In Whole
Moya has allowed a trading vessel aboard Moya, to buy valuable star maps of Tormented Space. Rygel and Noranti are in talks with the traders, having some trouble haggling them down in price, while Aeryn is acting amazingly icy towards Crichton.

Noranti and Rygel (though Noranti mainly) eventually manage to haggle down the star maps, and after a quick bragging to Scorpius (who now seems to be able to move freely about Moya with no hassle), the traders bring out a new item to trade - a slave girl. They enjoyed her, and see no value in her any more. Chiana automatically pulls a pulse pistol on them, using "have you forgotten what it's like to be a prisoner" as an excuse. The traders offer to sell her for 800 "krindars", and the slave introduces herself as "Talika". Chiana puts the pulse pistol to the slave girl's head. Either they buy her, or she blows it off. The crew eventually "persuades" Rygel to cough up and buy her, and a very wary Talika (understandable after having a pulse pistol put to her head) goes from crew member to crew member, trying to find a way out, but is caught by Scorpius. D'Argo orders Chiana to take Talika to her room - she is now Chiana's responsibility as she bought her.

As the trading vessel leaves, the atmos between Aeryn and Crichton becomes ever more icy, and Aeryn gives Crichton a slap.

Cue the title sequence.

Aeryn and Crichton are not having a good time. Oh no. They're duking it out big style - Aeryn about Crichton popping Noranti's drugs, Crichton about Aeryn not telling him she was pregnant. Gloves are off, they're both really annoyed. It's a running thing. But John's hopeful. Aeryn's not though.

Meanwhile, Chiana is helping Talika try on some new clothes, saying she looks sexy. This all eventually boils down to Talika trying to make Chiana quite unbelievably horny, as Talika inquires about what exactly sexy means, and then seemingly about to do the horizontal as Aeryn interrupts.

Having a private conversation with Aeryn, Chiana really has a go at her, saying she's too uptight. Chiana needs sex in one form or another, and could always go ask Crichton...

Talika, exploring the ship, comes across Crichton, and he offers her a bit of chocolate. Talika diverts the conversation towards Aeryn, and gets Crichton's hopes up for getting the relationship back together.

In the meantime, D'Argo and Rygel are looking at their new star charts. They look legit - hardly anything like the currency Rygel used to buy them. Seems he inscribed an extra digit onto the currency tiles he used, so he paid less. D'Argo is furious - they're going to be in Tormented Space a while and need to be able to do business. However, the traders control this part of Tormented Space. Rygel claims they won't be able to tell the difference.

Crichton arrives just before D'Argo is about to pull Rygel's intestines from one side of the ship to the other, and splits the two up, while Noranti watches. Crichton recommends they call the traders back and sort everything out. D'Argo "sort of" agrees in an angry way, and storms out, while Rygel floats out in a very greedy mood. Crichton asks that Pilot call the traders back, and Pilot will try his best, but ship-to-ship transmissions don't work that well in the region of Tormented Space they're in. But Crichton eggs him on, being quite unusually jovial.

D'Argo continues his storming and growling around the corridors, where he bumps into Talika. He orders her back to her quarters, but she refuses to listen. He may be the captain, but nobody listens to him, she says. This makes D'Argo amazingly angry, as always, and Noranti and Sikozu watch as D'Argo resumes his storming and growling.

With some nice effects, it seems a way has been devised (probably by Sikozu) for recharging Scorpius' coolant rods, making the used ones cold again. She and Scorpius are having a chat - everyone seems agitated and emotional, except Aeryn, Sikozu says. But then, Scorpius reminds her, Aeryn doesn't really pay attention to emotions.

Watching from the doorway, Scorpius witnesses Chiana trying to get it on with Crichton in a far from subtle way ("you, me, on the table, now"). Chiana tells him she asked Aeryn, and she doesn't care about him any more. Crichton spots Scorpius just in time, and Chiana even invites him to watch. John eventually prises Chiana off him, has a bit of a laugh about it, and as Chiana leaves Scorpius informs him that the whole crew seems to be in overdrive in one way or another. Crichton, Aeryn, D'Argo, Chiana, Rygel - their behaviour has all changed since Talika came on board. John thinks she's doing a Tralti'xx mindfrell kinda thing, and decides to talk to her. Scorpius informs him though that nobody knows where she is.

Crichton and Aeryn manage to find her. She runs off, John and Aeryn follow, and corner her in one of the cargo bays she has hidden in. However, a huge scream knocks them both out, and a "huge special effects spider the likes of which you've never seen before" (tm) appears, and then proceeds to do something probably quite monstrous to John and Aeryn's brains.

Waking and remembering nothing of the "huge special effects spider the likes of which you've never seen before" (tm) incident, John and Aeryn both find bits of weird goo on their foreheads. Meanwhile, D'Argo is going around blaming Chiana, Rygel being greedy about his currency floating around a bit infront of them, as Crichton comms, saying Talika must be more dangerous than she looks, and her scream that knocked them flat. John seems to have given up hope already. Meantime, D'Argo, Chiana and Rygel become the next victims of the spider thingy.

Sikozu, rather stupidly, comes across the spider, and runs off. Spider chases Sikozu into the air filtration room and attacks her, ripping off multiple limbs in the process. Scorpy hears her screams (how could he fail) and decides to investigate, along with Noranti, and Scorpy vows revenge.

In command with Crichton, Aeryn says she felt sorry for Talika but now she's going to kill them all. John feels really bad, as if she's given up hope, and Aeryn feels helpless, seeming to have lost her strength. D'Argo, Chiana and Rygel arrive, and everyone gets suspicious when D'Argo recommends they talk to Talika rather than killing her. D'Argo doesn't feel angry, as proven by Chiana hitting him many times. Chiana also believes she's lost her sex drive, as proven by kissing D'Argo with no effect on her. The traders are on their way back, and Rygel says they should give them whatever they want. Seems Rygel has lost his greed.

Hey, it's Farscape does the Polymorph (Red Dwarf creature that steals emotions).

Scorpy and Noranti are reattaching Sikozu's limbs, while Pilot cannot get any answer out of the trader ship. The ship is drifting, and they bring it aboard, Aeryn having a go at Chiana, saying it was all her fault. D'Argo calmly breaks the two up, and the trader ship, having been brought aboard, opens.

The crew fall out, dead.

Seems Talika taking traits (try saying that one seven times fast, in a mirror on the thirteenth Friday in the year) eventually kills people. Boarding the trader ship, the crew find a recording of a diagnosan giving his assessment on the species Talika is, their killing habits, and so on and so forth. The creature, a Relaxian Riplid (I think) works to provoke traits in people, infecting them somehow - in D'Argo's case his anger, and then encapsulates them as energy spheres, then hides them in a nest to feed later. Opening the orbs near the people they came from will allow the energy to find its way back and for that person to get their trait back, basically.

Meanwhile, Noranti and Scorpy bring Sikozu back to consciousness. Seems Sikozu knows a bit about the creature, and believes she is immune. Scorpy meanwhile doesn't look too good - the thirst for revenge and the infection has driven his Scarren side out. Noranti knocks him out with her drugs.

With the DRDs unable to pinpoint Talika or the energy orbs, Crichton seems to have given up. Aeryn tries to tally the troops, not in a very convincing way, and as the others leave to find Talika, John and Aeryn talk about the regrets of their relationship. In this case, Aeryn finally seems to be the hopeful one.

As they leave the trader ship unguarded, Talika sneaks aboard.

Pilot comms, telling everyone the trader ship is powering up and leaving. D'Argo orders Chiana, Aeryn, Crichton and Rygel aboard Lola for the pursuit, but Crichton is too weak. He tells Aeryn to forget about him and go.

While D'Argo, Aeryn, Chiana and Rygel pursue the trader ship, John feels useless. Coming up on the trader ship, Rygel stays aboard Lola to scan for movement on the ship, while the others board. However, Rygel detects no movement apart from the others, and a console is found. Turns out the trader ship was left on auto-pilot, and Talika must still be aboard Moya...

Comming John, D'Argo tells him the ship is a decoy. John has to find the orbs - the others are getting weaker by the second and it'll be about an arn before they get back to Moya. Noranti pulls him up, pushing him on by telling him that Aeryn will die. Noranti has an idea though - they don't need to find the energy orbs - they can get Talika to lead them to where she hid them. Scorpius is blind with rage from his Scarren side, and infected - Talika will want that. So, they lead her to Scorpius, she takes off with his rage, and they find the orbs.

Meanwhile, Sikozu manages to wake Scorpius (and nearly gets strangled for her trouble), and Talika confronts Noranti. Talika doesn't want Noranti - she's too old and bitter - and Noranti agrees to lead Talika to Scorpy as John preps his weapons. Talika finds Scorpius, while Sikozu watches on from the shadows, and takes his rage and goes off to her nest. Sikozu follows, finds the nest, and hides on the ceiling.

Crichton arrives on the scene, but he seems utterly hopeless, and wanting Talika to kill him. Talika says she already is. However, Sikozu gives herself away, Talika turns into a spider, and at the last moment Crichton shoves a big bazooka thing in Talika-spider-thingy's mouth and roasts her from the inside.

With everyone back to normal, Noranti decides to serve roast spider for dinner. Sikozu tries to get a better relationship with Scorpius, wanting him to be more honest about his Scarren side.

And then we have John and Aeryn. Meeting privately in a corridor, Aeryn is annoyed with him for everything. Aeryn won the coin toss, but they both lost their relationship. Aeryn says John's mind is so full of Noranti's drugs that he can't think right, but John says he just wants to move on. Aeryn says she did everything, yet it still didn't work.

And this is where it gets evil. This is where we curse the name of Farscape, and revel in it.

John tells Aeryn to shut up, and then shouts for Pilot. John says the comms are a bit buggy, and wants them checked. Pilot says he'll carry this out, but it'll take all comms offline for 30 microts/seconds. John says that'll be fine.

Then John tells Aeryn quickly why he's been acting to make Aeryn icy, why he's been a bit icy.

Scorpius.

Scorpius is on board, still looking for the key to John's wormhole tech in his brain. That is why he got rid of Harvey (I assume) - he couldn't trust him after he decided to seek his own preservation above all else. Scorpius knows that Crichton's achilles heel is Aeryn, and now the baby, and if he wants the wormhole tech he'll use them against John. John suspects Scorpius has been serreptitiously listening over the comms, spying on John and Aeryn, figuring out how best to use them.

As if to confirm this, Scorpius comms in, asking Pilot if everything is okay. Pilot replies in the affirmitive, saying the comms were just a bit buggy.

Aeryn is shocked. John's suspicions are confirmed - Scorpius still plots against them all.

For all to hear, Aeryn and Crichton announce their relationship is over. Then, in private, they kiss.

What I thought
Evil episode. Evil. EVIL!!! Anyway, we've got some nice effects, with Talika/spider thingy, and it's a good little ship episode. There's plenty of goings on in the character department, with Crichton and Aeryn's relationship making some headway at last, and the truth of Scorpius coming out. There's also the weird stuff between Chiana and Crichton and Aeryn, and of course the Scorpius/Sikozu stuff. It's good to see most of the crew with their most dominant personality trait gone - Crichton loses hope, Aeryn loses her will (I think), D'Argo loses his anger, Rygel loses his green, Chiana loses her sex drive, Scorpius loses his viciousness (though we don't see it) and Sikozu loses some limbs! A good ship episode, but nothing to write home about. What IS to write home about though is the ending - pure good/evil stuff, as Scorpius's intentions REALLY become known, and it's nice and good in the midst of pure evil - I laughed out loud with surprise at how the writers had taken this! If it hadn't been for the ending, it would be a 3. But with the ending, a VERY STRONG 4 out of 5!!!

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