Family Ties
Written by David Kemper and Rockne S. O’Bannon
Directed by Tony Tilse
I’m not sure when exactly I’m going to stop crying when watching this episode, but I’m sure it will happen someday. I am amazed my face doesn’t look like a giant prune with all the crying they made me do (and three times in a weekend on TV alone!) This was an absolutely stellar episode, and it’s definitely one of my new favorites. It’s a cliffhanger, and I always hate cliffhangers, but it could have been a lot worse. It was a really wonderful, unexpected way to close out the season, even for those who thought they had been completely spoiled.
My main (and actually only) nitpick of the episode was that I did not understand why they put so much trust in Crais. I think John had the right approach, keeping that gun on him all that time. He’s a madman who’s been stalking them for this long, who D’Argo was just wailing on- and he had a very good reason to do so- when he came aboard, who had threatened two episodes earlier to hunt Aeryn down and kill her... I would not let him anywhere near Moya’s baby, or let him eat with everyone else like that... The man would never be out of handcuffs. So I don’t see why they let their guard down at all around him, but considering all that was going on, and that Crais was helping them, I can look past it. Although that scene with Crais and Aeryn still gives me chills. I'm also not sure what to make of those scenes between them. I'm reading bad things into it...
The range of emotions I had toward Rygel during this episode was amazing. I knew how it began, and I absolutely hated him for what he was doing. Then I nearly panicked when Crais tried to drown him (until I realized Rygel’s aquatic, so I don’t think drowning would do it), and realized I couldn’t hate him too much if I didn’t want him to die. The scene with John totally changed my opinion, though. Not to mention the lesson in there, that “the right thing starts at the beginning of the day, not after you’ve been caught” is definitely a lesson to live by. And when Rygel refused to leave the others, I actually lost it. Yes, the Muppet made me cry.
Then we have Aeryn backstory that completely shocked me. So far I think everyone had been under the impression that Aeryn had been a test tube baby, born and bred simply for the Peacekeepers, or I had heard that she’d been raised by droids... So her scene with John where she tells him about her mother caught me completely by surprise. I like this backstory better than what I’d thought, though. I like the idea of Aeryn having a family, and it fits with everything that we’ve been seeing with her and Talyn now. And I love that she named him after her father. I just loved that part.
I also didn’t expect the ending. I had never noticed the clip of the explosion on the previews till this past week, and so I had no idea. And I was fine up until they announced that Crais had boarded Talyn. That was completely unexpected, and yet another place where I cried. I didn’t expect them to have to leave D’Argo and Aeryn and John. I didn’t see any of it coming, and I wish I had just so I could at least be warned that I’d be emotionally unstable for the rest of the weekend. So we have an ending where Crais has basically kidnapped Talyn, Aeryn and John are stranded in space with an unconscious D’Argo, and Moya had to starburst away with the others. I don’t know how they’re going to get out of it, but I just keep trying to keep my mind on next season...
I can’t single anyone out for their performance in this one. Every single one of them amazed me. (Well, let’s see, if Rygel made me cry...) There were Zhaan and Aeryn’s reactions to Crais taking Talyn. There was the scene with Chiana and John, where Gigi Edgley actually had me sobbing over a kiss that had had me worried when I saw it on previews. John, Aeryn and D’Argo as they all watched Moya starburst away. John’s speech to Moya convincing her to do so, with the images of the characters superimposed onto the halls of Moya. D’Argo letting go of the puzzle ring.
And of course, John talking into the tape recorder with Little Blue, an image echoing the one at the end of Premiere, as the others gather for the feast that Chiana made for them to thank them, with the finale line of, “This is John Crichton, somewhere in the universe.” And dammit, apparently I don’t even need to watch the episode to get teary anymore!
GRADE: A+
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