“I am in control of me!” There’s a simplicity to “Die Me, Dichotomy” that I find incredibly satisfying. Like “Family Ties” before it, it’s a season-ender that’s significantly smaller than the multi-part episode that preceded it. The stakes are very … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×22, “Die Me, Dichotomy”

“We’re gonna rob a bank?!” “Liars, Guns, and Money” is just so full. The basic story of the episodes, as a friend once pointed out to me, is summed up in the subtitles: “A Not So Simple Plan,” “With Friends … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×19-2×21, “Liars, Guns, and Money”

This review was like pulling teeth and I’ve got to conserve my energy for next week’s three-parter, so fuck it, we’re doing this one Five Things style. Five Things About Farscape 2×18, “A Clockwork Nebari” This episode is really the … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×18, “A Clockwork Nebari”

“Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” “The Ugly Truth” is fun because any half-decent Rashomon episode is going to be fun. Rashomon is a fun concept, and even more fun when applied to characters … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×17, “The Ugly Truth”

“Take a look inside. You’ll see his image. The only love of my life.” In my decade-plus of talking to Farscape fans of all kinds, I’ve found “The Locket” to be one of the show’s most polarizing episodes. People who … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×16, “The Locket”

“You’ve changed.” “People change to survive.” Redoing a concept that your show has done before is risky. Redoing the concept of one of the best episodes your show has ever done is perhaps bordering on self-sabotage. There’s so much potential … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×15, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

It’s another quick and dirty review this week. We should be back to regular reviews next week. The biggest problem with “My Three Crichtons” isn’t that it’s stupid, although it is pretty stupid. The episode’s biggest problem is that it’s … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×10, “My Three Crichtons”

“Trust me. I’m a lawyer.” Is this the silliest episode of Farscape? We’ve got funny hats, Chiana taking speed, helium fart voices, and Chiana and Rygel doing their best Law & Order impression. “Dream a Little Dream” was (in a … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×08, “Dream a Little Dream”

“I am what I am, and I did what I did.” Farscape is, for the most part, a very forward-thinking show. The characters have secrets and backstories, and those histories do matter, but even when engaging with where a character … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×05, “The Way We Weren’t”

“Humans are SUPERIOR!” I love “Crackers Don’t Matter” because outside of “We’re So Screwed,” it has maybe Farscape’s most direct title. The crackers don’t matter thematically, but they also literally don’t matter—they’re a MacGuffin that does nothing except exist for … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×04, “Crackers Don’t Matter”

“But whatever you want… you cannot want to die.” CN: Discussions of self-harm and suicide. Obviously, there are problems with “Taking the Stone.” The effects are bad. The costumes are really silly. All of the guest characters speak in a … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×03, “Taking the Stone”

“And holy women never go bad?” Unusually for Farscape, the cold open of “Vitas Mortis” fails to set up any obvious compelling conflict. D’Argo, Zhaan, and John visit a Luxan priestess (or, I suppose, “orican”), but they don’t need anything … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×02, “Vitas Mortis”

“You want to have a midlife crisis? Fine. Ditch the firm, head off to Maui, shack up with a supermodel. But you do not get to keep the Porsche!” The set-up for “Mind the Baby” is pretty similar to the … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 2×01, “Mind the Baby”

“It’s a Jerry Springer kinda family, but for what it’s worth, Zhaan, you are family.” All season long, the crew of Moya have been growing closer—gradually becoming allies, then friends, and finally, family. The season finale could have been a … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×22, “Family Ties”

“There is much cruelty in the universe.” For an ostensible planetside romp episode, there’s a lot going on in “Bone to Be Wild.” The episode has three major throughlines: the A-plot and two heavily serialized subplots. The plots intersect in … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×21, “Bone to Be Wild”

“He thought it was about his doomsday device—about wormholes. It wasn’t. It was only about the time I kissed a girl.” The basic story of “Nerve”/“The Hidden Memory” is pretty simple. John breaks into a Gammak Base to find a … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×19, “Nerve” / 1×20, “The Hidden Memory”

“How does a damned virus get to be so smart anyway?” A Note: I tried, but I couldn’t find a way to review this episode entirely without spoilers. They’re minor, but there are references to the next two episodes of … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×18, “A Bug’s Life”

“I’ve always wondered what could be beyond the height, depth, width, and time.” “Nausea.” “Through the Looking Glass” is an interestingly vanilla episode, for Farscape. It’s a “ship in trouble” plot with a misunderstood creature at its center, and it … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×17, “Through the Looking Glass”

“That’s it. Earth. Minus the sunshine.” “A Human Reaction” is… Aw, fuck. “A Human Reaction” is great. You know it, I know it, the world knows it. A paranoid thriller that deconstructs E.T. way better than the episode that explicitly … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×16, “A Human Reaction”

“I left the half-dead sanctimoniousness of my planet the first chance that I got. I stole food when I was hungry. Jumped transport without voucher. Defended myself when necessary.” “Durka Returns” is, in most respects, a fairly middling episode of … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×15, “Durka Returns”

“The slug who would be king.” There are a lot of things that make “Jeremiah Crichton” a bad episode. The acting from nearly all of the guest stars. Ben Browder’s fake beard. The racist undertones. But probably the worst thing … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×14, “Jeremiah Crichton”