The Beach

"Would you rather be on Fire, or on Water?"

A beach of pale sand on the shore of an endless ocean. I've seen worse courtrooms...

One of the most impressive things about series three is the way in which so much is packed into such a short space of time while still maintaining a leisurely, almost dream-like ambience. It's an amazing piece of work on the part of the directors, and nowhere is it more evident than in this episode.

Xev, now captain of the Lexx after the key (presumably 'knowing' Stan was doomed - pun intended) transferred to her as Stan and Kai fell to Water, is given the chance to show what sort of person she is - and it's a thoroughly lovely, loveable one. She searches for Stan and Kai, knowing that Kai has been decarbonized and therefore doesn't float - but still does her best to find him. She's even sympathetic to 790...
       And when she finds Stan's body, she takes him back to the Lexx and does her damnedest to try and revive him. She will not give up. Throughout the whole of Lexx she has never truly given up. And I love her for it.

And Kai? Kai meets himself in passing - a Kai waiting to be reawakened, on Water. Well, that answers that question. I suppose, since Kai's 'career' since his death and mutilation at the hands of the Divine Order has not been of his own choosing, and since he was, effectively a hero in his own time and place, Water is the right place for him - though somehow I can't see the living Kai actually putting up with life on Water happily for any length of time... Intriguing thought. Prince really has nothing in common with the Divine Order, but I can't help but wonder what a living Kai, awakened on Water and coming to know of the attacks on his homeworld from Fire, would have done about Prince...? How much of the young idealistic rebel of Brigadoom would have resurfaced? And how would Prince have reacted...?
       But what exactly does happen to Kai? His dead self disappears into that bright light in the depths of Water and reappears in Gametown. (But wasn't Gametown destroyed? Or perhaps it was only the Gametown inhabitants that were destroyed. Or are the cities reconstituted along with the people who live in them....) I wonder whether the fact of his dead self being here actually prevents his living self from being 'awakened'. Now there's a poignant irony... But how does this happen? Kai is dead - how and why is his dead self awakened? Has his presence here upset the usual order of things?

And then we come to Stan...

"You are on the other side. You're between Fire and Water - but not on either one. Not yet, anyway..."

Stan's judge - is himself. The honest objective part of himself he's hidden for most of his life. And the Stan who stands in judgement on himself wears white (innocent until presumed guilty?) While Prince now wears black...
       Stan is fixated on the 94 Reform Planets, for whose destruction he's been blamed for so long - but it seems to me he's using them almost as a shield. That sort of destruction must be the worst thing he's ever made to happen - mustn't it? So he can disregard the lesser 'sins'...
       And there are a few of them. Not all that many. Certainly no more - and quite probably a lot less - than the average human would commit in a lifetime. Of course, the average person wasn't captain of the Lexx and therefore in command of the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes...
       Really, all Stan is guilty of is incompetence, weakness, and being human. As he says himself,

"I've always just done what I had to to get from one day to the next. More or less...

And Stan can't remember enough good things about his life to swing the balance. He's Life's big loser, condemned because he couldn't see the larger picture, because he was manipulated, brutalised and used, because he was weak. Like much of life, it's unfair. And my heart bleeds for him.
       And finally he condemns himself. And he doesn't protest, he doesn't object. He accepts his own verdict. At the end, Stan is honest to and with himself, skewed and subjective as that honesty might be...

Wondering Allowed

I think, on balance, I believe her when she says she is resigned to Kai's state of death. Yes, she did love him once, but has now accepted what he is, and is, if not happy, then at least content... Back

I'm sure a case could be made for similarities, but I'm not going to argue the point. There probably is a common denominator, somewhere, but for once I really don't feel inclined to explore the concept. As far as I'm concerned, the Divine Order wanted power, wanted control, did everything possible (and a few things that should have been impossible) to enforce its warped ideology. It seemed to be, essentially, paranoid, if not psychotic. While Prince simply is, like a force of nature. Back

In Western symbolism, anyway. I understand that in the East, white is the colour of death. Which actually also works well in context... Back

Now there's a difficult concept. Black can mean ignorance, or the open willingness of the novice, or a blank slate upon which to write, or the pregnant pause just before the dawning of the new day with all its hopes and possibilities, or a way to combat sunlight or draw in solar power, or it can mean 'evil', or darkness of spirit, or the night sky, or a depth from which it is impossible to escape. Or it can simply mean an absence of colour... Back

It's no good. I've found it very difficult to be objective about the entire third series, but this episode has me completely awe-struck. Not only is the fundamental concept all-encompassing and entirely gripping, but the location - the location leaves me breathless. Overwhelmed. The sheer beauty of it...