A Human Reaction

Farscape Episode Review

In which Crichton needs a new species.

What Happened

Moya spots a wormhole that goes to Earth, and John wastes no time in shooting through it. Okay, he wastes a little time saying goodbye to Aeryn and being encouraged by D'Argo and playing with his father's lucky charm. Then, he goes.

His homecoming isn't exactly pleasant. The Australian government decides he's an alien. Or maybe a spy. Or maybe they're just having fun.

Jack Crichton shows up and blusters in to see his son. He confides that the wormhole John opened is still there and it is freaking everyone out. That's nothing compared to what breaks loose when Moya's transfer pod lands. Aeryn explains that they got too close to the wormhole and got sucked in. The government locks them up, dissects Rygel and takes D'Argo somewhere sinister. Crichton and Aeryn escape, but as they decide where to go, John begins realizing that something is wrong.

The people are all people he knew; all the places, someplace he's been; all the magazines and newspapers are seven months old. He goes looking for someplace he's never been and finds it in the women's room of a pool hall: a orange swirling void. He goes back to the base and finds Aeryn, D'Argo and a living Rygel, who are being watched by "Jack."

It was all a test, even the wormhole they saw. The species John is talking to can transport themselves to only one planet in the universe to rebuild their species in cohabitation with whoever was there first. They needed to know how they would be received if they went to Earth.

Based on the "human reactions" they saw in John, they decide Earth would be the wrong place to try and let John and the others go.

What We Learned

• Jack was late to John's tenth birthday.
• Nothing like a family guilt trip to break the ice.
• They don't have chocolate on the other side of the universe.
• Peacekeepers wouldn't even kill their prisoners to study them. (Which contradicts Crais' bluster in the pilot, but maybe he was just flapping his gums. He does that.)
• Beer is like ferlip nectar.
• Aeryn's got a lot to blame Crichton for.
• The highest life form on the planet is also the most destructive.

What I Missed

• I was initially confused as to whether Aeryn was on the pod, or if her was presence part of the illusion. The episode ends before we get any reaction from her or Crichton about their night together, but we do get little details dribbling out in later episodes, so I'll get over it.
• So did they try imagining themselves visiting the Luxans or Rygel's world?
• What would have happened if they'd just happened to get hold of an especially optimistic member of a species? Would they believe the flowers and unicorns prediction and get an unpleasant surprise?

What Did I Think?

Yeah, yeah. Humans suck.