Blimey! You won the War of 1812, but you bloody Americans don’t get to see “Farscape” 4.15 for another 10 days! To us Englanders it’s ancient history. Some victory!
1. “Gaspode”:
Farscape episode #415: ‘Mental as Anything’
Written by Mark Saraceni
Directed by Geoff Bennett
Okay, I’ve never been a big fan of SF episodes that take place within a character’s mind. They’re usually shot in some weird hallucinogenic way, with minimalist sets that suggest maybe the episode was written in order to save a few bucks. There are a few exceptions; the ‘And the Sky Full of Stars’ and ‘Dust to Dust’ episodes of B5 come to mind, and I’m sure there are others (send in your personal favorites on a postcard, please) but by and large, most of those mindscape-type stories can be pretty lame.
And now we have Farscape’s ‘Mental as Anything,’ a large part of which takes place within D’Argo’s head. It’s not a great episode, but it’s not bad, and any script that finally gives the big guy a chance to shine is a welcome one indeed. While the girls go off to track down a part for Moya, Scorpius signs the guys up for a ‘mental arts training camp,’ where they’re supposed to face a series of opponents in an artificially-created mindscape. It’s supposed to sharpen their mental skills, but Crichton hopes to use the class as a means of gathering information on the alien monster that tried to kill his family a couple of episodes back. At any rate, when the gang shows up for day one, D’Argo discovers that one of his classmates is his Peacekeeper brother-in-law, responsible for sending D’Argo to the slammer for his wife’s murder. Will the pissed-off Luxan turn his old enemy into tapioca, or does he learn a bit of mental discipline and find out the truth about his missus? Why does Crichton get thrown into an alien sweatbox, and how does this qualify as anti-Skarren training? What happened to the women this week, and are they having a better time somewhere else? Inquiring minds want to know!
In the end, this is a D’Argo episode, plain and simple, and Anthony Simcoe is definitely up to the task. Simcoe hasn’t had an easy time of it these past four seasons, trying to act under that prosthetic makeup, in episodes that often don’t give him much to do. This time, the actor finally gets the opportunity to explore the full range of D’Argo’s emotions and thankfully makes the best of it.
And for Hercules, who complains that I haven’t used his ratings system yet, we’ll give this one 7/10.
-Gaspode
2. “Limber”:
Mental As Anything"
This episode didn't really seem to advance the plot much, but it did showcase D'Argo and his history. The pre-credits spot is taken up by John and Aeryn, engaging in a little PDA and present-exchanging to sate the 'shippers. Not for long, though - the boys are headed to "mental arts training", and the girls are off to scrounge for a salvage Moya part. Pilot relays that everyone's looking for John and Aeryn, and they agree to put off their movie and popcorn date until later. Kiss kiss, and everyone say goodbye to the Aeryn for the week, 'cause the girls aren't in the rest of the episode.
I have no idea where Scorpius got in contact with this guru (he was a former victim - so why's he receptive to Scorpius? Dunno), and I'm not sure where all of the "opponents" in this place came from, and I don't really understand why the hell Crichton would subject everyone to this in the first place considering that this is all Scorpius' idea, but... whatever. This episode's just one big mind game. Some might question the motive for attending the "training": from what I can tell? Crichton agrees to visit Not-Obi-Wan because he wants to know where Skreeth came from and if it might threaten Earth; Crichton refuses to undergo any deep training because he doesn't want a Scorpius-sponsored guru ricocheting around in his head with wormhole technology still nestled inside of it; and Scorpius claims to only want to train Crichton so that he can withstand any Scarran torture. Hmmm. Crichton sasses Not-Obi-Wan and gets sent to detention almost immediately. But that's pretty much in the B-plot, because this episode is really all about D'Argo.
A new side-effect of hyper-rage is revealed, which causes problems. Worse yet, it turns out that one of the opponents is D'Argo's peacekeeper brother-in-law, so we get lots of flashbacks of D'Argo and his Australian wife. In fact, it's rather the flashback bonanza for D'Argo this week, centered mainly on whether or not he killed his wife during a blackout caused by hyper-rage. Much of the time is spent in the guru's mental machine, which is kind of Matrixy in function, letting D'Argo replay the past and review events.
As for the thing that brought them to Not-Obi-Wan in the first place? Scorpius tells John what we've known for two episodes now: Skreeth - or more accurately, "a Skreeth", is a creature who can transfer information telepathically over vast distances. Bad news being that the info went to Grayza. Good news being that she's not after Earth - she's after Crichton. If you can call that good news.
Here's hoping the girls are back next week!
Limber
3. “Nimrod’s Son”:
Hi Herc,
Thanks to the magic of ... well... technology, I just watched Farscape 4.15, which aired on BBC2 last night and airs in 10 days on Sci-Fi here in the States.
The episode is called "Mental as Anything" (yes, named after the Aussie new wave band) and involves Scorpius, Crichton, D'argo and Rygel going to a Mental Arts training camp. (The "girls" are chaperoned by Aeryn to fetch spare parts for Moya from a Leviathan graveyard.)
Scorpy is unclear at first as to why he wants the boys to go to this camp (especially with Crichton), but he reveals that he is trying to make sure that Crichton can hold up under Scarren interrogation tactics and not crack and give up the wormhole tech that the Ancients put in his head. Scorpy also admits (not to J.C. himself, of course) a near-admiration for Crichton's strength and tenacity. We also find out a little more about the aftermath of Crichton's trip to Earth -- and what Grayza and the Scarrens may or may not know.
The real story, though, in this episode is D'argo's. He confronts Martok (sp?), his former brother-in-law -- who murdered D'argo's wife Sebacean wife Lo'lan and framed him for the murder. Or did he? Since this episode revolves around so-called "mental arts," the ultimate payoff in the episode is a mental confrontation between D'argo and Martok -- and D'argo's memories (and lack thereof) of what actually happened.
This is a much more serious episode than "Twice Shy," sadly having little in the way of interspecies lesbian sex, but more than making up for it in doing something with the show's characters. I would say this was one of the stronger Season 4 episodes thus far -- far removed from the (albeit enjoyable) fluff of episodes like "Lava's a Many Splendored Thing" and "Coup by Clam."
You can call me "Nimrod's Son."
