Farscape. Won’t Get Fooled Again

The series continues its ill-advised pseudo-returns to Earth. Milking the idea of John being far from home seems to me the more clever idea. I waited vainly for episodes that would have John encounter vague references to Earth, then desperately pursue these threads of information, seeking news of Earth or even the relative location of Earth to the Uncharted Territories. But Farscape never did that. Instead, we get these fantasy returns, and then Earth, the real Earth, becomes a repeat location for Farscape stories.

This episode is the second fantasy return. . The mystery driving the episode is not whether John is actually on Earth, the question is why this is happening and where is he really. The Farscape regulars turn up in impossible roles as people on Earth. There is comic value in putting square pegs into wrong holes, and indeed much of the first two thirds are funny. Then, to reflect John’s mental breakdown, the scenes become too absurd, thereby losing the humour in a steaming pile of nonsense.

The official introduction of the neural clone is perhaps the primary purpose of this episode. The other purpose is to fool around and make joke scenarios. In between the jokes are some nice subtle touches. At first the viewer suspects the DArgo character, and especially the Zhann character, may turn out to be an ally. Late in the episode, the characters subtly stop playing their Earth-roles, and give dialogue that partially fits the illusionary scenario, but also seems to acknowledge that they are playing roles. I refer to lines like Zhann’s “I wish I could help you,” and some lines in the late scene with most of the characters together, confronting John.

The best bit is the first full appearance of the Scorpius image produced by the neural chip in John’s head. Through Scorpius explaining to John, the audience has its explanation, or should that be narration. Either way works. Seeing Scorpius as the one character not controlled by the situation is intriguing, and Scorpius fronting a band is a terrific idea. There are a few other good gags, but Scorpius makes the episode work. It was a wise decision to make his character the key upon which to turn the plot.