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 Durka ripping out some of Moya's command cables, the first effect of which is to kill the comm system. As Durka continues to rip and hack with a knife, Pilot screechily asks what he thinks he's doing. Durka responds by firing a no-look shot into the Clamshell Cam. Hee. His comic timing is certainly better when he doesn't have to talk. Pilot frantically tries to get anyone on the comm system, to no avail. Crichton opines into the silence, "Not good."
And that's an accurate assessment, as in Command, we pan across a tableau of Aeryn, lying unconscious on the floor with her hands tied behind her back; Rygel, lying unconscious on a table with his hands tied in front; and, next to him, an array of nasty-looking torture devices. Should he get out of this, I can only imagine that Rygel's first purchase will be The Anarchist's Cookbook. Durka moves close to Rygel, brandishing the knife, but then, after a long moment, starts cutting off his own hair. It's a good thing he doesn't have a Fu Manchu, because that would just be a lot more work. Also, I saw that coming, but it was still funny. See my point about Durka's comic timing above.
Sometime later, the haircut is finished and the eye patch has been ditched, so Durka's all ready to wake Rygel up. As Rygel cowers in fear, Durka explains that the explosion undid the Nebari mental cleansing. "Isn't that the most superb irony?" Well, just the fact that it actually is irony is a good fucking start. Aeryn comes to, and Durka tells her how great it is to be back to his old self, as when he was cleansed, he actually felt ashamed of what he'd done. Aeryn says she takes it that Durka killed Salis, which he neither confirms nor denies. What he does do is to menace Rygel with the knife. He only cuts off his comm device, though, and uses it grandly to pronounce to the crew that he's the new commander of Moya. Zhaan stops in her tracks when she hears his voice, and amusingly, the DRD alongside her does as well. Durka goes on that he's holding Aeryn and Rygel hostage, and the rest of them should leave the ship immediately. Aeryn activates her comm with her mouth and yells to Crichton that Durka murdered Salis before Durka smacks her in the face with his (possession being at least nine-tenths of the law out here and all) gun. It seems like Aeryn's only logical intention in conveying this information is to spur him to get Chiana to help them rather than mistrusting her. D'Argo and Crichton get frustrated with their inability to communicate, and run off.