Brief synopsis:
Entering into a deep golden mist to hide from Peacekeeper patrols, the crew are shocked when Aeryn returns from a patrol, 160 cycles older than when she left, only a solar day ago. She tells them to leave the mist, but Crichton is unwilling to go so easily, and travels with Aeryn into the mist to find out the truth. He is trapped inside a portal where Aeryn had been, in another dimension, on a planet where she has family, a granddaughter. He too ages, and are forced to wait 55 cycles for a chance to see Moya again. When they do however, its too late, the crew are stuck, and Aeryn passes away. It is left to Zhaan and Stark to find a way to pierce time and help the crew escape the mist.

The Main Story:
Moya and crew went to hide in a deep golden mist so as to evade Scorpius and his command carrier. The visibility in the mist is a mere 300 metras, so while Moya had remained still for the last solar day, Aeryn had gone on a recon mission to investigate the mist, but she is late returning. Ex-Banik slave, Stark, has returned to Moya, and he meets Zhaan as soon as she finishes her meditation. After this, the crew await Aeryn's return, but are shocked when she gets back to Moya. The pod she arrives in looks worn and battered, and when the hatch opens there is more evidence of damage, and a considerable time passes without any movement. Eventually, D'Argo and Crichton investigate, noticing that the plant Zhaan gave Aeryn is there, but far larger, and then they find Aeryn.

Unbelieveably, Aeryn is old, very old, perhaps 200 cycles. She warns them, telling Crichton that he must leave the mist, that it isn't safe here. She then says she has to get back to see her granddaughter, all to Crichton's amazement. He doesn't believe her though, and thinks its all just a medical problem that can be fixed. He points at the locket she is wearing, given to her by Chiana as a "sorry for smashing your Prowler" gift, trying to bring her back to reality. He doesn't succeed though, and Aeryn goes on to tell him that she has been away for 165 cycles, and that she has had three sons. Eventually Crichton pursuades Aeryn to be submitted to medical tests, not willing to accept that she has aged this much in a single solar day. Chiana and Rygel meanwhile take this opportunity to see if Aeryn has brought back anything of value in her pod. D'Argo of course, does not approve.

D'Argo sends Chiana to watch over Aeryn, but this turns out to be pointless as Aeryn quickly drugs Chiana, putting her to sleep for a while, allowing her to go to Pilot's den and explain the situation, asking him to stay out of the mist, and then let her escape on a transport pod. She heads off back to the planet where her family supposedly lives, but Crichton is quick to find out about the departure, and follows her to a desert world. Once there he points out that no life could be sustained, but then Aeryn's granddaughter arrives, proving Aeryn really was in her right mind. Aeryn convinces Crichton to leave, asking him to return in eight arns when a portal will reopen between the mist where Moya is, and the planet below. Crichton does as she says, but doesn't make it in time, and is similarly stuck the wrong side of the portal.

Back on Moya, Stark puts forward a theory about Center Halos, regions where time does not exist. This could mean that it wasn't Aeryn who aged fast, but instead they are all stuck as they are. Scorpius and other enemies may also have grown old, which would be good, but D'Argo realises the same would be true for his son, and all those characters who the crew cared for. To test this theory, Stark suggests to Zhaan that they share unity in order to sense the time continuum, and though the result is the pair getting hurled apart, they have an influence on the time around them, suggesting that Stark's theory is correct.

Back on the planet below, Crichton has grown old, and looks much like Aeryn. Ennixx wonders if Crichton has gone crazy, as he continually talks to the Scorpius clone, Harvey, inside his head. Still, Aeryn and Crichton seem content with eachother's company, chatting about gardening. In fact, Crichton reveals that the last 55 cycles would have been totally intolerable, but for one thing - the fact that he spent them with Aeryn. She is enough to keep him sane and full of life, as if he was as young as the day he arrived, no matter what the Scorpius clone might try. They go on to talk about Aeryn's locket, and which man's picture is in there - her husbands, or Crichtons? She says it belongs to the love of her life, and so scared of what it could mean, Crichton refuses to look.

When the portal reopens, both Aeryn and Crichton wish to leave. Crichton because he never truly fit in, and Aeryn because she wished to die in space, in line with her Peacekeeper breeding. When they arrive on Moya, D'Argo and the other crew go aboard the transport pod, and find John, with Aeryn in his arms. Aeryn passed away on the journey to Moya, at peace in space. D'Argo then begins making plans for their escape from the mist, and Crichton suggests that they reverse back to their original point of entry. The mist begins to harden though, and they are unable to move. To get round this, Pilot agrees to try and dangerous manoeuver, a reverse starburst. Meanwhile Crichton returns to Aeryn, and talks to her, or perhaps to himself, telling her of his regrets that he was never able to show her things on Earth, and do the things they would have like to have done. He opens her locket, and is reduced to tears when he sees his own image sitting inside.

Pilot attempts the reverse starburst, but this causes time to freeze almost completely. Things slow down swiftly, and the starburst needs to be aborted, but this can only be done manually from command. With time running out, Zhaan and Stark join in unity, as they did before, sensing the time continuum. They use this to talk with Crichton, presumably through the bond formed in unity once shared between Zhaan and Crichton. Together they keep time alive for Crichton, and urge him to run to the controls on command. He does so, albeit slowly, and makes it to command just in time, hitting the controls and setting Moya free. The next thing we see is Crichton, back as a young man again, looking out of the portal into the mist, discussing whether or not to enter the mist. Somehow Stark and Zhaan managed to use the starburst to make the crew return to this point in time, allowing themselves to decide not to enter the mist.

Aeryn offers to fly recon, into the mist, as she had done before, but thankfully Zhaan and Stark arrive at command in time to warn her not to. They insist that Moya does not enter the mist. Though they don't explain fully, its enough to convince Crichton and the other crew, so they ask Moya to go around the mist. It seems that only Zhaan and Stark remember, and this they presume is because they were in unity, immune to time during their escape, where as the others were simply brought back to the moment before they entered the mist. Stark now takes the opportunity to talk with D'Argo. With the mist missed, he shows D'Argo a picture of his son, which he found as part of a slave shipment.

D'Argo is furious at first, and demands to know how long Stark has known for. Zhaan calms D'Argo down though, and explains that Stark was waiting for the right time, and that they still have a few solar days to reach the auction. D'Argo, more relaxed now, is thankful for this gift, and goes away with thoughts of his son. Crichton meanwhile goes to talk with Aeryn, sharing a feeling that perhaps something happened, something between them in fact. Aeryn tries to undo her locket, as it is jammed at the front, but as Crichton approaches, it opens, and dust pours out. As the dust falls to the ground, perhaps representing time, Aeryn and Crichton look at eachother in amazement. Had they perhaps remembered their lives inside the mist?

Trivia Quiz:

References and continuity:

• John talks of a Lake in Maine (examples including the Moosehead lake), most of which are a spectacular sight, and he thinks (probably correctly) that Aeryn would have loved to see it.
• Who is this Stark? He was also a prisoner on Scorpius's Gammak base, a Banik slave, with special mental powers that helped those near death pass to other realms (which he did for Gilina in The Hidden Memory). He left aboard a transport pod, but returned the borrowed ship during this episode.
• Does the plan Crichton has to leave the mist sound familiar? Leave at the exact entry point... Think back to Through The Looking Glass, when he was advised by the powerful interdimensional being that to rescue Moya they needed to be guided back to their point of entry and released to the correct dimension.
• Crichton spends a lot of time with the chip growing in his head as he grows older. In Die Me, Dichotomy we get to see what happens if the chip takes hold, so why didn't this occur in this episode? Perhaps Harvey couldn't see a way out. He was just as stuck as Crichton, so all he could do was argue, and not actually do anything.

Aeryn: "John! John, you have to get out of here. You have to get out now."

Aeryn had lived her life away from space and the crew, and didn't want John to have to do the same. Nobody believed her though, which may have meant Crichton suffered a similar fate, but saved them all in the end.

Rygel: "You're worse than me. I like that!"

Rygel is pleased that Chiana is even more willing than he is to investigate the remains of Aeryn's pod, and more importantly, its contents.

Crichton: "I'll be on the surface 30 microts, max. Worse case scenario, I age a couple of years." Famous last words now, given that Crichton got trapped behind the portal, and aged 55 cycles. Crichton: "Aeryn, you are the one thing that has kept me from doing a Kamikaze in the transport."

John's love grows for Aeryn during their time together, and though they are never able to make anything of it, with Aeryn already having family and aging ahead of Crichton, it is clear how much they care.

Crichton: "Pilot, ah, change of plan, hang a louie. That's left, away from the mist."

The plan works, and Crichton, calmly, having no memory of the events at this time, puts in a Crichtonism, and the crew continue on their way.

Writer:

The Crackers Don't Matter team return with another good episode. If you like the style of this episode, then admittedly Crackers Don't Matter has a very different feel, but its another fine piece of work from these guys and is well worth watching.

Anyway, Justin Monjo also wrote:

Director:

The director of this episode was Ian Watson. He also directed many other Farscape episodes:

New Aliens:

Aeryn's family

Aeryn meets other Sebaceans on the planet through the portal, and starts her own family. 160 cycles on, we get to see Ennixx, Aeryn's granddaughter, who bears a great resemblance to Aeryn, but is not the space going adventurer, and more the farming type.

Farewell to:

Aeryn

At well over 200 cycles, Aeryn dies in Crichton's arms, just making it into space, where she was born.

Guest Stars:

• Allyson Standen as Ennixx, Aeryn's granddaughter.

Personal Opinion:

For some time I didn't think I liked this episode, mostly because it was very "Star Trek" because the solution was basically "it never happened", but its really grown on me gradually. Both Claudia Black and Ben Browder put on great performances, really demonstrating the kind of bond that can form between a couple after many years together. Gone are the physically intimate needs, but instead they find their souls linked, their minds working together, and a companionship that will last as long as they live. Ben Browder noticed the lack of respect the elderly can receive when he had his surprisingly authentic makeup on. He was often treated as if her were lost or stupid, and frequently looked down upon. This seemed to influence his performance, and improved it a lot.

I particularly liked the end part of the episode where the falling contents of the locket appear to retrieve lost memories, and restore the knowledge of Aeryn and Crichton's alternative future experience. Though I doubt it felt as if they relived everything, I guess they merely realise what happened, and remember only the summary of the life they could have led. One detail got to me for a bit though. When D'Argo was so close to the controls, why pick Crichton to be immune to time and touch the panel? I guess it was because Zhaan and Crichton had shared unity before, and I put it down to that, but it would have made more sense to try D'Argo. Still, this was a decent episode overall, and the last break for the crew to "enjoy" before the final frantic episodes of the season.

	The end of the center halo for the season.		7/10