Farscape is dark. So much darker than I ever could have anticipated upon first declaring it ridiculous. It's still ridiculous. But yes, it's deliciously subverted in ways that appeal to my inner pervert. Also, though? It's funny. Very, very funny. Light and shade, baby. Magnificent.
There are moments where I find it too over the top, and I've been keeping a mental checklist of all the SF tropes and stereotypes it falls into (I think I've got up to 23 in the 'plot' section), but one thing I really appreciate about Farscape is how it goes along with convention and then totally blows that out of the water. The ending to S2 was completely risky and I love that. That's brave storytelling, right there.
I'm sort of madly in love with D'Argo, which, hi, look at most of my favourite characters and that makes total sense. But I'm sort of madly in love with all of them. John is brilliant. Aeryn makes me question my sexuality. Rygel is such a little bastard and yes, I have forgotten that he's a puppet during most of his scenes. The same with Pilot. Chiana is --- the embodiment of so many different characters and she's wonderful - Gigi Edgley is a fantastic actor. And Zhaan. At first, she was my favourite character, then I found her slightly annoying, and now I'm sad because I was looking up Lani Tupu (Crais and Pilot, whom I love equally) and I discovered she's leaving. Stark weirds me out - such insanity, it gives me chills. And Scorpius! Oh my God. I don't think I'll ever be able to see
neuralclone's username again without a tingle running up my spine. I mean, he's so, so melodramatic villain, black suit and everything - and yet, like all truly terrifying villains, there's so much more there too. I really love how the show is about the characters and the character interactions. That's why I forgive the use of recycled plots - or gigantic gaps in the narrative - as impressed as I was with several s2 episodes for their bravery in regards to fucking everything over and bringing back all of those villains in this fantastic display of overwhelming canon, I was slightly annoyed by shortcuts - and I love the gap in the narrative approach, but it felt like too much (I feel like there may be a reason for this - like when we had the reveal on Scorpy's neural clone; this sentence is just going to keep on going.)
Actions have consequences in Farscape - I shouldn't have to be excited by this, but I am. It is a refreshing change from some of the narratives I immerse myself in - you can be iconic and ever changing - how engaging is that?
In short? Farscape manages to hit all of my writerly kink buttons, whilst being this high concept heavily genred television show that has puppets and helium flatulence. It's amazing. Love.
