MovieChat Forums > Æon Flux (1991) Discussion > 'Leisure' summary - Spoilers

'Leisure' summary - Spoilers


'Leisure' is more detached from the conventional reality that we expect in a typical Aeon Flux episode. It's like a parallel reality where things have gone terribly wrong.

An alien spacecraft has crashed in the middle of our fictional world. The barriers between Bregna and Monica evidently no longer exist; these governments have fallen. It may be that Trevor Goodchild attempted unsuccessfully to get control of the situation, or it may be that his machinations caused it; we do not know. But we can see that not much of the population remains, save those who, like Aeon, were highly trained agent provocateurs.

What we do know is that the alien beings have had Trevor's DNA incorporated into their own, so that in their adult form, they superficially resemble him. The aliens may have done this themselves in order to make themselves more adaptable to planetary conditions, or something Trevor was trying to do may have had unintended consequences.

Surviving scientists are attempting to study the aliens' bioengineering, perhaps to discover why and how they now look like Trevor, perhaps to find a way to recover the original, unaltered organism, or perhaps to try to isolate and recover Trevor's original, unamalgamated genome. The original Trevor is gone, presumably dead. Perhaps only he can undo the situation.

But in order to achieve this, samples of the alien organisms must be recovered from the ship, a dangerous enterprise. The types of traps the Trevor-aliens set are well-known, and the agent provocateurs practice and train in order to pass successfully through them.

Aeon lives in quarters containing a lab, where the alien genetic material is examined and experimented on. Less alien versions of the organism have been grown, more like Trevor, but still deformed, and less than human.

In this episode, Aeon's kinky sexual tastes are on full display. We know that she's always had a thing for Trevor, as well as for bondage, dominance, and sado-masochism (see Thanatophobia). It would seem that her interactions with the experimental Trevor organisms have been less than professional. (She's a freak.) The organism in the cabinet, perhaps created for her own personal pleasure, seeks her approval; perhaps it remembers something of the complicated relationship Aeon and Trevor once shared. It isn't enough like Trevor to suit her. "Hmph," she snorts, and slams the cabinet door.

Perhaps the ambition to recover Trevor's unamalgamated genome is exclusively Aeon's. Trevor's loss seems to have left her considerable appetites unsated, and far less controllable. For her, this project has become as much about satisfying her propensities as it has about the science.

Satisfied that her skills in the gymnastics required to evade the alien obstacle course are proficient, she sets off for the downed spacecraft to retrieve more samples. Entering, she quickly makes her way to the hatchery, where clutches of eggs are kept. Even here, under dangerous conditions (or perhaps because of them), she cannot resist a bit of sadism. The ship is crawling with alien life, even in its walls. "Plop," she says, as she drops an egg. The organisms react, which turns her on. She claws the fragile membrane of the walls, as she experiences sadistic, orgasmic ecstasy.

Although unsafe, what she's doing is too good to stop. Borne of a curiosity both scientific and sadistic, she scoops up the embryonic material from the broken egg and examines it under a portable viewer/analyzer. Using the mechanism's tiny, black armature (which resembles her), she struggles with the embryonic creature (which resembles Trevor), killing it.

She has dawdled far too long. In trying to leave, she is confronted by an adult Trevor-alien. It shows reluctance to attack, since she's carrying its eggs. As she flees, it engages the barred obstacle course. Aeon jumps through these with alacrity, but alas - not quickly enough. The multi-limbed alien swiftly overtakes her, and we hear her bones splintering and flesh tearing as it dismembers and devours her.

-----------------end segment---------------------------------

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

reply

Thank you very much for the summary, it definitely elucidates the episode. What is the source of this summary, are there more for other episodes?

reply

It's my own. In the nearly four years since I wrote it, I've come back to look at it a couple of times, and I'm no longer entirely satisfied with it, but I haven't yet made the time to watch the episode again closely, in order to better define my thoughts. 

No, I haven't written any others. This one was among the weirdest episodes, which is why I tackled it.

§« https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhG6uc7fN0o »§

reply