Farscape
"Liars, Guns and Money Part 2 -- With Friends Like These"

Airdate: December 11, 2000

So, Moya's crew have the money -- all they have to do is buy the slaves to free Jothee, right? Wrong. They arrive at the slavers planet to find that the lot they're after has been sold in a private sale -- to Scorpius. All D'Argo has to do to get his son back is hand over Crichton; and although he blames John for this situation he cannot bring himself to do it.

So this is the little bug... er Luxan who's at the root of all the present troubles.

Crichton for his part, comes up with a plan to rescue the boy. (In the words of Aeryn Sun -- "What a surprise.") It involves raiding the depository again, but this time with help. The crew have to find the blood-trackers, tavloids (All-together now -- TAVLEKS!!!), Zunetan pirates and sheangs and pay them a lot of money to take Scorpius and his little band down.

So, Aeryn, D'Argo, and John set out to acquire some help. Meanwhile back on Moya, Rygel and Chiana find themselves with the same idea -- help themselves to a little cash before it all disappears into the greasy mitts of the U.T.'s criminal fraternity. However, upon opening a crate, they find it... gone.

Moya has been experiencing some metal fatigue problems lately, and it's now that the cause is revealed. The currency from Scorpy's horde was actually a kind of metal eating life-form, and if Zhaan doesn't find a way to deal with it soon, Moya will die. There seems in the end to be only one answer -- and it's not an easy one.

When the rest of crew return with the hired help in tow the severity of the solution is revealed. Moya is parasite free, but seriously injured, and there is no money to pay the mercenaries either. This puts a severe kink in the plan -- and then John disappears.

The writers are really putting Moya and her crew through the wringer at the moment, and this is making for extremely painful to watch, but top-notch drama that is all too often missing in some other genre series. D'Argo is struggling to understand why he cannot ship one of his friends to rescue his own blood; Zhaan has to live with the aftermath of curing Moya and Crichton is getting to know the working of Scorpy's brain just a little too well if you ask me.

Farscape's cast and crew are again hitting the mark and bringing the characters and their foibles believably to life. And yes, I'm including Rygel and Pilot in that statement -- descendants of Kermit and Miss Piggy they may be, but they are no less believable for that fact.

The brew is coming together nicely but I'm a little concerned as to what it will turn out to be when it's ready. After all, we all know how these writers like to frell with their audience's perceptions.

-- Muriel 'Mogs' Moore

Farscape airs at 8pm GMT Sundays on Sci Fi in the UK and Fridays at 9pm EST on the Sci Fi Channel in the US.

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