Two more eps, Pollux.
*SPOILER ALERT* - *PLOT DESCRIPTION*
From aintitcoolnews.com:
FARSCAPE 4.20: HOT TO KATRATZI Picking up where Fetal Attraction left off, the second part of the aptly-named We’re So Screwed trilogy sees Moya & company out to free Scorpius from the clutches of the Scarrans.
Crichton’s reason for rescuing his nemesis is to prevent Scorpuis’ from revealing the knowledge of wormhole technology that has been buried in his mind.
Crichton gatecrashes a conference between the Scarrans and the Peacekeepers and announces that he his willing to sell his knowledge of wormholes to the highest bidder, proudly offering: “I’m an American. What does every American want? Capitalism”. In order to ensure his safety, Crichton has strapped a crude thermo-nuclear device to himself, tricked-up with every kind of dead-mans’switch he can muster: “too happy, too sad…”
Whilst both sides are trying to up the ante, the wheels are set in motion to free Scorpius. As Rygel and D’argo try to get the low-level workers at the complex to riot, Sikozu enlists the help of a kindred spirit to aid the acquisition of Scorpius.
Crichton make dummy deals with both sides: the Peacekeepers offer him a full pardon for past crimes and the Scarrans offer him a guarantee of safety for him and Earth, to which Crichton replies:
“Bill Gates couldn’t guarantee Windows safety, so how can you guarantee mine?”
As Scorpius in being interrogated, the Scarrans pull out their secret weapon to use in extracting the vital information. Without spoiling it for you (although other reviews printed here will doubtless reveal who it is), the Scarrens bring in a familiar face, absent from Moya for some time, who is just itching to take revenge on his former tormentor. Whereas, a devoted ally seeks to free his former master from enemy hands…
When the balloon goes up, the riots break out and Crichton & Aeryn find Scorpius and drag the weakened half-breed to a waiting escape ship (it’s gotta’ be said that the silly voice that Wayne Pygram puts on at this point makes him sound like Zippy from Rainbow – one for the UK readers!). As this is the second part of a three-part story, the escape does not go to plan: the climax sees Scorpius decking Aeyrn and pinning Crichton to the floor as he hisses “trust me…”, all the while the stress-o-meter attached to the Crichton’s Thermo-nuclear device beeps furiously, like Jackie Gleason’s Haemo-gauge in Smokey & the Bandit II…
This episode is a great mid-section to this story, and serves to show that it’s a shame that this show will bite the big one in two episodes time. It is also a pity because this, along with the previous episode, finally started to flesh out a couple of characters that have long been overlooked – namely Noranti & Rygel. Noranti has become both more compassionate and street-smart, with a nice line in knowing humour and (gulp) more than a hint of a sex-drive about her…
The romance between Crichton & Ayren (which, let’s face it, has been more off-&-on than the whole fucking marriage storyline in Lois & Clark) finally begins to show itself, as the pair share a moment in a lift before the potentially futile rescue plan commences, giving a literal interpretation to the words of Irving Berlin’s Let’s Face the Music and Dance”
There have been a couple of times in the last couple of episodes where Rygel has come into his own and you see that there is great potential in the character – a greater depth than merely being the one who drops helium trouser-coughs for comic relief. It’s a great pity that this will not be developed further. It would have been cool if they could have given him an episode where he was the main character - in the tradition of groan-inducing titles, they could have called it Making Plans for Rygel.
It will soon be time for Farscape to disappear down a televisual wormhole on the strength of what has been seen for the most part this season, it’s a real bitch.
END SPOILER ALERT
All in all, a great ep, way better then the last one. Only two more episodes and it'll all be over.
