In the eleventh episode of the first season of Farscape, Crichton pursues a possible route home, but learns the hard way that his hope is futile. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Farscape.Â
Oh, this was such a great slow burn. I wasn’t quite sure where “Till the Blood Runs Clear” was going until past the halfway point. But once it was clear that we were meant to see the ways in which Aeryn and Crichton were similar, I appreciated what this episode was able to do. It’s rough around the edges at parts, wandering down plot threads that quickly disappear, but goddamn, the character development here? Utterly worth it.
I suppose that in hindsight, there was no way Crichton could have gone home, but I certainly believed at the beginning of this episode that he might very well go through that wormhole. But the threat of going home – and risking Aeryn’s life in the process – works much better for the story. It’s from this point on that the writers tackle the idea of temptation. In the opening scene, Crichton is tempted to plunge into the wormhole he creates by replicating the conditions that got him flung across the universe in the first place. While he tries to deny that he was going to enter the wormhole when Aeryn calls him on it, WE ALL KNOW HE IS LYING. Of course he was going to! That’s the point. Never before has the path home ever been so close to him.
But was it all that close? Aeryn rightfully pointed out that the wormhole could have torn them apart. Well, that, and Crichton had no idea what was on the other side. What if it dumped him even further away from home? Or in another time? The sheer odds of landing back in Earth in the present time are so slim they’re nearly impossible. It’s this same concept that is applied to Aeryn’s story once she and Crichton head down to the planet to repair the Farscape. When Aeryn is shown a path to return home, to go back to where she belongs, she entertains the notion longer than she should.
There’s so much more to this episode than the parallel character development, though, and I did want to take some space to discuss that. (We’ll get back to feelings soon! FEELINGS ARE ALWAYS CLOSE.) I have no idea where in Australia this was filmed, but BRAVO. The setting for this episode is yet another chance for Farscape to worldbuild in a convincing way, and I’m so impressed at how willing they are to just be totally alien. It’s not lost on me that I’m watching Star Trek simultaneously with this, and I feel like that show set the standard for how aliens would be represented on television for decades to come. With Farscape, I feel like the creators are fully utilizing the Henson studio to provide the audience with these surreal characters who look like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Once you combine this with a Tatooine-like setting, you get the feel for the vastness of the universe. There’s so much variation! Seriously, look at how the Vorcarians are designed. They’re meant to look like animalistic hunters. The show consistently introduces new alien races, rarely tells us what they’re called, and does so without ceremony. And I love it. This is not an exploratory show like Star Trek. These are “criminals” on the run from the law, and so we don’t get the normal sort of exposition that I would expect from a space drama.
But I also think that’s part of the nature of how this show is written. The writers aren’t often giving us easy answers or drawn-out explanations. We don’t know what half the shit on these sets even does, but it’s so much fun to imagine what this society is like. Look, y’all know that worldbuilding is my oxygen, but that doesn’t mean I need every detail handed over to me about the places I’m discovering in this show. I think that’s also the case with how Zhaan is treated in this episode. What “Till the Blood Runs Clear” reveals about her nature only superficially affects the plot in the end. And yet, I’d say it’s a vital part of the show and her character. I like that the sexuality of these beings is so openly addressed a lot of the time because it doesn’t feel forced. In Zhaan’s case, there was no reason to reveal this about her body before, and here, it’s both slightly humorous and charming.
For the rest of the characters, the tension and drama comes from their interactions with one another. The main thrust of the plot involves Crichton’s struggle to distract Rorg and Rorf from realizing who he is. He’s at the whim of Furlow (MY NEW FAVORITE SIDE CHARACTER, OH MY GOD) while she’s repairing the Farscape, so, in true Crichton fashion, he throws himself headfirst into a disaster. This time, it’s actually far less reckless than he’s been in the past. In order to avoid the bounty hunters sent to capture his friends, he bluffs. FOR A VERY LONG TIME. He does so by correctly assuming that the Vorcarians heed to displays of power and aggression. In the process, he has to be utterly ridiculous towards Aeryn, who spends a good deal of this episode amused at Crichton ordering her around. She took that in good humor! But once she find’s Crais’s secret bounty message to her, her behavior changes. I initially read her reaction to the message to be one of contemplation. Based on what she later tells Crichton, though, I think it was quiet sadness we were seeing in these early scenes. She later admits that she always knew that Crais’s offer of a quiet retirement in exchange for betraying her friends wasn’t genuine; it was a promise that she’d be killed.
Like Crichton, though, she entertained the notion that she could return to a world where she was accepted. But that’s the best that she could do: imagine. HAHA WOW, PUNCH ME IN THE HEART. So I found it incredibly meaningful that the solution to Crichton’s predicament with the bounty hunters involves loyalty. If you look at how Crichton wins over D’Argo and how Aeryn comes to trick the Vorcarians into leaving, it involves making friendly gestures towards others, despite differences. In D’Argo’s case, he is (justifiably) furious with Crichton for not only keeping Moya in orbit around the planet, but for hurting him during the interrogation scene. BUT IT’S SO MUCH MORE LAYERED THAN THAT. I loved the argument they had because of how it subtly evolved into a discussion of friendship and allies. These two have frequently been at each other’s throats and are certainly the most disagreeable pairing in the crew. But why? I think their argument lays that bare: it’s a lack of respect. Neither one truly understands the other, and neither one has ever tried to. Crichton disappoints D’Argo every time D’Argo lets his guard down; D’Argo constantly lashes out violently at Crichton every time he disagrees with him. And while D’Argo is reluctant to offer friendship to Crichton, I loved that he offered up the respect that comes with being an ally. It’s a different kind of relationship, one that D’Argo can certainly appreciate. And it’s perfect for the stage these characters are in!
But at the end of “Till the Blood Runs Clear,” the crew are back on the run. The hope that Crichton and Aeryn had is destroyed, and both times, it was by choice. They could have pursued their dreams, but they knew the cost was too great for them. I liked the idea that they were both wiping the slate on their journeys. Crichton gave up his data on wormhole creation to pay Furlow (BLESS HER HEART, THE BEST), and Aeryn had Crais’s message erased so that she could save her friends. They’re back at square one in a lot of ways, aren’t they?
This was a lot of fun, y’all. I loved all the callbacks to past episodes, too!
The video for “Till the Blood Runs Clear” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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