In the twelfth episode of the first season of Farscape, the crew makes contact with a group of Delvians, but it’s not the positive interaction that Zhaan wants. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Farscape.
Please note: I am watching the official order based on the DVDs. Some versions of the order list “The Flax” as the twelfth episode, so please make sure you’re watching the correct episode.
I see a lot of hope in this show. Visually, it’s simply unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The writers are completely willing to explore a lot of complicated moral and emotional issues, and WORLDBUILDING. SO MUCH OF IT. So, I did like “Rhapsody in Blue” for the most part, but I also must admit that I want more out of Farscape than I am currently getting. I have no idea if we’ll ever get more serialization out of the narrative aside from small references to past episodes. Which is fine! I don’t need the same things out of different shows. While I’m thankful to get a chance to learn more about Delvian culture and to get the reveal of Zhaan’s crime, I thought that this episode was a lot more dense than I could handle. There’s a lot of information given to me in the span of fifty minutes, and much of it was hard to grasp. In order for me to understand Zhaan’s conflict, though, I did need to know everything I got here, so it’s a complex issue for me.
Let’s start off this way: I think that “Rhapsody in Blue” probably would have worked best as a written text. That’s not to say that the show failed in depicting a challenging concept. I think the Unity scenes were done brilliantly. They helped me to understand how it was both a physical and metaphysical joining of body and mind. Still, what happens between the two parties is often so ethereal and subtle that I feel like part of it is lost in translation in a visual medium. On top of this, much of the worldbuilding for Delvian culture happens through dialogue, and at the time, most of the words sounded totally absurd and ambiguous to me. I’m actually certain that if I re-watched this episode much later, it would make more sense, but at the time I was watching this? I was confused for at least half of this. Again, THIS IS FINE. I don’t want Farscape to hold my hand through this, and it doesn’t make me like the show less or anything. My view of the show as a whole is UNDERSTANDABLY FLAWED.
I think one of the reasons this specific episode bewildered me as much as it did is because we finally find out what Zhaan did, and then I don’t understand the history of the Delvians in relation to that. Zhaan’s crime was a political one as much as it was emotional retribution. She fell in love with her teacher, Bitaal, who would eventually band with the more conservative Pa’us in order to hand the Delvians over to the Peacekeepers. Bitaal refused to cede power, which is reflected in Tahleen and Tuzak’s struggles in this episode. Power is inherent to the Delvian cycles, and their growth relies on being able to overcome the power of temptation. So I understood how horrible it was that Bitaal was largely responsible for the Peacekeepers committing political genocide and casting the Delvians into a intergalactic flight. It’s why Tahleen was so desperate to find Zhaan’s power: she believed it it would help her and the other Delvians ascend to a higher level, which would… help them?
Things kind of fall apart for me here. I think this episode suggested that the Delvians were, more or less, trying to ascend to higher levels of thought in order to assert their right to existence and return home. I think. Because there’s so much information packed into the first half of this episode, I feel like some of it was either left out or I’m supposed to piece it together. What really confuses me is this concept of power and sanity. I totally got that because Zhaan was a ninth level Pa’u, she had progressed far enough to be able to reconcile her rage and her dark impulses, which all Pa’u must cope with in order to ascend. There’s a loss of sanity if a Pa’u cannot learn to deal with their own impulses. So… is this what’s been preventing the Delvians from fighting back and returning home? Because if that’s the cause, then I’m utterly perplexed by the fact that this episode demonstrates an UNREAL power that some of these characters have. THEY CAN ALTER THE MEMORIES OF OTHERS. Why aren’t they using that power to launch an attack?
I suspect that Tuzak’s plan to bring other Delvians to that planet to “accelerate” their learning is part of that. But do all Pa’u have the power to alter memories and attack minds? Regardless, I can’t deny that I appreciated how much character development there was for Zhaan. SO MUCH OF IT! Given her earlier struggles with her violent tendencies, I think that “Rhapsody in Blue” does work as a thoughtful follow up to that. If Zhaan is given the chance to help her people return home, will she take it? What happens if she loses her ability to control her urges? That’s what the second half of this episode explores, and I loved it. I especially enjoyed that central to this was Zhaan’s growing respect and care for Crichton. She wanted him to act as her confidante, and later, she turns to him as the only person who can remind her of what she used to be: calm, confident, and peaceful. Y’ALL, I LOVE THEMES OF FRIENDSHIP, NO ONE IS SURPRISED, I’VE TYPED THIS LIKE A THOUSAND TIMES. But in following up “Till the Blood Runs Clear,” we’ve not got D’Argo and Zhaan both demonstrating their affinity for Crichton in differing ways. He’s growing on them, isn’t he???
The other characters largely fill a background role here, which does allow the show to delve more fully into Zhaan and Crichton interacting, as well as flashing back to show us bits of Crichton’s life before the wormhole. Which was so normal that it was jarring to watch! At one time, he was going to get married, but he chose to pursue a career in space travel instead. WHICH THE PA’U USED AGAINST HIM, WOW. That’s such a brutal power, y’all! It’s terribly manipulative, and until Lorna decides to take matters into her own hands, I could not see how this was going to be resolved. In the end, Tahleen does not get what she wants, she murders her own father (!!!!!! WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS AT THE END OF THE EPISODE !!!!!!), and Zhaan is A TENTH LEVEL PA’U. Well, sort of. She voluntarily gives up her vestments out of respect for the Pa’u, admitting to herself that this isn’t the right time for her to be practicing. It’s a bittersweet end, given that she just leveled up, but it’s a sign that Zhaan is aware of the ramifications of what she just went through. So, I’m curious! Will we see any other side effects of Zhaan and Crichton linked together from the Unity? MAYBE???
The video for “Rhapsody in Blue” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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