Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT NOOOOO!
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 18 | Aired on 09.16.1999
In the apothecary, Zhaan slaves away as everyone else holds their weapons at the ready. Crichton's staring at Hassan's corpse, and you'd think if the Peacekeepers could spare a body bag for the rubber chicken, they could do something about their fallen comrade on the floor. Chiana consoles Crichton, and I'm really impressed with the depth they've given her in so short a time, because it's almost like she needs to believe in his goodness even more that he does. Zhaan finishes up the brew and injects herself, but nothing happens. She tells the others that "an acid-based life form" would have a noticeable reaction to the level of alkaline. I assume she's not talking about the writers, not that being an acid-based life form in that sense is necessarily a bad thing. Everyone's apparently wised up a bit, as they seem to be wondering whether Zhaan could be lying through her teeth, but she protests that they all saw the ingredients she put in, and Crichton, the other scientist, backs her up. Aeryn steps up to take the next injection, and she too is clean, so she gets to cross the room like Crichton just picked her for his softball team. They would totally kick ass, too. Thorrn takes the next one, and he, as we already knew, is clean, although... wouldn't the residual acid from his turn as the host react with the alkaline? Eh, it's not worth wondering about, as it's the David of plot holes amid a colony of Goliaths. Now that it's down to Larraq and D'Argo, everyone starts yelling again. Larraq yells that they should just test D'Argo to prove it's him so they can kill him, which betrays him as the host, since the real Larraq wants to capture the virus, not that anyone notices. Crichton makes a big show of playing "eeny meeny miny mo," and I was all for the elementary-school stuff, but even in kindergarten I was able to predict who I was going to land on, especially with FOUR SYLLABLES AND TWO PEOPLE. Anyway, Crichton injects D'Argo, who, after a second, is fine, so Larraq runs out ahead of everyone shooting at him. It's too bad the DRDs weren't around for this one. Crichton orders Pilot to cut off Larraq's possible escape routes, and we see doors closing all over the place.
Thorrn and Aeryn are looking for Larraq. Aeryn soon finds him, though not the way she wants, as he jumps out and grabs her from behind. He tells her that Larraq's body will get him into the Gammak base, and then Thorrn appears, and Larraq shoots him dead. His crewmen must be taking some crap in the afterlife for their trust in him. Crichton and D'Argo rush in behind Thorrn, and Larraq makes to shoot them as well, but Aeryn manages to knock his gun away. However, he draws a ginormous knife and tells Crichton that he knows from his time inside him and Chiana how much he and his crew want to stay away from the Gammak base, so all they have to do is let him go in the Marauder and they'll be free. If the virus knows so much about the thoughts of the people it inhabits, you'd think it might have picked up on THE FUEL LEAK THAT BROUGHT THEM THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. D'Argo growls about the spores that I no longer care about, and then Aeryn yells for Crichton to do what he has to do. Larraq cruelly tells Aeryn that the real Larraq "really liked you. A lot." He then raises the knife and stabs Aeryn in the side. You guys, I'm starting to think that "intellant" means "asshole." Seriously, that was really hard to watch for a lot of reasons, but the terror on Aeryn's face as she looks at Crichton, afraid that the end has come for them far too soon, is definitely the worst part. Crichton and D'Argo get all slo-mo with the "AERYN!" and Larraq pitches her into their arms and rushes off. D'Argo, probably knowing that he's the one in this situation that has to think clearly, orders Crichton to go after Larraq, since he can't be re-infected. Crichton obeys, and D'Argo yells to Chiana and Zhaan that Larraq is headed to the transport hangar, and I love the fact that Chiana instantly understands that she's meant to go down there, since she's immune as well. D'Argo desperately begs Zhaan to get down there and help him as Aeryn writhes in bloody pain.