Farscape — 4x05 — Promises
Synopsis
Crichton and the crew are reunited on Moya. Crichton finds Aeryn suffering from Heat Delirium and under the care of Scorpius, who wants asylum aboard Moya. Soon after, a giant Lukythian ship appears nearby, and its Captain, Ullom, claims that Aeryn was recently part of a team that assassinated an important Lukythian leader. Ullom offers to heal Aeryn in return for information about the plot. While battling with the notion of trusting Scorpius, Crichton remains unaware that neither Aeryn nor Ullom is telling the whole truth.
Filler rating: not filler
Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.
Remarkable scenes
- Aeryn greeting John as he lands on Moya only to reveal she's suffering from heat delirium and that Scorpius is with her and wants asylum from the Peacekeepers.
- John: "You will never get the wormhole tech from me." Scorpius: "I could not use it even if I had it! I merely want to safeguard it and hope that when the inevitable Scarran bloodbath begins, you make the appropriate choices."
- John: "Damn it Harvey, guns are dangerous man and there ain't no smokin' in my head!"
- Harvey recommending killing Scorpius.
- Rygel breaking the cooling rods.
- Rygel saving Aeryn from killing herself.
- Scorpius removing Harvey from John's head.
- Scorpius revealing that Grayza is planning to kill Moya with an experimental leviathan killing weapon.
- Scorpius revealing that he has a spy aboard the command carrier.
- Sikozu making the alien ship look like Moya to Braca's scans.
- Scorpius revealing that he really does know where Earth is and that he's the only Peacekeeper who does.
- Moya and Pilot deciding that they want the crew to elect a captain.
- John confronting Aeryn about her keeping her pregnancy from him.
Review
A fantastic episode that draws well on the time honored Farscape cliche of turning old enemies into ambiguous allies. Scorpius fits surprisingly well into Moya's crew given the carefully crafted circumstances for his arrival. In many ways this is his episode as each step of the plot is designed to redeem him further and further. First he saves Aeryn, then he removes Harvey. Both events a delightful counterpoint to Die Me, Dichotomy. Finally he divulges critical Peacekeeper intelligence to save Moya. Way to go Scorpy!
The only wrinkle in the plot is Aeryn's behavior. She spent the first half of the story actively working against John's efforts to save her. Then, even after John goes the last mile to protect whatever it is Aeryn felt she needed to go this far to protect, she still refuses to reveal her pregnancy to him. At this point John's had enough, and I don't blame him. He gave her the perfect opportunity to come clean and she wasted it.
A final point of significant interest is Scorpius revealing to John that he really does know where Earth is and that it wasn't a bluff. Combine that with John's budding wormhole knowledge and I'm not exactly sure what stands between John and going home now! Obviously he might want to not drag characters like Scorpius along with him to Earth, even despite Scorpy's newfound trustworthiness, so this could be a good reason that John's not chomping at the bit to go home right this second. However, the complete sum of this episode works out to another outstanding chapter in Farscape's long term story while setting up nice possibilities for more great stuff to come.