Promises

Promises
Written by Richard Manning
Directed by Geoff Bennettt

Original Airdate: July 12, 2002

Plot: Crichton and company return to Moya where they find Aeryn already on-board dying of Sebecean Heat Delirium. Crichton is even more upset when he finds out how he owes thanks to for keeping Aeryn alive--his old nemesis Scorpius, who Aeryn has promised asylum on-board Moya. Meanwhile, Grayza and Braca hatch a plan to try and capture Moya and her crew.

Review

Warning: I make can make no "Promises" not to spoil the latest episode of Farscape. If you've not yet seen the long-awaited reunion of Cricthon and Aeryn and want to in unaware of what happens, I suggest you turn back now....

In short: Two week of hype and I'm not sure if it lived up to it...

One of my favorite moments in the classic comedy "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is when Clark Griswold is told by his wife, Ellen, that she hopes he isn't getting his hopes up too high on the "good old fashioned family Christmas" he is imagining. Clark responds by asking when has he ever done that and Ellen begins rattling off a long list of family events--including funerals--that have not lived up to Clark's high expectations.

You've got to imagine that as Cricthon returns to Moya, he's got to feel a lot like Clark does. He's like a little kid, giddy with anticipation over Christmas morning and the wonder and excitement that it holds. This feeling must only be doubled as he exits D'Argo's ship to see Aeryn standing there.

At long last, he has the moment he's been contemplating and thinking about for months--the thought that probably kept him from going insane adrift in space and on-board Elack. At long last, he has his reunion with the woman he loves--the woman who could be carrying his child. The one person in the Uncharted Territories he most wants to see.

And just like the expectations that Clark has built up for his Christmas festivities, Crichton's expectations quickly come crashing down around him. It seems he owes his reunion with Aeryn to the timely intervention of Scorpius, who is keeping her alive. Also, Aeryn has promised Scorpius asylum on-board Moya. But as if that weren't bad enough, Aeryn is dying of Sebeccan Heat Delirium--and this was apparently inflicted upon her after she served as a mercenary in an assignation attempt.

In just a few moments, you can see Crichton slowly going down the road from joy to utter despair. His Christmas morning is shattered by the reality of life in the Uncharted Territories.

But things just go from bad to worse for Crichton. Before he can take all of this in, a massive ship shows up, with the captain, Ullom, claiming that he is the one who inflicted the disease on Aeryn, thus implicating her as one of the assassins. He has the cure for her, but won't give it up, this leading Crichton and company in the usual predicament of having to hatch a plan in order to save not only one of the crew, but also their own bacon as well. (Because of the Ullom's ship, Moya cannot starburst away).

Crichton's dreams of a perfect reunion with Aeryn are shattered--especially when he finds she will not deny being an assassin, won't tell him where she's been or what she's been doing the past few months and that fact that she won't tell him she's pregnant. All of it adds up to a day that should have been so much more in Crichton's mind. It's a good continuation of the emotional beating that Crichton is taking of late. It started last year when Aeryn returned to Moya and shut him out because of the death of Talyn-John. Now he's being shut out again. In both cases, it was clear Crichton had ideas of how the supposed reunions would go and they didn't live up to his expectations at all.

You've got to feel a lot of sympathy for the guy because beyond the desire to create a stable wormhole, the reunion with Aeryn is the one thing that's been keeping him going up until now.

And I've got to admit that while there were large portions of Promises I liked, there were also some things that struck me as odd.

For one thing, the whole dancing around the issue of what Aeryn has been up to these past few months felt way too much like set-up. It seemed almost as if there should be a flashing neon sign somewhere saying "Long-term plot development!" Maybe it's just that I'm so used now to the way Farscape tells stories and sets up long-term plotlines that I'm grasping at things and overanalyzing. But there were moments when Aeryn refused to talk about what she'd done or why she'd done it that felt like it was setting up some huge, emotional break-down in which all will be revealed later this year. And while I am not against the long-term plotline, I don't like feeling like it's being set up so obviously. Farscape has been about more of the slow and subtle plot twists and turns than the rather obvious, late seasons of X-Files long-term plot set-ups. I am holding out hope that this is just intended as a distraction for us and that the real long-term plotline is being set-up and that it will all make sense once we have the final picture.

Another thing is that the internal timeline doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The amount of time needed for Scorpius to dig himself out, get a ship, find Aeryn and then go to Moya seems like it would be longer than the amount of time we had between this episode and his last appearance in What Was Lost, Part 2.

Another plotline that struck me as being out of place was the entire plot with Grayza and Braca. Their latest attempt to destroy or capture Moya seemed a bit silly. It almost reminded me of the old Looney Toons cartoons with Wile E. Coyote hatching some desperate plot to capture the Roadrunner--regardless of whether or not it's a well-thought out one. I have to admit I liked Grayza, at first. But her obsession with catching Crichton at any cost was a bit overdone here. Again, based on what we saw in the second part of What Was Lost, I can understand why she wants to capture him. But her obsession with finding and destroying Crichton is what led to the fall from grace that both Crais and Scorpius experienced. For someone who is as calculating as she appears, it's hard to believe that she would so quickly give into the same mistakes made by her predecessors.

But for all of these things that I didn't like, there was a good deal to Promises I did enjoy.

The biggest was probably the final scene with Crichton confronting Aeryn. The scene that slowly went from a moment of his asking for any other promises she might have made to his final, stinging accusation that she could have told him she was pregnant worked extremely well. Both Ben Browder and Claudia Black did superb work with the strong material there were given.

Also, I liked the plotline that sought to remove the Scoripus clone from Richton's mind once and for all--though I will be the first to admit I'm going to miss the scenes with Crichton and his own Uncharted Territories version of Jimmy Cricket.

Overall, a lot of Promises worked out well. There were some isolated moments of brilliance, but there were also a few moments that struck me as just disjointed. It's not an episode I loved, but it's not one I hated. I enjoyed it and found there is a lot of hope for the rest of season four.

So, I guess that's about it for now, except a few small things...

--The external view of Moya as Crichton, D'Argo and company return to her was magnificent.

--Interesting to see that of the crew, it's only Sikozu who trusts Scorpius really. That internal conflict could get interesting quickly.

--It seemed a bit far-fetched that the Scorpius would have a spy on board the carrier and that he could use that to save Moya. Again, it felt like the script was trying too hard on that point.

So, overall, I have to admit that while a lot of Promises worked, there were some large chunks that didn't. I am hoping that once we see how the rest of the season plays out, we'll find out more that will help all of this make more sense.

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: D'Argo likes to shoot things....(Gee, like that was a shocker!)

"Kryptonite, silver bullets, Buffy...what is it gonna take to keep you in the grave?"
--John Crichton