Synopsis
Returning from reconnaissance near an unknown planet, Aeryn appears on board having aged one-hundred and sixty cycles! After warning the crew that Moya is stuck in time, she then returns to the planet, leaving a desperate Crichton to follow her. Years pass on the planet surface. Aeryn has raised a family and is content with her life, but Crichton is a bitter and disillusioned old man. On Moya, Zhaan and Stark combine their powers to discover that Moya is trapped in a 'Center Halo', a region where time does not exist. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- This episode is largely pointless but contains two essential tidbits of continuity. It's the episode where Stark returns to Moya (which happens off screen and has to be explained in dialog) and it's the episode where D'Argo learns the whereabouts of his son Jothee. I thus reluctantly classify this episode as not filler.

Problems
- During a scene down on the slow time planet, you can see a car drive by in the background.

Factoids
- Sebaceans live for over 200 cycles.
- John has a line where he says, "I am told old for this shit!" When this line originally aired on television they dubbed it to "I am too old for this ship!"

Remarkable Scenes
- Old Aeryn.
- John meeting Aeryn's granddaughter.
- John getting stuck on the slow time planet.
- Zhaan and Stark sharing unity.
- Old Crichton taunting Harvey.
- Aeryn dying of old age.
- The reverse starburst.
- Stark revealing the whereabouts of D'Argo's son, Jothee.

My Review
The Locket is an episode which had a lot of potential to be a fantastic Aeryn and Crichton character story but it was wasted because the details just didn't tell a very touching story. Instead we got something of a jumble.

Aeryn got old on some planet where time slows down, had children with some man we learn absolutely nothing about, then John goes down there with her (accidentally) and gets old too. The point of the story seemed to be about Aeryn's unrequited love for John, given that they were separated for so many decades, but that drama was understated to the point of barely existing, if at all.

Meanwhile, Stark's now back on the ship randomly and knows the whereabouts of Jothee, D'Argo's son. His presence adds almost nothing to the story except to enhance Zhaan's mystic powers, a cliche they abused not once but twice. Likewise, the whole idea of rapidly aging the characters and then resetting them to normal age is something of a science fiction cliche by this point as well.

The most annoying detail though was how Aeryn thoroughly failed to coherently explain to John when she first returned to Moya exactly what had happened to her. She insisted instead that Moya's crew trust her so she wouldn't have to explain, but she spent more time insisting this than explaining would have taken! Overall the episode is somewhat a flop.

Synopsis
Crais invites Crichton, Aeryn, D'Argo, Zhaan and Stark on board Talyn, and announces that he is going to remove the young gunship's weapons and replace them with a non-lethal Plokavian weapon called a 'Dampening Net'. When the Plokavians arrive with the device, Talyn suddenly targets and destroys one of their vessels! Crichton and the others are captured after Crais starbursts away with Talyn, and their situation becomes a desperate 'whodunnit'. Each is interrogated in turn by the Plokavians, who intend to execute the person they deem responsible. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- This episode is not filler for a number of reasons, but most importantly because of the cliffhanger at the end of the episode.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Novatrin gas is one of the six cargoes leviathans are forbidden to carry.

Remarkable Scenes
- Crais inviting Moya's crew aboard Talyn and requesting assistance disarming Talyn due to his alleged increased aggressive behavior.
- Talyn shooting the Plokavian ship out of the sky then starbursting away.
- The transport pod being captured by the remaining Plokavians.
- John describing their jail cell as "some kind of floating hubcap."
- John referring to the Plokavians as "Plakavoids."
- Crais banishing Moya's crew from Talyn after Talyn destroyed the Plokavian ship.
- Stark telling the Plokavians that Crais deliberately attacked them.
- D'Argo implicating Stark as the one responsible for making Talyn fire on the Plokavians.
- Pilot: "Moya feels guilty." Chiana: "Why? Because Talyn blew up some weapons dealers? If you ask me, they had it coming."
- John: "Ten Plakavoids see a fender bender, you get ten identical reports?" The Plokavians: "Yes."
- Everyone in John's account referring to the Plokavians and the "Plakavoids."
- Stark confessing for the crime.
- The Plokavians dispersing Stark.
- Moya's crew deducing that Talyn fired on the Plokavians of his own volition because he was scared and was trying to protect Moya from the Novatrin gas in the possession of the Plokavians.

My Review
An amusing and fascinatingly framed story with a dramatic twist at the end. Stark's noble sacrifice was abrupt, surprising, and moving. Though like in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan we can be all but certain Stark isn't dead. He's been given a get out of death free card due to his mystic powers and his method of execution.

I am frequently irritated by deaths framed in such a way in science fiction stories because despite how moving Stark's death was, the fact that we cannot know that it is certain death robs it of much of its dramatic appeal regardless of whether or not we ever see him again. Nevertheless, the ending is a great dark twist despite its shortcomings.

The next most remarkable thing in this story is the delightful framing device of most of the episode's plot being told via the dramatized accounts of each of the five prisoners. Each prisoner's subtly different account of what happened aboard Talyn was delightful in its own way. There are too many amusing details to list.

Overall The Ugly Truth is a solid story. Along with Stark's noble sacrifice and the fun of the different accounts of the prisoners, it was great seeing Talyn and Crais again and this time they were used for more than just a silly cameo appearance. Hopefully they start to play a bigger and more frequent role in the ongoing story soon.

Synopsis
Aeryn and Rygel bring onto Moya two Nebari survivors of a Peacekeeper attack, Varla and Melak. Despite their weakened state, the ruthless Nebari manage to mind-cleanse the crew, and in the end only Crichton is unaffected, his mind protected by the Scorpius Clone. Crichton presses Chiana as to the motivations of Varla and Melak. It turns out that Nerri, the brother Chiana thought lost, is very much alive, and is now the leader of the Nebari Resistance Movement. The Nebari Establishment knows this, and intends to capture him using Chiana as bait. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Essential exposition about Chiana's brother and thus Chiana. Also, this is the episode where John names his gun Winona.

Problems
- The human eye can't be stretched in the manner shown in this episode. The only way for that scene to be plausible is if the Nebari have some artificial means to make the eye more robust so that it can survive this procedure.

Factoids
- Pilot's species is immune to Nebari mental cleansing.
- The title of this episode is a reference to A Clockwork Orange which also deals with brainwashing.
- Remarkably, this is the first episode in which Pilot uses a curse word when he cursed his "frelling collar."

Remarkable Scenes
- Crichton naming his gun "Winona."
- Aeryn and Rygel showing up mind cleansed along with a Nebari escort.
- Winona misfiring again when John tried to shoot the Nebari who boarded Moya.
- Chiana revealing that she was allowed to leave Nebari territory because they had infected her with a contagion her government wanted to spread across the galaxy to infect aliens.
- Mind-frelled D'Argo.
- Varla: "It is either mind-cleansing or death." John: "Hey isn't that against your Nebari Prime Directive?" Varla: "We are in difficult times."
- John undergoing the horribly disgusting eyeball removal mind cleansing technique.
- The Nebari revealing that Chiana's brother is still alive.
- Harvey helping John resist the mind cleansing.
- Chiana to John: "You're really not cleansed?" John, feeling up Chiana while she's restrained: "No. My thoughts are as dirty as ever."
- John discovering that because Rygel eats so much and has such a (relatively) good metabolism that the mind cleansing didn't work on him.
- Rygel: "I'm nobody's puppet!" Oh the irony, given that the character is an animatronic puppet.
- Chiana seeing a recording of her brother, letting her know that he's alive.
- John: "Shut up you miserable excuse for a life! I'm sick of you selling us out every chance you get!" Rygel: "I don't do it every chance!"
- Rygel getting Aeryn and D'Argo electrocuted.
- Pilot simulating a Peacekeeper attack.
- Melak turning on Varla.

My Review
This is an episode with very little plot advancement but lots of fun along the way. We learn more about why the nefarious Nebari government is so evil and we find out Chiana's brother is still alive, but aside from giving us some background exposition concerning Chiana, absolutely nothing of consequence happens. What's interesting about this episode is the little details.

Scenes like Harvey helping John resist the mind control, John naming his gun Winona, mind-frelled D'Argo, John chiding Rygel for always trying to sell them out, and so many others turn this otherwise average plot into a quite enjoyable story packed with an assortment of fun scenes. Though it's little more than that. The plot is somewhat deficient at times.

Melak's character is particularly foggy. The plot said Melak was "sent" to deliver Nerri's message to Chiana. But sending him under the guise of working for the Nebari government sort of defeats the purpose of delivering her a message from the resistance if he's duty bound to capture her in the process to maintain his cover. Given that logical contradiction I'm left wondering why Melak didn't just betray Varla right from the start. Oh wait, I know why. Because then we wouldn't have an episode. ;)

In any case, the episode manages to be well above average anyway. It's jam packed with fun scenes and while I'm starting to get irritated that the issue of D'Argo's son continues to be on the backburner, they manage to get away with it pretty well by implying that it's taking Moya some time to travel to the location where Jothee is being held. All in all A Clockwork Nebari is a strong story.

Synopsis
Stark returns with a plan to buy the lot of slaves that includes D'Argo's son, Jothee. He proposes that the crew rob a Shadow Depository - a high-security bank for ill-gotten wealth - run by the powerful, insidious alien Natira. An apparent hitch in the plan leads to D'Argo's capture, and though the heist kicks into action, its objective now includes retrieving the Luxan. Incredibly, it transpires that the currency the crew plans to steal belongs to Scorpius, who has just arrived to make a transaction! [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- The title of this episode trilogy comes from the Warren Zevon song Lawyers, Guns, and Money.
- The title of this part of the trilogy comes from the novel/film A Simple Plan. The plot of that story also featured a highly convoluted plan.

Remarkable Scenes
- Moya's crew rescuing Stark and Stark telling D'Argo he knows a way to save Jothee.
- Zhaan masquerading as a criminal matriarch.
- Aeryn and John seeing Scorpius arrive at the depository from the security monitors.
- Aeryn and John observing Scorpius' cooling rod ritual for the first time and deducing its purpose.
- Rygel: "The blue bitch said this would be easy!"
- John and Aeryn sabotaging one of Scorpius' cooling rods.
- Scorpius finding John.
- John to Scorpius: "What the frell did you put in my head?"
- Scorpius commanding John to save him from the defective cooling rod, using the chip in John's head to attempt to force him to comply.

My Review
A fast paced action plot with lots of great suspense and danger but very little payoff. Almost nothing of consequence happens in this episode despite all the high stakes. The two most significant events are the return of Stark and Scorpius zeroing in on John. But saving D'Argo's son still remains conspicuously untended to and the bounty Moya's crew acquired from the Shadow Depository turned out to be sabotaged for some reason. I'm particularly annoyed with this cliffhanger. If they had gotten away with the money, the episode might have been worth another point, but sabotaged money that transforms into deadly spiders just isn't a very interesting plot point.

Stark's return is certainly a welcome one. If they're going to plant seeds like they did in The Ugly Truth about how Stark's probably maybe not really dead, they should at least follow through with that wishy washiness and bring him back. Fortunately, they did exactly that and wasted no time doing so. I'd have been irritated if they dragged it out, but they didn't. So good job there I guess. What's especially notable though is Stark's behavior post-resurrection seems even more erratic than pre-resurrection, much to my amusement. Watching his convoluted plan slowly unfurl was lots of fun and the fact that his crazy plan wasn't so crazy after all adds a lot of credibility to the character, as D'Argo made note of.

The centerpiece of the story though is John's spazzy behavior as a consequence of John's neural implant being in close proximity to the real Scorpius. I loved how John had no reservations about assassinating Scorpius, but it was obvious that the chip in his head was preventing him from directly attempting to do so. The scene where Scorpius commands John to save his life is one of the most powerful scenes in the series so far. It's delightful that John was able to overcome Scorpius' control, but not completely. John was unable to will himself to kill Scorpius when he got away and what's more leaving the cooling rod within Scorpius' reach was clearly the wishes of the chip in John's head.

Overall the first part of this multi-part episode is off to a good start, cliffhanger notwithstanding. Hopefully the next installment ratchets up the intensity and relevance even more.

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. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Natira designed Scorpius' original cooling system which explains why they have such a close relationship.

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.

My 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.

Synopsis
Crichton has given himself up to Scorpius in exchange for D'Argo's son, Jothee. The rest of the crew decides to rescue him, hoping also to steal enough loot to pay off the mercenaries. Scorpius reveals to Crichton that he placed a neural chip inside Crichton's brain, a chip that contained a clone of Scorpy's personality. While searching out Crichton's wormhole knowledge, the Clone has been infecting and warping Crichton's identity. So, even as the spectacular rescue gets underway, it seems that Crichton will forever be a prisoner in his own mind. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
- On some issues of the DVD release there was a vertical blue line through the center of the screen during several shots while Aeryn was communicating with Crais just prior to Talyn's assault on the depository. This was fixed in subsequent releases though, including the Blu-ray release.

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- The mercenaries revolting and trying to take over Moya because there's no longer any money to pay them.
- Talyn and Crais responding to Moya's distress call, to heal her.
- Rygel carrying around Durka's decapitated head.
- Natira taking Rorf's eye.
- The assault on the Shadow Depository.
- The Sheyang blowing himself up to destroy the generator because he couldn't spit fire normally.
- Talyn destroying the Shadow Depository.
- Moya's crew finally scoring riches in the process of rescuing John.

My Review
The epic rescue of John is a densely packed action show and a great deal of fun. We get to see Talyn strut his stuff, only Rorf and the Sheyang die in the process, nobody else is captured, and the crew makes off with riches! I have to agree with Rygel for once. For a Farscape plan, that's quite a successful haul.

A particular highlight of the story for me was the subtle character development of Jothee. He doesn't have many scenes, but the ones he has count. He starts off indignant, refusing to help rescue John. Then he realizes that he's not comfortable with his cowardice and changes his mind, volunteering to assist his father.

D'Argo though is mindful of Jothee's feelings and gives him the honor of playing a less risky role in the rescue. I liked that Jothee seemed to have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, he didn't have to risk (as much) life and limb. On the other hand, he seemed to truly desire to prove himself to his father in battle and didn't get his chance to. The ambivalence was nicely portrayed.

The centerpiece of the intrigue in this episode was of course once again John and his struggling against Harvey. John seems to have lost more control over his actions than ever before; having to be knocked out by Aeryn and carried out of Scorpius' clutches by D'Argo. John didn't even once assist in his own rescue aside from buying time by distracting Natira.

There were only two minor blemishes that prevent this episode from getting a perfect score. The first is the same complaint from before about the mercenaries. They were annoying. Of course they were far less annoying in this episode than the last one, but they were still a bad idea to begin with because as I wrote in my last review none of them are terribly interesting characters.

Thus when two of them nobly sacrificed themselves, it was hard to really feel for them. They were little more than a distraction from the interesting parts of the plot to begin with. On top of that they didn't even matter that much in the end anyway. It was Talyn that made the difference in the battle, not the mercenaries. Some of them even got in the way, like the pirates.

The second blemish on the plot was the alleged death of Scorpius. This wasn't framed well. We didn't see him die; it was only mentioned in passing. So if he did die, he got a fairly unceremonious death, unworthy of such a fantastic antagonist. If he's not really dead, then the plot's doing a fairly poor job of convincing us that he is. Either way it's a poorly executed plot point. But overall this is an awesome episode of Farscape.

Synopsis
The crew heads to the icy home of a famous surgeon, the Diagnosan Tocot, hoping he will be able to remove the neural chip from Crichton's brain. However, not willing to give up so easily, the Scorpius Clone takes over Crichton's mind, and a mind-controlled Crichton escapes from Moya. Aeryn takes chase in her Prowler, but a critical mistake plummets her, helpless, into a frozen lake. Crichton finally submits to Tocot for the surgery, but even as he lies on the operating table, it turns out that Scorpius himself has been one step ahead of them all... [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Hugh Keays-Byrne, who plays Grunchlk in this episode, originally auditioned to play D'Argo.
- The Diagnosan featured in this episode is the same one that installed Scorpius' cooling system.
- The dog montage when the Diagnosan was probing John's memory was actually a collection of photos of dogs owned by the various people involved with the production of Farscape.

Remarkable Scenes
- John in Socrpius' makeup.
- D'Argo discovering that Jothee mutilated himself because he hated being part Luxan.
- Jothee trying to tongue whip John, but getting his ass kicked instead, then D'Argo tongue whipping John shortly thereafter, catching him off guard.
- Jothee and Chiana discussing D'Argo's dreams about farm life and family.
- Chiana to Pilot: "You're high, okay?" Pilot: "I am no higher than I've ever been. My position is fixed."
- Pilot revealing to Chiana that D'Argo intends to propose to her.
- John, controlled by Harvey, sharing unity with Zhaan.
- John escaping in his module, signaling Scorpius.
- Aeryn chasing John's module with her prowler, trying to shoot it down.
- John, controlled by Harvey, puncturing Aeryn's prowler with the landing gear.
- Aeryn ejecting from her prowler as it crashes into the ice.
- Aeryn crashing into the frozen lake.
- Scorpius arriving at the ice planet and assaulting the Diagnosan just as it had removed the chip in John's head but before it restored his speech.

My Review
Another stellar episode just shy of being worthy of a perfect score. Repeating the same mistake as the previous episode, we all know Aeryn is not really dead, so why the big, dramatic funeral? The story plants the seeds of her resurrection quite clearly. The Diagnosan regularly preserves people at the moment of their death, keeping them alive in stasis. Clearly, unbeknownst to anyone in the story, the Diagnosan is (was?) planning to add Aeryn to its collection.

Once again, the audience isn't being clued into this hidden motive because the writers are trying to fool us, playing up Aeryn's alleged death with an overwrought funeral. But audiences are not fooled and even if we were, that's not how you write good drama. On a related note, were we supposed to act surprised that Scorpius was still alive? Nobody in this episode even acted like he was dead and nobody was surprised when he returned. It's as if the writers gave up on that ruse last episode.

The next most annoying detail of the episode is the Diagnosan itself. Scorpius said, "What irony! Sensitivity to heal anything but oneself." He's right, but the irony is pretty forced. It's like the planet full of lawyers. A good satire is nice, but it's hard to suspend disbelief that there is an entire species out there dedicated to a single craft, like healing or lawyering. Once again, Farscape delivers us another bad science fiction cliche.

That said, the season two finale delivers a lot of drama and intrigue. The icy dogfight between Aeryn and John controlled by Harvey was incredibly thrilling. And the little details tantalize as well. There is dialog suggesting that humans, Sebaceans, and perhaps other aliens are genetically closely related somehow and there's also a sequence of lovely scenes between Chiana and Jothee. Poor D'Argo. His girlfriend is about to become his daughter in law.

And finally, you can't help but feel for John. Aeryn's death may be a poorly executed sleight of hand, but John being robbed of his girl, his speech, and much of his memory is a terrible price to pay for getting that chip in his head removed. Like Aeryn's life, I'm sure John's speech will be restored, but I doubt this is the last we'll see of Scorpius.

It would be fun to see some sort of role reversal. Imagine Scorpius developing some kind of wormhole technology using John's recovered memories and then John hunting Scorpius both for a way home and for vengeance. But whatever does ensue, this episode definitely leaves me on the edge of my seat for more Farscape. This was an effective season finale and the season itself continued to deliver a delightfully dark drama.

Synopsis
Although Scorpius's neural chip has finally been removed, Crichton feels he has no reason to live - Aeryn is dead, his power of speech is gone, and the clone of Scorpius's personality inexplicably remains in Crichton's mind. What's more, the crew of Moya discovers that they have more than just Crichton and Scorpius to deal with. Lurking somewhere in the Medical Facility is a murderous Scarran. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- The opening credits of this episode were revised for the first time since Chiana was added to the main cast and were revised much more significantly this time. Crais, Scorpius, and Stark were all added to the main cast and a brand new opening monologue for John was recorded. Also, the action shots montage is completely different.
- Starting with this episode the name of the episode is shown just after the opening credits.

Remarkable Scenes
- John discovering that he still has Harvey in his head even though the chip is gone. But Harvey doesn't want to be there, so he's decided that John must die!
- John: "You should be gone! How come you're not?" Harvey: "I don't know, but this, this is intolerable for both of us! End it John! Free us from one another! Scorpius has beaten you, Aeryn Sun is dead, your power of speech is gone! The only one you'll ever talk to again is me! Is that how you want to live? End it John..."
- Scorpius puppeting Grunchlk.
- Zhaan trying to euthanize John.
- Stark killing one of the donors.
- D'Argo to John: "Do not make me tongue you!"
- John telling Harvey what for now that he realizes he can control him.
- Scorpius forcing Grunchlk to bite off one of his fingers.
- The Scarran going after John and D'Argo.
- Zhaan bringing back Aeryn.
- Aeryn saving John and D'Argo.
- Talyn getting into a space battle with Scorpius' forces.
- Zhaan revealing that she's dying.

My Review
A great story that serves as a good wrap up for the previous cliffhangers while delivering more good drama. As expected, Aeryn was saved and John's speech was restored. What it cost to save Aeryn though was an interesting and unexpected twist. Will they kill off Zhaan? Maybe, maybe not, but for once the writing has placed a character in danger of dying without it seeming insincere. Ending the episode on Zhaan revealing that she's dying was a strong choice. Even if Moya visits some mystic Delvian healing planet next week, at least this one ended on a strong note.

Similarly, they finally handled the fake death of Scorpius properly. I rolled my eyes the moment Talyn shot down Scorpius' marauder. Luckily, a minute later it was revealed to the audience that it was all a ruse to fake out our heroes to make them think Scorpius is dead so John and company wouldn't hunt him down. Indeed, it's a delightful irony and a lovely role reversal right down to parallels to previous episodes. In Mind the Baby, Scorpius hunted down Crais in his command carrier. In this episode, Crais hunted down Scorpius with Talyn.

I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of this episode signaling the end of Harvey. I'd love to see Harvey kicking around in John's head some more. But I suppose with Harvey controlling John, then John wouldn't really be John. It's just sad because the plot seems to have rearranged itself so that we'll see less Scorpius, just like season two's long stretch of episodes without Scorpius. This is especially curious now that they've made him a main character. Maybe we'll see isolated Scorpius plots now separated from Moya. It might be fun to see what Scorpius' command carrier does when it's not hunting down Moya.

Another theme for the season appears to be the illicit relationship between Jothee and Chiana. It ain't gonna be pretty when D'Argo finds out about that. Finally, I'm not sure what to make of Talyn and Crais either. They offered Aeryn a chance to spend time guiding and molding Talyn, but everyone seems to have forgotten about that. Given that Zhaan's dying, I can understand why Aeryn might be distracted, but why isn't Crais bringing the issue back to the forefront?

Overall this episode does a fine job of setting the stage for season three, but it had to wade through some crusty exposition and cleanup to do it. If the last four episodes were stronger stories with fewer weaknesses, season three could have opened with a bigger bang, but what we got was still of course quite spectacular.

Synopsis
Eager to spend the currency acquired from the heist of the Shadow Depository, the crew of Moya head to a Commerce Station. The situation becomes disastrous when the station is damaged by a violent storm, Moya becoming ensnared in the docking cables. As it becomes clear that the storms are not natural phenomena, and the crew looks to escape, D'Argo learns that Chiana has betrayed him with his son. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Essential character development for D'Argo, Chiana, and Jothee. This is also the episode in which D'Argo acquires the ship protected by the force field, which will become more significant later.

Problems
None

Factoids
- This episode's title is a reference to Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence.

Remarkable Scenes
- Rygel spying on Chiana having sex with Jothee.
- John: "Whoa, where do they get these stories? Let's set the facts straight. First off there was no raping, very little pillaging and Frau Blucher popped all the eyeballs."
- D'Argo finding out about Chiana and Jothee.
- John to Chiana and Jothee: "You betrayed the one person on this ship who would have done anything for you. Both of you. He would have died for you."
- John to Borlik: "Hey, fridge magnet!"
- D'Argo trying to get himself killed outside Moya.
- Pilot to John: "I would shut up and stop wasting time, commander!"
- Aeryn: "Frell me dead!"
- D'Argo waking up and assisting John.
- Pilot cackling as he blows Borlik into space.

My Review
An episode with a lame to mildly entertaining A plot concerning our alien of the week with a somewhat overwrought but mostly outstanding B plot concerning D'Argo's love triangle. There's little to say about our alien of the week other than she was shallow and annoying. Her whole purpose was to create manufactured danger to give us something to watch other than D'Argo's melodrama. We didn't necessarily need that, though Pilot's cackling scene almost makes it worth it.

D'Argo's melodramatic love triangle is really what makes this episode worth most of its points. I'm glad they didn't drag this out too long and aside from a few scenes where D'Argo's behavior was unnecessarily erratic such as the suicidal tendencies and threatening his son with violence, D'Argo's pain was mostly well played. As such, as the episode slowly shifted focus from the alien of the week to D'Argo's story it got far more enjoyable as it went along.

Unfortunately though with only a single plot thread that was terribly interesting, there's little else in this episode to praise. Maybe it's naive, but with Scorpius and Crais both now being credited as main characters, I'm at a loss to understand why Scorpius and Crais aren't making more regular appearances. Even a non sequitur C plot cutting to Scorpius' command carrier would have brightened up this episode better. Were it not for D'Argo's story this certainly would have been a below average episode.

Synopsis
While searching for a planet to heal the dying Zhaan, Moya collides and fuses with a small spacecraft, seriously injuring Moya and trapping both ships in a series of looping wormholes. Crichton and the captain of the other ship, Neeyala, soon realize that one of the ships must be sacrificed if any of them are to survive. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here. This is also the episode where the recurring character of Jool is first introduced.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Jool was in stasis for 22 cycles.
- The clip from Earth John sees in the alien recording device at the end of the episode is a still from The Three Stooges.

Remarkable Scenes
- Moya stumbling on a wormhole.
- John injecting the aliens who boarded Moya with translator microbes.
- John likening the alien's discussion of wormholes to technobable from Star Trek.
- Moya attempting to starburst with the alien ship still stuck to her.
- Rygel: "We were thrown together against our will. And we're all just trying to make the best of it until we can get the chance to screw the others and get what we want."
- John getting in a fight with Rygel.
- Rygel: "You broke my nose!" John: "You ain't gotta nose Guido, you got slits!"
- Crichton having a chat with Harvey.
- Jool attacking John.
- D'Argo unlocking the ship he recovered from the last episode.

My Review
Despite having a lot of worthwhile potential, this episode is a jumbled mess. We've got nothing but tidbits of largely unexplored ideas here that each deserved more screen time than they got. John seems to learn how to navigate a wormhole safely, one of the frozen aliens allegedly closely related to humans wakes up and this time survives, John and Harvey seem to both conclude that Scorpius is still alive, and D'Argo unlocks the recovered alien ship.

Meanwhile, Zhaan's story seems to be put on the backburner and instead replaced with a silly non corporeal serpent monster action plot. Combine that with Jool's annoying screams and homicidal behavior along with the false danger presented in the cliffhanger about the lives of John, Moya, and Pilot being in danger and you've got the makings for a pretty lame story. There's little else to say other than hopefully part 2 delivers stronger stuff.

Synopsis
Hoping to preserve their own ship at Moya's expense, Neeyala's crew has been sabotaging Moya and hastening her disintegration. Crichton and the crew must battle not only the saboteurs but also a mysterious and deadly alien serpent. As the situation worsens, the only possibility of saving Moya requires that one of her crew make the ultimate sacrifice. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Zhaan was not originally slated to be killed off in this episode. They planned to rejuvenate her on the soil of a suitable planet just as everyone was saying. However, the actress who played Zhaan (Virginia Hey) wanted to quit the show because the makeup required to play the character was beginning to adversely affect her health.

Remarkable Scenes
- John: "I'm telling you Aeryn, it was from Earth. A television transmission." Aeryn: "What, you mean like that Yoda from Dagobah?"
- Moya's crew breaking off into two separate factions both simultaneously planning the same thing even though they think they're on opposite sides.
- Jool: "You killed my cousin!" John: "Not on purpose! He was a corpsicle and your other cousin, he didn't last half a minute defrosted." Jool: "Then why did I survive?" John: "I don't know. You're not sick. Maybe they shanghaied you for body parts. You're the freebie." Jool: "Everything I've seen so far is despicable!" John: "Welcome to the Federation starship S.S. butt crack!"
- John cutting the serpent in half with the force field from D'Argo's ship.
- Harvey surfacing to have a chat with John.
- Aeryn kicking Pilot awake.
- Rygel: "Goodbye, you big beautiful blue bitch."
- Zhaan sacrificing herself so that Moya can escape the wormhole.
- Jool: "Do you know how much these shoes cost, young whore?" Chiana: "For me, three sex acts. Probably double that for you."

My Review
Part 2 is less of a jumble and more pointed, but never fully recovers from the last episode's issues. Aside from the continuing annoyance of Jool's screams, a number of essential plot tidbits are left largely unexplored such as the implications of John discovering how to safely navigate wormholes, the discovery of a wormhole within range of Earth, the full extent to which Harvey can control John, and the full extent to which John and Harvey suspect Scorpius is still alive and what they plan to do about that. These unresolved issues make the story's conclusion somewhat unfulfilling.

But simultaneously, despite not enough important plot being adequately addressed, the story also drags at times. Like the prior episode, the biggest issue is the alien wormhole researcher plot. The aliens were unworthy as a plot device to create danger for the crew and even less worthy as a plot device for Zhaan's demise. It's touching that Zhaan's ultimate sacrifice was to save Moya, but I was far more moved when she originally ultimately sacrificed herself to save Aeryn. I think her death would have been stronger had she died the moment she saved Aeryn.

Synopsis
While at a Peacekeeper memorial, Crichton and the crew are pulled back in time into the middle of a great siege between Peacekeepers and the Venek Horde. As they try to stay alive long enough to get back to their own time, they realize that every action is changing the course of history - with devastating effects on the future. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 1, partial filler, but has important continuity. I recommend against skipping this one.
- This episode is mostly filler, but these events are referenced briefly in a pivotal fourth season episode. The reference is not essential, but it's pretty neat if you've seen this episode.

Problems
- When John places the time travel mask on Stark's head in the teaser, he is very careful to place it on his head in a level fashion. But in the next cut, it's shown on his head tilted askew.
- There's an error in dialog just after the Harvey scene when John says, "If Grines dies, he's a hero who averts a war." He should have said, "If Dacon dies, he's a hero who averts a war."

Factoids
- The opening credits of this episode were altered to remove Zhaan from the list of main characters.
- This episode establishes that Sebaceans can live for as long as 700 cycles.

Remarkable Scenes
- Stark accidentally transporting everyone to the past at the scene of the monumental battle.
- D'Argo throwing Jool into a wall mistakenly thinking she'll pass through the tear in time and return to their time period.
- The nurse taking out Grines just as he was about to escape.
- John summoning up Harvey (in cowboy boots) to chat about what to do.
- Dacon, just before getting killed: "No, heroes always get killed. I'll be fine!"
- John, in the midst of the intense battle: "I'm gonna have a heart attack!"
- Everyone returning to their time only to discover that they doomed the peace after all.

My Review
A rather cliched time travel story not unlike what we've seen on Star Trek too many times now except the plot device used to get there is less interesting. Stark's mystic abilities + mystic goggles from the memorial = time travel! As a consequence of the rather deus ex machina plot device, the writers were able to invent as many nonsensical predestination paradoxes they liked to give those still on Moya something to do and of course to give the end of the story some semblance of meaning.

The basic point behind this story is to explore the idea that our heroes making contact with alien civilizations might adversely affect them sometimes so our heroes can learn a lesson about treading more carefully. This is not unlike a Prime Directive episode on Star Trek. The trouble though is that lesson comes through much more clearly in a single exchange of dialog in Suns and Lovers when Borlik had a mistaken impression of the legendary John Crichton's exploits. The simple act of John having to correct her is far more interesting than John accidentally rewriting history on some nameless planet we don't care about.

What does work well in this episode is the delightfully striking contrast between John's and Aeryn's approach toward surviving their peril. There's nothing particularly surprising about their chosen tactics, but it's very in character. One touch I greatly enjoyed was how easily Aeryn blended into the ranks of Peacekeepers from 500 cycles ago. That says a lot about the static nature of Peacekeeper culture. While there's been some advancement in, say, pulse weapons since then, there's little difference at a high level.

Synopsis
With their Transport Pod damaged, Crichton, Chiana, D'Argo and Jool are forced to land on an old, diseased Leviathan in a Peacekeeper Control Collar. Their fears of running into Peacekeepers aboard the ship are soon replaced by terrifyingly real foes: mutant scavengers who are feeding on each other, the Leviathan's Pilot, and the Leviathan itself... and Kaarvok, a madman with an horrific taste for brain matter. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Despite the episode sucking, the plot advancement in this episode is essential and unskippable.

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- John, D'Argo, Chiana, and Jool stumbling on a leviathan with a control collar installed.
- John discovering that the pilot's arms aboard the leviathan they found are being repeatedly harvested for food.
- Moya stumbling on Talyn.
- Kaarvok twinning Chiana and killing one of the Chianas.
- Kaarvok killing the pilot aboard his leviathan.
- Chiana stumbling on D'Argo being molested by Kaarvok's pet Peacekeeper.
- Jool attempting and failing to kill herself with a pulse rifle.
- John getting twinned as the leviathan breaks in two.
- The two Johns playing rock paper scissors and each coming out with the same play every time.

My Review
This episode has some nice concepts but they're so poorly executed that it's difficult to sit through. I love the idea behind the leviathan they stumbled on in this episode. It's basically an alternate Moya; what could have happened to Moya if the prisoners she was housing were more like Kaarvok and less like our heroes. The trouble is, Kaarvok and his zombie army are terribly uninteresting antagonists. The entire thing is basically just an excuse to do a horror movie. Cannibals, zombies, creepy music, darkened sets with strobe lights flashing, everyone splitting up and getting offed one by one... but oh wait, not really!

Ironically, it's the annoying twinning plot device that reset buttons all the deaths in this episode that ultimately makes the story's implications fascinating. John got twinned and then left that way at the end of the story. This is not unlike the events of My Three Crichtons. Hopefully this time both Crichtons stick around instead of one of them being conveniently killed shortly. Likewise, hopefully Talyn and Crais stick around this time. But since none of these things are actually explored in this episode and the rest of the episode sucks, it's hard to award it many points.

Synopsis
Crichton has been duplicated into two identical Crichtons. Moya's crew, trying to buy a healing agent for the injured gunship Talyn, becomes embroiled in a planet's deadly politics. Meanwhile, Aeryn discovers that her own mother, Xhalax Sun, is leading the Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad sent to recapture Talyn. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Talyn builds his own DRDs as he grows.

Remarkable Scenes
- The two Johns arguing over which one is the original.
- Crais revealing to Aeryn that he stumbled on her personnel file which included a recording showing Aeryn's mother revealing that she and Aeryn's father Talyn had conceived Aeryn out of love rather than duty.
- Crais revealing that the retrieval squad chasing after Talyn is under the command of Aeryn's mother.
- The people on the planet taking shots at Moya and Talyn and John getting them to stand down by threatening to level the city with Talyn.
- John being subjected to a lethal lie detector test.
- Crais, about Aeryn's mother: "She is nothing. A thug. A mindless assassin as you and I once were. But you can give her a chance to be something more than that."
- John giving blood to save his counterpart.
- John filling in for his injured counterpart, complete with divergent memories to fool the lie detector creature.
- Tolven lying to his father and getting killed by the lie detector lobster.
- John on Moya complaining that other Crichton ended up both with his pulse pistol Winona and on Talyn with Aeryn.
- Aeryn declaring that she would kill her mother to save Talyn.

My Review
This is a great episode that finally addresses the dangling Talyn plot thread left over from the season premiere while properly exploring the implications of the previous episode's cliffhanger of duplicating John and introducing the stellar new antagonist of Aeryn's mother all at once. The royalty of the week on the planet of the week is fast becoming a Farscape cliche, but this time they were a lot more fun. I particularly enjoyed the two Johns playing Tolven like a fiddle. My favorite scene of the whole episode is watching the second, uninjured John waltz into their palace and pass the lie detector lobster with flying colors, baffling Tolven.

Indeed, much of this episode's plot is setup to establish a division between Moya's crew and separate the two Johns. Half the crew is on Talyn being hunted by Aeryn's mother and half are on Moya doing... well... not a whole hell of a lot. Hopefully future episodes give the Moya side of things something interesting to do because I can already tell the Talyn plots will be far more interesting than the Moya plots if episodes are going to be dividing time between the two isolated crews and keeping them separate for a long stretch of episodes.

I suspect one of the two Johns will have to die before the crew is reunited simply to avoid the logistical expense and audience confusion of having two Johns in the same place all the time, despite how much fun that was in this episode. However, being able to explore the idea of John simultaneously existing in two separate contexts is fascinating. I quite enjoy the idea of Moya and Talyn being separated for a long stretch of episodes just to see how different the two Johns are by the time they meet each other again. That is if they meet each other again. ;)

As for Aeryn's mother, I found her to be a delightful choice as an antagonist. The obvious feelings of mixed loyalties this creates for Aeryn are well played and the final line of the episode where Aeryn vows to kill her mother before letting Talyn be captured is packed with the fantastically dark, gritty, bold drama I've come to enjoy in Farscape's best episodes. This episode does much to recover from the gaffes of previous episodes and sets the stage quite nicely for potentially still better episodes to come.

Synopsis
When Talyn is swallowed by a giant space creature, a Budong, Crais's neural connection to Talyn malfunctions, and he asks Aeryn to accept the 'Hand of Friendship' to help him control the hybrid gunship. Warily avoiding the Budong in a Transport Pod, Stark and Rygel come up with a way for Talyn to escape, but Crichton's jealousy complicates the plan... [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- This episode resolves the long running plot thread involving Crais pressuring Aeryn to join him in commanding Talyn. There is also a small reference to the events of this episode in a later episode in this season, Fractures.

Problems
None

Factoids
- This episode was written by Ben Browder, the actor who plays John Crichton.
- The title of this episode is a reference to dialog in Shakespeare's Othello: "O beware, my lord, of jealousy. It is the green eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."
- Stark spent five cycles on a Budong mining operation.

Remarkable Scenes
- John being irritated by one of Talyn's DRDs.
- John: "That's no moon." Ah, the irresistible Star Wars reference.
- Talyn getting swallowed by a Budong.
- John, Aeryn, and Crais anchoring Talyn to the Budong's throat.
- Rygel's and Stark's near miss with the Budong.
- Stark: "You're loose!" Rygel: "Not half as loose as Chiana."
- Crais begging John to kill him because of the pain Talyn is inflicting on him.
- Stark proposing that they make the Budong vomit out Talyn.
- Rygel: "Sebaceans are ugly, not stupid!"
- Stark feeding the Budong ice from the gas giant's rings.
- Aeryn sharing her deepest feelings for John with Talyn (and Crais?) just prior to disconnecting herself from Talyn.
- The Budong vomiting out Talyn.

My Review
The first episode of Farscape not to feature Moya, Pilot, or D'Argo tells a much different sort of story, fitting for a story in which Talyn is finally a central character rather than merely a minor character at best or a MacGuffin at worst as he's been before. The green eyed monster, a clever Shakespeare reference, isn't just the Budong, it's the jealousy that plagues John, Crais, and even Talyn. It's fascinating how Crais' latent feelings for Aeryn seem to have been twisted into something completely different by Talyn when combined with his own perspective and Peacekeeper programming. Talyn, for better or worse, is his own personality and acts more radically than even Crais would prefer.

It's almost as if Talyn's perspective and demeanor represents what Crais would be with fewer inhibitions. The physical toll Talyn takes on Crais' body when the two of them are not of like mind is a marvelous development and helps to reassure the viewers that the two exist more frequently in a symbiotic and egalitarian fashion rather than the hierarchical fashion that was previously assumed with Crais commanding Talyn unilaterally. This theme is also consistent with Talyn's prior penchant for erratic behavior.

Another nicely done theme was the constant running gag of John trying to open doors aboard Talyn only to be denied entry. This running gag of course culminates into a life threatening situation when Talyn nearly kills John. The Stark and Rygel story was remarkably less satisfying as they were being used as the typical cliched Farscape bickering and panic comic relief. I also could have done without all the misdirection as to who was jealous and plotting against who, but despite these wrinkles this episode ends up being a very strong story.

Synopsis
After passing through a magnetic cluster, the crew experiences strange blackouts and periods of lost time. They discover that Pilot has been possessed by a being who is pursuing an evil 'Energy Rider'. The being inside Pilot warns our crew that the Rider inhabits one of them, and if that person isn't found - and the Rider extracted - the crew will all die. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- The Scorpius plot in this episode is essential viewing. This is also the episode where Chiana develops her premonition abilities.

Problems
- When Scorpius orders Drillic to pilot the next test flight and promotes Strappa to project leader, there's an obvious ADR error where Scorpius' dialog is clearly not in sync with his lips.

Factoids
- This is the first episode to not feature Aeryn or Rygel.
- John lost his virginity at 16 to a girl named Karen Shaw. D'Argo lost his virginity at the age of 7.

Remarkable Scenes
- Scorpius interfacing with John's memories as a facet in his wormhole research.
- The wormhole Scorpius is researching liquefying the prowler test pilot.
- D'Argo regarding when John lost his virginity: "How old were you?" John: "Sixteen." D'Argo: "I was seven."
- John: "All right, we don't understand the R2D2 crap. We're gonna use the Star Trek system. One blink for yes, two blinks for no."
- John nicknaming the DRD Pike, based on Captain Pike from Star Trek TOS.
- Scorpius revealing to Braca that the Scarrans are planning a massive assault on the Peacekeepers and have only held back so far for fear of Peacekeeper wormhole weapons, a bluff Scorpius is desperately trying to turn into a reality.
- DRD Pike's untimely demise.
- Jool: "I feel like I've had a spiritual enema."

My Review
An episode with a much more interesting B plot than its A plot. We finally get a story where we cut away to Scorpius' command carrier to see how his wormhole research is progressing and the episode barely spends any time developing that plot thread at all. What little we do get is fantastic, but it's a damn shame the episode spends so much time focusing on the monster attacking Moya of the week rather than the much more interesting story of the Peacekeeper arms race.

The "energy rider" plot did have some interesting aspects though. It seems to have left Chiana with some kind of premonition ability which left us on a bit of a cliffhanger and the DRD Pike detail was a nice touch. I loved DRD Pike as a mechanism to communicate directly with Moya without Pilot. Otherwise though this episode is a fairly big flop. It gets a couple extra points for some nice tidbits and the Scorpius plot but there's little else of value here.

Synopsis
The Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad lead by Aeryn's mother, Xhalax Sun, traces the crew of Talyn to a Jungle Planet where the gunship is recuperating. When Crichton, Aeryn and Crais easily divert the squad away from the gunship, they surmise that Talyn might not be the only target of the Peackeepers' mission. When Aeryn's attempts to reason with Xhalax fail, she realizes that the pursuit of Talyn will not stop until Xhalax is dead. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Not filler mostly for the Xhalax plot.

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Stark: "Friend or foe? Friend or foe? Friend or foe?" Rygel: "Will you shut the frell up? Of course it's a foe! We have no friends!"
- John: "Okay, welcome to the butt hole of the universe."
- The gun battle and Aeryn being unhappily reunited with her mother shortly thereafter.
- Xhalax escaping and taking out Aeryn, Stark, and Rygel.
- Xhalax revealing that she killed Aeryn's father to redeem herself in the eyes of the Peacekeepers to make up for breaking regulations and conceiving a child out of love rather than duty.
- John killing the tracker aliens using Crais as a decoy.
- Crais killing Xhalax.

My Review
The much anticipated reunion of and confrontation between Xhalax and Aeryn is mostly well executed except for a few details. Rygel and Stark's bickering was once again a less than stellar attempt at comic relief and John betraying Crais was almost unforgivably stupid. I don't understand what exactly they were fighting about or what exactly Crais wasn't up front about with John to begin with or why it should matter. They're both being hunted by the Peacekeepers for being outlaws. What else is there to know that's at all relevant? I tended to side with Crais on this one. John just seems to be grasping at straws to have a reason not to like Crais.

That said, there's much to love in this story. Despite Rygel's whining, I loved his pitiful attempt at being heroic. Granted, only profound desperation could motivate him to challenge Xhalax after she already took out Aeryn and Stark, but it was touching to see Rygel try as might and get himself possibly mortally wounded in the process. More importantly though, Aeryn having to confront her mother was quite well done. She was mostly unflinching in her conviction to have Xhalax killed if it were a choice between Xhalax or Talyn, which was admirable, if gut-wrenching.

The aesthetic choice to focus on Aeryn's face while Crais executed Xhalax was also a nice touch since the episode is basically a story about Aeryn's emotional journey in having to face the fact that her mother is an irredeemable liability to be dispensed with rather than someone she can bring into the fold like John did for her. Aeryn's sense of guilt over her inability to turn her mother is also well played. The acting makes it clear that Aeryn's rational mind knows it couldn't have gone down any other way but in her heart Aeryn may always believe she could have or should have done something different to save her mother and turn her against the Peacekeepers.

Synopsis
With his wormhole research stalling and his situation desperate, Scorpius inserts the original 'neurochip' into his own brain. He hopes to make contact with the clone of John's personality that spilled into the chip when it was in Crichton's brain. When they meet, Scorpius shows the 'Crichton Clone' his terrible, brutal upbringing at the hands of the Scarrans, hoping to persuade him to decode the wormhole equations. Meanwhile, a defecting Peacekeeper scientist offers the real Crichton the secret of wormhole travel in exchange for Moya. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Major exposition about Scorpius and the wormhole research project.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Ninety other attempts were made to create a Sebacean-Scarran hybrid. In each attempt, both the Sebacean mother and the hybrid child died. Scorpius was lucky to have survived his birthing.
- Scorpius was exempted from Peacekeeper racial purity regulations due to his unique status and his clear demonstrations of loyalty in assisting the Peacekeepers destroy a Scarran dreadnought.

Remarkable Scenes
- Scorpius introducing himself to the neural clone of John by interfacing with it directly.
- Scorpius showing his early childhood to neural John.
- John to D'Argo in response to D'Argo's objections to John's obsession with finding his suspected nearby wormhole: "You wanna push this mister let's go find my son?"
- Linfer coming to Moya and allegedly offering John the secret to wormhole travel.
- Linfer telling John that Scorpius is still alive.
- Scorpius revealing to John that he was the product of a male Scarran's rape of his Sebacean mother.
- Linfer starting to liquefy.
- Linfer committing suicide in her prowler.
- Scorpius making the case to neural John that the Scarrans are malevolent and genocidal and won't stop until theirs is the only sentient race left in the galaxy. A threat so pronounced that it could one day spell the destruction of Earth as well.
- John to Scorpius about discovering wormholes: "Remember what the ancients told me? If you're not smart enough to discover it for yourself, you're not smart enough to use it wisely."
- Braca abruptly changing Scorpius' cooling rod.

My Review
This episode is like Losing Time except without most of its problems. Like that story we have a plot on Scorpius' command carrier and a plot aboard Moya. But this time, the focus was on the much more interesting story of Scorpius' wormhole research, which moves in an even more interesting direction now that Scorpius has enlisted neural clone John's assistance in his research.

The idea behind neural clone John was woefully poorly explored in Losing Time when he was first introduced, but this time he's used as a delightful pawn in Scorpius' obsession with wormhole research. Likewise, the Moya story is much better executed this time around with the theme of John on Moya being equally obsessed with wormholes being well played.

The subplot concerning Linfer's defection from Scorpius could have been better. In particular Pilot's unconditional trust of her struck me as uncharacteristically reckless and the story's inference that Pilot was right to trust her all along was bit too sanctimonious for my tastes. However, on the whole the Moya story worked pretty well for once and nicely complimented the Scorpius A plot.

As for Scorpius, devoting an episode to his backstory was a delightful idea. I enjoyed getting to see all the details of his horrific childhood along with why he ultimately sided with the Peacekeepers and how he rose through the ranks so well. I was impressed that even after the whole song and dance John was still unwilling to help Scorpius, though I enjoyed his clear moment of temptation and indecision. Overall this is the best episode of the season so far.

Synopsis
Talyn draws dangerously close to a star, pulled by some mysterious force. Coinciding with this event is the appearance on board of two alien beings: the timid Sierjna and her captor, Mu-Quillus. Crichton and the others learn that Mu-Quillus is responsible for the radiation pulses that are compelling Talyn to fly into the sun and that eighty-three Leviathans have already died in this way. Stark makes a pact with Sierjna to free her spirit from Mu-Quillus and let her pass into the afterlife. However, Stark is acting of his own accord, and his quest to save Sierjna puts the rest of the crew in dire peril. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 1, partial filler, but has important continuity. I recommend against skipping this one.
- No significant exposition, events, or consequences. And a lame episode on top of that. Stark piloting Talyn is referenced in the series finale, but it's a pretty casual reference. Not essential for plot comprehension.

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Talyn's mist pumping adrenaline into everyone.
- John: "God-like aliens! Man do I hate god-like aliens! I'll trade a critter for a god-like alien any day!" I couldn't agree more.
- Talyn invasively interfacing with Stark.
- Stark: "Would Zhaan approve of this use of violence?" Aeryn, lying poorly: "She's speaking through me now. It is her wish."

My Review
Aside from the intriguing notion of Talyn developing a vestigial pilot's den and a few nice scenes, this episode an exercise in pointlessness. Annoying aliens of the week, manufactured danger plot, Stark's irrationality and panic artificially prolonging the relevance of said manufactured danger plot, and overkill sex appeal. What a flop.

Synopsis
An Ancient - again taking the form of Crichton's father Jack - appears on Talyn and accuses Crichton of sharing wormhole stabilizing technology with the Charrids, a vicious race who have formed an alliance with the Scarrans. Crichton realizes that Furlow, the mechanic from Dam-Ba-Da depot who once repaired Crichton's module and had a mercenary interest in wormhole technology, is the real guilty party. With a Scarran Dreadnought heading towards Dam-Ba-Da to collect Furlow's data, Jack must unlock the wormhole technology in Crichton's brain in order to build the ultimate weapon - but must first confront the evil Scorpius Clone in Crichton's mind. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
- It's sort of dumb that Crais wasn't wearing the goggles anymore after he had been blinded. By not wearing the goggles anymore he only does further damage to his eyes.

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- The "Jack" ancient showing up and threatening to kill John for misuse of his hidden wormhole knowledge.
- Harvey stealing John's attention for a brief moment in a memory of bumper cars.
- The crew getting pinned down by gunfire on the planet and Talyn swooping in to rescue them, getting burned by the stelar flare in the process.
- John and Aeryn encountering a captured Furlow.
- Rygel interrogating the Charrid, murdering him in the process, but managing to obtain vital intelligence that a Scarran dreadnought is due to arrive shortly.
- Stark and Crais surveying the damaged Talyn.
- Aeryn recruiting Rygel into manning the gun turret by appealing to his sense of patriotism.
- Jack proposing to attempt to remove Harvey from John.
- Rygel taking out Charrids and complaining of running out of ammo.
- Jack and John attempting to remove Harvey.
- Rygel's position being overrun and Rygel being struck with shrapnel.
- Harvey surviving the procedure to remove him and taking over John's body.

My Review
An exciting ride with amazing stakes and bold heroism from all our characters, even Rygel. This episode brilliantly ties together a number of plot threads by bringing back ancient-Jack and Furlow and combining their interests into a story about Scarran attempts to steal wormhole technology topped off with Harvey's struggle for survival. This plays out in an action packed story complete with even a Talyn strafing run.

The one weakness in the story is that it never makes clear why this John and not the other was summoned by Jack. It's easy to rationalize though. Perhaps Talyn just happened to be closer to the signal Jack was broadcasting. Whatever the reason, it's certainly nice to know the ancients found a new home after all and it's nice to catch up with Furlow again too as she was a lot of fun in her first appearance in season one.

The most remarkable story point though is the idea that Jack is both driving Harvey from John's mind and fully unlocking the secrets of wormholes from his mind so they can together build a wormhole weapon to destroy the Scarran dreadnought in order to prevent the Scarrans from acquiring wormhole technology. The impending arrival of the Scarrans, Jack's and John's apparent failure to eliminate Harvey, Rygel's wound, and Harvey taking over John's body again all make for a very exciting cliffhanger indeed.

Synopsis
After disposing of the Scorpius Clone, the Ancient 'Jack' unlocks the secrets to wormhole technology in Crichton's mind allowing them to build a Displacement Engine, the 'ultimate weapon' that will allow them to destroy the Scarran Dreadnought before it escapes with Furlow's data. Seeing the value of the weapon, Furlow kills Jack and takes off with it. In the ensuing chase, Crichton is fatally exposed to the highly reactive Partanium that fuels the engine. With nothing left to lose, Crichton volunteers to launch the weapon at the Dreadnought, experiencing first hand the terrifying power of the wormhole technology. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Harvey fading away shortly after Aeryn tried to kill John to kill Harvey.
- A Scarran boarding Talyn.
- Aeryn rescuing Rygel only to have Rygel demand food so he can keep firing the turret.
- Jack declaring that he no longer doubts that John would use the wormhole technology honorably.
- Furlow turning on Jack.
- John: "I can build this thing. I know what it does!" Aeryn: "Can it destroy the dreadnought?" John: "Umm... it could destroy a planet."
- Furlow betraying John, stealing the weapon, and running off with it.
- Aeryn: "You know this new knowledge you've got in your head?" John: "Yeah?" Aeryn: "Could you use it to get home?" John: "Yeah." Aeryn: "Let's do what we have to do here and then we'll go."
- Talyn paralyzing and killing the Scarran.
- Furlow: "Don't be a hero, John. Always be the one to walk away while the hero dies. That's my motto."
- John: "Damn it Crais, knock it off. You're gonna make me start liking you."
- John: "Mamma Crichton's baby boy, makin' wormholes."
- John using the wormhole weapon to destroy the dreadnought.
- John's last words: "They say it's a lucky or an unambitious man who goes when he's ready. That said, Scorpius is gone. I'm at peace. I don't hurt. I did some good things. I'm proud of my life. And I'm with you. Don't worry about me. I've never felt better."

My Review
John's heroic death saving everyone (especially Aeryn) from the Scarrans couldn't have been more fitting. Just as the man finally masters wormholes and earns the ability to go home, he has to use the knowledge instead in a noble sacrifice, forever denied his prize and his life. A true tragedy. A nice bit of texture I enjoyed was that while Aeryn struggled with the idea, she was willing to let John sacrifice himself for the greater good more than once in this episode. She was willing to euthanize him rather than let Harvey take permanent control and she was willing to let him die in a noble sacrifice against the Scarrans.

Indeed, it's Aeryn's perspective that makes this episode as strong a piece as it is. The final scenes of the episode are some of the most moving so far watching Aeryn confront the loss of her lover, something which occurs not long after she confronted the loss of her mother. Obviously there's still the John on Moya out there, but the things Aeryn's shared with this John are now significantly more pronounced than the history she's had with the other John leading up to the divergence. Only awkwardness can ensue when the two are reunited. Another curiosity left over from this story is how much wormhole knowledge will survive John's death. Will Talyn's and/or Moya's crew be able to leverage this knowledge in the future, and if so to what do degree?

I think it's safe to say watching John destroy the dreadnought may be the single coolest scene ever depicted on Farscape so far. Aside from the outstanding visual effects it's a fascinating concept. The wormhole weapon appears to suck stellar matter from a star and then slam into a target disintegrating and imploding it with apparently enough force to implode a planet. A weapon of mass destruction so massive that it's on a cosmic scale. My oh my. This is the best episode of Farscape so far. Awesome science fiction and compelling drama. This episode's got it all.

Synopsis
A fight between D'Argo and Crichton over the malfunction of D'Argo's mysterious new ship ends with Crichton being knocked unconscious. The Scorpius Clone in Crichton's mind tries to convince John that revenge against D'Argo is the only way to settle the conflict, but John prefers to resolve it in his own head, acting out a Crichton vs. D'Argo cartoon battle set in Road-Runner land. Meanwhile, the ship malfunction leads to the activation of a self-destruct sequence that threatens to blow Moya to pieces should D'Argo fail to deactivate it. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 1, partial filler, but has important continuity. I recommend against skipping this one.
- This is the episode where D'Argo begins to unlock control over his ship. However the plot advancement is relatively minor and can be understood in context later. There's also a slight reference made to Chiana's budding premonition abilities.

Problems
None

Factoids
- D'Argo's ship appears to be of ancient Luxan design.

Remarkable Scenes
- D'Argo's irrational freakouts.
- Cartoon Harvey.
- The cartoon chase between D'Argo and John.
- D'Argo gaining control of the ship by speaking ancient Luxan.
- Jool confiding in D'Argo.
- Cartoon Aeryn.
- Harvey in scrubs.
- A DRD injecting D'Argo with some translator microbes programmed with ancient Luxan.
- The ship telling D'Argo that he could gain control of it using his qualta blade.
- Pilot telling Jool that she's walking through the droppings of some kind of symbiotic parasite inhabiting Moya.
- Harvey conducting a funeral.
- John: "Marty Goldstein stole my bike when I was seven. I went over to his house and I gave him a bloody nose."
- John: "I don't wanna stoop that low. Kirk wouldn't stoop that low." Harvey: "That was a television show, John."
- Jool retrieving D'Argo's qualta blade and D'Argo using it to gain control of the ship.

My Review
A bold humor episode that successfully channels Looney Toons to deliver a highly entertaining comedy juxtaposed with an equally effective ticking time bomb story concerning Jool's accidental triggering of the self destruct on D'Argo's new ship. I enjoyed the various bits of texture present in this episode. For example, D'Argo hyper-raged on John without cause and felt shame for it all episode. Jool was he real culprit, but only because she wanted to become closer to the ever more isolated D'Argo. This isn't Farscape's signature bickering, it's nuanced characterization.

As for John, his juvenile retreat whilst in the coma and struggle against Harvey's predilections for revenge ranged from amusing to at times profound. We learn a lot about John in this episode. He's a pacifist at heart. At the end he tells D'Argo that nothing D'Argo could ever do to him could make him want to take revenge on D'Argo. This seems a bit like an overstatement; I'm sure if D'Argo for some reason turned evil and started working for Scorpius or something, that might get John to be a bit revengey, especially considering his now deceased counterpart's treatment of Crais in Relativity.

However, John's statement need not be terribly honest for us to learn something about his character from it. What the statement does tell us is that John is highly reluctant to resort to that sort of behavior, even if he's not being terribly honest with himself about his reluctance being supposedly unmitigable. On the whole he sees good in everyone, perhaps even in Scorpius, and he's thus ultimately predisposed to turn the other cheek, a quality rarely exhibited in many of Farscape's other constantly bickering characters.

My only real complaint about this episode is the timing certainly could have been better. They should have aired this before Infinite Possibilities to avoid this silly farcical story directly following such a powerful dramatic piece. A silly farce can be fun, but only when timed properly. Airing this episode right after Infinite Possibilities is sort of like telling jokes at a funeral to lighten the mood. Not a terribly effective approach!

Synopsis
Grieving for Crichton, Aeryn travels to a planet of mystics and frauds and makes contact with a man who claims to be Talyn Lyzcak, her father. Talyn puts her in touch with Seer Cresus, a creature who is able to 'channel' the dead Crichton. Meanwhile, Stark and Rygel search for Aeryn, but first come across an old enemy. Lurking on the planet with malign, warped designs of her own is Aeryn's mother, Xhalax Sun. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Virginia Hey lent her voice to reprise her role as Zhaan to play Zhaan's voice in Stark's head.
- This is the first episode in which one of the Crichtons doesn't appear; a non-imagined one anyway.
- As of this episode Aeryn has become aware of the erased timeline from The Locket in some capacity.

Remarkable Scenes
- The alien Aeryn hired claiming to be her father.
- Rygel: "It's a planet of Starks down here!"
- Stark catching a glimpse of Aeryn's mother.
- Stark attacking Crais for not killing Xhalax.
- Rygel flying up to Aeryn's room.
- Aeryn: "I returned from the dead. Why can't he?"
- Xhalax barging into Aeryn's room and killing "Talyn."
- Xhalax revealing that she killed Aeryn's (real) father so that Aeryn could live.
- Crais barging into Aeryn's room and finally killing Xhalax.
- Stark departing Talyn and staying on the planet.

My Review
This episode is overwrought. Unkilling Xhalax just to kill her again after Aeryn's already suffered the loss of Crichton was a lame attempt to prolong the drama that was better executed in Relativity, climaxing in Infinite Possibilities. As a consequence, this episode was largely redundant and spending an entire episode watching Aeryn grieve in this bizarre, brooding way adds little value to the overall story, arguably diminishing it. Combine that with the random clip show including clips from the erased timeline of The Locket of all episodes and we've got the makings of a real flop.

However the episode redeemed itself somewhat toward the end with a few interesting tidbits of plot such as the curious departure of Stark who goes on some kind of spiritual journey to reach Zhaan and especially the plot point of Talyn supposedly locating Moya. Xhalax' death was also about as well played as it could have been given the dismal premise of the episode. It's nice to see Crais finally do what he should have done in the first place and even better was seeing signs that Xhalax had finally started to see the error of her ways in the seconds just prior to her death. So for all that the premise was terrible, the episode did a halfway decent job of overcoming that.

Synopsis
Not far from Moya and Talyn's expected rendezvous point, Moya picks up a badly damaged Leviathan Transport Pod carrying a Scarran, an Hynerian and a Nebari - all escaped prisoners - and their Peacekeeper hostage, complicating the long awaited reunion between Moya and Talyn's crew. When the Scarran is shot, it's clear that someone on board is a traitor. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
- How was John able to talk to Rygel when they were in space with no air to carry the sound?

Factoids
- This episode establishes that Hynerians, like Luxans, are quite hardy to the conditions of vacuum. Rygel only needed a breathing apparatus to remain conscious in space, similar to D'Argo.

Remarkable Scenes
- Jool: "Aeryn's fine. I'm sure the other you has taken extra good care of her. I mean, all I meant was, I'm sure that he did everything that you would have done if you had been there with Aeryn all this time."
- A Scarran, a Nebari, a Sebacean, and a Hynerian, all escaped prisoners boarding Moya from the transport pod rather than Talyn's crew.
- Talyn's crew reuniting with Moya's.
- Aeryn giving John the cold shoulder.
- Crais telling John that the other Crichton is dead.
- Rygel meeting the female Hynerian.
- John going through his counterpart's stuff.
- Somebody shooting the Scarran.
- The Peacekeeper tech taking out the DRD watching him.
- The female Hynerian betraying Rygel.
- D'Argo, John, and Aeryn going after the pod in D'Argo's ship.
- John watching the recording from his other self.
- John proposing an attack on Scorpius to prevent him from gaining wormhole technology.

My Review
The reunion between Moya's and Talyn's crews could have been a better story. The plot concerning the Scarran, Nebari, Hynerian, and Peacekeeper escaped prisoners struck me as a big red herring designed solely to add some action to the episode. The much more interesting plot was the reunion and John deciding based on his counterpart's recording that he should attack Scorpius to prevent the Peacekeepers from acquiring wormhole technology.

That said, even the red herring of the escaped prisoners had some nice bits to it. I loved a number of small details about it. For one, it's good that they're using already known aliens. I also loved seeing a non-antagonist Scarran for once and it was a real treat getting to see another Hynerian. Chiana's budding premonition abilities make another appearance and we learn another interesting little tidbit of Nebari society: they're intolerant of hermaphrodites.

Aeryn's grieving in this episode was far better played than in the last episode. Her apathy is far more interesting and realistic than her brooding from the last episode. Her indifference to the other John is understandable because in order for her to connect with him she'd have to pretend all her time on Talyn never happened and reset herself all the way back to the time when the two Johns split. A tall order.

I enjoyed that she slipped up, referencing something she did with the other John in Green Eyed Monster to this John who of course had no idea what she was talking about. This small detail was representative of Aeryn's slow journey to accept this John, a journey she appears to have nearly completed by the end of the story when she becomes the first person to agree to his insane plan to attack Scorpius. Overall this was a strong story. Had the escaped prisoner plot been toned down or perhaps entirely omitted it could have been an even stronger story.

Synopsis
Rygel and D'Argo meet with Scorpius and Braca in order to negotiate Crichton's safe passage onto the Command Carrier. As a safeguard against double crosses, Scorpius suggests that Crichton and Lt. Braca should wear matching I-Yensch bracelets that will synchronize their nerve impulses so that they experience one another's pain. However, before the deal is completed, two heavily armed crazies burst in and hold up the diner. Meanwhile, Talyn himself is in an uncontrollable and dangerous mental state, and the only way to heal him is to shut him down and completely erase his personality. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- D'Argo and Rygel attempting to negotiate with Scorpius only to be quickly double crossed.
- Talyn attacking the approaching Peacekeepers then turning on the medical ship and destroying it too.
- Scorpius demonstrating the synchronized nerve impulse bracelets to Rygel and D'Argo using Braca as a target.
- A surprise robbery of the restaurant during the negotiations with Scorpius.
- Talyn firing on Moya.
- The hired goons taking out the restaurant owner.
- Rygel shooting Scorpius.
- Crais shutting down Talyn.
- Rygel and Scorpius taking out the robber aliens.
- John: "Some things you die for." Aeryn: "I just can't watch that happen again. It was perfect. We were so perfect and you're just like him. I mean, you are him." John: "No, I'm me. I was here. I missed that dance."

My Review
A surprisingly entertaining episode. I groaned when negotiations with Scorpius were interrupted by aliens of the week, but the fact that the aliens of the week were highly amusing more than made up for the distraction. Their quirky behavior and yelping added a delightful physical comedy to their incompetency and their impromptu hostage plot made for quite a satisfying impromptu alliance between Rygel and Scorpius. On top of that, I truly felt bad for the waitress at the end of the story when her husband was killed for botching his secret insurance fraud plan, of which she had no prior knowledge.

Likewise, Talyn's freakout was also quite moving. I enjoyed Moya's more direct role in the story, even if it was accomplished by such simple things as shaking the camera a bit and having the actors look around a lot on set. The decision to invasively subdue Talyn is a nice revisit of the late season 2 plot to disarm Talyn for his prior erratic behavior. The cast's inability to address this throughout season 3 has finally caught up with them. Finally, while the negotiations with Scorpius ended up being prolonged perhaps longer than necessary, the result was fantastic. This episode was great setup for what's sure to be even better story to come.

Synopsis
The crew board Scorpius' Command Carrier under the falsehood that Crichton is there to master wormhole technology. The ex-Peacekeepers Aeryn and Crais are forced to confront their past lives, and D'Argo, Rygel, Chiana, and Jool encounter unhidden hostility from all sides. Talyn is also implicated, brought on board for a cognitive replacement. While Crichton searches for a way to sabotage the Carrier, he is being watched by Scorpius, who is ready to exact deadly retribution if Crichton does not cooperate. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
- At one point Scorpius mispronounces Commandant Grayza's rank as commodore.

Factoids
- Assuming Scorpius was not bluffing, John is 60 Cycles from Earth at maximum speeds attainable by Peacekeeper vessels.

Remarkable Scenes
- Harvey expressing concerns over John's plans to attack Scorpius possibly getting them both killed.
- The arrival at Scorpius' command carrier.
- D'Argo having his restraint rings surgically removed aboard the command carrier.
- The attack on D'Argo and Jool.
- Crais reuniting with his secret lover.
- Harvey revealing that he's masking John's energy signature to prevent Scorpius from detecting that he's lying.
- Moya being attacked.
- Commandant Grayza showing up on Scorpius' command carrier and mucking things up.
- Scorpius sensing that John's under attack due to the bracelets.
- John: "Why are you bitch'n at me like we're married Scorpy-Sue?"
- Scorpius threatening to destroy Earth if John doesn't give him what he wants.

My Review
An absolutely fantastic episode that pays off on the prior setup quite well while delivering tantalizing buildup for an inevitable epic climax. The most remarkable aspect of this episode is the amount of depth we get about what life aboard a Peacekeeper command carrier is like. But not just any Peacekeeper command carrier, it's Crais' old ship and Aeryn's former home. The potential for an Aeryn and Crais homecoming is sufficiently well milked, showing us less than smooth reunions between them and their former comrades. Likewise, the addition of Grayza's character adds lovely texture to the nature of Scorpius' motives. His power is not absolute and Peacekeeper politics are far from unified.

Continuing with that theme, I enjoyed the parallel shade of gray that was John's slowly shifting moral center. As the episode went on and like the other John he started to slowly gain access to his wormhole knowledge, he started to sympathize more and more with Scorpius, perhaps with just cause. Scorpius was certainly right to suspect John might be stalling, but the delightful twist at the end of Scorpius telling John that he's located Earth, whether or not it's a bluff, is a great way to throw a wrench into John's loyalties. Finally, I loved the detail of John balking at Aeryn when she tried to appeal to him by pointing out what the other John would do, resenting the comparison.

Synopsis
On the Command Carrier, Crichton is making incredible breakthroughs in his wormhole research, accessing information previously locked away. His crewmates are not so sure about the success of the plan, and are debating whether to leave or stay. Crais also has his own interests at heart, and when he is denied access to Talyn by the Peackeepers, he realizes he needs a bargaining chip. He goes to Scorpius and reveals Crichton's true intentions: to sabotage the wormhole research and destroy the Carrier. The plan blown, Moya's crew is immediately arrested, and it seems all is lost. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
- Grayza has a line in the recap of this episode in which she says to Scorpius: "Your project has cost us dearly and yielded nothing." This was not actually aired in the previous episode though.
- When Crais boards Talyn you can see stars out the window, but this shouldn't be the case because Talyn is within the command carrier at the time.

Factoids
- According to Aeryn, there were over 50,000 men, women, and children aboard Scorpius' command carrier.

Remarkable Scenes
- Aeryn: "How's he planning to stop Grayza?" John: "We're talking about Scorpius. You prepared to bet against him?"
- John proposing destroying the command carrier.
- Crais revealing John's plans to Scorpius in exchange for control over Talyn and reinstatement into the Peacekeepers.
- Crais meeting secretly with John and proposing to starburst Talyn while still within the command carrier in order to destroy it.
- Crais: "Starburst in a confined space where the energy can't dissipate will be the hero's death that Talyn deserves."
- John: "If I don't kick this project in the ass before Commandant Cleavage gets back, she's gonna execute me anyway, right?"
- John: "All right, Scorp, you ready to rumble?" Scorpius: "Oh yes, John."
- John taking Scorpius for a ride through the wormhole.
- Crais boarding Talyn by force.
- John: "Flying through wormholes ain't like dusting crops, farm boy. It takes a little finesse."
- Crais to Scorpius: "I am standing in your heart and I am about to squeeze."
- Talyn starbursting within the command carrier.
- The ensuing evacuation havoc.
- Co-Kura: "To stabilize a wormhole, to tame it, to tame its power, would have been the greatest scientific discovery anyone could imagine!" John: "It is not just science! It's never just science. It's a weapon. It kills. And I will not let the Peacekeepers have it."
- Scorpius: "Commander John Crichton. Generations will know that name. Because of you very soon the Scarrans will destroy us."
- Scorpius telling John that he never really did see any point in going after Earth.

My Review
In one of the most spectacular episodes so far Scorpius sees everything he worked for crash down before his eyes in Talyn's and Crais' noble sacrifice. The episode even implies that Scorpius may have gone down with his ship. Season of death indeed. By the end it seemed clear that John felt bad for poor Scorpy even after all Scorpius had done to him, but I can see why. Scorpius' declaration in his final moments that he never had any intention of hunting down Earth was a nice touch and makes it clear that all Scorpius ever wanted was to loyally serve the Peacekeepers in their fight against the Scarrans. The degree of evil Scorpius was willing to wield to further that goal was considerable, but his goal wasn't necessarily wrong on the whole.

The moral dilemma of whether or not the Peacekeepers should possess such a weapon of mass destruction is also well played. John struggling to fight his temptation to continue researching this knowledge with the vast resources the Peacekeepers were offering him was fantastic and Scorpius' final statements about the consequences of John's decision were terrifying. Will the Scarrans invade the Peacekeepers now? Will John have to take some responsibility for putting the Peacekeepers on the losing side of this fight? Or will Grayza be able to pull it out of the fire by forming alliances as she claims? And will John be able to use his wormhole knowledge to get home? This episode does an awesome job wrapping up previous story arcs while setting up for some incredibly exciting new ones to come.

Synopsis
Moya transports the remains of Talyn to a sacred Leviathan burial ground. Those on board are at a crossroads, each wanting to pursue a separate path. Crichton dreams of returning to Earth with Aeryn at his side, but Aeryn is unsure. Upon entering the graveyard, Moya is attacked by a huge Leviathan. The crew must team up once more to save their home, but it seems that no matter which way the battle goes, their intertwined fates are sure to unravel. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- Melissa Jaffer played the old woman in this episode. We've seen her before. She played the old Luxan woman from Vitas Mortis.
- There is an unusually large number of deleted scenes for this episode, many of which are (equally unusually) quite good.

Remarkable Scenes
- Moya colliding with another leviathan.
- The old woman making John freak out, D'Argo tongue whipping John and then knocking out the old woman.
- Moya getting attacked again and asking the crew to kill the rogue leviathan.
- D'Argo grossing out John by telling him that he covered all the controls of his ship with his DNA (somehow) so others could work the controls.
- D'Argo, John, and Aeryn destroying the rogue leviathan.
- John imagining the massacre of everyone he cares about by Scorpius.
- John: "It's a nightmare." The old woman: "What is?" John: "My life, my dreams. Earth and my friends. I try to merge the two but they're incompatible."
- Aeryn: "What do you want?" John: "You." Aeryn: "I'm afraid it's not that easy for me. You see, you died. I watched that happen and yet you're still alive. I have to go."
- John realizing that the old woman had told him Aeryn was pregnant while he was drugged.
- A wormhole randomly appearing and sucking Moya away.

My Review
John's final line: "You have got to be kidding me."

I couldn't agree more. This cliffhanger is so stupid and random that I have a hard time taking it seriously. They should have ended on the reveal that Aeryn was pregnant. That would have made for a stronger ending than this. Why? Because I can't suspend disbelief on these stakes. Some magic science fiction plot device created this cliffhanger and some magic science fiction plot device is going to mitigate it. I couldn't possibly care less what that will be, especially given its arbitrary nature.

What I do care about is the deep level of introspection this episode at times excels at, even though it also at times overdoses on it. Our old witchcrafty guest takes John's subconscious feelings and magnifies them for him with her bizarre drug cocktail, leading us to see all of John's deepest desires and deepest fears all mingled together. The fantasy flashes to Earth are sometimes highly effective and other times feel like non sequiturs, but they work as a whole. My favorite line of the episode was when John said that he wants to merge his alien friends with his prior life on Earth, but they're incompatible.

This is a reasonable fear because John's idealized image is, of course, ridiculous. Previous episodes such as A Human Reaction have more realistically explored the what if idea of John's friends returning to Earth with him and those scenarios were all fraught with unpleasant prospects. So now that John's freed himself from being hunted by baddies, reunited with Aeryn, and begun to master wormholes, he's contemplating the larger issue of whether or not his ultimate goal is one even worth striving for.

Meanwhile, Aeryn's got doubts of her own. I had a hard time understanding just what they were throughout most of the episode because she clearly wasn't acting rationally. It was clear she wanted to stay with John, but she kept pretending like she didn't and needed time away from him. Ultimately by the end she left, John none the wiser to Aeryn's pregnancy until it was too late. The pregnancy could explain Aeryn's less than logical behavior, but it seems like a cop out to blame it on that alone. I'm hoping it's more nuanced than that. Also you've got to wonder whether or not she's pregnant with the other John's child.

The subplot concerning Talyn's burial was well executed and the humor throughout the episode pertaining to nobody knowing who the old woman was or how she got on board Moya was highly amusing. I like that it was finally explained by the end of the episode that she was a prisoner freed when John destroyed Scorpius' command carrier, but they dragged out the humor of the mystery just long enough for it to be effective without it being annoying. It's also amusing that Aeryn has her own personal prowler again, the first since her original was shot down in Die Me, Dichotomy.

Overall though the episode comes off as a mixed bag, especially as a season finale. Some parts work pretty well like the rogue leviathan, some of the Earth fantasies, and the deep exploration of John's hopes and dreams, but other parts of the story drop the ball pretty hard, such as the less than coherent reasoning for Aeryn wanting to leave John and especially the cliffhanger. As a season though, this has been the best season so far. Season three as a whole was great and has raised the bar for what will come next.

Synopsis
Continuing work on his theories of wormhole technology, Crichton ekes out an existence on board Elack - an old, dying Leviathan. The peace is shattered by the intrusion of a female alien, Sikozu, and a squad of Grudek mercenaries intent on harvesting Elack's neural tissue. Crichton fights to save his new home, his struggle hindered by the Grudeks' pet: a vicious and deadly alien canine called the Brindz Hound. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
None

Factoids
- The leviathan Elack and its pilot have lived for over 350 cycles.
- This is the first episode of Farscape in widescreen.
- The opening theme changed again in this episode. It is now comprised of clips from the previous three seasons and has a new opening monologue from John. Since the prior material was all not in widescreen, in order to make the opening theme widescreen as well, they simply zoomed in on the old shots and cropped them. To see what I mean, compare this still from season 3's opening theme with this still from season 4's opening theme, both of the same frame.
- Sikozu cannot accept translator microbes. She has to learn languages by hearing them. However, she learns languages fast. She can also reattach limbs with relative ease and shift her center of gravity such that she can walk on walls.
- John's beard in this episode is real, unlike the fake that was used in Jeremiah Crichton.
- This episode has a very significant deleted scene in which Braca openly defies Scorpius because he's pledged his allegiance to Grayza. There's also a longer conversation between John and Sikozu shortly after they first meet. Both deleted scenes are quite good and I highly recommend them.

Remarkable Scenes
- A heavily disheveled John hanging out with an old, similarly disheveled leviathan, a considerable time after Moya's disappearance.
- John's pet DRD, painted with the French flag, labeled 1812, singing the 1812 Overture, midi style.
- John encountering an alien who, unusually, takes a little bit of time to acquire the ability to translate his language.
- John to Elack's pilot: "We got bad guys on board. Can you space'em?"
- John yelling a Klingon phrase to the aliens.
- John: "It's a show of force! It's the only thing that Klingons understand!"
- John and "Sputnick" having a near miss with the blood tracker.
- John reuniting with Chiana and Rygel only to be told that Grayza is hunting everyone from Moya's crew who was involved in the attack on Scorpius' command carrier.
- John: "I've finally figured out wormholes."
- John imitating a goat and luring the blood tracker to the fake airlock.

My Review
That's it. John's finally gone crazy. And in the most delightful way. Riffing amazingly well off of the absurdity of the third season's cliffhanger, John's figuratively thrown his hands in the air and nearly given up on sanity after thanking his lucky stars for being rescued by another leviathan. He stayed just sane and coherent enough to focus on the only worthwhile thing he had left to focus on throughout all this time: cracking wormholes. But what's even more interesting is he seems to have made a breakthrough. Given a little more time, John seems confident he'll master wormholes.

But John's time on Elack isn't all Nobel Prize winning physics research, he has become an even more whimsical and reckless person than before. The non sequitur references to Earth have become an even greater crutch for him. So much so that he adopted a pet DRD, named it 1812, painted it with the French flag, and taught it how to sing the 1812 Overture. Not only that, but it actually seems to like singing the 1812 Overture. I love the cute little scene at the end where it nearly begs John to sing it with him. Him? Golly. Now I'm anthropomorphizing a DRD.

Indeed the charms of this episode are boundless. Elack, the 1812 DRD, John's burly beard, his erratic behavior, his surprisingly touching regard for Elack and Elack's pilot, and most of all his unwavering competence for survival in the utterly strange circumstances in which he lives. His increased whimsies and confidence seem like borderline hubris. Or maybe he just gets lucky all the time like Captain Kirk. Regardless, John's ever-deepening theatrical behavior is his own attempt to trivialize the farce he sees his life as and it plays out as both an incredibly good drama as well as an incredibly good comedy.

What works less well in this episode is Sikozu and her dizzying array of alien abilities. She learns languages super fast without translator microbes, can reattach limbs without much effort, and can walk on walls. There are ways to rationalize all this, but it seemed like the writers were just pulling new abilities for her out of their hat whenever they needed one. Likewise, Chiana's abilities seem to have... evolved somewhat. This is less annoying, but I similarly think giving Chiana mystical premonition abilities to use as a plot device is not the most terribly interesting development.

I am glad Moya is still nowhere to be found and that not all the characters have been reunited yet. It shows that the series is willing to take the cliffhanger's implications at least somewhat seriously. I'm a little annoyed that Rygel and Chiana appear to have come out of nowhere; it's not explained terribly well why they were able to locate John, but it's easy to fill in the blanks with something plausible. In any case overall this is Farscape's best season opener so far.

Synopsis
Crichton, Chiana and Rygel are reunited with D'Argo and Jool at an archaeological site run by Jool's people, the Interions. The purpose of the dig is to find a missing probe that might reverse the planet's dangerous atmospheric conditions. Peacekeepers led by Grayza land and capture the crew, and Crichton finds himself unable to fight back, mysteriously compelled to do Grayza's bidding. [DVD]

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Problems
- The recap of this episode features a scene which was never aired in which Braca threatens to execute Grayza were he ordered to by one of her superiors, an act of loyalty to the Peacekeepers for which she promotes him to captain.

Factoids
- D'Argo named his ship Lo'La, after his murdered wife Lo'Laan.
- "Grandma" is 293 cycles old.
- There's another deleted scene of unusual importance in this episode. Shortly after D'Argo reveals his ship's cloaking ability to Chiana, the scene continues. Chiana asks why D'Argo stopped hunting Macton. He says that he no longer has any desire to kill him, believing that it would bring him no happiness. He instead sent him a message threatening to do so to terrorize him, believing that making Macton live in fear would be more satisfying.

Remarkable Scenes
- Alien to John: "Peacekeeper, drop your weapon." John: "That's a common mistake. I'm not a Peacekeeper."
- John stumbling on D'Argo, Jool, and the old woman.
- Grayza torturing Scorpius.
- Grayza manipulating Braca with some kind of pheromones.
- The old woman drugging Crichton again.
- D'Argo confronting Jool and asking her what she thinks of Luxans. Jool's reluctant response: "I think that you're unusual for a Luxan."
- Grayza capturing John and Chiana and dragging out a collared Scorpius walking on his hands and knees to amuse John.
- Grayza: "Do anything you want to him. Do anything at all." John: "No thanks. I don't think I can come up with anything better than that."
- Grayza using her pheromones on John.
- The old woman drugging John and making him leap to his presumed death.

My Review
This rather strange episode ranges from incoherent, to fascinating, to profound at various times. The notion of yet another super weapon of mass destruction that must be kept out of the hands of the bad guys is obnoxious, but the plot finally beginning to seriously explore the idea that the most human-like races in the Farscape universe may have an actual genetic connection with humans is fascinating. Apparently the ancient Egyptians are somehow related to the Sebaceans and Interions.

Other nice details included Scorpius' clear fall from grace. The way Grayza controls him with those green corrupted cooling rods is a fantastic way to make this old nemesis seem more sympathetic. Grayza's preying on his weak spot. Couple that with Braca switching sides without hesitation and we've got the makings of a lovely predicament for Scorpy. Another minor detail I liked was that in John's visions the priests were singing the Farscape theme.

Finally, the old woman's character, while sometimes annoying, is rapidly starting to captivate me. She'd be more compelling if her actions didn't always seem so random, but for the most part she seems to work quite well as an unstable but probably good natured ally. I'm also continuing to enjoy Moya's lack of a presence. Even though we now know roughly where she is, it's still nice that it's taking a while for the crew to reassemble. Overall while the episode could have used a more solid narrative, it still comes off as a fairly strong piece.