Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT When We First Took The Pill
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 8 | Aired on 06.10.1999
Speaking of which. Bizarre Bazaar, where the cute little bird-thing from Act I (the gun on the mantel) is chirping sweetly. Liko: "Your first lesson: inflicting pain." He urges her to stop petting the trelkez and hurt it with her mind powers. They discuss this at length and review all the super-powerful vampire stuff some more. She vibes the trelkez with some pain energy, and she starts crying, and he calls her a big baby. "You're right. I was once capable of cruelty, but now I have evolved past that." Evolved? Try repressed! You've choked off all your real emotions. Oh, that was Liko talking. Not me. No sir. Zhaan cries some more and says he's a liar. "You think you've smothered your inner fire and found enlightenment. All you've done is make yourself cold. Look at you. Struggling to contain what you're feeling, fighting to keep control. What is it you're so afraid of?" Um, the red eyes of doom, perhaps? I am. She protests that she's not afraid and he scoffs. "I am a Delvian Pa'u. Nothing can frighten me if I do not wish it." He tells her you can't wish fear away, you have to face it. Which is what she told Rygel last week, word for word, and everybody else in the whole show the weeks preceding. "Are you afraid of Maldis? You can destroy him!" And Zhaan admits that's what's terrifying her. Yeah, I feel that. The sympathy for Zhaan is rare, but strong when it comes. This storyline is pretty rough to watch from here on out. And it doesn't...actually get better, really. The second she stops being an asshole, you get Stark, and MAN is that a whole other flavor of annoying.
John sets this handy giant firepit on fire by accident, and then remembers how Sebaceans hate the heat. He pushes the advantage. "Crais, lay off for a minute and listen to me." So John can beg for his life? No. "So I can tell you why your brother died." Yeah, great. "My module, the one I was piloting. How does it compare with your Prowlers?" Crais fully scoffs. "Right? Yeah, my species is so primitive we all live on one planet. I was orbiting when a wormhole sucked me onto your turf. I didn't intend it, and I'd go home in a second if I could." Crais points out that he'd lie to save his ass. "You think I attacked your brother? Oh, yeah. I popped into the middle of a giant space battle and decided to go one-on-on with a total stranger in a far superior ship. Does that make any sense?" Crais characterizes the interaction as "ramming," and they go around and around. "Why do you keep blaming me? I did everything I could to avoid him!" Maldis congratulates him on his near-sincerity. John complains that it was actually quite sincere. Also true.