Episode Report Card Strega: B+ | 9 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT The Princess Bride
By Strega | Season 2 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2000.07.28
Zhaan is walking around Moya with a flashlight. She screams, "Kahaynu, present yourself!" Yikes. If I were Kahaynu, I'd stay wherever I was rather than face her right now. But I'm not, which is probably for the best. Kahaynu obligingly swirls into being, noting that Zhaan has "The spirit of a warrior." No shit. Zhaan retorts that he has the spirit of an executioner. She demands that Pilot be provided with a new ship so that he doesn't die with Moya. Kahaynu says, "We are not prepared to do more than we have. I should say goodbye before it is too late." Zhaan quietly says that this is wrong, and then rushes at him. And passes through a cloud of smoke, only to find Kahaynu is now smirking behind her.
Back on Faber'Ge, Crichton is lying in his room with Christmas lights wrapped around his skull. I think they're meant to be medical equipment. Or maybe he was feeling especially festive after his 327th brush with death. D'Argo sits on the bed wearily and says that the Empress isn't going to do anything. He does concede that she's put Scorpius, Cargn, and Clavor "on notice." I'd like to have seen that: "No killing Crichton! I'm really, really serious this time. Really." D'Argo adds, "Security is so tight that last night security burst into my room just as Chiana was, uh, screaming." Crichton pulls off the decorations, sits next to D'Argo, and says she's tired of this. D'Argo explains, "As a powerful, neutral kingdom, they expel someone during coronation it will have negative consequences which will ripple outwards." Crichton asks what his options are. They haven't really changed: he can run, or he can marry Katralla. Aeryn quietly enters as D'Argo adds that he'll back either move. Crichton silently bumps fists with D'Argo and then points at Aeryn. D'Argo looks a question at him, and Crichton nods, so D'Argo stands and exits. D'Argo's such a good friend. Aeryn opens the conversation by announcing that she's proud of him. When he asks why, she sits down facing him and says, "For being Crichton. The Crichton I always knew." He sighs, "Getting my ass kicked all over the universe." Aeryn smiles and leans in to add, "Getting yourself into a position to get your ass kicked by fighting, resisting, never giving up." Crichton's not really in a rah-rah mood. He asks if Aeryn's found a way off Faber'Ge, or found a way to chase Scorpius away, or convinced the Empress to veto the marriage. He finally sighs, "I'm tired. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do when there's no fight left?" Aeryn chokes out, "You run away." He fingers a lock of her hair and asks, "With you?" She hesitates before answering, "With all of us, together." Crichton looks at her sadly, then pulls his fingers away from her hair and lays back on the bed. Aeryn shouts, "You can't just quit!" He calmly puts a pillow under his head and says, "I'm not quitting. I just can't go on." Aeryn asks, "Was I wrong? You're no longer the Crichton I knew?" He stares at the ceiling silently.