Zhaan (Virginia Hey) is convinced that Stark (Paul Goddard) is still alive, and finding him again is only the first step in saving D’Argo’s (Anthony Simcoe) son, Jothee (Matthew Newton), who is about to be sold into slavery.

Thus begins the penultimate story, Liars, Guns and Money, which spans three episodes, of the second season. Written by Grant McAloon this episode was first broadcast on 4 December, 2000.

Stark’s not so simple plan involves the group breaking into a shadow depository to steal enough money to buy D’Argo’s son’s freedom. The depository, however, is run by the very devious Natira (Claudia Karvan).

Crichton (Ben Browder) and the rest are a little dubious about the plan, so D’Argo heads off on his own, with Crichton and Aeryn (Claudia Black) in pursuit to stop him from doing something foolish.

Things get even more complicated by Crichton’s continued visions of Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) and D’Argo’s capture. But is it all part of the plan? A plan that involves Stark accessing the security systems, and Zhaan posing as a for-hire security expert with Chiana (Gigi Edgley) as her aide and a captured/frozen Rygel (voiced by Jonathan Hardy) for deposit.

Oh, and Scorpius shows up. Crichton tries to sabotage his cooling system, but is everything too risky? Things get very complicated, very quickly, and they may have to blast their way out when things go really sideways.

The group escapes back to Moya with their stolen goods in hand and the possibility of Scorpius being dead. But is John okay?

What a great episode, it’s tightly paced, fantastically acted, and ends on a surprise… the ingots the crew have stolen aren’t what they think they are leading straight into a To Be Continued!

The second installment of Liars, Guns and Money called With Friends Like These… debuted on 11 December, 2000 and was written by Naren Shankar.

The crew race to rescue Jothee, even as the ingots reveal themselves to be hungry insect-like creatures.

And surprise, Scorpius is alive! He’s also purchased the entire lot of slaves, including Jothee before Moya reaches the site. They were all purchased by Scorpius, and he offers a deal. Jothee and the slaves for Crichton.

Can they come up with a plan? They sure can, and it involves a lot of continuity as characters from the previous season are paid off (with the living ingots). A little Magnificent Seven going on while Chiana, Zhaan andRygel attempt to clear out the ship of the dangerous ingots. It’s going to be dangerous and painful to Moya and Pilot (voiced by Lani John Tupu).

Obviously, things are going to get better before they get worse. But are we ready for how bad it’s going to get? Crichton agrees to turn himself over to Scorpius for Jothee’s freedom. Holy crap, they just keep upping the stakes for the characters with this series. SO GOOD!

And we find ourselves heading to the next To Be Continued, and the season’s penultimate episode!