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selenakWiki summary: While the crew is viewing a wormhole, Moya is suddenly hit by a large, toxic space plant. The crew must find a way to kill the plant before it kills Moya. Aeryn tells Chiana a secret about her pregnancy, and asks her to keep it secret.
Poor old Moya is threatened by a parasite again - this happens about as often as the holodeck malfunctions on the Enterprise-D, I guess, and it‘s not that this episode‘s use of the plot device is worse than the earlier ones, it‘s just that by the fourth season, we have an inevitable case of diminishing returns. This said, the gimmick offers occasion for at least one scene I hadn‘t recalled at all but which I loved watching, to wit, D‘Argo‘s conversation with Rygel. These two rarely interact on a one on one basis if it‘s not the early seasons and D‘Argo is shouting at Rygel for stealing food. So it was really neat to see them share a comradely moment where D‘Argo knows what‘s bothering Rygel and neither makes fun of it nor offers an easy get out, and Rygel responds not dismissively but appreciatively to what D‘Argo has to say.
I also like all the small character touches, like Sikozu, whom the show has established as not being able to use the translator mikrobes but being a language geek instead, being fascinated when Crichton makes his wormhole countdown in Spanish. It also makes sense that Sikozu, who hasn‘t gone through all the rest of the regulars have, finds this entire wormhole business just nifty without any downsides. And as always, John being big brotherly (in the good, not in the bad sense) with Chiana, as when she returns form her scouting the infested areas of Moya and is freaked out, is something I enjoy to see. As for the final Captain voting results scene, it still makes me grin. Btw, obviously Sikozu voted for Scorpius and Noranti for the Divine Okulu, but I‘m curious - do we think Pilot or John were the the one vote for Aeryn as Captain? (With all the other votes going to D‘Argo.) Personally, I‘m going with Pilot, not because of the angsty state of John/Aeryn relations (I‘ll get to that), but because it would make the most sense for her to be his choice for Captain.
I dimly recall at the time this was broadcast - which was the first season I didn‘t marathon but saw in real time - someone commented Scorpius‘ expressions throughout the episode just makes one conclude his ongoing thought must be „THIS is the team which foils my every plan?“ Because, yeah.
And now to the Aeryn pregnancy & angstorama subplot. Aeryn confiding in Chiana and Chiana promptly relating what she heard to D‘Argo, and the confiding including the misleading „Aeryn doesn‘t know who the father is“ but NOT the „…because female PKs get carry fertilized embryos in stasis up to seven years, and she doesn‘t know whether this one hails from pre or post Moya“ is exactly the kind of writing that annoys me. (Unless Emily Bronte does it and it‘s the scene where young Heathcliff overhears Cathy saying it would degrade her to marry him but not the immediately afterwards following „I am Heathcliff speech. Emily doing it is okay by me. But not Team Farscape Writers.) It also annoys me that „who‘s the Daddy?“ is first made a plot point and then explained away in such a fashion. If you do want to make an issue of the bio fatherhood, show, then actually follow through and let the bio dad be someone other than Crichton so he can show he‘s grown up and loves the kid anyway. And also, while under other circumstances I‘d be all for scenes with Aeryn and Chiana, this entire subplot in my ideal version of the show would be replaced by one where Aeryn interacts with Scorpius instead and we get follow up on that set up.
As to the ongoing John/Aeryn angstorama: actually John coming to the conclusion (at this point) that he trusts Aeryn 100% with his life but not with his heart is something I can buy, given she refused to tell him anything in the previous episode for no discernable reason. It‘s the fact that this is Aeryn‘s only storyline by now that makes it grating.
The other episodes
Poor old Moya is threatened by a parasite again - this happens about as often as the holodeck malfunctions on the Enterprise-D, I guess, and it‘s not that this episode‘s use of the plot device is worse than the earlier ones, it‘s just that by the fourth season, we have an inevitable case of diminishing returns. This said, the gimmick offers occasion for at least one scene I hadn‘t recalled at all but which I loved watching, to wit, D‘Argo‘s conversation with Rygel. These two rarely interact on a one on one basis if it‘s not the early seasons and D‘Argo is shouting at Rygel for stealing food. So it was really neat to see them share a comradely moment where D‘Argo knows what‘s bothering Rygel and neither makes fun of it nor offers an easy get out, and Rygel responds not dismissively but appreciatively to what D‘Argo has to say.
I also like all the small character touches, like Sikozu, whom the show has established as not being able to use the translator mikrobes but being a language geek instead, being fascinated when Crichton makes his wormhole countdown in Spanish. It also makes sense that Sikozu, who hasn‘t gone through all the rest of the regulars have, finds this entire wormhole business just nifty without any downsides. And as always, John being big brotherly (in the good, not in the bad sense) with Chiana, as when she returns form her scouting the infested areas of Moya and is freaked out, is something I enjoy to see. As for the final Captain voting results scene, it still makes me grin. Btw, obviously Sikozu voted for Scorpius and Noranti for the Divine Okulu, but I‘m curious - do we think Pilot or John were the the one vote for Aeryn as Captain? (With all the other votes going to D‘Argo.) Personally, I‘m going with Pilot, not because of the angsty state of John/Aeryn relations (I‘ll get to that), but because it would make the most sense for her to be his choice for Captain.
I dimly recall at the time this was broadcast - which was the first season I didn‘t marathon but saw in real time - someone commented Scorpius‘ expressions throughout the episode just makes one conclude his ongoing thought must be „THIS is the team which foils my every plan?“ Because, yeah.
And now to the Aeryn pregnancy & angstorama subplot. Aeryn confiding in Chiana and Chiana promptly relating what she heard to D‘Argo, and the confiding including the misleading „Aeryn doesn‘t know who the father is“ but NOT the „…because female PKs get carry fertilized embryos in stasis up to seven years, and she doesn‘t know whether this one hails from pre or post Moya“ is exactly the kind of writing that annoys me. (Unless Emily Bronte does it and it‘s the scene where young Heathcliff overhears Cathy saying it would degrade her to marry him but not the immediately afterwards following „I am Heathcliff speech. Emily doing it is okay by me. But not Team Farscape Writers.) It also annoys me that „who‘s the Daddy?“ is first made a plot point and then explained away in such a fashion. If you do want to make an issue of the bio fatherhood, show, then actually follow through and let the bio dad be someone other than Crichton so he can show he‘s grown up and loves the kid anyway. And also, while under other circumstances I‘d be all for scenes with Aeryn and Chiana, this entire subplot in my ideal version of the show would be replaced by one where Aeryn interacts with Scorpius instead and we get follow up on that set up.
As to the ongoing John/Aeryn angstorama: actually John coming to the conclusion (at this point) that he trusts Aeryn 100% with his life but not with his heart is something I can buy, given she refused to tell him anything in the previous episode for no discernable reason. It‘s the fact that this is Aeryn‘s only storyline by now that makes it grating.
The other episodes
