In the fifteenth episode of the first season of Farscape, YES. Y E S. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Farscape.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of torture.
HOW ON EARTH DOES THIS FOLLOW “JEREMIAH CRICHTON”? It’s almost like this is another show at this point, but whatever, I AM NOT COMPLAINING. This is seriously everything I’ve wanted out of this show, and it’s all in ONE SINGLE EPISODE, and there are few things more exciting than the fact that CHIANA IS STAYING ON THE SHIP. I am here for this, I shall celebrate it forever. Let’s do this, y’all.
Impossibility
So, there’s a particularly storytelling… device? Trope? Format? I don’t know what this is actually called, though it’s a way to frame a narrative. I love it when a world introduces an entire concept or reality to me, I believe it wholeheartedly, and then an impossible thing is introduced. That’s done here with the reveal that Durka, the Peacekeeper who had tortured Rygel over a hundred years earlier, is not dead. AND HE’S ONBOARD MOYA. And it’s shocking, of course, because we’d been led to believe that Rygel had come across his corpse on the Zelbinion. But it’s immediately upsetting because we know it unravels all of the development that Rygel went through in that episode. He had closed that chapter in his life, and now his torturer is standing in front of him. I do wish that the other people on the ship were more sympathetic towards Rygel’s anger. He was totally justified in hating him!!! That doesn’t mean they should have let him murder him, but come on. It’s not childish to hate someone who derived joy from torturing you.
Anyway, allow me to take this moment to recommend China Miéville, because if you also like this framing device, he does it all the time, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It’s utilized best in Railsea, which is one of the best books of 2013, y’all. BUT ALSO YOU SHOULD READ HIS BOOKS, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
Nebari Culture and Chiana
I am certain that there will never be a day that I don’t look upon “Durka Returns” fondly because of what this show gave me. Tiriel Mora is perfectly creepy as the overbearing, unsettling Solis, who introduces us (only somewhat) to Nebari culture, which prizes submission and assimilation more than anything else. I actually love that this episode is so deliberately ambiguous about Tiriel, his culture’s possibly imperialistic quest to brainwash others, and what it was that got Chiana locked up in the first place. All of this is in addition to Durka’s return, and it’s so fucking incredible to me that this episode does not feel as cluttered as “Jeremiah Crichton” or “Rhapsody in Blue.” It works. It’s thrilling, intriguing, and constantly uncomfortable.
But really, no one steals the show more than Gigi Edgley as Chiana, the Nebari woman who is brought on board Moya in a manner that purposely codes her as a criminal, at least initially so. However, the writers then play with our perceptions of her through ambiguity and (LET’S BE REAL, THE MAIN THING) Edgley’s physical and haunting performance. She looks muted and sad when we first see her, a silent prisoner being led to her doom. But when Crichton interacts with her, she’s sympathetic and terrified, begging to be spared from her fate. She deliberately appeals to Crichton’s sense of morality by attempting to explain that what she did is not something he’d consider a crime. It’s what warms her up to him.
BUT THEN WATCH HOW OFTEN SHE CHANGES HER PORTRAYAL. It’s incredible to watch because it’s like she’s an emotional chameleon, adapting to various situations by choosing to be coy, to be sexual, to be terrifying. All of it draws attention away from larger issues. Why is she here? What exactly did she do to gain Solis’s ire? Is it true that she revolted against her culture’s assimilation, or did something worse happen? She uses that ambiguity to her advantage because no one can ever categorize her. She’s a constantly shifting variable. That doesn’t mean she isn’t sincere; I believed her when she broke down in front of Crichton, screaming that she’d rather be dead than suffer through Nebari neural reprogramming. And she’ll do anything to ensure that this doesn’t happen to her.
Durka
If this whole episode was just about Durka, I still would have thrown a party. It’s an incredibly strong exploration of trauma and control, and David Wheeler is so compelling as a man who had his entire personality wiped clean… sort of. It’s my understanding that the sight of Rygel undid what the Nebari had done to his mind. That could have happened at the beginning of this episode or just after the assassination attempt. (I like the idea that it was because of the bomb. Durka had spent so much time looking down on Rygel that he was jarred out of his brainwashing once this view had been reversed.) Regardless, when Durka is set free from the Nebari, he turns right back into the terrifying, all-consuming villain we thought he was. (He even talks like a villain! I AM SO INTO IT, BY THE WAY.)
I admit that “Durka Returns” largely becomes a long cat-and-mouse game at this point, but I think the format makes for one hell of a story. At the center of this is Rygel’s chance to tell Durka, to his face, that he is a failure. It’s a necessary moment in this episode because the writers really had to address the fact that Rygel had had his closure stripped away from him. Here, Rygel is able to goad Durka enough to prevent him from torturing Aeryn while also belittling him in the process. I love that he gets to inform Durka that he failed in breaking him and that he’s stronger because of what Durka did to him.
There’s a resolution of sorts here, but it’s open-ended nature is what makes this such a compelling episode. Durka is still not dead, and until I see his actual lifeless body, I’m still willing to entertain the notion that he’s alive and he’ll be back. (Which falls in line with the idea that these people will continue to collect enemies every single episode. They have so many at this point!) But there are other ambiguous elements to “Durka Returns” aside from Durka’s fate. We never quite find out who killed Solis. Both Chiana and Durka had the means and motive to do so, but by not telling us what really happened, it lends a creepiness to Chiana.
And really, it’s her ambiguity that’s the best part of this. Is Chiana a dangerous criminal? Should she be trusted? Can she learn to trust anyone on the ship? I find it fitting that yet another “criminal” has joined the collective of weirdos. All of these characters have had interesting and complicated interactions with the law, and by adding Chiana to this, it only allows the writers to explore further dynamics between the characters. We can see how Chiana irritates Zhaan, and I imagine that Rygel will probably act disgusted with her because… well, it’s Rygel. But since Crichton was the one to offer her the hope of getting away from the Nebari, how will she react to him in the future? Will she keep pushing everyone away from her?
I AM REALLY, REALLY EXCITED TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES. Y’all, this was an incredible episode. INCREDIBLE.
The video for “Durka Returns” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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