Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Last Tanga In The Paris Commune
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 04.22.1999
Back on Moya, Aeryn's removing John's tummy worm. Rygel is watching from near John's head. She pulls it out, and it wiggles around in her hand, and it is gross. "Hybin was right. This worm was quite easy to coax out of you." John says that Hybin was also right about how painful it would be. Rygel tells him to drop the bitching, considering His Highness got frozen twice and had exploding pee. Aeryn tells them both to STFU and get ready for starburst, all competent and adorable.
"Hey, Rygel? What's up with her?" Rygel grumbles. "Oh, she thinks she's a scientist now. False superiority." Aeryn clarifies that she is not a scientist, but that she's what she's always been, which is superior. The thing about jumping into those kinds of scary changes is that on the other side you don't feel different, just bigger. Now that she has some science under her belt, she's Aeryn-with-science. The monster outside the house becomes a pet. Gorgeous. "If I were warmer, I would have an appropriately venomous reply. Be warned: I owe you one." He hops down adorably and takes off.
John asks Aeryn how she's doing, and she admits it was nice to "triumph" using her mind. He pushes -- "Doesn't have to be this once" -- and, having had enough of that, she thanks him curtly for his assistance. He thanks her and heads for the door, and still full of competence, she calls out to him. "I'd wait...and let D'Argo come to you when he's ready." Look at Little Miss E.Q. all of a sudden! So awesome.
Zhaan's quarters, where she and D'Argo are processing. D'Argo says maybe it's just the case that he's never going to be happy. "But you were, for five glorious days," says Zhaan, which is exactly the right answer. He says it wasn't really real, and she points out the subjectivity of experience: "There are no guarantees, D'Argo. We take each breath as if it is our last. And hope that the air is sweet." And it was. It was hell to look at, but it was definitely compelling; you can see somebody like D'Argo giving in without the benefit of drugged food, even. Just the chance to rest. D'Argo stutters: "I was going to...approach you. At the next celebration." She smiles and says she would have accepted, then holds out a hand, indicating the seat next to her. He continues. "When I was a boy, I dreamed of two very different lives." She laughs: "Only two? I wanted hundreds." (Your Sagittarius boyfriend says, "What are you talking about? She's fucking awesome!") D'Argo says that two was enough. "I would be a magnificent warrior. Merciless in battle, fearless... The kind they write shintok sonnets about." She pronounces this dream a healthy one, and he brings up the other, secret dream. The one at the heart of his loneliness: "I also wanted a simple life. Family, children. A frotash garden that I planted with my own hands. I thought I'd found that." And it...sucked. Right? "Those kinds of dreams cannot be found, brave Luxan. You have to build them, and I promise you, your hands are still strong. There is plenty of time." Sweet and kind of eye-wateringly sincere and touching at the time; later maybe profoundly different. I love you, Ka D'Argo. There is plenty of time.