Season 2, Episode 3
Lyekka
A horde of alien creatures resembling giant green sperm swim through space. One of them flies into the Lexx and navigates through the ship. Along the way, it passes Stan (asleep), Kai (frozen), and 790 (crying digital tears over Zev while sitting by her liquid remains in the cryochamber). The green creature attaches itself to the roof of the Lexx's bridge.
Stan dreams about his past crush, a pretty blonde named Lyekka. He says that people say bad things about her, but he knows she's not like those other girls, and asks her to go to a dance with him. She laughs at the idea and calls her friends over to share in her amusement. The sky behind her turns dark as she laughs maniacally. Stan wakes up.
The green creature opens into a sort of mushroom shape with dangling tentacles/leaves. A young "woman" with the face of Stan's crush drops out, naked, although she lacks defined nipples and any apparent orifices below the neck. She visits Stan, who expresses puzzlement about her nature. She says that she came from his dreams, and adopts the name "Lyekka" for herself. Stan takes Lyekka to see Kai; Kai does not recognize her species, and asks her what "kind of a thing" she is. She isn't sure, but suspects that she's a plant.
Meanwhile, on a planet called Potatoho, three astronauts plan to be the first people to escape the ion field that's kept the planet isolated. They escape the barrier and begin broadcasting their credentials into space: "We are intelligent!" The Lexx intercepts their signal. Stan, Kai, and Lyekka go to the bridge to see the visual transmission. While Stan is leery of them, Lyekka expresses interest, and Kai notes that the astronauts do not appear to be dangerous. Kai uses a moth to guide the astronauts on board.
Stan gives the astronauts a tour of the Lexx, during which he accidentally blows up a nearby planet and the astronauts' ship. Their society revolves around potatoes and traditional "values," and they expect the crew to be far more knowledgeable than Stan is. Unbeknownst to the people on the Lexx, Mantrid drones devour Potatoho.
Stan goes back to bed. The astronauts believe that something is wrong aboard the Lexx and split up to engage in reconnaissance. One of the astronauts goes missing. Another finds Lyekka in the shower, drinking the entire stream of water, and he later goes to the bridge, where she enters his fantasies and draws her into her pod; Kai wakes up Stan to share his realization that Lyekka is eating people. Shocked, Stan asks if Kai plans to kill her to protect the astronauts. Kai replies that he has "no motivation" to protect either the astronauts from her, or her from the astronauts. Stan finds Moss and tries to warn him about Lyekka, but has to deliver even worse news: Potatoho has disappeared. Moss melts down and, recalling an out-of-context remark about Kai being an assassin, decides that Kai is responsible for all his misfortunes.
Lyekka steals Zev's protein from the cryochamber, much to 790's outrage. Stan, Kai, and 790 pursue her to the bridge, followed by Moss, who wants to kill Kai. When Lyekka blocks his path to Kai, he touches her. This permits Lyekka to access his favorite fantasy, in which his wife (appearing as Lyekka with freckles and ponytails) permits him to play all day in a garden of both potatoes and buried students. Lyekka uses the fantasy as a distraction to suck him, along with Zev's protein, into her pod.
Lyekka re-emerges and tells Stan and Kai that, while she consumed the first two astronauts as food, she used the last one to make a "present" for Stan. The pod opens again and a beautiful, red-haired woman tumbles out, followed by the declaration, "I'm back." 790 finds her familiar: "Xev... Xev?" According to Lyekka, she constructed the new Xev from a combination of Zev's proteins, Moss's proteins, and the crew's descriptions: "I hope she's okay." Stan and 790 are delighted, and even Kai promises Lyekka that they "will try to find [her] a planet suitable for [her] needs." No longer hungry, Lyekka returns to her pod, where she will sleep until she needs to eat again.
Xev suggests that perhaps Lyekka could bring Kai back to life, but he reminds her that his body does not contain proteins. She leaves the bridge to find clothes; Stan asks her what she'll wear, and she replies that she'll have to make something from Cluster lizard. She leaves the others on the bridge, where 790 and Stan begin quarreling, just like old times.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Aliens Speaking English: Lampshaded by the fact that the astronauts expect the crew to not speak their language. However, why everyone speaks the same tongue is never explained.
- Alpha Bitch: Stan perceives the human Lyekka as this, at least in his dream.
- Artificial Human: Lyekka creates Xev by mixing two humans' DNA together in a pod and following the descriptions of Zev's grieving friends.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Lyekka.
- Beach Bury: Moss's fantasy farm, where he waters and teaches values to a bunch of human heads sticking up out of the soil, falls somewhere between this and Sand Necktie.
- Brutal Honesty: Lyekka tells Kai that she likes Stan better than him.
- Despair Event Horizon: Moss experiences this when Potatoho goes missing.
- Dream Sequence: Stan dreams about being rejected by an old crush.
- Dream Walker: Lyekka bases her appearance around a girl she sees in one of Stan's dreams.
- Eagleland: Potatoho is mostly a Type 1, with shades of Type 2 in its attitudes toward women.
- Fantasy Sequence: Lyekka brings out these in her victims.
- Human Resources: In addition to eating people, Lyekka processes Moss and Zev's protein to make a new person.
- Improvised Clothes: Xev tells Stan that she'll "have to make something" to wear.
- I Lied: 790 offers up this explanation for why he's continuing to insult Stan after promising not to. In fact, he didn't necessarily lie— Stan failed to save Xev's protein, which was part of the deal.
- Mistaken for Murderer: Moss is convinced that Kai killed his crew.
- Naked on Arrival: Both Lyekka and Xev.
- No Biochemical Barriers: As you would expect, given that the "aliens" come from a planet which seemingly saw independent evolution of the potato.
- The Nth Doctor: Xev has a new personality and appearance, but she's got Zev's memories and fills her role in the plot.
- Plant Aliens: Lyekka invokes this to explain herself. However, she isn't 100% sure of her nature, and she actually behaves like a cross between an animal and a fungus.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: Louise Wischermann, for Lyekka.
- Small, Secluded World: Despite being an entire planet, Potatoho serves this purpose in the narrative.
- Space Is an Ocean: The green pods' swimming technique in the opening sequence. The use of tails doesn't make much sense in vacuum. Of course, Lyekka's species can live in different environments, so it's possible that they evolved for one of those.
- Space Romans: Potatoho is an extreme version of Idaho, IN SPACE, with no explanation given.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Moss tells Lyekka that it's time for the "little women" to get out of the men's way.
- Unusual Euphemism: Stan describes Lyekka as "smooth around the bend."
- Your Heart's Desire: Lyekka uses this to keep her prey from resisting her.
