Farscape — 1x06 — Thank God It's Friday, Again
Synopsis
The crew follows D'Argo down to the city of the Sykarans, and is made welcome by the monarch Volmae. D'Argo, along with the general populace, has become a slave to the addictive, mind-altering tannot root. The artificially euphoric people work endlessly for the powerful Volmae, their minds clouded by the tannot. In his efforts to free D'Argo, Crichton encounters the Sykaran resistance movement who force him to let a large live worm eat its way into his belly as protection against the tannot. In order to free them all from the planet, Crichton realizes that he must break Volmae's hold over her people.
Filler rating: bad filler
No significant exposition, events, or consequences. And a lame episode on top of that. The stuff about Luxan hyper rage comes up again later, but it's not necessary to watch this episode to understand the later material.
Remarkable scenes
- The crew explaining Luxan hyper rage to John.
- D'Argo going from hyper rage to silly contentment.
- Aeryn: "She gives me a woodie." John looks at Aeryn strangely. Aeryn: "Woodie. It's a human saying. I've heard you say it often when you don't trust someone or they make you nervous they give you--" John: "Willies! She gives you the willies."
- Rygel's explosive body fluids.
- Aeryn breaking off one of Rygel's whiskers.
- John faking the contentment.
- John defying Snow White.
- Rygel's explosive pee.
- Zhaan discussing D'Argo's mutually exclusive dreams with him.
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.