Farscape's season three climactic two parter ends with the extravagant exit of two characters and the murky issues involving the Peacekeepers come to an unambiguous conclusion. More or less.
Season Three, Episode Twenty-One: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
It's been a few episodes since Talyn killed a ship of civilians. As often happens with a character who's redeemed after committing horrible deeds (as seen recently in another space opera series), Talyn must die, in this case by starbursting in the middle of the Command Carrier with Crais (Lani Tupu) inside. This is just one of the violent ways the moral ambiguities of the previous episode are concluded, the more impressive, in my opinion, being the fiery death of Henta (Marta Dusseldorp), the old comrade of Aeryn (Claudia Black).
It's hard to see this as a consequence of Henta's loyalty to the Peacekeepers since these random flames could as easily have hit Aeryn. It's worth remembering that sometimes life and death obey no code of morality or justice. Which makes decisions about such things all the more difficult and the final confrontation between Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) and Crichton (Ben Browder) the best part of the episode.
Even after Crichton has clearly betrayed him, Scorpius is actually still making his case, still telling Crichton about the threat posed by the Scarrans. This is after Crais has gotten his final revenge on Scorpius but I wonder if it's partly a reflection on Crichton's experience with Crais, the process of reconciliation between two bitter enemies, that compels him to stop a moment and cooperate with Scorpius to remove the bracelets. The fact that the two had been sharing each other's physical pain, and that Scorpius has been willing to hurt Crichton (and himself in the process), works as a good symbol of understanding, too. This is the beginning of not a beautiful friendship but certainly another of Farscape's famous weird relationships.
. . .
Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.
This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):
Season One:
Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties
Season Two:
Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy
Season Three:
Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
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