Farscape — 4x22 — Bad Timing
Synopsis
Now safely back on Moya, Crichton learns of the Scarrans' intention to invade Earth. He feverishly analyzes his wormhole data and comes up with a way to collapse the wormhole to Earth - but the method is not one that he can implement alone. Meanwhile, Braca demands Scorpius be released from Moya and returned safely to his Command Carrier - and Aeryn has a few surprises of her own, including the identity of her baby's father.
Filler rating: not filler
Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.
Remarkable scenes
- The recap. Now I'm dizzy.
- Scorpius leading Braca and his command carrier to Moya.
- John receiving a message that the Scarrans are planning to attack Earth to get more of their Strelitzia flowers.
- Moya's crew blowing Scorpius and Sikozu into space for the Peacekeepers to retrieve, then starbursting away.
- John regarding wormholes: "Immediately before it opens, a pressure bubble forms. You can't see it, but it's there." Pilot: "I can see it." John, incredibly surprised: "You can see the bubble?" Pilot: "Yes. Can't you?"
- John, recording a message on his tape recorder: "My name is John Crichton. An astronaut. Four years ago I got shot through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. I ended up on this ship, this living ship, populated by escaping prisoners who became my friends. [...] I've made enemies."
- Chiana: "Pop the frelling bubble. Make the wormhole collapse!" John: "Pip, I can't do it." Chiana: "Yes you can!" John: "I'm not smart enough, I'm not fast enough, I'm not alien enough. And you know what? There are people in the universe who don't like me."
- Pilot proposing that he be transferred to a transport pod to collapse the wormhole himself.
- John landing the transport pod on Earth's moon and walking around.
- John calling his dad from the moon.
- John leaving technology and information on the moon for his people to retrieve.
- The Scarrans shooting at Moya.
- The transport pod colliding with the Scarran ship inside the wormhole and passing right through it.
- Pilot popping the wormhole.
- Aeryn informing John that the baby was released from stasis and that it is, in fact, John's.
- John proposing to Aeryn and Aeryn accepting shortly before they're blown to bits by a random spacecraft attack.
Review
Farscape's running out of good cliffhangers. Once again, just like season three having Moya sucked down a wormhole completely at random, this time around we've got a random attacker from space blowing John and Aeryn to bits coming completely out of nowhere for no reason. They're obviously not dead because the series would never kill off its two leads. At least not this unceremoniously. Leads deserve overwrought deaths, like Zhaan's. That, and the alien attacker said he was "neutralizing" them for "analysis." I suppose you could analyze bitty little bits of dead remains, but I didn't get the impression that the weapon was supposed to be lethal. That said, despite the lame cliffhanger, this episode has lots of great plot points.
This is easily Pilot's episode as much as it's John's and Aeryn's. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy John and Aeryn finally got their relationship sorted out, but there wasn't anything surprising or novel about that. What's surprising is that it took four years to get them this far. Sure the time it took makes it somewhat more rewarding when it finally happened, but it was a foregone conclusion from day one. Pilot on the other hand got to do something truly unique. He got to leave Moya for the first time ever and fly a different ship, greatly risking his life in the process to save Earth from the Scarran threat. Speaking of which, the Scarran threat was awesome.
I'm glad the Scarrans were keen enough to pick up on the detail that their precious flower grows on Earth and I'm glad it was John's casual remark that sicked the Scarrans onto Earth rather than some complicated nonsense like the Scarrans hacking a Peacekeeper database where they found info from Scorpius' research or some other convoluted crap like that. As for Scorpius, I'm sort of glad he's back into the Peacekeeper fold again. He earned it! Finally John's quick phone call to Earth while he was in the vicinity was an absolutely delightful and essential detail. It got across so much in so little screen time. Overall while the cliffhanger was kind of lame this was a fantastic season finale for the best season Farscape's ever had. If the story ended here it'd be a damn shame.