Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT NOOOOO!
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 18 | Aired on 09.16.1999
Soon after, Chiana jumps on Larraq's back, and he throws her off, but in grabbing him, she rips of his Peacekeeper ID card or whatever. Let's all take a moment to imagine what would have happened if not for that little occurrence. (Another reason this episode is both better and harder to watch knowing what happens after -- the might-have-beens and might-not-have-beens. Count them! I'll wait.)
Larraq fires up the Marauder. Crichton comes upon a still-half-dazed Chiana, who manages to order Pilot to seal the outer doors. Crichton belays that order, and asks if the ship is still leaking fuel. Upon hearing an affirmative, Crichton tells Pilot to let Larraq go, and we see the Marauder depart. Crichton tells Pilot to prepare for starburst, and over Pilot's objection, says that he only needs the first stage. "And I want this ship nose to tail where she is, one hundred and eighty degrees, right now!" He's a lot more authoritative with his normal accent. Pilot obeys, and, when the ship is in position, starts the first stage of starburst. The energy from Moya causes the leaked fuel to ignite, and a very cool shot of the flames overtaking the ship ensues, culminating in the ship exploding as Crichton intones, "Boom." I guess it was too much to hope for a "Yippee-ky-ay, motherfreller." Also, the shot is cool enough and we're close enough to the end that I won't even wonder about the flames merrily dancing their way through oxygenless space.
Zhaan is attending to a predictably pissy Rygel, but D'Argo enters to rumble that Rygel can expect less than no sympathy from him, due to his compliance in letting the virus loose. Zhaan cuts in that she's sure Rygel has learned his lesson. I'm not sure what she's basing that on, but we've got a lot of ground to cover in these last couple of minutes, starting with the fact that D'Argo is holding the chains from his cell in his hand. He tells Zhaan he'll never be chained up again, and she says she prays that will be the case. D'Argo: "You can pray all you like. I was expressing a fact, not a hope." Dude, I realize that this part of your personal journey is important, so I'll forgive the overdrama, but we already knew how you feel, so could we get to the beautiful stab victim already? No, Zhaan has to express her sympathy, and then Rygel has to fogey his complaint that he knew Crichton's plan would never work. Zhaan smells bullshit, and snarks that maybe next time they'll follow a plan of Rygel's. D'Argo intones that he prays (oh, it's okay for you now?) that there will never be a next time. They all bow their heads. Sigh. Another down ending -- oh, wait, there's one more scene left! Hope springs eternal!