Liars, Guns, and Money Part 1: A Not So Simple Plan

Hi everyone!

Wow, has it been a long time or WHAT?! This was a VERY hard episode to review for two reasons. One, it’s part one of several and it’s always hard to review a single part of a series. And two, it’s been so long since I’ve seen a new eppy of Farscape then I think this could have been 45 minutes of watching the crew of Moya read the newspaper and I would have enjoyed it! So being a bit objective was hard. :-)

Anyway, on with the first review of the millennium! Warning, this contains huge honkin’ spoilers, and all ideas are my own, none stolen from anyone else.

Overall: 

• One of the potential flaws of the first part of a series is that it can be too filled with setup and not enough action. Fortunately this wasn’t the case! The writers manage very nicely to prepare us for what’s coming in the next few episodes while still making this one exciting and almost it’s own stand alone episode. Like the sweeps week episodes on a network show, quite a bit is thrown at us: D’Argo’s son, Crichton’s mental problems, Scorpious, the return of Stark...if this is what we get in part one, I can’t wait for part two!

And Crichton: 

• Well besides getting half strangled and smacked around by the real Scorpy at the end, he is constantly being driven nuts by the fake one in his head. This episode get’s a Scorpy On My Mind Rating.

At least he didn’t die.

The Good: 

• Look, no Scifi Prime Chick! Wo ho!

• Poor Crichton, forced by D’Argo and Chiana to be the one to confront Zhaan at the beginning about finding Stark. Did they get Crichton to do it because Zhaan tends to trust him the most, or because they’d already tried and been yelled at?

• I’m curious...when Stark appears in the mask, do only Zhaan and Crichton see him, or does everyone? Pilot interrupts so quickly it’s hard to tell.

• As much as I love Stark, and I’m very glad to see him again since he is one of my absolute favorite recurring characters, I’m very suspicious about his motives. We know the other slaves in the lot with Jothee are Bancs, his race. I wonder if Stark was looking for a way to free some of his people, found Jothee, and is using the crew of Moya to help him. Now he’s not really hiding this, he says from the beginning he want’s to steal enough money to free all ten-thousand slaves...but he wins over D’Argo by claiming to have gone searching for the way to free Jothee, when I get the feeling he really was just looking for some help to free his own people. Let’s face it, Stark couldn’t do this alone.

• Gotta love Chiana’s enthusiasm to get involved in some big time thieving! Just listen to her joy when she says "Are we going to rob a bank?!"

• As much as I hate to see D’Argo acting so harshly towards everyone, and Crichton in particular, when they won’t help him at first, it is true to his character and his goals. From day one he’s searched for a way to get back to his son, and he’ll do anything to free Jothee from slavery. His sudden anger and resentment towards Crichton’s objections over a possible plan are understandable since they don’t have any other ideas to get Jothee back....

• ...also D’Argo is the kind of person who does not give his trust and friendship easily. We’ve seen how long it took Crichton to earn that loyalty...and once established the two of them backed each other up no matter what. Unfortunately you keep your status with D’Argo by continuing to be unconditionally loyal...and when Crichton doesn’t support him in the beginning that friendship is lost. Let’s only hope that he’ll take Chiana’s advice and forgive Crichton in the end.

• "D’Argo, pick up the damn phone, I know you can hear me!" Don’t you hate talking to the answering machine when you know the person is there? :-)

• The shots of the planet with the Shadow Depository were amazing...spooky and dangerous but yet almost beautiful! Bravo FX people!

• Apparently Crichton has come completely clean with at least Aeryn about his hallucinations of Scorpy...she’s very calm about them whenever they happen.

• KFC? LOL...I’ve always wondered what all 11 secret ingredients were.

• You know Scorpy is really getting to Crichton when he starts quoting the guy... "It is, to my knowledge, unique in the universe, and unique is always valuable."

• So at what Pa’u level did Zhaan learn how to act like a Dominatrix Pirate? :-) It was fun to see her take on this roll...and even enjoy herself a bit acting so very un-Priest like!

• And the winner of the Freaky Contact Award goes to Natera, with those spooky eyes that just perfectly top the whole wonderful makeup job. Made me wonder if she was going quicksilver mad....

• "This is bad."
  "This is very bad."

• Nice to see Lt. Bracca up and kicking butt again. And later getting his butt kicked.

• "You want revenge!"
  "No I don’t. I want to kill him. That’s justice."
  Crichton? Po-tay-to....po-tah-to...

• That brings up another point...while Crichton has become almost cold and maniacal about killing Scorpy, he’s still not completely callous. Notice how he could have (and probably should have) killed Bracca, but he only knocked him out...and then the shocked, upset look on his face when the tech is blown up by the laced cooling rod at the end makes it clear how upset he was. Plus I’d like to think that the remorse he feels at the end is not just the ChipScorpy yelling at him. Nice to know he’s not completely cold blooded about killing...yet...

• "How are you doing?"
  "How do I look?"
  "You look like crap."
  "Well there’s your answer."

• Watching Chiana when D’Argo and Crichton fight has become very interesting. Here’s her lover and her surrogate brother having gone from close trusted companions to bitter arguments. She’s obviously upset that they’re not getting along, and it’s especially evident at the end when she brings up D’Argo’s "other tortured friend."

• "Frell! The blue bitch said this would be easy!" Sorry Rygel, but to quote Crichton, it’s never easy!

• "If he gets this right I’ll have one big kiss for him." Man, at this rate Crichton will have kissed Rygel more the Aeryn! :-)

• Gotta love the grin that quickly flashes on Crichton’s face when Aeryn jumps on top of him to hide from the PK!

• Crichton’s watched a few too many spy movies...but you have to love how he was going to try to get Aeryn to dress up in the guard outfits to sneak out of the bank. You could just see Aeryn about to say how the outfits wouldn’t fit!

• "If Scorpy gets me..."
  "I know, shoot you."
  "No! Shoot him!"

• And in the grand tradition of Farscape, John and Aeryn declare their love for each other without actually saying anything. "I meant what I said....didn’t say..." is right!

• There’s something very fitting about Crichton singing the Star Spangled Banner in order to break the hold Scorpy has on him. Although I think he sang "Dream a little dream" better... :-)

The Bad:

• OK I’m with Crichton and Aeryn here...there must have been another way to set off the security problems without D’Argo going in to sacrifice himself. Frankly I’m surprised they didn’t kill D’Argo straight out, since Natera knew a Luxian isn’t going to talk. Even after his torture, he should have been killed.

• When exactly was Stark going to fill everyone in on the whole plan? He obviously took a few minutes to fill in D’Argo so he knew what to do to get the plan going...he couldn’t have filled in Crichton and Aeryn as well? Especially when they took off after D’Argo?

• So Stark gave John the all-access pass key to open all the doors. He tries it the first time and it doesn’t work, so they contact Stark. Stark says if they use it they’ll give their position away, and Aeryn says they’ll be the diversion so Zhaan, Chiana and Rygel can escape. Then the key works suddenly. Why didn’t it work the very first time?

The Nitpicky:

• Just for fun, I counted the number of times Stark said "It’s the plan." or "This plan will work". Grand total: 7.

• Added Dialogue: Crichton, flipping through the channels to find Scorpy and Natera getting hot and heavy, "Doing what guys do best, I’m looking for Baywatch. Better yet, the Discovery Channel. No wait, actually this is Playboy."

• When Aeryn and Crichton are first lead to the observation area, we can clearly hear the guard say "Scorpious is here, Natera should know." You figure either Aeryn or Crichton would hear that!

• Natera’s chair technology is obviously much more advanced then ours...notice the Suspension Cable Chair Scorpy enjoys.

• "What’s black and white and black and white and black and white..."
  "Scorpy!"
  ...uh, I thought it was a penguin rolling down a hill!

• Stark turned into Q from the James Bond movies...handing out encrypted comms and all-access pass keys...just needed a pen that doubled as a flame thrower and a swiss army watch!

• When everyone is first sealed into the bank, Rygel says "Stupid plan." Chiana says "Very stupid plan." Then Aeryn says "Don’t panic, hold..." and is cut off before she can finish. Oops...

"10% of this plan is lunacy. 50% of these riches is not enough! 100% of dead is dead!" -Rygel

Lauren (OboeCrazy)
SACCer #1: The Most Vocal Defender