Season 1, Episode 13: “The Flax”
***1/2 out of *****
“You lost to Kcrackic on purpose?”
“You think it was easy? He was an abominable player! A switched-off DRD would’ve made a better showing for itself. Oh, please. Bluffing is what the game’s all about!”
During transport pod flight lessons, Aeryn and John get caught in an invisible pirate space-net. (That is, the net is invisible. The pirates are not. At least, I didn’t see any invisible pirates.) While D’Argo heads off with an ex-pirate “garbologist” named Staanz to rescue them and look for a Luxan ship that might have useable maps, Zhaan, Rygel, and Pilot must deal with the rest of the pirates.
A good, fun episode, if slightly workmanlike. It’s also one that shows how the people aboard Moya are beginning to take into consideration the well-being of those they travel with and come together as a “crew” of sorts. Aeryn preferred to save John and risk not getting rescued before their air runs out rather than let him die to save herself. D’Argo, who previously chopped off Pilot’s arm for a chance to get home, turns back from another chance to get home in order to save Aeryn and John. And Rygel schemes his way to helping get the pirates off of Moya and away on the wrong track rather than purely helping himself. Granted, that also helped him, too, but it’s Rygel, so we take what we can get.
Rygel’s bit is really my favorite part. He pulls a fantastic bluff, pretending to have gotten into a bad position in the game and then wagering Staanz’s whereabouts when cornered. Except it’s all an act. He already had Pilot change the coordinates in the computer and so sent Kcrackic[1] off on the wrong course, since he knew the pirates wouldn’t leave them unscathed unless they thought they’d gotten something of value. I’ll admit, he completely bluffed me as well as he did them upon my first viewing. Granted, he did have some help from the episode’s director, but still. Fantastic illustration of Rygel’s character.
The episode ends with John and Aeryn promising each other that their sexual near-miss in the pod when they thought they were about to die was a one-time thing due to the heat of the moment, and that it will never happen again. It’s clear they both aren’t really buying it, and neither of them seem particularly bothered by that…
Last line:
“One thing. Just to be absolutely certain. You are the female of your species. Right?”
Other Comments:
It seems to be terribly poor spacesuit design to have non-universally sized helmets. But, then, I’m not an engineer, am I[2]?
——
[1] I confess I had to look the spelling of that name up, and it is NOT what I’d expected it to be.
[2] No, I’m not.
The kiss, the kiss and Aeryn’s “someone’s docking!?” Have to be my favorite bits. So close!