Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Enemy Of My Enemy Is...
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 15 | Aired on 08.12.1999
Cut to Zhaan disbelievingly asking Salis, "The Nebari practice mind control?" I don't know what her equivalent of a ton is, but I think it's safe to say that if you measure it in bricks, that's what this revelation is going to go over like. Salis explains that they eliminated the thought patterns that caused Durka to behave "inappropriately" by a process of neural realignment so intricate that each subject must be placed in cryogenic stasis for nearly a hundred cycles. You're welcome to hash this out in the forums, but discussing the ethics of this procedure could take a hundred cycles on its own, so I'll limit myself to saying that it sounds fairly inefficient. D'Argo is there as well, and he asks if it's still the real Durka, by which I expect he's asking if the guy still has all of Durka's memories, and is told the answer is yes. Zhaan emotionally asks what each subject feels during the treatment, which is an odd question considering she was just told it's done with the subject in stasis, but Salis gets at her meaning and tells her that Durka appreciates what they did for him. "Ask him if you don't believe me." Well, maybe he appreciates it, and maybe he thinks toeing the party line is preferable to spending another hundred years on ice. Not that the two are mutually exclusive. Zhaan sniffs that she might just ask Durka at that, and leaves. Salis volunteers that if it had been possible, they would have saved everyone on board the Zelbinion, but "they refused to surrender." D'Argo disbelievingly asks how many warships it took to defeat the Peacekeeper command carrier, but Salis explains his people have no warships. "One of our standard host vessels engaged the Zelbinion." He lets D'Argo process that for a moment, and then adds, "Much like the one coming for us." D'Argo, I'd suggest you keep your thought patterns in line.
In his quarters, Rygel brandishes a small knife for a moment, and then Aeryn walks in and pointedly asks what he's up to. Rygel: "Nothing. I'm just sitting here reflecting on my fond memories of Durka and the Zelbinion." Heh. Aeryn firmly instructs him to leave the visitors alone, and not to go off on "some childish vendetta." Even given that it's Rygel who's concerned, that seems like an awfully skewed way of looking at the situation, but Aeryn goes on that she was taught a great deal about "Captain Durka's distinguished career." Looks like mind control doesn't always require the time and effort that the Nebari put into it. Rygel as much as says this, and asks what she thought when they found the Zelbinion and learned that Durka had taken his own life, implying that such cowardice is unbecoming to a Peacekeeper, particularly one regarded as so legendary. Aeryn, in turn, points out that that's irrelevant, as the fact that Durka's alive means that Rygel was obviously mistaken, but Rygel says that Durka chose to end his "distinguished career" by faking his own death to save himself while his crew died. Aeryn says Rygel doesn't know what happened, and smoothly plucks the knife from where Rygel hid it in his tunic or robes or whatever. She'll need it to slice her way out through the issues that have suddenly filled up the room. Which she does...