Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Bass
By Jacob Clifton | Season 4 | Episode 17 | Aired on 02.13.2003
"Officer Aeryn Sun. General Ka D'Argo. Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu. Dominar Rygel XVI. Chiana. Utu Noranti Pralatong. The Pilot. These are the first extraterrestrials known to have visited this planet." And with that, we're welcomed to Alien Visitation, R. Wilson Monroe's latest muckraking Bashir-esque special, in which he will detail for us stupid Earthlings the recent visit of eight (nine) alien visitors, and their ties to the IASA space program. "It has now been several months since they left with Commander John Crichton aboard their ship, Moya...and besides their names, what else do we really know about them? Precious little, except the carefully orchestrated appearances allowed by our government. Good Evening."
We pull out: John's watching the special on the TV Aeryn bought him for Christmas. "And tonight, we will pierce the veil of secrecy, showing you these aliens as no one has witnessed them before." As though we're ready for that; as though the truths are literal. Rygel asks John how many times he's going to watch the awful thing. "Until I figure it out." Rygel bitches that he told Pilot to keep the transmission a secret from John. John, lost in thought, muses how easily Earth avoided his -- and the crew's -- pleas for understanding and interspecies trust. One of the cool things about this episode -- or lazy, depending -- is how it imputes so much that we didn't see in Terra Firma. We saw like two scenes of John fighting The Man and trying to get everybody to work together. Which to my mind was the best thing to do: his conversations with Holt at IASA were symbolic of the brick wall they were hitting. We didn't get to see them hoping, all that much, but now we can remember that they did. And it's part of the story, and we knew it at the time. But so much of it becomes real with this episode, looking back through their disappointment.
"Well, what do you expect?" asks Rygel, always at home with cynicism. John shakes his head. "It's not what you expect, it's what you hope for." A Catholic bishop appears on screen, discussing this and that. Rygel further explains some things about Earth: "It's a backward planet full of superstitious, xenophobic morons. Nothing makes sense if they didn't think of it first and, even then, it's simplistic drivel." John wanders around the room and Rygel pissily apologizes: "How rude! Are you from there?" The Dominar is forthwith expelled from the room by force, as Rygel grunts and waves his arms and whines. "My quarters. My life. My TV." He hurls a bowl of popcorn in Rygel's face as Rygel blusters.