I finished watching this very unique and fascinating dark comedy science fiction show a while ago, but haven’t yet had the time to write my thoughts on it. I still don’t exactly know how I feel about it, but I do think it is very overrated. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it was Farscape‘s major competitor (and I think Farscape was the better show myself), and had a similar set-up: a mismatched motley crew on board a living ship, traveling through space. In the case of Lexx, the crew consisted of a low-ranking security guard (Stanley Tweedle) who inadvertently gains control of the Lexx, the titular ship capable of destroying planets, a mutant love-slave (Zev/Xev), an undead assassin who was once a warrior-poet, and a talking robot head hopelessly in love with Xev (and later Kai).

It was the description of the crew that got me interested in the show, and I absolutely loved the first season, which consisted essentially for four hour and a half-long movies. It was dark, gritty, and absurdly funny at moments, and full of sexual innuendos that didn’t overpower thw show. It was clever and portrayed the absurdity of bureaucracy and totalitarianism, while simultaneously displaying the brutality of humanity and the universe, all set against a fascinating backdrop. The characters were great and I loved every minute of it.

Then we got to the second season, and halfway through it I almost stopped watching. The big bad guy of season one is gone, replaced by a different bad guy bent on destroying the universe, with a rather poorly-explained motivation. He didn’t click for me. Furthermore, the first season had a general continuous storyline, and the second one didn’t so much, and the episodes were either hit-or-miss, depending on the writer that week. Most of them were misses. A twitter response to my thoughts about leaving the Lexx ship prompted me to keep going, and I reluctantly powered my way through season 2, and I am glad I did.

Season three was by far my favorite, essentially taking place in Heaven and Hell, and exploring the war between the two. It introduced one of my favorite villains of all time, and doesn’t even try to explain his motivations outside of “I was created evil and so I will be evil and enjoy it.” They were honest about this, which was why he – Prince – worked so well as a villain. The third season I also found clever, and the “city of the week” set-up, in which the crew visited different cities on Hell (Fire) and Heaven (Water) every episode, fun and a good way to examine life.

The fourth season was also enjoyable, and took place on what we know as earth. It had its moments of both good and bad, and an unsatisfying ending, but I preferred season 3. Season 4 was definitely the most humorous, however.

Overall, it was a good show, and all but season 2 were worth watching. Season 2 was extremely depressing – which was fine – and completely overtaken by bad sexual innuendos that just got extremely annoying. I found it dull and not at all inventive or clever. Its villains, both minor and major, were two-dimensional and didn’t seem well-thought out; they seemed caricatures more than anything else. So, you can live without season 2, although some of it is important in later seasons, no not critically so. I would definitely recommend seasons 1 and 3 at the very least!