• Part I: A Kiss Is But A Kiss
• Part II: I Do, I Think
• Part III: The Maltese Cricthon

Brief synopsis:
The crew of Moya stumble across a breakaway colony, a sebacean world no longer under Peacekeeper control. With Rygel's help, the crew get invited to the planet surface, where Crichton is kissed by a Princess. It turns out he is a perfect DNA match for her, and he is asked to marry her, to become Regent. With the arrival of Scorpius, and the threat of the Princess's brother, Prince Clavor, Crichton is left with some tricky political decisions.

The Main Story:
Whilst trying to teach Crichton how to Pilot, Aeryn is caught having scented her hair. Crichton is curious why, and as they talk, the two kiss, but it doesn't last. Aeryn still won't accept her feelings for Crichton, and is immediately determined to leave. After a little advice from Chiana, who witnessed the whole thing, Crichton goes after Aeryn, to try and talk things through. When he later finds her, she asks for more space, which prompts Crichton to take the path of jealousy, calling on Chiana to see if she would like to do something instead. However, he finds her and D'Argo having sex in her quarters, and realises he should keep out.

With all the relationship issues on Moya, it isn't helpful that they find themselves surrounded by automated defence cannons from a nearby Sebacean colony. They do however manage to contact the planet officials, speaking to Counsellor Tyno, where Rygel is able to negotiate safe passage to the planet. The people are entering a the time of Coronation, so tensions are high, but arriving unarmed, they are welcomed for the time being. Down on the planet, at a local bar, the crew find themselves in a room full of people all kissing eachother. The people held vials, which contain a substance they place on eachothers tongues. They then touch tongues and kiss. The reaction is sweet or bitter, depending on whether a DNA match is found.

Whilst Aeryn avoids this at all costs, pretending that she and Rygel are compatible, Crichton welcomes the many women who come to kiss him, and begins happily strolling around the bar. However, he later kisses the wrong person. He tastes the sweetness of the kiss, and is told he is the only DNA match for the woman, Katralla, a Princess of this colony. He is then taken away for his safety and asked to marry the Princess. This surprises Crichton obviously, but also the Princess's brother, Clavor, and his ally, a Scarren diplomat called Cargn, who were certain that nobody could be found with compatible DNA, after they had poisoned Katralla's DNA. The idea was that without a suitor, the throne would pass to Clavor, who would ally the colony with the Scarrens.

Crichton's problems get far worse at this point however, when Scorpius arrives aboard his Command Carrier. Zhaan, left aboard Moya, agrees with Pilot that they need to starburst away in order to both avoid capture, and hopefully lure away Scorpius. However, though they Moya manages to leave, Scorpius is not fooled, and makes his own way to the Royal planet. Down on the planet, D'Argo and Chiana find they are incompatible, but don't mind as they can still do the things they do together. Shortly afterwards, D'Argo meets Scorpius, and finds out what Scorpius wants - the same thing he has been after for so long, the wormhole knowledge.

In Crichton's first meeting with Prince Clavor he tells the weasel not to worry, saying that he won't be assuming the throne, but when he later talks with the Empress, he is left with no choice. The Empress offers him marriage to Katralla, or departure in the hands of Scorpius. At this, Crichton is forced to ask Princess Katralla to marry him. When she replies yes, preparations begin for the wedding, though the most noticeable thing is the increase in security wherever Crichton goes. Aeryn is shocked that Crichton is actually considering marriage, but still won't reveal her feelings. She does however notice that Counsellor Tyno and Princess Katralla are deeply in love, and only do the things they do for the sake of their society and the Empress.

Aeryn goes off to argue with Chiana, and the Nebari points out that she should have expressed her feelings earlier. Now, the stakes are too hight for Crichton to say no. Not only would Scorpius get the wormhole knowledge, but the Scarrens would get another ally in the local area, and increase their force to attack the Peacekeepers. Aeryn still doesn't like it, and neither does Crichton, but Chiana's logic is sound. Zhaan meanwhile finds that Moya is unwilling to return to the planet, and the leviathan heads off further away. Pilot tells Zhaan that the reason is that Moya has sensed something extremely familiar, and is tracking it down. Zhaan wonders if it may be Talyn, but for now, Pilot can't describe it in any more detail.

Aeryn finds herself confronted by the Scarren, Cargn, and fighting begins. The ugly brute believes she is working with Scorpius, and Aeryn is willing to play along. Clearly the Scarrens are worried about this territory. The Empress discovers them however, and the fight is stopped. Crichton is then taking for testing, where he is discovered to be human, not Sebacean. The revelation is ordered sealed, and the wedding is set to continue, but not before Crichton and Katralla see what their son could look like using a magnicifent machine that uses DNA to predict appearence.

Pilot meanwhile tells Zhaan that the familiar sensations they are sensing are in fact Moya's builders, her gods. Whilst they continue their journey to investigate, Crichton learns that part of the ascension process is to spend 80 cycles as a statue. Once this is finished, they take over the throne from the Empress, but this is no consolation for Crichton when he realises that all the people he knows and loves will be dead. He tells D'Argo about this, and the Luxan realises what a tough situation Crichton is in, but can only offer his support, and nothing else.

With Crichton on the verge of accepting defeat, Aeryn reaches complete despair, left realising that the only thing Crichton and Aeryn can say to eachother is goodbye. However, just after Aeryn leaves, Crichton is confronted by armed guards, the leader of which begins to attack Crichton with some kind of dangerous looking device, his "wedding present" from Prince Clavor.

To be continued... (see I Do, I Think)

Trivia Quiz:

References and continuity:

Rygel: "How many nasty surprises could I have avoided?"

Recall that in Rhapsody In Blue, Rygel mentioned wives *plural*, so its to be expected that he would have had lots of varied children. The machine in this episode has something he would have found very useful.

• John talks about being the reverse King Arthur. The boy who was made King for pulling the mystical sword from the stone, Crichton gets the same treatment, but for the opposite thing. He kissed Katralla, putting the sword into the stone.
• When told that he will be made into a statue, Crichton knows it would mean never seeing his family again, and also refers to American actress Cameron Diaz (famous for roles in films like Charlie's Angels and Gangs of New York), as well as demon fighting Buffy the vampire slayer, played by another young American Actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar. Sarah also had roles in movies such as Cruel Intentions and Scooby Doo.

Aeryn: "[Kisses Rygel] Sweet! I'm so pleased."
Rygel: "Hehehuh, me too..."

Woah! Aeryn must really be desperate to fend off the advances of others. She kisses Rygel to test for compatibility, to allow her to ignore all the other men.

Crichton: "You would just have to be on this side of my life to see how frelling insane this is."

Crichton is shocked by the customs of the planet, and can't believe he is expected to marry Princess Katralla, and he isn't afraid to show it.

Cricthon: "Go away Scorpy, its over. Find another girlfriend."

Crichton really is tired of being pursued by Scorpius now, but at least he's still able to keep his sense of humour.

Cargn: "I don't believe I've had the pleasure." Aeryn: "Yes, I've heard that about Scarrens." Despite the odd similarities in their names, Aeryn and Cargn clearly don't get on. Full marks to Aeryn for that sharp reply though! Rygel: "He looks just like you!" Cricthon: "He does, kinda." Rygel: "Yet he might be able to overcome it." Seeing Crichton's possible son seems to have an effect on Rygel, but the Hynerian still manages to chip in the insult.

Writer:

The writer of this episode was David Kemper. Other Farscape episodes written by him are:

Director:

The directors of this episode were Tony Tilse and Andrew Prowse. Tony Tilse also directed:

Additionally, Andrew Prowse was also responsible for the following episodes:

New Aliens:
Scarrens Though at this stage little is known about the Scarren race, we can already see that they are a strong species, with tough skin, large teeth, and huge muscle bulk. On top of this, they seem to have the ability to use heat attacks on opponents. More is revealed in the episode Incubator where Scorpius reveals some of his past to Crichton.

Farewell to:

Zhaan

Zhaan flees aboard Moya when Scorpius arrives at the Royal planet, and finds herself at the Leviathan building ground, with Kahaynu, a religious figure for Leviathans.

Guest Stars:

Matt Day as Counsellor Elka Tyno. Felicity Price as Princess Katralla. Felix Williamson as Prince Clavor. Gavin Robbins as Cargn. Bianca Chiminello as Jenavian Charto. Tina Bursill as Empress Novia. Aaron Cash as Dregon. Jonathan Hardy as Kahaynu. Francesca Buller as ro-NA.

Note that Francesca Buller (Ben Browder's wife) also played several other characters, M'Lee from Bone To Be Wild, Raxil from Scratch 'n' Sniff, and Ahkna from the final episodes of season 4.

Also note that Jonathan Hardy, the actor who played Kahaynu, is responsible for the magnificent voice of Rygel

Personal Opinion:

This episode is really where everything starts to kick off for season 2. With Scorpius in pursuit, the Scarren's revealed, and the characters aboard Moya pushing their relationships to the limits, the Look At The Princess Trilogy really gets things going. I greatly enjoyed the episode, thanks to the exciting cliffhanger, the story that really has a lot of potential, and admittedly that revealing look at Chiana.

Though Zhaan's part of the story hasn't really got started yet (as always seems to be the case), the plots developing on the royal planet are promising, and with two episodes left in the trilogy, there is a lot of potential. The most interesting point for me though really is that we finally meet the Scarrens, the species that we later learn are the really big bad of the universe.

	A great start to a trilogy.		9/10