It seems appropriate to start this off with a little time-travel of our own, so let's return to the year 2000. As I mentioned, I re-started watching the show. Early on, I showed "Look at the Princess" to my friend Katie, and she started watching the show. In August, I went to Vegas for a weekend of awesomeness, and when I came back, I realized that there'd been a thunderstorm or something, resetting my VCR so that Farscape wasn't recorded for me. I called Katie to share my woe, and she said, "Actually, I think that was a good one to miss." Guess which episode it was? Yeah. Six years later, I've still never managed to sit through all of "The Locket." I can't authoritatively claim this the worst episode, but it is the only episode I actually own on DVD and never watched in its entirety. Until now. I'm oddly excited about recapping it now, though, because if nothing else, I know I'm going to have stuff to talk about. So let's go!
Command. Crichton leans over the console, staring out at...shimmery yellow stuff. D'Argo strolls up with a beverage for Crichton, and they gloomily establish that Aeryn went out in a transport pod, and now they can't find her. Pilot identifies the yellow stuff as "stellar mist," like that clarifies anything, and says it's making Moya sluggish.
Cut to Stark, eavesdropping from the doorway. Zhaan wanders up, happily surprised to see him. She's got a new outfit! Well, it's sort of a mesh shrug, but at least it makes a change. Stark explains that he arrived two days ago (Zhann's been meditating all that time, apparently) and wants to return the transport he borrowed. He adds, "I have something important to tell you." Rygel floats up to delay that conversation, and then Zhaan finds out that Aeryn's been missing for a day. Crichton explains, "Thought we'd hide in this fog, or whatever it is, from the Peacekeepers. Aeryn went on long-range recon and she hasn't come back yet." On cue, there's a tweedle, and Aeryn's distorted voice comes through the comms. Off of everyone's exclamations, she calmly says, "I'll come on board now if that's all right." Crichton tries to give his enthusiastic assent, but just gets static in response. Pilot reports, "Some kind of opening is forming in the mist. I can see a planet below us now."
The transport docks. Everyone gathers in the hangar bay as a ladder descends from the filthy, rusty transport. Rygel gasps, "Looks like she's been in some kind of battle." Chiana helpfully says, "I told you she shouldn't have gone out in the mist." Everyone waits, but there's no sign of Aeryn. After a beat, D'Argo tosses Crichton a pistol and they race onto the ship.
Upon entering the cabin, they find their path blocked by a miniature jungle of vines. Zhaan identifies the plants as Zeccan Leaf. She explains that she gave Aeryn a plant to treat her headaches. "Chewing Zeccan Leaf provides a potent neuralgesic effect." She adds that she only gave Aeryn a foot-tall cutting. I'm well impressed by a plant that can thrive like this without water. Or soil. Or sunlight. The botany lecture is cut short as Crichton spots a shrouded figure collapsed on the floor. He reaches out toward it, and of course, it's a slightly startled Aeryn. A startled, old Aeryn. With wrinkles and white hair. She grabs his shoulders and insists, "You have to get out now!"
Credits. Random plug: Adult Swim fans should give Monkey Dust a try (Sundance is airing it here in the U.S.). Not every segment is a winner, but it's completely worth it for things like the Hollywoodized version of The Diary of Anne Frank.
When we return, Aeryn's been moved to med bay. Or whatever they call it. She asks how long she's been aboard, and Crichton says it's been about an hour. Aeryn immediately insists that she's got to get back to the planet before the mist closes up again. She says, "My granddaughter's waiting for me," and repeats her warning to leave the mist. Crichton tut-tuts that she doesn't have a granddaughter; 'cause she's only been gone a day. He's a little slow.
I have to interrupt here. For Aeryn, 160-odd years have passed. Why did she think Moya would still be there? Why isn't she surprised that they're all so young? The only explanation is that Aeryn knows exactly what the mist is. Which is fine, except it leads to two new questions: how does she know, and why doesn't she tell them plainly, instead of giving vague warnings? But wait, there's more. When Aeryn says that she has to go or her granddaughter will die, that's true, as far as it goes. Because her granddaughter, Ennixx, is down on the sucky desert world we'll see shortly. But why is Ennixx there? "So that Aeryn is forced to go back" is not an acceptable answer, by the way. Apparently Aeryn and Ennixx flew the transport from the nice world to the sucky world. And landed there to drop Ennixx off. And then Aeryn flew into the mist to meet up with Moya. I welcome explanations for why they did that. Is there some great shopping just over the horizon on the sucky world? It might approach sense if the sucky planet was a long distance from the nice planet, but as we'll see, it's not. As further proof that only a day has passed, Crichton points out that Aeryn's wearing a locket that Chiana just gave her: "The one that says, 'Sorry I smashed your Prowler.'" Whoa, she did? And she's still alive? Maybe Chiana got smashed in the Prowler. That seems more plausible. But how does the locket prove anything? "Oh, sure, you're wrinkly and old and your clothes are completely different, but you're still wearing this piece of jewelry, so obviously you left yesterday." This must be some kind of super-advanced space-logic that does not resemble the logic we have here on Earth. Crichton isn't done yet, though. He theorizes, "Maybe your mind created the memories to compensate for your body getting old." Aeryn stares at him and starts to sniffle, "Look at you. I'd forgotten how beautiful you are." The camera whirls so that we can spend this sweet moment staring at equipment that blocks three-quarters of the screen. Odd directoral choice. Aeryn continues, "I'd also forgotten how wrong you could be!" Heh. She says, "I have had three sons, and watched them die, and I have a granddaughter who will die if I don't get to her!" She struggles to get up, but Stark moves to her and removes his mask as Aeryn sobs helplessly. "Take my thoughts," Stark says. Aeryn basks in Stark's glowy pixie-dust headlight, and calms down, while Crichton pulls Zhaan away for a chat. Zhaan confirms that it's definitely Aeryn: "Same DNA, same blood composition, same scars. By my best calculation, she has aged 160 cycles." Crichton asks if the aging is reversible. Zhaan doubts it.
Crichton's in Command with Chiana, satisfying my alliteration requirement for the episode. Pilot reports that the mist is "contracting," but he can't find anything in it that would have aged Aeryn. He's also analyzed the planet beneath them: "Its atmosphere is acidic and barely life-sustainable." He says that Aeryn couldn't have survived there for a year, much less 160. Here's a thought experiment for you: say you go exploring a mysterious space-mist, a crewmen disappears, returns looking the worse for wear, and warns you to leave the mist because it's terribly dangerous. Wouldn't you at least consider leaving the mist immediately? Maybe you could try to figure out what had happened from outside it? Just a thought.
Transport-cum-arboretum. Chiana and Rygel goggle at the vines draped everywhere, and start poking around. Rygel figures that Chiana is looking for stuff to steal, and laughs, "You're worse than me. I like that!" They're a cute couple. Their thievery is interrupted when D'Argo marches in. Chiana ducks behind the control panel to hide as D'Argo asks what's going on. Rygel innocently says, "We're looking for...clues! To see if we can find out how this terrible, terrible thing happened to Aeryn." Heh. D'Argo pinches Rygel's mouth shut and calls for Chiana to come out. She does, and D'Argo lectures, "There is no dignity in what you are doing." He adds that Zhaan needs someone to help tend to Aeryn. Chiana grumbles, "I don't see why it's always gotta be me. I mean, why do you always get the girls --" D'Argo cuts off that excellent question and says that Aeryn might be dying.
Aeryn wakes up in med bay, and Chiana helps her sit up. If she might be dying, you'd think that maybe someone besides Chiana would be here. Where did Crichton and Zhaan go? Aeryn asks for some water. Chiana turns to get it, and Aeryn grabs a space-hypo from the table to her, and injects Chiana in the neck. Good thing she (presumably) knew there was a sedative there. Can you imagine what would happen if Chiana was injected with adrenaline? Chiana gasps and twitches, then falls back against the bed. Aeryn apologizes and says, "It's just I don't have much time. And neither do you."
Via the clamshell, Pilot asks Aeryn what happened, which is a sensible question that, of course, nobody else thought to ask. Or maybe they knew there was no point, since Aeryn's answer is, "I lived." Thanks for clarifying. She repeats that everyone needs to stay out of the mist, and adding that she's glad she got to see him one more time. Pilot, bewildered, says he'll see her again. "You won't," Aeryn says. "Goodbye."
The transport pod whirrs away from Moya.
Command. D'Argo asks why Pilot let Aeryn leave. "She asked me not to alert you," Pilot semi-explains. Crichton asks, "If I go down to the planet, I'm not going to age 200 cycles, right?" Pilot says that he hasn't detected anything on the planet that would cause rapid aging. Crichton tells a protesting D'Argo that he'll bring Aeryn back. As he races for the door he insists, "I'll be on the surface 30 microts, max. Worst case scenario? I age a couple years." Oh dear. He might as well have said, "What could possibly go wrong?"
A second transport whooshes through the mist and down to the planet.
Crichton climbs down the ladder and finds himself on the surface of a desert planet. Sand blows through the air and several inexplicable fires burn nearby. He calls for Aeryn, like, if she didn't notice this big ship landing, she'll hear him shouting over the wind. But Aeryn does turn up, still old, still wearing one of Obi-Wan's old outfits. And holding a rifle. Crichton says he's going to take her back to Moya. Aeryn shouts for him to go away. He gestures around and calls back, "Is this where you lived the last 160 cycles? You could not have lived here!" Aeryn says that she was on another planet. She moves closer so as to argue more effectively, and then Crichton grabs her arm and tries to force her back to the ship. Aeryn falls down during the tussle -- way to go, Crichton, knocking down an old lady. As Crichton tries to help her up, a shot hits a boulder near them. He turns and draws, only to find a young woman holding a gun on him. She says, "You touch my grandmother again, and I will kill you." Fade out.
Fade in. Now Crichton has to gradually realize what the audience understood five minutes ago, because we know it's a TV show: Aeryn was telling the truth. The girl with the gun is Aeryn's granddaughter, Ennixx. Who was named after a prescription medication. Ennixx has her own mini-revelation that the stories Aeryn told her about a spaceship and a dude named Crichton are true. About that time Aeryn wakes up, causing me to wonder if she was just pretending to be unconscious so as to avoid all the exposition. She and Crichton immediately resume their "You should leave!" "Not without you!" debate. Aeryn weakly tells him, "If you don't go, you'll get trapped for 55 cycles. Trapped like I was." Crichton asks a very good question: "What the hell is going on?" Aeryn finally tells him that if he leaves now, in eight hours there will be another four-hour window when the mist clears, and he can come back for a chat. Rather bizarrely, Crichton agrees to leave.
Moya. D'Argo is with Chiana, who is holding her head gingerly. He awkwardly brings up Chiana's reconnaissance mission aboard the transport, and says, "You're one of us now. There's no need for you to act like you're not." Chiana replies, "I always do what I want, okay? I don't know why. It's just the way I am." She says he's not going to change her, and D'Argo, rather sadly, agrees. Run, D'Argo, run! Chiana notes that D'Argo's rather "straight," because she didn't see "Won't Get Fooled Again." They look at each other, and Chiana sighs, "We're not gonna make it, are we?" Ouch. But, no. Peel it off quick like a band-aid, kids. D'Argo looks even sadder and is saved from answering when Zhaan announces that Crichton's on his way back.
From the transport, Crichton recaps that scene that happened ninety seconds ago. Which confirmed what Aeryn said five minutes before that. The very fabric of reality rebels against hearing all this yet again, and shakes the transport angrily. Pilot announces that the gap through the mist is closing. Crichton races for Moya. Pilot says that he can't detect the planet anymore, and worries that the transport pod won't survive entry. For some reason. D'Argo warns Crichton to break off. Crichton insists that he'll make it. And then he stops transmitting.
We see the transport flying into the mist, with Moya visible in the distance. And then the mist swirls away like bathwater down a drain, and is gone, leaving the transport zooming into empty space. Crichton spends a while calling for Pilot and D'Argo, but I think we all know how much luck he'll have with that.
Moya. Zhaan sits on her bed, meditating, all blue and naked. Stark asks if she's praying for Crichton. "I was, until you rudely interrupted me," she fails to say. Stark's got an idea: "An ancient named Delik theorized about what he called 'center haloes.' He believed that scattered throughout the universe were mists where all dimensions met and where time ceased to exist." Wow. That's disturbingly reminiscent of "Unrealized Realities," which was when I figured the show wasn't for me anymore. It really is for the best that I missed this episode 'til now. Anyway, it turns out that Stark's theory about center haloes is just an excuse to get into Zhaan's...petals. Or something. He wants to "join" with her, see. Zhaan looks kind of excited by that, even before Stark mentions that when linked, Delvians can sometimes "sense the time continuum." Oh my God, how can you not sense it when it's crushing our heads this way? Fine, so Stark wants to link up with Zhaan to see if there's "a void in the time continuum around Moya." Whatever. Zhaan worries that Stark's mind will overpower hers. As if. She doesn't worry much, since she stands up, puts on her robe, and moves her hands toward Stark's head. He doesn't care for that, and sniffs, "I will lead you." He holds her hands together and leans in so that their foreheads touch. White light flares around their heads as their hands shake. There's a muffled "boom," and a cup of water is knocked off a nearby table. It falls, then hangs in the air, frozen. Zhaan and Stark make some funny faces, and then Stark recoils, breaking the link. The cup hits the floor. Pilot asks what happened, saying, "Moya's readings just went all over the scale and then everything froze. I couldn't move. Did you feel it?" Zhaan gasps that they did. We fade out before Stark can leer, "Did the ship fail to move for you, too?"
We return to a lovely view of a planet. And then we pan down, to reveal that we're viewing it from another planet, which I guess means the first planet is actually a gargantuan moon. Or maybe this is the moon. I don't know. If they're both planets it seems like one of them should be crashing into the other one soon. Later on, Ennixx will describe both as planets, but I'm pretty sure she's an idiot. All you really need to know is that the one up in the sky is the sucky place where Crichton found Aeryn, but here, instead of sand and fire, there's a lush park. Aeryn and Ennixx are gardening and talking about Crichton. Ennixx want to know why Crichton mopes around so much. We see him, his back to us, standing near a purple tree. It's difficult not to think he's taking a leak. Aeryn says that something must have reminded Crichton of his time on Moya, but she's sure he'll come around in "a few more cycles."
Cut to a few cycles later. Oh dear. Crichton's old and wrinkly now, too. He croaks, "I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do!" This is where we learn that aging causes your accent to mutate, since he's got quite a twang going now. Maybe that's what happened to Madonna. Anyway, after all these years Crichton is still talking to Harvey. Harvey says, "I need the wormhole knowledge that you have locked in your brain," and emphasizes that point by pointing to Crichton's forehead. Crotchety Crichton chuckles, "I'm dying right here on this planet and you ain't never gonna get what's in my head. Loo-ser!" They're interrupted by Ennixx, who I guess thinks it's cute that Crichton talks to invisible people. Unlike everyone else, she doesn't seem to have aged much. Crichton looks up at the sky and says, "Wonder if he's still looking for me."
Moya. Everyone's gathered in Command, where Zhaan announces that Stark thinks that maybe, and this may sound crazy, Aeryn was telling the truth. Christ. I understand that they need to have that realization; I don't understand why we have to watch them figure out what we already know. Farscape is usually a lot better at cutting past this stuff. So, after establishing that time froze for everyone when Stark and Zhaan bumped foreheads earlier, Zhaan explains about the center haloes. I use the word "explains" loosely, obviously. D'Argo gets it, though: "It's us who are not growing old." Zhaan hits him with a ruler and says, "No, it is we who are not growing old -- but grammar aside, yes." D'Argo asks, "So this means everyone we know -- Crais, Scorpius, my son -- they're all old now?" Stark says yes. He adds that, in theory, the halo eventually "hardens," and then everything within it is frozen forever. D'Argo confirms that the mist around them is hardening already. Stark agrees again. I do kind of like how Stark is so blasé about it. Unlike Chiana, who thinks this is their cue to get going. D'Argo is somewhere in-between, and asks when the planet will reappear. Pilot says that, according to what Aeryn told them, the opening to the planet will reappear in an hour.
Planetside. Crichton is signing "Maid of Amsterdam" as he walks among the now-enormous purple trees. Okay, so when you get old, your accent mutates and you start singing sea chanteys. I had no idea. He walks up to Aeryn, who's still old, but not any older than she was, if you see what I mean. They talk about how the trees have grown and Crichton's knee hurts and so on. Your accent mutates, you sing chanteys, and you become boring. Got it. They sit on some tree stumps, and Crichton announces, "Ennixx and that sleeping pill she married have arrived." He complains that everyone on this planet is boring. I guess it's contagious, then. Aeryn sniffs, "Well, I warned you. I tried to make you go back." Crichton gripes about how all anyone does is garden. "I was a pilot, Aeryn. Astronaut. I was what I wanted to be. I ain't going to forget that, and I can't accept this." She stares into space as she asks if he regrets spending all these years with her. Crichton firmly tells her, "You are the one thing which has kept me from doing a kamikaze in the transporter." He says he still wants to try to get his old life back, and sighs, "Hope. That's what keeps me going." Aeryn warns him not to be too disappointed if it never happens. Then she groans, and we learn that she's got some kind of heart trouble or something. Crichton suggests they get back to the house, and helps her stand up. As she does, the locket somehow falls to the ground. Crichton picks it up for her, and Aeryn crabbily insists that he hand it over. He holds on to it, though, and asks what's inside. Aeryn sighs, "You know who's in there." Crichton hmphs, "Your husband? He's been dead 90 cycles. Why would you have his image in there?" "Just to drive you crazy," Aeryn retorts. Aw. Crichton teasingly guesses that there might be a picture of him in the locket. "Surrounded by roses and hearts and yotz." She tells him to go ahead and open it, and see "the only love of [her] life." Crichton ponders for a minute, and finally says, "Naw, I don't wanna see his ugly face." He hands back the locket, and they start toward the house. As they go, Aeryn says, "He wasn't ugly." Crichton threatens, "You keep talking about him and you can walk down by yourself. Hell, you can roll down the hill."
Then we watch a little montage of Aeryn and Crichton walking among the trees while someone picks out the tune to "Maid of Amsterdam" on a piano. They gesture and laugh and grin and it's like this turned into a Hallmark movie. So damn weird.
Back on Moya, it's time for the mist to open again. Everyone waits anxiously for a transmission from the planet below. But there isn't one. The end.
Crichton, Aeryn, and Ennixx have returned to the sucky planet. Crichton opens up a metal container and pulls out a comm as he explains that he's kept it sealed for fifty years. "Hope it works." He starts trying to contact Pilot. While he strolls around, maybe hoping for better reception, Ennixx asks Aeryn why she wants to leave. Aeryn says, "I grew up a Peacekeeper. We are born in space, and we must die in space." She says she's enjoyed her life, but she wants to die "up there." Ennixx tears up and finally sniffs, "Goodbye, Nana." They hug, and then Ennixx runs off without waiting to see if anyone's actually going to respond to Crichton's call. It's a good thing they have two transports. And that they taught Ennixx how to pilot one, I guess.
Seriously, how do Aeryn and Crichton know how all of this works? Is it common knowledge among the agrarian natives who, even when skilled astronauts with two working spaceships join them, evidence no technological development at all in the course of fifty years? Are the natives another lost Peacekeeper colony made up of people who saw The Village and decided it was a good idea?
Moya . Pilot reports that the mist is parting. D'Argo starts calling to Crichton and Aeryn.
Planetside, Crichton wonders if the communicator is broken. Then he says, "Maybe Moya decided not to wait for us." Aeryn thinks that's unlikely. He keeps trying.
Moya. Over the comms, they hear Crichton say, " Pick up the damn phone, you useless pieces of --" "We hear you," D'Argo interrupts.
Crichton starts stomping his feet and shouting, "Ho! Aah! Ho! Hoo!" Accents, chanteys, dullness, and every once in a while you break into a rain-dance. Once he calms down a little, D'Argo asks if they can make it back to Moya, and Crichton says that they'll be there in a minute. He gives Aeryn a hug and is briefly attacked by his burlap cape when the wind flops the hood onto his face. Aeryn's calmer, as usual, but does have another of her spells for a second until Crichton steadies her. He crows, "Goin' home," as they slowly walk toward the transport.
The transport lands aboard Moya.
The doors to the hangar open slowly, to reveal Crichton sitting at the bottom of the ladder, cradling Aeryn. Aw, another tragic victim of foreshadowing. Zhaan rushes toward them, and then stops dead. Um, so to speak. Crichton looks up as everyone approaches, and stammeringly explains that he tried to get back to Moya in time. "So we could... uh. She died on the way. She's gone." He buries his head in her shoulder and cries.
Some time later, Crichton and the others are comparing notes. Zhaan asks if he knows how to get out of the mist. Have they even tried to get out the normal way? Or by Starbursting? I understand that the mist was "hardening," but they did get into it, after all. Crichton says they could go to the planet below. Chiana's all for it at first, but Crichton explains, "Ain't nothing down there, Chiana. Just a few planets, a small colony of people. I searched it from end to end, there just isn't anything there." Rygel thinks it's better than being stuck forever. But wait, Crichton's got an idea! "I believe that if we can get out of the mist at the exact point that we entered it, I might be able to get my life back." Oh, that makes perfect -- what? D'Argo asks how they can find the exact point at which they entered. Pilot offers, "I think we just have to go [dramatic pause] backwards." Someone wrote this on a dare, right? Wow. Pilot says that since entering the mist, it's been moving with them. So Moya's hind end is probably still at the edge of the mist where they entered it. Rygel supports the "backing up" plan, but Pilot says that Moya can't do it, because the mist is too hard now. Should you really call it "mist" anymore if it's also "hard"? Crichton asks if they can Starburst. Pilot says, "A leviathan is not structurally designed for a reverse Starburst. It could destroy us." Oh, what else is new? It turns out that Pilot would rather jump forward, down to the planet. Crichton kvetches, "You wanna live your life on that planet? The place where you'll never see anyone you know ever again?" Everyone ponders. He concludes, "I have done that. And let me assure you, whatever the risk, it is worth getting your life back." But, but, but...wait a second. Crichton just had that transport pod, so he was effectively trapped. Okay, I get that. If they go into that system in Moya...they have Moya. They can Starburst again, and go somewhere else, surely? Even if it's a different universe, is looking for another "center halo" any worse than looking for a wormhole? Or is he saying that that it's a teeny-tiny universe that only contains one system? My head hurts. Anyway, after pondering for a few seconds, D'Argo says he wants to find his son. Chiana says she never wanted to go into the mist anyway. Rygel's all, fine, whatever. Zhaan tells Pilot to do the reverse Starburst. Man, nobody even asked for his vote. Crichton walks out, and D'Argo calls after him but Zhaan suggests leaving him alone.
Crichton enters the transport pod, still a jungle of vines after another 55 years. Zeccan Leaf is hardy stuff. In addition to the fact that it seems to be unkillable. All they do down on the planet is garden, right? Why did Aeryn leave the plant and let it overgrow the ship instead of, say, planting it? Aeryn's body has been placed among the plant's tendrils, which is slightly odd. Crichton kneels beside her and explains, "I told them our plan." And then he monologues. He wanted to show her some place in Maine where his family used to spend the summer. "My Dad and I, we'd camp out there, and one night, the astronauts landed on the moon. I remember looking up at the sky. I knew right then what I was gonna do with the rest of my life." He sighs, "I miss you already. Who else am I gonna tell this crap to?" Heh. He leans down, says he loves her, and gives her a kiss. Then he reaches into the voluminous folds of her cloak and pulls out the locket. Which, apparently, wasn't actually fastened. No wonder it fell off before. As he holds it, we hear Aeryn, in echoey-flashback, say that it contains a photo of the love of her life. I know! That was ten minutes ago! He opens it, and there's a tiny cut-out picture of Crichton's head in there. Where'd she get the photo? Crichton is apparently the only one in creation who's surprised by this, and starts sobbing.
A rather cranky Pilot starts prepping for reverse Starburst. Whirry noises ensue.
Moya shakes suddenly, and Crichton whines, "What now?"
As sparks drip from random bits of equipment, Zhaan asks Pilot what's going on.
Pilot's voice gets all funky as he says "Priming for Starburst is making everything stop." More crashing noises, and then Pilot says he can't move his arms. While flapping his arms around as usual. But then he really does start to freeze as he asks them to initiate Starburst manually.
In Command, D'Argo races (well, in slo-mo) for the control panel, but winds up frozen several feet away with his arm stretched out plaintively. I cannot believe that they're still finding ways to make this episode even dopier. D'Argo and Chiana shout for help in distorto-speak. Even though they can't move.
In the med bay, Zhaan tells Stark, "Crichton and I once shared Unity. So I can help him. If we join, we can keep time alive for him." I was going to try to replicate her manner of speaking, but it woooould BE quite annnnnnnoyING to rEEEad. Plus, it's hard enough to make sense of what she's saying there. I mean... oh, whatever. She and Stark bump foreheads, white light whooshes out.
On the transport, Crichton is understandably bewildered when he hears Zhaan talking to him. She calmly says that she fused her spirit with Stark, like, duh, and tells him to go to Command and initiate Starburst. But since he's old, he wants to know why he's gotta get up and trudge across the ship, and then Zhaan has to explain what we ALREADY KNOW AGAIN about how everyone else is frozen. Crichton sighs, "I am too old for this shit." Hey! He said a bad word. And I feel the same way. The captioning says "too old for this crap," which amuses me. But he slowly gets up.
Dramatic music plays as Crichton runs in slo-mo down the corridor. The entire episode could have been redeemed if he'd done that Tim Conway footshuffle here, but no such luck. Instead, the background goes swirling and darkens as he goes on running.
Zhaan and Stark clutch each other and shimmer. Zhaan urges Crichton to hurry.
How come episodes where time stops always recreate that experience for the viewer? We cut in between Crichton slowly running, and D'Argo not moving at all. Then Crichton arrives in Command. He moves past D'Argo and presses the Starburst panel. Finally.
We see the Starburst lights zip out of the mist, behind Moya, and then there's a kerzapple and the ship materializes in empty space.
The camera drunkenly weaves down a corridor and into Command. Everyone's there, including normal-age Aeryn and Crichton. They stare out the viewscreen as Crichton asks what the staticy mist in front of them is. Pilot says he's analyzing it now. Rygel wonders if it'd make a good hiding place, but Chiana doesn't think that's a good idea. Aeryn says, "I'll fly a long-range recon in a transport pod to make sure it's safe."
Zhaan is meditating in her room. Suddenly she opens her eyes and gasps, "No!"
As Aeryn prepares to head out, she picks up a pot and explains that it's a plant Zhaan gave her to ease her headaches.
Zhaan races down a corridor, trying to call Pilot. Instead she runs into Stark, who says, "You know what they're about to do?" She complains that the comms aren't working and they both start running.
In Command, Crichton tells Pilot that everyone but Chiana agrees that they should enter the mist. I thought they agreed that Aeryn should go explore it first. If they're going to enter it anyway, why did she bother? As Moya starts to move forward, Zhaan and Stark race in. Zhaan shouts for Pilot to stop. Stark stops dead and tells Crichton, "You're young!" Crichton squints a little and says, "Uh huh." Stark turns to goggle at Aeryn. Zhaan gasps that they don't remember, and Stark 's brain finally kicks in enough for him to say, "Just trust us. Don't go into the mist." Chiana, adorably, grins widely at that. Crichton wants to know why not, and Zhaan settles for saying that she and Stark can sense that it's dangerous. Chiana eagerly agrees. Crichton tetchily tells Pilot to move Moya away from the mist.
Some time later, Zhaan strolls through a corridor with Stark as they try to make sense of what happened. Good luck with that one. Stark theorizes, "We've returned to a time before any of it happened." He figures that the two of them only remember it because they were joined. Zhaan wonders about Aeryn's family, and Stark figures Ennixx may still exist in her own universe. I think he's reached my own conclusions about this episode, since he swiftly changes the subject and declares, "It's time to tell Ka D'Argo why I came aboard."
Command. Stark hands D'Argo a little metal tube. Inside it is a photograph of a sulky-looking Luxan boy. Stark explains, "I found it in a manifest of slaves being sold to the Caton mines." Okay, so the kid's probably got reasons to sulk. D'Argo asks, "Who is this?" which is kind of hilarious, because who do you think? Zhaan nervously says that according to the manifest, it's D'Argo's son, Jothee. We fade...
...back in, as D'Argo confirms, "My son is being sold into slavery." He tosses the photograph and leaps at Stark, knocking his head against a table as he shouts, "How long have you known? Why didn't you tell me?" Zhaan quickly explains that Stark just wanted to wait till she was awake. Because of her soothing nature, I guess. Obviously, that didn't do much good. She begs D'Argo to let Stark go and insists, "There's plenty of time. The auction isn't for a few solar days. We will find a way to rescue Jothee!" D'Argo shudders and slowly calms down. He finally apologizes to Stark, and in dazed tones mutters that he needs to save his son.
Maintenance bay. Aeryn and Crichton are, I dunno, maintaining things. Aeryn looks over at him and says, "What?" Crichton asks if she has "a feeling." He explains, "I just had this feeling... Something happened." "Between us?" Aeryn asks, as if she feels the same way. Crichton says, "Yeah." She asks what he thinks happened, and he smirks, "I don't know." Aeryn grins and figures that if something happened, they'd remember it. After a moment she calls him over to look at something. She explains that she found the locket Chiana gave her in the transport pod. But it's fused shut, so she's trying to open it. Crichton asks if she put something inside, but Aeryn says she didn't. After prying at it a little, she manages to open it. They look inside and find a small pile of coppery dust. Why would....oh, I don't care anymore. You win this time, Farscape. Aeryn says, "Looks like something disintegrated in there." She puts it out into her palm, and Crichton picks up a few flakes curiously. With a final, "Hm," she dumps them out onto the ground. And then she and Crichton stare at each other significantly. Because that's their thing.