Grieving for the death of her brother, Chiana finds refuge among a group of nihilist teenagers on a cemetery world.
(Originally aired March 31, 2000)
Written by Justin Monjo
Directed by Rowan Woods
GUEST STARS
Anthony Hayes – Molnon
Peter Scarf -- Das
Michela Noonan -- Vyna
Natasha Beaumont -- Janixx
WHAT HAPPENED
Chiana staggers through the corridors of Moya, and finds Crichton fiddling with the navigation system. She needs to talk, but the distracted astronaut fails to notice her distress and tells her he doesn’t have the time.
Alone in the maintenance bay, Chiana finds a tool and cuts open her side, removing a small glowing disk. As she looks on in despair, the light in the disk fades away.
A DRD comes to investigate. In fit of anger, Chiana smashes the disk against it, breaking the small robot.
Shortly afterward, Aeryn’s prowler leaves Moya.
Aeryn is livid when she discovers Chiana has taken her Prowler. Meanwhile, D’Argo and Zhaan have found the disk Chiana removed.
It’s a lifedisk, a device that some species implant to create a link to their loved ones. If it ceases to function, it means the person at the other end of the connection is dead.
On a desolate planet, Chiana battles her own nervousness. Shadows move around her, and dirty, ragged figures burst from them to grab her.
Their leader also emerges, and grins maniacally at her. Pulling a knife, he mutters, "That’s my type, yes," and leaps toward her . . . (more spoilers)
ANALYSIS
"Taking the Stone" is an almost delirious mix of drugs, grief and death. It’s hard to follow at times, but it succeeds in creating a heartfelt portrait of mourning.
The bleak surroundings, the distorted camera angles and the odd body postures of the actors all work together to create a sense of disorientation and disconnection. Everything feels a little unreal, and that’s close to what real grief feels like.
In trying to deal with her brother’s death, Chiana goes a little bit mad. The teenaged gang she encounters on the cemetery world is an excellent metaphor for her confusion.
The teens are so conscious of death that their lives are meaningless to them, and it drives them into a whirlwind of self-destructive behavior. Chiana is in much the same situation, trying to find something to do with herself when simply living doesn’t seem to be enough.
As Aeryn tries to tell Crichton, finding a reason for living in the face of death is something Chiana has to do on her own. All they can really do is be patient.
In the end, time and Chiana’s innate zest for life do their work. The gang throws itself off the cliff over and over again because it makes death real for them – Chiana throws herself off the cliff once because she wants to feel alive.
Sometimes going a little crazy is the healthiest thing you can do.
Technical difficulties
Not all of "Taking the Stone" works. Much of the episode violates a basic rule of drama – when you’ve got so much style that it’s hard to comprehend the dialogue, you’ve gone too far.
Most of the time, the alien words that creep into Farscape’s dialogue are easy to parse. Raspy-voiced alien-influenced teenspeak with heavy sound effects and an Australian accent is a bit much, though.
The story holds together on the strength of the interactions between Chiana, Crichton and Aeryn. But it would have been even stronger if it were easier to understand what the other characters were talking about.
WHAT WE LEARN
Chiana had an older brother who was her role model.
Rygel finds the human custom of burying the dead near where they live disgusting.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Will Chiana ever find out what happened to her brother?
REALITY CHECK
Aeryn’s remark that "each of these tunnels is exactly the same" is apt – they’re all the same set, of course.
Even through the eyes of a teenager, trying to apply "old" and "worn out" to Claudia Black stretches disbelief just a little bit too far.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK . . .
The crew becomes deranged after an alien is brought aboard with an unbelievable offer in "Crackers Don’t Matter".
What do you think? Send comments to the
author or editor.
advertisement
