Recap / Farscape S 01 E 07 PK Tech Girl

Season 1, Episode 7:

PK Tech Girl

Moya comes across a Peacekeeper ship lying dead in space. Crichton and Zhaan wish to leave while they have the chance, but D'Argo wants to check their data for possible charts back to their home worlds, and Aeryn says she needs to know who she is. Rygel says it's the Zelbinion – the most feared ship in the Peacekeeper armada. They dock with it and Aeryn, Crichton and D'Argo go over to investigate. They search around the ship, but at the same time, Rygel is bothered about having it docked, because it was the first ship he was tortured on.

Crichton comes across a console with the lights on, and Aeryn says someone must have turned it on recently. He spots a young woman who tries to run, but Aeryn and D'Argo attack until Crichton stops them. The girl, Gilina, recognises them as Officer Aeryn Sun and the escaped prisoners. Crichton asks how she knows, and Aeryn replies that she's a technician from Crais's ship.

Aeryn questions her in brute Peacekeeper fashion, but Crichton says to give her a break. Aeryn says Crais is nearby and she will lie to them. Crichton agrees, but says that if she drops, she won't get her answers. Aeryn says it's her world, and he should not interfere. Meanwhile, Rygel still refuses to go over to the Zelbinion, so Zhaan tells him he should confront his demons. Gilina tells the others that Crais sent her unit over, and two days later another ship appeared and incinerated their Marauder. D'Argo says it's the Sheyangs, but they couldn't have done it all. There are no records, though, because the ship's data stores were scavenged. Gilina then thanks Crichton for stopping Aeryn from killing her.

Rygel then appears on the Zelbinion and spits in Gilina's face, showing his hatred of Peacekeepers. He goes off looking around and sees an ominous figure that says hello, and welcomes him home. The others come across a dead body – a Sheyang victim, who was part of Gilina's unit. Aeryn recognises him and asks what he was doing guarding the likes of her. She says that Aeryn's whole unit was demoted after her defection and can only be reinstated upon her death. Pilot meanwhile has spotted a ship, which Zhaan confirms as a Sheyang vessel hiding just outside sensor range.

Aeryn asks Gilina why the Sheyangs are back, and calls her a traitor because she knew they would return. Gilina says she is no traitor, and Crichton breaks it up, telling Gilina that Aeryn is no traitor – but Crais gave her no chance like the one they are giving her. She tells them that she hid while the Sheyangs took everything.

D'Argo returns to command, where Zhaan is anxious to leave since Moya has no offence. D'Argo says that where the Sheyangs see strength they flee, where they see weakness they destroy. Crichton, Aeryn and Gilina are trying to get the Zelbinion's defence screen operational, and Crichton seems to understand what Gilina is trying to do. The Sheyangs begin their weapons countdown, and Pilot says he and Moya are afraid of fire. D'Argo is enraged, though, and Zhaan gets Pilot to transmit the image of him screaming to the Sheyangs. When they see the Luxan, they terminate the countdown. Crichton informs everyone that they can get the defence screen working in four arns, since he can do half the work. D'Argo tells Zhaan he doesn't want to continue lying to an enemy in battle. Zhaan says he is just misleading them and it can only be him who continues the charade.

Gilina mentions that Crichton killed Crais's brother, but he tells her it was really an accident. The Sheyangs do not believe that D'Argo has soldiers with him who are aboard the Zelbinion. Zhaan helps by prompting him, but the Sheyang says he's trying his patience, and D'Argo believes their next conversation will spawn an attack.

Crichton and Gilina are getting close, whilst Rygel is still hiding on Moya, having visions of his torturer: Captain Selto Durka. Zhaan tells him Durka is dead, but Rygel says not to him; Zhaan says he must find Durka's corpse because it will set him free. One of the Sheyangs overthrows the leader, Teurac, and orders them to fire on Moya. Crichton, Gilina, and Aeryn manage to get the defence screen active just in time, so the weapon has no effect.

However, Pilot informs them that the screen is not fully operational, it's two systems overlaid – only one is operational. At first reluctant, Gilina agrees to install the other part of the screen on Moya. Later, she and Crichton are talking when they end up kissing as Aeryn walks in. She is clearly angered but tries not to show it. Crichton goes after her, and he asks if she's ever just "clicked" with someone, and she says that at first she found him "interesting", but only for a moment.

The Sheyangs launch a load of pods, trying to breach the holes in the defence screen. They manage to get it active just in time, but one Sheyang managed to breach it. Aeryn finds him, but it turns out the the Sheyang can breathe fire. He goes and burns down the door to the room where Crichton and Gilina are working, and gets in. He shoots a fireball, but Aeryn manages to get there in time and shoot him, making him explode.

Back on Moya, Crichton wants the others to let Gilina stay and get picked up by Crais, but the others don't want to give Crais another reason to come after them. Crichton says he's going to come one day anyway, and promises D'Argo and Zhaan that Gilina will keep their presence a secret, and Aeryn surprisingly agrees. She says that Gilina could also be deemed irreversibly contaminated, the penalty for which is death, or worse – exile. Aeryn says she's smarter than letting Crais know.

The Sheyangs detect that Crais's Command Carrier is on its way at maximum speed, and D'Argo tells them he is sorry they are leaving – his officers were preparing revenge. The Sheyang says he knows he has nothing, but he used it well.

Aeryn tells Gilina that Crais will ask her many questions, and she says she will lie to him. Aeryn says she wishes she'd been that smart. Gilina shakes her hand, and Aeryn is clearly upset at thinking about the life she once had. Gilina says to Crichton that she will never see him again, but he says yes, they will see each other again someday, and they have a nice big kiss.

Crichton goes to see Aeryn, who says she hates to be ambushed. He says she got him in the end, but she says she didn't mean the Sheyang. On her world, showing pain is a sign of weakness, and he should not presume to understand her. He says that though she always bashes him for being weak all the time, this time it's an advantage – he knows how she feels. He asks what it would be like for him if one day he finally gets to return home and found his dad, friends, and all his family dead. She says she stand corrected.

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Tropes present in this episode include:

• Always a Bigger Fish: The Zelbinion was the most feared ship in the Peacekeeper Armada. Even the Luxans thought it was invincible. Someone clearly didn't get the message.
• Angrish: When D'Argo starts raging the Translator Microbes appear to break down, probably because they don't translate obscene language.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Crais had Aeryn's entire unit demoted, telling them they could only be restored to rank after she was dead.
• Anywhere but Their Lips: Gilina starts by kissing Crichton's eyebrows, but moves to his lips next. When they have their farewell kiss, Crichton does the same to her.
• Batman Gambit: D'Argo is ranting and raving over facing battle without a single weapon to attack with. Zhaan tells Pilot to transmit this sight to the Sheyangs, correctly guessing that the sight of an enraged Luxan will scare them for a while.
• BFG: Aeryn takes a pulse cannon slung over her shoulder for their Boarding Party. It comes in handy for a Big Damn Heroes.
• Boarding Pod: One-man versions fired from a giant rotary launcher on the Sheyang vessel. However Lomas is the only one able to get through the momentary gaps in the Defensive Shield.
• Brandishment Bluff:
  D'Argo: I'm sorry you are leaving. My officers are sending up plans to retaliate.
  Teurac: (on viewscreen) I doubt so. You had nothing, but you used it well.
• Breath Weapon: Sheyangs breath fire.
• Building Is Welding: Without safety goggles. When Gilina gets a spark in her eye from welding something overhead, it leads to the usual UST when Crichton takes her by the hand and looks deeply into her eyes to see if there's any damage.
• Call-Back: When the others express skepticism as to whether Gilina will lie to Crais about not having seen them, Aeryn points out that admitting the truth would get her classified as "irreversibly contaminated" by aliens, just like she was, leading to her execution or banishment. She regrets not having the smarts to lie to Crais herself.
• Deflector Shields: The Zelbinion's shields are all shot to crap, and much of the work in the episode is devoted to repairing them to withstand the Sheyang attack.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Gilina says they have 'boy meets girl' stories in her culture as well. This seems to contradict everything we hear about Sebacean society, with Peacekeepers taught to have sex only for sexual relief or breeding more soldiers, and officers being executed for forming unauthorized romantic attachments.
• Equipment Upgrade: The Zelbinion uses two overlapping defense shields to avoid the problem of gaps that Lomas uses to get through, so Crichton has the bright idea of installing one on Moya.
• Expecting Someone Taller: A flashback shows Captain Durka tormenting a terrified Rygel in a cage, smirking over how he expected the former Dominar to be more "domineering". Then he rips off his seal of office and punches the Hynerian in the face with it.
• Fanservice: Some romance involving a blonde PK tech girl in a sweaty tanktop.
• Fate Worse than Death: Being banished forever from the life that she knew is worse than being executed for Aeryn. She scoffs at the idea that Crichton can understand this, but he does.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The species that destroyed the Zelbinion will turn up in a later episode. As will a Not Quite Dead Captain Durka.
  • When Crichton asks Aeryn if she's ever 'clicked' with someone, she blurts out, "Yes, but I didn't let it..." Is she referring to Crichton, or did she just change the subject to Crichton to avoid mentioning Velorek?
• Ghost Ship: The Zelbinion.
• Graceful Loser: Teurac eventually realises that D'Argo has been bluffing the entire time, but considers him a Worthy Opponent for doing so. He even tells his new lieutenant there is no shame in losing to such a clever opponent. However Teurac adds that he makes a point of killing such opponents.
• The Great Repair: The heroes only intend to salvage anything usable from the Zelbinion, but decide to make the shields operational when they realize they are in imminent danger.
• Honor Before Reason: D'Argo is rather reluctant to lie to an opponent in battle, and resents Zhaan feeding him lines on what to say.
• Human Aliens: Gilina is bemused to find that Crichton isn't Sebacean. They quickly find other similarities as well.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Confronted with Aeryn armed with a pulse cannon, Lomus raises his hands in surrender before burping fire at her.
• Love Triangle: Aeryn is clearly threatened by Gilina, particularly because she has more in common with John than Aeryn does.
• Mile-Long Ship:
  • The Zelbinion is almost a kilometer long, with the interior shots filmed in that scifi staple, the abandoned factory. Crichton is in awe of its size.
  • Subverted with the Sheyang vessel which is large in size but has a rather small cockpit that D'Argo mocks. Whenever someone wants to talk to the weapons officer, they just bang on the ceiling and the guy sticks his head out of a hatch.
• Oh, Crap!: When the Sheyangs first see the transmission of an enraged D'Argo.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Rygel has no interest checking out the Zelbinion for loot as it was the first ship he was tortured on after being deposed. Zhaan convinces him to Face Your Fears, but he flees back to Moya after seeing a hallucination of Captain Durka, his former tormentor. Zhaan suggests he go back there and search the ship until he finds Durka's corpse. After realizing Durka committed suicide after being defeated, Rygel spits on the corpse in contempt.
• Perp Sweating: With Aeryn doing the shouting and Crichton shining his flashlight in Gilina's face. Crichton persuades her to try a little good cop instead.
• Precision F-Strike: In the finale, Crichton's response to finding himself cornered by Lomus and unable to retaliate without accidentally blowing up the room is to let out a dismayed mutter of "shit."
• Race Against the Clock: There's a race to get the DS up-and-running when it's clear the Sheyang vessel is about to fire, with Pilot counting down the microts. Then in the second attack, Aeryn has to race to intercept Lomus because Crichton and Gilina literally have their hands full with the repairs, and so can't defend themselves or run away.
• Raging Stiffie: Gilina is thrown backwards into Crichton, to which she comments that humans and Sebaceans really are similar all the way around.
• Reflective Eyes: The episode opens with the Zelbinion reflected in Rygel's eye. Bonus points for the Muppet having a realistic-enough eye for a closeup.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Sheyang are scavengers and space pirates who burn people alive and attack whenever they sense weakness. But, like these criminals and ex-Peacekeepers Crichton finds himself stuck with, they prove to be more than villains killing For the Evulz.
• Rescue Romance: It starts with Crichton putting himself in Aeryn's line-of-fire to stop her blasting Gilina on sight.
• Ragnarök Proofing: Downplayed; the Zelbinion has been stripped by salvage parties over the past hundred cycles and the DS is apparently the last usable technology on board. The life support system is still functioning, but Pilot guides them into the part of the hull that wasn't struck by weapons fire.
• Revenge Before Reason Crais was too busy hunting Moya to hang around and find out what happened to the Zelbinion, even though the vessel is a cultural icon to the Sebaceans and finding out who destroyed her would identify a threat to his people.
• Scenery Porn: The shot of the wreckage of the Zelbinion drifting in a planetary ring system.
• Scotty Time: Gilina says it will take eight arns to set up the DS, but with the help of Crichton she's able to cut that time down drastically.
• Ship Tease: When Aeryn walks in on John and Gilina kissing, she's clearly not happy. Crichton asks if she's ever "clicked" with someone, and she admits that she found him "interesting" ("But only for a moment!") when they first met.
• Shout-Out:
  • When the others are talking about the supposedly invincibility of the Zelbinion, John replies, "Yeah well, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio. Even the big ones go down."
  • While they're working, John amuses Gilina by describing the opening sequence of Lethal Weapon 3. She doesn't follow how cutting the wrong wire on a bomb counts as entertainment.
  • John had a poster of Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
• Space People: While Crichton misses Earth, Aeryn misses the Peacekeeper spaceships that she spent her entire life on.
• Space Pirates: The Sheyangs.
• Spiteful Spit: Rygel spits on Gilina when he first meets her, and later he does the same to Durka's corpse.
• Sole Survivor: Gilina is the only survivor of a Peacekeeper Boarding Party sent aboard the Zelbinion to investigate what happened to her.
• The Starscream: Teurac's protege Lomus attacks him and takes command of their ship. When his attack fails, Teurac sends him on a Suicide Mission to redeem himself.
• The Unseen: Captain Crais continues to drive the characters' actions despite his absence. Gilina was part of a team dispatched by him to investigate the Zelbinion, and they must find a solution to their current situation and escape before he returns.
• Villainous Rescue: To make the Sheyang leave instead of attacking again, Gilina is allowed to send out a distress call to the Command Carrier commanded by Captain Crais.
• Wrench Wench: Gilina. As a 'tech' Aeryn has a certain amount of contempt for her, but Gilina and Crichton find a common bond which he doesn't have with the ex-Peacekeeper soldier.
• We Will Meet Again:
  • Teurac to D'Argo:
  "I make it a point to someday kill my clever opponents."
  • Averted with Gilina, who realises she'll never see Crichton again. Fortunately for him, she turns up in a later episode to save his life.
• Wire Dilemma: Conversed. Gilina doesn't see the full humor in the story John told of it in.
• Worldbuilding: We finally start getting some details on what the Peacekeepers are about. They're Space Police hired by other cultures to keep order—unfortunately it's the order of a dictatorship.
• You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Crichton is awed by the vast size of the ship he's in.
  Crichton: Oh, man. If you guys would only use your know-how to—
  Aeryn: To do what? To fulfill your vision of who we should be?
  Crichton: To do good.
  Aeryn: We are Peacekeepers. Other cultures hire us to keep order. To keep harmony.
  Rygel: (entering) As well as assassinations, torture, kidnap! (spits in Gilina's face)
• You Owe Me: A variation; when Teurac gives Lomus a choice of being killed for trying to usurp his overlord during a battle, or taking part in an attack with a strong chance of getting killed, Lomus says that Teurac owes his father. Teurac is unimpressed. "Frax your father. This is on you. Choose."

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