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"At last, the rift between us is finally breached." -- Scorpius, to Crichton
Episode 3.20 - "Into the Lion's Den, Part 1: Lambs to the Slaughter"
Written by Richard Manning
Directed by Ian Watson
Air Date: 04.12.02
As this is an advance review, I wouldn't advise reading ahead unless you've either seen this episode or don't mind spoilers... big ones.
Crichton and Scorpius shaking hands, while standing aboard a PK Command Carrier. It's not exactly a scenario most of us would have seen coming, but it's exactly what we get as a result of the agreement reached by Rygel and Scorpy in "I-Yensch, You-Yensch." Scorpius, of course, has promised amnesty and safe passage home to Crichton's friends, in exchange for his help with the wormhole tech. Little does he know that Crichton has every intention to screw him over.
So it goes without saying that the band of escaped PK prisoners is a little out of place on the ship. Utter silence accompanies their entrance into the officers' lounge, where Chiana and D'Argo waste no time getting in a bit of trouble. No one has it worse than Aeryn, though. Even Crais, being called a traitor and various other names under the breath of passing officers doesn't get a drink thrown in his face by his former close friend. It's truly interesting to see Aeryn and Crais back in their natural environments. Aeryn, despite her newfound loyalties, seems to long for the simpler days of her past.
John is not present for any of this, however, because as he reminds Scorpius, he's there to work. "For, or against me?" Scorpy asks. This ends up becoming, not surprisingly, one of the more intriguing aspects of the episode. It finally occurs to Crichton that, assuming Scorpy's motives are truly honorable and he simply wants to protect the galaxy from the Scarrans, then perhaps it would be smart to actually do as he promised and help him obtain the technology. Aeryn is obviously taken aback by John's sudden indecisiveness, being quick to point out that the other John gave his life to protect this knowledge. But this John has something the other did not -- an insight into Scorpius' past. In a true showing of trust, Scorpius gives Crichton excerpts from his file, detailing his history. (presumably the stuff we saw in "Incubator") Aeryn tells him that she'll back him either way, but he needs to figure out what he's doing, and fast.
The scenes where Crichton is at work with Co-Kura, Linfer's science partner from "Incubator", were some of my favorites. I've always dug the scientist Crichton stuff. And never, ever, has Crichton been so thoroughly badass as in this episode. Here's this guy on board a PK command carrier, and not only is he not taking any dren, he's throwing around his weight like he owns the place. To say he's come a long way from the completely clueless guy who was gonna fill a PK soldier with "little yellow bolts of light" is beyond understatement.
Anyway, after a slightly goofy attempt on D'Argo's life (was anyone else having Bruce Campbell flashbacks during this scene?) everybody but John, Aeryn and Crais goes back to Moya. Their stay there is short-lived, however, as within arns they're captured by Peacekeepers. While Crichton's first instinct is that Scorpius betrayed them, it actually turns out to be something else entirely.
Here we are introduced to Commandant Mele-On Grayza. A babe of a PK if I do say so, she is at least Scorpius' equal in rank, and one gets the feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of Miss Grayza in the future. Having captured the crew, she walks up to Scorpius and tells him that a truce is now the most viable option for dealing with the Scarrans. Scorpius naturally thinks she's out of her mind, and orders her off his ship, and the prisoners be set free, once again. She warns him that he should not have made an enemy of her. Oh, but I skipped the part where Crichton came in and demanded the release of his friends, while pointing a gun at both Scorp and Grayza. This was a great exchange - I'll recap:
Crichton: "Have we met?"
Grayza: "Commandant Mele-On Grayza. And you must be the infamous John Crichton."
Crichton: "Infamous... two points, Commandant. One - Your boy here made a lot of promises which you should keep, because two - when my friends are threatened, I am infamous for making really stupid moves, yes?"
Aeryn: "Uh-huh."
Grayza: "Point two is clearly correct, but I cannot accept point one."
Once off the ship, Grayza secretly plots with an uppity lieutenant to remove Scorpius from command. While Scorpy himself is hard to get to, he is vulnerable through Crichton and the I-Yensch bracelet, and whether or not Crichton lives or dies is irrelevant to her. This leads to an ambitious scene where John and Aeryn are ambushed in a generator room, but I can't quite decide if I liked it or not when Crichton went all Rocketeer with a jet pack. On the hand it was cool, but also a tad goofy. Plus, I'm not really sure what he was trying to do anyway. Aeryn was still on the ground fighting for her life. Oh well, at least some PK's got to bite it in impressive fashion.
With the assassination attempt behind them, Scorpius reminds John once again that time is against them, and the technology must be unlocked sooner than later. Feeling pressured, John quips, "I'm here. On a big stinking command carrier. Dick Tracy's freaking neural bracelet linking me to Bram Stoker's nightmare. What more do you want from me?" What a great line. Props to Richard Manning for sure. But despite John's insistence that he's doing everything he can, Scorpy is not convinced. As an extra incentive, he shows him something.
Now are you ready for this?...
An image of Earth. That's right. A mere 60 years travel with conventional transports. Furious, Crichton immediately pulls his pulse pistol on Scorpius. Scorpy, however, proceeds to stick a shiv through his forearm (!), making Crichton reel back in pain. During his moment of advantage, Scorpius slams John's head onto the table, and promises that if he doesn't help figure out the technology, he will witness the destruction of his home planet.
Can you say, wow?
So after nearly three full seasons, many a scaper's guess has turned out correct - Earth is apparently somewhere in the uncharted territories after all, and it now seems a lot more possible that it could become more central to the continuing story. We'll have to wait and see. Now there was so much amazing stuff here that I feel dumb bringing up the minor gripes, but there were a few. The Crais subplot with his former lover seemed weird and unnecessary, and the Luxan Ambassador that Grayza brought on board seemed seemed completely off...something about the actor portraying him. Just not Luxan material. But the minuses were heavily outweighed by the pluses. The FX for the command carrier and PK armada were some of the best Farscape's ever had. There was also some Harvey action, a really sweet scene transition near the beginning, more Bracca than usual, and D'Argo actually got those rings surgically removed from his collar bones... ouch.
And did I mention Scorpius found Earth?!
That's good stuff.
Episode Rating: 8 out of 10
Ultra Magnus wouldn't mind seeing a little more of Commandant Grayza.
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