Æon Flux/Pilot

Pilot
Shorts Season 1, Episodes 1-6
Airdate	June 2–30, 1991
Production Number	—
Written by	Peter Chung
Directed by	Peter Chung
— N/A	Sx02 → Gravity
Æon Flux — Shorts

Pilot is a compilation of the first season of shorts featuring Æon Flux and makes up the first six shorts overall. They aired separately in a serialized format on Liquid Television starting June 2, 1991 and ending June 30, but because they were later presented as a full "movie," that is how this entry is written. Each part was about two minutes long and was aired weekly.

Plot Overview

Part 1

We see Æon gunning down several Breen guards in a daring infiltration. She climbs the stairs and stops at a window to consult her map. After examining a photo of her target, Æon must escape again from a new group of guards. She finds herself in a dead end with a balcony. She attempts to find a way to the balcony before the soldiers break through the doors. She manages to get there by firing a grappling hook through a guard on the balcony and using his corpse to vault herself to the top. She kills the new guards and continues her daring escape.

Part 2

The same scene we just saw is retold from the perspective of a guard who survived Æon's rampage. She attempts to comfort her dying comrade but only manages to wind up getting killed by Æon herself. An insect crawls out of the sea of blood and is picked up by Trevor.

Part 3

Back to Æon's assault, she comes to find two men fighting over a silver briefcase. As the two duel, the briefcase is knocked the way of Æon. She picks it up and is confronted by the man wearing black. He motions for her to attack, presuming that they'll fight hand to hand, but she just shoots him. The man in green who he was fighting laughs over his corpse, so Æon kicks him in the face. He gets up and appears to be infected with a virus that causes hallucinations. He picks up his gun and follows after Æon. In order to get rid of him, Æon pours out the antidote she found in the briefcase and puts a grenade in the canister. He lunges for it and it explodes.

Part 4

Further consulting her map, Æon makes her way to what appears to be the flat of Trevor Goodchild. She waits for him to get distracted by a couple Breen soldiers and makes her escape into the vents. As she's making her way through the vents, Æon steps on a nail. She doesn't seem to notice and continues her way towards her target's room. Meanwhile Trevor loads a syringe of the purple substance while the woman he was with is distracted.

Part 5

While peering through the window, Æon sees Trevor enter her target's suite. He takes off his bandage, opens a fold in his skin and removes a substance from the wound in his finger. He puts some in a glass and some more on a cracker. He then replaces the bandage and eats whatever he just put on the cracker. Meanwhile, the television shows a news program about the events of the day and more about the virus. It appears to be spread from an insect and affects the heart. Tired of watching, Æon makes her move when Trevor seduces the woman in her target's suite. She stands, causing the nail to be driven into her heel and falls.

Part 6

Æon is dead. She slams into the ground and is vaporized by what looks like a rebel collective that she belongs to. Her apartment is then burned down to remove evidence. This is followed with shots of children being vaccinated with the purple substance, Trevor being hailed as a hero for developing the cure and what appears to be Æon in some kind of Valhalla. It is presumed that Trevor infected the leader of Bregnia and waited for him to die before giving out the cure, securing his place as the leader of the nation.

Notes

Characters

• Æon: Æon is killed when she falls off the ledge and hits pavement. It's also revealed in this episode that Æon was a model for a foot fetish magazine called FoozWak.

Trivia

The Show

• The Point: There were several different approaches to the various parts of the episode. The first two, in particular, show how Æon can be portrayed as heroic against this faceless menace or as a mass-murderer who caused this big chamber to flood with blood. A lot has to do with subliminal messages that tell you what will happen before the characters actually act out what happens.

Behind the Scenes

• Time: Overall, the pilot episode of Æon Flux is 12 minutes and 20 seconds long. It is made up of six two-minute episodes, give or take a few seconds.