![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
chavalah.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scifi_rewatchOh, Maldis. :P Despite your ridiculously Shakespearean frilly black collar and over-dramatic way of life, this episode was actually rather impressive. For the main characters, particularly Zhaan, and how they dealt with their inner demons. Was also nice to get a shot of Crais again, especially after the last eppy where we learned he was close. He’s still threat numero uno, after all. And as far as villains go…well, maybe I’m glad that Maldis got to be the mustache-twirling nefario, because it gave all the more reason for Crais to have a little depth.
I really liked this episode, more than I remember appreciating it while it was in syndication. Anywho.
One of Moya’s shuttles hurtles down to a basement-sheik planet that sort of looks like a silky BDSM dungeon. :P Zhaan is en route to look for medicine for an over-acting Rygel who is sick on Moya with the Klendian flu. A sparkly male alien, who looks a lot like Zhaan except that he’s red, tells her of herbs he has in his shop. The others are more generally shopping or avoiding time with the Hynerian. John, wearing his orange jumper that most recently graced a drug-addled Tavlek, reaches out for a two-headed bird (nice job, creature shop,) and Aeryn says they’re prized by how many heads they have, as their brains are eaten raw. Yum.
As the red alien, Liko, haggles with Zhaan, wandering John is stopped by this clowny creature who blocks his path and tells him that a creature named Haloth can take care of all of his problems. Not buying the fortune teller act John tries to walk off, but the clown knows stuff about him! Like stuff about being a fugitive on Moya and running from Crais. John isn’t convinced of psychic ability (maybe the clown overheard something,) but he is wary that this information is known. He turns into a believer when clown dude adds, and your mom’s maiden name was MacDougal and you lost your virginity to Karen Shaw in the back of a minivan! “A four by four…” says a spooked John. (Oh, Crichton. If only you knew how crazy that bit of trivia would become by the end of the fourth season. :P) John is now enticed to meet this Haloth. He takes a step after the clown and disappears in a haze of red CGI!
(The others are too preoccupied to notice right away…Liko has abandoned the rough haggling for some old fashioned sexual flirtation, because honestly, how else should one interact with Zhaan? :P They talk about his trellian oil, which “heightens the conjugal experience.” Bow chica bow wow. Zhaan wonders if she should test it alone, hee.)
John reappears in a semi-furnished Victorian room with statues, huge torches and black and white checkered floors. A bent and wizened old man, Haloth, introduces himself. He explains that he “wished” John here…uh, ok… He goes on to explain that he also knows that Crichton isn’t guilty of killing Crais’s brother! :-O Maybe it’s time to check in with a Peacekeeper Command Carrier?
Indeed, it is! Marauders are coming back and the pilots are exhausted by their futile search for Moya. Crais, slightly more disheveled than last we saw him, brushes off these concerns. He receives a summons from his lieutenant, Teeg—PK High Command has sent a message and ordered them to watch it together. They take it in Crais’s private quarters…where a red hologram of a superior officer tells him to pack it up out of the Uncharted Territories and return home asap. “the Council awaits a full explanation of your failure,” gulp. Can John’s enemy be so easily defeated? Crais turns to Teeg to confirm that her presence here was to take command from him if she refused. Teeg says yes, but that she considers her first priority to her captain. Yeesh, PK. Your officers don’t know how to deal with competing loyalties. :P Crais wants to negotiate with the council for more time to John-hunt.
John has a very different agenda in mind—can Haloth make Crais understand that Tauvo’s death was an accident? “That knowledge would dispel him of his vengeful thirst!” says an all-too-excited Haloth. :P Maybe he can help set that up. Back on the command carrier, the wizened man appears in Crais’s quarters! Crais barely has time to react before they’re zapped back to Victorian land. The Peacekeeper captain, stunned, runs around and makes threats to be returned to his ship. But Haloth grabs him with a quick glimpse of John, who disappears as Crais runs towards him. Haloth says he’ll give up John for a price…yeesh, that doesn’t sound like the deal he made with Crichton himself just now! :-/
Aeryn and D’argo are finally onto the scent that John is missing. D’argo is literally onto the scent. “His odor is even stronger than yours,” he says gruffly. “I don’t have an odor!” Aeryn replies incredulously. Oh, humor.
They find John unconscious in a sand-filled room! The two warriors rush to him…what’s going on here? Why isn’t he in the Victorian room?
Well, let’s join him there! Whatever part of “him” it is. :P Haloth returns to John, but immediately turns into the black-laced, poufy-collared, yellow-eyed Maldis. And Maldis says that he sold John out to Crais! Yikes. Crais runs in through some double doors in the back and John backs up.
Back in the market, Zhaan examines John’s body for wounds and D’argo has caught hold of a caped woman in red who claims she saw our human entering the room of sand alone, but Liko has a more complicated theory. “It was Maldis, wasn’t it?” he asks the frightened woman.
Somewhere else, John and Crais are circling each other. “This is just a hologram, right?” asks a nervous astronaut. “I am here, Crichton,” Crais assures him smugly. “To talk…” “To kill you!” The good captain grabs a long, steel pipe and the fight is on! Well, John’s mostly dodging bullets. “We had a deal!” he cries, to which Maldis replies screechily, “My services found a better price!” OK…chill, dude. Crais lands a whack on John’s wrist.
Zhaan examines this sudden wound on sleeping John’s hand. A clue as to what’s going on? Liko is in a pretty glum mood, claiming that they’re all as good as dead. Maldis’s power is “a dark and dangerous force, wielded by an evil sorcerer.” The people on this planet? All his prisoners. Maldis can “transcend corporeal form.” Aeryn isn’t put off by the fear tactics. She goes into battle mode, suggesting a revolt, but Liko is beaten down. He used to be a high priest—Zhaan perks up at this information. He tried to fight Maldis before, but his “spiritual powers” weren’t strong enough. “He likes fresh victims.” And there’s nowhere to hide either…even on Moya, he can reach them and remove their spirits from their bodies, like our good friend, John, here. Aeryn has her typical “bitch, please” reaction—maybe Maldis can imprison these “primitive people” but let’s see how he does with soldiers—to the batmobile, D’argo! …at least D’argo is definitely in the friend category with her now? :P Though D’argo, for all of the “shoot first” attitude he’s shown before, seems a bit more hesitant now. Maybe Officer Sun stands alone against the primitives, hee.
John hides in a dark corridor while he bandages his hand…Maldis appears to gloat at him and John answers with wtf. Maldis still offers nothing for his deception, and Crais is now stalking down the hall towards their voices. Eep.
John’s body, for all intents and purposes, is now safe back on Moya. :P They’ve dumped him on Rygel’s bed so the sickly, sweaty dominar can look after him. Rygel’s none too pleased, complaining that Zhaan should be doing this while Ryg rests and the others go in commando style. Zhaan is “helping by applying some Delvian mysticism to the situation,” Aeryn replies in tones that imply exactly what she thinks of that. :P I both love and am annoyed at that girl, hee. Rygel sneezes on our comatose human—our first “ick” humor of the day!
Zhaan and Liku prepare to fight mystically, but our Delvian’s new friend is skeptical about her abilities as a Pa’u. “You cultivated your powers to help others. Can you use it as a weapon?” This battle requires Zhaan’s desire—to harm, inflict pain, even kill. Zhaan looks very pained about all of this—some real fine acting by Virginia Hey! She grabs her new friend’s chin and tells him that before becoming a Pa’u, she used to be very violent. Intriguing backstory ahead!
Back in real time, John is having no luck finding an exit. Maldis appears—he likes to appear and disappear for mocking purposes—to tell him to save his anger for Crais. Who’s coming this way, screaming “murderer!” The twosome erupt into an all-out brawl on the ground. Props to John for trying to talk some sense into Crais while simultaneously blocking his advances. I didn’t kill your brother! Says John. You destroyed his prowler! Says Crais. Maldis, btw, is on Crais’s side, but John, briefly, gets the upper hand! He yanks the pipe away from his adversary and aims it at his chest. “It was an accident.” Breathing heavy, he stops to help Crais up. :-O Can reconciliation be in the air?
Zhaan is testing her ability to inflict pain by approaching none other than the two-headed bird John was playing with before. She’s pained and stroking their cheeks, and Liku plays the role of “the bad cop.” Apparently he’s had a change of heart about their chances of defeating Maldis. Who, btw, will only grow more powerful by feeding off of newbs like John and the rest of the crew. Zhaan reaches her hand out and the birds shriek in pain, frightening her enough to stop. She’s evolved past cruelty, she quails. “Try repressed,” snarls Liku. “You’ve choked off all your real emotions.” Damn, son. You’re starting to drink the Kool-aid a bit. He continues to taunt her attempts to keep control when she’s terrified…control only comes with admitting her fears. “You can destroy him!” “That’s what terrifies me,” Zhaan admits, and she runs.
John wanders stony passageways. He picks up a flaming torch just in time for Crais to enter. Fire suddenly appears in the pit between them, rather convenient. :P Crais flinches from the heat, giving John the in to remind us of Sebacean heat delirium. They continue to argue more about Tauvo’s death. John brings up the points about coming from the primitive planet, traveling in a primitive ship…having just arrived, why would he want to make enemies? Crais, his hair looking ever more frazzled, btw, continues to argue stubbornly—you’d do anything to save yourself, he asserts. “You rammed his prowler!” But even he’s beginning to realize how crazy he sounds…or maybe he just has fewer retorts to John’s arguments. Time for Maldis to step in and put this fight back on track! :-/
The sorcerer shows up with a projection of Crais’s dad! Crais and Tauvo, as young boys, come out as well. A memory plays out in front of them where two PK soldiers come to recruit the young boys (no one in this situation looks very happy. An interesting insight into Peacekeeper subscription and Sebacean culture. ) Dad wants a promise from young Crais—“I’m counting on you to protect him,” aka the younger bro. Crais agrees. As the two are dragged off and the memory fades, John, shocked, says he was “shanghaied” into service, jolting present-day Crais back to now with an unsure “It was an honor.” I just love the subtlety of this scene and what it says about the characters. Maldis, however, is not so subtle. He calls a Tauvo projection back—he’s a young man now who speaks kindly to his brother as Crais freaks. “Why are you doing this?” our sympathetic human asks Maldis. “Just to jog his memory…” now for Tauvo’s “current appearance!” Maldis waves a hand and Tauvo disappears in an explosion of flame, skin melting off his skeleton while Crais screams. And remember—it was John who did that! Incensed, Crais finally leaps over the fiery pit and John runs. “You can talk until your tongue falls out; he’s going to kill you regardless!” Maldis screams joyfully. Sheesh. Here’s a winner who rubs it in your face.
D’argo and Aeryn are back at the planet bazaar attempting their warrior response. The Luxan’s shots at Maldis’s door aren’t working, though. Aeryn’s none-too-pleased with D’argo’s “evil spell protection” excuse. Speaking of magic, though, Zhaan comes up and says she’s the only one who can hurt Maldis in his incorporeal form. Still struggling with the decision, she turns to D’argo for his advice about fighting evil with evil. D’argo thinks it over (he’s very thoughtful this episode) and then says “I suppose I would choose the lesser of two evils.” A tear rolls down Zhaan’s cheek as she accepts his advice. I’m very impressed with the makeup crew for not letting anything smudge, personally. :P Zhaan’s face is so intricate! Aeryn, perturbed when Zhaan just walks off, goes back to shooting the door. Yeah, good luck there.
John walks through a new room with thick columns and sees Crais between them. He calls out in a whisper to his enemy; Crais tries to get his hand through but can’t. A perfect opportunity for the two of them to continue talking without the threat of violence! :P Our human has new theories to lay down on the table. Maldis is feeding off of us, he says; “he’s jazzed up whenever we go at each other” and tired when we don’t. “He’s pushing your buttons,” John says, with his projections. “Maldis doesn’t command me!” Crais seethes. Maldis is the enemy here, not him, John continues, but Crais accuses him of playing tricks. Damn, that boy is stubborn with his bone. John continues with his psychology schtick and puts on his proverbial glasses to offer Crais a free personal analysis—“you’re beating yourself up because you were supposed to protect your brother.” Crais is breathing hard and looking vulnerable. John speaks softly—he tried to get clear and he’s sorry Tauvo is dead. Methinks the last part of the sentence is the most important. Nice for John to take some culpability there. But genuine emotions don’t seem to work well on PKs. “Tauvo is dead, shot down by a weak, pathetic, inferior being,” Crais grits. “It must be avenged!” Crais swears to Johnny-boy that he will die by his hand. Good thing for John that hand is stuck between columns. :P
And then suddenly Maldis pulls him away! He addresses John from Crais’s old spot. “You’re not as thick as I thought,” is his compliment. Aw, feel the love. He figured out Maldis’s endgame. “Yeah…you’re a vampire,” is John’s major Crichtonism of the day. It’s a surprisingly accurate depiction of how Maldis describes himself—“I feed on death. But don’t we all? I consume the life essence itself, preferably medium rare.” :-O John, you’ve been out-Crichtoned! I guess someone is enjoying his borrowed American puns. Speaking of which, the fighting is just “an appetizer.” Guess the evil sorcerer’s mother never told him not to play with his food. ;)
Zhaan has returned to Liku to apologize for chickening out before—she’s ready to bring the pain to the two-headed bird, and Maldis, too. Liku accepts, and Zhaan reaches out her hand to make the birds squeal. But suddenly she gets a com message from Rygel! Poor Hynerian is still waiting for his meds. :P Liku seems entirely too happy about the fact that “this is a better lesson”—inflict pain on a friend! *gulp* Zhaan isn’t sure if her pain-inducing spirituality can reach all the way to Moya, but maybe if they join together? (Which in this case means one hand on each other’s colorful chests, and the other two entwined.) Rygel, still in the midst of complaining, starts to choke! The pair shakes as they inflict the pain but finally, exhausted, they break apart. Zhaan resumes with her worrying because she “nearly enjoyed that.” Yeesh.
Meanwhile, whatever is happening with Crais’s body on the command carrier? Time to check in! Officers argue over their comatose captain who has been laid out in his bed. Teeg must assume command, they tell the lieutenant. But Crais’s most loyal shipmate refuses to take over—except to say that there will be no ship-to-ship contact, either. Kinda sounds like she doesn’t want anyone else to know of their whereabouts. Those PKs need to work on their company discipline!
Dargo and Aeryn have made nada progress outside the door. Aeryn thinks it’s time to overload her pulse pistol, which would cause an explosion to take down the entire wall. Just file that general artillery information away for awhile. ;) D’argo’s a bit skeptical…but from inside, or wherever the hell his incorporeal form is, Maldis is afraid it will work. So he psychically flings Aeryn’s pistol away—HA! Isn’t so easy now, Miss Soldier, is it? :P As the two warriors walk hesitatingly towards it, they are engulfed in red. Oh dear.
John is onto his favorite tactic for dealing with enemies, now—walking in plain sight and talking loudly so they can hear wherever they are hiding. :P OK, so Crais wants to kill him. There’s no getting around that point anymore. But what happens afterwards? Will Maldis let you go free so you could get your command carrier to attack him? Or maybe this whole “appetizer” fight sequence ends with Maldis killing them both. They’re in the first, black/white-checkered floor room and Crais appears behind a pillar. “Is your vengeance satisfied if Maldis kills me?” John goads him. “No,” Crais replies simply. John proposes a truce so they can defeat this greater enemy…but once John approaches him, Crais attacks, of course. Oh, Crichton. When will you learn? At the moment he’s crawling on the ground and the good captain is trying to whip him with a chain. Suddenly, “Farscape” has entered the world of BDSM! The chain finally gets him by the wrist and Crais is able to drag him along. John is finally able to kick it off, but ends up dislocating his arm. Ouch. Lots of violence this eppy! Maldis appears in time to mock him—“it’s kill or be killed!” John drops the chain and leaves.
Rygel stands over John’s body, assessing whether the human is dead yet or not. Let’s just go with yes. :P Rygel clears his throat so he can say a few words in the Hynerian fashion. “John Crichton, valued friend. No, wait a minute—‘valued friend’ is a bit of a stretch. John Crichton, unwelcome shipmate…” The WIN in that statement is almost enough to drown out the rest of what Rygel is saying! He starts to offer passage to the hallowed realms and then stops himself—“that’s for Hynerians. Go find your own hallowed realm! With the ceremony complete I declare you officially dead…and claim all your possessions for myself.” Ah, finally we get to the kicker! :P He starts yanking off John’s boots…
…and in Maldis-land, John starts shaking his legs as he walks, maybe like he feels a strange tug there. :P Hee. He starts ramming his injured arm into a wall. Maldis appears to reminisce about John’s memories—he’d once crashed his motorcycle and had to reset his arm himself, much like this. John’s not really interested in whatever the sorcerer has to say, but Maldis blocks his path. “I’m getting tired of appetizers; it’s time to die.” John laughs; “is that supposed to motivate me?” No, Maldis assures him, it’s actually a pretty sweet deal; only one of you has to die! “What’s the other one get; a free trip to Bermuda?” Well…maybe the outback, John? ;) Maldis gives Crichton his word that should he kill Crais and survive himself, he’ll receive free transport back to his ship. “It’s better than Crais’s, I assure you.” John, still laughing, sobers at that. He can’t reason with Crais, he’s finally figured out. “He’s an animal.” John’s sick of the pair of them. “You want gladiators, fine!” John’s officially now playing the game.
So is Zhaan, it seems, as she and Liku join together again and the red alien tells her not to hold back with Maldis. “No hesitation, no weakness…no mercy,” Zhaan agrees. John stumbles back to the checkered room and Crais comes through the door behind. They stare each other down on either side of the proverbial tumbleweed. But that only lasts a second before the two men are on each other in a well-choreographed dance of fisticuffs. John is pushed back on a tray of fruit and Crais grabs a plate to hit him with. Zhaan and Liku, joined by chests and hands, are moving violently in a trance—Zhaan’s eyes flip over and turn bright blue! Cool! John has Crais in a headlock. :P But suddenly the good captain disappears! John is jazzed up and turns to Maldis, demanding to have him back so he can finish the job. But Maldis refuses. That “death machine,” aka the command carrier, will now be headed straight for them. What will happen once the sorcerer gets a hold of that ship? “Carnage on a massive scale.” So much food he’ll be a glutton!
John guesses more—Crais will keep pursuing him as well, which was Maldis’s plan all along. Apparently Crais was actually thinking of obeying orders before and turning back… “but now he’ll never turn back!” Talk about an utter lack of accomplishing any reconciliation. That dish isn’t on the menu for anyone today. :P John attempts to stab Maldis with a fork, but of course the sorcerer just disappears. Reappearing elsewhere he says he was telling the truth when he promised that only one of them would be returning to his ship. Which means, of course, that John has to die. Maldis stalks forward and our hero, in regular human fashion, drops his weapon. Elswehere, Zhaan faints! Maldis reaches his hand out to John and the red light sprouts between them. But suddenly two blue, interlocked hands come in front of Maldis’s vision! They burn blue with Zhaan materializing behind, concentrating intensely. She’s made Maldis tangible, she tells John, so now you can finish him! She pushes the sorcerer to her shipmate. John takes a long, sorta eerie look at this guy before he punches him and he disappears in red. Hm. Is this John Crichton’s first kill?? Heavy episode, man. John and Zhaan then faint.
…our human, now reunited with his body, grabs onto Rygel and demands to know where he is. “You’re dying down on the planet!” answers a frightened Rygel. “I revived you!” LOL, that little Hynerian is always quick on his feet. John hugs him, gives him a kiss, then calls him “Toto” before falling back on the bad in gales of laughter. John Crichton is something else when he’s amused. :P
Zhaan wakes up, too, but her reunion with real life is far less optimistic. Liku is dying next to her. “I gave you all I had,” he says hoarsely. The Delvian, of course, wants to help further, but Liku is content enough that they defeated Maldis…enough so that he can let go at that very moment. Zhaan closes his eyes…D’argo and Aeryn, now free of Maldis themselves, watch from a respectful distance. Poor Zhaan…what a day.
Crais is feeling the affects of his day, too, as he recuperates on the command carrier. He commands the medic to erase all record that he was sickly at all—adding in that then it won’t become public knowledge that he wasn’t able to treat it anyway. Win win. He and Teeg walk as the others leave. Teeg reports proudly that no communications were sent while he was incapacitated. No one else knows about high command’s command. The others wanted to kill him and let her take command, but she said no. Sheesh, she’s really looking for something for all of this, isn’t she? Crais strokes her cheek tenderly…then moves to snap her neck! Whoa. Might be the most shocking scene of the episode. As the body falls, Crais comms the rest of his crew. They’re all going deeper into the Uncharted Territories. To himself, he mutters his promise to himself that no matter what, he will kill Crichton. Very commanding shot with Teeg’s body lying next to him.
On Moya, Zhaan explains that she could only dispose of Maldis, so he’s not dead after all. In fact, he might be back… *zips lips* :P Aeryn apologizes for mocking her before. “I see now that you’re more of a warrior than I thought.” Zhaan looks more horrified than comforted, and she stalks off. Aeryn is confused—what did she say? “You called her a warrior,” D’argo says solemnly. “You could not have hurt her more deeply.” Oh, Aeryn. It’s just not her day on the battlefield or in the emotional realm.
John is hanging in the mess hall and speaking to his friend, Deek, via his IASA recorder. He talks about how it was stupid, but he just had to hold onto that glimmer of hope that he could convince Crais of his innocence. But now he knows the good captain will keep at it until one of them dies. But hell, John, you can’t say you didn’t try to make it right.
Zhaan walks in, and John decides maybe he can try is therapy on her. :P She tells him that she used to be a savage. John shrugs it off, saying he never believed it, even when she told him of it before. “You’ve never seen that part of me. I thought I’d eradicated it,” says a spooked Zhaan. John seems to think it’s not a big deal now—she’d resurrected it to take care of Maldis, and now she can put it away again. Zhaan turns to him, intense. The savage is still in her and she doesn’t know if she can get rid of it this time, she says. Can I help? John asks (most definitely his MO.) He can be a listening ear if nothing else. He reaches for her, but Zhaan claws at him first. “No one can help me,” she hisses. Immediately mortified, she apologizes and leaves him. John looks after her, cradling his hurt hand with a spooked look on his face. Talk about a rough day!
As I said before…beyond the Maldis character, this was very much a hidden gem. We got to see more into what makes these characters tick—John’s relentless peacemaking (*drumroll please*), Crais’s stubborn streak, his guilt tied in with vengeance, Aeryn’s discomfort outside of the battlefield, and a glimpse of the savagery hidden in our gentle Zhaan. Such great character quirks to make all of these people more three-dimensional. The only thing missing from this episode, frankly, was Pilot! Maybe Lani Tupu was too busy playing Crais? ;) Alas. I missed the guy.
___
I really liked this episode, more than I remember appreciating it while it was in syndication. Anywho.
One of Moya’s shuttles hurtles down to a basement-sheik planet that sort of looks like a silky BDSM dungeon. :P Zhaan is en route to look for medicine for an over-acting Rygel who is sick on Moya with the Klendian flu. A sparkly male alien, who looks a lot like Zhaan except that he’s red, tells her of herbs he has in his shop. The others are more generally shopping or avoiding time with the Hynerian. John, wearing his orange jumper that most recently graced a drug-addled Tavlek, reaches out for a two-headed bird (nice job, creature shop,) and Aeryn says they’re prized by how many heads they have, as their brains are eaten raw. Yum.
As the red alien, Liko, haggles with Zhaan, wandering John is stopped by this clowny creature who blocks his path and tells him that a creature named Haloth can take care of all of his problems. Not buying the fortune teller act John tries to walk off, but the clown knows stuff about him! Like stuff about being a fugitive on Moya and running from Crais. John isn’t convinced of psychic ability (maybe the clown overheard something,) but he is wary that this information is known. He turns into a believer when clown dude adds, and your mom’s maiden name was MacDougal and you lost your virginity to Karen Shaw in the back of a minivan! “A four by four…” says a spooked John. (Oh, Crichton. If only you knew how crazy that bit of trivia would become by the end of the fourth season. :P) John is now enticed to meet this Haloth. He takes a step after the clown and disappears in a haze of red CGI!
(The others are too preoccupied to notice right away…Liko has abandoned the rough haggling for some old fashioned sexual flirtation, because honestly, how else should one interact with Zhaan? :P They talk about his trellian oil, which “heightens the conjugal experience.” Bow chica bow wow. Zhaan wonders if she should test it alone, hee.)
John reappears in a semi-furnished Victorian room with statues, huge torches and black and white checkered floors. A bent and wizened old man, Haloth, introduces himself. He explains that he “wished” John here…uh, ok… He goes on to explain that he also knows that Crichton isn’t guilty of killing Crais’s brother! :-O Maybe it’s time to check in with a Peacekeeper Command Carrier?
Indeed, it is! Marauders are coming back and the pilots are exhausted by their futile search for Moya. Crais, slightly more disheveled than last we saw him, brushes off these concerns. He receives a summons from his lieutenant, Teeg—PK High Command has sent a message and ordered them to watch it together. They take it in Crais’s private quarters…where a red hologram of a superior officer tells him to pack it up out of the Uncharted Territories and return home asap. “the Council awaits a full explanation of your failure,” gulp. Can John’s enemy be so easily defeated? Crais turns to Teeg to confirm that her presence here was to take command from him if she refused. Teeg says yes, but that she considers her first priority to her captain. Yeesh, PK. Your officers don’t know how to deal with competing loyalties. :P Crais wants to negotiate with the council for more time to John-hunt.
John has a very different agenda in mind—can Haloth make Crais understand that Tauvo’s death was an accident? “That knowledge would dispel him of his vengeful thirst!” says an all-too-excited Haloth. :P Maybe he can help set that up. Back on the command carrier, the wizened man appears in Crais’s quarters! Crais barely has time to react before they’re zapped back to Victorian land. The Peacekeeper captain, stunned, runs around and makes threats to be returned to his ship. But Haloth grabs him with a quick glimpse of John, who disappears as Crais runs towards him. Haloth says he’ll give up John for a price…yeesh, that doesn’t sound like the deal he made with Crichton himself just now! :-/
Aeryn and D’argo are finally onto the scent that John is missing. D’argo is literally onto the scent. “His odor is even stronger than yours,” he says gruffly. “I don’t have an odor!” Aeryn replies incredulously. Oh, humor.
They find John unconscious in a sand-filled room! The two warriors rush to him…what’s going on here? Why isn’t he in the Victorian room?
Well, let’s join him there! Whatever part of “him” it is. :P Haloth returns to John, but immediately turns into the black-laced, poufy-collared, yellow-eyed Maldis. And Maldis says that he sold John out to Crais! Yikes. Crais runs in through some double doors in the back and John backs up.
Back in the market, Zhaan examines John’s body for wounds and D’argo has caught hold of a caped woman in red who claims she saw our human entering the room of sand alone, but Liko has a more complicated theory. “It was Maldis, wasn’t it?” he asks the frightened woman.
Somewhere else, John and Crais are circling each other. “This is just a hologram, right?” asks a nervous astronaut. “I am here, Crichton,” Crais assures him smugly. “To talk…” “To kill you!” The good captain grabs a long, steel pipe and the fight is on! Well, John’s mostly dodging bullets. “We had a deal!” he cries, to which Maldis replies screechily, “My services found a better price!” OK…chill, dude. Crais lands a whack on John’s wrist.
Zhaan examines this sudden wound on sleeping John’s hand. A clue as to what’s going on? Liko is in a pretty glum mood, claiming that they’re all as good as dead. Maldis’s power is “a dark and dangerous force, wielded by an evil sorcerer.” The people on this planet? All his prisoners. Maldis can “transcend corporeal form.” Aeryn isn’t put off by the fear tactics. She goes into battle mode, suggesting a revolt, but Liko is beaten down. He used to be a high priest—Zhaan perks up at this information. He tried to fight Maldis before, but his “spiritual powers” weren’t strong enough. “He likes fresh victims.” And there’s nowhere to hide either…even on Moya, he can reach them and remove their spirits from their bodies, like our good friend, John, here. Aeryn has her typical “bitch, please” reaction—maybe Maldis can imprison these “primitive people” but let’s see how he does with soldiers—to the batmobile, D’argo! …at least D’argo is definitely in the friend category with her now? :P Though D’argo, for all of the “shoot first” attitude he’s shown before, seems a bit more hesitant now. Maybe Officer Sun stands alone against the primitives, hee.
John hides in a dark corridor while he bandages his hand…Maldis appears to gloat at him and John answers with wtf. Maldis still offers nothing for his deception, and Crais is now stalking down the hall towards their voices. Eep.
John’s body, for all intents and purposes, is now safe back on Moya. :P They’ve dumped him on Rygel’s bed so the sickly, sweaty dominar can look after him. Rygel’s none too pleased, complaining that Zhaan should be doing this while Ryg rests and the others go in commando style. Zhaan is “helping by applying some Delvian mysticism to the situation,” Aeryn replies in tones that imply exactly what she thinks of that. :P I both love and am annoyed at that girl, hee. Rygel sneezes on our comatose human—our first “ick” humor of the day!
Zhaan and Liku prepare to fight mystically, but our Delvian’s new friend is skeptical about her abilities as a Pa’u. “You cultivated your powers to help others. Can you use it as a weapon?” This battle requires Zhaan’s desire—to harm, inflict pain, even kill. Zhaan looks very pained about all of this—some real fine acting by Virginia Hey! She grabs her new friend’s chin and tells him that before becoming a Pa’u, she used to be very violent. Intriguing backstory ahead!
Back in real time, John is having no luck finding an exit. Maldis appears—he likes to appear and disappear for mocking purposes—to tell him to save his anger for Crais. Who’s coming this way, screaming “murderer!” The twosome erupt into an all-out brawl on the ground. Props to John for trying to talk some sense into Crais while simultaneously blocking his advances. I didn’t kill your brother! Says John. You destroyed his prowler! Says Crais. Maldis, btw, is on Crais’s side, but John, briefly, gets the upper hand! He yanks the pipe away from his adversary and aims it at his chest. “It was an accident.” Breathing heavy, he stops to help Crais up. :-O Can reconciliation be in the air?
Zhaan is testing her ability to inflict pain by approaching none other than the two-headed bird John was playing with before. She’s pained and stroking their cheeks, and Liku plays the role of “the bad cop.” Apparently he’s had a change of heart about their chances of defeating Maldis. Who, btw, will only grow more powerful by feeding off of newbs like John and the rest of the crew. Zhaan reaches her hand out and the birds shriek in pain, frightening her enough to stop. She’s evolved past cruelty, she quails. “Try repressed,” snarls Liku. “You’ve choked off all your real emotions.” Damn, son. You’re starting to drink the Kool-aid a bit. He continues to taunt her attempts to keep control when she’s terrified…control only comes with admitting her fears. “You can destroy him!” “That’s what terrifies me,” Zhaan admits, and she runs.
John wanders stony passageways. He picks up a flaming torch just in time for Crais to enter. Fire suddenly appears in the pit between them, rather convenient. :P Crais flinches from the heat, giving John the in to remind us of Sebacean heat delirium. They continue to argue more about Tauvo’s death. John brings up the points about coming from the primitive planet, traveling in a primitive ship…having just arrived, why would he want to make enemies? Crais, his hair looking ever more frazzled, btw, continues to argue stubbornly—you’d do anything to save yourself, he asserts. “You rammed his prowler!” But even he’s beginning to realize how crazy he sounds…or maybe he just has fewer retorts to John’s arguments. Time for Maldis to step in and put this fight back on track! :-/
The sorcerer shows up with a projection of Crais’s dad! Crais and Tauvo, as young boys, come out as well. A memory plays out in front of them where two PK soldiers come to recruit the young boys (no one in this situation looks very happy. An interesting insight into Peacekeeper subscription and Sebacean culture. ) Dad wants a promise from young Crais—“I’m counting on you to protect him,” aka the younger bro. Crais agrees. As the two are dragged off and the memory fades, John, shocked, says he was “shanghaied” into service, jolting present-day Crais back to now with an unsure “It was an honor.” I just love the subtlety of this scene and what it says about the characters. Maldis, however, is not so subtle. He calls a Tauvo projection back—he’s a young man now who speaks kindly to his brother as Crais freaks. “Why are you doing this?” our sympathetic human asks Maldis. “Just to jog his memory…” now for Tauvo’s “current appearance!” Maldis waves a hand and Tauvo disappears in an explosion of flame, skin melting off his skeleton while Crais screams. And remember—it was John who did that! Incensed, Crais finally leaps over the fiery pit and John runs. “You can talk until your tongue falls out; he’s going to kill you regardless!” Maldis screams joyfully. Sheesh. Here’s a winner who rubs it in your face.
D’argo and Aeryn are back at the planet bazaar attempting their warrior response. The Luxan’s shots at Maldis’s door aren’t working, though. Aeryn’s none-too-pleased with D’argo’s “evil spell protection” excuse. Speaking of magic, though, Zhaan comes up and says she’s the only one who can hurt Maldis in his incorporeal form. Still struggling with the decision, she turns to D’argo for his advice about fighting evil with evil. D’argo thinks it over (he’s very thoughtful this episode) and then says “I suppose I would choose the lesser of two evils.” A tear rolls down Zhaan’s cheek as she accepts his advice. I’m very impressed with the makeup crew for not letting anything smudge, personally. :P Zhaan’s face is so intricate! Aeryn, perturbed when Zhaan just walks off, goes back to shooting the door. Yeah, good luck there.
John walks through a new room with thick columns and sees Crais between them. He calls out in a whisper to his enemy; Crais tries to get his hand through but can’t. A perfect opportunity for the two of them to continue talking without the threat of violence! :P Our human has new theories to lay down on the table. Maldis is feeding off of us, he says; “he’s jazzed up whenever we go at each other” and tired when we don’t. “He’s pushing your buttons,” John says, with his projections. “Maldis doesn’t command me!” Crais seethes. Maldis is the enemy here, not him, John continues, but Crais accuses him of playing tricks. Damn, that boy is stubborn with his bone. John continues with his psychology schtick and puts on his proverbial glasses to offer Crais a free personal analysis—“you’re beating yourself up because you were supposed to protect your brother.” Crais is breathing hard and looking vulnerable. John speaks softly—he tried to get clear and he’s sorry Tauvo is dead. Methinks the last part of the sentence is the most important. Nice for John to take some culpability there. But genuine emotions don’t seem to work well on PKs. “Tauvo is dead, shot down by a weak, pathetic, inferior being,” Crais grits. “It must be avenged!” Crais swears to Johnny-boy that he will die by his hand. Good thing for John that hand is stuck between columns. :P
And then suddenly Maldis pulls him away! He addresses John from Crais’s old spot. “You’re not as thick as I thought,” is his compliment. Aw, feel the love. He figured out Maldis’s endgame. “Yeah…you’re a vampire,” is John’s major Crichtonism of the day. It’s a surprisingly accurate depiction of how Maldis describes himself—“I feed on death. But don’t we all? I consume the life essence itself, preferably medium rare.” :-O John, you’ve been out-Crichtoned! I guess someone is enjoying his borrowed American puns. Speaking of which, the fighting is just “an appetizer.” Guess the evil sorcerer’s mother never told him not to play with his food. ;)
Zhaan has returned to Liku to apologize for chickening out before—she’s ready to bring the pain to the two-headed bird, and Maldis, too. Liku accepts, and Zhaan reaches out her hand to make the birds squeal. But suddenly she gets a com message from Rygel! Poor Hynerian is still waiting for his meds. :P Liku seems entirely too happy about the fact that “this is a better lesson”—inflict pain on a friend! *gulp* Zhaan isn’t sure if her pain-inducing spirituality can reach all the way to Moya, but maybe if they join together? (Which in this case means one hand on each other’s colorful chests, and the other two entwined.) Rygel, still in the midst of complaining, starts to choke! The pair shakes as they inflict the pain but finally, exhausted, they break apart. Zhaan resumes with her worrying because she “nearly enjoyed that.” Yeesh.
Meanwhile, whatever is happening with Crais’s body on the command carrier? Time to check in! Officers argue over their comatose captain who has been laid out in his bed. Teeg must assume command, they tell the lieutenant. But Crais’s most loyal shipmate refuses to take over—except to say that there will be no ship-to-ship contact, either. Kinda sounds like she doesn’t want anyone else to know of their whereabouts. Those PKs need to work on their company discipline!
Dargo and Aeryn have made nada progress outside the door. Aeryn thinks it’s time to overload her pulse pistol, which would cause an explosion to take down the entire wall. Just file that general artillery information away for awhile. ;) D’argo’s a bit skeptical…but from inside, or wherever the hell his incorporeal form is, Maldis is afraid it will work. So he psychically flings Aeryn’s pistol away—HA! Isn’t so easy now, Miss Soldier, is it? :P As the two warriors walk hesitatingly towards it, they are engulfed in red. Oh dear.
John is onto his favorite tactic for dealing with enemies, now—walking in plain sight and talking loudly so they can hear wherever they are hiding. :P OK, so Crais wants to kill him. There’s no getting around that point anymore. But what happens afterwards? Will Maldis let you go free so you could get your command carrier to attack him? Or maybe this whole “appetizer” fight sequence ends with Maldis killing them both. They’re in the first, black/white-checkered floor room and Crais appears behind a pillar. “Is your vengeance satisfied if Maldis kills me?” John goads him. “No,” Crais replies simply. John proposes a truce so they can defeat this greater enemy…but once John approaches him, Crais attacks, of course. Oh, Crichton. When will you learn? At the moment he’s crawling on the ground and the good captain is trying to whip him with a chain. Suddenly, “Farscape” has entered the world of BDSM! The chain finally gets him by the wrist and Crais is able to drag him along. John is finally able to kick it off, but ends up dislocating his arm. Ouch. Lots of violence this eppy! Maldis appears in time to mock him—“it’s kill or be killed!” John drops the chain and leaves.
Rygel stands over John’s body, assessing whether the human is dead yet or not. Let’s just go with yes. :P Rygel clears his throat so he can say a few words in the Hynerian fashion. “John Crichton, valued friend. No, wait a minute—‘valued friend’ is a bit of a stretch. John Crichton, unwelcome shipmate…” The WIN in that statement is almost enough to drown out the rest of what Rygel is saying! He starts to offer passage to the hallowed realms and then stops himself—“that’s for Hynerians. Go find your own hallowed realm! With the ceremony complete I declare you officially dead…and claim all your possessions for myself.” Ah, finally we get to the kicker! :P He starts yanking off John’s boots…
…and in Maldis-land, John starts shaking his legs as he walks, maybe like he feels a strange tug there. :P Hee. He starts ramming his injured arm into a wall. Maldis appears to reminisce about John’s memories—he’d once crashed his motorcycle and had to reset his arm himself, much like this. John’s not really interested in whatever the sorcerer has to say, but Maldis blocks his path. “I’m getting tired of appetizers; it’s time to die.” John laughs; “is that supposed to motivate me?” No, Maldis assures him, it’s actually a pretty sweet deal; only one of you has to die! “What’s the other one get; a free trip to Bermuda?” Well…maybe the outback, John? ;) Maldis gives Crichton his word that should he kill Crais and survive himself, he’ll receive free transport back to his ship. “It’s better than Crais’s, I assure you.” John, still laughing, sobers at that. He can’t reason with Crais, he’s finally figured out. “He’s an animal.” John’s sick of the pair of them. “You want gladiators, fine!” John’s officially now playing the game.
So is Zhaan, it seems, as she and Liku join together again and the red alien tells her not to hold back with Maldis. “No hesitation, no weakness…no mercy,” Zhaan agrees. John stumbles back to the checkered room and Crais comes through the door behind. They stare each other down on either side of the proverbial tumbleweed. But that only lasts a second before the two men are on each other in a well-choreographed dance of fisticuffs. John is pushed back on a tray of fruit and Crais grabs a plate to hit him with. Zhaan and Liku, joined by chests and hands, are moving violently in a trance—Zhaan’s eyes flip over and turn bright blue! Cool! John has Crais in a headlock. :P But suddenly the good captain disappears! John is jazzed up and turns to Maldis, demanding to have him back so he can finish the job. But Maldis refuses. That “death machine,” aka the command carrier, will now be headed straight for them. What will happen once the sorcerer gets a hold of that ship? “Carnage on a massive scale.” So much food he’ll be a glutton!
John guesses more—Crais will keep pursuing him as well, which was Maldis’s plan all along. Apparently Crais was actually thinking of obeying orders before and turning back… “but now he’ll never turn back!” Talk about an utter lack of accomplishing any reconciliation. That dish isn’t on the menu for anyone today. :P John attempts to stab Maldis with a fork, but of course the sorcerer just disappears. Reappearing elsewhere he says he was telling the truth when he promised that only one of them would be returning to his ship. Which means, of course, that John has to die. Maldis stalks forward and our hero, in regular human fashion, drops his weapon. Elswehere, Zhaan faints! Maldis reaches his hand out to John and the red light sprouts between them. But suddenly two blue, interlocked hands come in front of Maldis’s vision! They burn blue with Zhaan materializing behind, concentrating intensely. She’s made Maldis tangible, she tells John, so now you can finish him! She pushes the sorcerer to her shipmate. John takes a long, sorta eerie look at this guy before he punches him and he disappears in red. Hm. Is this John Crichton’s first kill?? Heavy episode, man. John and Zhaan then faint.
…our human, now reunited with his body, grabs onto Rygel and demands to know where he is. “You’re dying down on the planet!” answers a frightened Rygel. “I revived you!” LOL, that little Hynerian is always quick on his feet. John hugs him, gives him a kiss, then calls him “Toto” before falling back on the bad in gales of laughter. John Crichton is something else when he’s amused. :P
Zhaan wakes up, too, but her reunion with real life is far less optimistic. Liku is dying next to her. “I gave you all I had,” he says hoarsely. The Delvian, of course, wants to help further, but Liku is content enough that they defeated Maldis…enough so that he can let go at that very moment. Zhaan closes his eyes…D’argo and Aeryn, now free of Maldis themselves, watch from a respectful distance. Poor Zhaan…what a day.
Crais is feeling the affects of his day, too, as he recuperates on the command carrier. He commands the medic to erase all record that he was sickly at all—adding in that then it won’t become public knowledge that he wasn’t able to treat it anyway. Win win. He and Teeg walk as the others leave. Teeg reports proudly that no communications were sent while he was incapacitated. No one else knows about high command’s command. The others wanted to kill him and let her take command, but she said no. Sheesh, she’s really looking for something for all of this, isn’t she? Crais strokes her cheek tenderly…then moves to snap her neck! Whoa. Might be the most shocking scene of the episode. As the body falls, Crais comms the rest of his crew. They’re all going deeper into the Uncharted Territories. To himself, he mutters his promise to himself that no matter what, he will kill Crichton. Very commanding shot with Teeg’s body lying next to him.
On Moya, Zhaan explains that she could only dispose of Maldis, so he’s not dead after all. In fact, he might be back… *zips lips* :P Aeryn apologizes for mocking her before. “I see now that you’re more of a warrior than I thought.” Zhaan looks more horrified than comforted, and she stalks off. Aeryn is confused—what did she say? “You called her a warrior,” D’argo says solemnly. “You could not have hurt her more deeply.” Oh, Aeryn. It’s just not her day on the battlefield or in the emotional realm.
John is hanging in the mess hall and speaking to his friend, Deek, via his IASA recorder. He talks about how it was stupid, but he just had to hold onto that glimmer of hope that he could convince Crais of his innocence. But now he knows the good captain will keep at it until one of them dies. But hell, John, you can’t say you didn’t try to make it right.
Zhaan walks in, and John decides maybe he can try is therapy on her. :P She tells him that she used to be a savage. John shrugs it off, saying he never believed it, even when she told him of it before. “You’ve never seen that part of me. I thought I’d eradicated it,” says a spooked Zhaan. John seems to think it’s not a big deal now—she’d resurrected it to take care of Maldis, and now she can put it away again. Zhaan turns to him, intense. The savage is still in her and she doesn’t know if she can get rid of it this time, she says. Can I help? John asks (most definitely his MO.) He can be a listening ear if nothing else. He reaches for her, but Zhaan claws at him first. “No one can help me,” she hisses. Immediately mortified, she apologizes and leaves him. John looks after her, cradling his hurt hand with a spooked look on his face. Talk about a rough day!
As I said before…beyond the Maldis character, this was very much a hidden gem. We got to see more into what makes these characters tick—John’s relentless peacemaking (*drumroll please*), Crais’s stubborn streak, his guilt tied in with vengeance, Aeryn’s discomfort outside of the battlefield, and a glimpse of the savagery hidden in our gentle Zhaan. Such great character quirks to make all of these people more three-dimensional. The only thing missing from this episode, frankly, was Pilot! Maybe Lani Tupu was too busy playing Crais? ;) Alas. I missed the guy.
___
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}