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Natural
Election
Season 4, episode 6
Note: this is a mini-review to fill the gap until I get a chance to catch up with the full review.
Rygel's playing Captain and allowing Crichton some leeway to see how his wormhole knowledge jibes with reality. He has spotted readings that would seem to indicate that one is about to open, and indeed, it does, just a few microts after he expected it. Hey, cool, something works! Crichton's satisfaction is short-lived, however, as Moya collides with something as she's backing away from the wormhole.
alt.tv.farscape regulars Trouble dubbed this episode, "Revenge of the Space Plankton," and a more apt title could not be found. Moya has been encased by a giant space-faring plant which feeds on metal. D'Argo's expert marksmanship -- blasting the plant off Moya's hull -- only makes matters worse, as it burrows inward and invades every tier and system.
This is the first true "bottle" episode we've had in ages, and it works quite well. It looks great, especially the wormhole shots and the fuzzy purplish plant, which managed to look harmless while spreading with malevolence. Noranti and Sikozu fill Zhaan's old analysis and problem-solving role, with Sikozu's pointed remark that Noranti "defies the law of natural selection" providing the basis for the twist to which the title refers. More than one plan goes very much awry, and there are some moments of levity. Character development is not ignored, either, with Crichton and Aeryn finally getting a little more time to talk about what, exactly, is going on with her.
And here is where we run into a huge stumbling block: Aeryn explains that she can maintain a pregnancy in stasis for up to seven cycles, and therefore she doesn't know who the father is, since she could've conceived any time in the past 7 years. This seven-cycle-stasis plan is supposedly Peacekeeper High Command's way of preventing huge swathes of their officers from becoming unavailable due to pregnancy at inopportune times (a surgeon must perform a simple procedure to allow the pregnancy to continue).
I could rant at length about the ridiculousness of this proposition, but I'll limit myself to one nitpick: the women must know when they conceive, so they can take care not to endanger their babies. Note that Aeryn refused to repair the vapor leak because it could linger in her system. If the in-stasis-babies are subjected to normal risks, then their host mothers wouldn't be very useful in combat, would they? Typical combat scenarios involve energy weapons, but also chemical and biological weapons as well. What good is it to put the babies in stasis just so they can be exposed to all sorts of dangers, because their mothers don't know when they conceived?
They got one thing perfectly right, though: Crichton's decision to withdraw from the field until Aeryn "gets [her] story straight." It's obvious he still loves her, but he can't afford to be drawn into a relationship in which there are so many unanswered questions. Aeryn is the one holding out here, and as long as she does, Crichton is wise (if miserable) to keep his distance.
As for the title, in a somewhat surprising but welcome development, D'Argo is elected "captain", for lack of a better term, since Pilot and Moya requested that the crew elect a single spokesman for conveying orders to Pilot. I always enjoy Anthony Simcoe's performances and he has been having great fun this season. With D'Argo's new role, here's hoping we get to see even more of him, and to watch D'Argo finally grow up.