(Originally aired on August 18, 2000)

Written by Richard Manning
Directed by Rowan Woods

Friday Night Fever

D'ARGO: One thing you have to learn: there is always time for beer.

ZHAAN: I can wear a Freudian slip.

D'ARGO: Boogey or die!

	More Stories
	The SPACE.com Guide to Farscape
	Farscape - 'Won't Be Fooled Again' (spoilers)
	Farscape - 'Beware of Dog'
	Farscape - 'The Maltese Crichton'
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GUEST STARS

Kent McCord – Jack Crichton
Wayne Pygram – Scorpius
Lani Tupu – Bialar Crais
Carmen Duncan – Crichton’s Mother
Murray Bartlett – DK

WHAT HAPPENED

Crichton relives the launch of Farscape One. The energy wave slams him into the wormhole . . . and he wakes up on an examination table in a hospital

"You’re going be okay," his father Jack tells him. "It’s good to have you back, son."

Crichton attacks his father. "I’m not your son!" he screams.

A group of doctors wrestles him back onto the table. Crichton is shocked to see that the doctor giving him a sedative is Aeryn. (spoilers)

ANALYSIS

‘Won’t Get Fooled Again" is part of the long tradition of "unreal reality" episodes that stretches back through science fiction television at least as far as the Twilight Zone pilot episode "Where is Everybody?" in 1959. Babylon 5 did it in "And the Sky Full of Stars", the various Star Treks did it several different times, and First Wave even did just last week in "Rubicon".

Farscape put a new twist in this hoary plot, though.

The revelation that stunned audiences at the end of "Where is Everybody?" has slowly migrated forward in the plot structure. Riker’s reality fractured near the end of Act II in ST:TNG episodes like "Future Imperfect" and "Frame of Mind", Jeff Sinclair was told he was in virtual reality in the first act of "Sky Full of Stars", and "Won’t Get Fooled Again" takes the situation about as far as it can go.

Since John Crichton has been fooled before – in last year’s "Human Reaction" –he’s aware of the mind games from the second minute of the teaser.

What’s the advantage? Well, the more time you have after the hero discovers his brain being used as a petri dish, the more time you have to do really interesting stuff.

Looking for some strange?

Farscape executive producer David Kemper recently called this episode one of his favorites for the season. It’s easy to see why: Crichton’s predicament is interesting, the dialogue is sharp, and everybody has the chance to turn in some unusual performances.

They start slow -- we know something’s up, and the return of "Jack Crichton" primes us to expect a repeat of the almost-too-real-to-doubt situation of "Human Reaction". The Sydney backgrounds and the appearance of Aeryn prime us for a certain weird kind of normality.

About five seconds after I excitedly turned to my wife and said, "Hey, maybe we’ll finally see what Virginia Hey really looks like," she walked into the scene in a natty business suit and her full Delvian makeup.

That’s weird. That’s setting the viewer up for a series of fastballs and putting a high breaking ball right in front of their nose.

And it only gets better as the characters grow more outlandish. The pace accelerates -- literally so in the sports car scene -- but no matter how strange the people and events get, everyone around Crichton reacts as if they were perfectly normal.

It adds a new horror to an old premise. Crichton knows his brain has been hijacked, and there is absolutely nothing he can do about it.

He can refuse to play along. He can shoot his own friends or even kill himself, but there’s still no exit.

That’s Hell.

Enter the twist upon the twist: Scorpius. Crichton is being victimized by not one but two phantom realities, and his only hope of escaping from the Scarran’s torture reality is to follow the advice of the computer-generated ghost of his worst enemy.

The wild ride of surrealism that climaxes the episode in Act IV is brilliantly written, directed, and acted – but this doesn't add up to the lasting horror that "Won’t Get Fooled Again" leaves behind. No, what's truly scary is that Crichton only escapes because the Scorpius chip briefly induces death. It kills him.

Crichton has been freed from the Scarran, but he hasn’t escaped from Hell. The man on the neurochip is just letting him have a walkabout.

WHAT WE LEARN

After learning of Scorpius’ interest in Crichton, the Scarrans want to know what Crichton has that Scorpius wants. Which means that yet another set of alien maniacs is after our hero. . . .

Scorpius has implanted a neurochip with his personality on it in Crichton’s brain. That’s why Crichton has been having visions for the last few weeks.

The chip can shut down Crichton’s brain, and has limited control over his will. It’s the reason Crichton couldn’t kill Scorpius in "The Maltese Crichton".

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

The chip has promised not to trouble Crichton until it needs to. What will trigger it next?

PRETTY PICTURES

The photographs in Logan’s office include:

* A shot of the office, with Rygel, Zhaan, D’Argo, Jack Crichton and Aeryn in the exact positions they were standing in when Crichton entered the room.

* D’Argo straddling a flying space shuttle and its booster rockets

* Scorpius holding a gold record award and smiling

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK

Aeryn and Crichton grow old together after being stranded on an isolated planet in "The Locket".