f13.net forums - Farscape

So, made it through the lot.

Season 2:

Really, the first 1/2 to 3/4 of the season is pretty weak with a couple of exceptions. Crackers Don't Matter is probably one of the best episodes of the series, and is in the beginning of that season. Crackers pretty much set the tone for the rest of the show in how far it pushed the limits, introducing Harvey, and the main character's insanity.

Won't Get Fooled Again is pretty solid as well. Crichton wakes up back on Earth and he knows it's a hallucination, then things go wierd.

The last portion of season 2 is solid. The two 3 part episodes are wonderful. Look at the Princess really gives us the first Scarran antagonist, and Scorpius figures prominently. Liars and Guns and Money is just solid action/intrigue scifi with heavy doses of Farscape weirdness and insantity.

The final episode of this season, Die Me Dichotomy, is heart-wrenching. The bad guy wins, a major character is killed, and our hero wants to die. "I condemn you John Crichton... to live!"

The entire cast takes a couple of Levels in Bad Ass during this season.

Season 3:

Almost every episode is a keeper, building up to a wonderful season finale. We get the origins of Scorpius, a couple of main character deaths (and one resurrection), good character growth all around. At this point, Crichton has become infamous as a criminal and terrorist and that works in as a plot point in several of the episodes.

Eat Me is a favorite, and sets up the midseason story arc. The game of rock-paper-scissors at the end is just....

The last episode ends on an "oh shit" cliffhanger.

Season 4:

Enjoyable. Some dross problem-of-the-week episodes, but lots of great arc episodes. The season finale 3 parter (We're So Screwed) is wonderful, and includes Crichton walking around with a fission bomb hooked up to multiple dead man's switches.

The series finale ends on a cliffhanger, and is a hugely powerful moment.

Miniseries:

It's.... alright. Feels rushed, though it does do a good job of resolving the outstanding story threads from the series.

Overall:

It's character based with long running story elements. Being character based, that means you need to have flawed characters who tend to be their own worst enemy. Some of this gets a little tired in a 22 episode season because it feels like they go to the same well a time too many... Partly fixed in season 3 and 4 by introducing a bunch of new recurring characters that let the writers play out new character interactions.

This is a show that would have benefited by either having reduced season lengths, thus eliminating some of the filler episodes, or by being more aggressive about pushing story/continuing arc episodes.

They did a great job with providing ongoing stories with actual resolution, rather than milking them till the end of the series. The main romance moves along at a good clip, many of the important character stories get resolutions (D'Argo and his son), and John gets a chance to return to Earth... only that's not what is most important to him anymore.