Farscape - Season 4, Collection 4

Rating:
Summary: Crichton actually asks Scorpius for help in finding Aeryn
Review: The end game for the fourth and final season of "Farscape" emerges in the four episodes on this DVD as Crichton and Moya's crew learn that one of their members has to be rescued. The four episodes here pair up, with the first two dividing the crew by gender and giving each an opportunity to get away by Moya for what is supposed to be fun but ends up being much more serious. The second two establish a new and surprising relationship between Crichton and Scorpius:

Episode 415, "Mental as Anything" (Written by Mark Saraceni, Aired January 31, 2003) finds Scorpius taking the boys to a training camp to learn a little mental discipline from Katoya. However, they discover that also there for the training is Macton, the Peacekeeper who murdered D'Argo's wife, Lo'lann, and then framed him for the killings. Of course, D'Argo wants to kill Macton but there are doubts about what happens and we are treated to a series of flashbacks about what may or may not have happened. Providing closure like this for D'Argo is certainly an indication that the end of the show is in sight.

Episode 416, "Bringing Home the Bacon" (Written by Carleton Eastlake, Aired February 7, 2003) gives the women of Moya their time away when they visit a space station in order to get a camouflage device for Moya. Their surprise is that they also discover a secret meeting between Commandant Grayza and the Scarrans. With the threat of a Scarran Dreadnaught on their tales, Moya's crew needs to discover the beacon on board their ship, which leads to another great "Farscape" shock.

Episode 417, "A Constellation of Doubt" (Written by David Kemper, Aired February 14, 2003) begins the search for Aeryn while Crichton is watching a videotape of an expose from Earth television about the alien crew's visit. This episode was filmed after the cast found out "Farscape" had been cancelled by the Sci Fi Channel and it adds a certain poignancy to the performances. Fans are either going to love this episode or find it an unwarranted digression, but I like the issues raised by the faux documentary, which does a good job of covering the range of responses humans would have to the aliens while giving Moya's crew their own chances to comment on the ways of Earth. It was nice to see the usual paranoia and delusions of supremacy of Earthlings is confronted with the prospect of advanced alien technology showing up in sub-orbital space.

Episode 418, "Prayer" (Written by Justin Monjo, Aired February 21, 2003) reveals that Aeryn is on a ship on its way to the Scarrans secret base at Katratzi, where she is being interrogated by Jenek, a Scarran of the Ruling Order. Meanwhile Crichton and Scorpius make a return trip to the alternative reality of "Unrealized Reality" to try and discover Katratzi's location so they can rescue Aeryn. But the chief part of this episode is that Aeryn is being tortured and her baby is being used against her, because we know that even bound to a gurney you do not bet against Aeryn.

At this point we have reason to believe that all of the elements for the endgame of the fourth season are in place. Crichton has a purpose and being allied with Scorpius is going to make things pretty interesting. I pity the Scarrens when Moya catches up with them, but I also am not stupid enough to predict a happy ending for this series and its characters.