Pilot's arm for a ticket home and explains how he actually saved him from the Vorcarians. All in all John does a pretty good job of calling out Dargo on his bullshit here and fortunately I think this is really the last time we'll see Dargo act like this in the series. The two shake hands here at the end of the scene and agree that they'll try to work together better in the future, allies if not friends.

The episode resolves itself with a huge gunfight as the Vorcarians catch Dargo and John escaping on their return. Dargo's now come full circle and refuses to abandon John his new "ally" in battle, so he shoots it out with the Vorcarians until Aeryn saves the day by outsmarting them. She's had Furlow hack into Crais' beacon and record a new message of him recinding the bounty on the fugitives. She plays this in the middle of the gunfight and once the Vorcarians see it they sort of just stop shooting and wander off in search of lunch.

This episode delivers some needed character development for the three characters
and promises an eventual end to all the chest-thumping that plagued Season 1.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

All in all "Till the Blood runs Clear" is an average kind of episode elevated to above average mainly on the strength of its guest stars, as well as the gutwrenching ending. It also contains some key character development for John and Dargo as well as Aeryn. It's not top shelf necessarily but definately close, and certainly one of the best season 1 episodes we've watched thus far.

It was an enjoyable episode and came far too late in the season.

It's also interesting how episodes like this are used to introduce characters
and ideas for later seasons when the story arcs get more intense and complicated....
....much like Babylon 5's first season.

The first season of both series are less interesting in part
because they are laying the groundwork for later,
and yet they do so in a subtle non-committal manner.

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

He insists on deserting Crichton and Aeryn even before their shuttle is in trouble. Oddly, back in the wizard episode, when Crichton went missing both DArgo and Aeryn went looking for him. When they found him unconscious they both went to a lot of trouble to help him. So DArgo's attitude was inconsistent. It is as though the episodes were out of order.

I think this is just him throwing a little tantrum.

In "That Old Black Magic", Crichton was in danger, and D'Argo felt he had a chance
to play an active role and prove himself.

Here, he's pacing the floor with nothing to do, so he's willing fly off and abandon them.

He's just being an impulsive adolescent.

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

The loud and hyper-aggresssive act John puts on for the bounty hunters becomes, oddly, his regular persona in latter seasons. Then at times he ramps up even that agressiveness.

God, I really miss working in Jersey.

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

The trackers in this ep are tougher and more aggressive then the tracker in the bank robbery ep. They are like a different species.

Well, the circumstances are different.

Here, they forge an uneasy alliance with "Butch" who, despite being properly aggressive,
is acting pretty odd and secretive.

They approach him aggressively when they find him messing with their livelihood,
but are put off by his aggressive demeanor, and yet, remain suspicious.
From that point forward, they constantly test him, looking for weakness or deception.

Later, D'Argo approaches them directly as a warrior,
and they are treated as partners rather than subordinates.

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

Has she actually won a fight yet?

She took two Tavleks by surpise and then beat one of them directly.

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

It is a nicely done scene, and is the beginning of an improved DArgo.

D'Argo becomes such an awesome character.
It's a shame they took so long to get there.

Originally Posted by Rustydogz

I thought this was irritating and unrealistic. Furlow admitted that the info was worth a fortune, so John had the advantage. He could tell her, what else are you giving me for the value? He could say to her, you can have part share, or keep the shuttle and good bye.

She knew other bounty hunters were coming and John had to leave quick.
They both knew that John wouldn't part with the module.

Originally Posted by Mr. Infamous

Chakotay and the others should have turned on Janeway the minute she decided to strand them all to save the Ocampa from some sort of vague threat the array might possibly pose them in the future; an action that even violated the sacred "Prime Directive".

The Ocampa were already hopelessly "contaminated" when their whole biosphere
was first destroyed by aliens and then when two stayed on as "caretakers",
so the Prime Directive didn't apply.