Today, on Farscape…

“My name is John Crichton, astronaut. I was not at the refreshment house after hours. I was not present at any bombing or explosion. I did not have a private meeting with the beautiful Miss Sarova. The end. Cross my heart, smack me dead, stick a lobster on my head.”

Still dealing with the double Crichtons and the injured Crais and Talyn, our heroes cautiously stop at a Sebacian colony in the hopes of aquiring an expensive substance needed to heal Talyn. Unfortunately, their reputation preceeds them, and the local ruler is terrified that the presence of these space pirates means a potential overthrow of the government is in the planning stages.

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Tessa

I have to give them major kudos for the handling of the twins in this episode. It would have been really easy to kill off one of the Crichtons in this one (they even tease that with the two of them agreeing it would be really easy to just let the one die and the other live on), but they don’t do it. Not only that, but they make brilliant use of the duplicate Crichton to make it appear that he’s shrugged off an assassination attempt without a scratch, and pass a fatal lie detector crab test.

We also finally get to learn what it was at the end of last season that Crais wanted to tell Aeryn. Talyn is being hunted down by the Peacekeepers in the hopes that they can retrieve him, and the hunting party is being led by Aeryn’s mother. Uh oh.

I’m having difficulty putting things into complete thoughts this time around (lazy summer days, wooo), so I’m turning in a bullet point chip this time around.

• Jool suddenly has medical expertise somehow (was there ever any hint of this before or was it just a “hey we need to find a reason why they haven’t gotten rid of her yet” thing?), which fills in part of the gap left by Zhaan, but it also means that the crew has a definite reason to keep her around. This is both somewhat relieving (since it finally justifies her presence on the ship) as well as frustrating (since it means she’s more than likely not leaving any time soon).
• I love getting to watch Rygel play Diplomat. Even in cases like this where it has minimal effect, it’s so much fun watching him be the smooth politician.
• If there are two Crichtons now, does that mean that we have two Harveys? Considering Harvey himself seems to have little impact on any of the other characters anymore, it probably doesn’t matter much. But still.
• Stark is a lot of fun in this one. So many of his manic, crazed, near-goofy moments. Interesting to note that he apparently made an attempt at killing Crais by trying to pull the transponder.
• I caught on to the idea of Tolven not actually being the one behind the assassination, and that Sarova wasn’t as benevolent as she was trying to look. What I didn’t see coming was that she wasn’t actually herself, but rather a… red shape-shifting Scarran thing?
• On that note, afdskfjahsdofiuah oh god that transformation scene NEVER SLEEPING AGAIN
• SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE HELL.

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Kevin

It’s probably a good thing we’ve already established the presence of Sebacean (or genetic offshoot) colonies. It makes it easy to disregard races that appear no different, and allows a way around half-assed makeup jobs with little to no explanation. Random planet with no distinctive alien race? Sebacean colony. The bonus effect of this approach, of course, is less time spent on racial backstory and more time for actual plot.

And what a plot it is! Once again, we have perfectly-integrated plot threads, each splitting off into their own little drama, yet each tying into the episode as a whole. Taken apart, we have the following: Difficulties with the local government would make the obvious A-plot, considering the episode is centered around it. But it’s actually not as important as the Crais-generated B-plot, Xhalax Sun and the Retrieval Squad. (Have you heard my new rock band, Xhalax Sun and the Retrieval Squad?) looking to span into a season-arc story. And finally, the end of the episode brings us more development into the other season-arc C-plot, Our Boys Crichton, who are now split between Moya and Talyn, with the split crews to accompany them.

It almost goes without saying that the character stories have reached Soap Opera status. Somebody got Inexplicably Pregnant, the Pregnancy is revealed to be a Sinister Plot by the Goateed Antagonist, Star-Crossed Love brings lovers together even through death, but now there’s an Identical Twin of one of the lovers and who will she pick? But don’t forget that Right Around The Corner is a Long-Lost Family Member, who Seeks to Do Harm!

*organ chord*

In any other context, this would be cheesy and clichéd. Here, it’s almost natural progression, and not only is it handled beautifully, it’s paced extremely well.

Unfortunately, since much of the development is yet to come on both those main fronts (seeing as the inconsequential A-plot pretty much only serves to set up the other two), I don’t have much else to say on the subjects yet.

Things to Note:

• Speaking of pacing, the scene changes and camera cuts in this episode is severely frustrating, unsettling, and bordering on the choppy. I’m not sure what the editing decisions were for this one, but it definitely didn’t fly.
• Oh, Stark. Immediately trying to ease Talyn’s passage into Death. As much as I love our rebellious little pain in the superstructure, it would have been interesting to see his effect on Stark. Y’know, since Talyn’s mind is constantly in turmoil and also he’s frelling huge.
• Seriously, look at this side-by-side shot. Talyn’s getting almost as big as Moya now.

• As long as I’m bringing up comparisons between Talyn and Moya, we have sequential viewpoints on the two of them entering Starburst. Moya splits her aft appendage things to do it, while Talyn – whose appendages are already split – closes them together. I don’t know if there’s any significance here, but it’s neat to take note of.
• I’m actually going to disagree with Tessa here and say that Jool taking up medical duties isn’t so much a stretch. We’ve already established that she’s been on a flash-frozen Spring Break from Interion University, and this episode she mentions the science classes she took. It also helps that, as with most things, her opinion of herself isn’t quite based in reality, since it’s shown that she’s kind of bad at it. She pokes and prods at Crais while trying to patch him up at arms’ length, and the DNA comparison from Crichton is a remedial, textbook procedure.
• As Weston mentioned before, it’s so neat when Crais has a conversation with Pilot.

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Noel

And here we are, the area of the series I’ve been most eager to re-explore ever since I signed onto this blog. Crichton has split in two, and one half stays with Moya while the other flies off with Talyn. I remember Aeryn also joining the ranks of Talyn – understandably leaving Moya|Crichton fuming with jealousy – but I forgot Stark and Rygel also tagging along. And the two are sharing a room no less, with Rygel in a sputter because of tight food rationing, and Stark instantly jumping back to “Your side, my side! My side, your side!” mode. It’s surprising that they’d leave Moya so quiet, what with only D’Argo and Chiana (a pair that would probably have been thankful for some time apart) remaining. Oh, and there’s Pilot. And *sigh* Jool.

I agree that Jool’s sudden knowledge feels a little convenient and is obviously the writers trying to find a way to make her an essential part of the crew, but I like how it’s played. We’ve seen demonstrations in the past that she’s not an idiot, she just has little in the way of worldly experience, which is reflected here as she knows what she needs to do, just not always how to do it, and goes about it with the enthusiasm of Paris Hilton being told to mow the lawn. The first few episodes were about stripping her of her personal comforts, and now she’s having to make due with what she has. I still don’t exactly like her character, but at least she’s starting to settle in.

Aeryn’s mother is an interesting thread that I forgot about. I love Crais and Aeryn being instantly aware that her presence is a manipulation on the part of the Peacekeepers, and Crichton’s belief that the information itself is a manipulation on the part of Crais. I’m still trying to figure out Crais’ game, because my aforementioned porous memory is struggling to recall where things are going. We’ve known for a long time that he wants to fly off with Aeryn, but he didn’t plan on doing it with John tagging along. And did he ever get a chance to find out about the duplicate Johns? We see him reacting to Aeryn suddenly being alive, but I don’t recall both Johns being in the same room with him at the same time. But this is coming from the guy who can’t remember anything.

The native political subplot was nice. I didn’t get particularly attached to anyone involved, but I love how this planet has not only lost its ruler, but both of his heirs. It’s never explored, but you can totally imagine the Game of Thrones clusterfrel that’s about to explode in the wake of John Crichton’s continuing path of destruction. The living slime bombs and shapeshifting Peacekeeper spy were also nice, but it’s a little hard to swallow that our heroes wouldn’t test the purchased Talyn remedy before they gave it to the gunship. Because I guess the missiles, explosive assassination attempt, and lie-detecting head scorpion weren’t enough to make these people just a little untrustworthy?

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Weston

Jool has previously stated that she has degrees in various fields, now we know that they’re in neuroscience and xenobiology. For all that she’s annoying, panicky, useless, and a danger to every metallic component within sound of her voice, she’s fairly smart. If you can get her into her element, she can become reasonably competent.

Rygel pulled Crais’ transponder last episode. It wasn’t an assassination attempt, just Rygel being grabby.

Xhalax Sun rocks both of her scenes; both the flashback with a young Aeryn, and the closing moments where she proves more practical than many Peacekeepers. The… whatever it is, red shapeshifty thing. It failed its primary mission, and Xhalax let it live. Not only that, she accepted the loss as a minor setback and moved on. It accomplished other goals: assassinating Sarova and replacing her, assassinating Rinic Pralanoth, poisoning the Chromextin and slowing Talyn’s healing, and, finally, forcing Moya and Talyn back into open space. Even if Talyn wasn’t captured, he’s back on the run. Peacekeeper interests may be served by preventing planetary unification under one ruler. In that respect, the day could be called an overall success. And that, above all else, is what makes Xhalax Sun dangerous. She can take the bad with the good.

I may be calling the injured one Crichton` from now on. Not that there’ll be much need to distinguish between them as long as they’re off on separate ships. Maybe when they get back together.

Crichton’s every interaction with the Rinics is awesome. The opening com from Talyn. The lobster scenes. Especially the second. Crazy Crichton at his best. D’Argo even pulls his Qualta Rifle on Papa Rinic.

Even with all the money they’ve acquired from the Shadow Depository robbery, they’re still having trouble acquiring what they need. All the infamy they’ve picked up along the way is bringing severe complications. This entire episode would have been a non-issue if not for the suspicion that now follows Moya like a cloud.

That Pantak class cruiser is kinda badass. It looks a bit like one of the Ion Frigates from Homeworld.

There’s a difference between the weapons the Crichtons had? Crichton claims that Crichton` took Winona, but they both started with one when they were twinned. The only difference there should be psychological.

• Talyn has DRDs! Nonfunctional, but existent.
• It’s neat that Xhalax has the same hairstyle as Aeryn.
• Crichton still needs help operating phones.
• “Stark! Work now, freak later.”
• “Who’s your daddy? D’Argo, tell him who his daddy is.” “I’m your daddy!”

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Episode [3.06] – Eat Me || Episode [3.08]: Green Eyed Monster