Parasites are loose on Moya – again – but who needs Orkin when you’ve got a pet Vorc to hunt them down?
(First aired August 11, 2000)
Written by Naren Shankar
Directed by Tony Tilse
GUEST STARS
Wayne Pygram – Scorpius
WHAT HAPPENED
Crichton plays chess against himself, trying to distract himself from visions of being interrogated by Scorpius.
Although Aeryn has noticed that he’s been acting strange -- as she puts it, "the human doesn't want to talk" -- he doesn’t want to discuss it.
D’Argo and Chiana are returning from a supply run. They’ve learned about possible parasites in their last purchase, and have gone looking for a way to stop them -- a scrawny pink alien called a "Vorc," with a long neck and big ears.
Unaware of all these machinations, Rygel inspects the cargo hold. He hears a clatter, and sees an overturned barrel.
When D'Argo and Chiana get their Vorc back to Moya, it urinates copiously on D’Argo and flees. (spoilers)
ANALYSIS
Another monster loose on Moya? You’d think they’d be out of variations on this plot by now.
Fortunately, Farscape’s writers have no shortage of twists on the monster-of-the-week format. "Beware of Dog" starts off a little too slowly, but it remains inventive and entertaining.
What makes this one work is that it’s not obvious which monster is the real monster. While the Vorc turns out to be the parasite hunter it was advertised to be, halfway through the episode there’s reason to believe it’s really a wolf in sheepdog’s clothing.
It helps that the parasite replaces Rygel so subtly. The parasite grabs him right in the teaser, just before the Vorc arrives, and the low comedy of the Vorc urinating on D’Argo makes it easy to forget the previous scene.
Afterwards, "Rygel" acts almost completely normal -- his unusual interest in D’Argo’s welfare and his keeping the others company in the infirmary surprises the others, but is easily explained as one of his occasional bursts of compassion. As in any good mystery, the odd behavior makes sense at the time, but makes an entirely different sense when the truth is revealed.
Where’s Scorpy?
Meanwhile, the tension between Scorpius and Crichton continues to heat up. While Farscape is mostly about an hour of fun and adventure every week, but this deftly handled subplot adds a lot to the story by tying it back into the larger series arc.
On its own, "Beware of Dog" is entertaining but unmemorable. However, the added subplot gives viewers a sense that something important really is happening, making it harder for them to shrug it off as "just another episode."
How Scorpius has meddled with Crichton’s head remains a mystery, but the real Unanswered Question may be "Why?" Did Scorpius anticipate that Crichton might escape and prepare a back-up plan, or was this an uncompleted part of his efforts to break Crichton’s spirit and turn the human to his own purposes?
Look for more developments next week. In the meantime, Crichton has one thing to be thankful for -- Scorpy wasn’t wearing a Hawaiian shirt this time.
WHAT WE LEARN
Crichton wanted to kill Scorpius when he had the chance, but was stopped by "something inside him."
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Are Crichton’s visions of Scorpius "real"? Has he been programmed to see Scorpius, or is the Peacekeeper scientist directly communicating with him?
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
Crichton’s back on Earth – but haven’t we been here before? Crichton’s certainly determined that he "Won’t Be Fooled Again". . . .
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