The crew is sitting around, eating and bitching. It's nice to know that as alien as most of them are, they can still do things I can relate to. D'Argo says he's getting off Moya as soon as possible, and I know he's going to state his reasons soon, but the incredibly unappetizing-looking potluck dinner in front of them can't be making him want to stick around. Crichton wants the crew to stay together, but Zhaan tells him they're under no obligation to function as a unit. Strange coming from the woman who owes her life to sharing Unity with Crichton, but I don't feel like I have to say much about the more unflattering parts of Zhaan's nature, given that Jacob's already done a lot of heavy lifting on that front. No one's too thrilled with the food except, predictably enough, for Rygel, and then Aeryn chimes in that she won't abandon Moya. I think we're hearing Aeryn's loyal nature talking, although Pilot's DNA could certainly be adding to the volume. D'Argo snits that Aeryn's got nowhere to go anyway, and starting in on Aeryn in the first minute of the episode isn't the recommended course of action if you want me to like you this week, Tentacle Face. Zhaan professes her consternation at agreeing with D'Argo, and if she's so upset about it, I can only imagine that she really suffered when she lined up with him about cutting off Pilot's arm. She hid it well, though. Zhaan's point, however, is that if Moya has gotten to the point where she's no longer able to starburst, they're all at risk. Chiana asks if she can say something, but the answer is loudly and uniformly negative. That'll make participating in their book group difficult. (Hee, is that an image or what?) D'Argo says he wants to see his son, which makes exactly one of us in the entire galaxy, and then Rygel gives a long-winded speech, the point of which is to ask if they can trade Moya for a faster vessel. Aeryn grabs Rygel by the throat and snarls, "Moya is not a possession, your Lowness!" Hee. And if you are one of those that yells, "Hands on the puppet!" every time someone grabs Rygel, I have to warn you that your voice will be getting quite the workout this episode. D'Argo rumbles, "If you ignore the messenger, which is effortless, the message is sound." Heh. Crichton keeps defending Moya, and everyone rounds on him, even Aeryn, who thinks he only wants to stay around the Uncharted Territories so he can find a wormhole and go home. Chiana tries to cut in and is rebuffed again, but then Pilot appears on a mini-Clamshell Cam, and Chiana says she was trying to tell them that the DRDs could hear their conversation. Damn, that could be inconvenient. I hope if anyone on the ship manages to get lucky, they remember to check under the bed first. Pilot tells them that he and Moya understand their concerns, as always, and tells them to prepare for immediate starburst. Zhaan nervously says she thought that was impossible for another fifty arns, but Pilot says that while Moya's energy is low, she wishes to prove to the crew that she's still capable of protecting them. Over Zhaan's ineffective protests, they get going.
In starburst, everyone hangs on except D'Argo, who casually keeps eating. He compliments one of the dishes as clearly the best, with which Rygel concurs, and we learn that Aeryn made it. Aw. The thought of Aeryn cooking is about the cutest thing I could possibly imagine. Don't tell her that, though -- I'm still kind of attached to being alive. Suddenly, Moya appears to hit something, and everyone goes flying. Crichton sits up and frankly looks terrified as we veer into the opening credits.
When we return, Crichton gets to his feet and immediately (of course, and also, aw, although she'd probably kick his ass if she noticed) goes to check on Aeryn, who opines that they must have hit something. Crichton wonders how that could have been possible in starburst. Chiana helps Zhaan to her feet, and Zhaan winces as she says the "fibers" in her arm are torn. Hmm. Before we can really get down to the pulp of that statement, however, Aeryn asks Pilot what's going on. But Pilot's image is no longer there, and neither, for that matter, is Rygel. The remaining crew then notices a bright light outside, and then D'Argo rushes off to check Command, but before he can get very far, he's suddenly bathed in some eerie red light, and quickly gets sucked into some sort of vortex and disappears. Zhaan whines that D'Argo can't just disappear like that. Looks like the Goddess has abandoned someone in her hour of need. I can't imagine why. Aeryn then heads off to try to reach Pilot, but just as quickly gets sucked into another vortex, although the light surrounding her before she disappears is blue instead of red. Zhaan panickedly looks to Crichton for an explanation, while Chiana chimes in that she doesn't want to die. From what I've heard about fan reaction to the introduction of her character, the writers really shouldn't have set viewers up like that. Crichton, for his part, gets that fear-based catatonic look on his face again, which I doubt Zhaan or Chiana finds very reassuring.
Cut to Crichton rushing into Command, through the viewscreen of which we can see the same bright white light. Pilot's image is on the Clamshell Cam, and they catch each other up: Pilot doesn't know anything other than most of Moya's systems are out, and Crichton tells him the readings from Command are all over the map. Also, Moya is "frightened, and in great pain." Yes, I've heard that being drawn and quartered may produce those feelings. Pilot manages to get a read on Rygel's and Aeryn's whereabouts, and Crichton rushes off to try to find them.
Zhaan is using her one good arm to try to keep Chiana from taking a transport and leaving. Crichton appears, informs them that the comms don't work, and tells them that Pilot's scared, so Zhaan heads off to his chamber. I'll tell you now that we're not going to get to see the scene wherein Pilot looks at Zhaan all "Hurt arm? Yeah, I know what that's like." And that is a crying shame. Crichton tasks Chiana with finding Rygel, and, at her reluctance, asks if she wants to be part of the crew. Chiana: "On your good days." Heh. Crichton counters that this is one of the good days, and if Chiana's skeptical of this claim, it's because she hasn't met Maldis yet. Anyway, Crichton tells Chiana that she's not going anywhere because Pilot can't get the outer doors open, and then reassures her that everything's going to be okay because "Pilot's on the job." Chiana takes a long pause, and given that said pause gives the viewers a chance to absorb how hopelessly contradictory those statements are, it might not have been the most advisable dramatic choice. Regardless, Chiana takes off to Tier Eight try to find Rygel.
Crichton arrives at the maintenance bay, which is where Pilot told him Aeryn was. I'll shorten up the recap by a lot if I just say that if you're into lots of dialogue-free shots of Crichton running around by himself, you'll like this episode a lot. You'll also find it a lot easier to recap, and that may not be all that relevant to you, but what the hell, I'm in a sharing mood. Anyway, Crichton gets sucked into a red vortex...
...and when he lands, we quickly gather that the light is hurting his eyes something fierce. He staggers around for a while with one hand over his eyes, and eventually falls to his knees and vomits. It's a good thing he's from the South, because he's got enough new experiences to deal with at the moment as it is. We get lots of double-exposure and shaky camera work to emphasize the point, which is all very artsy, but the dude just booted, you know? We get it.
Sometime later, Crichton has found something to tie around his eyes. I am saddened to have to report that said something is not his shirt. He's at Pilot's chamber, but Pilot is nowhere to be found.
Sometime later, in the same dimension, D'Argo is staggering around, similarly affected. The point is driven home again by the camerawork and visual effects, and if you really want to see someone with lots of facial hair and tentacles, a double-exposed D'Argo should fit the bill quite nicely. Crichton staggers into the frame behind D'Argo, and D'Argo calls his name, but Crichton appears not to hear him and disappears the other way again. D'Argo, now just about incapacitated due, presumably, to the greater amount of time he's been in this dimension, falls to the floor murmuring Crichton's name again. Isn't that more enjoyable that him calling for Jothee?
Crichton's now made it to Command. He hears an alien-sounding wailing coming from above him, so he hoists himself up for a look...
...and now he's in the blue dimension, which boasts an ongoing shrill noise that causes Crichton to cover his ears in pain. This is what can happen if you don't perform regular tests of the emergency broadcast system. After running around for awhile, Crichton finds Aeryn. He demonstrates his unconscious desire to make the Darwin awards by tapping the Peacekeeper on the shoulder, but luckily for all of us, Aeryn's reflexes are equal to the task of not shooting him in his pretty, pretty face. They try to talk, but that proves impossible over the din, so they have a charades conversation that's far more amusing that it has any right to be. Crichton's Rygel is particularly hilarious, and it makes me wonder how much money would be saved in the entertainment industry each year if there were no takes ruined by actors cracking each other up. Anyway, Crichton leads Aeryn to the spot through which he left the last dimension, but it doesn't happen to be a portal here, so he's left looking flummoxed as Aeryn has no trouble giving a wordless "That was interesting, genius" through a sarcastic thumbs-up. They decide to go look for D'Argo and Rygel...
... and elsewhere, they split up down two corridors. As soon as they have, though, some slashes appear in the air behind Crichton, and if he didn't have enough problems already, it looks like Freddy Krueger's after him. Of course, if Krueger gets a look at Pilot and Rygel, he might decide that this reality is too fucked-up even for him. Aeryn returns, and after an aborted attempt to determine whether she saw the scratches in the air, they walk off, with more scratches appearing in the air behind them.
Sometime later, they split up again, and Crichton investigates Rygel's quarters. We see Rygel's self-portrait, which is pretty funny, but brings up the question: If there are copies of everything on Moya in each dimension, why aren't there copies of each crew member as well? (I don't really want to know -- I'm just giving you a topic. Talk amongst yourselves.) Anyway, Crichton reaches for his tape recorder, although of all the possessions of Crichton that Rygel could have ganked, it seems like the one that contains "Letters To My Dad On Tape Never Sent" is an odd choice. It just so happens, though, that in reaching for the recorder, Crichton gets sucked into another dimension, leaving Aeryn to discover he's gone. She warily draws her weapon.
After the break, Crichton reappears in a yellow-lighted dimension, and this time the occupant of the quarters is there, as Rygel looks up and starts belly-laughing to the point of wheezing. I'd be happy to see Crichton too -- who wouldn't? -- but this still seems a little extreme. Rygel goes on that Crichton is making even less sense than usual, "but in a cute way." All right, he's winning me over here. Crichton says he doesn't know what Rygel's been smoking, and I have to admit that that's the first place my mind went as well. Soon, however, Crichton is struggling to stave off the giggles as well.
Cut to Crichton listening as Rygel's in medias Catskillas Routinas. Crichton guffaws at the punchline, but then tries to regain control in between bouts of cracking up. He tells Rygel that something's wrong, and points out that Rygel doesn't tell jokes. Rygel, hilariously lugubriously, agrees, and then they're dying laughing again, this time with good reason, because the delivery there was awesome. The party keeps going until Freddy Krueger shows up again, and even Rygel doesn't see the humor in that...
...but later, he's trying to tell Crichton that it was a hallucination. Crichton spends more time refuting that statement than it deserves, which is to say any, and then tells Rygel that they need to locate a weird noise to find the dimensional portal. Rygel: "Weird noise. Does my stomach count?" Crichton giggles, but enough stuff has disappeared into Rygel's gullet over the years that maybe he should take that suggestion a little more seriously. In an effort to stop Rygel from cracking him up, Crichton tries holding Rygel's lips together -- see what I mean? -- but that only serves to make him funnier, so Crichton takes his leave of Rygel.
Sometime later, Crichton hears the noise, so he enters a Jeffries tube equivalent or whatever and, after paraphrasing the episode title, gigglingly slides down the tube and vanishes.
Back in the original dimension, Zhaan and Chiana enter Command, and Zhaan snits that they can't find the others. "False information yet again." Someone's in a mood -- better fire up the sunlamp, please. Pilot reports that the DRDs are still reporting on the rest of the crew's whereabouts, which doesn't make any sense to me, but I'll agree with Pilot when he says, "Your inability to locate them does not negate the fact that they are there." Said agreement is based less on science and more on general principles concerning this group's competence. Crichton thankfully appears to put an end to the bitchery and asks Pilot what he knows about "parallel realities. Temporal shifts. Two objects occupying the same space at the same time." It's a good thing for me that we haven't recapped every Star Trek series, because if we had, every single word in that last sentence would have been hyperlinked to something. Crichton clarifies that there are at least three other Moyas existing in the same place, so Pilot asks him if he's familiar with the mathematical hypothesis "dimensional schism. Light and sound disjointed into base elements." That explains the properties of the first two dimensions but not so much the third, unless THC is a component of either light or sound. He goes on that starburst "is technically the seam between space-time dimensions." Well, sure, if you want to get all technical about it. He goes on that Moya's power cells allow them access, and they ride the energy stream until they're pushed out at random. Chiana wonders what the hell kind of way that is to get around, which seems like the fairest question anyone's asked in a while, but Pilot icily invites her to leave at the available opportunity. But seriously, no wonder it took them three months to find Crichton. Anyway, the point is that Moya went into starburst without adequate thrust, which resulted in them getting stuck. Crichton disbelievingly asks if they're still in starburst, and when Pilot starts to babble about "insertion thetas," snaps "Screw the science lesson!" It's heartening that Crichton keeps giving me new reasons to love him. I mean, he could easily rest on his more obvious assets. Crichton asks what they're stuck in. Pilot stammers, "Whatever's on the other side."
After a very cool-looking shot of the four Moyas on top of each other, Chiana's nervously babbling about the "creature" Crichton ran across, although from what we saw on screen, it seems like he's getting a little ahead of himself. Zhaan, briefly enough that it doesn't cause an eye-roll, talks about having wondered what was beyond time and space in the context of spirituality, and then Chiana butts in to ask what they're going to do. Crichton instructs them to get hold of some weapons in case the creature returns, and then heads off to Pilot's chamber...
...wherein Pilot is instructing him in the proper sequence to achieve full reverse. Crichton then asks why Moya has been schismed and not them, and is told that it's a matter of relative density -- the heavier the object, the greater the fissure. That still doesn't really answer why things that aren't actually part of Moya -- Rygel's painting, furniture, etc. -- should be duplicated, but at least they're trying. Crichton asks what happens when the sections get pulled apart. Pilot: "Molecular diaspora." That's probably less fun than it sounds. Crichton goes to stand to Pilot as he tells him that Moya didn't have to go into starburst until she was ready. The ensuing scene is meant to be touching, and it achieves that to some degree, but I have to point out that the gravity is compromised to some degree by the fact that Ben Browder has to keep ducking to his right to avoid being clocked in the noggin by Pilot's enormous helmet head. Heh. Pilot mistakenly takes Crichton's statement as a recrimination, but Crichton disabuses him of that notion, and puts a hand on Pilot's shoulder as he asks how Moya's doing. Pilot's accent goes hyper-Aussie as he says that she's scared. Crichton tells him they'll do what they can. Pilot: "She knows." Aw. Damn you, affecting Muppets and bio-mechanoids!
Chiana and Zhaan are weaponed up, Crichton joins them, and they all walk down the corridor, just a slo-mo away from being the opening credits of Angel. However, a variation soon occurs in that the slashes in the air appear, causing our heroes to hit the deck. We get a creature POV as it approaches Crichton, so apparently his hotness is dimensionally as well as galactically transcendent. Crichton gets that "Oh, shit" look on his face for the third time as we go into the break.
When we return, the three of them arrive at the maintenance bay, but Crichton instructs Zhaan to go to Pilot's chamber to protect him, and to shoot the creature should it reappear. Zhaan: "Even if I was [sic] still a full Pa'u, I wouldn't hesitate." So spirituality's just another thing she's willing to kill. Crichton calls Chiana "Pip," and then throws Chiana into the vortex and follows...
...and then they're in the red dimension, wherein Chiana is delighted (oof, sorry) to discover that the light has no effect on her. D'Argo shows up with some goggles on his face, and declares that the light affects thinking and motor functions. Chiana has to pipe up again that it doesn't affect her, but with only two more weird dimensions to visit, I can't imagine that her gloating could possibly come back to bite her in the ass. Crichton fills D'Argo in on their situation, and D'Argo's never heard of anything like this happening before. Chiana, however, has -- her people's weapons scientists once poked a hole into another dimension, and it widened past the point they could control it, causing four populated planets to dissolve into tiny chunks. This would seem a lot more tragic if I hadn't been so recently introduced to Chiana's people. Now it just seems like the universe balancing itself out. Crichton tells them that they need to start the engines in each of Moya's incarnations, and he has the codes necessary to do that. Just then, though, the creature shows up, they shoot at it, and it goes away. Chiana breathes that they did it, and D'Argo growls, "It does not feel like a victory." Thanks for the input, Mr. Worf.
In Pilot's chamber, Crichton has just finished giving D'Argo the codes, and this just seems like it has the potential to devolve into a variation of Telephone, with somewhat less hilarious results than usual. D'Argo and Crichton argue over who's going to stay, and D'Argo points out that perhaps Chiana is the logical choice, particularly if they want to keep the floors clean. However, Chiana flatly refuses to stay alone, so D'Argo tells the two of them to get out of there. Crichton says to wait half an arn and then enter the sequence, and D'Argo snarks that he remembers from the first seven times Crichton told him. Also funny: Crichton making to retch again, and D'Argo yelling, "Not here!" Hee. There's a good amount of filler in this episode, but the dialogue is extremely crisp and amusing to make up for it, I have to say. Regardless of D'Argo's warning, Crichton does puke, and D'Argo's all, "Ooooo." Again, hee.
Crichton and Chiana are at the vortex, and Chiana's all worried about what she should do if the creature's there. Crichton suggests she piss it off, and she asks how. Crichton: "Pretend it's me." Geez, and he was supposed to be the one that was going to be easy to get along with. Also, hee. He helps Chiana through and then hoists himself up...
...and in the blue dimension, Crichton finds Chiana writhing in pain from the sound. It's too bad she can't hear, because this would be the perfect time for Crichton to smug, "Doesn't affect me! Doesn't affect me!" Crichton, though, being the best person in the history of forever, does the only thing he can do, which is to throw Chiana over his shoulders, run to Rygel's quarters, and toss her into the dimension. Along the way he does notice that the light seems to have consumed some of the ship. Once Chiana's gone, Crichton goes in search of Aeryn, but the creature shows up and slashes three marks into Aeryn's prowler. Crichton's looking at them quizzically when Aeryn appears and shoots at the creature, causing it to withdraw. Once she comes closer, we see that she's wearing a headset, and she beckons Crichton to follow her and then gives him one. Once he has it on, the noise stops. Crichton calls her a genius, and, enjoying the moment a bit, she says she modified her flight headsets to block out acoustic wavelengths. All that, and she can cook too. Crichton endearingly, if unnecessarily given that we've been here many times before, calls attention to her technical accomplishment, and she snaps, "Well, it's military tech. It's battle-tested." Hee. She asks why he didn't shoot at the creature, and Crichton confesses that he doesn't know. I think we're meant to infer that the creature touched Crichton's mind earlier, but that's left unclear. Crichton explains about the dimensional schism and where everyone is, and then gets to the part where the engines have to be turned on in all the realities. Aeryn: "That should have been the first thing you told me, Crichton." She's not wrong. She tells Crichton to scoot, as she knows the codes thanks to Pilot's DNA, but he stubbornly refuses to believe her until she recites the entire sequence to him. Unnecessary, but cute and amusing, and therefore rather fitting for this episode. Crichton notes, "It's gonna be harder to doubt you in the future." And therefore, in the future, you'll have caught up to the rest of us. He tells Aeryn to give him half an arn, which seems wrong given that D'Argo's half an arn must have started at least ten minutes ago, but it's not like this part of the plan is going to come to fruition anyway. Crichton does observe some more slashes that the creature left behind.
Crichton emerges in the yellow dimension, but Pip and Sparky aren't around. Crichton runs off, again seeing that the light is encroaching on a lot more of the ship. He finds Chiana and Rygel in Pilot's chamber, and gets to work as Chiana asks him if he knows any good jokes. Crichton: "Not besides the one I'm living." Oh, the irony that no one laughed at that one. Crichton refers to Rygel as Napoleon, and I could claim that he totally stole my joke if I were to ignore the laws of time and space. Recapping this show does have its conveniences. Realizing that getting Chiana or Rygel to remember and execute the sequence is more of an exercise in futility than even he's willing to undertake, he starts the engines himself and gives Chiana a simple instruction of what to do should they shut down. If starting all the engines at the same time isn't necessary, I don't know why he's having D'Argo and Aeryn wait around in their respective dimensions, unless he's read ahead in the script -- I mean, "wants to make sure that nothing goes wrong." Rygel sings a giggle-worthy song that he apparently made up on the spot, and I have to admit that hanging out in this nitrous oxide-y dimension with Rygel and Chiana wouldn't be the worst time I've had this week.
Crichton gigglingly returns to the normal dimension to find Zhaan leveling her gun at him. Surprisingly, she manages to hold her fire, and she tells him that Pilot is reporting full reverse power, so...half an arn has passed since he left Aeryn? Do I really care about timeline issues at this point? Crichton notes that Zhaan has her vestments on, and she says that she hasn't forsaken the priesthood in her soul. This smells like bullshit to me. I mean, when you do the things that Zhaan has done, laying down your robes has "You can't fire me, I quit!" written all over it. Zhaan's point, however, is that she thinks they may die soon, and given that the light is eating Moya faster than Rygel eats...well, anything, she's got a fair point here. They head to Command, where Pilot tells them that despite Moya's best efforts, they're still being dragged in. He suggests a long shot: "Moya could -- willingly -- lose the baby." Just the fact that he can even suggest that is heartbreaking on so many levels, and it's not made any less so even though I know the baby is going to be Talyn. Whatever else I may say about Zhaan, she gets some lasting credit for denying Pilot's suggestion as firmly as Crichton does. Pilot presses the issue, making the valid point that if they don't get out of the situation, the baby will die anyway, but Crichton stands firm, and really, who wouldn't? I mean, we all hope that we're good enough that we'd rather die than live under such a bargain, and I kind of love that it's the unity of Crichton and Zhaan that underscores that, although Crichton's a lot louder about it since, frankly, he's better. Anyway, the creature appears to take our minds off moral dilemmas for the moment, and Pilot begs them to shoot it, as "Moya is very scared." Not that I exactly blame you, but you don't seem like bravery incarnate either, Helmet Head. Zhaan's got the gun trained on the creature, but Crichton tells her not to shoot, and she heeds him. He observes that the creature has left seven slashes, and has a moment of realization as he breathes, "Prime numbers." If you're confused, you're in good company, as Zhaan's "The HELL?" expression could rival that of anyone else's in her dimension or any other. Once Crichton points out that all the scratches are grouped in prime numbers, she cottons on that the creature is trying to communicate. Crichton: "This isn't an attack, Zhaan. It's an invitation." So, Crichton, the time I want to get close enough to someone to stab him, I should just hold up three fingers? I mean, not that I'm not willing to try.
When we're back from the break, Crichton ignores Zhaan's practical and Pilot's fear-based objections, and enters the light the creature is giving off. He soon finds himself in conversation with something resembling a giant squid, and I hope for the sake of interspecies unity that it hasn't delved so deeply into Crichton's mind to see how much he likes calamari. The creature, in a female voice, informs him that his "container" has breached her kind's existence, and there can be no overlap. Accordingly, it's her job to destroy anything that's caught in between, and furthermore, backing out of the expanse will tear the rupture beyond restoration. However, were they to starburst forward on their own power, she would be able to guide them back to their own dimension. Having made her point, she unceremoniously dumps Crichton out. People around here could learn a thing or two about brevity from old Squiddy here.
In Command, Crichton tells Pilot that they have to go forward. Pilot likes that idea about as much as he likes D'Argo's Qualta blade these days, but he agrees, and tells Crichton to reverse the final four controls of the sequence he gave him earlier. Crichton instructs Pilot to give him five hundred microts and then rev up the engines, and after sharing a nice moment with Zhaan, he leaves, counting down to himself.
In the red dimension, Crichton continues to count down. He eventually gets to D'Argo and promptly vomits again, and it's good that D'Argo's pretty thick-skinned, or else he might start to take that personally. He gives D'Argo the new instructions, and says to wait three hundred microts. D'Argo protests that he has no timekeeping device, so Crichton schools him in the art of counting by Mississippis. Once Crichton's gone, D'Argo starts, "One Mippippippi, two Mippippippi..." Like many things on this show, that's close enough.
Up, up, and away to the blue dimension. Crichton finds that his path is cut off, so he puts on the headphones. Aeryn says she was trying to get out of there, as she didn't know if he was coming back. Crichton tells her he'd never leave her, and it's a good thing there's so much filler in this episode, as we didn't just miss much by swooning there. Since he can't see her, Aeryn smiles, and then Crichton tells her they have to go forward. Unlike D'Argo and Pilot, Aeryn doesn't question this decision but simply asks for instructions, and Crichton tells her to kick the engines into forward in a hundred and fifty microts. He then asks if there's an alternate route to get to quarters. She supplies him with a suggestion, and he reminds her about the hundred and fifty microts. Aeryn: "Hundred and thirty, now. Good luck." Please don't get any more attractive to me, Aeryn. I'm confused enough as it is.
After far too much unintentionally hilarious footage of Crichton running through the ship, he's in the yellow dimension, and down to his last fifty microts. He makes it to Pilot's chamber, where Rygel and Chiana are still having a grand old time. Crichton snarks on Rygel, who says he has a new philosophy: "What used to be important isn't, and what should be important never will be." That's a disturbingly profound statement, especially coming from a whacked-out puppet. Chiana sexily tells Crichton to relax and join in the fun, and it's an unfortunate consequence of the way my mind works that that makes me wonder exactly what she and Rygel have been up to for all this time. Anyway, Crichton kicks in the engines, and the three of them bunch up into a little sandwich. Rygel asks if he should disrobe so it's memorable, and while that's pretty hilarious, it's simultaneously tragic that it wasn't Crichton asking. We see an outside shot of the disparate Moyas coming together, and soon everyone's appeared in their own Pilot's chamber, and without doing so on top of each other. It might have been funny, of course, if they'd been all Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: "You got your D'Argo in my Chiana!" But there will be plenty of time for that later. Everyone laughs and laughs, except for Pilot, who sighs wearily and is all, "I fail to see the source of your amusement." I don't know if the yellow light's worn off already or what, but I would have bumped the episode up half a grade if Rygel had taken this opportunity to call Pilot a buzzkill.
The laughing continues after the break, as the crew is having another potluck dinner. D'Argo wraps up some story about how he almost got arrested for outlandishly hitting on some girl, and Chiana's regaling Zhaan with some other tale, and then asks if she should be telling her this. Zhaan: "My dear, I've kicked more ass than you've sat on." Why do I feel like there's a joke in there? Oh, right -- because there are about fifty. Everyone's all jazzed about the food, except for Crichton's biscuits, which they all good-naturedly throw at him. Pilot cuts in to ask how they all can be so cheerful after the near miss. Aeryn, taking him seriously as always, tells him they were profoundly affected by it, and asks how he and Moya are doing. He says they're doing great, and tells the enraptured crew that there's been a change in the status of the pregnancy -- Moya feels that the baby could be coming along any time now. Everyone's thrilled, and Rygel suggests she name the baby after him. Chiana snarks that that will only work if the kid's a runt, and then Crichton toasts to a healthy, happy baby. Well, he'll be half right. Zhaan kisses Rygel, over his protests, and I think everyone's touched him this episode. I only hope that doesn't prompt him actually to make good on that threat to make things memorable. We'll find out time!