Farscape is a weird ass show. Season 1 was already strange enough, but Season 2 is experimental, ambitious, and just plain bonkers. Not everything it tries works, but I do admire its guts.
Season 2 of Farscape is about John Crichton's descent into insanity. No, seriously. As the Moya crew tries to stay away from Scorpius, John starts going crazy because of a neural clone of Scorpius that was implanted in his brain at the end of Season 1. I'm honestly not the biggest fan of this storyline. It reminds me of the fourth seasons of Angel and Babylon 5 where you know there's something wrong with a character but the show waits for over half the season to tell you what it is. In general it felt like this season got off to a slow start, with an abrupt opening and some particularly rough episodes. However, just like Season 1, the last four episodes are so great and dramatic that it makes all the at times painful buildup worth it. I think Season 2 excels more with its more personal character arcs. Chiana gets multiple episodes exploring her backstory, D'Argo gets an entire story arc about his attempts to save his son, John and Aeryn's romantic subplot gets a lot more attention, Crais actually manages to run off with Talyn leaving us in constant suspense of what they're doing, and the general lore around Moya continues to be uncovered. On the other hand, the inconsistently written and endlessly klutzy Stark gets a lot more focus this season, and I really wish he didn't because he's the worst.
While the main storyline of Season 2 isn't quite as strong, this season was absolutely carried by its fantastic standalones and creative ideas. Some of the best episodes of the season that weren't at the very end were almost entirely episodic, such as The Way We Weren't, Crackers Don't Matter, Out Of Our Minds, and The Ugly Truth. This season was willing to experiment a lot, from doing a Rashomon episode, to a trilogy of heist episodes, to a body swap episode, and that's just scratching the surface. But despite all of this experimentation, Season 2 was probably more consistently strong than the first all things considered. Another thing I noticed about Season 2 is that all the production quirks from the first are pretty much gone. The music has been toned down, the camera is far less schizophrenic, and those godawful slow-motion effects are nowhere to be seen. While I'd admit that those odd directoral choices did have their own charm, I think their removal was generally a net positive for the series.
There were many really fantastic episodes this season, including:
The Way We Weren't: Pilot sadly doesn't get too much focus, and that's a shame because The Way We Weren't is fantastic. The flashbacks to Moya's origins are pretty crushing, especially once we learn of Pilot's involvement. The scene where he rips himself from Moya is so raw and emotional. Aeryn also had some great material as well, as the episode explores her desire to atone for her past with the Peacekeepers.
The Maltese Crichton: While the entire "Look At The Princess" trilogy was generally pretty good (if a bit convoluted), the final entry was my personal favorite of the three. For starters, I love the absolute gall to have the first third of the episode make Crichton's stone head the MacGuffin of sorts. I also liked seeing D'Argo and Scorpius briefly become allies, John having to give up his son, and of course, the final scene with the compatability test.
Won't Get Fooled Again: This episode was really funny at first. I liked that John knew instantly that he wasn't really on Earth, so seeing him mess with his surroundings was hilarious. I also loved the bizarre versions of the Moya crew, from stoner D'Argo to Pilot on the drums. However, just a few minutes into the episode, Won't Get Fooled Again turns from hilarious to an absolute mindfuck, to the point where I still don't even know what happened in that final act. The big plot point that stuck is the reveal of Harvey, John's neural clone, but he wouldn't come to learn about it for real for another few episodes.
The Ugly Truth: I've probably said this before but I adore Rashomon episodes, and it's especially fun in Farscape because none of the characters are reliable narrators. I don't think the differences between everyone's flashbacks are quite as cartoonishly apparent as in something like Leverage's The Rashomon Job, but you can get a pretty good sense of what the crew thinks of each other. I also like that an otherwise standard episode happens to end with the (temporary) death of Stark. Maybe he should have stayed dead.
Liars, Guns, And Money Trilogy: This entire trilogy was fantastic, at least outside of Stark.
A Not So Simple Plan: Out of the trilogy, this was the most standard heist episode, and thus was probably the most fun. It was exhilirating seeing the crew panic once Scorpius arrives, and we get some pretty big reveals. John has a fantastic run-in with Scorpius and learns about Harvey, and we also learn that Scorpius is half-Scarran.
With Friends Like These: I'll always be impressed with Farscape's willingness to embrace its continuity, as With Friends Like These has the crew create a ragtag team of past one-off antagonists in a bunch of really fun sequences. I especially liked seeing Durka appear for one scene only to be decapitated by a surprisingly badass Rygel. It was fun to see the crew frantically try to get rid of all the money with legs, and the cliffhanger where John sacrifices himself for Jothee was pretty great.
Plan B: This episode had a bit of a build-up to it, but that big siege in the second half was absolutely movie-level quality. It was tense, exciting, action-packed, and shocking, between the several deaths, Natira switching sides, Talyn and Moya destroying the whole goddamn building, and the fact that the crew actually ends up making money. This could have easily been the finale if not for that painful cliffhanger.
Die Me, Dichotomy: What an insane finale. It feels like everything that can go wrong did go wrong, from Aeryn's crushing death, to that bizarre Chiana/D'Argo/Jothee love triangle, to that horrifying cliffhanger that leaves Scorpius with the wormhole info and John condemned to live (what a badass line, by the way). I may still prefer Family Ties as this episode does feel a bit more blatantly like the first-half of an incomplete larger story, but this is easily one of the most bonkers series of cliffhangers I've ever seen. I don't know how anyone could have waiting all summer for the followup.
Overall, while Season 2 got off to a slow start and didn't have the best central storyline, but its creative standalone episodes, great character arcs, and fantastic ending made for a season that was generally an improvement on the first, even if Stark is still the worst.
4/5 Stars
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