Moya docks at a Scarran way station; Sikozu's already there and probably Jenek's freighter, and John's dressed like a Peacekeeper. This whole trilogy has a lot going on, so there's a deft in medias res at the beginning of each episode: this one's about perfect, with a minimum of blah-blah, the second one requires you to be in the story immediately, and the last one is a crazy thing. It's cool, because the deal with episodic drama is always striking the balance, but the last, like, six episodes of the season are one headlong rampage, so they get to just drop us in the middle. Scorpius joins John, D'Argo, and Chi on Command and explains that Katratzi requires everybody to stop for five days of inspection and quarantine, and that without clearance they get blowed up immediately.
Chiana rests her chin easily on John's shoulder and murmurs, the voice still of John's innocence and hope, that they'll find Aeryn no matter what. Scorpius tells Pilot to allow the station personnel to board Moya, and to monitor them, and Pilot says, "I understand, Captain Wentrask." Chiana asks what that's about, and Scorpius says they have to operate under the assumption that the comms are being intercepted; Chiana protests that their comms are secure, and Scorpius and John share a very quick, very weird little face-off moment as John says, for the sake of argument, "Let's just pretend they aren't." If you've been following this idea, that Scorpius himself is tied intimately to the comms aboard Moya, it's kind of queasy. I think Scorpius is similarly creeped out by the fact that John just tipped his hand as far as being aware of that fact. He can only admit to knowing this now that it doesn't matter, of course, but it's still so oogy with the frog/scorpion vibe.
A strange DRD with fins scoots around, past Scorpius, and a Charrid walks by with a rifle. A Kalish man who looks like a mad scientist approaches "Captain Wentrask" and introduces himself as "Dr. Trayso Talnell, Chief Medical Officer." Scorpius gets huffy about the inspection, and Talnell repeats that they have to be checked for "contraband and contaminants" before they can go on to Katratzi. Talnell pointedly notices John: "A Peacekeeper?" Scorpius congratulates Talnell on his perceptive abilities, and Talnell presses him for the backstory on how a high-placed Scarran official like Wentrask would have a PK buddy, and Scorpius tells him to eat a dick. "With due respect, Captain, you will either respond to my inquiries or you will be denied entry into Scarran space. Understood?" Scorpius gets closer and makes sure that he can hear him enunciating when he tells him again to eat a dick. "The Peacekeeper is a spy for the Scarrans. Also on board we have a Nebari and a Hynerian; they are spies as well. The Hierarchy will not look kindly on a Kalish who obstructs their delivery. Understood?" Talnell nods; John asks for a snack. Talnell directs them to the commons and warns him to lose his weapons. "Our sentinels are programmed to shoot and kill any armed visitors." John gives Winona to 1812 and asks him to keep her safe; 1812 burbles. John looks unhappy, but of course he can't come into this with Winona in hand.
Sikozu is sitting familiarly with a hottie Kalish in a gold jumpsuit, named Karohm. He looks like if the cast of Supernatural put on a little Velvet Goldmine and was also kind of lizardy. Everywhere you go on the station you can hear people talking outside your line of sight. As Sikozu waxes excitedly about his awesome job on the Scarran station, Chiana and Rygel chat about what a whore Sikozu is. She's being really cute and appealing right now; we've never seen her acting normal before. I like her so much. Chiana notes how hot Karohm is, and Rygel says something awesome: "Sikozu thinks with her head, not her kuzitza." Chiana agrees that this is a problem. She's really getting back to her roots these days; I like it. I like her being the galactic advocate for sex again. "We were smart to send her ahead," Rygel notes, since it's immediately clear that the Kalish are running the station. Scorpius puts his hands on the Muppet and fills us in on how the Kalish are a conquered species that serves the Scarran empire out of the need to survive. Just like the Charrids, only vastly less grody. Also with amazing H For Hero magic powers! Rygel notes that another word for "survival" is "collaboration."
Karohm fills us in on Sikozu's cover story, which isn't entirely untrue except for how her cover stories are matreshka-crazy: "Diplomatic missions throughout Tormented Space! You must lead an interesting life." She says she's tired of the "incessant travel" and that she envies his "stable position"; she somehow makes "stable position" sound like some kind of an esoteric sexual prowess. He reaches for her hand and says it's really just quite boring; she demurs. John circles them. Karohm offers to trade jobs, but really he's too pretty to be kissing Scorpius so I think they should stay where they're at. She's too pretty for it too, but she's also creepy enough for it, which Karohm is not. They are very cute together; she touches his nose and he says they'll meet up later.
Sikozu wanders to some vending machines on another wall, near John's plainly false insouciance. "Got anything to tell me?" he whispers, and she says the words: "Aeryn is here." Sikozu grabs her food from the machine and John nearly smiles, never looking at her. "Say that again." She does, clearly pleased as well, and he asks where. Aeryn is still in Jenek's freighter...which just finished quarantine and will be leaving in half an hour. Which coincidentally is how much episode is left. She walks away, never having looked at him, and he watches her go.
Aeryn's on her back on a gurney with more of those curled metal spikes, this time lining its sides, in a yellow bodysuit. Nurse injects her with some stuff that won't hurt the baby, she says, but will keep Aeryn docile. Aeryn nearly begins to cry as the Nurse chides her for not letting her "make things so much easier" for her. "If only you'd trust me." Aeryn watches her, silent and hateful, and closes her eyes as the drugs take hold.
WTF half an hour is how Chiana feels about things. John's like, so we are grabbing guns and kicking some doors in? But Scorpius, total downer that he is, points out how they would totally die in five seconds if they did that. Just because Aeryn's not here doesn't mean she gets to make the plan! John mentions that D'Argo and Noranti are hanging back in Lo'La, their "hole card," and again Scorpius is forced to pooh-pooh: "If D'Argo's ship attacked a Scarran freighter, a fleet of Scarran warships would instantly be dispatched after us." Not to mention, Rygel chimes in, how the Scarran freighter still has Aeryn for a hostage. "We have a far greater chance here than at any Scarran military base," says Scorpius, but like, we heard the name "Katratzi" so many times the last two episodes I actually got a tattoo of it on my ass so why are we fucking around? Rygel says he has an idea that involves binge-eating. So that should be gross. Chiana stands and alerts everybody as Captain Jenek enters the commons with an eye-patched Charrid; Jenek's grumbling that fifteen minutes is long enough for a snack, and they sit down. A woman nearby immediately clears out; John realizes this is the freighter captain Sikozu told them about before they got there. Scorpius looks at Jenek and then stands up, I'm sure for some impending bad-assery.
The station PA broadcasts something and the Charrid says something, and Jenek agrees with his assessment: "Many weaknesses." Jenek greets the approaching Scorpius and tells the Charrid to get lost. He does, snarling, and Jenek and the two baddies sit down for a chat. "Now listen carefully: my name is Captain Wentrask. My mission demands absolute secrecy. My proof code is zenark devra zenark prida." Jenek growls, recognizing a passcode for Intelligence (Ministry of Dissimilation), but laughs and says he's not interested in "spies and their intricate games." He introduces himself and says they should just stay out of each other's way; Scorpius agrees and leaves. Still, that was moderately bad-ass. Rygel, watching them, belches; Jenek's Charrid bitches about how Wentrask is a half-breed, and Jenek says to forget it and bounce.
Aeryn lies on a red pillow, slowly opens her eyes, frowning at a shadow person above her. It becomes John, who tells her "it's time" and that she's "doing good." She smiles and puts her hand over his, where he lovingly caresses her body. She reaches for his face and touches her chin; he reiterates that she's "doing great." He disappears and she begins to weep. She can't speak; her mouth isn't working. It's a nightmare, the kind where you can't talk. It's horrible to watch. She cries out wordlessly, reaching for the place where John was, as the Nurse again tells her to stop struggling. She slaps her stomach and continues to speak nothing. The things she would say if she could speak. The things she would do if she weren't tied down. "Must I keep sedating you? Must you keep making things difficult for yourself?" Tears stream from Aeryn's eyes as she stares into the empty space where John was. "There's no point in fighting. You know that." She loses herself in sobs, shaking.
Rygel continues to stuff food in his mouth; John finally tells him to stop already. "That's enough, all right," Rygel says, and asks for one more second. He belches. Oh man this is going to be bad. Chiana notices Nurse entering the commons -- Rygel continues to belch -- and John cowboys up to talk to her, Sebacean to fake-Sebacean. Chiana's not feeling it: "It's another person you're got to fool." Rygel says the scariest words the Dominar has ever uttered: "This will be convincing. Stand back." John and Chiana back the hell up off him, and John asks him loudly if he's okay; Nurse turns to look. Rygel groans and complains and Dr. Talnell joins the Nurse in staring. Soon enough, he barfs massively in radioactive green, in an impressive stream that almost nails Nurse. Talnell asks if he's okay and John says probably it's their "lousy food" doing it. Chiana walks over and puts her hands on the Muppet comfortingly. "Yes, I'm sure of it," Rygel mumbles, but Talnell's not so sure. "Have you ever had an emesis of this severity before?" Just once, he says, but it was cured: he once caught "a touch of Dermafollica." Talnell jumps and says it's a highly contagious disease, but Rygel tells him to chill: "They said it was dormant." Good old Rygel. Using his best skills, like barfing and pissing, for reasons of his own, without telling anybody what he's doing. Talnell puts the station on lockdown: "Anchor all vessels to their docking ports." Mission accomplished. Nurse runs off because she hates dying of the plague, and also because Jenek is going to bust a gut when he finds out they're still being detained.
Rygel lies under a shiny blanket in an observation room; Talnell and Jenek watch him carefully, along with Karohm the Kalish and Sikozu. Jenek is protesting loudly, of course, about being kept at the way station, and Talnell tries to get shirty with him and says it's the laws of the Scarran Hierarchy so whatever. Jenek stares at Rygel and asks if they're any evidence that the Dermafollica is trouble; he says not yet but that he's gotta err on the side of caution. "I'm unfamiliar with Hynerian Dermafollica," he admits, but says he's getting info from a medical database at Simstef -- which Karohm catches for him. Jenek watches and takes a Bird of Paradise blossom from a dish on Talnell's desk, biting it irritably. Jenek is so, so beautiful -- almost as lovely as the Emperor himself -- I don't remember seeing this many close-ups of him last week. "I've also sent out a request for all...doctors or healers with any knowledge of the disease," Karohm says, and the clearly wiggin' Talnell says it's not usual protocol, but this time it's a good idea. Jenek continues to eat blossoms, distractedly, and Karohm thanks Sikozu for suggesting the APB. She continues to be 100% adorable.
Chiana chats up another young Kalish in the commons, not as good-looking as the other one but clever and friendly. They laugh about how paranoid everybody's being about "a few germs," and how a stiff drink should kill anything anyway. They head for a table, giggling and flirting, as Noranti and D'Argo enter. Talnell appears and welcomes her; she introduces herself and D'Argo as "Utu-Noranti Pralatong, Alleviator and Healer" and her "personal assistant." She tells D'Argo to stay put while she checks on the Hynerian and D'Argo gives a grumpy but believable "Yes, Healer." Talnell's like, "A Luxan? Assistant?" And she says yes: "Luxans make fine pilots, exceptional bodyguards and superlative lovers." She laughs, he looks like he just got some Dermafollica of the barfer.
Scorpius is Wentrask of Scarran Intelligence, with his Nebari and Hynerian spies, one of whom is suddenly ailing from a dormant fake disease. John is a Peacekeeper and a Scarran spy. Sikozu is a diplomat. Noranti and D'Argo are a healer and her assistant. None of them know each other. Nobody's who they are. This is politics. The only person who's being herself is the one person who finally has given up shape-shifting, because she's too tired, and now all she's got is her anger and her despair.
As Noranti and Talnell enter the observation room, Karohm hands over the data from Simstef -- it's translucent and black like an x-ray, with a froggy little Visible Hynerian on it. Noranti shushes Rygel silently and he nods, lying back and groaning. "Apparently we've brought you here for nothing, Healer: this isn't Dermafollica at all." Noranti disagrees with him, saying it's too soon to tell. Talnell says Rygel's skin, per the Simstef info, should be sloughing by now. She takes the film and looks at it for awhile. "Yes, well. You see, Dermafollica is very difficult to diagnose. The bacteria that causes the virus is effectively undetectable." Her pretend professionalism is about as cagey as John leaning up against things like Jordan Catalano all episode. Talnell says that nonetheless, Rygel doesn't have a whole bunch of other symptoms, and gives it an hour before he lifts the lockdown. She runs off all crazy to manufacture some symptoms.
Inside the med bay, Noranti crushes some greens in her hand as Rygel moans, and of course she spits on them, because that's what they have in common. Being gross. Talnell kind of winces, but then, Talnell never saw her belly-dancing so his gross-out threshold is way high, comparatively. She confirms that Rygel really did once have Dermafollica, and he mentions that he barely survived, and four of his wives died. She holds out the Play-Doh-ish stuff she just got together, and when he refuses to eat it, she twists him by the earbrow. "Swallow." Talnell nods and smiles as Rygel gulps it down: "Was that absolutely essential?" She says it absolutely was, and he gets queasy with it. Mortification of the flesh: what you have is the higher self, the Zhaan 2.0, taking a lie and making it real. Rygel, the body -- everything's medical in this episode, even the things that don't seem to be, and everything medical in this episode means something else -- is getting put through a ringer here, because it's highest on the pyramid.
Chiana puts the screws to the young Kalish and asks if he wants to rock out. He's like, "It is getting late, maybe we should go somewhere." D'Argo stares at them; Chiana asks if he's got a suggestion. Noranti approaches D'Argo as he stares at them; I get worried. She tends to make bad calls, relationship-wise. There's some almost-double entendre about the guy's ship is not so big, maybe, but that's really less important than "speed and maneuverability," and they laugh, and they touch each other a whole lot. D'Argo approaches posthaste, calling her "Nebari girl," and scares the kid off easily. D'Argo sits, smiling, in the seat the kid just left. Chiana arranges herself so that their knees are touching, and as one they lean forward, touching foreheads. It's wonderful. D'Argo sighs and Chiana smiles. D'Argo lets her in that the whole Rygel scam is working and that he and Noranti knew to play along once they heard Sikozu's voice on Karohm's transmission. "Smart Luxan," she murmurs, so much more self-assured and lovely now that things are as they should be. They touch noses.
Rygel is sloughing, so Talnell keeps the lockdown in effect. Rygel looks gross, like he's covered in dry snot, and...it's a little-known discipline, skin-sloughing Muppets, but they've found themselves a savant at it. He looks totally gross and totally sick and totally real. Poor little fucker.
Noranti explains to Scorpius that Dermafollica can, in fact, infect non-Hynerians, and that it kills them without warning when it does. John says frell that, he's getting in an airlock, but Noranti says that it's well too late. "Everyone on this station or any vessels docked to it has already been exposed." Everybody looks at everybody else. Noranti says she will concoct a cure, but needs all kinds of supplies for her potions and spells and whatever. Whatever stuff we'll be seeing her spit on shortly. She asks Captain Jenek if he has anything on the freighter and he tells her nobody's getting on his ship. Wentrask offers the healer the use of his Leviathan's med facilities. Chiana and John stand up to escort her onto Moya, as ordered.
"Nice job, Granny. You scammed 'em." Noranti says she couldn't scam Talnell, and Chiana's like, kind of, though, because he thinks Rygel's really sick; Noranti explains that she totally reactivated the Dermafollica in Rygel's system and that the lie is now completely true. John asks if she can deactivate it, and she says she hopes so. And if not, Chiana asks? Rygel dies. She keeps up a quick pace; John and Chiana stop and go whoa.
Back in the lab, Chiana's incensed. "Are you tekked? What are you trying to do, kill Rygel?" Noranti's pretty sure he won't die, because she's almost certain she can cure him. John's like, so is it contagious? And she says sometimes. They go around and around and she's just like, "Get out of my ass about it, I'm going to fix it." Chiana wigs about how she's infected everybody with "the frelling Hynerian plague," and Noranti spills the important fact that Nebari and Scarrans are both immune to the disease. Which leaves Charrids, Kalish, Norantis, and possibly John and Scorpius. And Aeryn. John freaks out and Chiana bitches at her, loud: "You'll kill Aeryn even before we get a chance to save her!" Noranti stares her right in the eyes: "Don't you say that! Don't you dare say that!" She promises once more that she will fix this, and explains that she's just doing what Rygel needed her to do for the plan: "You wanted a plague, I gave you one. Without real symptoms, the lockdown is lifted, Aeryn is on her way to the Scarran base and you are frelled. Now, I did what I had to do. I suggest you do the same." It's like watching the whole family do the Inanna thing as a single person: together they mortify the body to save the spirit.
Captain Jenek gets pushy with Talnell about how he has a patient he "must protect," and Talnell reminds him that his passenger has already been exposed, just like everybody, and Jenek complains -- rationally -- that the facilities on Katratzi are better and more likely to cure the disease. Talnell points out that this means exposing the base personnel, and Jenek reminds him it's not a problem: "Scarrans are immune to this disease." But, of course, the Kalish aren't. "I won't be held responsible for loosing a virus that could prove catastrophic to my own people. Your vessel isn't leaving, Captain." Jenek growls as Karohm informs them that Noranti's asking to take Rygel onboard Moya. "Easier to take tissue samples that way." Jenek starts to wig about taking him out of isolation, but Talnell's like, we've all been exposed, so it doesn't really matter. Just get him out of here.
Rygel on Moya, watching Noranti do her thing. "What in the frelling yotz where you thinking, you madwoman? You're a plague! A withered, three-eyed, bad-smelling pestilence!" She keeps working and tells him to yell at her later. "I'll be dead later!" She tells him the yelling and bitching is very distracting and maybe it's in his best interest to shut the hell up. She is so awesome.
Scorpius follows John through Moya, trying to explain, like in every episode, about reality and sometimes reality is a bummer. John's not feeling him on this issue, and like in every episode, he throws up a lot of irrelevant bullshit so he won't have to deal with logic or thinking. "What has it bought us?" he asks, about Noranti's little plague scheme, and Scorpius yells: "Time!" A theme throughout the trilogy starts here and ends in a wonderful punchline in the finale: "What are we doing with that time? Can't answer that? Right. That's why someone's got to get on that freighter." John opens a metal crate, loudly, and Scorpius begs him to chill out: "Sikozu is working on it. If she could access schematics of the freighter..." John cuts him off, saying that schematics can't tell them where Aeryn is or if she's okay. "Someone has got to go in." Scorpius is like, "As if! Like Jenek's gonna give you a tour?" John looks at him seriously: "Grasshopper. You aim too high. Jenek is not the only one with access."
John struts into the commons in his Peacekeeper uniform, aiming to be Chiana for a sec. He sits down with Nursie and offers to bone her. Like, no prelude: "I only fuck Sebaceans, and it's been six months." She is very awesome this whole scene: "I don't do Peacekeepers, so why waste your time?" He puts a small packet between his teeth and it hangs down and he makes quite a face. "This is something for a special friend. It's the Sebacean cure for Hynerian Dermafollica." She doesn't believe him, he says she could analyze it but whatever, why waste your time, and I want to think that she busts this backflip at least 30/70 for Aeryn, because that makes her more interesting and less Frau Blucher: "Where'd...you get that?" He stops in his tracks and gets all sexy some more. "I don't kiss and tell, but...you can be sure you're not gettin' it anywhere else." She protests that it rarely infects Sebaceans, but he's like, "Dead before you know it, though." He puts the vial back between his teeth and woggles at her. "I just want to share." It's not so much that she's a traitor to her people and a Nazi experimenter and a creep that gets to me, it's that I don't understand a person who could think twice about doin' John Crichton. That is a sick mind in there.
John and Nurse walk back through the station toward the freighter and get stopped by a guard, but Nurse says even though he's a PK, he's with her. Easy. They pass some Charrids and John is very touchy and shifty as they walk, checking his six the whole time. Nurse excuses herself, maybe to freshen up or something, and John makes small talk, sitting down on one of the ugly gurney beds and bouncing -- hard -- to make it squeak. He is not kidding with this shit! She finally just holds out her hand: "Cure now." He's whoring himself to get on the freighter; she's whoring herself so she won't die. It's all very wartime right now. He tells her it's concentrated -- just enough for both of them. She's unhappy about that, admitting she's got a Sebacean patient as well. John looks past some equipment and stuff toward us; in the foreground is Aeryn, tied to her bunk. He whispers to himself, "You bastard," as Nurse gets the stuff diluting. "Too bad for them," he says, and knocks her out.
John hurries to Aeryn, who heartbreakingly resists him as he kneels beside her, moaning wordlessly and waving him away. Pushing against him. The Prisoner's Dilemma. He begs her to stop, to hold still so he can untie her. "No, it's me. I'm real. Aeryn." She weeps, too tired for hope, and puts her arms over her face, whimpering. He can barely look at her as he's untying her wrists. Jenek's Charrid comes in with a gun and tells John to cut it out. "Don't do anything stupid," John says smoothly, even as she's breaking up at his side. "Scarran Hierarchy paid good crindars for me. They wouldn't want their package delivered damaged." Aeryn cries, batting at the air, unable to speak. The Charrid drops John and stares down at Aeryn.
Commercial, and then John on his knees in the freighter, getting Scarran heat-probed by Jenek. The Charrid and Nurse watch. "He claimed it was a cure for Hynerian Dermafollica." Jenek asks if it was genuine and John spits in the fire, grunting: "No, it's a fake." Jenek asks why he went through the whole thing and John laughs, gasping in the heat: "Because: horny. I am looking for a Sebacean woman." Nurse is like, you totally attacked me and then tried to untie a patient, and John gags: "No offense, but she's sexier than you." He puts on a gross face and explains in no uncertain terms his plans for the patient -- and it's all true. Which is how, if you're getting Scarran Heat-Breathed, you should be quick on your feet, Hot Box or no. "Taken her back to my ship. Frelled her. Made babies." Aww. He would have, too! Lies becoming truth, becoming lies, and things just getting worse and scarier.
Scorpius walks into the room and bitches at Jenek for torturing his Peacekeeper; Jenek finally lets John drop and tells Scorpius about how John was on the ship "attempting to recreate." I hate that everybody buys this. I hate Scarrans that are like, "Oh snap, you rape medical patients too?" John admits that this was the plan, and Scorpius begs Jenek's pardon: "I will deal with him." Jenek growls, but Scorpius gives him the glare and repeats himself. Jenek stares at his creepy ass for a sec and then motions everybody out of the room. John wiggles, getting over the heat breath and groaning, and Scorpius is like, "How did you avoid the heat probe? Was it Katoya's training?" John says no, it was the truth, kind of. If you're a nasty person like Jenek is. He pushes himself up onto his knees. "Aeryn's in there. We gotta get her out." Scorpius says, again, that "Sikozu is gathering information" for that stuff. It's a deliberate parallel, now twice in the episode: Let my girlfriend help us help your girlfriend, and also please stop acting like your girlfriend. "We will free Officer Sun." John grunts, puts his hands on Scorpius's shoulders to lift himself up. As usual.
Sikozu brings more films to Karohm, this time Dermafollica info from "the Rosrob Center." Karohm sexily frets that he hasn't gotten a response from the Diagnosians on Coldjen, and like, I'm sure they're great, but I don't like involving myself with Diagnosians if I can help it. He slaps the console and curses, frustrated. Sikozu suggests that he take a wee nap and she'll monitor the transmissions for him. He stares at her.
Noranti props Rygel up and gives him something to boost his antibodies and "cleanse him of the disease." Rygel obeys and chokes it down; Noranti worries that it's only good for Hynerians, which Rygel doesn't think is a problem. But because he's getting better at being a person, he corrects and elaborates: "I mean, uh...has anyone else contracted the sickness?" Not yet. "And they may not, but there's always a chance." Oh, it'll happen. You can't release a plague in the lion's den and not have some dead people at the end of the story, that would be bad storying. It also would lessen the impact of what she did to Rygel, which is one of the main cool things about the trilogy. As she works, Rygel suddenly falls back on the table with a moan; she lifts his hand and it drops, totally limp. She screams his name, suddenly terrified.
Chiana wanders into commons and notices the Kalish guy that she was flirting with at a table. For a sec I thought it was Karohm taking a nap, which would be so classy, but no, it's the other guy. "You with the big ship," she says, approaching, and he just coughs weakly. Closer inspection reveals a little bit of Dermafollica happening. Talnell notices this going on and drags Karohm into the commons, leaving Sikozu at the monitor. Chiana gets scared and stuttery, asking quietly and then loudly for a healer, and everybody bounces from the commons. The kid gags and starts drooling; she comforts him as well as she can as he seizes and gags. Of course Chiana's immune: the body is her territory and her strength. It's what makes her powers (and her story this season) so scary: intuition is the opposite of this, her natural place in the world. On the whole station, you can guarantee she'd be the only one besides the Scarrans that wouldn't catch it.
Rygel lies on his back, picking at his skin; Talnell informs Noranti that Mister Motion Of The Ocean is dead, and says Jenek wants her on his freighter. "No, no, no, no," she grumbles crazily. "I must find this remedy. He may come here if he chooses." Talnell insists. Elsewhere, Scorpius is again demanding that Captain Jenek give Noranti supplies for a cure. Jenek totally walks away. I would never advise turning your back on Scorpius, but then that goes without saying. "You must realize we have a common problem: we both have cargo that needs protecting." Talnell beckons Jenek and he leaves Scorpius to talk to him, tossing off an "I'll solve my own problems" as he goes. Scarrans are even dicks to each other! Scorpius sighs and sits down on a bench and thinks about how being a half-breed whose body is constantly in revolt against itself is not always fun and games because sometimes the horror of racism gets you in the chin when you least expect it.
Sikozu projects the freighter floor plan, in Moya's Command: "The Scarran freighter is not only docked to the station, but it is tied to its power grid as well. From station control, I can force a power surge that will disrupt the circuits of both the station and the freighter." D'Argo notes that means knocking out the lights, the alarms, and even the ugly Scarran DRDs with the fins, and Chiana asks how long -- how much time -- they'll have with the outage. Thirty seconds, before the emergency overrides activate. D'Argo: "Okay. Once we've rescued Aeryn, we've gotta get Moya off that station." Sikozu says she can probably get the docking locks bypassed too, and Chiana's like, "'Probably'?" So what was she doing with Karohm that whole time? Makin' out on him, if she's smart. John asks about the way station's parking stickers, and D'Argo nods. "Security beacons. We'll need some." Sikozu says if they rescue Aeryn -- and Chiana corrects her -- "Sorry, yes. When we rescue Aeryn, we simply starburst away from Scarran space." D'Argo worries about if they end up starbursting deeper into Scarran space, John worries about what if the freighter takes off with Aeryn. Sikozu says in the latter case, "we abandon all hope." And John corrects her this time: "...We abandon all hope of leading long and prosperous lives, and we follow the freighter." Sikozu sighs, and John jokes that she's still learning how we do things.
He and D'Argo take off, but so far here's how we do things: unleash plagues on innocents, run around lying all the time about everything, beat up people at random, and two weeks ago, "we" sold out the entire galaxy. And for why? For Aeryn. The way "we" do things is by self-describing our areas of responsibility and saying, "This is who I am prepared to save, and this is who is not my problem." There's a beautiful transition in the Buffy arc like this: at one point to save the world you kill a loved one, and then time around you've reprioritized, and you're willing to kill your friends if they try to kill your loved one. I totally get it. It's actually a sign of maturing, that you realize there are these differing levels of responsibility, and that they are rooted in blood. It's a hard truth and one that is always impressive in these shows, to actually see it play out, whether it's right or wrong, so I approve of the viewpoint getting expressed whatever the actual morality of it. But Sikozu is a different kind of person, with different -- and equally or more valid -- concerns: she goes on sacrificing herself for her entire race. She'd burn Scorpius so fast for that, I think. And that's the Prisoner's Dilemma in different clothes, because it has to do with family, and what you do for family. And I see no reason, knowing Sikozu, that she should ever have to learn how "we" do things, because she's never been, or asked to be, part of the family. And that's the difference between her and Jool, and that's why she showed up after Jool was gone, because she's the Crais 2.0 of the Scarrans but she's also the Jool 2.0 of John's relationship with science and politics. (Not to mention being the Stark 2.0 of John's relationship with Scorpius himself, but we already talked about that.) Curiouser and curiouser and more complex all the time. This season is hard to do in your head.
Aeryn lies on her bunk, unconscious, as Noranti enters the freighter's med bay telling Talnell to stop touching her: "You don't have to use force, I want to find a cure as much as you do." Talnell has reprocessed his areas of responsibility somewhat: "You will find a cure and we will have it first." Even worse than Nurse is he, all of a sudden. Jenek and his Charrid follow, and Jenek immediately starts ordering Nurse around, but guess what! She's got the plague! See you in the Peacekeeper Wars, bitch. At least with that character, you get to be pretty. Jenek confirms that she's dead and also that he does not care. He tells Noranti and Talnell to check Aeryn, and Noranti immediately runs over to her and grabs her by the throat, freaking her out but getting her attention. Noranti really has a particular way of doing things, doesn't she. "Save your strength. Don't try to speak." Talnell joins her and Aeryn's eyes roll around in their sockets. "She doesn't appear to be infected," says Noranti, and Jenek's like, yeah, Nursie was looking pretty great too until her face fell off. Noranti tells him she can probably fix Aeryn if she gets sick, and Jenek remembers the baby. "Her fetus must be saved. Is there a suitable recipient for a transplant?" Noranti jumps back, horrified, but quickly recovers: "What? No! ...Anyway, it wouldn't do any good: all the females here are equally at risk from this disease." Dammit, Noranti! You just handed it to him. Talnell brings up Chiana, of course, which means things are going to get really horrible, really quickly. I don't want to watch this part at all. The deal at the beginning where Aeryn tried to talk and couldn't was pretty bad. This is worse.
Chiana runs into some Charrid on Moya, calls him "feckface" and keeps walking, and then...it's interesting, because she's kind of psychic, I think. Back on that Leviathan husk where they got the fake Aeryn, both Aeryn and Sikozu acted like Charrids were kind of hardcore, but now here, not only does Chiana basically wipe the floor with them, she also sees them coming from strange angles. I don't know how this works out, but she's never been the ninja of the group, and it would seem, wouldn't it, that her abilities would put her at an advantage here. Maybe it's just when we try to consciously use intuition that we blind ourselves to it. Eventually it doesn't really matter; eventually they catch her, and tie her up, and take her off Moya.
Bit later, and Sikozu's showing her cards again w/r/t how she actually adores Chiana: "They took Chiana by force and you just let them?" Pilot's like, "I had no idea." Scorpius calms Sikozu: "Recriminations can wait. We must act. Are you ready?" I really like that little scene.
Aeryn gasps and jerks as Jenek touches her head with his hand, and his hand? Is also gorgeous. He tells her to calm the hell down and takes off; she turns wild eyes on Noranti. "Oh, we can't let them!" Noranti tells her it won't happen: "I won't let it happen." And besides, she says, they'll never find Chiana anyway. Cue Chiana screaming and squealing as the Charrids bring her in. She's struggling, but not for long. Jenek's like, "Prepare her for the procedure," and as she's dragged past, notices Aeryn tied down. "What the frell's going on?" Talnell offers to sedate Chiana; Chiana and Noranti both scream, "No!" Noranti throws herself onto Talnell's back and is plucked off by a Charrid; they inject Chiana. Noranti continues to scream, more upset maybe than we've ever seen her: "No, stop! Stop! This is wrong! This patient has been drugged, she is weak! She may die from this procedure." She's not just talking about Aeryn. Aeryn's still fighting; Chiana is beginning to shut down. Her eyes are going that black they only go when she's asked to bear more than she can. Jenek says he doesn't care if Aeryn dies, of course, and Chiana begins to whisper and plead. Invasion; violation. This is so cruel. They don't even know, they think they're being the usual kind of cruel. It's hard. Metal arms slowly come sliding out of the sides of Aeryn's gurney as she struggles and begs...and their spiked ends come ramming down into her, pinning her to the table. Jeez! Aeryn screams a way I've never heard; Chiana and Noranti see it. Chiana is still tied on her gurney, and the Charrid is holding Noranti back. Aeryn stops screaming and her eyes close. There are ways in which that was the most troubling image this show has ever offered. I'm not a fan of that scene.
Aeryn's still pinned, losing it; Noranti prepares to inject her with anesthetic, and Talnell tells her to give it to Chiana instead. Noranti says Aeryn needs it more, given the House On Haunted Hill shit going on currently, and the Charrid, at Talnell's signal, grabs her, pinning her arms back. She struggles mightily, informing them they won't be cutting on Aeryn today, and Talnell ignores her, scalpel in hand. Talnell heads over to Chiana, who has gotten some energy back; she tells him to get the frelling knife away from her and spits in his face. "Very strong," he says. "She'll make an excellent host." He sure did get eeeeevil all of a sudden. I guess the plague really wigged him. He shoots Chiana in the arm with the painkiller, and Jenek threatens Talnell that if anything happens to the fetus, Chiana and Aeryn both are dead meat. Karohm calls Jenek on the PA, interrupting, saying that Captain Wentrask is demanding "an urgent word," and Jenek's like, "For real? I'll be right the hell there." Yikes. He takes off, calling for his Charrid (Ralnahk, apparently); Chiana stares at Talnell, terrified and woozy.
Jenek sits with Scorpius and they speak quietly. Scorpius says he requires cooperation from Jenek, who says he can't compel anything from him because Scorpius is not the boss of him. OR IS HE? Scorpius gets real: "Jenek. I know that your prisoner is the Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, and that you are taking her to Katratzi for Minister Ahkna. I also know that if my mission fails, your mission becomes irrelevant. As do you." Hoo-hoo. Jenek: "Continue." Heh. I love him.
Sikozu gets sneaky in the control room, looking at things and pressing buttons and creeping around, so you know its three...two...one...yep, there's Karohm, right on cue, with a gun on her. Sikozu's all, hey, I was just checking for some med reports and being totally helpful, dude, but he interrupts her: "Someone's been downloading the station codes and schematics." He knew it had to be her, but he's still "disappointed." He looks great in that color. He's too hot to die! They both are! I hate the subjugation of the Kalish! Talk your way out of this, Sputnik!
Noranti bitches at Talnell, who is now rubbing his hands together like a mantis fat on scenery, about how they will never pull this off, and Aeryn will die, and Chiana will die, and the baby will die, and everybody will die. And also this is a terrible, horrible thing they are doing. Talnell's like, "Mwah ha hahaha ha ha!" And then he twirls his mustache. On Moya, John picks up his rifle from the table, to 1812; D'Argo's got his Qualta locked and loaded. John whines that Sikozu, in the midst of being discovered creepin' about, hasn't frelled the lights and alarms yet. Talnell tells Noranti that -- brevity being the soul of fetal transfer -- they'll have to cut them both open at once. Awesome. D'Argo heads out to check on Sikozu, who's got her hands up like a hostage negotiator, walking toward Karohm: "Listen to me, Karohm. Two, possibly three females are being held, against their will, on the Scarran freighter." And they're about to get cut open. Noranti holds her scalpel over Aeryn's womb, and rolls her eyes, and they gasp, horrified. "They pose the Scarrans no threat," Sikozu explains. "Their imprisonment is completely unjust." Karohm says he believes her, but laughs when she asks for his help. "Of course not! I'm going to lock you up." Aw, damn. You just can't judge a book's collaborationist tendencies from its cover, I guess is the point. D'Argo appears and tongue-lashes Karohm in the neck, dropping him. D'Argo, lamely: "How wrong was he?" (Rejected lines include, I believe: "Could he have been any more wrong?" and "...Not!") D'Argo politely asks Sikozu to get it together and "do what you said you were gonna do," and she nods, turning back to the control console.
Noranti backs up off Aeryn and gives Talnell her professional opinion, which is interestingly enough that they should not do what they are doing. Talnell points out the elephant in the room, which is Jenek eating their lunch in a second.
Scorpius explains to Jenek that Ahkna only wants Aeryn to try and get the "possible information" in John's head. "Now, my Peacekeeper defector can give you John Crichton himself. Which mission do you think is more vital?"
Sikozu unlocks the docking ports on Moya, Lo'La, and the transport pod she rode down in and starts on the power grid, as D'Argo pulls out the security beacons he's just located in a drawer. She gives him a gorgeous, just brilliant smile: impressed, conquered by the concept of teamwork. Noranti starts a speechlet about how "there are three lives here" and Talnell, scared for his own ass, finally interrupts her and shrieks: "Dr. Pralatong, I beg you!" And that's when the lights go out. "Showtime," John says, and heads out into the bay with his rifle and a lantern. Scorpius and Jenek look around and get growly in the darkness. The station PA goes all nasty-sounding Scarran stuff. There's emergency lighting near the Scarran freighter, of course, which makes it all the easier for John to kill a bunch of Charrids with his gun.
Talnell comms, demanding that Karohm tell him what's going on; a Charrid grabs Noranti and pulls her away from the doctor, and then John shoots him. Noranti hides behind a table; Talnell hides behind Aeryn, promising to slit her throat. John shines his light on Talnell's face; Noranti tells him to go for it. "He wouldn't dare: if the baby dies, Jenek'll burn him dead, so shoot." Talnell promises he's not screwing around, and John almost smiles at him: "Kalish are supposed to be smart. Who do you think I believe?" Talnell backs away from Aeryn with his hands in the air: "All right. Shoot me." And...John does. Talnell drags a bunch of shit with him to the floor; he's injured but not dead. John joins Aeryn as Noranti offers that he should have killed the bastard. "My body count's already too high." Like on weirdo Moya? You're so not off the hook for that yet. You'll be paying for that precisely one scene from now, though, at quite a high premium, so I'm not even going to worry about it. He looks down at her, so still; touches her face with his hand, in its PK glove. Noranti says this to John: "The release is over here. Ready?" Aw, dude. Not necessary. He looks away, then back at Aeryn, and tells her to do it, and she does. The rib spikes retract; Aeryn gasps.
The Charrid finds Scorpius and Jenek, who tells him to check on the freighter; Scorpius is like, totally, I gotta check mine too. Jenek clamps a hand on his shoulder and tells him to stay put. As the PA continues to get Scarran all over your ears, Jenek's Charrid finds the downed guards outside.
D'Argo is impatient with Sikozu, who's almost finished. She turns very deliberately away from him and talks patter -- "If I jam the docking port controls, the freighter won't be able to break free and follow us" -- while, with her hand, she melts a bunch of wires like she's a Scarran or something. See? A new magic power every week. I wish I was a Kalish. Or maybe like a crossing guard, that might be fun. I've never ridden in a hot-air balloon. I am a man of many wishes. Sikozu gasps in a way where this is either the worst of her abilities or, um, like the best. Her relationship with Scorpius is like, I don't know if she actually knows the difference either. Sikozu tries to cover, actually stuttering for like the first time ever, about how she merely cross-coupled the blinderfnitz with the shoobaloo and whatever, but they have to move so fast because the lights are going to come on.
John hurries off the freighter, Aeryn in his arms. Noranti follows, with Chiana. That darn Charrid yells at them and is quite aggressive; Chiana gasps as Noranti puts her down. The Charrid tells them to turn off the light and John tells her to do it; John brings up about how he "shouldn't be carrying," and the Charrid's like, "Carrying what?" That's when the lights come back on, and one of the Scarran DRDs comes out of nowhere all, "Hell no with that gun," and starts shooting. They hide as the DRDs accrete, and finally the Charrid drops. "...A gun," John says, not getting the irony at all, and they run past, meeting up with D'Argo and Sikozu. Noranti gives Chiana to D'Argo, who carries her tenderly, and they all run like hell.
Jenek comms for Ralnahk and gets no report; so he growls at Scorpius because things are clearly going south. There are fisticuffs. Scorpius fights a good game, but Jenek has like a foot on him easy, and tosses him eventually into a table.
John hurries into Moya's docking bay, carrying Aeryn; D'Argo follows with Chiana, who tells him she can stand on her own for a sec. Pilot comms that the docking collar has released Moya and he -- perhaps unnecessarily -- tells Pilot to get starburst up and running. Pilot's like, "Done." I wonder what Pilot's been up to this whole time. I bet you can play really complicated solitaire with four arms. And as we learned from Spider-Man 2, all you need to accomplish cold fusion is more arms, so maybe that's how he amuses himself. ... Yeah, that's still stupid. Just checking.
Jenek's like, "I see by the fact that we're beating the shit out of each other that we are not on the same side," as he slams Scorpius face first into all manner of things, to the point where Scorpius barfs. "Who are you, and what is your mission?" Scorpius is like, "Shut up and hold my hair back, bitch!" and then he passes out.
Lo'La and Sikozu's pod follow Moya out into space. Sikozu docks and runs onto Command with D'Argo and Chiana, worried about Scorpius. Pilot tells her he's not gotten any comms or response from Scorpius, but whatever, and D'Argo's like, "Make sure you get my ship with the docking web, okay?" Sikozu asks them to worry about Scorpius for a second, and Chiana's awesome: "What about him?" Sikozu's like, "For starters? He might've been captured?" And Chiana looks at her blankly: "Or killed." D'Argo says that is a beautiful wish and tells Pilot to starburst ASAP. Sikozu goes "hell no" and starts off on a rant, so Chiana knocks her out with a fist to the face. Not the face! Pilot notifies them that starburst is imminent as Sikozu drops. Chiana looks down at her, totally irritated: "Why doesn't she ever listen?"
Not actually that easy. John lays Aeryn gently down in his quarters; as he reaches for a blanket, she starts to jerk and shudder and struggle, trying to get away from him. "It's all right. Aeryn! It's all right." She gapes at him, wild. "You're here," he nods, and she holds herself there, completely still. He reaches down, to cover her legs, and she begins to weep with fear and relief and fear of that relief. "Is this real?" He smiles at her, tears not yet in his eyes: "It's real. You're on Moya." Aeryn stares at his face, tears on her cheeks. "You're safe," he says gently. She shudders and draws another long breath. "What about the baby?" He assures her that her baby is fine, caresses her hair. "Everything's gonna be okay," he whispers to her sweetly. "Sleep." She lies back slowly, still streaked with tears, and he strokes her forehead for a while before getting up. "Stay," she says. So quietly. He looks down, opens his mouth to speak, and then lowers himself to her side again. She reaches out, to touch his face. He turns, his mouth into her palm, and kisses it. He watches as she falls asleep, finally safe.
Noranti pulls some skin off Rygel's face, and that's the best you can hope for. She tells him he's looking a little less horrible, and he snits, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. You nearly killed me." She continues to minister to him, pulling off the dead skin. Because this is Farscape: there's always more underneath. "But I did kill others," she says, more emotional than usual. "By my actions, I have taken innocent lives." Rygel sighs, and there's weight to this: "Welcome to Moya." She is not happy about any of this, but this is the truth he can speak, and she knows it. Her respect for him is one of the best things on a long list of things that make Granny great. "In my time as Dominar, some of my actions resulted in the deaths of the undeserving. Even when the cause is just, it's a hard thing to accept." The dignity and regal strength with which he makes this admission -- less about his actions and more about who he really is, under all the BS -- are a high point of the season. "I must seek forgiveness," she says. "From the Divine Eternal." Rygel holds out his hand, haltingly. Tenderly. "I can't help you there, but I can extend you my forgiveness." This shilquin song he plays for her. She takes his hand gratefully and squeezes it. Welcome to Moya.
Wasn't that nice? About time something horrid happened. Aeryn rests, her hand in John's hair where he leans on the bed to her, sleeping. She smiles sweetly, watching him. REM and then a scream, twisting away from her hand.
The old guys always talk about the difference between "invoke" and "evoke." You draw a circle on the floor and invite something inside it. It can't leave the circle and it can't touch you, and it can't leave until you say and it can't stay once you do. That's evoking something. It's a conversation you're having with something, but that thing is not you. Invoking, however...that's possession. Blood and milk, and the Scorpius that John could be. And you know his name. And you know the hateful face he wears.
A heavy old door opens before us, into a grainy faded black and white. Candelabras, velvet, dust and stone. Organ music, fog along the floor. A coffin sits on a dais in the center of the room. This is what killing off your loved ones earns you. Did you think there wouldn't be a price for that? Did you think you could play at being blood brothers with the Devil himself, and you wouldn't pay for it? Aeryn sure as fuck did. She knew.
The lid of the coffin creaks open. Harvey sits up, in a dusty old tuxedo; he has long Nosferatu fingernails, which is how you know I'm not making this up. He taps them together. John stands at his side, wearing a funeral suit. For all those that died, in this reality and others.
"Harvey? You're not dead." Of course not, he whispers, and chuckles like dead leaves. "I am the undead." John shakes his head. Not funny. "The son of a bitch said he took you out of my head." Harvey smiles, affecting a Romanian accent. "Scorpius, he upgraded me to...Harvey 2.0." It wasn't Scorpius that made that choice, though. I know the story, but this is arising from meanings under the surface too. "One of my many improvements: utter loyalty to Scorpius." Harvey sniffs and stares him down. John says, quite rightly, that this is not an improvement. Harvey says that it is. After all, his agenda is to eliminate the Scarran threat, and there's nothing dumb about that. Harvey clicks his fingernails together, loudly, and John protests. "You know I don't give a damn about his agenda." Harvey orders him to return to the station for Scorpius, and John drops the coffin lid on him -- like a garbage bin, isn't it? For people. No reason to think that it won't work again. "Go back to sleep before I drive a stake through your heart." He takes it easy, lying back in the coffin; John walks away.
But Harvey says something, muffled in the coffin, and John turns to the coffin: "What did you say?" He said, "Scorpius knows everything you know, John." John opens the coffin the hell back up. "Meaning what?" It's another new feature of the 2.0 version. "Scorpius can hear me...I've been sharing the contents of your head with him. Memories, thoughts, dreams...wormhole technology..." John calls him a liar and turns away. "...And eventually, they will torture the information out of him, and everything they all wanted to know about wormholes will be theirs. Courtesy of John Crichton." John looks away, hurting, and finally turns fast and slams the coffin shut again, screams at Harvey to leave him alone. The black-and-white film burns away before our eyes. All those horrors you allow.
John's eyes jerk open and he screams, twisting his head away. "No!" Aeryn reaches for him, calming him. "Hey..." She touches his chin. Begs him not to do this again. How many times can you live through that with somebody? If you live? The second he got her back, he... You know, it's Farscape. Even if you weren't thinking about weirdo Moya and the horrors he invoked, you had to know: they were happy. She was touching his hair. They were fucked. "Hey...it's all right," she whispers, begging with her hands. "You have to go back for Scorpius. Tell her, John, tell her! You must rescue Scorpius. Tell her!" But he stays quiet, shaking. Because he knows Harvey's right, and the price for disobedience.