1x06 Thank God It's Friday, Again

Our Deconstructing Moya post from 2010:
http://farscape.madeoffail.net/episodes/episode-1-06-thank-god-its-friday-again/

Some fresh thoughts:
Remains a solid episode, and fully in line with the settled in Farscape formula of grimy crime plots, wild abandon, and ethical greyzones. My main issue this time around is that the ending feels pat, that the team exposes this Peacekeeper exploitation, and leaves this society with the power to control a key component of the arms trade, and then we never pick up on this thread again. There's so many places they could have gone with this in subsequent episodes: from having the Sykarians go from unwilling exploitation to a wilful role of exploiting others, or learning that their rise up in opposition to the Peacekeepers led to their immediate eradication as a replacement operation was set up overnight, or that this became the first notch in our heroes chipping away at the broader supply and operations of the Peacekeeper organization as a whole, gradually learning how much power they have to stop this force by plucking at its web, which makes them a huge target. Them becoming a target certainly happens in a different way, but everything else is just swept away with a "fight the good fight" rally as our heroes move on and this seemingly big moment becomes just a forgotten ripple that had zero impact on anything. I think that's indicative of Farscape as a whole, that while it's pushing boundaries, it can still be a very episodic series, during this season especially, and always struggled with doing more intricate throughlines of plots largely because it was a very spontaneous, seat of their pants show where the writers constantly throwing curveballs led to the very chaotic madness it's so iconic for.

Otherwise, while I still have issues with the Sykarians basically being tanned Californians dressed as rice paddy farmers (or poppy farmers to further the metaphor), it's still a solid episode, and I love that the lead antagonist of Volmae, on top of being strikingly designed and played, is very interesting in that she's a definite player in the system who's fully aware that everyone around her is being exploited, but she's also longing for a way out, a way to fly away from both consequence and responsibility with enough wealth to comfortably see through her escape and retirement. In that scene where she's propositioning John for the use of his ship, she's both sad and excited at the prospect of leaving it all behind, and its interesting that they appeal to her to lead the people in their rebellion instead of turn the populace against her. Probably because they didn't have a fix for everyone else still being under the effect of the root at the time, but it still works as she's now challenged to face her actions with a new responsibility.

It's also a great episode for the dynamics of our crew. D'Argo going from wanting to kill a terrified John to being best drinking pals with a terrified John to wanting to kill his best drinking pal, a terrified John. Zhaan and D'Argo bonding in their drugged state over the satisfaction of a good day's work. Zhaan openly sharing a bed with John that he isn't quite ready for, contrasting him with previous scifi action leads who'd dive right beneath the sheets with a body-painted alien woman. Aeryn having to care for a physically ailed Rygel with literal explosive diarrhea, while also pushing herself to get through the metal blocks of not being smart enough for science and learning how to parse out problem solving. Her continuing bond with Pilot as they open up about insecurities. And her and John being such a heated couple who you just know is simmering to the point of hooking up that they have the amazing conversation where they're both furiously talking over one another about two completely different subjects while trying to plaster fake smiles on their faces so they won't be captured by the guards.

Part of the reason why this episode was never followed up on might be due to it being the first and only episode by writer David Wilks, veteran of 80s shows like Crossbow and Lonesome Dove: The Series, as this also marks the point where Wilks left the show as a consulting producer with executive consulting producer Richard Manning then stepping into that role, rapidly rising into one of the primary creative forces on the series, which I got into in my comments on "Throne for a Loss" (https://trakt.tv/comments/454668). This is also the second of 18 episodes for director Rowan Woods, who continues to do a solid job of combining the relatable with the weird.