All four of our reviewers appear to have enjoyed “Bringing Home the Beacon” quite a bit! It’s old news in the U.K. but you, my fellow American, must wait anther ten days! Let’s start with the newbie!
1. “Altoids Girl”:
Farscape: 4x16: Bringing Home the Beacon
Yeah, so first time writer, long time reader, ardent ‘scaper and Whedon-whore. I love Farscape, would have loved Firefly if it lasted longer, enjoying the heck out of Buffy and Angel and trying to find something else to enjoy after three outta the four disappear from the air this year. Thanks to the glories of the internet and college cable lines I gotta see Farscape ahead of time.
This episode, 4x16 is called "Bringing Home the Beacon" and its a ride; not as much as a ride as the latest Alias, but goddamn close. This episode covers the girl's trip from the last episode; if you recall, the boys went on the training shindig and the girls went looking for a sensor distorter to distort Moya's signal from passing ships on a dead leviathan that acts as a black market. Sikuzo acts as the deal maker and manages to find one from two traders. The will deliver it within 4 arns (hours).
The girls plan on just hanging out until then, with Chiana following the traders to make sure they get their money's worth. She follows them into a DNA-boutique that specializes in changing the appearances and DNA of a person for a period of time, temporarily.
Unfortunately, Sikuzo and Aeryn discover that Grayza and Braca are also on board; but not looking for the girls; rather she's onboard to meet with a Scarren contingent. Apparently Grayza is willing to trade some outlaying Peacekeeper territories (including Luxan territories) for peace. They agree, and Aeryn decides that this is the time to assassinate Grayza. Unfortunately (which seems to be the norm for Farscape) they fail.
Meanwhile, Braca is alerted that a Nebari is on board and suspects Chiana. He sends out a peacekeeper to look for her, but Chiana and Grandma find out ahead of time and get their DNA changed. Chiana becomes a Grayza-like woman, while Grandma gets normal skin color and less wrinkles. They pretend that they don't know anything about a Nebari girl, their DNA passes and they briefly pretend to be lesbians. Kinda weird, kinda....cool. Now I feel dirty. Anyway, Grayza is betrayed by the Scarren contingent and is captured and in the process of being kidnapped. Aeryn and Sikuzo break up the party too late, Sikuzo escapes with Grayza and Braca, meets up with Grandma. Grayza manages to distract them and she and Braca escape. Aeryn, meanwhile, is left to fight the two scarrens.
Sikuzo and Grandma get back to the ship and find Chiana there; they both wait anxiously for Aeryn to come back. She does, suspiciously just in time. They manage to get back to Moya with the signal scrambler and everyone in seeming health.
Wrong.
A scarren ship seems to have tracked them back to Moya and everyone suspects that Sikuzo betrayed them by bringing a beacon onboard. John tries to protect Aeryn but when he mentions the baby she seems to not about the baby. This tips off John that something is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. So yeah, Aeryn is a fake and John is forced to shoot her. She's a bio-bot created by the Scarrens to act as a beacon without detection.
Pilot and Scorpy manage to get the signal scrambler up and they escape the Scarren ship just in time.
So, the episode ends with Aeryn in Scarren captivity, Grayza and Braca free, and John confused and just a bit angry.
Yeah, kick-ass episode all around, with some great dialogue pieces and some great Chiana/Grandma action. The last part scared me a little too. All in all, I give it ****; kick ass episode that moved the plot along at a heady pace.
You can call me AltoidsGirl if you use this.
2. “Limber”:
Hey, Herc! Just finished watching the next Farscape installment, "Bringing Home the Beacon", so here it is.
Last week, when the boys headed off for sleepover camp and the gals disappeared into the Z-plot, I never guessed that we'd actually get to see what they were up to in that time. But here we are, aboard a dead Leviathan, and watching the gals wend their way through some kind of marketplace. I'm not sure if this episode takes place at the same time as the previous one, but by the end they're matched up.
This episode gets off to a slightly rocky start. After last week's D'Argo-a-Thon, I was looking forward to something that would move the plot along. At first, this installment doesn't seem like it's going to be serious - we've got all the women onboard a dead Leviathan, looking for a spare part. Enter the Shady Merchants of Unfortunate Haircuts, the Massage Parlor of Disturbing Technique, and a whole host of vendors in the species-blending/genetic modification field. I smelled hijinks, and I was not amused.
Luckily, the episode changes tone a third of the way through. When Aeryn and Sikozu get the chance to spy on Grayza as she meets with the Scarran War Minister, they take it. What they find is a clandestine power summit - Grayza's offering a "peace" deal that will hand over the Luxan worlds in exchange for the "disputed sectors" of the uncharted territories. When Aeryn realizes that the Peacekeepers would just abandon their allies the Luxans to slaughter, she decides that the deal must be stopped by assassinating Grayza.
But it's never that easy; when the Scarrans turn traitor and capture Bracca and Grayza moments after the treaty is signed, Aeryn and Sikozu have to figure out a way to access the Scarran area and kill Grayza, thereby nullifying the treaty. But when they get to her (encased in some machiney-thing), Grayza lets them know that, unless they free her, the Peacekeepers orbiting the dead Leviathan will blow the Moya crew's pod out of the sky. So it's out of the machiney-thing for Grayza, alive and kicking. Drat.
(There's a B-plot with Chiana, Noranti, the aforementioned Shady Merchants of Unfortunate Haircuts, some genetics-bending and a little bit of necking from the ladies. It's just there to counter the A-plot, though, and is really not that interesting.)
At this point, Chiana's back in the pod, trying to fire it up; Sikozu and Noranti are trying to keep Grayza and Bracca under control (and failing); and Aeryn tries to hold off the Scarrans offscreen. It's no surprise that Bracca and Grayza manage to knock out Sikozu and Noranti and hightail it - what IS surprising is that when Aeryn comes bombing through the pod door (after everyone under the sun has announced "She can't possibly live through that - she's dead! DEAD!"), no one really remarks on it. Other than me, babbling incoherently about checking the identity of anyone who's been roaming around solo on a ship that peddles IDENTITY CHANGES. Gah.
But no one does ask that question, and it's left to John to figure it out once everyone's back on Moya. Dogged by a Scarran warship through one starburst and with it closing fast, the crew know there must be a Scarran homing beacon somewhere. It's not the pod, it's not the new hardware... and after some DRD inspections, it doesn't seem to be carried by any of the gals. Without the time to scour the entire ship, it looks like they'll have to bail. John's not thrilled about this, but when Aeryn guesses that it's "safest for Moya", he agrees. More importantly, he asks, "What about the [makes rocking-baby motion]?"
Which elicits no response at all. Uh oh. After a moment of rising realization and horror, Crichton springs into action and demands to know where the "beacon" is, alternating it with the word "baby" every other sentence. "Aeryn" claims that she has no idea (meaning beacon, but also obviously meaning baby), and when she reaches for her gun, Crichton blows half of her face off - revealing a twitchy, wormy mass inside an Aeryn-shell.
According to Sikozu, this is a "bioloid" (I'm guessing on the spelling, but it combined "biological" and "android"), which also contained a homing beacon. That machiney-thingie in which they found Grayza? Most likely the replication unit. So now: Bracca has a false Grayza but doesn't know it, the Scarrans have the real Grayza and are bringing her in for an inquisition, they've probably also got the real Aeryn, and a shell-shocked Crichton's got another disturbing dead-Aeryn image to add to his collection. Do they have therapy in space?
So, crap - they've lost Aeryn. And the baby. And they've lost her to the Scarrans, who are only held in check because of wormhole weaponry. And the Scarrans now have Grayza, who not only knows that the Peacekeepers don't have the wormhole weaponry, but knows that Crichton DOES have it. And Aeryn is the "key", according to Crichton. And all of the above persons could be anywhere in known or unknown space. Well done, crew. Crap.
How hooked am I on this show? Very.
Limber
3. “DrunkStan”:
Hercules
Us Brits also get Stargate SG-1 quite a few weeks before you Yanks (we've just passed 6.17), but that program's got so shit, I could grow roses in it. Instead…
Farscape 4.16 Review - Bringing Home the Beacon
Ah…..this is much better. The girl's 'go it alone episode' far outstrips the boys 'Mental as anything'. Better pacing, writing and character interaction. This is what makes Farscape good. Present the crew with a basic problem, then add complication after complication, and then gives you an ending that's a real fucking kick in the nuts.
It starts slowly enough, aboard an asteroid with a leviathan trading outpost (saving on sets I guess) with the ladies trying to get a beacon to mask Moya's signature. Problem 1 - the people who can do this aren't exactly trustworthy and seem to acting suspiciously. Problem 2 - Grayza, Braca and Peacekeepers arrive, blocking all comms signals so the separated girls (Aeryn and Sikozu, Chiana and Noranti) can't talk and warn each other. Problem 3 - the Scarrans arrive and the girls don't have enough firepower to kill these hard-as nails SOBs. Finally, Problem 4 - it turns out problems 2 and 3 are having a secret conference, where the Grayza offers a deals that will screw quite a few recognisable species out of their lives, planets and resources. However, the Scarrans also want to know more about the Peackeeper's non-existent wormhole weapons.
So…….the ladies have to avoid various patrols, attempt to assassinate various figures with minimal weapons, retrieve a beacon from shady characters who are hard to track down (they can change their DNA), see if they can trust each other and escape to back to Moya. What follows includes naked massages, more lesbian-type encounters, political back-stabbing and double-dealing, major characters changing their DNA and appearance, gun-play, firefights and ending that just about fucks everyone. What starts of as slow and measured, builds nicely and lays the groundwork for the future.
What's good here is the interaction between Sikozu and Aeryn as they try to uncover what's going on. Also, the crew's motives still remain unresolved, with total paranoia and distrust running rampant. The dialog doesn't seem as clichéd as the previous episodes, and actually moves the Farscape universe along nicely. After the disappointing last 2 episodes, this puts the series back on track. This is one of the better ones. Of course, it helps when you can watch these programs without a commercial break. Thank you BBC !
Fear the muppets…they are coming.
DrunkStan
4. “Gaspode”:
Herc:
It’s back to America this week, and a return to my status as a banned AICN poster, but here’s one last Farscape review before I go. And there are some spoilers this time, so tread carefully! All the best, Gaspode
Farscape episode #416: ‘Bringing Home the Beacon’
Written by Carlton Eastlake
Directed by Rowan Woods
What happened to the women last week while the guys were getting their asses kicked in mental gymnastics? Well they were apparently having a much more exciting time, as this episode shows. Aeryn, Chiana, Sikozu and Noranti land on a trading post built in part on a dead Leviathan, in search of a sensor distorter that can be used to fool long-range scans. What they don’t realize is they’ve also stumbled onto the meeting place for Grayza and a high ranking Skarren minister (played by Ben Browder’s real-life wife incidentally, who’s played her fair share of aliens in this show). During this covert summit, Grazya agrees to hand over the Luxan planets to the Skarrens in exchange for continued peace, not understanding of course, that one should never trust a giant lizard in heels…
After a few less-than-inspiring episodes, Farscape’s fourth season is definitely back on track with ‘Bringing Home the Beacon.’ Although every character features in a scene or two, the spotlight is definitely on the women this time, with Aeryn, Chiana, and Noranti, Sikozu (as well as the two villainesses of the piece) getting some memorable moments. In particular, Aeryn reminds us that she can still kick some heavy-duty ass, while Noranti and Chiana manage to steal a few scenes, including the genetically-transformed-fake- lesbian clinch (trust me American viewers, it’s worth the wait!) which is well played for laughs.
Other highlights: -‘They didn’t transform her tongue!’ -The Skarren Dreadnought -A well-disguised 'Bioloid' (the less said the better, until you’ve seen the episode)
And finally, there’s the ending. Sorry, no inviso-text here, but suffice to say, it pretty much sets up events for the final six episodes. This one is definitely worth seeing folks.
And to keep Herc happy, here’s my own extremely subjective verdict: 8/10.
