Each season the production on this series had a four-month summer break and then completed the season when they returned in the fall. Cranking hard to get episodes 15, 16, and 17 finished for season 2 before the break, the producers were forced to use several lesser scripts and the series experienced an almost fatal hiccup when these were broadcast late in the summer of 2000. "Won't Get Fooled Again" was one of these dog episodes that reflected the desperation of the producers, who in the rush were forced to go with this due to the absence of other quality or even satisfactory script material.
Normally such acts of desperation do not happen until the 5th or 6th season of a hit series, as the writers find themselves flogging a dead horse in the stable of originality. In "Farscape's" case they simply stole an idea from "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" (TV Series 1995–1999). The writers for that series had run out of ideas late in their fifth season and cobbled together "For Those of You Just Joining Us..." (#5.9) in which the writing staff (played by members of the cast) went to a corporate retreat to work on the show's quality. It was done for laughs and was quite entertaining.
Unfortunately "Won't Get Fooled Again" (a self-reflexive reference to first season episode "A Human Reaction") is not played for laughs or at least does not get any laughs, unless you are amused by the total exposure of Ben Browder's limitations as an actor. Browder is tasked with portraying a mental breakdown on the scale of Catherine Deneuve's in "Repulsion", and he mostly just leaves you embarrassed for him (and for episode Director Rowan Woods whose acting for the camera directing talents will never be confused with those of Roman Polanski).
Gigi Edgley is almost completely absent from the episode, which was probably a relief for her but not for perceptive viewers, who had concluded early on that the quality of an episode tended to be positively correlated with the quantity of her character's screen time.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
