Recap / Farscape S 04 E 14 Twice Shy

Season 4, Episode 14:

Twice Shy

Back in the Uncharted Territories, Moya and crew pick up a mysterious passenger who is much more than she seems.

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Tropes present in this episode include:

• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Subverted; Talikaa does this to everyone she meets, but it's because her touch stimulates neural functioning in her selected victims.
• Almost Dead Guy: A non-verbal version; the traders return to Moya and drop dead in the hanger bay, just to show what fate awaits our heroes.
• Almost Kiss: Aeryn interrupts Chiana when she's about to kiss Talikaa, to her annoyance (and the audience's).
• An Arm and a Leg: Sikozu gets one of each ripped off.
• Asshole Victims: The traders who were using Talikaa as a Sex Slave all end up dead. Of course, she was likely stimulating their lust and aggression so she could feed on those emotions.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Crichton can barely fend off the Arachnid with his multi-barreled pulse cannon, so he jams it down its throat and pulls the trigger. Cue Ludicrous Gibs.
  Crichton: Along came a spider, which exploded beside her.
• The Bait: With no idea of where Talikaa might have stashed the orbs containing their neural energy, Scorpius—who hasn't been harvested yet—is used to bait her, so she can be followed to where they are after she's harvested him.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: When Aeryn starts laying into him for taking Noranti's drugs and what that's done to their relationship (or lack thereof, in this case), Crichton simply retorts, "You won the coin toss."
• Black Comedy: After Crichton blows up the giant spider, Noranti cooks up the remains in a soup and serves it up to D'Argo and Rygel, who think it tastes pretty good.
• Bluff the Eavesdropper: Aeryn stages a breakup with John after realising he's right about Scorpius spying on them via the comm system. Of course, he can't hear the Big Damn Kiss they do right afterwards.
• By the Hair: Talikaa is hauled onto Moya by the dreadlocks.
• Call-Back:
  • Rygel grumbles about the time Chiana brought the Vorc on board (in fairness, that turned out to be a good idea). Later Crichton does a Person as Verb. "You think Talikaa is doin' a T'raltixx?"
  • The traders are shown to have consulted a Diagnosan on the Wolaxan arachnid.
• Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Crichton says this when trying to find out where Talikaa got to. When she does come out, she's turned into a giant spider.
• Counterfeit Cash: Rygel adds an extra digit to the 100 Krendar coins they used to buy the starcharts. D'Argo is furious, as they need to stay on the traders' good side to operate in this region of space.
• Decoy Damsel: On seeing how the traders are using Talikaa as a Sex Slave, Chiana vocally insists at gunpoint that they don't leave her, then buys her when no-one else is inclined to help.
• Despair Event Horizon: Losing his determination, Crichton becomes resigned to imminent death.
  Crichton: [to Aeryn] You know what the worst part of this is? You and me. We never could get it together. Now we never will.
• Do You Want to Haggle?: Pilot says the traders are asking an exorbitant price for the starcharts they need, but the tag team of Rygel and Noranti soon brings them down to a more reasonable offer.
• Dutch Angle: A lot of this, presumably to depict how the Monster of the Week is screwing with everyone's heads.
• Emotion Eater: Talikaa steals the dominant emotion from each of Moya's crew. She takes Crichton's determination, Aeryn's confidence, Rygel's greed, D'Argo's anger and Chiana's sex drive.
• Enemy Within: Talikaa touches Scorpius but doesn't have a chance to harvest him. As a result, his Scarran side becomes exaggerated and Noranti has to use her knockout dust on him, lest he attack them.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Seeing what was done to Sikozu, Scorpius promises to avenge her.
• Fakeout Escape: Talikaa launches the trader ship on autopilot to make them think she's fleeing Moya.
• Finger-Twitching Revival: Sikozu apparently suffers Death by Looking Up, then we cut to her twitching fingers...on her severed hand at which Sikozu is staring at from across the room.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The traders who have been abusing Talikaa have faces covered in running sores. This just looks like some weird alien feature until it's revealed to be a symptom of the Wolaxian Arachnid feeding on them. Their bodies are later found with their faces rotting off.
  • When Noranti asks if she's immune to Talikaa's touch, Sikozu hesitates and responds along the lines of Sure, Let's Go with That. In the penultimate episode of the season, Sikozu reveals she's a bioloid.
• Giant Spider: Talikaa's true form as the Wolaxan Arachnid.
• Get It Over With:
  Talikaa: Do you want me to kill you?
  John: Yes please. Fast, slow—lady's choice.
  Talikaa: I like it slow.
  John: Oh god, I was afraid you were gonna say that.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Crichton has been cold to Aeryn, tells her to move on, and even yells at her to shut up—but it's all in order to protect her and the baby from Scorpius.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: Chiana sets out to prove that the crew's emotions have been tampered with by stomping on D'Argo's foot, punching him in the face and kneeing him in the mivonks. Sure enough, he can't get angry about any of it.
• It's What I Do
  Crichton: I help someone an' they screw me.
  Talikaa: I have no remorse. You are food and I eat.
• Love Is a Weakness: Everything Scorpius has tried to get hold of the information in Crichton's head has failed, but Crichton knows he'll go to any lengths to save Aeryn and their child, which is why Crichton is trying to separate himself emotionally from her.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: You save a Damsel in Distress from sexual slavery, and the tralk pays you back by stealing your sex drive.
• Not So Stoic:
  • After being mostly put back together, Sikozu wakes up screaming and panicking over Talikaa's attack.
  • Aeryn is on the verge of panic after Talikaa harvests her emotional control.
• On Second Thought: Crichton tells Aeryn she doesn't scare him, only to change his mind when she responds with a cold stare. "Okay... You scare me a little."
• Properly Paranoid:
  • When Chiana insists on saving this Damsel in Distress, the others assume Talikaa will be as much trouble as every other stray they've picked up, and decide to drop her on the next planet they come to. As usual, she causes trouble before they have the chance.
  • Crichton is absolutely certain that Scorpius is looking for a way to get leverage over him. He's positive that Scorpius is even using the coms to eavesdrop, so he has Pilot run a diagnostic that'll take them off-line so that he can talk to Aeryn freely. Aeryn is incredulous, but Crichton is immediately proven right.
    Aeryn: So you think he's been using the comms? Look what it's done to you. You're completely paranoid.
    Scorpius: (over the comms) Pilot? Are we having a problem with the comms?
• Really Gets Around: Chiana finds herself enthralled by Talikaa, but Aeryn intervenes before Rescue Sex can ensue. With her Extreme Libido cranked up to eleven, Chiana then tries to hit on Aeryn, molest Crichton on a table, and even tries her luck with Scorpius!
• The Reveal: Crichton has been keeping Aeryn at arm's length to prevent Scorpius from using her and the baby against him.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Talikaa has no interest in harvesting Noranti or Sikozu. The former is because she's "too old and bitter", and Noranti speculates that Sikozu was immune to her touch.
• Shoot the Hostage: When the others refuse to get involved, Chiana puts a gun to Talikaa's head and says they either take her on board or she kills her. Rygel tells her to pull the trigger but the others relent and buy her.
• Story-Breaker Power: Sikozu can't be affected by what Talikaa is doing. Talikaa responds by ripping her apart, in order to remove a potential threat.
• Super-Scream: The Arachnid knocks out her victims with a sonic screech.
• Transformation Discretion Shot: Though Talikaa's Wolaxian Arachnid form is seen in all its CG glory several times, her actual transformation is never seen on camera. In her showdown with Crichton, she's seen approaching him in humanoid form; we cut to Crichton firing his pulse cannon at her - and in the next shot, Talikaa is dodging the blast in the form of a giant emotion-eating spider.
• Wham Line: What proves Crichton to be Properly Paranoid.
  Scorpius: Pilot, are we having a problem with the comms?