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Captain Hornblower
Rates the Farscape Episodes
The Captain gives "Mental as Anything" a rating of:
2 Moyas
Captain's Rating Scale:
5 Moyas-one of the best episodes
4 Moyas-an excellent episode
3 Moyas-a good episode
2 Moyas-a fair episode
1 Moya-a not so fair episode
0 Moyas-a poor episode
Review:
This episode was rather difficult for me to review, because it took
some thought as to why I didn't enjoy it as much as I have other
episodes. It was a fair episode, but I just found it to be rather
boring, and as I was watching it, I couldn't quite put my finger
on why. It took some retrospection to figure out why I had a mixed
reaction to this episode
But before I get to why I found this episode to be merely fair,
let me start with what I liked about the episode. First, I found
the mystery surrounding whether or not D'Argo actually did kill
Lolaan in a fit of hyperage very interesting. At some points during
the story, I thought "no way, Macton is lying". But once
or twice, they did make the possibility seem very ominous. The conclusion
to this mystery both verified old information on Lolaan's death,
but also added an extra twist to it.
Second, Scorpius' machinations continue to be intriguing. The fact
that he is assisting Crichton in developing better skills to face
his enemies, while at the same time plotting against him, makes
Scorpius' every move and every action significant. The writers still
never cease to surprise the viewer with the schemes and maneuvering
of Scorpius, who remains Farscape's most complex villain, even now
as he is a half-ally to Crichton (for now).
Those two areas are where the episode did well, and made it somewhat
interesting to watch. But, on the whole, the rest of the episode's
qualities were merely fair. Unfortunately, a lot of what fell somewhat
flat in this episode had to do with the lead in to its main plot.
We the viewers have known about Macton, Lolaan's brother, and the
part he played in destroying D'Argo's life since mid-season one.
Since then, the prevailing notion has been that when D'Argo caught
up with Macton, the confrontation would be epic. But when it finally
does happen in this episode, the confrontation actually is not actually
very compelling. Macton really was not a very interesting or believable
character. His torturing of D'Argo in the simulation with the false
memories of the latter causing Lolaan's death just didn't have any
power to it. The dialogue was rather dull and the delivery might
as well have been read by a first year acting student. I'm not sure
if it was the writing or the acting, but Macton left much to be
desired in the conniving villain dredged up from D'Argo's past.
This episode obviously has parallels to the classic season two installment,
"the Way We Weren't", in that one of Moya's crew is confronted
by past demons, and we the viewers get to see glimpses into that
character's past. But "Mental as Anything" suffers from
this similarity to "the Way We Weren't" because it doesn't
possess nearly the power or intense drama that the other did.
Also, the fact that D'Argo's ultimate confrontation with his rival
is in his mind actually hurt the plot rather than helped it. This
"confronting your demons in your mind" plot is getting
kind of overused and old on Farscape, having been done a lot in
the previous season and in several episodes this season. Granted,
most of the time, the mind games involve Crichton, while this time
it was D'Argo's brain that got picked to be the battleground. But
still, the general plot construct is the same for the most part,
and has fast become old hat on this show. Thus, it has become less
interesting than it used to be. What was new and fresh just...isn't,
anymore.
Finally, the whole "mental challenges" thing was not very
interesting either. I got bored rather quickly with Scorpius and
the "Master Jedi" (as Crichton called him) playing catch
with the mental fireball. Same thing when Rygel and the Charrid
did it later on. Even though they broke away from it each time for
dialogue between other characters, it still made the episode seem
slow in those sequences, and was ultimately a distraction from the
main plot-the confrontation between D'Argo and Macton.
This was an episode that had so much potential due to the well crafted
mystery aspect regarding whether or not D'Argo killed Lolaan, Scorpius'
continued surprising ability at scheming right under everyone's
noses, and the much anticipated confrontation between D'Argo and
Macton. Unfortunately, the first two elements were only enough to
make the episode fair at best, and the rest of the episode was just
not very well executed. "Mental as Anything" is certainly
not a poor episode, and is still quite watchable. But frankly, it
could have been better.
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