Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Aeryn Wide Awake In the Garden
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 03.25.1999
Zhaan helps Rygel straighten up his quarters, for much the same reason as Aeryn, but we don't know that yet. Rygel uprights his painting, notices the big red stripe, and darkly vows that somebody's going to pay. Zhaan sighs because she's so much better than Rygel is, and puts it on the easel. "Is that how you see yourself?" It's pretty regal. Rygel says that his mother always said he was the best looking, which is why she had his older brothers banished: "She said my face belonged on the Imperial seal." Oh, moms; they do have favorites. He whines that the painting is ruined and turns, revealing that there's a long red line on his face that matches the one on the painting. Imperfection. Zhaan laughs because she loves nothing more than other people's faults, and cleans him up as we watch them in Monstervision. Rygel sighs, because he's still only really comfortable around Zhaan, and the two of them make total sense together most of the time. He's all body, she's all spirit. (And unless somebody else comes along, his soul-twin Chiana for example, you can bet he'll get psychic powers at some point, and Zhaan'll get cancer, because the opposite thing from what you are is How They Get You. John has nightmares about war for the rest of the series; Aeryn's inability to deal with her feelings causes her to engage in some really fucked-up behavior when things get bad.)
Zhaan starts painting, pissing off Rygel, but as she moves faster and faster -- she did this in the premiere as well -- he is reduced to just a hum of dissatisfaction. After a few seconds, Zhaan steps back and he gets a good look. "Oh! Huh. Is that how you see me?" It's really quite beautiful. He looks like somebody worth knowing, for once. "It's called a spirit painting. We Delvians do it for recreation. ...It's rather rushed," she smiles, but she's proud. "It looks like Rygel the Great! Rygel the First, my most honored ancestor!" She smiles sweetly, beautifully: "Obviously, a part of his spirit resides within you." Monstervision watches as Rygel bitches hilariously at the painting: "You had it so very easy." It's a gift from Zhaan to Rygel, the thing he needs and will carry into the rest of this episode like a witch-gift in a fairy tale. A comb that becomes a forest; a bean that takes you to Heaven. Her "You could be more."
Back in the maintenance bay, Monstervision watches Aeryn and John cleaning; she walks over us, and as she reaches down for some more junk, a pair of pincers reaches out for her hand, but John distracts her away. "Aren't you hot?" she asks, and he says "No." The fuck he ain't. D'Argo comms in to report that he's showing "abnormal thermal fluctuations throughout the ship," and asks them to confirm the reading in the maintenance bay. Aeryn is vindicated and gets all smarty-pants about it. Aeryn is narrowly missed by a spur thing from the alien bugs. This is starting to get a little creepy. "D'Argo! The giant Ouiji board says -- uh, optimum plus three." Aeryn says it feels more like plus thirty, and D'Argo assures her they'll fix it once they isolate the cause. "Well, then stop talking, start isolating," she snits, and reaches down again. This time the beast gets her, right through the wrist. It's yucky. She yelps, and John's concerned, but she just yanks the thing out, tosses it aside, and wipes the blood off. I bet D'Argo would have concentrated a bit longer on the thing -- warrior v. soldier. They take off, and the bug grabs the bloody spur. This should be fantastic.
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