Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Message From the Ministry Of Awesome
By Jacob Clifton | Season 4 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.06.2003
"Have they found us again? Frell me!" yells the exasperated Chiana -- Rygel notes that's actually possible, and D'Argo asks if Moya can starburst again yet. Of course not. Sikozu tells the Cluster team to activate the sensor distorter, since this is why they went in the first place, but Scorpius tells them it's not ready yet. Pilot gives them about three minutes until the warship identifies them. Rygel: "I hate to say it, but..." D'Argo tells him not to, then, but Noranti pauses: "No one is chasing Moya and Pilot -- it might be better just to leave them." John quietly asks Aeryn if they should bail, and she says it's safer for Moya, but he shakes his head. "What about the..." He cradles his arms; Aeryn stares at him. He cocks his head, frustrated. "...Baby. What about the baby?" She shakes her head, confused. "What?"
John stares at her, trying to read her eyes, trying to stop this from happening. She just looks back at him, confused, trying to get a read on what he's saying. Finally John whispers. "Where's the beacon, Aeryn?" She looks at him, confused and starting to worry: "We don't know?" He backs away from her, voice getting louder. "Where's the beacon, Aeryn?" Everybody gasps when he pulls his pistol on her. She just repeats: "We don't know." Sikozu starts toward him, asking what the hell is going on, and he points the pistol at her. "Wait!" D'Argo screams. John trains the pistol back on terrified Aeryn. There's so much sadness and fear in his eyes, but that's for later. Certainty for now. "Where's the beacon?" Chiana comms from the pod, asking what he's doing, but he ignores them all, shaking his head. "Where's the beacon? It's a simple question: where's the beacon?" She tells him again that they don't know. Noranti comms in to ask what he's doing, but Scorpius just listens, carefully.
"Where's the beacon? Where's the baby?" She looks at him, confused, mouthing silently that she doesn't understand his game. There's the shadow of a confused smile on her face, even now. She shakes her head. "Where's the baby? Where's the beacon? Beacon, baby. Beacon, baby..." Aeryn looks over at Sikozu, who's watching John, asking themselves if he's going down again. "Whose beacon? Whose baby?" Aeryn glances towards the others, afraid, and turns back to John. He circles her, heart breaking. "Who's the beacon? Who's the baby? Whose baby is it? Who's the daddy, Aeryn? Aeryn, who's the daddy?" Again, pain in her eyes, she mouths to him: I don't know. Black plays this brilliantly, because it's her reaction -- even though you know the imperfection is Aeryn's right now -- that makes this so heartbreaking. It lends so much shading and confusion to what follows. She's saying their unbreakable bond is breaking, and he's the one breaking it, because the language that they speak, she's silently telling him, just stopped making sense.