TNMC
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Greetings Scapers!
Well, as a hard-core fan, I had to admit a slight bit of apprehension going into this week. Coming off two consecutive subpar episodes, "Meltdown" and "Scratch n' Sniff", I was worried that my favorite show was hitting a slump. Well, my fears were for naught. With the mid-season filler stretch now hopefully behind us, we slide into part one of a two-part story arc.
"Infinite Possibilities, Part 1: Daedalus Demands"
Season III, Episode XIV
Directed by Peter Andrikidis
Written by Carleton Eastlake
When it comes to the more substantive episodes of Farscape, the writing job usually falls into the hands of either David Kemper, Justin Monjo, or Richard Manning. Sometimes even Rockne S. O'Bannon, like with the fantastic "Relativity." So I was a tad surprised to see Carleton Eastlake's name attached to this one, as it's ostensibly a critical point in season three, and he's never penned a single episode before. So just how did he do?
I'd say pretty well. I guess I'd score it a triple. Not enough vintage Farscape humor to be a home run, but that's a small complaint I guess. Okay, let's start. Talyn-Crichton is being drawn to something. (Is it safe to assume Moya-Crichton senses this as well?) He suspects it's the ancients, and he's right. Out of the blue, papa Crichton, or Jack as the alien likes to be called, drops in and accuses John of misusing the gift he was given -- the subconscious wormhole knowledge. He shows John images of an ugly-ass alien (a Charrid, we find out) flying through a wormhole in the Farscape 1. Or at least what appears to be John's module. John figures it must've have been Furlow, the mechanic from "Til the Blood Runs Clear", who had access to his data, and must've built a replica to figure out wormhole technology.
So off they go to Dam-Ba-Da, the barren, solar-flare ridden planet where Furlow resides. Once on the ground, however, they realize the bunker is guarded by hordes of the nasty Charrids. John and Aeryn kill just enough of them to get inside, though, where they actually find Furlow a prisoner. Having completed her work on the module replica, the Charrids double-crossed her. Exactly the type of thing Jack and the ancients feared. And to make it worse, the Charrids are in league with the Scarrans, who are en route in a dreadnought that's less than six arns away...
Eventually, they convince Furlow that the technology be destroyed before it falls into the Scarrans' hands, but it's too late. They already tapped into her computer and downloaded the necessary files. But the dreadnought is still coming for the prototype, and now Jack states that destroying the module is not enough. The dreadnought must be destroyed as well, and it will take the knowledge in John's head to do it. They must convert one of the phase stabilizers into a sort of doomsday weapon -- something Jack says Crichton has the ability to do. At this point, Crichton comes clean, telling Jack all the sordid, complex details. That Scorpy has the wormhole tech, and that a Scorpy-clone inhabits John's mind, and will know everything once John does. To avoid this, Jack convinces John that the clone must be eradicated, but it's not without risk. There is no guarantee John will survive the attempt...
It's certainly a fast-paced episode that has a lot of great moments. We get to see sadistic Rygel again, as he tortures a Charrid to death, and shoots a few dozen more in an uncharacteristic soldier-like turn. There's also the cool break-in scene, although between this and the break-out scene from "Liars, Guns & Money", I'm starting to think these guys walk into gunfights with deflector shields on. There were also some very amusing scenes with Harvey in Coney Island of all places. But perhaps best of all was the moment shared by John and Aeryn, just before Jack tries to get Harvey out of his head. They both know that he could die, and that this could be it for them. Of course, this is even more poignant since it comes mere arns after John implied he wanted Aeryn to come back to Earth with him, and she implied that she would.
When Farscape sticks to the task at hand, it's pretty damn good. I'm still not quite sure how "Scratch n' Sniff" got greenlit, but if that's as bad as it gets, well, I guess things could be worse. In anycase, the slump has been nipped in the bud, and part two next week looks to be great as well. Carleton Eastlake is now okay in my book.
Episode Rating: 8 out of 10
- your resident Farscape guru, Ultra Magnus
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