In the third episode of the second season of Farscape, Chiana seeks out solace from her grief. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Farscape.Â
Trigger Warning: For discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation, depression, grief, and drug use/addiction.
Oh, Farscape.
This show constantly shows so much potential, but it doesn’t always deliver on it. Aside from Chiana’s emotional journey, I can’t say that the story in “Taking the Stone” lives up to its premise. It’s oddly paced, an entire plot is abandoned at the end, and Crichton is even more angry than usual. I suppose I really do need to accept that shows can’t be one giant season finale, but the energy from “Family Ties” hasn’t really been sustained in these first three episodes of season two.
I didn’t dislike this, for the record, and I imagine I’ll sound harsh in my analysis of this episode, but it’s certainly not bad! As always, this show does wonders with worldbuilding. But I also think that’s one of the reasons I felt let down by this. At the start of “Taking the Stone,” we learn that Nebari will implant a disc in them that connects them physically to someone they love. In this case, Chiana’s connection to her brother is severed when he passes away. (She says “terminated,” which sounds suspiciously specific. What did she mean by that? Did he break from assimilation like she did?) What we get (for the most part) from this is an exploration of grief and the desire to live. And despite that I do have some issues with how this unfolds, I think Chiana carries a lot of this episode beautifully.
In her grief, Chiana seeks out a royal cemetery planet. (I think she sought it out??? Maybe it was a total accident??? I can’t believe it was a coincidence, though, because after her brother dies, it can’t be pure luck that she ends up in the biggest cemetery in the universe. But this is another example of this show not being all that clear on how characters get from point A to point B.) The challenge here was to portray this journey through grief believably without the audience knowing anything about Chiana’s brother, Nerri. If anyone could do that, Gigi Edgley certainly could. And that’s a difficult task to be given! Yet Edgley twists Chiana’s body in sadness, making her more confrontational than usual with Crichton once he tries to rescue her. Edgley’s portrayal of Chiana has always been a very physical process, but it’s exaggerated here for a chilling effect on the audience. We can tell that she’s desperate. She’s desperate for a connection, for a spark of life, for a confirmation that it’s worth it to keep living.
She seeks that out amidst a culture that lives in the caves of the planet and participates in a “Gathering”, a violent and frightening ritual that often ends with someone jumping to their death. The entire ritual is designed to reference leaps of faith and suicide, and that’s why it’s so appealing to Chiana. Whoever these people are (they’re never given a name for their race or community), they live their life without boundaries. Knowing that death is a certainty around twenty-two cycles and knowing that they can choose to die in the Gathering, they exist in an anarchic sort of freedom. It’s the first time we’ve seen confirmation that there are illicit substances in the universe, and lord, this show goes really far with the concept. Every single one of these people drinks and takes mushrooms, even if they’re pregnant. There are no rules whatsoever aside from those surrounding the Gathering and the Lost People. None! And while it might seem like that would lead to violent chaos, these people are too drunk and too high to ever hurt one another. They simply enjoy the presence of one another… I think?
Once you start examining this world and this premise, it kind of falls apart. That’s not the case for Chiana, though. Her story is incredibly strong here, and it’s easily the best written aspect of “Taking the Stone.” Even if it seems ludicrous that someone would join a community like this and do that awful thing to their hair, there’s still a distinct sense of sympathy in the text. Most of that comes through Aeryn, who tries to convince Crichton that all his attempts to interfere with Chiana’s depressive episode will only push her further away. (LORD, what was that line about understanding loss??? Aeryn, who have you lost???) She’s a voice for understanding in this story, and it’s incredibly touching to see act this way. Truthfully, she often is the quickest to action and the first to want to fight. (Maybe not when compared with D’Argo, but even he’s calmer this season.) But she gets Chiana’s struggle, and she knows that Chiana needs the space to get through this on her own.
But as for the people whose culture she joins? I’m confused. The Lost People leads Crichton to discovering that their very lifestyle is poisoning them, which is why they all die around twenty-two cycles. Like he does with Chiana, he tries to uproot their entire life and convince them to abandon their cultural practices, but he fails. It’s a little bit similar to how he acted in “Vitas Mortis,” isn’t it? Except here, this entire plot is utterly abandoned. I think that the point the writers were trying to make was that some people can’t be changed. It’s not like this is the Enterprise here. The people on Moya aren’t required to avoid messing with the cultures they come across. But after Crichton fails to change their minds, they leave the planet, nothing is changed, and the plot isn’t ever addressed or resolved. They just leave these people to die? I’d understand this more if there were even a single line from any of these characters that acknowledged that they couldn’t help these people, but nope. It’s just *over*. It’s weird!
Still, I appreciated what this did for Chiana’s character. There’s also that incredibly straightforward plot involving Rygel trying to pilfer treasure he found on the planet? It’s a decent set-up (NEVER STEAL MASKS, OH MY GOD), but it goes absolutely nowhere at all. Did they plan anything else for this and just didn’t get time? I don’t know. Regardless, let’s get away from stories like this and TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON WITH TALYN AND CRAIS. Are they best buddies now? Do they write fanfiction about Aeryn? THEY TOTALLY DO AND THEY STAY UP ALL NIGHT GIGGLING ABOUT IT. Does Talyn ever use his Hand of Friendship to braid Crais’s hair? These are the things I think about, y’all.
The video for “Taking the Stone” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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