Crichton:"Who did you piss off this time?"
Crais:"Talyn and I were not the aggressors."
Crichton:"Of course not. You never are. So who is it? The Plakavoids? The Skekses? The Big Bad Wolf?"
Crais:"The Peacekeepers. They want Talyn back."

Crais:"You don't believe me, Crichton."
Crichton:"Only because I know you."

Crichton: "Work. Now. Freak. Later."

Rygel:"I hate being useful!"
Chiana: "Yeah. We know."

More to come (eventually).

Heck, the mind-blowingly gorgeous opening shot alone was worth the price of admission -- the FX crew gets mondo brownie points for their work this week, as does the Creature Shop (this little lie detector beasties were far too much fun, if slightly cheesy and entirely icky). And both this week and last week have been outstanding freshman efforts from the new writers and directors -- DK is hiring good people!

Watching John fight with himself is just... odd. Ben does double-duty and does it so well I forgot to watch intently and try to figure out how and when they were doing the mirroring. There were simply two Johns, and we moved on from there. And how! This looks like it's going to get drawn out for a while, and I'm impressed as hell at the writing staff for going there. Doesn't look like Ben got to leave the set like, ever, while they were filming, but it was obviously worth it. When he went into the infirmary to donate blood to himself, and when he gleefully used the doubling effect to screw with the Lobsters of Truth -- those were truly awesome moments. I cannot *wait* to see where they take this.

The one I actually feel the most sorry for is Aeryn -- not enough that she's had John to deal with for the last two arns. Now she's got *two* of them, driving each other crazy and trying to take her with them! She's coping remarkably well, because that's what Aeryn does -- but now Crais has to stick his nose in and add further mind-frelling to the equation. Dealing with her mother is going to tear her loyalties in the worst possible way -- that one memory, that declaration that she was special, is something she's clung to her entire life. It shaped what she was, and what she became. Caught between her mother on one hand, and Talyn, her 'godchild', on the other, is not going to be fun. Separated from himself, John might be able to help, but it's still gonna get ugly.

Wow, remind me to never be around when Crais wakes up; nice combat instincts there, man. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to leave him alone with a stranger, but you've got to admire his reflexes. And yes, they remembered that Crais didn't know Aeryn was alive! Far too cool; Lani's reaction was beautiful. (And love the reference to the Skekses, guys; self-referential in-jokes are always appreciated.) Crais is, of course, up to something -- the sky is blue, the Pope is Catholic, and Crais has a scheme up his sleeve. The information about Aeryn's mother is all well and good; Crais has never been shy about turning any opportunity to his advantage. But he had something to tell Aeryn before she died, before this first little encounter with the retrieval team, and it wasn't about her mother. It was personal. Bet having one of the Crichton's along for the ride on Talyn is gonna drive him nuts. Kudos to Lani for his always wonderful performance as Crais -- layers and layers and layers....

I could not stop giggling for the entire opening fight scene, with D'Argo riding in to defend Chiana's honor (?). His disgusted "Every frelling planet!" spoke volumes -- just an absolutely priceless bit. The byplay between these two has, happily, survived the Breakup From Hell; it's just functioning on entirely different levels now. Even Stark is reasonably tolerable this week, even when he's nuts -- largely because, whenever he gets too insane/annoying, someone slaps him down. Yay!

Thank God, Jool finally has a purpose! She's no Zhaan, but that's okay -- we had a Zhaan. Watching Jool fumble her way into usefulness -- into the practical when she's only ever had the theory -- is fun to watch, not to mention being Good For Her. She's never going to be much use in a fight, I think, and god knows she's a spoiled brat, but in her own sphere of expertise, she's obviously proving to be competent. I repeat, thank God. And Rygel has regained his purpose by being Bargaining Boy again, even if that is the only thing he has to do.

And Our Merry Crew runs into yet another dysfunctional royal family. This one isn't short on brains or balls -- in fact, they could do with a lot less of both. Tolven is arrogant enough to swing on a Luxan, and fire on a strange ship, but he's also smooth enough to have gotten away with this sort of behavior for quite some time, and I certainly prefer his relatively straight-forward approach to his sister's noir chick 'stab 'em in the back while they're protecting you' schtick. :P Bet Sarova shows up somewhere down the line, and so not in a good way. Great turns from the guest stars.

[Addendum: With time this weekend to actually finish rewatching the episode, I need to add two notes. One: the replacement of Sarova with the shapeshifter was very cool., subtle enough that I missed the moment the first two times around. But I stand by my assessment of Sarova, fake or not, as a serious noir chick manipulating her way through life, but it was still cool. I don't blame Sarova, given her situation, but I do wonder if we're going to see her again. Regardless, Aeryn's mother is sneaky. Two: God, I love the continuity on this show. I would kill to see a copy of the Farscape bible, if new writers are able to produce episodes that fit so tightly into the universe. The little throw-away references to first and second season (and the massive ones like the scene with Aeryn's mother and little Aeryn) are just excellent.]

Overall, this arc, and this season, are promising as hell. We saw so little of Xhalax Sun, but the casting looked excellent, and she's sure to be an incredible character. This new turn on the Peacekeepers, the ongoing saga of the two Crichtons, whatever the hell Crais is running behind the scenes... The plot lines are tangling like taffy, and the fun is just beginning.