2.18- FARSCAPE

I always liked Farscape every since I saw the episode "PK Tek Girl" part of USA's Sci-Fi Heat preview on one Sunday in 1999. I just couldn't wait for the final four episodes of season three to air on the Sci-Fi Channel in April because the same episodes aired on BBC2 in January. So I worked on ways to get NTSC conversions of those episodes and a way fell into my lap without looking for it. The final four episodes of season three have their strong points and their weak points. I enjoyed the episodes, but a couple of them ("I-Yensch, You-Yensch" and "A Dog With Two Bones") started to wear a little thin where the superior "Into The Lion's Den" Part One and Two still shine brighter than a supernova.

The first episode has it's high points like Tayln going mad and blowing up a medical ship, and some parts of the bar where Scorpius, D'Argo, and Rygel have been taken hostage (but some of the bar scenes are slow and dragging).
Then things kick into high gear with the two part "Into The Lion's Den". John Crichton promises to help Scorpius in his wormhole research, but Jon's real purpose is to stop it. Some Peacekeepers want to get rid of John and the crew of the Moya. There is even a scene with rocket packs which remind me of Buck Rogers!

The second part subtitled "A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" is the best of all four episodes as plot threads come to a head and one major character sacrifices himself (and I'm not telling who since most people in the United States haven't sen it). There are double crosses and Crichton's plan to misdirect the wormhole research isn't working because his subconscious is unlocking the wormhole equations! It is an action packed episode indeed.
In the final episode, "A Dog With Two Bones", acts like an epilogue to "In The Lion's Den" as John has to face the reality of his future and what each of two paths will bring. The crew of the Moya have to decide what to do next as they all want to go their own way. This is a slow episode in some parts (and jarring to some people who don't like some of Farscape's more unusual episodes like "Revenging Angel" and a few others), but it has a surprise revelation at the end (which makes you wonder if it is the truth or a lie) and a cliffhanger ending you won't see coming!

The special effects in these four Farscape episodes are top notch and get the the most show in the two part "Into The Lion's Den". And you even get a Peacekeeper who reminds me (and others) of Blake's 7 Servalan and she is as devious as Servalan. Farscape continues to take further depths into soap opera territory in some episodes and some parts of these four episodes. Are the best days of Farscape soon to be over? Is the show going to become overrated in the next seasons? We will just have to wait and see...
Now it makes one wonder what the fourth season of this show will bring. Are there going to be more soap opera twists with John and Aeryan (sometimes groan-inducing when it takes a nosedive too much into the frustrated love life of those two)? Will John ever get back to Earth or will he stay away to keep Earth safe from the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans? Will the writers continue to surprise the viewers next year?

this review is (c)2002 David Blackwell