Season Three Episode Reviews

3X22    Dog With Two Bones (part 1 of 2) 
Plot: Moya is attacked by an insane Leviathan; the crew seperates to pursue their own agendas.

Extremely disappointing and uninteresting, easily the lamest season finale ever.  Killing a Leviathan made for a pretty cool action scene, but D'Argo's ship solved the problem a little too easily.  All the wedding dream sequence was a complete waste of time, emotionally manipulative garbage, though the gundown scene was pretty cool.  The John/Aeryn breakup was even more maudlin, yeesh.  This Noranti witch lady did not impress either (please don't tell me she's staying on, Jool is bad enough).  That said, I look forward to seeing the crew's individual missions, and that was one hell of a cliffhanger.  Moya in a wormhole!  John dead in space!  Though I really hope Aeryn doesn't go pregnant, that's a sure fire way to kill this series.  Pretty disappointing end to the season all around.

3X21    Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Into the Lion's Den part 2 of 2) 
Plot: John and the crew plot to destroy the Command Carrier and Scorpius' wormhole technology.

Not nearly as good as part one, and I'm still pissed John screwed over Scorpy for the Scarrens, but it's still epic stuff.  But I can understand the rationale that noone can have the wormhole tech, if John will help the PKs against the Scarrens next season.  John unlocking the secret of wormholes was cool, apparently Harvey is the key.  I got spoiled on Crais' betrayal unfortunately.  Crais' glorious suicide attack was really incredible, a very fitting and moving end for the character and Talyn.  Of course if he survives it I'll be extremely pissed.  John and Scorpy in the wormhole was really interesting.  The slow destruction of the Carrier was extremely impressive visually, though I was hoping for some actual action.  Strappa surprisingly turned out to be a really involving character, especially volunteering for a brain-wipe.  John's final confrontation with Scorpy was just spectacular, Scorpy doesn't want revenge, he's just shocked that John would betray the galaxy.  I can't wait to see where Scorpy goes next.  Aeryn's finale with Henta was pretty lame.  I'm worried about this fracturing of the crew, though it could make for some interesting episodes.  Finally, a mention of the Nebari Resistance!

3X20    Lambs to the Slaughter (Into the Lion's Den part 1 of 2) 
Plot: John and the crew board Scorpy's Command Carrier to sabotage his wormhole technology.

Excellent episode, one of the best ever!  It's a brilliant expansion of the political climate of the show as well as a massive set-piece of drama on the Command Carrier.  I just love seeing John and Scorpy working together, Scorpy giving John his lifestory, most especially John realizing that Scorpy is right about the Scarren threat.  Harvey is officially working for John and wishing to live.  The entire crew is given immunity by the PKs.  Crais has a honey who's a Leviathan specialist.  Aeryn has an old friend who hates her now (though this was a bit wasted).  Rygel learns that he could become Dominar again and D'Argo learns where his wife's killer is, I can't wait for these two to be followed up on!  The cyborg-arm dude attack was pretty lame though.  Moya's capture by a Retrieval Squad happened too fast, but it was nonetheless shocking.  The new PK character Grayza is extremely interesting, can't wait to see more of her.  But most fascinating of all, the Luxans have signed a Defensive Pact with the PKs, and are creating alliances with the UT against the Scarrens!  This is so amazing, I can't wait to hear more of this!  The fight in the generator room was cool, but the jetpack effects were very poor.  And man what a final shocker, Scorpy has located Earth and will destroy it if John doesn't cooperate!!!

3X19    I-Yensch, You-Yensch 
Plot: Scorpius and Rygel's negotations are interrupted by robbers; Talyn must be destroyed after killing civilians.

Another great episode, though the idiotic robbers hurt the episode.  Rygel and Scorpius teaming up was really entertaining, even if it is against such incompetents.  D'Argo and Braka being nerve linked was pretty funny, but the real laugh was D'Argo knocking out the stationary PKs.  The real winner was the Talyn plot, which managed to be surprisingly moving.  Talyn was really sold as an insane but repetitive son and Moya as a concerned mother who must let her son be lobotomized.  The scene where Crais kills Talyn then walks off the bridge in silence brought tears to my eyes.  I look forward to meeting the 'new' Talyn.  Nice to bring back Naj Gil just to kill him off!

3X18    Fractures 
Plot: Moya and Talyn reunite; Scarren Hynerian and Nebari prisoners board Moya.

As always a great episode to go out on hiatus with!  The main plot was a great mystery and it was extremely interesting to see a Scarren a Hynerian and a Nebari Androgyn together.  Rygel getting laid was... interesting.  There were a lot of twists and turns, it wasn't predictable and lame like "Losing Time".  Chiana's precog abilities turn public.  Crais and Jool re-assembling the blasted Boolite was funny.  I did wish we got *some* explanation about how that PK Tech got those mental powers though.  The final space chase in the Luxan Warship was excellent!  Of course the really interesting stuff was the Moya-Talyn reunion, long awaited.  The unexpected surprise here is the two John mourning John scenes, which managed to be more touching than anything in "Choice", possibly more than John's death scene in "Icarus Abides".  Once again we get a new mission statement, unfortunately splitting up the crew *again* in essentially the same team-ups (we need variety!).  It's a shame John is setting out to stop Scorpy though since that'll doom the galaxy to Scarren genocide... How will Stark fit in?  Jool gets a third uniform, one that shockingly managed to be even more ridiculous than the first two with that colossal neck choker...

3X17    The Choice 
Plot: Aeryn visits a seer planet hoping to ressurect John; Xhalex returns revealing Crais' betrayal.

Not good, but enough interesting bits to keep it decent.  Bringing back Xhalex was incredibly lame, even moreso just for this petty revenge scheme, the promised threat from "Thanks For Sharing" that was so debased in "Relativity" is even further debased here.  Not to mention how greatly this cheapens the "Relativity" ending and the "Meltdown" teaser.  Crais' betrayal was a shocker and the follow up was some of the better material.  The fake promise of John and/or Talyn returning was very lame, but the John-Aeryn flashbacks were good (most especially Aeryn getting a glimpse of her alterate-future "Locket" life).  At least Xhalex is definitely dead now!  The other strength of this episode is the ending leading to many future events; Stark disappears to get some unknown information, and gives his mask to Moya-John for unknown reasons, Crais will depart once they find a new pilot for Talyn, and Talyn finally locates Moya (I've been waiting for this forever!).  Sure Aeryn had to be shown grieving, but this was not the way to do it...

3X16    Revenging Angel 
Plot: A comatose John fights D'Argo in a cartoon world; Moya is threatened by D'Argo's ship.

Another winner but with some faults.  The cartoon half was certainly different and clever and cute, but there wasn't anything terribly original about it (or was that the point?).  I really liked Harvey telling John to go for revenge while he consults with the other characters, and the struggle between being a hero and being a savage, and Scorpy's POV of revenge, but I find all this mock-drama worthless; D'Argo smacks John in the head and now he dies?  How lame is that!  The subplot was very interesting, mainly because we learn that mystery ship is an ancient Luxan warship (full of amazingly advanced tech, there's a mystery!).  It's great to see D'Argo in a hyper-rage then redeeming himself, and Jool got some surprisingly good material.  I officially like her now, she's no longer annoying, but don't pair her with D'Argo!  It's pretty lame that we learn D'Argo has been hanging out in the ship all the time since the breakup, despite the fact that we haven't seen the damn thing in half a season!  Interesting to explore the vast Pilot's Den and learn there's parasites in there.  I've got a feeling that D'Argo's Luxan warship is the season finale plot impetus the way Jothee was last year.

3X15    Icarus Abides (Infinite Possibilities part 2 of 2) 
3X14    Daedalus Demands (Infinite Possibilities part 1 of 2) 

3X13    Scratch & Sniff 
Plot: Moya's crew runs into drug makers on a pleasure planet; hijinks ensue.

A masterpiece of editing and cinematography leading to great comedy, this is easily the show's most visually appealing episode.  The labyrinthine plot fit this whacked-out format perfectly (though "Won't Get Fooled Again" is a better episode in many ways).  It's a shame there's so little to the actual story beyond drugs and rape, not to mention the unsettling suggestion that sluts deserve to get raped!  D'Argo hyper-dancing and later transforming into another alien were particular highlights.  Even the John-Pilot framing was good!  Always nice to see Harvey helping out John, and the ending shoot-out in darkness was excellent.

3X12    Meltdown 
Plot: Talyn is drawn into a sun by a hostile alien while the crew's personalities are affected.

The weakest of the Two Johns episodes, but nothing terrible.  The whole plot with the sun and Lava Boy and the ghost was just not very interesting or original, though the crew acting all freaky saved it to some extent (even if it's become a very tired device on this show).  That said, Lava Boy had an incredible physical look and it was interesting to see Stark helping a ghost.  Talyn getting once again injured is also an annoying cop-out trend.  The John-Aeryn sex stuff was very over the top and annoying.  Stark becoming Talyn's Pilot was a vaguely interesting plot twist (as was the implication that Talyn isn't to happy with Crais in control).  Unfortunately the only particularly memorable aspect of the episode is the imaginary opening scene with Crais striking a deal with Xhalex in "Relativity".

3X11    Incubator 
Plot: Scorpius reveals his origins to John in an attempt to recruit his aid on the wormhole equations.

Scorpius is my favorite character, and finally learning his origin is a spectacular thing.  Best of all, we finally have it proven onscreen that Scorpy is a good guy, that the Scarrens are a massive evil threat and the PKs are the good guys in comparison.  The Scarren pronouncement to wipe out the Sebacen race was chilling, but the best scene of all is when Scorpy tells John what will happen... "and eventually John, they will find Earth".  Scorpy's raising under virtual torture by the Scarrens is really touching, as was the fate of his mother.  Scorpy defecting to the PKs and quickly becoming their star pupil is really cool, the way he chooses what's right over his raising.  I find it unfortunate that Chip-John didn't help, but I guess he was just grief-stricken over Aeryn dying... hopefully Scorpy finds the secrets!  Linfer defecting to Moya made for a good subplot and counterpoint to the episode, she was an interesting character.

3X10    Relativity 
Plot:  Aeryn confronts her mother when the Retrieval Squad catches Talyn.

A disappointing and anti-climactic end to the Xhalex arc, just ends up another good not great episode.  After all the buildup of Xhalex, her big ship that can take on Talyn, and her entire army, when we actually meet her it's just her and two alien mercs, which is absolutely ridiculous.  It's a total cop-out of the promised threat, and allows her to be defeated ridiculously easily.  That said, I applaud them for having the guts to just kill Xhalex like that, we meet her, she can't be redeemed, she's a threat, kill her.  Her death scene is pretty poignant too (and I'll be quite disappointed if she miraculously comes back).  The revelation that the Retrieval Squad is also after Crais, and that's why he joined with Talyn so they'd protect him, is a very interesting one, an obvious secret they manage to keep hidden.  John even wants to hand over Crais but ends up needing him, which is good, but why does John blindly trust Talyn after he tried to kill him two eps ago?!  Rigel getting gutted was another shocker, and it's nice to hear Zhaan is around in the afterlife watching over them.  Glad to hear Talyn will become more like Crais.

3X9    Losing Time 
Plot: Possessing aliens inhabit Moya; Scorpius tests his first wormhole.

An unoriginal by the numbers main plot is saved by a stupendous Scorpy subplot.  There isn't a single thing about the Energy Riders plot that is particularly memorable, but it moves quickly enough and has a few good lines.  I'm not quite sure if John's bleeding meant he was the deteriorating clone or what.  DRD Pike was an interesting way to communicate with Moya, it's a shame he got toasted.  Scorpius testing the wormhole is extremely interesting plot material, most especially since it's a rare chance to see him interact outside of our characters.  But most stellar of all is his scene exposing the coming PK-Scarren War which they are hopelessly outnumbered at, and their only hope is wormhole weapons, it's absolutely great to have this highlighted and lead into!  And the hint that there's a John in Scorpy's head who sabotaged his wormhole effort!  Great stuff!  Jools' new costume is even more insulting than her last one, but hopefully she'll be dying soon!

3X8    Green Eyed Monster 
Plot: Talyn is swallowed by a Budong, forcing Aeryn to bond with him and exposing a dark secret from Crais and Talyn.

Good enough, but a wasted opportunity and a bit too soap opera ish for my tastes.  It's a real shame we didn't get a decent view of the Budong, inside or out, it's a wonderful CGI opportunity wasted.  In fact, the Budong plot doesn't do much at all, it's pretty just an excuse for the John-Aeryn-Crais-Talyn mess.  It's both interesting and shocking to see Talyn revealed as an evil racist mastermind, most especially the fact that Crais is being held in virtual slavery by him.  But at the end of the episode everyone seems to conveniently forget that Talyn almost killed John and is holding Crais in constant agony, and everyone is lovey dovey!  What the hell happened!  And that ending John-Aeryn scene was sweet, but it all seems pointless since by next episode they'll just be bitching again... in the end nothing really happened!  The new sets for Talyn looked wonderful, though the PK uniforms weren't as good as the previous stuff.

3X7    Thanks For Sharing 
Plot: The gang seeks medicine for Talyn, who was injured by a Peacekeeper Retrevial Squad; led by Aeryn's mother.

Like "Suns and Lovers" a great interim episode with a decent standalone plot but great connecting story elements.  The little royal intrigue triangle was nothing new, but it was suitable enough.  The lie-detector alien lobsters were a wonderfully creepy touch.  Sarova turning out to be the evil one was a nice touch- but was she Zalex's Changeling all along or what?  In any case, great shocking plot twist.  The Retrieval Squad subplot was extremely interesting; Crais learning Aeryn is alive and showing her the Zalex recording, the revelation that Aeryn's mother is commanding the elite squad that ambushed Talyn is particularly cool; this is an extremely ingenious storyline concept!  Spliting up our increasingly large cast of characters into two groups over the next several episodes is an interesting move, though I'll miss the vast group interactions.  It's also a shame John and John-Two won't get to interact, but it's a clever solution to that problem, and lets John be in both stories.  Look forward to seeing Crais and Talyn in it constantly too!  What a great, arc-driven season!

3X6    Eat Me 
Plot: John, D'Argo, Chiana and Jools are stranded on a horror show Leviathan; Talyn is injured.

A classic horror/thriller full of shocking twists.  The redressed Moya sets looked absolutely alien and the music and Xarai all created an incredibly creepy atmosphere.  It was great to see another Leviathan and Pilot.  Kaarvak was a wonderfully creepy villain, and the twinning was totally unexpected.  D'Argo's death was handled great, as was Chiana's existential crisis.  The subplot with Crais and Talyn's mysterious injury was just set-up for the next episode but it was damn interesting.  Tons of great continuity mentions.  I was absolutely shocked when at the end there were two Johns, this a spectacular concept that should make for an incredibly interesting follow up!

3X5    Different Destinations 
Plot: The crew is mistakenly sent back in time to a historical Peacekeeper seige.

Another classic.  The entire 'horrors of war' 'barbarians at the gates' thing was just spectacular, and the Horde was very cool.  The action sequences were absolutely stellar and totally involving, probably right behind "Plan B" as best shoot out sequence in the show.  It was fascinating to see what the PKs were like 500 years ago, they seemed much more idealistic.  The time paradoxes were hilariously cruel, most especially John solving the situation and then the Vedik General gets accidentally killed by his own men.  I particularly liked how there were no guns which made it nice and medieval until that great ending that is with John and Aeryn massacring the Horde.  Harvey's brief appearance was funny and useful as always, I love seeing John use him as an information source like this.  The ending was also deliciously tragic, showing the women and children get massacred by the Horde while the General told them not to.  Stark gets lots of great material, though he looks like an idiot in his new costume, bring back the rags man!  Jool continues to be just plain annoying, please get rid of her ASAP.  Unfortunately Zhaan is out of the credits- is she actually dead?!  At least Jool is still a guest star...

3X4    Wait for the Wheel (Self Inflicted Wounds part 2 of 2) 
Plot: Moya and Zhaan's lives hang in the balance as the wormhole aliens turn violent.

Unfortunately again not that hot.  It just doesn't feel worthy of a two parter, and the garbage with the serpent was never sufficiently explained (in fact it seemed like filler material).  The aliens again weren't that interesting, though hunting an invisible one was interesting.  Jool continues to annoy.  Vaguely interesting to use the "Suns" ship.  About the most interesting thing is Harvey contacting John without permission.  I'm really not looking forward to these aliens as recurring villains, they really don't merit it.  Zhaan's suicide move was touching, but not nearly as tragic or epic as Aeryn's end or Stark's end or many others, and it seems pretty obvious she's going to be resurrected, so it feels pretty manipulative and empty.

3X3    Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda (Self Inflicted Wounds part 1 of 2) 
Plot: Moya collides with a wormhole ship while Zhaan hangs on to life; Jool is revived.

The first sub par episode in fifteen with "My Three Chrictons", very disappointing.  It all just feels like worthless fluff, the alien scientists aren't terribly interesting, and the wormhole serpent was very lame.  There's no real humor, action, or storyarc.  Really hoping part two actually does something.  The new character Jool is extremely annoying, both in look and personality, unfortunately; about the only possible good thing about her is her superiority complex.  Stark gets some good material, he has evil inside, and his creepy come-on to Aeryn was great.  About the only two worthwhile scenes were John breaking Rigel's nose (very satisfying!) and John grilling Harvey for info.  The Moya/Pilot dying thing has been done about a dozen times now, yawn.  The hints of Earth are intriguing, Earth is about the only way to salvage this in part two.

3X2    Suns and Lovers 
Plot: Moya is trapped with an endangered space station; D'Argo discovers the Chiana-Jothee affair.

Another good episode with big events, unlike the previous season's second episodes.  I really liked the whole 'disaster movie' plot on the wrecked space station, with the characters getting separated into small groups.  Borlik was a really cool and innocently stupid fanatic.  The FX of the wrecked station and John and D'Argo on Moya's hull were amazingly detailed and colorful.  The D'Argo-Chiana-Jothee stuff was painful in a good way, and I'm glad this wasn't dragged out to far.  D'Argo confronting them and burning the tatoo on Jothee was particularly good, and Jothee's departure was nice.  So apparently Zhaan just needs some good soil to survive, which seems like a bit of a cop-out.  I'm glad we got more resolution to the John-Aeryn non-romance.  Plus we even get the Interion ice-dudes returning briefly and we get a new ship, continuity and events just keep on happening.  Pilot's sinister laugh at killing Borlik was just hilariously weird.  Unfortunately Scorpius and Crais and Talyn did not appear (which unfortunately means they won't be in every ep as their credit place originally suggested).

3X1    Season of Death 
Plot: Scorpius eludes the crew on the Ice Planet while John and Aeryn are revived.

Like "Mind the Baby" it's a pedestrian but intriguing opener that has some nice plot twists but some major cop outs.  The entire cliffhanger of "Die Me" was almost a total cop out of emotionally manipulative garbage.  The Doc survives to cure John and Zhaan revives Aeryn.  This is just disgusting, they make a huge deal of killing Aeryn then revive her the next damn episode!  Even with Zhaan now dying because of it, it's still a cop out.  I'm both pleased and worried that Harvey is still in John's head but now powerless; pleased that we can see John have the advantage for once and perhaps an information source but worried that things will get repetitive quick.  The Scarren was a *very* welcome surprise, I'm delighted that they're keeping the Scarrens in the forefront, and the puppetry is *greatly* improved on them.  Scorpy controlling Grenslick was interesting.  I loved the idea of Scorpy being afraid of Talyn (hope to see more of this), and the brief ship chase was great, though I'm getting absolutely sick of these 'we killed Scorpy! oh no we didn't' endings.  Chiana and Jothee having an affair was no surprise, nor was the John-Aeryn relationship being yet again put off despite all they've been through.  The only curious loose end was John keeping two of the Interion (human similar) cryo bodies.  But the best news of all for the show was the new opening credits, which list Stark Crais and Scorpius all as series regulars.  Having these three (and Talyn by proxy with Crais) in *every* episode is extremely exciting and should make for a vastly superior season, especially since always having Talyn's firepower with them will drastic change the nature of the show!