Lexx season 3 (2000)

The third season of Lexx went to air in early 2000. This third season does not just have a season-long story arc. Lexx had done extended story arcs before. The second season had had the multi-episode Mantrid story arc. But the third season is one continuous narrative.

Season 3 assumes that the viewer is familiar with the Lexx universe. There are vital things about the characters and the relationships between them that are not explained but you absolutely have to know these things to really understand the story. If you have watched the first two seasons then you do know these things and you will get much much more enjoyment out of the third season.

You have to know that Kai is dead, and why he is dead, and why he is still functional. You have to know why he is such an efficient killer. It helps if you know that he is the last of the Brunnen-G and why that matters to him. You have to know why Xev loves him. You have to know that Xev is part cluster lizard - if you don’t know that you will be puzzled and astonished when she displays the special abilities she possesses as a result. You have to know that she is a Love Slave. And that she is part cluster lizard.

The fourth regular member of the crew, the robot head 790, plays a more minor part in season 3. 790 is very much a comic character. The third season is much more serious and much more relentlessly dark in tone than the previous season. 790 is a bit out of place.

You have to know about the special bond between the members of the crew of the Lexx. They have an extraordinarily extreme Us and Them attitude. They will risk their lives for each other but they are entirely indifferent to the fates and the sufferings of outsiders. In the second season they were totally unbothered by the fact that the carnivorous plant-girl Lyekka was hunting down and killing and then eating the entire crew of a spaceship who were guests aboard the Lexx. The Lexx crew members were not bothered because they liked Lyekka and she was hungry. And she had become an honorary member of the crew. Stan, Xev, Kai and 790 didn’t know those other astronauts. They were strangers. If Lyekka wanted to eat them that was her business.

In the third season the Lexx crew members witness a brutal murder. The victim was a nice person who did not deserve such a fate. Stan and Xev are devastated. It takes them at least 30 seconds to get over it. Then they move on. There’s no point letting something like that spoil your whole afternoon.

As the season opens the Lexx is drifting aimlessly and has been drifting for millennia. The crew members have all been in suspended animation for 4,000 years. Lexx is helpless because he needs to eat but he’s too weak to find food. And then the Lexx is boarded by a group of ruffians. The leader is a menacing but charismatic man known as Prince. He’s a scary bad guy. Or is he? Maybe it’s more complicated. The story is continued in the second episode, May.

There are twin planets, Fire and Water. They have been at war for as long as anyone can remember. Prince is the charismatic leader of the planet Fire. He would like to use the Lexx to destroy the planet Water. The crew of the Lexx also encounter May. She is the charismatic leader of the planet Water. She hopes to use the Lexx to destroy the planet Fire.

Because this is Lexx one should not assume that this is a simple good guys vs bad buys story. Xev trusts Prince. That might be a mistake. She falls in love with him. That might be an even bigger mistake. Stanley trusts May. Which might be a mistake. He falls in love with her. Which could be a very big mistake. Perhaps Xev and Stanley are both wrong, or perhaps they’re both right, at least partially. What is sure is that both Stanley and Xev are not capable of being rational about such matters.

The cities on Water are all floating cities. They’re mostly given over to pleasure of one sort or another. The cities on Fire are at the tops of huge towers. They’re dangerous nasty places.

There’s something very very strange about both planets. The first clue is the complete absence of children. I won’t spoil things by hinting at just how strange life on these planets is.

Prince is very dangerous and he has a very odd ability but I’m also not going to spoil things by saying any more.

Several foes and friends from the past make appearances in this third season. Their reappearances are quite impossible but how they happen to turn up now is always connected with the oddness of these planets. It’s fun to see Lyekka again!

The most sensible thing to do would be to get as far away as possible from these twin planets but Lexx cannot take them anywhere until he eats. And finding food for him is a problem. Lexx is a spaceship but he is also a giant insect. He has a very healthy appetite.

Stan, Xev and Kai get drawn into the never-ending war between Water and Fire. They also get inextricably mixed up in Prince’s scheming. The problem is that they cannot figure out what Prince is actually aiming to achieve. They are not even entirely certain it is evil, although that seems likely.

There are very subtle changes in the regular characters. The changes make sense. They have been through a lot together. They understand each other a bit more. Stan is still desperate to get into Xev’s pants but he has started to think of her as more than just a luscious body. Kai has come to understand that although Xev’s desire for him is inconvenient it is not her fault. Xev has become just a little bit more tolerant of Stan’s foibles.

And Xev has grown up just a little. She’s a bit older and a bit wiser.

The narrative is concluded fairly satisfactorily by the season finale, and in a very Lexx sort of way. Lexx is not a warm cuddly science fiction series. But it is one of the all-time great science fiction TV series. Very highly recommended.

I’ve also reviewed the first season and the second season.