FARSCAPE Revisited Mini-caps / Season 2, Episodes 14-17

Farscape minicaps are back! Traveling the Uncharted Territories takes up a lot of time, you know…

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.  After the rollercoaster of turmoil suffered by Crichton throughout the “Look at the Princess” 3 parter, there’s a lot of questions left behind to consider going into this minicap: are John and Aeryn going to finally get past their crap and be together?  Will Moya ever reunite with her Peacekeeper/Leviathan molded baby Talyn?  And why couldn’t Crichton kill Scorpius when he had the chance?  Some of those answers lay ahead, so read on, and hope we don’t get interrupted by a Budong…

“Beware of Dog”

The crew buys an alien bloodhound to kill possible parasites on a routine supply run.  Some confusion as to what’s the real parasite on board Moya ensues, and D’Argo gets poisoned as well.  It’s an OK episode, if noteworthy for showing that there’s something wrong with Crichton, which gets answered in…

“Won’t Get Fooled Again”

Crichton wakes up on Earth, his adventures in the Uncharted Territories seemingly never happened.  That doesn’t explain why his shipmates are popping up everywhere, and he knows something’s wrong.  The shocker here is that he’s under interrogation by a Scarran mindprobe, and that Scorpius is trying to help him escape…because Crichton got a chip from ‘ol Scorpy stuck in his head when he was in the Aurora chair!  This might be one of the most psychologically deranged episodes the show has ever done (and a personal fave of mine), shifting from broad comedy (Crais in a cop uniform with lady pumps) to some creepy stuff (S&M Rygel, anyone?).

Believe it or not, this is not the most disturbing thing you’ll see in this round of minicaps…

“The Locket”

Aeryn returns from a shuttle flight as an old woman, and Crichton tries to find out what happened.  Crichton travels back with her to where she was to find she has family, and starts to grow old too.  Don’t worry, once Crichton fixes the weird time loop causing all of this (and in a fun twist, its actually Moya who’s frozen in time!), everything’s back to normal.  Oh, and Stark’s back!

“The Ugly Truth”

Hey, Stark’s still back!  Hey, so is Talyn and Crais!  Hey, Talyn just shot at an alien ship and left Team Moya to be judged by said attacked aliens!  Hey, someone’s going to have to die to appease attacked aliens!  So, yeah, Stark “dies”, but he gets better eventually, if by “better” meaning “really off his marbles”.

So besides one of my favorite episodes, this is a pretty decent collection of adventures.   There’s the tension of John’s Scorpius chip starting to frell with his head, and the possibility of recovering D’Argo’s missing son, and both come to a head by the end of the season in a big and tragic way.

–I keep wondering if that alien parasite hunter’s slightly bigger form was the basis for the great tale from the commentary for “Jeremiah Crichton”.  Probably.

–Awww, the alien tinkled on D’Argo (more like streamed)!

–Love Aeryn’s continued annoyance with the alien bloodhound.

–Particularly creepy reveal of the alien bugs who assumed Rygel’s form.

–“That wasn’t the trap I meant.”

–Love the call back to “A Human Reaction” when Crichton goes into the women’s bathroom only to find…a women’s bathroom.  And also, the reference to DK not being in that episode either.

–Another weird connection to “Human Reaction”: this episode also lost its closing scene (Crichton making it out of the Scarran lair) for a more effective end.

–First “Harvey” reference to “head Scorpius”.  Not the last one by any means.

–I’m sure we all could’ve lived life better without seeing leather clad Rygel or John‘s Oedipus nightmare.

–And that grisly Scarran splatter scene.  Well, pretty badass way to kill someone.

–Man, that Aeryn tongue roll thing.  Just…wow.

–A motto to live by: “My friend, one thing you have to learn:  there is always time for beer.”

–“Good morning.  The truck won, I’m afraid.”

Hair curlers or a wine server of the future: you make the call.

–“Assault on a police officer, theft of police property, illegal possession of a firearm, five counts of attempted murder.  That comes to $29.40.  Cash, check, or credit card?”

–“You can make one phone call.  I recommend Trixie, 976-555-LOVE.”

–“Boogie or DIE!”

–“Rest assured, I’ll be with you always…keeping you safe.”

–Some nice make-up on old Aeryn and Crichton, and sigh, yes, naked mediating Zhaan.

–A nice touch to see Harvey still trying to get old Crichton to escape.

–Geez, D’Argo, way to treat the guy who told you your son’s about to be sold into slavery.  Take a chill pill!

–Yeah, I knew it about the inside of the locket.  Sniff.

–So yeah, Talyn blew up the ship in a misguided act of defense and Stark paid for it.  Ouch.

–“Since I’ve gotten here, I’ve seen a lot of impossible things.”

Um…yeah…let’s just end this round of minicaps right now? We good with that? OK…

NEXT TIME:  Chiana has to deal with her fellow Nebari coming to ‘cleanse’ the minds of her friends in “A Clockwork Nebari”, and finally, we get a frelling great three part adventure as D’Argo tries to save his son while Crichton tries to fight Scorpius’ growing influence on his mind in the action packed “Liars, Guns, and Money”.

Tags: Farscape, Mini-caps, NerdLush Crew Review, Reviews, Stewart, Television