Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Putting Out, With Dark Sunglasses
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 9 | Aired on 06.17.1999
John leads Aeryn back into the bar, hands over too-sensitive ears, crowd alive: "C'mon, we're gonna get some answers." He fights science with science: "No, no. Remember what Pilot said about the noise, about your thoughts? String them. Separate them in your mind." It's just a field strategy exercise, only the enemy isn't trying to kill you, it's trying to become you. He takes her by the hand -- that tiny strong hand -- and leads her inside. "Easy for him to say. He's been doing it all his life." She sways, threatens to drop. "I'm losing it, John. I'm completely losing it." Consider please this woman; what she just said. Being more only ever hurts. "Answers coming up. Come on." They come upon Namtar's assistant Kornata. "You must let me past," she screeches, and goes on screeching. "What's wrong with you? With all of you?" Same stuff. Namtar enters and says hello. "Whatever you've done to her," says John, panicking, on the other side now of Maldis's wall, all alone with it even when she's in his arms, "Namtar, it wasn't part of our deal!" Deal? "A deal connotes reaching some point of equality. I'm afraid there's never been anything equal about us." He asks Aeryn how she's progressing. She's only ever been what people made of her.
Not so John, who attacks; with a wave of Namtar's hand John flies across the bar; with another Aeryn approaches, and he touches her long, white neck with his beautiful fingers. "You're coming along wonderfully. All of these physical affectations are superfluous. I assume though that you are also developing the heightened perceptions and multi-tasking capability?" Bad science, his crib and berth; Aeryn begs him to stop it. "You don't know what you're asking. You, my dear, are making a phenomenal contribution to the approach of sentient life towards perfection...and you want me to stop it?" Only if perfection is ugly; it never is. Aeryn draws her gun. John begs her to think: Namtar's the only one who can help her. She shoots anyway, because she is awesome and because she is not. Namtar congratulates her on her awesome gun and regenerates. Perfection. John gets tossed again, this time against something hard, and he goes quiet. Namtar leads Aeryn away.
Speaking of awesome and not, of those both fearfully and wonderfully made, Zhaan and D'Argo approach Rygel's cell. "D'Argo and I have spoken. We realize all this infighting is serving us nothing, except to keep us frozen in orbit around this asteroid." D'Argo stammers and acknowledges that Rygel's ultimately in charge of the crystal, for now. "So we agree to take you home to Hyneria," Zhaan pledges. "We'll find our own way home from there." But where is Rygel? A lump under the covers proves to be nothing, as D'Argo shouts, "He did not hear our offer and I hereby rescind it!" Straight to hell, all of you. The cell door shuts, and Rygel chuckles outside. "You really think that I could spend all those cycles locked up in one of these cells and not have a secret means of sneaking in and out as I please?" He takes off, leaving them to suck it; they beg nonetheless. Rygel's like my hero right now, even though he's no better than they are.