Xev is lured back to Earth by an opportunity to have some hot and heavy action with a young stud, specifically whoever wins a game show called Xevivor. Stan is tempted by 790 to enter the competition, little realizing that the robot head has plans for them both...
Jeffrey Hirschfield is back, and it's a real eye opener. His stories have always been the most outlandish ones in LEXX and he throws in everything here. Not only does Xenia Seeberg prove Xev's credentials as one of the sexiest women on the planet, but 790 is integrally involved in the plot, his scheming being the element that causes all the problems in the first place. His flawless manipulation of first Xev, then Stan is hilarious, and it's been a long time since he acted this nastily. It's good to see as it adds a certain internal danger for the crew when they rely on him so much for information and assistance.
There's a danger here of exploring a little too deeply what is going on, as we get quite a few answers that may lead to much reiteration and general slowing down of the plotting as the series progresses. For instance, there are more obvious allusions to the fact that we've seen a lot of people before (the former Fifi trying to work out if he's gay being a fun use of a returning character) and the alien probes that have appeared in all the episodes so far are explained by 790 as being in search of knowledge about how things taste. Why they are ignoring the LEXX itself isn't explained, but the threat is made more obvious and stronger here and it will be interesting to see how they fit into the grand scheme of things.
Meanwhile, Kai's continuing involvement with the Texan cult yields some more surprises which are rapidly becoming the most intriguing part of the plot as things begin to tie together and link all the seasons of LEXX together. It's an impressive trick if it can be pulled off.
Xevivor itself is a wonderful creation. The network meeting is hilarious, especially Prince and Farley's phone conversation, and the show is a perfect take-off of various recent dating games. The filming is inventive, using the trick of cameras meant to be across the island to film Xev and company and there's a fair amount of nastiness too. The humour is present in spades (thoughts to camera about the game from the contestants are priceless) and there's enough going on to keep things moving along at a good pace. It seems LEXX has finally blossomed into the show we all knew it could be.
****
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