Farscape (Season 3)

Season 3 of Farscape is one of the gutsiest seasons of television I have ever seen. It takes a lot of risks, many of which truly pay off, and they all make for the show's best season by a long-shot.

As a whole, Season 3 of Farscape is generally about the conflict between the Moya crew and Scorpius. Now that Scorpius has the wormhole technology and is working on trying to build it, there's a bit of a race against time as the crew has to figure out how to stop him before he does something seriously dangerous. Scorpius gets a lot more development and depth throughout the season, and it really starts to feel like this big arc is coming to a close. This season builds up to the fantastic final confrontation in the last few episodes that feels like a series finale in a lot of ways (with the exception of that baffling denouement finale), but that also leads for a lot of room to experiment throughout the first two-thirds of the season. Season 3 does two really gutsy things this season. First, it classifies itself as the "Season Of Death", meaning that anyone and everyone could potentially die, and it works! While plenty of characters die temporarily this season, Zhaan, Jack the Ancient, a John clone, Crais, Talyn, and Aeryn's mom are among the many characters to die for real. It really creates a lot of tension whenever anyone is close to death because it genuinely feels like the writers could kill them off. 

The other big thing Season 3 does starts with the episode Eat Me, which has John split up into two identical clones of himself. Normally that sort of plot point would get resolved by the end of the episode (hell, it was resolved in a Season 2 episode), but it didn't. As a matter of fact, the writers took it a step further by splitting up the crew among Moya and Talyn, with one Crichton on each ship. Most of the middle of the season is spent alternating between episodes focusing on each crew. This could have been a disaster but it managed to work really well. I generally preferred the more dramatic Talyn episodes, but the lighter and more experimental Moya episodes were a nice breather to prevent the season from getting too bleak. This season also had some pretty great subplots for a lot of the characters. Aeryn was probably the highlight between reuniting with her mom and dealing with the death of a John clone she started a relationship with, but there's also Crais having a bit of a redemption arc, Chiana gaining precognitive powers, and the appearance of Jool. I can imagine Jool being grating for some people due to her loud screams and bratty attitude, but I thought she was great comic relief and it was nice to see her slowly adjust to being on Moya. On the other hand, Stark is still the worst, but he does develop a solid rapport with Rygel (who I really liked this season) that makes him not as intolerable as he was last season.

This entire season was fantastic, but these episodes are the highlights:

Season Of Death: Whereas Season 2's premiere was a bit messy and resolved things a bit too easily, Season Of Death was a much stronger opening for the titular season of death. It was tense, surprising, and managed to pay off all the plot threads meticulously place in Die Me, Dichotomy. It also managed to resurrect Aeryn without removing any tension, as now Zhaan is on track to die in place of her.

Different Destinations: Different Destinations felt like Farscape's attempt at making a standard Star Trek episode. We got a one-off alien civilization, time travel shenanigans, and what should be a fun premise about "setting right what once went wrong". But this is Farscape, of course, so Different Destinations is actually a tense and heartwrenching episode where the Moya crew continues to screw up time all the way until the end of the episode where we learn that their actions caused the death of dozens? (maybe even hundreds?) of nurses. 

Eat Me: And if Different Destinations wasn't bad enough, Eat Me is by far the scariest episode in the series to date, as the already nightmarish Farscape goes full gothic horror. The Moya crew having to escape from a mad cannibal that clones people for infinite consumption is truly terrifying, but Eat Me manages to rise above just being a standard one-off by ending with John getting permanently split in two.

Relativity: Relativity was just a great episode all around. Aeryn finally encounters her mom, who is revealed to have killed her father to get back in the Peacekeeper's good graces, Rygel actually develops an entertaining rapport with Stark and dies (at least temporarily), and John and Crais actually get the chance to work together, even if begrudgingly.

Infinite Possibilities: This entire two-parter was just fantastic. Jack The Ancient gets a lot more screentime before getting killed off (hey, season of death!), Furlow reappears and makes much more of an impact after the pretty underwhelming Till The Blood Runs Clear, we get to see just how powerful the wormhole technology really is, Rygel almost dies again, and we get a pretty fun fight with the Scarrans. But let's face it, we all know the highlight of these episodes was Black Tee John's death, a plot twist as heartwrenching as it is genius. John gets pretty much everything he wants in this episode only to get it ripped away from him, while the fact that there's another Crichton on Moya means that Aeryn will have a lot to deal with in future episodes. 

Fractures: As great as it was to see the two crews finally reunite, Fractures was also just a really fun episode. It introduces a one-off crew that parallels the Moya crew, and the whole episode is a neat whodunit that gives the whole cast something to do. It was neat to see another Hynerian, as well as an actually nice Scarran, and the ending where John says he wants to storm the Command Center is an exciting bit of set-up for the rest of the season.

Into The Lion's Den: This was easily the best multi-part episode in the series to date. The first half was tense and exciting, as the Moya crew had to try and acclimate to being in a Peacekeeper base, with everyone conspiring against each other. I like how learning about Scorpius's backstory left John wondering if he's really doing the right thing by trying to stop him. The second part is even better, though, the big final battle where Crais and Tayln completely demolish the Command Center once and for all. After an entire season's worth of death, this was incredibly satisfying. I just think it should have been the finale instead of whatever the hell "Dog With Two Bones" was.

Overall, with the exception of that bizarre finale, Season 3 of Farscape is nearly perfect. It's dark and dramatic while still managing to be experimental and fun, and nearly all of the risks it takes manage to pay off. It builds towards a phenomenal conclusion that ends the show's biggest story arc on a massive note.

5/5 Stars