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primeidealSo I was thinking some more about my issue with the Aeryn thing (which is timely for this episode). And I think it is similar to my issue with Finn in Episode IX (which I still have not seen, ssssh). TFA Finn is awesome because he chooses to rebel--but every Stormtrooper has that potential in them, they just need personal character and/or the right set of circumstances to bring it out. If you retcon that into "he's special because he has the Force," it takes away from his own strength of character. If you retcon Aeryn into "she's special because she was born from love," it takes away from her choices to be more. Conversely, Voldemort has many chances to do the right thing (even in the last battle Harry is like "dude, try for some remorse, I've seen what happens otherwise, just try it!") and continually chooses not to. So even if the circumstances of his conception kind of "symbolized" that he was off to a bad start, his evil is a result of his own choices rather than "he's just an inhuman monster." Anyway.
Our intro to Xhalax is her taking out her wounded comrade so he doesn't slow her down. The Cassian characterization scheme.
I'm not great with faces but to me she seems to resemble Aeryn, so good job with the casting.
And "Relativity" is a double-entendre, nice.
"This is your last mission before you're free" stop me if you've heard this one. Even the bad guys do it!
The camera shifts to an infrared-type display when the alien trackers are using their heat sensing, nice.
Xhalax trying to lobotomize Talyn, eeesh.
John to Crais: "You lied to us." Did he? I feel like, thanks to Aeryn, John and the others have known from the start what being "irreversibly contaminated" means. He should realize what he's dealing with in Crais.
The end seems pretty contrived: Aeryn escapes from her bonds, runs out to find the others, Xhalax just happens to realize that Aeryn's escaped, ignores the other prisoners, and follows Aeryn until they wind up grappling with each other in exactly the same place where John and Crais are taking out the aliens? And after taking Xhalax prisoner last time, they decide "oh no, we just have to kill her" now? Like I get that it's For The Drama but...eh. I would much rather see Xhalax as another "reluctant ally trapped with our heroes" than Rygel or Jool...
"I met with Zhaan while I was reviving you" ummmmm what? And this was all relegated to offscreen? I know the person who plays Zhaan probably wasn't there, but like, Stark could have said something about this in the moment rather than just "oh by the way"??
Crais has to merge his mind with Talyn's even further in order to bring him back. Intriguing.
"the tissue liquefaction effect" Nice phrase, especially when Peacekeepers are involved.
Now Scorpius has a copy of John in his head! How the turn tables...And we have two clone Johns floating around as well as brainchip-John.
Eye squick, DNW.
We just had Aeryn's woobie backstory, now we get Scorpius'.
D'Argo: Chiana and Jool need to get off this ship. True.
If Scorpius can tell when someone is lying, why does he need the torture chair? (I guess to get real information after he's recognized a lie.)
"Scorpius' obsession with wormholes is driving him crazy." "Yeah, tell me about it"--Pilot, ouch.
One of subtitles identify the alien visitor as Tauza (Scorpius' former teacher) which does not compute? This must be a typo, later it confirms her name is Linfer.
Oh dang (Linfer's sickness), so close yet so far. Really didn't see that coming!
John: "So you just let her kill herself? Uh..." Good point about "you only stick up for Pilot when he's on your side," but again, John's reactions to everything seem like the most reasonable, human, scientist dude of the group.
Why was Scorpius obsessed with wormholes even back then? He says "I always wanted my revenge on the Scarrans," but there's nothing in Tauza's raising of him that would point to wormholes as a weapon more powerful than any other.
I don't like the plot device of "eh actually this villain is not so bad, let's kick it upstairs and find a really bad guy," especially when it's iterated several times. Especially when I've osmosed that Scorpius is, uh, going to continue to be an antagonist. So good for brainchip-John for not giving in.
The nurse's blue dyed hair is cute.
Even after everything he's seen, John still pulls a "yo mama" joke on Scorpius. Nice. This is one of those things that certain sectors of fandom would be like "omigosh John is literally the worst how could he be so insensitive," but nope. Go John.
And the chip is destroyed so we can't go through all of that again, good.
Starts with a fakeout of Crais trying to cut a deal with Xhalax, and then he's like "oh come on, John, is that what you think happened?" Haha, well played.
John to Aeryn: You're good at tech stuff for someone who used to sneer at it. Character development!
Space adrenaline making everybody combative or hot. (Except maybe Stark?)
Two aliens with conflicting versions of the truth, the team has to decide which one is more honest. Seen this before, like I said.
"You're a ghost, that's why no one else can see you." Okay, this actually makes sense with her introduction.
Stark, you talked to Zhaan last episode! You should be able to tell the ghost more optimistic things about the episode than "yeah you're totally gonna die."
John anthropomorphizes the star that's giving them problems as "Mr. Sun." Hopefully no relationship to Ms. Sun or Officer Sun.
It's unclear how much of Talyn's behavior is free will versus inherent physical determinism. But I guess you could say the same thing for everyone...
Is Stark trying to physically bond Talyn healthier or more natural than what he already has with Crais?
The pilot den is a vestigial development that grew later, kind of like an appendix. Okay, I like this as an answer to my question above.
Everyone's worst instincts are brought out by the mist. For John and Aeryn it's lust, for Rygel, gluttony, for Crais, being a control freak, for Stark...thinking he can solve everyone's problems? Failing to exorcise the ghost feels like a loss by the standards of most episodes.
But they're able to get through it and put the ghost to rest, yay!
Our intro to Xhalax is her taking out her wounded comrade so he doesn't slow her down. The Cassian characterization scheme.
I'm not great with faces but to me she seems to resemble Aeryn, so good job with the casting.
And "Relativity" is a double-entendre, nice.
"This is your last mission before you're free" stop me if you've heard this one. Even the bad guys do it!
The camera shifts to an infrared-type display when the alien trackers are using their heat sensing, nice.
Xhalax trying to lobotomize Talyn, eeesh.
John to Crais: "You lied to us." Did he? I feel like, thanks to Aeryn, John and the others have known from the start what being "irreversibly contaminated" means. He should realize what he's dealing with in Crais.
The end seems pretty contrived: Aeryn escapes from her bonds, runs out to find the others, Xhalax just happens to realize that Aeryn's escaped, ignores the other prisoners, and follows Aeryn until they wind up grappling with each other in exactly the same place where John and Crais are taking out the aliens? And after taking Xhalax prisoner last time, they decide "oh no, we just have to kill her" now? Like I get that it's For The Drama but...eh. I would much rather see Xhalax as another "reluctant ally trapped with our heroes" than Rygel or Jool...
"I met with Zhaan while I was reviving you" ummmmm what? And this was all relegated to offscreen? I know the person who plays Zhaan probably wasn't there, but like, Stark could have said something about this in the moment rather than just "oh by the way"??
Crais has to merge his mind with Talyn's even further in order to bring him back. Intriguing.
"the tissue liquefaction effect" Nice phrase, especially when Peacekeepers are involved.
Now Scorpius has a copy of John in his head! How the turn tables...And we have two clone Johns floating around as well as brainchip-John.
Eye squick, DNW.
We just had Aeryn's woobie backstory, now we get Scorpius'.
D'Argo: Chiana and Jool need to get off this ship. True.
If Scorpius can tell when someone is lying, why does he need the torture chair? (I guess to get real information after he's recognized a lie.)
"Scorpius' obsession with wormholes is driving him crazy." "Yeah, tell me about it"--Pilot, ouch.
One of subtitles identify the alien visitor as Tauza (Scorpius' former teacher) which does not compute? This must be a typo, later it confirms her name is Linfer.
Oh dang (Linfer's sickness), so close yet so far. Really didn't see that coming!
John: "So you just let her kill herself? Uh..." Good point about "you only stick up for Pilot when he's on your side," but again, John's reactions to everything seem like the most reasonable, human, scientist dude of the group.
Why was Scorpius obsessed with wormholes even back then? He says "I always wanted my revenge on the Scarrans," but there's nothing in Tauza's raising of him that would point to wormholes as a weapon more powerful than any other.
I don't like the plot device of "eh actually this villain is not so bad, let's kick it upstairs and find a really bad guy," especially when it's iterated several times. Especially when I've osmosed that Scorpius is, uh, going to continue to be an antagonist. So good for brainchip-John for not giving in.
The nurse's blue dyed hair is cute.
Even after everything he's seen, John still pulls a "yo mama" joke on Scorpius. Nice. This is one of those things that certain sectors of fandom would be like "omigosh John is literally the worst how could he be so insensitive," but nope. Go John.
And the chip is destroyed so we can't go through all of that again, good.
Starts with a fakeout of Crais trying to cut a deal with Xhalax, and then he's like "oh come on, John, is that what you think happened?" Haha, well played.
John to Aeryn: You're good at tech stuff for someone who used to sneer at it. Character development!
Space adrenaline making everybody combative or hot. (Except maybe Stark?)
Two aliens with conflicting versions of the truth, the team has to decide which one is more honest. Seen this before, like I said.
"You're a ghost, that's why no one else can see you." Okay, this actually makes sense with her introduction.
Stark, you talked to Zhaan last episode! You should be able to tell the ghost more optimistic things about the episode than "yeah you're totally gonna die."
John anthropomorphizes the star that's giving them problems as "Mr. Sun." Hopefully no relationship to Ms. Sun or Officer Sun.
It's unclear how much of Talyn's behavior is free will versus inherent physical determinism. But I guess you could say the same thing for everyone...
Is Stark trying to physically bond Talyn healthier or more natural than what he already has with Crais?
The pilot den is a vestigial development that grew later, kind of like an appendix. Okay, I like this as an answer to my question above.
Everyone's worst instincts are brought out by the mist. For John and Aeryn it's lust, for Rygel, gluttony, for Crais, being a control freak, for Stark...thinking he can solve everyone's problems? Failing to exorcise the ghost feels like a loss by the standards of most episodes.
But they're able to get through it and put the ghost to rest, yay!
