Season 2 of Farscape is a bit shaky. All in all, I think it's the weakest season of the show, which isn't to say it's bad. It experiments with different styles of writing and direction, some of which fail and some end up defining the series. A big part of the problem is that Season 2 is all about shake-ups. The cast gets shifted around, gimmicks get implemented and everything grows rather complicated before it's all said and done.

Dream a Little Dream

The second season doesn't start off strong, either. Well, maybe it does, depending on when you watched the show. When it originally aired, this episode came eighth down the line, with episode 2 of the season airing first. I can definitely see why the production staff wouldn't want to lead with "Dream". I've watched every single minute of Farscape and I can safely say that this is the second-worst episode of the entire series.

The plot and everything surrounding it is confoundingly stupid. The whole thing plays like one of the lesser episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Zhaan is made to stand trial on a planet called, get this, Litigara where the vast majority of the adult population are lawyers. You see, the people of Litigara are rather litigious, get it? So, when Zhaan is framed for murder she faces a corrupt system and a harsh sentence. Under pressure, Zhaan starts to hallucinate her missing friends (left stranded at the end of Season 1) but this just feels a little cheap. Honestly, only Crichton should be allowed to have imaginary friends on this show. Long story short, Zhaan wins her trial through some pretty ridiculous means and the larger story of the show is not moved forward one bit.

Mind the Baby

And now for the real season opener. D'Argo and Crichton get rescued by Aeryn and, lost without Moya, they make a deal with the recently exiled Crais for refuge. Crais took Talyn, the new weaponized Leviathan, at the end of the first season. Talyn presents an interesting twist to the whole "living ship" idea. While Moya has had diseases and even tantrums, she's usually under control and only exhibits any character when it serves the plot. Talyn is almost all personality, a confused, petulant child who acts out and even seeks a strong father figure. Crais is that father, fueling the soldier in Talyn to dangerous levels. By the end of the episode, Talyn has basically run away from home with Crais. Those two will be popping in and out of the second season every now and then.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, this is first time we ever see Scorpius changing out one of his cooling rods. The purpose of this behavior isn't made clear until later in the series. For now, it's just a creepy sci-fi ritual that gives some extra ick-factor to our villain.

Vitas Mortis

Crichton may space-mack like no one else, but D'Argo is a close second. When the crew stumbles upon an aging Luxon priestess who miraculously becomes young again, it doesn't take long for D'Argo to jump in the snarling, head-tentacle sack with her. Too bad she's sustaining her own youth by dragging the life out of Moya. At its core, this is a monster-of-the-week episode, but it's a special version of it at which Farscape excelled. The monster is a deceptively deep character who interacts with our protagonists in meaningful ways that help to flesh them out for the remainder of the series. It's also admirable that the priestess, as with many Farscape monsters, isn't simply evil. She has her motivations and they make sense. Her defeat isn't a win for the good guys, it's a development in her own, brief character.