First Crichton’s head goes missing, and then his body. Who’s got it, and what are they going to do with it?

Written by David Kemper
Directed by Andrew Prowse and Tony Tilse

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GUEST STARS

Matt Day – Councilor Tyno
Wayne Pygram – Scorpius
Jonathan Hardy – Kahaynu
Tina Bursill – Empress Novia
Bianca Chiminello – Jenavia
Felix Williamson – Prince Clavor
Aaron Cash – Dregon Casanova

WHAT HAPPENED

Scorpius has been asked to leave the planet, and Moya is expected to return when he does. Rygel has decided to stay behind – Crichton will need advice when he is revived, and the food is good.

D’Argo asks if he and his companions can be left alone to say good-bye. After Councilor Tyno and the guards leave, the wily Luxan produces a device through which the frozen Crichton can speak. The Moya contingent then departs.

Shortly thereafter, Prince Clavor storms into the room. "I should be Regent!" he shouts, and nearly breaks his hand punching the bronze statue.

Cargn joins him. "I propose a more permanent tactic," says the Skarran agent, and chops off Crichton’s head with an energy blade.

ANALYSIS

"The Maltese Crichton" certainly starts off with a bang. Even if you’ve seen the preview, Crichton’s decapitation is so early in the hour that it’s a shock.

After that, Crichton spends most of the first act being a McGuffin, just like the Maltese Falcon alluded to in the title. Everybody wants the head, and nobody knows where it is for long.

It can’t last, of course. One of Farscape’s unwritten rules is that Crichton is the center of the action, and so he gets restored by the end of Act I.

That’s a little unfortunate – there were so many people after that head that it might have been fun to watch a few more rounds of plot and counterplot. On the other hand, "The Maltese Crichton" is the final hour of a mammoth three-part story, and they need every minute of the last three acts to wrap everything up.

Most of the episode is brilliant. The characters are scattered across four different locations, and the story moves deftly from character to character, picking up the pace with every scene.

Not everything is perfect, though. As expected, Moya and Pilot are revived for more adventures, but the resolution to their story is utterly anticlimactic.

The "godlike being tests a character’s worthiness" plot was overdone the fifth time Gene Roddenberry used it; it can still work today, but only if it’s done with a particularly original twist. Trotting it out as the "surprise ending" is almost ridiculous.

Farscape has been very good about avoiding this plot until now. Hopefully they will continue to avoid it in the future.

You’d be so nice to come home to

So why did she take Dregon’s advice after rejecting Chiana’s?

Maybe it’s because Dregon understood why she couldn’t commit to Crichton. Chiana’s advice was prescriptive, telling Aeryn how and why she should approach Crichton; Dregon addressed the reasons why she was holding herself back.

By acknowledging Aeryn’s fear of emotional pain, Dregon was able to convincingly argue that the good parts of love are worth the bad parts. And his constant romantic optimism in the face of rejection certainly proved his sincerity.

Don’t look for Aeryn and Crichton’s relationship to run smoothly – there’s still plenty of romantic tension between them. But it looks like Aeryn is coming a little farther out of her shell.

WHAT WE LEARN

Scorpius has a sample of Crichton’s DNA, which can be used to track him over short distances.

Scorpius has inherited the Sebacean vulnerability to heat but his Skarran psychology makes him crave it. His black suit regulates his temperature, and the blue rods inserted into his head are cooling rods.

Heat may torment Scorpius, but either he or his thermal regulator suit is invulnerable to acid.

Though he probably won’t live to see her birth, Crichton and Princess Katralla will have a daughter after the princess is revived.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Where did the device to talk to the statues come from, and why did both Jenavia and D’Argo have one?

What did Scorpius mean when he said there was a connection between him and Crichton?

Will the Skarrans and the Peacekeepers go to war?

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK

Parasites infest Moya, and the crew buys a Vorc to hunt them. Meanwhile, Crichton sees visions of Scorpius in "Beware of Dog".