...Different Destinations

Farscape Episode Review

In which field trips are always a bad idea and time-traveling field trips are even worse.

What Happened

Visiting a war memorial, John, perhaps not wisely, decides to cheer up Stark. He takes a masks that functions kinda like those recorded tours at a museum and slaps it on so Stark can see the show. The vision of the final battle for a monastery upsets Stark so much that he transports himself, Aeryn, John, D'Argo and Jool back in time.

Oops.

Everyone tries not to muck up the timeline and not get all the war refugees killed, but that doesn't work so well. A mystified Chiana and Pilot watch from Moya as the planet fluctuates from pleasant to hellish to blown to bitty bitty bits depending on what the others do.

Stark keeps trying to find the time tear, but freaks, screaming about millions dead who didn't used to be. John and Aeryn each screw up in various ways trying to put things right, but they are finally forced to use their pulse pistols to drive back the attacking horde.

When the time tear returns and Stark claims that everything is good, John promises that now that the soldiers are gone, the Horde will sue for peace. When they return to the present, however, and check the headsets, they learn that the Horde general could not control his troops. Instead of being allowed to live, the nurses and children were slaughtered, and that was what prompted the peace treaty.

What We Learned

• This memorial rocks.
• This is a peace memorial, let's not kill each other.
• Stark looks like Astro Boy.
• Jool got shot at a peace memorial.
• D'Argo won't kill anyone, but he'll maim a few.
• Well, that was obviously wrong.
• Jool will keep on shedding. Without renewal there's stagnation.
• Well, Chiana feels the same way about men, but she doesn't leave them lying around.
• Fear is good. Keep that, but travel light. Forget hate.
• Heroes always get killed.

Best Lines

Aeryn: "If we did change things, it is possible we changed things for the better."
John: "With our record, do you really think that's likely?"

Jool: "The planet can't be gone. I was just there two arns ago. I got shot and they made me drink piss."

What Did I Think?

I know that messing with time travel is bad, and that everything has consequences, but what a bummer ending.