10 Greats day two: Aeryn Sun

[frayadjacent]

Each day, write a post about one of your favorite women, trans*, and/or genderqueer characters. A tribute, a defense, an epic meta, a bullet-points list of why you love them, whatever you like! Or post a rec for a vid, fic, meta, or other fanwork that illustrates why you love them.

Last time: Sarah Manning

So, this is a bit of a risk because I still haven't finished season four and am mostly trying to avoid spoilers. That being said, at this point like 90% of why I watch Farscape -- as opposed to abandoning it and letting myself be spoiled so I can finally watch those vids I've been dying to see -- is Aeryn Sun.

Really, a huge part of what I love about her is in her season 1 arc. She starts off a loyal and ambitious Peacekeeper, one who will not just follow the rules but actively maintain the oppressive structures they serve. And in many ways she's happy. She resents, intensely, that she's forced out of it.

It's only her experiences on board Moia -- and over the course of a year -- that she learns better. She experiences a new kind of camaraderie. She sees how the Peacekeepers harm others, and she realises that she doesn't want to do that anymore. And she gives Crais one of my favorite speeches on any show ever:

Crais: I am still your commanding officer.

Aeryn: But I am no longer a Peacekeeper!

Crais: You are a Peacekeeper for life. On the oath you took-

Aeryn: Your oath means nothing to me! You made sure of that. You destroyed everything. I lost everything because of you!

Crais: Aeryn -Sun!

Aeryn: Do you know what I learned when I was away from you? Everything I lost isn't worth a damn. And I don't want to go back to your past.

Crais: I - ORDER - you -

Aeryn: You order me? (she takes his ident chip) You will never order me again.

Crais: I - will track you - down - and KILL you, Officer Sun! On that I give you my vow!

Aeryn: You know what I give you Crais? Your life. I will make you watch - your life. (and with that she powers up The Chair and sweeps the pots up and Crais screams and screams and screams as she leaves)

Sigh. Now that is a girl after my own heart.

Crais, as it happens, in many ways follows in Aeryns footsteps as a direct consequence of her actions at the end of S1.

I love Aeryn's relationships with the rest of their renegade crew, especially Pilot (god, "The Way We Weren't" hurt my heart), D'Argo, with whom she shares an understanding as a fellow warrior, and John. Though that last one is complicated for me because I don't really ship them. I like John fine enough -- actually, in his goofy moments he reminds me of my favorite cousin, who also sorta looks like him -- but I often feel like I don't really get what Aeryn sees in John, and at times it feels like she loves him just because he's the protagonist. Anyway, I digress.

I love how she struggles with her emotions. I love what a fighter she is. I totally love Aeryn Sun.

Comments

[frayadjacent]

John instantly formed a strong attachment to Aeryn because she was the only other human-shaped figure in his desperately homesick and disoriented world, and Aeryn grew close to him because he was the only person in her exile who didn't look at her and see a Peacekeeper...circumstance threw them together and something blossomed out of it that wasn't less real because of its constrained origins.

This is an excellent point, and very well put.

For me, this is all mixed up with a different frustration I had with the early seasons: all the characters were constantly talking about how John wasn't very smart and he didn't know anything and he always had terrible ideas. This would be great except the narrative kept undermining it by having John step up to leadership time and time again, and come up with plans that, even if they had to be changed midway through, ultimately succeeded. And so Aeryn falling for John even as she constantly (teasingly) berates him for his incompetence felt like part of that pattern. So even though I can intellectually recognize that John plays a big part in Aeryn moving away from being a Peacekeeper, emotionally it just doesn't grab me. And it's all very much wrapped up in my overall ambivalence toward John which perhaps should be a separate post!

Also I knew going in that they were going to do a long, drawn out "will they/won't they" thing with Aeryn/John, which automatically predisposed me against it. However I was recently spoiled (to a small extent!) on how their relationship is resolved and I think it might give me a different view when I rewatch.

Yes, I love Aeryn learning to do tech work, I can't believe I forgot about that! It was one of my favorite parts of the show actually. I love it for all the reasons you say, and additionally I love it *because* it's difficult and tedious and not just flashes of brilliance and everything working easily because genius tech person. That was so refreshing to watch.

[thirdblindmouse]

Heh, weirdly I never thought of Aeryn and John as having a "will they/won't they" plot, because it always seemed like they were and they had.