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Captain
Hornblower Rates the Farscape Episodes
The Captain gives "We're So Screwed Part 3" a rating of:
3 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:
If I could use one word to describe my reaction to this episode,
it would be the following-frustration. This trilogy of episodes
had been so spectacular up to this point, with parts 1 and 2 of
"We're So Screwed" being in the top five of my list of
all time favorite episodes. But unfortunately, frustratingly, this
last chapter of the trilogy does not measure up to the first two
installments.
First of all, the episode seemed so rushed in terms of plot. Fast
moving plots can be good, but there is such a thing a moving too
fast with a story, especially if it leaves the viewer confused too
many times along the way about just what is going on. Whereas the
first two installments' stories were action packed, they were mixed
with drama and intrigue and characterization along the way. This
episode was more like a Steven Seagal kick em, shoot em up type
adventure-plot not required, intelligence not essential.
So much of the frustration with this episode comes from so many
things that didn't make sense or were downright confusing due to
lack of exposition. I actually compiled a list of things from the
episode that just did not make sense or lacked explanation:
1) The flowers-just why are they important to the Scarrens again?
Something about it keeping them from becoming stupid animals and
dying out? I couldn't tell because they kept flipping back and forth
between John talking to Scorpius and him speaking with that stupid
neural clone in the part of the episode where this was explained.
The constant back and forth kept the flow of discussion so interrupted
that even with a second viewing, I still don't know why Scorpius
said it was so important to the Scarrens.
2) Scorpius' reaction to John's betrayal-I wanted to say to Scorpius
at this point "duh! I thought you were supposed to be smart!"
Scorpius obviously put the failsafe in the neural clone because
he suspected John would betray him to their enemies at some point.
But when Scorpius found out why John came back for him (because
of that same failsafe device), Scorpius actually seemed surprised
that John would betray him. Can Scorpius really be that dense?!
Of course John would betray him, considering their past history.
It was why Scorpius put the fail safe in the neural clone to BEGIN
WITH! His reaction of surprise, therefore, made absolutely no sense.
3) Grayza's move to attack the Scarrens-my question is-why? Why
was she so hell bent in breaking the truce and attacking the Scarrens?
This was never really explained either. At one point, she was adamant
with Crichton about her genuine desire to maintain the peace between
the Peacekeepers and Scarrens. Then, she takes actions that would
surely start a war and get her ship destroyed and herself and her
crew killed. Even Bracca realized how stupid this action was, and
moved to relieve her of command. Even the dumb-dumb Peacekeeper
grunts knew who was the right horse to back in this situation. Has
Grayza now gone mad? Her actions in this episode were beyond confusing,
and the only point I could see to this whole sequence was to give
Bracca a chance to show he was a stand up guy in some ways.
4)Stark was really a bioloid-okay, the Stark that was torturing
Scorpius was really a bioloid-the real Stark wouldn't do that. I'm
sorry, but this really disappointed me. I think that having Stark,
the REAL Stark, torturing Scorpius was such a compelling plot element
in the previous episode, because it made the viewer question who's
side they were really on, considering what Scorpius had done to
Stark in the past. We could sympathize with both characters. Now,
to know it wasn't really Stark, just makes it the Scarrens torturing
Scorpius, and Crichton and crew does not have to deal with the conflict
of battling an old friend in the effort to save Scorpius. Plus,
if that Stark was only a bioloid-how did it have the powers of a
Bannick Bekesh? The bioloid of Aeryn wasn't pregnant like Aeryn,
nor did it know of the pregnancy. How did the Stark bioloid gain
Stark's powers? There might be a difference here in the two cases
that might explain it, but it was still a little bit of a reach
to accept. That, given my dislike of the direction they took this
element of the plot, really left me feeling cheated.
5) How did the real Stark help with the escape? They found and rescued
the real Stark because he had been on Katratzi before, and might
know a way of getting out. Okay, so they find and save him. How
does he help? He just jumps on the ship with the rest of them. Oh
yeah, big help there Stark. Now, if they had made it a point of
rescuing him because he was an old friend who they didn't want to
leave there, that would have made sense. But that is not why they
said they needed to find and save him.
6) The nuclear explosion-okay, it incinerated everything in the
flower chamber, came up the shaft, and incinerated everything around
the elevator. But, IT DIDN'T INCINERATE THE ELEVATOR! I'm sorry,
but that is definitely stretching it. The room around the elevator
and everyone in it were incinerated, but not the elevator itself.
I can see the elevator resisting pulse rifle blasts, but for it
not to be incinerated or even penetrated when everything else around
it was annihilated just doesn't wash. Plus, how did they get out
of the elevator and to Lolaa safely? One thing about nuclear explosions-they
leave that tricky thing called radiation. How did they avoid being
eradicated when they left the elevator into the nuclear wasteland
left outside? I can stretch my imagination quite a bit, but to accept
these things with the explosion is to extend my beliefs into the
realm of the absurd.
7) Sikozu's powers-one question-why didn't she use them on the Scarrens
on the asteroid when Aeryn tried to kill them and got captured?
Now, this can be a forgivable thing, seeing as she wanted to keep
her powers secret. But tossed in with all of the other confusion,
it just makes yet another question like this a little less palatable.
8) Crichton at the end of the episode-okay, I didn't get why John
was so glum at the end. They dealt a serious blow to the Scarrens
in their quest to conquer the universe, they rescued Scorpius and
kept wormhole knowledge safe, Aeryn and their friends are all safe.
Why is he so depressed? Are the writers and producers of this show
so against happy endings anymore that they always have to have Crichton
depressed at the end of an episode? You've got Chiana and D'Argo
going at it, Sikozu and Scorpius doing the same (ewwww! by the way).
Why couldn't they have John and Aeryn laying in bed after a job
well done, with Aeryn telling John she had activated the pregnancy?
Instead, you have John lamenting because he nuked a bunch of Scarrens
and their flowers. Boohooo! I know he is scared of the power he
has with the wormholes, but he has been dealing with that for a
while now. Could he really be this depressed because he had screwed
the Scarrens, the same people who tortured the woman he loves and
tried to take her baby from her? I mean, he has nuked a Gammack
Base, blown up a shadow depository, and destroyed a command carrier.
What's one more big boom on his list? Yet another frustration on
the list of frustrations with this episode.
Now, with all that I found frustrating and confusing with this episode,
I did find some silver lining to it. It was a pretty good action
adventure, for one thing. I really didn't know at one point how
the hell they were going to get out that mess. Second, I actually
did like Bracca and his men showing some sense of honor in upholding
the truce they had with the Scarrens and stopping Grayza's stupid
attack. It gives more complexity to Bracca and the Peacekeepers'
character in general-even they have some semblance of honor in some
situations (though, self-preservation might have had more to do
with it). I also liked getting more exposition on why Scorpius was
torturing Stark in the aurora chair three years ago. It is always
neat when they go that far back and explain in more detail something
that happened. Perhaps if the producers were given the fifth season
promised to them originally, then they might have explained or cleared
up all of the confusing and unexplained stuff in this episode.
All in all, Part 3 of "We're So Screwed" is still a good
episode given all of its faults, but it is definitely a disappointing
end to what was a spectacular multi-part adventure. In spite of
Part 3's failings, I would still call "We're So Screwed"
the best multi-part adventure Farscape has ever done, though part
3 contributed little to this distinction. Luckily, Parts 1 and 2
can more than carry the trilogy and make up for Part 3's shortcomings.
In ranking the three episodes of the trilogy, I would say Part 2
was the best, followed closely by Part 1, with Part 3 a distant
third place.
Ratings for each installment: Part One-5 Moyas, Part Two-5 Moyas,
Part Three-3 Moyas. Overall rating for the trilogy-5 Moyas.
Captain Hornblower
Keeper of Jenavia's Jewel Gun
Worshiping of Aeryn's Remarkable Vessel
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