“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”

“So how does the pious Zhaan coexist with all that rage?” “Rhapsody in Blue” is a love story. It’s several other things besides—a Zhaan character study, a mild psychological thriller, a vehicle for establishing some more backstory for John—but the … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×13, “Rhapsody in Blue”

“It appears my training is failing me. I don’t want to die alone.” I hate this episode. On the one hand, it’s not skippable, really. The John/Aeryn plot line is a major turning point for them, and it’s a really … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×12, “The Flax”

“Sorry, I don’t make the rules.” “You certainly seem familiar with them.” “Til the Blood Runs Clear” is a very masculine episode of Farscape. Not that other episodes haven’t been masculine, but usually that’s undercut by the way that Crichton … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×11, “Til the Blood Runs Clear”

“When you look at me, what do you see?” “They’ve Got a Secret” is structured as two interlocking mysteries. In one, Moya’s systems are shutting down for unknown reasons; in another, D’Argo wakes up after being spaced believing that the … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×10, “They’ve Got a Secret”

“You attacked one of your own. Would you do the same to the rest of us?” “Of course.” Farscape has never been particularly coy about the kind of show it is—though on some level, it’s still coming to understand what … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×09, “DNA Mad Scientist”

“What are you waiting for?” “A third choice. Although I know there are only two.” Amazon Prime’s episode order for Farscape season one is completely wrong. “I, E.T.” comes seventh; “P.K. Tech Girl” comes fifth; “Back and Back and Back … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×08, “That Old Black Magic”

“I hope you will only ever imagine how horrible it is to never return to the life that you love. You are smarter than that, Gilina.” Building an episode of television around a single guest star is a bit of … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×07, “P.K. Tech Girl”

“When I was a boy I dreamed of two very different lives.” “Only two? I wanted hundreds.” The strangest thing about many early Farscape episodes is that the character they’re about is often not the character that they follow. “Thank … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×06, “Thank God It’s Friday, Again”

“Whatever your crime, exile from your own kind is atonement enough.” CN: Discussion of sexual assault. It would be unfair to say that, five episodes in, we’ve finally hit the true Farscape, because bad and uneven episodes are as much … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×05, “Back and Back and Back to the Future”

Am I the only species in creation that doesn’t thrive on conflict? “Throne for a Loss” isn’t a good episode that lost its way—probably, the best version of this episode was always going to be a little dry—but it definitely … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×04, “Throne for a Loss”

Never. Swallow. A dentic! If “I, E.T.” was Farscape establishing its Planet-of-the-Week framework, “Exodus from Genesis” lays out the boundaries for a Farscape Ship-in-Trouble episode. Moya has been infested by a swarm of extremely large bugs; the temperature is rising … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×03, “Exodus from Genesis”