Æon Flux/Thanatophobia

Thanatophobia
Season 1, Episode 3
Airdate	August 22, 1995
Production Number	3ACV06
Written by	Mark Mars Peter Chung (story)
Directed by	Peter Chung
← 1x02 Isthmus Crypticus	1x04 → A Last Time For Everything
Æon Flux — Season One

Thanatophobia is the third episode of the first season of Æon Flux and is the fourteenth episode overall. Two lovers attempt to escape from Bregna, but only one makes it through the booby traps. Can Æon help the two reunite in Monica?

Starring: Denise Poirier (Æon Flux), John Lee (Trevor Goodchild)

Guest Stars: Grace Whitefeather (Sybil), Paul Raci (Onan)

Plot Overview

Sybil and Onan are miserable in Bregna and have been practicing to escape to Monica through the D block. On the fateful night that they make their attempt however, one of Sybil's vertebrae is shattered by a gun turret and Onan makes it through. Her condition is fixed, but she is forced into indentured servitude in order to pay for her hospital bill. After seeing Onan through a hole in the border, Sybil convinces him to get Æon involved in order to help her out of the country.

Things are complicated when Trevor takes an interest in Sybil, who gets sexual stimulation from his examinations of the hole in her back. But, she rejects his attempts to make her more appreciative of Bregna through bribery. Instead, he later gives her more ampules as an attempt to get her closer to Æon. Meanwhile, Æon uses Onan to get closer to Sybil, whom she's taken an interest in.

Through a series of misunderstandings, Sybil is driven into obsession with crossing the border. After Æon attempts to destroy her last ampules and return Onan (who couldn't cope with life in Monica), Sybil still focuses on making a run because she's become more obsessed with defying and escaping Trevor than her former love for Onan. When she makes her attempt at the border, she is caught by a web at the gate and her legs are automatically amputated by saws hidden in the frame. Ironically, the things she helped make at the factory turns out the thing that was the final shackle put in place to keep her in Bregna.

Notes

Opening Blurb

• A heavily armed border wall separates the nations of Bregna and Monica. Yet many Breens seek to escape the mysterious designs of Trevor Goodchild...

Characters

• Trevor Goodchild: Trevor gets involved with Cybil, the woman with the destroyed section in her spine. However, as he replenishes her ampules, he could either be complicit in her desires to practice so that she can escape to Monica or he could be keeping her in Bregna by giving her plenty of time to practice, but no urgency to act.

Trivia

The Show

• The Point: This episode particularly satirizes how arbitrary nation boundaries are. Although many people compare Monica and Bregna to East and West Berlin, Peter Chung actually meant it more to be about North and South Korea, in which he lived for many years.
• Foreshadowing: The two stockings that were hanging in the window foreshadow Cybil's fate at the end of the episode. There are numerous scenes with her looking through that window, framed by the stockings.

Behind the Scenes

• Genesis: This episode was first written between seasons of Liquid Television, but originally wasn't going to be an Æon Flux story. The idea was scrapped, but was later picked up when Chung was looking for ideas for the full episodes.
• Cut Scenes: The original script had a great deal more about Cybil's life and how she copes with life of being an indentured servant to the state. There were also supposed to be more examples of people who fail to cross the boarder, including lots of amputees.
• Fun With Censorship: Originally Trevor put his fingers into Cybil's back when he was examining her wound, but MTV wouldn't allow them to show anything sexual with the notch, including the way that Cybil moaned in agony, rather than pleasure. For the DVD release, a scream of pleasure was added to point out further what exactly was going on. However, Chung was shocked to find that the censor didn't notice the scene in which Cybil and Onan had sex through the hole in the wall.

Allusions and References

• Thanatophobia: Thanatophobia means an intense fear of death, from the Greek word for death, "thanatos."

Memorable Moments

• While walking home from her job, Cybil sees Onan through a hole in the wall. In order to speak with him, she removes the artificial piece of her spine and contorts her body through the hole.

Quotes

• Trevor: That which does not kill us makes us stranger.