F-A-R, S-C-A, P-E…um, dammit I had a good singalong going there…
Stewart here…and fair warning, some spoilers lie within…
Well, fellow travelers of the Uncharted Territories, its time for another round of mini-caps on Farscape. So baby Leviathan/Peacekeeper hybrid Talyn is in the care of Crais, Scorpius is now hunting John Crichton for the wormhole knowledge in his head, Chiana’s brother is likely dead, and we learned just how bad our crew can get against each other. Oh, and John had a hallucination of Scorpius in a Hawaiian shirt. Nothing sinister there. So, with that out of the way…
“The Way We Weren’t”
A surveillance tape found in Moya reveals its original pilot’s murder by Peacekeepers…and one of the firing squad is Aeryn! Good thing no one will be dumb enough to show that tape to Pilot…oh nuts, someone did. Besides Aeryn and crew dealing with this revelation, we also get to see some of what happened on Moya prior to the first episode (Aeryn and Pilot’s past, for instance), and answer some of the mysteries regarding last season. It’s a pretty heavy emotional episode which reminds us the viewers that their issues regarding their imprisonment are far from being buried.
“Picture If You Will”
Beware free gifts given by strange aliens, especially a picture that foretells grisly fates for Moya’s crew. This all points to space wizard Maldis from “That Old Black Magic” seeking revenge and forcing Zhaan to fight him again. Its nice to have the tension of what’s going on carry through half the episode before discovering who the real culprit is, as Zhaan seems to be playing a long con to defeat the dark wizard’s plans. This episode also started a long-running trend of Crichton guessing whenever there was some reality-altering shenanigans going on to suggest the culprit was Maldis (ironically, this marks Maldis’ final appearance on the show).
“Home on the Remains”
The crew is starving and finds a mining colony on a dead giant space monster that may alleviate that. But besides the tension between Chiana and the lawman guarding the mines from a monster, there’s also the trouble of Zhaan sprouting spores (plant-based lifeform, remember?) and going all kinds of crazy on Moya. Good enough but not great episode, although there is the plus of some grisly stuff (like John’s dispatching of the monster & someone’s hand melting off) to pass the time.
“Dream A Little Dream”
While waiting for Moya to pick up their damaged transport pod, John learns from Zhaan what happened to the group inbetween season one and two. Well, Zhaan got framed for murder on a planet where lawyers are legion, and Chiana and Rygel have to fight to save her from execution. This was the original season opener, and with the exception of the framing scenes of John and Zhaan, is pretty much that episode. Probably was a wise move to shift this episode into a flashback show, because its not the strongest episode the series has done. Its not a trainwreck, but its certainly on the lower rung of episodes in this season.
–Rock. Paper, Scissors time between John and D’argo again!
–See, Aeryn’s got feelings. She’s crying through most the episode, besides screwing over her Peacekeeper Tech lover Velorek in the past.
A pretty good representation of my feelings hearing Farscape was cancelled.
–Awww, I kind of love the long silent exchange between John and Aeryn that ends the episode.
–“Take the journey with me.”
–“There’s no pain.”
–Speaking of John and Aeryn, I really love that playful exchange about kicking people off the ship.
–Aeryn really doesn’t like John’s module.
–“You look pale. Have you been getting enough sun?”
–“Could you do that ‘Farewell, Goodbye’ song the kids sing? It’s one of my favorites.” “I don’t do requests!”
–Oh, by the way, Maldis and Kyvan? Yep, the same actor for both roles!
When 3D technology goes wrong!
–Yikes. Monster impalement, a body in pieces in a mine cart, hand melting, and Aeryn head-butting Zhaan. Even for Farscape, that’s pretty dark stuff.
–I got a proto-Attack the Block vibe from the monster.
–“Here. Eat, don’t talk.”
AAAAAHHHHH! Someone send some space Proactiv, stat!
–I seem to recall a somewhat similar stunt pulled on Star Trek: The Next Generation that Chiana and Rygel pull. Mind you, that one involved the Enterprise creating earthquakes rather than making a slab of wood glow, but…
NEXT TIME: A slightly longer minicap when the crew get mind swapped to hilarious results in “Out of Their Minds”, Crichton gets tripled in “My Three Crichtons”, and Farscape’s first three parter involves Crichton getting involved with royal intrigue and dodging Scorpius in the “Look At The Princess” trilogy.
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NerdLush 
This set of episodes were slow and not what I wanted after such a great start to the season. However, each had its own special “flair”. “The Way We Weren’t” provided backstory for two of the most important characters of the show who generally are just peripherally seen. Along with bonus story of Aeryn- showing that there was more to her long before Crichton contaminated her. “Picture If You Will” brought back a scary enemy but generally I find this episode cheesy (and that says a lot since I LOVE the cheesetastic episodes later in the series, with Crichton and Harvey. *meep meep*). “Home on the Remains” is my favorite of these episodes because it fully reminds us that things are different in the uncharted territories. I mean… the episode takes place on a giant dead creature. Which is just gross. And people leave there! And there’s a monster! And… well, it’s fun. Also, as you mentioned… melting hand. Ew! The final episode, “Dream a Little Dream”, is interesting and has some good moments… but honestly, it’s slow and not very interesting. I like the characters involved, but… I skipped this ep in my rewatch. The beginning and the end were watched though…
Yeah, I can see why “Dream” might have been an interesting way to open the season originally, but its execution is probably why it got dumped to later in the season. On “Picutre”, I just love how Aeryn, without pause, shoots someone dead under orders. Badass. And of course, we get to see a live Budong from “Remains” in a really good season three ep. “Way W e Weren’t” I found interesting because of what it explores in Peacekeeper society, especially relationships. Its abnormal and questionable by our standards, but makes logical sense to them.