Season 3, Episode 21:
Into the Lion's Den, part 2: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Between Grayza's interference and Scorpius' threats against Earth, the crew realise that they're almost out of time. The others want to run for it, but Crichton thinks there's only one course of action remaining: destroying the command carrier, and all the wormhole research along with it. They conspire to find information on the carrier's weaknesses, but as soon as Crais is out of their earshot, he goes straight to Scorpius and make a deal for reinstatement and control over the Leviathan hybrid project in exchange for ratting out Moya's crew. The crew are rounded up and Scorpius threatens to execute them if Crichton doesn't start co-operating. Later, Crais find Crichton and Aeryn and lets them in on what he's doing: with the plan seemingly dead in the water, Crais is free and Scorpius doesn't suspect anything. Crais proposes that he get access to Talyn and convince him to starburst inside the hanger, which would cause an implosion and irreparably damage the ship. The half-an-arn it would take for the ship to be destroyed completely gives the crew a chance to escape.
Crichton comes up with a way to keep Scorpius distracted during this process: he takes Scorpius on a trip down a wormhole, letting him experience it first-hand. While Crichton and Scorpius are gone, Aeryn and Crais take out the Peacekeepers guarding Talyn and say their goodbyes before Crais boards. He wakes Talyn up and convinces him that by starbursting, it gives both Talyn and Crais a chance to atone for their sins and die with dignity. When Scorpius returns to the command carrier, Crais hijacks the comm:
Talyn starbursts, destroying himself and Crais and starting the chain reaction that destroys the command carrier. In the chaos, Scorpius and Crichton manage to find each other and deactivate one another's I-Yensch bracelets. Scorpius says that he won't seek out Earth because he never cared about destroying it, only about forcing Crichton to do something that's now impossible. Crichton leaves on his module and returns to Moya just as the carrier is destroyed.
With that task behind them, most of the crew seem ready to leave Moya and returns to their homes or find something else to do with their lives. The only one not making plans is Crichton, who can't stop writing out wormhole equations...
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Admiring the Abomination: Strappa saw the wormhole project from a purely scientific point-of-view and thought success would be one of the greatest achievements in the history. Even in the end, he still felt this way."It would've been nice to know it could have been done."
- Bittersweet Ending: Scorpius' wormhole project is finished and the crew escaped safely. On the other hand, Crais and Talyn are dead, while the rest of the crew is preparing to break up.
- Body Horror: Henta's injuries after getting hit by the exhaust fumes are truly horrific. Her exposed skin is completely seared off and what's left is nauseatingly discolored.
- Cassandra Gambit: Crais exposes Crichton's plot to blow up the Command Carrier to Scorpius in order to get him to lower his guard, enabling Crais to carry out his plot to blow up the Command Carrier.
- Despair Event Horizon: Imprisoned in the cell, Chiana tries to remain positive on the grounds they've been in worse messes, but D'Argo and Rygel are subdued. They talk about how they spent every day of their prison sentences trying to escape, only to now end up back in Peacekeeper captivity.
- Deus ex Machina: Right in the middle of the command carrier's destruction, when time is of the essence if any of Moya's crew expects to escape, Aeryn gets caught by Henta, leading to an exchange of What the Hell, Hero? vs. I Did What I Had to Do. Henta is about to shoot Aeryn...and then the continuing destruction of the ship causes a cascade of fiery material that leaves Henta a mass of broiled meat.
- Dreaming the Truth: Crichton wakes from his Imagine Spot with Harvey to find he's written the crucial breakthrough in the wormhole project on his own hand.
- Everyone Has Standards: Though freely admitting his It's All About Me attitude, Crais says he still recognizes the danger for the rest of the galaxy if anyone possesses wormhole technology.
- Face Death with Dignity: Crais and Talyn.
- Headbutt of Love: Crichton shares one with Pilot just before Crichton leaves to carry out the plan to destroy the Command Carrier.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Crais and Talyn."Starburst within a confined space... will be the hero's death that Talyn deserves."
- Homoerotic Subtext: When Crichton laughs about how screwed Scorpius is, Scorpius throws Crichton onto the floor, climbs on top of him and puts his face uncomfortably close.Scorpius: If I am screwed, John, things around here are going to get very ugly!(Crichton blows him a "Take That!" Kiss)
- Immediate Sequel: We start where we left on in last week's episode, with Scorpius bouncing Crichton's head off the table.
- Irrevocable Order: Crais asks for an Executive Order from Scorpius regarding their deal, so it will be honored by High Command even if Grayza has Scorpius removed from power.
- It Has Been an Honor: After Crichton explains the plan to Pilot, it's acknowledged the crew might not make it out of this one even if they succeed.Pilot: We may never see any of you again.
Crichton: Pilot, just be ready to starburst if you don't see us haulin' ass toward ya. You give Moya my love.
Pilot: And her love to you, as well as mine. - It's All About Me: Crais admits that this has been his worldview for some time, as his family is long gone.
- It's Personal: Crais makes this very clear in his final speech.
- Jerkass Façade: Crais backhands Larell in public and denounces her as someone he doesn't care about, so that she will in no way be held accountable for what he does next.
- Killed Off for Real: Crais and Talyn.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Talyn's starburst causes a shipwide panic, sending the Peacekeepers running in panic and the imprisoned members of the crew trying to escape their cell.
- Mind Rape: Crichton uses the Aurora Chair to erase what Strappa knows about wormholes. And this was Strappa's idea.
- Misery Builds Character: In contrast to Aeryn's more compassionate approach towards a bullied cadet, Henta strikes the child in the arm and tells her to let the wound bleed and scar. As Aeryn expresses disgust with this, Henta says she's keeping the kid from becoming soft.
- No Man Should Have This Power: Having seen wormhole technology in action
, Crais is willing to sacrifice himself because he fears what will happen to the rest of the galaxy should anyone harness such a devastating weapon. - Oh, Crap!: Braca has a subdued one when he realizes that Crais isn't planning to escape on Talyn. Scorpius, however, is far angrier. Scorpius' mask does slip for an instant, however, gawking in utter shock for little more than a second when Crichton suggests that Scorpius might want to hold on to something. It's that second of expression that shows that Scorpius is finally grasping just what Crais and Talyn are going to do.
- Outliving One's Offspring: In the immediate aftermath of Talyn's starburst, Pilot alludes to Moya's reaction to losing her son.Pilot: Yes, Moya, I see it. I see it.
- "The Reason You Suck" SpeechCrais: You are the most repellent of creatures, Scorpius. You weren't born into Peacekeepers. You weren't conscripted against your will. You chose to be one.
- Shout-Out
- Crichton calls Scorpius "Grasshopper". In the next scene he tells Aeryn that Scorpius is in "Captain Queeg mode" because "someone has stolen his strawberries."
- "Flying through wormholes ain't like dusting crops, farmboy."
- Smart People Play Chess: Subverted; Crichton is shown in the World War 2 Imagine Spot playing chess with Harvey on a raging battlefield. Suddenly they switch to checkers and then Go Fish. Harvey wins all of them, showing Crichton's fear of being outsmarted by Scorpius.
- Strolling Through the Chaos: Scorpius, after the impending destruction of the command carrier causes his control room to begin breaking apart. Various crew members flee (or die in the catastrophe), water breaks through to pour over his throne and down the dais, sparks fly everywhere...and he simply walks through it unconcerned, pauses to regard everything as he realizes all his plans for vengeance are being destroyed before his eyes...and then goes to face Crichton.
- Tempting Fate: When Scorpius is beating him up, Crichton taunts: "Let's see how much pain you can take!" Heedless of the I-yensch bracelets, Scorpius slams Crichton's head into the table causing him to scream in agony while Scorpius only grimaces. As we saw from his Back Story, Scorpius is more used to pain than Crichton.
- Trash the Set: The Command Carrier sets are all thoroughly trashed when Talyn blows himself up.
- Villainous Breakdown: Scorpius is quite enraged just before Talyn starbursts. He's far more composed, though, in his final conversation with Crichton.
- We Need a Distraction: Crichton takes Scorpius on a trip through the wormhole to buy Crais the time needed to get Talyn ready.
- We Would Have Told You, But...: Crais says he had to set the others up to be captured and look like a traitor to Crichton all to ensure that Scorpius wouldn't suspect what he was really up to.
- Would Hurt a Child: Henta strikes a bullied cadet without the slightest hesitation.
