Farscape — 2x20 — Liars, Guns and Money Part II: With Friends Like These
Synopsis
Moya's crew escapes the Shadow Depository with the loot, but the shipload of currency turns out to be a horde of insectoid creatures that start to eat Moya! What's more, Scorpius has purchased the enslaved Jothee, completely thwarting Stark's plan. The crew decides to hire mercenaries in order to break Jothee out. Individually, they set out to hire their squad - Bekhesh the Tavlek, Rorf and Rorg the Blood Trackers, Teurac the Sheyang, and Zenetan Pirates led by none other than Rygel's old nemesis, Captain Durka.
Filler rating: not filler
Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.
Remarkable scenes
- Scorpius revealing that he captured D'Argo's son and will only give him up in exchange for John.
- Akkor: "A Luxan-Sebacean hybrid." Braca: "Despite Peacekeeper Command efforts to keep the bloodlines pure, there seems to be a few more of them every cycle." Scorpius: "Have you got something against hybrids?" Braca, nervously backpedaling from his faux pas: "No, of course not! Not at all!"
- Scorpius meeting with Jothee.
- Scorpius' creepy alien sex(?) scene with Narita and their ensuing casual conversation about how she was actually trying to kill him with those ingot-spiders.
- Rygel stumbling on Durka while trying procure the flax.
- Rygel killing Durka!
- Zhaan and Pilot setting Moya on fire to eliminate the spiders.
- Rygel throwing Durka's decapitated head to the floor.
- John giving himself up to Scorpius to save Jothee.
Review
This episode is a riveting continuation of the previous installment's premise and I'm delighted to see that rescuing Jothee is finally the primary focus of the story. John takes one more stab at assassinating Scorpius in the process but his plan falls apart as plans always do on this show when the money turned out to be sabotaged. I was pleased the spiders didn't serve as the episode's primary antagonist but instead were treated more like a nuisance while the episode's much more interesting A plot marched forward. This focus made Moya's devastating injury far more shocking and dramatically compelling.
Another nice detail was D'Argo admitting to struggling with giving John to Scorpius in exchange for his son. I liked both that D'Argo struggled with this as well as the fact that he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. Fortunately for D'Argo, the choice was made for him when John realized his plan had fallen apart. Now with no money to pay the mercenaries, John had little choice but to agree to Scorpius' terms.
Speaking of the mercenaries, this episode is a continuity gold mine or nightmare depending on how you look at it. I'm typically fond of well integrated stories where characters recur and aren't confined to single episodes, but the characters brought back in this story weren't Farscape's best offerings, with the possible exception of Durka. Seeing Rygel personally murder Durka was one of the best scenes of the episode; a worthy tangent. We'll have to see how the mercenary thing plays out in the next installment.