Farscape Episode 2.04: “Crackers Don’t Matter”

[chavalah.livejournal.com]

There’s a lot of ways this episode is classic “Farscape”; the crazy, the kooky, even the downright disgusting are amped up a bit. It’s a very action-packed episode, with the bad guy and the plotty points of contention (the crackers and the beacon) set up early so that we can move quickly from point A to point B. And all these years later, I still find the character griping to be highly amusing (Ben Browder and Claudia Black especially stole that one,) though it is true that these arguments, however influenced by outside forces, belie that the crew still has some relationship issues under the surface.

There’s one scene between John and Chiana that continues to rub me the wrong way, more and more as I re-watch the show. This episode is replete with insults, adult themes and even murder attempts, but this one touches explicitly on sexual violence and then just brushes it off. Meaning no offence to Ben and Gigi, but it’s highly uncomfortable and ultimately a bit of a letdown with no resolution.

Where the showrunners failed with the John/Chiana scene, imho, they made up for it with some subtle arc building in John’s material elsewhere. Let’s just remember that this isn’t the first time this season that John’s feeling a little crazy, if you recall. They’re really building towards something greater, even in the sillier episodes.

( Episode Summary and Spoilers )