Something's hiding on Moya and D'Argo's life hangs in the balance whilst the crew hunt the creature that attacked him - but is it parasites, the little bug-catcher brought in to track them down, or something more sinister...

Chiana: Our parasite problems are solved.
Aeryn: Rygel's decided to leave us then, has he?

Oh dear. This is a very poor episode which reaches such points of desperation as to throw practically every bodily function you can think of at the viewer and then some more. I don't usually have a problem with Farscape's dalliances in that department because they are usually done for light relief, but here they have a tendency to take over what is a rather dull, seen-it-all-before mess of a story. The fact that we are also dealing with positively the two worst critters in the series run does not help matters one jot.

D'Argo is incapacitated for most of the episode, which doesn't help, and Zhaan is quickly turning into nothing more than the ship's doctor, which is indicative of the overall tedium of the character and the writers' lack of any good ideas to develop her - which is such a rarity on this show that it stands out like a sore thumb.

Okay, it's not all bad. The banter between John and Aeryn is, at times, great fun, especially in the scene where they have just injected translator microbes into the Vorc.

Aeryn: What is Scorpius saying to you?
John: Says he's going to get me. Says he already has, I just don't know it yet.
Aeryn: Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance?
John: I tried, tried. But I couldn't. Something stopped me. Something inside.

The little hints at Crichton's increasing mental problems start to come to the fore as we finally discover that his vision of Scorpy way back in Crackers Don't Matter wasn't just a trick of the light. Scorpius is in his mind. He talks to John, John talks back. Finally everything that the season has been aiming towards starts to come together. How ironic that all the strings should be gathered in one of the poorest episodes, indicative of the up and down quality of the season so far.

Fortunately it is the last poor episode of the season. And, given that the third season is of such high quality and that the fourth year isn't far behind it, it's possibly the last episode of the entire series that can really be counted as being awful. That's not to say that there aren't lesser episodes in the future, but none of them descend to this level, imo.

Everything good that does happen in this episode revolves around John's visions of Scorpius. We need to know more!

But let's not go into specifics yet. There's far too much fun to be had in the remaining episodes of this season.

Scorpius: You'll never see it coming John. When the trap closes it will be too late.
John: You think? Checkmate, you lose.
Scorpius: That, um, wasn't the trap that I meant.

Not too much to add to your review Steve, I agree with you.

Loved the Scorpy bits, bored with the rest. ;)

I thought the Vorc was pretty cute :D

It was a little too ET for me. And what was with those ears flapping? Freaky. :blink:

The ears were cute :D

Ok watch Meltdown first and then go back to this. Personally I'd rather watch this one. Most of it is Dren but Scorpy and Crichtons wavering sanity is good and I just like the bug flame job at the end.

As you say most of the story is pretty weak. I like the fact that everyone questions John and think he is suffering from space sickness and it is cute when Aeryn holds the Vorc at the end.

I think you are right its is the puppets that let this one down, as well as the writing, unusual for the creature workshop but what were they thinking. D'Argos near death isn't handled very well it should have much more suspense but it doesn't really make an impact.

Fair comment :lol: :lol:

:) That is if you get round to watching it :whistling:

Oi! Coax Lisa, not me! :lol: :lol: :lol:

:unsure: Sorry just anxious to get to the next one :sad:

Yeah me too. :thumbsup:

Huh - I have to disagree with you, BOD was brilliant compared to some of the dren served up in S4 *cough* APM, TS, CBC *cough*

We'll have to agree to disagree on that, Jeni ;)

I wouldn't go that far but I agree that S4 had some of the poorest eps.

Despite this one seeming to be a tame Alien ripoff for much of the episode, I found the Scorpius scenes absolutely compelling. It's a case of the secondary story overshadowing the primary plot here.

Compared with some of the earlier Season 2 episodes this one is positively great. The Scorpius scenes certainly do save it, and the portents of just what's going on are ominous to say the least, especially with the closing scene. We're waiting for the other foot to fall..... :unsure:

:thumbsup: Thats the chess board scene isn't it, superb :)

Yeah that's the one. Fantastic.