Here's something I had lying around which hasn't seen the light of day in over a decade. One of countless early drafts of the script-- (just the first few scenes). It obviously went through many further revisions. This is one of MM's rewrites after my notes on an earlier version. It's worth noting that I felt Aeon needed to allow Trevor to steal a fluid sample of herself without his knowing that she knew he took it. That point begins to get addressed here.
AEON FLUX
Episode 5:
"A LAST TIME FOR EVERYTHING"
Teleplay by
Mark Mars
Story by
Peter Chung
ACT ONE
FADE IN
INT AEON'S APARTMENT.
CU ON Aeon's gloved HAND, popping a VIDEOCASSETTE into her VCR.
WIDE (OTS AEON), standing before her big screen TV MONITOR, now running the video tape. The image is glitchy, but intelligible. It is the interior of a Breen laboratory with two men in FG. A TEXT CAPTION at bottom of the screen reads:
TRUE FACSIMILE/TEST 407/HOUR 0.
One of the men is recognizable to be TREVOR GOODCHILD, wearing a white lab coat. The other is some anonymous Breen TEST SUBJECT. Trevor takes a small syringe with an odd tip and injects the test subject with a fluid - the syringe simultaneously draws blood from the subject. Trevor then starts punching away at a keyboard...
CU AEON
AEON
(to herself)
Tinkering away...
TRUCK BACK WIDER: DOOR to Aeon's APT. in BG behind her as she continues staring intently on the TV screen image before her (now OS). Her DOOR is slowly opening. A Breen INTRUDER stealthily approaches; we see that the Breen intruder is apparently the same person whom Aeon is watching being tested by Trevor in the video! The intruder approaches Aeon. He has a firearm. But he stops, a look of surprise on his face as he he sees what she's watching on her screen. The intruder, taken off-guard, sniffs unthinkingly. Aeon, taking note, pauses the tape, not turning around.
AEON
Who...?
INTRUDER
Just keep playing it!
Aeon picks up a TV REMOTE that has a JOYSTICK and a SHUTTLE control on it. She works the joystick as she slows the tape with the shuttle -
INTRUDER
Hey!!
AEON
(snapping)
Just shut up and watch!
POV INTRUDER: THE TV SCREEN: "enhanced" detail of the needle Trevor is using on the test subject. It injects some sort of fluid as it draws a sample of blood simultaneously. Trevor then leads the man to an OBSERVATION ROOM (so designated). The tape glitches again; now the scene has changed as well as the caption. Now we have apparently another angle on the same lab - with a huge, "IRON MAIDEN" - like apparatus. The caption now reads,
TRUE FACSIMILE/TEST 407/HOUR 72.
The front of the Iron Maiden now swings open. Out comes the test-subject. TRUCK WIDER to include 3/4-profile of intruder as he watches himself on the TV screen. On the video, Trevor escorts the test subject "OS" - we notice as they pass toward "us" to "OS" that his body is gleaming wet and studded head-to-toe with strange incision-like markings..
INTRUDER
(to himself, distractedly)
Now, that, I remember, but...that room - ??
ON AEON: sensing the intruder's moment of distraction, Aeon locks the chair behind her between one heel and her instep,
ON INTRUDER: Intruder rolls up his sleeve, examines his arm for the marks, the vestiges of which are still visible, but much less noticeable.
INTRUDER
(cont'd.)
I remember no room...
CUT WIDE ON INTRUDER as Aeon launches her chair straight at the Breen intruder behind her without turning around. It strikes him full-force, uppercutting him at the jaw. As he falls backward, he discharges his firearm, sweeping an arc of bulletholes across Aeon's ceiling. She turns and fires once, knocking the weapon from his hand. She pauses the tape again, now with the test-subject's face in FG.
POV AEON: A WHIP PAN from image on the TV screen to the Breen intruder on the floor of her apt. A recognition of the identicality of the intruder and Trevor's test-subject on the tape is now established for Aeon. She wheels around, grabs him - cuffs his hands behind him as she kicks the chair into place underneath him, making him captive audience to the TV screen.
AEON
You almost missed the best part, here...
She un-pauses the tape again; the scene has changed again. Now we have INT OBSERVATION ROOM, and the caption (again changed) reads,
TRUE FACSIMILE/TEST 407/DAY 001 - TIME LAPSE:
But the day numbers are going at thirty per second; the image is now time-lapse. We see it is of the original test subject, strapped to a table. He is apparently undergoing a dramatic physical change.
ON INTRUDER
(watching TV screen, slurring his words):
I don't remember this - this didn't happen!!
POV INTRUDER: The image of himself on the table continues. The subject is apparently degenerating into some sort of strange, unraveling "spaghetti." CUT WIDER to include intruder (OTS).
ON INTRUDER:
His eyes and jaw wide open, a trickle of blood runs from his mouth.
CUT CLOSE onto video: the face of the subject, the last vestiges of his features degenerating and unraveling. Video glitches out. Aeon ejects the tape and opens its tape lid, exposing the tape.
AEON
You've been duped; you are a dupe.
INTRUDER
(uncomprehending)
Whaaaa?
Aeon takes the flame of her lighter to the exposed tape.
AEON
You know: a duplicate!
The flame fires up the tape, which alights like a wound fuse; the flaming tape races rapidly around and around both cassette reels, consuming itself in a short, sparkly zzzzzzzzzzzzzzip!!
AEON
We lured you here - and you didn't know!?
INTRUDER
I - I - !!
aeon
(to herself, out loud)
He's murdering...murdering, again. He'll have the world to be as he expects it before he'd deign to claim it with a single and terrible rule....
intruder
Goodchild is a visionary!!
aeon
A "RE-visionary," in your own case! Listen to me, you hole! You do not exist!! You saw what happened to you on that tape. The party to whom I am speaking ...isn't!
Aeon leans closer toward the Intruder -
AEON
(cont'd.)
Now, I need to know...where is the duplication-apparatus actually located in Bregna!
intruder
(freshly)
Oh, yeeeeah...? Whaddayur gunnu dyuuu? You per-vert!
aeon
(vile)
I'll demonstrate...
FADE OUT/FADE IN
INT. NIGHT AEON'S APT. Aeon is at home, on the phone.
aeon
He didn't know enough. He thought he was the same person as his original, and that I were playing with him. Now that I'm finished with him, uh, so is he.
(Pause...)
CUT WIDE: behind her, the legs of a body (the Breen intruder), lain flat on the floor. The rest of the figure is occluded by a wall.
aeon
(cont'd.)
..No. Now it's my turn. I'm going in.... Well, how do you think I feel! But, what he's doing is WRONG. So...wrong! I don't believe in it.
Aeon hangs up.
AEON
(to herself)
A last time for everything....
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. NIGHT TREVOR'S BEDROOM. A large bevy of about twenty "groupies" are "draped" or sprawled about on a LARGE bed, all of them apparently "crashed-out."
A QUICK MONTAGE: of 5 or 6 of them in close-up, revealing various features of these women which make them (in one way or another) conspicuously reminiscent of Aeon Flux. LINGER ON last CU: A groupie with Aeon's hair (almost). TREVOR'S HAND appears from OS, examines/fondles the texture - then hesitates-
CU TREVOR: A pained grimace of ennui.
QUICK CUT - PREVIOUS: Trevor's hand withdraws, recoiling.
WIDE ON THE BED - INCLUDE TREVOR: As he moves away, retreating from the tableau to OS. OPENING/CLOSING DOOR HIGHLIGHT is cast upon the bed with the groupies; door slam. One of the groupies shifts, but isn't roused.
FADE OUT/FADE IN:
EXT. DAY MONICAN TARGET PRACTICE HALL: Aeon, firing away with an endless series of single rounds...
AEON
God damn it!!
Aeon is firing away at a bulls-eye target with one bullet hole in the center of the bulls-eye. We see that a steady punctuation of bullets passes through the same hole.
AEON
Can't go fast! I can't go fast enough!!
As her frustration mounts, we see the bullets running in a steadily increasing stream, going faster and faster -- but the hole is tearing bigger and bigger. Finally, from the friction of the hot bullets, the center of the bulls-eye hole catches fire and the hole begins burning until the whole target burns away, flaming. Aeon slams her gun down on the floor and exits the gun club in anger and frustration, the other practicing agents looking on in puzzlement.
FADE OUT/FADE IN
INT. NIGHT TREVOR'S BEDROOM. Now the groupies are not all the same women, and in different positioning across the mattress. These ones, as last time, are all asleep and again draped or sprawled at odd orientations. A HIGHLIGHT of a door opening and closing strikes the mattress and the contours of the women situated upon it. It is Trevor, entering from OS. He approaches one of the groupies -
TREVOR
(to himself)
No...this one's not it. It's wrong! All wrong...
Trevor's moment of futile longing and melancholic reverie is suddenly interrupted by the SHARP BLAST of an OS CAMERA FLASH (accompanied by the SOUND of a "camera-whirr"), illuminating the tableau of his bed in a stark, white moment.
TREVOR
(recoiling and fiendish)
Oh, no...
Trevor turns to the origin of the blast - as he does, a RAPID FIRING of them ensues (accompanied, naturally, by the "WHIRRS") with his approach toward the light source. He(/we) still cannot see the person behind the camera - as he reaches the source of the light-blasts, they suddenly STOP. He lunges at the source, slamming his face against the wall as he does: no one there.
TREVOR
What the hell - who are you! What do you want!
Silence surrounds him - as his vision returns from the former assault, he hears and notices some of the groupies shifting in restless sleep, in unconscious response to same.
TREVOR
Give it to me! You know I'm good for it - whatever you want!!
Suddenly and from an alternate angle, the blinding camera flashes resume their barrage, now receding past the bed and out the doorway. Trevor runs after the source of disturbance. As Trevor reaches the hallway, the intruder has just disappeared around the corner of the hallway, the echoes of stammering footsteps trailing after the unknown intruder. Trevor gives harried pursuit.
The chase leads Trevor down into the basement of his building, replete with leaking water pipes and various and sundry pestilence. A single flash of the light source give Trevor both a sense of orientation and an immediate recognition of who has led him here: it is Aeon. She leans against the wall, the camera held to her side in one hand, her other hand held to her face. She is grimacing, as if holding back a surge of wild tears.
Trevor approaches her with both anger and apprehension. Raging, he grabs her with both hands, shaking her violently.
TREVOR
You!! What in hell is the matter with you! You're trying to ruin me, now?!
Aeon drops the camera which goes off once more as she sinks to the floor, her head still in her hand, her knees up to her face. She wipes her hand away from her face, her eyes staring up at him in apparent defiance, then softening into a dour resignation to her own melancholy. Trevor grabs the camera from the floor and rips the film out of it.
TREVOR
This isn't you at all!! Get up off the floor! I could kill you!!
.
TREVOR
I COULD KILL YOU!
Aeon only replies with her stare, now waxen icy, now verging on a vacuous despondency. Then, lowering her eyes,
AEON
(almost a whisper)
Might as well...
trevor
(shocked)
What!??
TREVOR
(cont'd, twitching his head in denial)
Aeon! You didn't - finally take on one...of...those - one of those jobs...?
AEON
(faltering)
No, Trevor...'course not.
TREVOR
(stepping away)
Oh, Gog...so, it's come to this at last.
Then a shadow seems to ink against a side of Trevor's face: a "dark side" coming on, as his lips curve ever so slightly, betraying a terrible notion -
TREVOR
(considering)
I see....
Aeon slowly rises to approach Trevor, trying to hide her involuntary trepidation. A step...a step...
TREVOR
Well, whatever it is you've...
Trevor embraces her.
TREVOR
(cont'd.)
...committed to...
As Trevor embraces Aeon, a tiny mechanical TENTACLE spirals out from the perimiter of his wristwatch and cuts a neat, vaginalike opening in the seam of Aeon's patent-leather costume at her armpit, where his wrist is situated.
TREVOR
(cont'd.)
...I know...
The tentacle then snakes into the opening it has created and penetrates into the flesh of Aeon's armpit. Aeon simultaneously suppresses an involuntary gasp, which she masks with a hiccup.
AEON
Sorry -
TREVOR
I know you'll achieve your objective. I'm sorry.
Aeon grasps Trevor tightly, kissing him passionately at the side of his hard-edged, stoic face.
TREVOR
I'm certain, though, that we shall see one another again.
Trust me. You know that I
love you always.
Aeon suppresses a slight shudder of recognition.
AEON
(withdrawing)
Goodbye, Trevor.
As Trevor goes, his expression is a smirk of silent
satisfaction. He "checks his watch," not noticing Aeon's
over-the-shoulder recognition of his gesture.
aeon
(to herself:)
(I did it. Now, it had better work!)
― Peter Chung, Saturday, 1 April 2006 12:48 (eighteen years ago) link
Here's the rest of the discussion.
(48) Aeon accuses Scafandra of screwing up her plans. What are Aeon's plans
at this point?
DRN: She kind of naively believes that Aeon2 will just read the note she
sends and just go with out her and she will just go on and see what develops
between Trevor. At this point she is obviously modifying the original plan.
SRM: The moment Aeon writes the note, the original plan is modified: now
Aeon will stay with Trevor while Aeon2 does what Aeon originally would have
done had she not been duplicated. How is Scafandra supposed to know this?
She doesn't even know Aeon's been duplicated.
(49) Aeon2 reads the note from Aeon, but she still waits for Aeon, and she
laughs in contempt when Scafandra dies. Does Aeon2 realize something about
Aeon that she herself doesn't?
DRN: Yes, she knows Aeon has changed even though she thought she wouldn't
she knows Aeon has fallen for Trevor that Aeon is backing out on the plan.
Aeon2 even knows that Aeon probably will not even let her self know that she
has changed.
OY: Yes, in a way. They both have the same mind (although the last several
hours have been different, they both had the same plan). The plan was, as
Aeon 2 says later "to make Trevor hurt." The two are always in their
love/hate relationship. In a way, it was an intended strategy to show Trevor
how wrong he was, but in the process, Aeon became aware of Trevor's human
side...which seems to be why he through out the vial with Aeon's genetic
information, and cries for the real Aeon and allows the copy to go. He can
never have with the copy what he had with the original.
SRM: Aeon2's laugh of disgust at Scafandra's death is, though I hate to
admit it, hilarious. This is Darwinism: Scafandra put her in a survival
situation and she survived it; Aeon2 put Scafandra in the same and she
couldn't. "Humph!" indeed. Further, Aeon2, now probably remembering the
missing vial from the lab, postulates that Aeon has allowed herself to fall
for Trevor. If Aeon2 stays put, she knows she'll eventually be captured. So
by staying put she puts faith in Aeon that Aeon hasn't changed enough not to
care what happens to Aeon2.
(50) The original Aeon is still in the garden, and the guards blast her
facefirst into a rosebush, which is how Trevor finds her. Aeon finds out
that Trevor wanted to kill Aeon2, but Aeon protests that "It's because she's
out there that I'm here with you!" Are they on different wavelengths? What
are they each thinking?
DRN: Trevor really had not thought about this. He just wants Aeon2 out of
the way he is afraid she might come around and muck up their relationship.
Aeon on the other hand wants Aeon2 out there she has to know that in a very
real sense part of her is still out there and doing what she should be doing
unchanged by the events she has gone through.
(51) Aeon sees in the surveillance tape that Aeon2 is waiting for her. When
they meet, Aeon says of Trevor that she's "not finished with him yet." But
Aeon2 says, "The stars in your eyes--they're stolen!" Aeon: "Things have
changed." Aeon2: "Trevor?" Aeon nods. What's happening in this interchange?
DRN: Aeon realizes what Aeon2 already knows she has changed. Look at them
they do not even look like the same women (Aeon has adopted conventional
clothes a big baggy sweater and pants with long straight hair and before her
old self) and they are not at all the same. Aeon seems to become some what
ashamed she knows Aeon2 is right and that is killing her. She does not want
to admit that she loves Trevor but she can not lie to herself (who also
happens to be Aeon2). Aeon finally realizes she has changed, too much for
her own good.
SRM: This is one of the only scenes in the series in which Aeon's face is
softly drawn, and for good reason: she has become soft, in the sense that
she's allowed her desires to take over. She wanted to be able to indulge her
desires while having her ethics upheld by her duplicate, but she's not quite
to the point of being able to give all that up, and Aeon2 certainly isn't
about to allow that. Aeon2's noticing the lack of stars in Aeon's eyes tells
us that this is not simply a matter of choice: Aeon has changed for the
worse according to Aeon2, and it will be up to Aeon to see if she agrees.
(52) In perhaps the determining moment, Aeon and Aeon2 face off. What is
decided here?
Aeon: [pointing that cigarette gun] There are things you don't know.
Aeon2: I know that you won't kill me.
Aeon: You kill me, that's the plan.
Aeon2: Yes, yours to begin with, to make him hurt!
[pause]
Aeon2: Take a stand!!
[pause]
Aeon2: Okay, pretty one.
Aeon: Watch that.
DRN: Aeon2 is making Aeon face up to the fact that she has more or less sold
herself out. She has fallen to hard for Trevor and is trying to back out of
it and frankly it pisses Aeon2 off. Aeon2 tries to remind her of what she
should do but Aeon is not having it so Aeon2 decides that if Aeon will not
act she will act and force Aeon to do something. Two things are important to
note here, the lesser is the fact that Aeon2 calls Aeon "pretty one." Aeon
obviously takes offense to this because she is not pretty, well just pretty,
she is strong she is wild she is uncontrollable not just pretty which
trivilizes her. Aeon2 uses this not only to antagonize Aeon but to get her
to realize what is going on. The second thing is that this where Aeon2
decides to make the boarder run and thus force Aeon to follow her in. She
knows Aeon will follow her in because after all they are the same person.
SRM: Aeon has knowledge of what it means to love Trevor, while Aeon2 has the
knowledge of what it means to keep Trevor in check, to do her duty to
Monica. Which will win out? And yes, Aeon2 only gets Aeon's full attention
by pointing out her appearance--the soft Aeon who has lost her edge.
(53) Aeon2 runs into the gun area, and Aeon screams, "NO!!" What makes Aeon
follow Aeon2? What makes Aeon2 run in the first place?
DRN: see 52. The important thing is that Aeon runs in after Aeon2. Aeon
realizes that she must follow her in and that she must not come out. She
recommits herself to the plan in that one instant. She knows she is not
coming out but she knows it is more important that Aeon2 the more pure, if
you will, version of herself must be the one to survive. Watch as they run
Aeon is just the shell of all she used to be the run illustrates it
beautifully. Aeon2 runs with no emotion no fear she just does it Aeon runs
with eyes and mouth wide open you can almost here her heart pounding you
know this is not the old Aeon.
OY: As Aeon2 reminded Aeon, the plan's intent was to teach Trevor a lesson.
Aeon fell in love with Trevor and ended up hesitant about it. What I think
is that Aeon2 tricked Aeon into fulfilling the plan by running off, a sort
of "farewell, I hope you're happy with him. You'll never be free again.
Because she and Trevor would have to be together." Aeon follows Aeon2
because she cannot abandon her principles. When she stands up and allows the
turrets to kill her, she completes the plan to make Trevor regret his
decisions. Now he can never have her again.
SRM: At this moment Aeon is not sure what to do. Her simple denial of
watching Aeon2 run away is not enough evidence for her to convert back to
the plan. Aeon2 knows that one of them will win out, but ultimately she's
not sure either. Both don't know, and one of them will have to decide. As it
turns out, as Logan points out, Aeon runs without her athletic ability, and
she even gazes in admiration while watching Aeon2 run. In the deciding
moment she turns to look at Trevor and asks herself who does she love more:
herself, or Trevor? Recall the kiss in the pool. Who does she really love?
(54) Trevor orders Turret 12 shut down. What does this tell us about what
Trevor feels?
DRN: Aeon and Trevor have seemed to overstep the bounds of their
relationship and have fallen in love. Trevor loves Aeon his feelings run
deeper than even he might admit. He is trying desperately to save the life
of his lover but to no use.
OY: As Trevor seems more humane in this episode, he doesn't want the real
Aeon to get killed. As he told her, she's the real one. The copy is
expendable, but the guards who fire the guns do not know this. He feels
nothing for the copy, but the real Aeon cares for him, while she still
refuses to let him win. In a way, he knows that he can't win this time.
(55) Aeon, watching Aeon2 run expertly, decides to let herself get gunned
down. Why?
DRN: see 53 She knows it is for the best. She does it to make up for falling
for Trevor she allowed herself to be changed in ways that she did not want
and she, through this final fatal, act is trying to make up for it.
SRM: Aeon ultimately decides that she loves herself more than she loves
Trevor. She sees herself as she used to be, and she knows that Aeon must go
on living. And if that Aeon is to exist, her original plan must have been
right; her doubts have been unfounded. So in an unintentionally brutal twist
of events, she allows herself to be killed before his eyes.
(56) Trevor lets Aeon2 go, with tears in his eyes for the dead Aeon. Why?
DRN: see 54. He lets Aeon2 go to restore things to balance he could not
stand to loose both his lover and his greatest enemy in one day. He still
need Aeon, even in the guise of Aeon2. Everything is kind of back to normal.
Or is? Did Aeon's plan work? To some extant she succeeded but to what
degree? It would be sheer speculation to guess how much she hurt Trevor but
we do know that she hurt Trevor.
OY: Because he and the real Aeon had something special. The copy is just
like Aeon before the whole episode. Either he figures it makes no difference
whether the copy lives or not, or subconsciously he wants to try again with
the copy. I don't believe the latter suggestion, though.
SRM: Love, or infatuation, or obsession--whatever you call it, it got ahold
of Trevor, which is why he pronounces his letting Aeon go with such pain and
sorrow in his voice. Remember that Trevor's had many opportunities to kill
Aeon before but has not; the bond between them is too strong.
(57) The ultimate question for this episode: is Aeon2 really closer to the
original Aeon? And isn't it Aeon, the one that falls for Trevor, that's as
far away from the Aeon Flux we know? By going through this process, Aeon has
learned something about herself, but what? What has Trevor learned? What
have they learned about each other? Perhaps now is a good time to think
about why this is "A Last Time For Everything."
OY: Aeon2 is closer to the Aeon we know from the previous episodes. But the
Real Aeon that is gunned down also represents the Aeon we know. Allowing
herself to be killed in order to make Trevor hurt is something that we know
she would do. She is a survivor, but she dies so many times that it doesn't
matter. Seriously, it shows how far she will go to complete her objective.
What Aeon learns about herself is how much she could really care for Trevor.
Before it seemed to me more like they were toying with each other, Trevor
wanted her, but Aeon wouldn't allow it...not the way he wanted (probably
another reason she let herself die). Trevor seems to learn how to admit he
was wrong. Though not directly stated, allowing the copy to escape, he
almost says "you made your point Aeon." That's how I see it. "A Last Time
For Everything," I suspect is a metaphor for how Trevor and Aeon had one
last day together, one last chance to see how they really feel for each
other, Scafandra sees one last time what Aeon really is (first she suspected
that Aeon was in with Trevor, but then when she gets killed realizes that
maybe she really was tricked by Aeon), Aeon before she gets killed sees one
last time how far she'll go for what she believes is right.
HD: I think it was all about divergence of personality. To begin with A1 and
A2 are so alike they almost know what each other are thinking. By the end
they are having an argument. By allowing herself to die Aeon1 is unifying
herself once more. A1 has a choice to continue life with Trevor and the only
Aeon. She decides that A2 is more authentic than herself and if anybody
should die it's her. The clone is more her than she is.
DRN: The question is a lot harder to answer than it appears. Obviously Aeon2
is closer to the Aeon Flux that the viewer has come to be familiar with but
what about Aeon. Just because she has changed does that make her less Aeon
Flux than before? Well actually yes it does. The question seems to ask "Does
Aeon some how receive redemption in the light of her own self sacrifice at
the end of the episode?" Phrased like that the answer to the question would
seem to be yes. But the fact that she did change by circumstances she could
not control lingers. Did Aeon loose herself because she could not prevent
herself from falling for Trevor? and if so does her action at the end
episode really make her herself again.
Aeon allows herself to be killed for herself (Aeon2). This act would seem to
suggest that she would have regained some of herself. But would the Aeon
Flux we know really commit such a selfless act? Probably not Aeon as she
claims takes no sides so it does not appear that she would die for anyone.
But we are not just talking about anyone are we? We are talking about
herself. An interesting question: Would you die so your exact duplicate
could live? It is almost an extreme example of father dieing for his son or,
a better example, a mother dying in childbirth for her child. Aeon is so
extreme, such an individualist to an impossible degree that she would not
even die for herself. But the fact remains that she did in fact die for
herself. Why? The answer is simply she was already dead. In giving herself
to Trevor, falling in love with him, she has destroyed herself. She had
placed herself in a situation were she could no longer be an individual she
was no a part of a larger whole, something the real Aeon could never be, as
illustrated through her numerous relationships, her strange relation to
Trevor (before this episode) and her fuzzy alliance to neither Bregna nor
Monica. She died rather because she was already dead. She had the chance to
have all her sins forgiven and walk away clean to relive her life in the
guise of Aeon2 so she did it and died.
Just to end quickly the only thing that Trevor and Aeon have learned from
all this is that they can not overstep the bounds of their odd relationship
or they will destroy themselves, it just happened to be fatal in Aeon's
case. To say they have learned they can love each other would be to
trivilize this entire episode. What they have learned is they share a
delicate relationship that is beneficial both only if they leave it as it
is.
SRM: I had a group of students write a paper about how this episode
supported Freud's stability of id, ego, and superego. Aeon gives in to her
id (anything for desire) and allows her duplicate to take over her superego
(anything for morals, ethics). The episode concerns the ego: that logical
part that negotiates between the illogical id and illogical superego. The
ego wins out in the end, for it forces the id and the superego back into
suppression, back where they belonged.
That's a helpful way of looking at this episode. When I first saw it I was
amazed that the ending allowed her duplicate to go on doing her work. That's
a moot point now that I think about it, since the show insists on
non-linearity. Intriguing to me, though, is that the duplicate now knows
what will happen if she allows herself to become too attached to Trevor.
This duplicate, if she were to be featured in an episode (how are we to
know?), would approach relations with Trevor very carefully, would she not?
Aeon's individualism rings as true as can be in this episode: she dies for
herself. Not to do so would mean denying that she is of importance, which of
course can't be valid for Aeon. Relationships are about giving up part of
yourself to the other person, and Aeon could not do that. Trevor couldn't,
either: he wanted Aeon2 dead. Neither of them are giving enough to be able
to sustain a romantic relationship, and now they both know that. But since
the series makes no claims to carrying knowledge over between episodes, we
can't call this episode a learning experience. But we can call it a
meditation on identity, the self, and what at the core of their beings Aeon
and Trevor are willing to do to uphold what they value most.
― Peter Chung, Sunday, 2 April 2006 01:57 (eighteen years ago) link
two weeks pass...
four years pass...