Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Human Reaction
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 08.19.1999
Fade in on an African man, speaking to John through the glass. Translator microbes have never mattered more than they do in this episode, so briefly: in all the cultures other than Earth that John has encountered, translator microbes are injected at birth. They take up residence in the brainstem, and translate for the carrier (and us). What this means is that John -- or Aeryn, or D'Argo -- can understand all languages, but can only speak his own, or whatever languages he actually learns to speak. "This is the twelfth guy, Wilson. How many more are you gonna roll in here, before you believe these are translator microbes in my head, and not some space virus?" Wilson sips coffee behind the guy, still all business. "What did he say?" "Well," says John slowly, his eyebrows and jaw doing that resolute thing that means he's actually focusing on what's going on, "I think he said that until he gets some answers, he's not gonna play anymore." Just in case Wilson's not aware of the power of the eyebrows, or the jaw, John rolls backward in his chair, then rises and retreats against the far wall, as far back as he can go.
Later, John's acting more like himself, zipping back and forth across the cell on his office chair, calling out to a soldier named Cobb who's sitting studiously reading his paper outside. They talk, but Cobb won't look at him. "Can I get a newspaper? Come on, Cobb! What am I gonna find out?...Look, I've been away, for-- What'd you say? Seven months? I just wanna know what's happened. Something. Since I've been gone. Who won the Super Bowl, Cobb?" Cobb raises his head and stares at just nothing, for several seconds, like he's accessing some kind of database or something. It's not a normal act. Finally, he says, "I don't know." John needles him: "I know you're Australian, Cobb, but you gotta know who won the Super Bowl! You know who Ty Cobb is, Cobb? No? How about Babe Ruth? You know who Babe Ruth is?" The southern accent is in full effect: John's losing it. Cobb: "Some fat guy that played for the Yankees." John does his wacky dancing around. "Good! Fat guy! At least you know something!"
The containment cell is in a huge hangar. Elsewhere in it, Wilson's at a desk checking over some sketches from John's experiences. There's a very pretty line drawing of Rygel. "You're kidding me!" The sketch artist is like, "I know, right?" Thank God there's no Scorpius yet, or they'd have to condemn John as a deviant. "No, seriously, I know it looks like your worst bondage nightmare, but see, he's only half-Sebacean, so he has to wear this whole outfit..." A soldier starts yelling at one of the hangar doors, trying to keep somebody out. It's John's very incredibly awesome dad, Jack, last seen comforting his son before the ill-fated flight of the Farscape. He's being very Crichton père here, all, "Out of my way!" and "Back off, soldier!" as they try to obstruct him. Wilson orders Cobb to turn off John's speakers as Jack approaches. The last thing we hear is John screaming, "Dad!" Jack yells at Wilson that he's been waiting two days to see his son, and Wilson's still chill: "Jack, that's what we're trying to determine. Whether it is your son." Behind Wilson, John screams, jumping, pounding on the glass, heartbreaking. Given their history, I'd imagine this is a nightmare John's had before: seeing his father, unable to speak to him, his father unable to hear his voice, calling out; so close to him, but unable to touch him. Wilson tells Jack, "He's got foreign microbes in his brain stem. And the Farscape module has been modified with non-human technology. You know how this works, Colonel. Once we confirm John poses no threat, then you can see him." Jack's not feeling it.
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