Episode Report Card Jacob: A+ | 642 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT Daring Aeryn To Love You
By Jacob | Season 4 | Episode 18 | Aired on 2003.02.21
You know the Prisoner's Dilemma? It's also known as "Daring Aeryn to Love Him," and it goes like this. Orwell puts you in Room 101 and says John's next door and he's already sold you out -- that he never loved you and he's always been a spy, a love terrorist, a PK Trelk Boy -- or he's let you down -- just as useless as you thought. So the possibilities are as follows: 1) You keep the faith, assuming they're lying. 2) You sell him out, and he goes down innocent. 3) You stay true, and he sells you out. 4) Or you turn on each other. Those are the possibilities. I lie, you lie, we both lie, we both tell the truth. My side, your side, in a very real sense. And the conventional wisdom is that you don't do this thing, you don't make the deal with the devil, because there's a 25 percent chance that you'll save each other. Which are not great odds, but when the whole universe is against you, hope is actually the smartest alternative. Not starry-eyed romance but the cold facts: 1) Everybody wins. 2) You're fucked. 3) You're fucked. 4) You're fucked. Might as well choose hope. You choose John. Or, if you're John, an unthinkable alternative that contains hope and hatred in equal amounts. Harvey's Lovely Daughter.
Scorpius follows John down the corridor as time goes nuts: "Who does Stark love?" John insists again that "You cannot just shoot people!" but he's playing a role: John Crichton, Nice Guy. He knows damn well why he brought Scorpius with him. He gave in before the episode started. "I find your priorities odd," Scorpius hisses. "We are in a hurry and these deformities are preordained to die soon. Who does Stark love?" In order: God, Zhaan, Scorpius, John...and Aeryn. Fuck. John stares around at an unfamiliar part of Moya he's never seen before (I wondered if maybe Moya weren't blundered too: with Talyn, maybe). "Just because you do not have the resolution," Scorpius begins, and John cuts him off, turning back past Scorpius: "I got more than enough 'resolution' the last time I was here. And sometimes, Scorpy, I do not like the way you do things!" But that doesn't stop you rubbing the lamp, does it, when the stakes are high enough. Scorpius growls softly and follows John back.