Farscape Episode 1.10: “They’ve Got a Secret”

[chavalah.livejournal.com]

Over the years, somehow, I’ve forgotten a lot about this episode. This fact is alarming, given that it is a building block for characters that take root in prominent ways throughout the course of the show. The episode centers primarily around D’argo and Moya—I think you can get a gist of the action from the title. :P Suffice to say that Moya, being a bio-mechanoid, living ship, is privy to all sorts of creative twists, and those clever writers were awesome enough to take advantage of some. :D And D'argo...well, his past comes to light!


Aeryn, while repairing the ship, gets an electrical shock. …which passes to John since she’s sitting on his shoulders. :P (No ladders in the Uncharted Territories? Guess that detracts from the J/A moments, hee.) Apparently she’d found a badly installed hidden PK device from Moya’s collar days, and now the crew is performing sweeps to make sure no other such devices are on board. D’argo, elsewhere, complains about how this is DRD work, but Pilot chimes in that they’re busy with their regular duties (or maybe P-man’s still doing some payback from last eppy. ;D) Obviously any PK devices could be a threat to them, but Pilot has no data on how many could be aboard. Aeryn reminds John that any detonated PK device could bring Crais on them, so even being in the Uncharted Territories wouldn’t keep them safe…not that it ever really has, thus far. :P

D’argo climbs into a hole after his scanner finds a PK control panel. Pilot urges D’argo to be careful when moving it, but his comms are fuzzy. Uh oh. After several failed tries to remove it, our patient Luxan gives up and just yanks it—Pilot groans and Big D is zapped backwards and goes sliding down a tube! He’s able to stop himself somewhere inside and starts trying to inch himself back up. The others (John, Aeryn, Zhaan,) merge on command and attempt to locate him. D’argo ultimately comms them, but it’s all garbled except for “Peacekeeper device down here.” Another one? Yeesh, damn PKs. He kicks at the device with the PK markings, and it starts spewing fluid at him! The ship lurches and D’argo is back to sliding down the tube Pilot is searching, searching…he knows where Big D is…flying, with no space gear on, right out of the ship! :-O Looks pretty dire…

Aeryn, in her prowler and bug helmet, picks up D’argo outside. She and Zhaan place his frozen body down in the maintenance bay and attempt to revive him. John’s a bit shocked—he’s been in space for a half hour! Zhaan explains that Luxans can last in space, sans proper wear, for a quarter of an arn, so attempts CPR, and the ladies protest; “hasn’t he suffered enough?” Aeryn asks incredulously. Those with more Luxan knowledge have a different plan—they have to turn him on his stomach. The Delvian injects him in the neck and he jolts. Around them, the ship is lurching and the lights flickering. What’s that about? Crew’s distracted, though; D’argo blows some “nasty smelling breath” in John’face as he awakens. The others turn him around again and Big D catches sight of Zhaan…he calls her Lo’Lann, stroking her face and smiling. Oh dear. John and Aeryn ask about the device he found, but D’argo, going groggy, says he doesn’t remember and goes under again. He’ll survive, Zhaan assures her shipmates. Shew!

Meanwhile, the ship itself is still lurching about, and Pilot’s a bit cagey when asked for the 411. Some of Moya’s systems register odd readings. Meanwhile D’argo has some sort of debris on his clothes. Pilot is able to tell John Big D’s last known location before the explosion, so he and Aeryn are on it. Pilot tries to send DRDs to assist them, but the little buggers aren’t responding. Yikes, what is going on? Pilot sounds constipated…John figures there are shared side effects to the ship lurches. He’s still weirded out about being on a living ship at all, and Aeryn asks, “You have nothing similar in your culture?” Jonah and the whale is John’s first association…or the horse and the rider. They argue about capturing and using beasts of burden—hey, another time, guys! Remember, ship problems? :P Aeryn calls it “enslavement,” but luckily they’re interrupted by the sounds of DRDs lasering up D’argo’s hole. John thinks the air smells “stale” and tells Pilot he’s found some DRDs. A disconcerted Pilot is confused; why are they down there on their own? One of them sprays purple goop on Aeryn, effectively gluing her foot to the ground! :-O Aeryn stumbles, and then the same happens to her hand. A little tranquilizer gun comes out, yikes! But John yanks it and grabs it out before it can do real damage. Let that be a lesson to you, DRDs. When there are two subjects, make sure to nail them both down. :P

Zhaan is performing diagnostics over D’argo’s prone body; the scanner picks up a hologram of his physiology. But apparently said scanner is less efficient than usual. Pilot doesn’t appear on the clamshell to talk with Zhaan about it. John comes in and says he and cranky, floor-stuck Aeryn were victims of a DRD ambush. The tranquilizer gun is stuck with purple goop to John’s hand and Zhaan notices the same residue found on D’argo. She extracts it and says that the particles are bio-mechanoid, like Moya. The science geeks are distracted by the “uniform matter” under a microscope while Aeryn continues to complain over comms. Eesh, they’re kinda lucky another DRD didn’t drop by to finish the job, but the former PK probably has her pulse pistol out by now. :P Anywho.

John is back with a solvent that has to be applied very delicately…of course this means he’s back to being in close contact with Officer Sun. *eye waggle* :P Aeryn wants to track down the DRD “and rip out it’s antennae,” leaving John to intone “happy place…go to your happy place.” Though he does agree that a DRD mutiny against them is a bit of a problem. The solvent is beginning to work—slowly—but impatient to be off the ground Aeryn yanks her hand off, thankfully not losing half of it along the way. Purple gunk is still stuck between her fingers, reminding me of her Pilot getup last eppy.

Aeryn washes the solvent off her hand as John explains that D’argo found a “bio-mechanoid weapon.” He thinks maybe it’s a virus that’s now affecting Moya, Pilot and D’argo. Aeryn points out that a bio-mechanoid virus shouldn’t affect Pilot and D’argo, but John’s now distracted by the fact that the virus could spread through the air ducts Everyone’s in danger!

Zhaan leads a revived D’argo to his quarters to recuperate. The Luxan still calls her “Lo’Laan,” and swoons at her. Zhaan presses for more information; what does Big D see when he looks at her? “Our future,” D’argo answers. “You and me together, no matter what the others say.” …what is he talking about? He’s agitated and fidgety when Zhaan asks him, “who is Lo’Lhaan?” Who indeed.

Paranoid John, in the mess hall with Aeryn, has more theories about the virus messing with them—it’s obviously connected to the stale air. Sheesh…I’d say cool it, John, but technically we humans should be a little frightened of space viruses we haven’t encountered before. :-/ Aeryn confirms that the danger of any virus depends on the individual’s immune system. As a Peacekeeper from birth, she was bred on a ship, where she stayed in a controlled environment before being sent off on assignment. What about the STDs, your “space transmitted diseases” John quips. Aeryn confirms that PKs have inoculations for known viruses (John mutters about maybe finding some on board,) meanwhile if they encounter something new, their scientists are able to concoct a blocker. So sebaceans have no disease…though so far, heat delirium is incurable, no one but me brings up. :P Moya, meanwhile, would have to attack a virus. “You have no idea how advanced this is to me,” says an emotional John. “I think I do,” Aeryn replies, grinning. Cheeky. But it’s not just the empirical know-how Crichton’s talking about. “Disease and death are rampant on my world.” Your standard virus might kill humans, animals and crops “at incalculable rates.” (I’d think more of us are killed by war and famine, but maybe I’m just making huge third world assumptions here.) Aeryn points out that this might be ecological population control, which also makes a bit of sense, seeing as we’re overpopulated. Anywho, John is still wowed by how far ahead our Sebacean cousins are. “Creatures still die out here, and find new ways to suffer and to make others suffer,” says an astute Aeryn. Though she’s still confused as to why John would want to go back to a place with so much death and suffering. John’s answer is easy—“well, you guys don’t have chocolate.” :P Hee.

Later, John and the DRDs arrive at an awkward stand-still. :P Truce time? Aeryn tastes something spoiled…the refrigeration unit is out! They’re finally able to get Pilot up on the clamshell…he sounds worse than ever, getting out that he suspects “intentional sabotage” before he passes out! The ship now lurches and flickers even worse. Yikes.

Aeryn has gone down to see Pilot; she can’t figure out how to revive him. He’s alive, she says, “but his vitals are extremely low.” John and Zhaan attempt to man the command controls, and Aeryn does the same in Pilot’s den. Officer Sun is able to stop the lurching! :-O She recognizes the controls…maybe from now sharing Pilot’s DNA?? Such a cool development. Zhaan confirms that Moya is fighting for control, but the environmentals are now all out of whack. “What we’re breathing now is all that we’ve got,” the Delvian says more succinctly. Eesh, Zhaan, you’ll make John even more paranoid. :-/

…and we have our first Rygel sighting of the episode! :D He’s pawing at D’argo’s stuff, of course, while the Luxan lies sleeping. D’argo wakes up and Rygel stutters…this could be bad. Gulp. But D’argo calls him “Jothee,” telling him to “come here, boy. Now.” He’s using a stern but non-threatening voice. Rygel backs up on his thronesled, so the Luxan picks him up…and hugs him! :-O He then puts him on the bed to lecture him about stealing. “What is the matter with you?” Rygel demands. D’argo’s response is to tickle him, lol. “Jothee…you’re so big!” he croons. “My size is not up for discussion,” Rygel snaps. Aaw. D’argo says he knows why “Jothee” is upset. “We’re outsiders here. People treat you like a stranger.” “Strange is right!” Rygel interjects. D’argo explains that they had to get away because his mother’s family despised him on sight. “We came to a place where no one could tell us what we thought and felt was wrong.” “Well, I’m telling you!” Rygel the amusing snaps. D’argo chuckles and says “I love you, son.” …SON? :-O “No matter what happens, I’ll always love you.” Aww, lookit D’argo the father! ♥

John looks at scans of Pilot’s veins. The stale air is starting to affect Zhaan. She confirms that Moya can function without Pilot (should something awful happen to our low-vitals guy.) And the environmentals, obviously, are for the crew, not for Moya. There’s no way she knows of to communicate with Moya directly, either. …sounds like some cool foreshadowing there! :D Meanwhile, Aeryn, via clamshell, tells the others that Pilot’s blood has been nutrient-starved. John theorizes, as usual, that it’s all virus related…but Zhaan has another stunning revelation to make. After looking through the microscope she’s confirmed that there is no virus! :-O It’s all natural to Moya. And not from the explosion either because of the uniform matter, science, science. :P Their next step is to go back to the Peacekeeper device that D’argo found. Aeryn, meanwhile, is attempting to revive Pilot, which only jolts the ship.

Our human calls up Rygel on the clamshell (have we seen non-Pilots den via clamshell before? /stickler); the Hynerian is supposed to be watching Big D, but D’argo “tucked him in” and went for a walk, lol. Rygel explains the “Jothee” business. Now, D’argo is looking for “Lo’Lann.”

Apparently he’s looking in the mess hall, staring out into space, because that is where John found him. When our human asks how he feels, D’argo responds with “unsteady.” :-/ John explains that the ship is in trouble, but when Big D turns, he calls Crichton “Macton.” He stalks forward, angry and glaring. “You may despise your sister f[Lo’Laan] or marrying me…but don’t insult her by forgetting her name.” :-O The plot thickens. John catches onto the fact that the “people” D’argo is addressing were, in fact, real. :P Ya’think, John? Meanwhile D’argo shifts and remembers Crichton for who he is. John wants to know what he last saw before the explosion. D’argo is groggy now, but he remembers the shaft and a Peacekeeper shield holding something back. But then he shifts again and throws “Macton” against a wall. “You dare to dishonor her even though she’s dead!” He throws John down and starts bawling—something very deep has opened up within our Luxan. :-/

Aeryn, still in Pilot’s den, attempts to help John locate this shield. The lights have no gone into red safety mode, yikes. D’argo doesn’t have the mental faculty to help them right now, so John’s on his own…along with some DRDs guarding the passageway. *whistles* Aeryn thinks there might be a parallel route, so John wisely gets his ass outta there. :P John finds a hole similar to D’argo’s and climbs in. He comms Aeryn, gets no response…but there are bigger fish to fry now. Gulp. A few dozen DRDs line Moya’s veined walls, looking like eerie, cave light fixtures. And they come in for attack, shooting their lasers! Dun dun DUUUN. John runs then slides out the hole-sized door…and right into the tranquilizer guns of some waiting DRDs. “Shut down all the garbage disposals on the detention level the DRDs!” Luke Crichton tells C-3PO Aeryn. :P Aeryn is confused, but they ultimately power down.

John brings an offline DRD to the ladies. D’argo took “Jothee” on an “excursion,” he hears. :P Aeryn is worried about the DRDs being down when they perform vital services for Moya. “You missed that Hitchcock picture that was playing a little while ago where a block of these guys tried to kill me,” John quips. He’s finally let go of the virus theory—a virus wouldn’t affect DRDs; they’re totally mechanical. “They do what someone tells them to do.” And with Pilot unconscious, that has to be Moya! :-O She has an independent mind, right? Maybe she consciously cut Pilot off so he couldn’t keep us alive. “Our beloved ship may be trying to kill us.” Only on “Farscape.” ♥

Our clucky human is using the floor again to make notes. He doesn’t want to use Moya’s systems and alert her to their fledging plans. He theorizes that they’re like bacteria to Moya, so as long as they don’t give her a symptom she won’t notice them. “My body contains no bacteria,” Zhaan replies off-hand, but it’s a nice bit of Delvian detail, hee. John, now working in total darkness, is trying to find a way to access and reset Moya’s higher functions. It’s like a figurative control collar, but what other choice do they have? Aeryn tries to access higher life functions from Pilot’s den, which I’d think Moya would be more aware of, personally. John comms Rygel, who’s getting a “piggyback ride,” lol, to bring D’argo to command.

Out in space, all of Moya’s lights are starting to flicker out. The air is thinning out…because they’re in the mountains, D’argo theorizes to Rygel. Zhaan and John come in, with John sneaking around back. D’argo kisses “Lo’Lann,” with more swooning. “How could you give up everything to love someone like me?” Zhaan says she loves him, too, (and I think she likes the PDA, honestly :P) and says she needs his help. They’re in danger! “Not here…they’re not looking for us anymore; we’re safe,” Big D tries to soothe her. John calls from behind…it’s “Macton!” He demands to know what D’argo is doing here. “Keep your hands off my sister.” (Rygel and Zhaan go :-O) “I reject you and I reject your marriage!” “Macton” continues. He accuses D’argo of “cowering from her memory…” “Her memory burns in my very soul,” D’argo says, turning to Zhaan with a choked “you’re dead!” John goes back to being John, addressing his friend in a softer tone, imploring him to remember the present. But D’argo attacks him! “You killed her!” he accuses “Macton.” He killed Lo’Lann to keep her from D’argo. Now John is :-O. “Her own brother killed her?” Zhaan asks, stunned. D’argo turns to Rygel. “Please understand—I had to send you away. I was charged with your mother’s murder.” His last act was to send Jothee someplace safe; he was convinced that Macton or someone like him might come after the boy. “But I can’t be sure that you’ve remained safe until I see you again.” Aye, there’s the rub, the hidden secret that D’argo is now embroiled in. John calls to him again, and D’argo sees him for who he is. He explains that when Macton arrested him, “he still had her dried blood on his hands.” Powerfully performed by Anthony Simcoe, OMG. Amazing. John is confused…didn’t a Peacekeeper arrest him? His own brother-in-law, Macton, was that PK. Zhaan publicly realizes, then, that Lo’Lann must have been a sebacean—inter-species marriage! D’argo takes out a hologram cube of Lo’Lann and Jothee that he carries on his person. His family dances in front of the crew as D’argo returns fully to the present.

John asks D’argo where the explosion took place. Aeryn, at Pilot’s controls, is moving towards shutting down Moya’s higher functions. But if John finds the Peacekeeper shield first then they can stop this dangerous procedure. It’s even worse than all that…because all Officer Sun can do is cut the connections permanently. :-O “If I do this, we all have to be a part of it,” she intones. John gives his consent after sharing a moment with Zhaan and D’argo. Yikes. D’argo leads them back to the hole that the DRDs covered…he kicks in the new material and John, wearing a space suit and attached to a cable (smart move) steps inside. By the time he reaches the shield he’s running low on oxegyn. Aeryn, meanwhile, has welded through to some protective casing around the higher life functions. John sees that the shield is surrounded by Moya particles, but there’s something else further down. He goes for it, over Zhaan’s protests that they’re running out of cable slack. Aeryn’s gotten through the casing and is about to cut! John drops through to a cavern, using the cable as rope. He shines his light on something and looks slightly wary as he asks Zhaan, “do you know how Leviathans reproduce?” Zhaan and D’argo give each other :-O expressions. Does this mean…John thinks Moya is pregnant! He shines a light on a tiny, Leviathan fetus encased in what looks like a mini-Pilot’s den. The little guy is surrounded by several inactive DRDs. D’argo triggered a pregnancy! Moya’s protecting her baby! Aeryn comms to say she’s almost finished severing life functions…her crewmates cry desperately for her to stop! Of course she can’t hear them over her electrical saw thing. :P She finally hears, after a terse few seconds of Moya (and baby’s) lives on the line. John takes off his helmet, looks at the tubes surrounding the baby, and addresses their ship directly. He tells her what she’s doing to nurse her baby is killing Pilot and the rest of them. The baby needs the DRDs, John realizes; “we’re killing the baby!” Freaks him out a bit as if he’s the father, not D’argo. ;) I kid. Anywho, he comms Aeryn tersely again to tell her to re-power the little guys. Aeryn is annoyed by being out of the loop, but she complies. The DRDs, back online, come at Crichton! Will he be mincemeat? Their guns are pointed…but John kneels, slowly, in front of them. I guess he figures if he can address Moya at all, it would be through the DRDs. We can see him in their mechanical, red eyes. :P John lays a big-ass gun he brought in front of them. He tells Moya that they would never hurt her or the baby. “We’re happy that you’re having a child,” says an obviously feklempt Uncle John. :P “Do we have to die so that your baby can live?” Apparently, Moya decides that’s not necessary. :P The DRDs power down their weapons and fresh air finally comes in! “I bet that thing’s gonna grow…” a bewildered John is still looking at the baby. Oh John, you really have no idea. :P

A re-invigorated Pilot addresses Zhaan, Rygel and John in the mess hall. He’s felling much better, he says. John wants to know how Moya could accomplish all of this without Pilot knowing about it…Pilot basically explains that he’s the servicer and she’s the powerful employee who can do what she likes. :P And in order to nourish her sudden offspring, “Moya had to reroute a few resources.” Rygel scoffs—“she nearly suffocated us and starved you!” “That’s all behind us,” says a very forgiving Pilot—I mean sheesh, if he can forgive the crew for cutting off his arm…poor Pilot, having to deal with all this crap. *hugs* The fetus is alive and well. Zhaan wants to know “what to expect” during the Leviathan gestation process—John suggests taking out a copy of the book. :P Once again Pilot doesn’t know everything, so what an adventure this will be! “The Peacekeepers put up a shield to keep this from happening,” John reminds everyone. What’s that about? It’s certainly something they’ll all have to deal with soon!

Elsewhere, Aeryn checks in on D’argo. The Luxan thanks her quietly for coming after him in her prowler, an act Aeryn’s all but forgotten about in the excitement of the eppy. :P “You’re welcome.” She smiles. D’argo sighs. Aeryn cautiously asks for his wife’s brother’s name. “Macton Tal.” Aeryn doesn’t know him. She comes closer to D’argo, who is facing away from her. She asks to see the hologram, and D’argo shows her. “She’s quite beautiful,” Aeryn says, her eyebrow arching. “Does it surprise you that such a sebacean woman would love me?” D’argo still doesn’t look at her. They’re standing on either side of the hologram—former-PK and Luxan. Aeryn explains how it’s been “ingrained from birth” in PK culture that bloodlines had to be kept pure. “Such unions are evil.” D’argo takes back the hologram. “Do you therefore think that my son is evil?” No,” Aeryn says. She kneels next to him. “In his eyes, I see you.” Whoa. Her eyes are steely as she promises that no matter what happens to them, “I will never tell anyone about your son.” Aeryn gets up and leaves, and D’argo finally looks after her.

SO WOW. What an ep! Two major events with long-serving consequences. Moya is pregnant. (And the boys slid down her fallopian tubes...) Who would have thought a ship could do that? :P It has something to do with the Peacekeepers…why did they try to stop the gestation? What can we expect now? It’s going to be a wild ride. Something I think more about in the rewatch, though, is why did Moya think she had to cut environmentals to help her baby? Did she truly believe the others were a threat? Did she turn into the crazy mom trope? :P These last few episodes have proven that our beloved crew, though certainly starting to care about each other, is more comfortable throwing others under the bus than I remember. Is it an alien thing? Is life just hard in the Uncharted Territories? It definitely gives the show a steely edge.

But there is also a very emotional, “human” (for lack of a better term) edge. Jothee and Lo’Lann (as a memory, anyway,) will also be back for more. Several episodes ago, John found out that D’argo wasn’t imprisoned for the reasons he told people he was. Now we know his whole story. It’s interesting to note that out of the three original prisoners, only Zhaan (we assume, from her violent past,) actually committed a crime. Rygel was deposed and D’argo framed. It’s a nice twist that gives them all more depth. Notice that D’argo was never just the brutish warrior—even with “Macton”—when reliving the horror of losing Lo’Lann. He has an amazing, sensitive side.

A final note on D’argo and Aeryn….wooow. What an arc their characters have gone through. They started out as bitter enemies who grew to have grudging respect for each other’s military skills. Now…dare I think that they’re friends? The fact that Aeryn sought D’argo out and put her respect for him before all her training about inter-species coupling is pretty astounding. This is the reason the show is worth watching, people. Enemies become friends, a family. And people grow into the best versions of themselves they can be. For a tale that can occasionally be dark and twisted, that’s a powerful message.

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