Okay so first - just to check, when you say you have one episode left do you mean the final episode of series 4 or the mini series that follows? I would recommend the mini series because it finished the story after the cancellation but it was made a while later and, well, I'm glad it exists but I think it has some flaws. Some brilliant, perfect moments, but...also some clunky ones. (Huh, like season four in general I guess?)
But I'm SO GLAD you like it. I know what you mean about shows where the ultimate payoff is what makes them overall worth it. That wasn't the case for me with Farscape, but then, it was one of my first serious fandoms when I was 16 and was just so awed by the beautiful puppet world they'd created. I grew up as SUCH a huge Henson fan it was like Christmas. Like my childhood came back but hilarious and twisted and gross and funny and dark.
I do suspect that if you watch it with more focused attention (though I empathise with not doing so; I can be terrible about that these days) you'll pick up more. There is a lot of nonvisual stuff in there. I think John and Aeryn particularly convey a lot through body language and what they don't always say or do.
Thinking about my experience watching it is interesting because it basically spanned my, well, growing up I suppose. Both in human and fannish terms. We're talking 16 - 22, and discussions about the show certainly helped with my education on fan culture stuff, feminism, media representation, etc.
I do remember some fairly interesting meta about why there was really not that much slash in the fandom, comparatively speaking, considering how, well, kinky it was. Like I'm not saying it was nonexistent, but even John/Scorpy was...not really a thing? I have never been much of a guyslasher so I don't think I'm qualified to offer an informed opinion but I wish I could find some of the meta from that time. I know that some people argued that the gender dynamics of John/Aeryn replicated the slash dynamics much more closely than many straight couples of the era. But...as I said, I'm not sure how accurate others would think that is.
For myself, I think the reason I loved John (because Aeryn was my favourite, but I do love John) had a lot to do with the excellent reasons given by laurashapiro. I understand completely why it's not enough considering he's still a white male lead who gets the girl and saves the world, who is "chosen". But I think that his "humans are chumps" thing is far less important in the way the show does narratively undercut those tropes than his emotional arc. Because the comedy and the dismissal of his importance essentially just make him a lovable underdog and later become a tool he uses to make others underestimate him.
On the other hand, his emotional arc? Wow. It's this classic, recognisable, "I must learn to kill to survive. I must become hard and dangerous." And even though I want to say "but it shows the cost!" it is romanticised. I think the difference, though, is the way it's romanticised. The way it's rendered dramatically fascinating.
The simplest way to explain it, I guess, is that he gets a more traditionally feminine exploration of these issues. Or at least one that at times actively undermines the masculinity you might expect from it. Like in the second season when he starts acting more and more "crazy cool" and out of control and then there's this sudden revelation that he is actually losing it, he is actually suffering from hallucinations and he's terrified. Like the way the third season ended with a white wedding fantasy from his perspective. The way every time he runs around screaming about pop culture references, there's this powerful undercurrent that he is doing this as a desperate coping mechanism so he doesn't fall apart and start crying, not because he's having such a great time thumbing his nose at authority.
Which is an undercurrent that feels far less false because we do see him crying. For himself. Because he's scared and lost. Not angry tears because ~someone took his property~, you know?
It means that when you get to that part at the end, that speech about the nuclear bomb in a field of flowers? The destruction and spectacle and surreal contradiction? It gives it space for Ben Browder to offer a performance that genuinely doesn't come across as manpain. It comes across as reflective and sorrowful.
Plus, of course, the fact that he leaves Earth. And that it doesn't take him going home to realise that's what he'll be doing. When he finally gets back he's already decided he's not staying.
Gah, sorry, I went on a bit of a John tangent. tl;dr I think that even though they gave John a tradition Man Becomes Violent arc, they were more honest, or at least less aggressively masculine, about showing the emotional cost.
(Finally I feel sort of like a dork recommending my own fanworks, so I won't, but I mostly wanted to warn you off the first Farscape vid I made because it was actually my first vid ever and it sort of shows... I mean it IS still on my website if you're deathly curious but yeahhhh. The other two are better, I think!)
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Okay so first - just to check, when you say you have one episode left do you mean the final episode of series 4 or the mini series that follows? I would recommend the mini series because it finished the story after the cancellation but it was made a while later and, well, I'm glad it exists but I think it has some flaws. Some brilliant, perfect moments, but...also some clunky ones. (Huh, like season four in general I guess?)
But I'm SO GLAD you like it. I know what you mean about shows where the ultimate payoff is what makes them overall worth it. That wasn't the case for me with Farscape, but then, it was one of my first serious fandoms when I was 16 and was just so awed by the beautiful puppet world they'd created. I grew up as SUCH a huge Henson fan it was like Christmas. Like my childhood came back but hilarious and twisted and gross and funny and dark.
I do suspect that if you watch it with more focused attention (though I empathise with not doing so; I can be terrible about that these days) you'll pick up more. There is a lot of nonvisual stuff in there. I think John and Aeryn particularly convey a lot through body language and what they don't always say or do.
Thinking about my experience watching it is interesting because it basically spanned my, well, growing up I suppose. Both in human and fannish terms. We're talking 16 - 22, and discussions about the show certainly helped with my education on fan culture stuff, feminism, media representation, etc.
I do remember some fairly interesting meta about why there was really not that much slash in the fandom, comparatively speaking, considering how, well, kinky it was. Like I'm not saying it was nonexistent, but even John/Scorpy was...not really a thing? I have never been much of a guyslasher so I don't think I'm qualified to offer an informed opinion but I wish I could find some of the meta from that time. I know that some people argued that the gender dynamics of John/Aeryn replicated the slash dynamics much more closely than many straight couples of the era. But...as I said, I'm not sure how accurate others would think that is.
For myself, I think the reason I loved John (because Aeryn was my favourite, but I do love John) had a lot to do with the excellent reasons given by
On the other hand, his emotional arc? Wow. It's this classic, recognisable, "I must learn to kill to survive. I must become hard and dangerous." And even though I want to say "but it shows the cost!" it is romanticised. I think the difference, though, is the way it's romanticised. The way it's rendered dramatically fascinating.
The simplest way to explain it, I guess, is that he gets a more traditionally feminine exploration of these issues. Or at least one that at times actively undermines the masculinity you might expect from it. Like in the second season when he starts acting more and more "crazy cool" and out of control and then there's this sudden revelation that he is actually losing it, he is actually suffering from hallucinations and he's terrified. Like the way the third season ended with a white wedding fantasy from his perspective. The way every time he runs around screaming about pop culture references, there's this powerful undercurrent that he is doing this as a desperate coping mechanism so he doesn't fall apart and start crying, not because he's having such a great time thumbing his nose at authority.
Which is an undercurrent that feels far less false because we do see him crying. For himself. Because he's scared and lost. Not angry tears because ~someone took his property~, you know?
It means that when you get to that part at the end, that speech about the nuclear bomb in a field of flowers? The destruction and spectacle and surreal contradiction? It gives it space for Ben Browder to offer a performance that genuinely doesn't come across as manpain. It comes across as reflective and sorrowful.
Plus, of course, the fact that he leaves Earth. And that it doesn't take him going home to realise that's what he'll be doing. When he finally gets back he's already decided he's not staying.
Gah, sorry, I went on a bit of a John tangent. tl;dr I think that even though they gave John a tradition Man Becomes Violent arc, they were more honest, or at least less aggressively masculine, about showing the emotional cost.
(Finally I feel sort of like a dork recommending my own fanworks, so I won't, but I mostly wanted to warn you off the first Farscape vid I made because it was actually my first vid ever and it sort of shows... I mean it IS still on my website if you're deathly curious but yeahhhh. The other two are better, I think!)