Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Last Tanga In The Paris Commune
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 04.22.1999
("But also for freedom! The French and UN are stupid bastards! And gay! And they want to get married! It's your duty to buy an SUV and demonstrate both your capital and your ability to consume oil! Get really angry when you read something with a perceived liberal bias, because obviously it's meant to taunt and enrage -- nobody honestly believes that shit! Everywhere you turn they're shoving it down your throat, and you have no option of considering it rationally and deciding what you believe on your own terms, because you mustn't think for yourself EVER! Tannot root, the pause that refreshes!" says the PA.)
Volmae's like, "Food, weapons, it doesn't matter. Our planet is already dying." John's like, okay, buck-passer, "but your people are enslaved by you. You think when this planet is dead that somehow you're going to escape? That you're going to outrun the Peacekeepers?" D'Argo tells her how unlikely it is that she will be outrunning or outfighting the PKs, and Aeryn offers to show Volmae how to make the chakan oil. Freedom through war through science: not a John move; it's a PK move but it's good.
Tanga and Hybin make their way to the front of the crowd as Volmae's complaining that they're not paying attention: "Look around you! We have no weapons!" John's like, "Pshh. Make them." Hybin says they once did, stepping out beside John and Aeryn. Volmae calls for the guards; none responds. "They have deserted you, Volmae. If we are to die as a people, let us at least die fighting."
"There is nothing we can do," Volmae cries. "The Peacekeepers, they are in control of me. They are in control of you." John outlines it again: "No, they're not. You are." Volmae's still too scared; Hybin steps in: "We will do it. One day at a time." Sigh. Well, I like the addiction level a lot here, the idea that your drug helps nobody but especially not you, and contributes to a global economy of oppression and murder, and that blaming your inability to do anything about it on your addiction itself is about the stupidest, weakest thing you can do. And the most common. Or maybe they're still talking about buying a Prius, I don't know. This episode and its context have changed the most in the can, as I said. Because from here, it looks like John and Aeryn just invented the Taliban. "It's your decision. It can all start tomorrow."
Volmae: "No." She raises her hands to Hybin, and they touch: "Tomorrow is a rest day. A real rest day." I kind of love her, you know? Can't blame a girl for respecting the power structure, even if her fear was clearly unfounded.