DNA Mad Scientist


Written by Tom Blomquist
Directed by Andrew Prowse


First off, wonderful acting job done by the entire cast. Truthfully, the plot of (as the title says) a mad scientist messing with a person's DNA creeps me out and reminds me a little too much of Dr. Moreau minus the Mini-Me, but the acting saves this episode. Between Claudia Black playing ScaredAeryn to the point of bringing me to tears, Ben Browder wonderful worry potrayal, and Virginia Hey's complete 180 turnaround from the Zhaan we all know and love, playing Zhaan post-TOBM, this was just amazing. Even Pilot's mockery of the others was well-acted, and he's a puppet!

In some ways this episode helped to strengthen certain relationships, and in other ways, it kind of shot other relationships straight to hell. In my opinion, this is one of the shippier John and Aeryn episodes. Aside of that, it also proves how far they've come. When Aeryn turns to someone to help her, it's Pilot and John that she goes to; they're the ones she trusts. It also added a nice little footnote to the Aeryn/Pilot bonding we've seen in episodes like Exodus from Genesis. She goes to him first, and when John asks Pilot to help Aeryn, he doesn't waste a second in agreeing.

Then there's the other half of the crew. Scary. It was actually pretty close to terrifying to see how far they would go. With no consideration for Pilot, they sliced off an arm with the rationalization of "he'll get over it." Zhaan, Rygel and D'Argo nearly tore each other apart so that each could be the first to go home, and then the only one to go home. Although Rygel did lighten the mood a little, it still shed a whole new light on them, seeing how badly they could screw each other over just to get what they wanted. And to make things worse, the only one who even tried to apologize to Pilot for what was done was D'Argo, and even then it was sort of a backhanded apology.

I like that we do get to see more into Pilot's background and personality. This is the sacrifice he's made to live the life he does, and that's all there is to it. Although he can't resist getting a few barbs in against the others when they find that the crystal doesn't work the way they planned, and the snarky comments belie what he tells John, that he's all right and doesn't seem to mind. It was just a nice look into his character.

The perfection issue seemed drilled in, though. I caught the point, how far people are willing to go just to be perfect. It was a little obvious, and it didn't need to be hammered in to me, thank you.

Also a mini-kudos for the history lesson. The Farscape-shippers list gave each other background on exactly who Mengele was and what kind of monster he was to those of us who were clueless. Farscape. It's not just entertainment, it's educational.


GRADE: B


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