Review

When looking for a compelling drama, I typically gravitate toward stories set in the past or the future because imagining settings other than the contemporary is an important part of the fun for me when experiencing the art of storytelling. Since Farscape is a contemporary science fiction drama, it should instantly lose points for me because it's set in the quasi-present day, but it doesn't. Because minutes into the premiere we're transported into a fantastical universe as imaginative as any future-set science fiction story.

The characters in this galaxy far, far away are so far removed from anything Earth that this story might as well have been set in the future, given the technology levels. The Peacekeepers (Sebacean race) even conspicuously look like humans. The narrative makes a distinct point out of this without necessarily chalking it up to some goofy coincidence; a forced cliche to do yet another western imperialism allegory where the Peacekeepers are meant to bear a striking similarity to the irrepressible and often criticized forces of western civilization on Earth in the real world.

Instead, while the curious similarity between the Sebacean race and real humans is quite obviously a good way to save money by doing less of that stupendous alien makeup work for the characters, it also serves as just one of many fascinating mysteries for John Crichton to uncover the source of. The most pressing questions for John to answer though of course are where is he and how did he get there?

The treatment of the science behind how John got where he went is mostly good. The slingshot stuff is all perfectly within the realm of real science. The only fishy stuff concerning that is what possible scientific benefit there could have been to John's Farscape One mission in the first place. The physics behind how slingshot maneuvers (or more correctly "gravity assists") work has been fairly well understood since the 1970s, and the specific maneuver John appeared to be testing was an aerogravity assist. Indeed, had John's experiment been performed at that time in the real world, it would have been the world's first test of an aerogravity assist. But the newscaster claiming this would somehow help us develop a means of interstellar travel is nonsense.

As for wormholes, that's all just fantasy, speculative science. But I'm fine with that MacGuffin. As with the conspicuous similarity between the Sebaceans and humans, the narrative of the premiere makes it clear that the nature of this wormhole phenomenon will be explored in more depth some time later. John's primary mission, of course, is to reverse engineer wormhole physics and find a way home.

The biggest weakness of the premiere has mostly to do with not enough time being spent developing the primary antagonist, Crais, as a rich and interesting character nor giving sufficient context to the conflict between him and Crichton. They meet in only one short scene in which a conversation that is hardly rational takes place. Crais mostly just comes off looking like an insane madman, which is precisely how John describes him in the subsequent opening monologues this season. It makes you wonder how Officer Sun could have ever condoned serving under such a man's command. Though she seems loyal to a fault.

Likewise, the conflict between the Peacekeepers and the rest of the prisoners is similarly poorly defined. All we know is D'Argo killed a superior officer while serving his people, Zhaan was a member of some sort of anarchy movement among her people, and Rygel was deposed from power over his people. Of these three wayward souls, Rygel comes off as the most sympathetic despite being the least likable, excluding Pilot and Moya herself, who appear to be sentient enough creatures that their enslavement was immoral.

Overall, knowing more about how Rygel, D'Argo, and Zhaan managed to escape from captivity, take the vessel by force, and expel all its crew, and why exactly they were all being held by the Peacekeepers in the first place seems less like a tantalizing mystery and more like a prerequisite for having sympathy for these characters.

In spite of that, in some ways less is more. By focusing the premiere solely on John's perspective, we get to really experience what he experiences as the story moves forward. We're confused when he's confused and we're surprised when he's surprised. This also magnifies John's bravery and cunning in the face of certain death when he heroically applies his knowledge of gravity assists as a means to help Moya and her crew escape danger; demonstrating once and for all John's tangible value to the crew. Indeed, John has finally stepped out of his father's shadow. More importantly, in a situation like this where a bunch of strangers each with their own agendas have formed temporary alliances, being valuable is preferable to simply not being a threat to the others.

Overall, as much as I enjoy the intense focus on John Crichton's bewilderment and awe surrounding his newly stumbled upon fantastical adventure, a good story requires an ensemble of characters. Right now I only feel like I know John. Hopefully that will change as the story continues because I want more of the the tantalizing taste of rich and fascinating diversity we got in the premiere. Truly the Farscape universe is among the most imaginative settings in science fiction in spite of its contemporary underpinnings.

Review

I, E.T. is an episode with a good premise that tackles an interesting issue but suffers from a fairly poor execution. The most interesting theme dealt with here is John's role reversal with our aliens of the week. It's delightful that so early in his journey with Moya that John should encounter a race which has never encountered aliens before. Unfortunately, these aliens diminish rather than enhance the episode.

While the boy and his mother who John encounters are fairly interesting characters, their potential isn't fully realized because of the irritating and clumsy military plot thread. Instead what I find interesting about the people on this planet is that they're so technologically primitive compared to the vast sums of advanced aliens they're surrounded by. I'm surprised they haven't encountered aliens before given how close they are to so many other aliens.

A better episode would have explored the implications of first contact in more depth. I'd like to have seen these aliens confront the fact that they're very close neighbors to a universe teeming with technologically advanced life. Instead they were merely a plot thread to present a secondary level of danger to Moya's crew as placing Moya's life in jeopardy by itself was apparently not enough for the writers, not to mention the threat of the Peacekeepers tracking them down too.

Other minor themes were touched upon in nice ways as well, but also with very little depth. John begins adopting alien curse words, saying things like "what the hazmana is it?" when referring to the Peacekeeper siren, mimicking D'Argo. Aeryn expresses dismay over repeatedly betraying her people. John tries to acquire star charts from the aliens to determine where in the universe he is relative to Earth. And Zhaan continues in her role as a stabilizing force among the crew, this time both physically and emotionally.

The idea to focus on a story about disabling a Peacekeeper tracking device on Moya was a smart move, but all the manufactured danger surrounding removing this device was unnecessary. It would have been enough that the device forced Moya to land (a dangerous thing for her), and that the locals had never seen aliens before. There was enough potential in those two implications alone to justify a decent drama. Instead, we got the kitchen sink and it comes off only partially satisfying as a result.

Review

Continuing the theme from the premiere of Crichton struggling to be useful, this episode explores the psychology behind his struggling to be relevant quite well. I loved the detail about his not being able to figure out how to work all the controls on Moya along with Zhaan's astute observations and counseling. Once again she seems to be a stabilizing force among the runaways.

Likewise, even D'Argo presents some interesting facets as he admits that he wants Aeryn to live in this episode, declaring that while she was a Peacekeeper, she's now a comrade. D'Argo calls John a comrade too. It's touching how these people are slowly becoming more like friends and less like ambiguous allies. Indeed, John proves himself once again by applying his skills and his human perspective to solve the problem of the week. He adapts quite well and has earned the respect that he's now built up.

A particular highlight is Crichton's bluff to the Peacekeeper commandos who boarded on the marauder ship. They will undoubtedly return to Crais and give a report that will undoubtedly be all manner of confusing to Crais, though I doubt it will much motivate him to call off his search. That would be too easy. At best, it will buy John some time as Crais plans a more careful chase.

Easily the best theme of the episode is the theme of symbiotic life discussed between Crichton and Zhaan at the end of the episode. The parallelism between the dentic, the translator microbes, Moya herself (along with Pilot), and the monarch aliens is definitely a nice touch. I like how John appeals to the better parts of his nature, chiding himself for reacting so fearfully and violently upon witnessing all of these alien life forms at first. Though I suspect he will still encounter trouble with this instinct as time goes on.

Overall, Exodus from Genesis is a fairly enjoyable episode, particularly the character drama. The Crais plot strictly speaking may not have been too terribly relevant, but it's nice to see that the Peacekeepers are still chasing them, despite the questionable competence of the chase.

Review

This episode has little to redeem it except some amusing humor and some interesting minor exposition about our characters. The drug addiction plot is understated at best and poorly executed, the heavy metal tones in the score are annoying, and most of the characters act even more petty than usual; I shared Zhaan's annoyances with the rest of the cast's seeming unceasing bickering. As a consequence of the understated drug addiction plot, the Tavleks made for rather lackluster antagonists. It's sad that the most enjoyment I got out of them was John constantly referring to them incorrectly as the "Tavloids" instead. Other than that, there is very little else of note in this rather straightforward and partially filler story.

Review

This slow paced episode has very little to offer except some interesting character development concerning D'Argo. Apparently his "true crime" is something he's even more ashamed of than his previously stated crime of murdering a superior officer. The Ilonics as allies to the Luxans along with their mutual war with the Scorvians adds some interesting texture to the geopolitical status of this part of the universe, but instead of showing us the war itself, all we get is this rather silly Scorvian spy plot.

The idea to develop a weapon out of a quantum singularity is an interesting one, but given far too little of the plot's time. A better story would have given us not only more focus on the politics between the Luxans, Ilonics, and Scorvians, but also the motivation for and implications of developing a black hole weapon. Instead it's merely the episode's MacGuffin, serving as a plot device to do the quirky time jumps John was experiencing and as a way to create some generic conflict.

Overall this is Farscape's weakest offering so far. Between its almost total lack of relevance and the generally boring plot, this one's a real dud.

Review

Another slow, largely filler episode. This one's better than most of the others so far because there are a few nice details. John makes note of the fact that the Sykarans, humans, and Sebaceans all seem like similar species, and Aeryn confirms that the Sykarans are distant cousins of the Sebaceans, but the overall significance of this remains unexplored. Also, the brainwashed slave labor serving a purpose in the Peacekeepers' military industrial complex was a nice touch. Finally, unlike Throne for a Loss, this episode has some very nice scoring.

But aside from these amusing tidbits, the episode is largely a flop. By far the most annoying detail is Volmae's trippy behavior. She constantly talks reeeeally sloooow and is always acting like she's spaced out on hallucinogenic drugs, despite being established in the plot as immune to the tannot root. Likewise, similar to the narcotic plot point in Throne for a Loss, the plot point in this episode about expanding Aeryn's horizons with science is overplayed to the point of being preachy and doesn't quite resonate as a consequence. Overall, a fairly weak story, but at least better than the last two.

Review

This is the first episode since the Premiere to move things forward in a significant way. Aside from being a fantastic character piece for several of our main characters, the episode also furnishes Moya with a spiffy new (okay, slightly used) defense screen which they can use to raise some defensive shields in the event of another attack. This could perhaps buy Moya some time to starburst which could make the fugitives harder to catch.

The episode is also furnished with several nice tidbits of continuity. I liked the touch about how Gilina was astonished that John was not Sebacean, as well as how impressed John was with Peacekeeper technology, despite its purpose being for war. I also enjoyed the detail about how Aeryn's entire unit was demoted upon her defection, though this continues the somewhat annoying theme of Crais acting significantly less than rational.

The space battle with the Sheyangs was a nice spectacle and the tactics used were unusual and amusing. I quite enjoyed how Zhaan was thinking on her feet when she used D'Argo's rage to their advantage. And the Sheyangs firing on the Peacekeeper shield right as it's finishing its deployment was a very nice piece of visual effects. Unfortunately, the Sheyangs themselves were not the most compelling aliens. Had the antagonists been more interesting, the episode might have been worth another point.

The two most compelling pieces of storytelling in this episode were Rygel confronting his demons and jealous Aeryn. Rygel's story finally made me have some sympathy for his otherwise difficult to care about character. Nobody, not even Rygel, deserves the torture he endured. Though we only got a small glimpse of it in a flashback, Rygel's pronounced emotional reaction was touching and tells us all we need to know.

As for jealous Aeryn, this plot point could have been painful and gimmicky, but instead came off as awkwardly touching. She likes John, but the culture she comes from made it difficult for her to express those feelings. What's worse is that culture she holds in such high regard doesn't necessarily apply to all Sebaceans; the tech girl clearly had fewer inhibitions. John's gallivanting with Gilina was overplayed at times, but the overall thrust of the plot was a strong choice, so I mostly forgive it.

In total, this episode is a nice change of pace from all that filler. Farscape needs more episodes like this. And it could have been even better with a bit more polish.

Review

A good episode with a poor framing device. Crais and Crichton meet for the first time since the premiere, but the mystical noncorporeal alien plot device used to get them to meet weakened the drama. The alien himself wasn't as annoying as most of the aliens of the week so far, largely because of his awesome, almost deus ex machina power. He represented an incredibly significant menace and was portrayed in a reasonably compelling way for what he was.

The trouble is the implications of what he was somewhat erode the danger Crais presents to Crichton. We spend much of the episode more focused on the more interesting implications of a super-alien who feeds on suffering, rather than the conflict between Crais and Crichton. As a consequence of this, it was a total necessity for the plot to destroy the alien somehow by the end of the story, so that future stories weren't dominated by the existence of such a powerful super-alien.

This of course necessitated expanding Zhaan's mystic powers. The implications of this are both fascinating and troubling. On one hand, it's nice to see a darker, more tortured side of Zhaan, something the story explores very well. But on the other hand, Zhaan's abilities seem nearly as overwrought as Maldis' and turning Zhaan into a supernatural being would make it much more difficult to identify with her and have sympathy for her. In short, we need less mysticism and more realism.

The episode does fairly well with the Crais-Crichton conflict in spite of the poor framing device of the mysticism. We got to see a snippet of Crais' past, his ambivalence towards ever becoming a Peacekeeper, and his guilt toward his failure to protect his brother. We also see Crais acknowledge Crichton's point about the killing of Crais' brother being a total accident and Crais also acknowledges Crichton's regret. Despite acknowledging all of this, Crais still wants to take his anger out on Crichton.

I found it interesting that Crais can understand and even agree with Crichton's argument, yet still be unable to let go of his revenge motive. It still paints Crais as woefully irrational, but we're closer to understanding that irrationality now. He invested so much of his self worth into his and his brother's career that he feels unable to cope with the loss of his brother without killing Crichton, even though he knows Crichton didn't kill his brother on purpose.

Finally, Crais' surprise move to execute his first officer because of her knowledge of Crais' orders to call off the search for Crichton was an interesting twist. All those poor officers are on Captain Ahab's ship now, hunting Crichton the whale. Overall a fine episode, but it would have been better without mysticism as a framing device.

Review

In one of the most touching and chilling episodes so far, Pilot's front left arm becomes a casualty in a tragically fruitless endeavor for Moya's crew seeking to relocate their homeworlds. This episode finally confirms what we've all had to just assume so far: everyone on Moya's crew just wants to go home. Right from the teaser, this episode is fraught with tantalizing possibilities and Namtar was a spectacularly imaginative alien. I was fascinated with him well before he turned out to be evil simply because of his unusually alien appearance.

The plot dims somewhat following the teaser when the crew inevitably begins bickering over whose homeworld to return to first, then, when it's discovered that only one location can be extracted from the crystal at all, whose hoomeworld to visit solely. I was surprised that even Zhaan succumbed to the now signature Farscape bickering. These scenes greatly diminish the episode.

However, it did give Aeryn and Crichton a chance to bond over their mutual loss. I really enjoyed Aeryn getting some time to reflect on the irony of knowing exactly where her home is but being forever denied the opportunity to return to it, whereas the rest of Moya's crew would be welcomed to their homes with open arms if only they could find them.

When Namtar turned out to be evil, his motives only made him more interesting. His impressive intellect and impressive range of abilities made his thirst for ever greater perfection quite creepy and made him one of the show's most compelling antagonists so far; certainly among the most fascinating aliens, even if he's singularly unique and not a member of any particular race. The comparison to Josef Mengele was apt, if trite in the Godwin's Law sense.

All in all, despite the episode's failure to advance the plot in significant ways since our heroes' prize turned out to be a false one, this is still an essential and masterfully executed character development piece with only minor flaws. Easily the best episode since the premiere.

Review

Another great offering from Farscape, They've Got a Secret offers yet more essential character development, this time for D'Argo and Moya. But before we get to that, I am strongly irritated by Pilot's arm's mysterious reappearance; we're just going to have to assume Pilot can regrow arms. That said, it's annoying that it was never explained to us on screen. The audience shouldn't have to fill in these gaps themselves. Also, the pacing of this episode dragged at times due to the overall blandness of a plot about Moya being infected by a virus. But the ending of the story and its significant consequences make it well worth it.

Aeryn's special connection with Pilot resurfaces as a significant plot point, making at least that part of DNA Mad Scientist's plot have permanent consequences. But the real meat of the story is Moya's pregnancy and D'Argo's past. With regards to Moya's pregnancy, it's fascinating that the Peacekeepers install a contraceptive device to prevent leviathans from conceiving in the first place, in addition to the control collar. This also leaves me wondering who the father is. ;) Or do leviathans reproduce asexually?

As for D'Argo, we've learned more about his character in this episode than in all previous episodes combined! D'Argo married a Peacekeeper named Lo'Laan and conceived a taboo hybrid child, named Jothee. Lo'Laan's brother, Macton, eventually discovered this and killed Lo'Laan out of disapproval of her marriage, then framed D'Argo for the murder and had him arrested. Jothee was then sent into exile, hidden away by D'Argo. This means that not only was D'Argo falsely imprisoned, but his son is still out there; a fugitive!

Another nice detail was Aeryn, of all people, promising D'Argo to tell no one of the existence of Jothee. Aeryn's character has really grown over the last few episodes from a cold Peacekeeper into a loyal friend to this band of escaped prisoners. Overall, while this episode is somewhat more straightforward than the last one and lacks its darker, grittier aesthetic, They've Got a Secret comes off as a very strong piece as well.

Review

This episode is sort of a mosaic of different ongoing plots. Advancement on all of them is appreciated but there's also a bit too much going on at once which renders the story slightly out of focus. The most obvious highlight is the return of wormholes. We now know with more study and luck, John may be able to create wormholes and possibly find his way home. He's confirmed that stellar flares and doing his slingshot maneuver in his module can create new wormholes, but this finding is a long way from being able to create a stable and directed wormhole.

It was interesting that John was so tantalized by his accidental discovery that he was willing to fly into the wormhole blind. He was lucky to survive the last trip through a wormhole and of course the odds that this new random one he created would take him anywhere near Earth were astronomically low, but something in him wanted to keep the faith that it might take him home anyway, even though it almost certainly wouldn't.

Paralleling this tragedy for John was Aeryn confronting Crais' apparently insincere offer of amnesty. She knew all along it was insincere, but like John wanting to believe a random wormhole could lead to Earth, Aeryn wanted to believe Crais was offering a sincere amnesty. Both of them just wanted to hold onto their hope. Despite this, the pragmatic sides of them are still clearly invested in their present situation. Aeryn assists in repairing John's module and John forms the beginnings of a real friendship with D'Argo.

The parallelism between John feigning alpha male with the bounty hunter aliens and John confronting D'Argo about his need to always be an alpha male was a nice touch. The bounty hunters contributed little else to the story though except some manufactured danger and an excuse to do gun fights and have action scenes. Maybe these scenes would have been more enjoyable if the scoring wasn't in the heavy metal style like Throne for a Loss.

In any case, the real weakness of the story is pairing the Crais chase bounty hunt with the wormhole story in the first place. A more enjoyable episode would have been either all chase, or all wormholes. I suspect I would have enjoyed a story focused solely on John haggling with Furlow for the entire episode. I would like to have seen more of her lust for wormholes fleshed out; perhaps even some kind of collaboration between them. Overall though this is a solid story.

Review

We finally learn in this episode precisely what Zhaan was imprisoned for. She assassinated her lover, who was the leader of Delvia and illegally held onto power by force using the Peacekeepers after his term ended. After this, many Delvians were driven from their home, probably fleeing tyranny and set up colonies far away from Delvia, such as the one featured in this episode.

The telepathic powers of the Delvians becomes a central plot point once again, which is quite appropriate for an episode all about Delvian culture. But unfortunately the presentation comes off as little more than kooky mystical voodoo. The pace of the episode is also considerably slow, as it spends so much time "acid tripping" (as John called it) all over the Delvian telepathic powers.

A better episode would have spent more time exploring the politics of Delvia and the moral implications of Zhaan's ends-justify-the-means murder of her tyrannical lover. Instead, most of the episode just stumbles around in a murky stupor, failing to make a coherent point by the end of any more complexity than "use your powers for good, not evil."

Review

An enjoyable episode with delightful comedy and some great character moments for John and Aeryn especially. The performance of Staanz was also remarkably good. The actor knocked the comedy out of the park and delivered a performance that was delightfully absurd. I loved almost every scene his character had from his ridiculously broken down ship to his coming on to D'Argo at the end of the episode. The parallel but more serious story of Aeryn and Crichton falling for each other was a satisfying development, but I'm a bit annoyed it wasn't explored in more depth.

After Aeryn's and Crichton's rescue, they both decided it best to forget their mutual attempt at a last shag before death ever happened, something which I find annoyingly immature, if admittedly realistic. There's clearly something between them, something that's been clearly implied for quite some time. But like Odo and Kira on Star Trek DS9, neither of them seem to want to admit it. Hopefully a permanent pairing won't be dragged out for quite as long as it was on DS9.

Review

This is a charming story not unlike Star Trek DS9: Paradise. This story is actually somewhat more enjoyable than the Star Trek episode and could have earned a well above average rating but unfortunately the episode filled with flaws that drag down the quality. The premise of this story is lots of fun. What happens to Crichton when he's left behind on an alien planet for three months; left to fend for himself? Indeed, the idea is explored well. But the execution has several issues. First is the basic substantiation for how John ended up on that planet.

His bickering with the rest of the crew in the teaser was painfully immature. As D'Argo said, he left Moya during a time of crisis. I had little sympathy for him at first because of this. But what's worse is he just so happened to be luckily near a habitable planet when Moya disappeared. It would have been nice if the story substantiated this better by saying Moya was in this region for a reason, but instead it expects us to believe Crichton got lucky by finding such a planet in range, which stretches realism.

Still worse, on the planet is a species which looks exactly like humans. For all we know they could be Sebaceans that were subjects of the Hynerian Empire for some reason, but the audience shouldn't have to fill in these blanks themselves. Finally, as noted in the problems section, there are numerous production gaffes in this episode which if you notice them could take you out of the moment in the story.

That said, otherwise the story is a great deal of fun. This is one of the best character stories for Crichton so far and I distinctly enjoyed the bold move the writers took in allowing Crichton to be down on that planet for three whole months. It allowed Crichton a vacation of sorts and proved to us how dedicated his friends up on Moya were to retrieving him. I also enjoyed Crichton's surprise at the fact that they were willing to search for him at all. Now he's learned what he means to them.

Rygel too was a good deal of fun in this episode. It's nice to see him in his element, in a sense, and I also enjoyed how he wasn't instantly blinded by his royal treatment. He was mindful of its potentially tenuous nature and naturally curious of its origin; being willing to read the ancient texts of these people and being able to correlate it with his own knowledge of his ancestry. With a little more polish, this episode could have been worth perhaps a rating of 7.

Review

We finally have an alien of the week with some long term potential with the Nebari, a fascinating and evidently xenophobic culture who use mind control technology both on their citizens and the aliens they come in contact with. What's more, they have the military resources and technology at their disposal to hold their own against the Peacekeepers!

Having Salis parading around a mind controlled Durka was a lovely choice to give Rygel something truly menacing to contend with and the apparent retaining of Chiana as a recurring character was a nice change of pace. It's nice to see Moya picking up new passengers along the way rather than just an endless stream of aliens of the week we'll probably never see again.

Chiana herself failed to capture much of my interest, but the fate she was running from is truly sinister. Even Zhaan, who strikes me as among the most tolerant of the crew was outraged at the notion of Nebari mind control. It's not made entirely clear how or why Durka's mind control came undone (or if it ever worked in the first place), but I think it would have been disappointing to not see him revert back to his old self.

Aside from the joy of seeing Rygel scared witless at the notion of a reverted Durka, it was also enjoyable to see Aeryn trying to reconcile her mutually exclusive hero worship of Durka with her objections to his conduct both on moral grounds (unwarranted cruelty) and on Peacekeeper honor grounds (abandoning his crew). Perhaps the greatest moment of the episode is Rygel taunting Durka in the midst of being tortured.

What doesn't work in this story is the distinct lack of context afforded to the Nebari. It would have been nice to see their planet or even one of their ships given their amazing stated capabilities. Instead, what we're shown is entirely one sided. The Nebari are wrong and Chiana is right. The issue is presented in such a one sided manner that neither I nor John apparently seems to care much that Chiana may have murdered Salis. I mean, can you blame her? With more context given to the Nebari, the issue might have been more interesting.

Review

This episode repeats the mistake of Star Trek Voyager's episode The Eye of the Needle: it's way too soon for this. It didn't take very long at all in this plot for me to realize that it was just gonna be a big fat reset button and that nobody was really going to Earth. As a consequence of this, all we get is a highly entertaining tease. This episode is filled with wonderful notions that if the writing actually went there for real would be very dramatically compelling.

First is the idea that the wormhole to Earth is still there. Who knows if that's really true, but imagine the consequences for Earth if it were! Of course this episode only barely scratches the surface of such a notion. Other fun details were the attention to detail paid to the translator microbes' implications, watching Aeryn react to Earth, and the numerous character moments the episode afforded the both of them. But then, once again, the episode corrupts this too. Will anyone besides John remember any of this happened? This much is not clear. For that matter, why did Aeryn, D'Argo, and Rygel come to Earth anyway? And why didn't Zhaan and Chiana?

The aliens of the week contribute to the half-baked feel of this story as well with their exposition in earnest occurring solely in the final act which serves as little more than epilogue for the story. Once again, we have an intriguing idea: there's an alien race that can make wormholes and control them at will? Why do they not have enough power to make many more? In all the time they've been searching for a friendly ally why haven't they found one yet? Is everyone in the galaxy as petty as the humans were in this story?

Getting some answers to these highly significant questions would have made the story more satisfying. Instead, what we get seems largely meaningless, if quite touching at times. In short, the writers should never take us to Earth again unless it's for real.

Review

This episode's outrageous plot with no consequences is little more than an excuse to have some light-hearted comedy and some fun character moments, but on this the episode delivers quite well. The overall thrust of the story is more or less a rehash of Exodus from Genesis. In both stories weird stuff starts happening to the crew and on top of that they have to fend of an alien attack, but the alien turns out to not be hostile after all by the end. Though to Farscape's credit, this is perhaps one of the most common formulas in science fiction in general.

The principal purpose behind the dimensional shift and incorporeal monsters plot device was to get the bickering crew to reunify in spite of the fact that they're all scared that Moya's pregnancy could be a liability to them. This seems like a manufactured conflict to me. Why are they all suddenly worried about this now? Despite this rather faulty premise, there are plenty of nice character moments to be had.

Pilot and Moya don't want to be abandoned and lonely so they go to great lengths to curry favor with their passengers, Chiana finally starts acting like one of the crew by taking an active role in solving the problem and not whining about it (too much), and Crichton utters such choice lines to Aeryn as "you know I'd never leave you" and "back at you baby." And while the excessively cheerful bonding at the end of the episode may have been overdone and somewhat creepy, it too was enjoyable. Overall a fine episode. Not amazingly great, but not bad either.

Review

A story with a lot of potential for drama and intrigue ruined by Rygel's and Chiana's petty greed. It's as if they collectively unleashed boredom itself on the poor plot. Frankly, I didn't really care what was in the crate. Sure, maybe I'd have been disappointed if the plot never revealed it, but then I'd have also been okay with something mundane like a prototype for a new Peacekeeper weapon. The point is, focusing the story on Pandora's box wreaking havoc wasn't too terribly compelling. What was compelling was the whole delightful idea of John and Aeryn masquerading as Peacekeepers.

Seeing John walk around the ship like he owned the place Peacekeeper style complete with that silly excuse for an accent just made me giggle over and over. Sadly though, a novelty is all we get. The potential for drama upon their covers being blown was largely erased by the need for collaboration to eliminate the virus. Likewise, what also failed to quite stand out was Larraq's attraction to Aeryn. Who cares? Aeryn seemed flattered, but other than that largely unfazed. Besides her stab wound almost nothing of consequence happens as a result of these events which is a real shame given all the potential in the premise.

Review

Wow! This episode is so densely packed with things to love it's hard to decide where to start. Nerve ties together many things from previous episodes all into one dramatic climax. John's love for Aeyrn, Aeryn's injury, John's relationship with Gilina, Crais' chase of Crichton, John's desire to unlock the secrets of wormholes, and perhaps even Moya's pregnancy are all brought to the forefront here. Plus we have tantalizing new elements such as the delightful character of Scorpius and the idea that John has valuable knowledge of wormholes locked in his brain somewhere, given to him by the aliens from A Human Reaction.

Scorpius does indeed steal the show here, a villain that is decidedly menacing and mysterious in ways that the other Peacekeepers simply aren't; unlike the others he could tell John was an impostor simply by looking at him. We learn little about him in this episode other than the fact that he's running a research project on the development of new weapons and it's strongly hinted that Scorpius' aim has been to develop a wormhole weapon. Though his rank is not stated, he seemed to outrank the commander of the base and take orders from no one, not even Crais. As for Crais, he's someone we've seen far too little of this season, so it's nice that he and Crichton are finally having their inevitable confrontation.

I was less fond of the idea of a love triangle between Gilina, Crichton, and Aeryn, but the execution was so subtle and flawless that it only added brilliant texture to the episode. What's more, I love the fact that memories of Aeryn didn't come up, not even once, while Crichton was in the Aurora chair. Clearly Crichton is trying to protect her. This episode also repeats the plot device of having Crichton masquerade as a Peacekeeper, but this time it totally works. None of the mistakes of the previous episode were repeated here, so we get to milk it for all its worth. Almost like a do over.

The episode ending on a cliffhanger is also somewhat new. Farscape's been more or less an arc-driven show since the beginning of the series, but each episode has also been more or less wrapped up by the last scene, even if not in an entirely neat package. Instead, this story ramps up both the threat level and the drama and a more drawn out story spread across multiple episodes is the perfect way to dive deep into the nuances of all the plot threads that are converging here. Obviously we can expect Aeryn to stage a foolhardy rescue mission for John and it looks like Moya will have her baby soon too.

This is the most compelling episode of Farscape so far. It's utterly gripping, exciting, and ruthlessly dark. Never before has John's life been in this much danger and for the first time I feel like all the players in the story are fleshed out enough and realized enough for the drama to get all the focus rather than wondering why certain things are the way they are or certain characters act the way they act. Not only that, but the story is 100% relevant to the premise of the show: the freak accident that brought John to this part of the universe. Scorpius wants the wormhole knowledge that John didn't know he had and Scorpius will torture John to get it. Powerful stuff.

Review

The resolution to the last episode's cliffhanger continues to be a wild ride and itself doesn't entirely wrap up the story, leaving several more loose threads hanging, such as the uncertain nature of Moya's baby and Moya's resultant Starbursting disability as a consequence of the birth. However, the crazy pace of the last episode slows considerably here and on top of that I think the Gilina, John, and Aeryn love triangle is wrapped up too quickly. It had the potential to get far messier. The episode paradoxically spends both too much and not enough time on this muddled plot thread.

There are two conflicting motives surrounding it and neither gets serviced quite adequately. The first motive is to simply use Gilina as a plot device so John and Aeryn can escape the Peacekeeper base relatively unharmed. This is definitely milked for all it's worth, but the love triangle stuff comes up at inappropriate times, slowing down the action and taking the audience out of the moment of danger. The second, opposite motive is to service the love triangle as much as possible because it's quite obviously of paramount concern to Gilina. She wants her prize if she is to betray her people.

The story attempts to serve both motives by making Gilina a conflicted character and indecisive at the critical moment. A better story would have downplayed the love triangle and let it live almost exclusively in subtext. After the escape, they could have started fleshing out the love triangle conflict completely and made it an A plot rather than a B blot. Instead, Gilina's love for Crichton just plays as a cheap plot device and her convenient death right after they escape together is wrapped up just a bit too neatly.

That said, little else in this episode suffers from this problem. Along with Moya and those who live within her, Crais is left in an incredibly precarious position as a result of this episode. Perhaps most interesting of all, now John's going to have some time to think about the knowledge the aliens from A Human Reaction gave him subconsciously. He might start actively seeking the knowledge Scorpius was trying to extract from him and we can be sure Scorpius will begin chasing Crichton too, much like Crais.

A final remarkable facet of John in this episode is his increasingly unstable behavior. John's seemed a wee bit wacky since the premiere, but this and the previous episode really ratchet it up. It's as if his bizarre references to Earth in conversation have been a coping mechanism for the extraordinary and frequently terrifying things he has experienced. He has to constantly remind himself of where he's from and where he's going along with allowing himself to find humor in the things he experiences, even when they shouldn't be funny, least of all to him.

Review

"Bone To Be Wild" is not as compelling a story as the previous two episodes but still manages come off as a fairly strong piece. I was contemptuous of the whole "distress call targeted at Moya" plot from its very inception and it indeed wasn't a very noteworthy story for much of the episode. We've already seen enough episodes where a monster attacks our heroes. However, M'Lee and Br'Nee both redeemed themselves by being slowly revealed as nuanced and interesting characters. They both took their turns as monsters, then we learn that they're in fact both sentient and complex life forms.

M'Lee was a particularly pleasant surprise. The notion of a sentient life form that can only dine on bones trapped in a place where people are her only source of food is terrifying both for us and for her. I was pleased that the plot humanized her by making her willing to try and serve the greater good. She did indeed control her hunger on numerous occasions so that she and her would-be meals could figure out a solution that would better benefit both of them. I was less interested in Br'Nee, but I did at least enjoy the parallelism with regards to how he exploited M'Lee for his own personal gain as well as attempting to repeat the same sin with Zhaan.

Even though M'Lee and Br'Nee turned out not to be anywhere near as boring as I had expected, the real meat of the story is with Aeryn's bonding with Moya's baby and with Crais' conflict with Scorpius. I found it fascinating that after all Scorpius was able to subject Crais to, that ultimately Crais was able to retain command of his carrier and that Scorpius had to spend much of the episode slowly undermining Crais' command rather than just take it from him instantly by revealing Crais' history of dereliction of duty to the crew. It was clear that Scorpius didn't immediately carry much weight aboard the command carrier and had to slowly earn his credibility.

As for Aeryn, her Peacekeeper past and her experiences in DNA Mad Scientist converge in a fantastic way making her the perfect candidate to establish a dialog between Moya and her new baby. All the scenes aboard the new hybrid Leviathan were fascinating and I can't wait to see more of the ship. I'm also especially curious about exactly what Peacekeeper project ultimately led to this hybrid's conception. As John said in the previous episode, I'd very much like to know "who the daddy is." We know it's the Peacekeepers, but who? Crais, since Moya was in his fleet? Or someone else?

Review

Family Ties is perhaps the most epic story of Farscape so far and features the boldest stunt yet from Moya's crew: the targeted destruction of Scorpius' entire research base! On top of that, both Rygel and Crais undergo some radical character development which takes both of them to fantastic new places. Rygel's turncoat move was both something that doesn't surprise me at all but at the same time shocks me. I'm glad the Peacekeepers weren't buying what he was selling, but at the same time I'm glad the writers went there with the duplicitous green little slug. As for Crais, he quasi-forgives John, but at the same time abducts Talyn. (I wonder if Crais even knows Talyn's name?) I love the gray portrayals of these too dangerously selfish characters.

John takes his heroic growth to the next and bravest level yet, as does D'Argo in their collective stunt to destroy Scorpius' research base. I loved watching the two of them bond over their mutual bravery and I especially enjoyed watching John giggle like a madman, taking an almost perverse pleasure at destroying Scorpius' work. The episode also offers valuable little tidbits too, such as confirming beyond a shadow of a doubt that at the very least Aeryn experienced John's false Earth from A Human Reaction too and that rather than a planned genetic selection, she was conceived out of her parents' love, a taboo in the Peacekeeper ranks.

But unfortunately there are too many of these tidbits which makes the episode just shy of being worthy of a perfect score. While most of Aeryn's stuff was fantastic, the episode gave us way too many warm and fuzzy character moments. Everyone's so busy telling each other how they feel and saying goodbye because they all think they're gonna die, that the pace of the episode begins to drag at times. Certainly the show has earned most of these character moments by now by painting a deep and nuanced cast of characters, but it often felt overwrought, such as when Chiana whips up everyone's favorite dishes. And what's with her coming onto John like that? On a lighter note, I wonder if Moya can grow more transport pods? ;)

Overall Family Ties is a stellar end to the season. While it's pretty clear that John, D'Argo, and Aeryn are probably not going to die here, it's at the very least possible they may end up stranded in a very miffed Scorpius' captivity. I can only imagine what means of interrogation Scorpius could cook up to extract information from Crichton in the absence of his Aurora chair.