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Recap / Farscape S 01 E 20 The Hidden Memory

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Season 1, Episode 20:

The Hidden Memory

While D'Argo, Zhaan, and a not-yet-fully-recovered Aeryn head down to the Gammak Base to rescue Crichton, Moya starts going into labour with Chiana and Rygel's help. They discover the baby isn't a normal Leviathan: it's a Peacekeeper hybrid, which doesn't need a pilot, is armed with powerful weapons and is wild and difficult to control.

Meanwhile, on the Gammak Base, Scorpius is interrogating Crichton in the Aurora Chair, having realised that Crichton is attempting to conceal a particular memory. Scorpius continues to push, believing the hidden memory to be something about wormholes, but Crichton is actually trying to conceal Gilina's identity. Gilina comes up with a plan to give Crichton a respite by tricking the Aurora Chair into displaying a false memory: when Crichton gives in and thinks about Gilina, the Aurora Chair shows a fictional encounter between him and Crais, in which they make a deal to give Crais wormhole technology.

Scorpius uses his absolute authority to put Crais in the Aurora Chair and discovers that Crais murdered one of his Lieutenants. However, the interrogation is cut short when Aeryn breaks Crichton out of his cell and a security lockdown is announced. Stark manages to escape on his own, but Aeryn, Gilina and Crichton need to find a senior officer's ident chip to get out of the lockdown. Aeryn finds Crais, still in the Aurora Chair: she takes his chip and confronts him over his decision to declare her "irreversibly contaminated", a proclamation that destroyed her life.

Aeryn: You destroyed everything. I lost everything because of you! ... Do you know what I learned when I was away from you? Everything I lost isn't worth a damn. And I don't want to go back to your past.

She turns the chair up to full power and leaves Crais to suffer. Crichton, Aeryn and Gilina escape the lockdown and head topside, where D'Argo is guarding their escape and Stark is also waiting. A firefight breaks out between the Moyans and the Peacekeepers, during which Crichton and Stark ask what the other was hiding from Scorpius.

Crichton: It was only about the time I kissed a girl. ... What were you keeping from him?
Stark: The memory of a place I saw when I was a boy.

As they try to escape, Scorpius manages to grab Crichton. Gilina hesitates in her attempt to save him and Scorpius shoots her, which gives Crichton a chance to grab Gilina and get away. They escape back to Moya and manage to evade Peacekeeper pursuit temporarily, but she can't Starburst away because of her offspring. Stark shows Gilina, whose wound is fatal, the place he was remembering from his childhood, and after one last kiss from Crichton, she dies.


Tropes:

  • Agonizing Stomach Wound: Gilina is shot in the stomach by Scorpius while helping Crichton escape from the aforementioned base. She dies in agony over the course of the next few hours, and Stark is only able to ease her passing by giving her some of his Care-Bear Stare.
  • An Arm and a Leg: There's a brief shot during the gun battle on the surface of a Qualta blade shot from D'argo blowing a Peacekeeper's arm off.
  • Asshole Victim: After all Crais put them through, Crichton gets visible pleasure from his fake confession that will land Crais in the Aurora Chair, while Aeryn cranks the Chair up to eleven and leaves him there in payback for destroying her life.
  • Birth-Death Juxtaposition: The scene of the offspring fully emerging from the birth canal is immediately followed by Scorpius shooting Gilina.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Crichton is rescued and Moya gives birth, but Gilina dies. The crew also can't leave the general area due to the baby being unable to starburst.
  • Break the Haughty: Crais's experiences in the Aurora Chair leave him a quivering mess.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
    • Averted. Aeryn immediately remembers Gilina from their last encounter.
    • Subverted. A dazed Crais doesn't recognize Aeryn's voice when he hears it from behind, but he recognizes her face and uses her full name.
  • Call-Back:
    • Gilina links the false memory to that of Crichton kissing her on the Zelbinion (the memory shows him kissing Lieutenant Teeg instead).
    • The events of "That Old Black Magic" end up sinking Crais. Not only does Crichton know events from Crais's past that are used in his fake memory, but a very real memory of Crais murdering Teeg is uncovered in the Aurora Chair.
    • Pilot recalls how D'Argo broke the contraception wall and released a catalyst.
  • Chick Magnet: "How many Peacekeepers do you know on this base?"
  • Cruel Mercy: After Aeryn refuses his order to release him from the Aurora Chair.
    Crais: I will track you down and kill you, Officer Sun! On that I give you my vow!
    Aeryn: You know what I give you, Crais? Your life. I will make you watch your life. [reactivates the chair]
  • Dark Secret: Crais desperately tries to keep secret what he did to Lt. Teeg. He just delays the inevitable.
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: Gilina refuses to escape with the others after realising that Crichton doesn't love her, even though her role in helping them escape will inevitably be uncovered. She changes her mind in time to save Crichton from being recaptured by Scorpius, but at the cost of her life.
  • Defensive Failure: Gilina hesitates rather than shooting Scorpius, giving him enough time to gun her down. However to do this Scorpius has to remove his gun from Crichton's head, enabling him to break free.
  • Delivery Girl: Chiana has to assist in the delivery of Moya's baby despite knowing nothing about the labor process for Leviathans.
  • Dirty Old Man: Rygel takes advantage of being in a confined space with Chiana.
  • Dramatic Irony: Everyone tortured in the Aurora Chair is holding back a secret from Scorpius, just not the wormhole information he's looking for.
  • Dying Declaration of Love: Along with a Last Kiss.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Scorpius gets annoyed when Crais beats up Stark. Of course, that's likely because his actions seem gratuitous, whereas all the evil Scorpius does is with purpose.
  • Fake Memories: Gilina creates one depicting Crais thanking Crichton for giving him the wormhole information. Crais insists Crichton somehow faked it, but Scorpius notes a person in the Aurora Chair can't make stuff up for the Chair. It's Not Helping Your Case that the memory contains details of Crais's past that Crichton shouldn't know (but does because he learnt it in "That Old Black Magic").
  • Foreshadowing: Crichton asks Stark what information he's trying to keep from Scorpius. Stark doesn't answer and it will be a long time before the audience finds out what he knows.
  • Friendship Moment: D'Argo won't try to stop Aeryn from heading down to the base, but he won't let her go alone, either.
    D'Argo: If you can be an idiot, I can be an idiot.
  • Honor Before Reason: Though it will take ten days to fully recover from her recent ordeal, Aeryn won't wait to try to rescue Crichton. Also, D'Argo and Zhaan won't let her go alone, despite not being able to blend in like she can.
  • Improvised Lockpick: Deconstructed; Stark has spent two cycles building a device that can open the door if only he can find the correct sequence for the door lock. Problem is he can only try one sequence at a time (with a likely infinite number of potential combinations). Still, it's not like Crichton has come up with anything better, as he points out.
  • Infraction Distraction: Aeryn gets the Chief Security Officer to open Crichton's cell by tipping him off about Stark's magnetic lockpick.
  • I Owe You My Life: Why Aeryn is insistent on moving immediately to save Crichton. She also thanks Gilina for helping save her.
  • Lap Pillow: Stark shows a more peaceful side to his manic personality when he rests Crichton's head in his lap to comfort him after a torture session.
  • Maternity Crisis: While one half of the cast are trying to rescue Crichton, the others are trying to help Moya give birth.
  • Mind Rape: And this time, Crais is also subjected to it.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Scorpius leaves Crais strapped in the Aurora Chair, enabling Aeryn to steal the senior officer's ident chip needed to get them off a base in Lock Down.
  • The Nicknamer: Cricthon dubs Scorpy's Lovely Assistant "Peacekeeper Barbie".
  • Obfuscating Insanity: Stark is certainly disturbed due to what he's been through, but he reveals he fakes his outbursts in order to get the Peacekeepers to leave him alone most of the time.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • A two-fer, as Moya's son gets stuck in the birthing canal due to his unique design. The offspring panics over being stuck, while those onboard Moya panic over the kid wanting to shoot his way free.
    • Even before this when they realise that Moya is about to vent the entire ship, forcing Rygel and Chiana to race for a pressure tank.
  • Outrun the Fireball: Chiana eventually realises that Moya's baby is going to have to fire his weapon to get free of the birth canal. Problem is, Chiana's still inside when he starts charging his weapon. She ends up frantically climbing back up the passage and into the corridor to escape the blast.
  • Phallic Weapon: A subtle version, but at the same time it's noted that Moya's offspring has been born with weaponry, the baby Leviathan is also noted to be a "he".
  • Pun: The "radiant" Sun turns up for a Big Damn Heroes.
  • Right Under Their Noses: Niem doesn't realise she's standing on a floor grating under which our heroes are hiding.
  • Running Gag: Cue Helium Speech as Rygel farts again—inside a pressure tank, no less. Chiana squeaks her outrage given that she's stuck in there with him.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Crais says that Scorpius doesn't have the nerve to put a Peacekeeper Captain in the Aurora Chair, and he's got a couple of armed bodyguards in case he does. Ignoring Crais, Scorpius addresses the two men, pointing out that he has absolute authority on this Gammak base, he will put Crais in the Chair and to stop him they'd have to kill Scorpius and every other soldier on the base.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In the fake memory, Crais talks of his resentment over never having been part of the Peacekeeper elite and Crichton replies, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." When Scorpius asks Crichton about the memory, he says it looks like an episode of Melrose Place.
    • There's a parody of the love scene in Titanic (1997) when Rygel's hand wipes the condensation off the pressure tank window, after being stuck in there with Chiana.
  • Slave Race: Stark refers to himself as a member of the "Banik slave race", and finds it ironic that the same abilities that kept his race in slavery now keep him alive so he can be studied by Peacekeeper scientists like Scorpius.
  • Stealth in Space: The transport pod is able to approach the Gammak base in the blind spot Gilina left, and land because external sensors would give away the fact that a hidden base was there.
  • This Cannot Be!:
    • The reaction to Moya's son being covered in weaponry. According to Pilot, no Leviathan has ever had weapons before.
    • Crais' incredulity at the faked memory displayed by the Aurora Chair.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Two mooks from the Command Carrier are shown by Crais's side early on. In a clip featured in international airings and on the DVD, Scorpius commends them for their sense of loyalty and says it must be hard to do for someone who clearly doesn't deserve it. It's probably the nicest thing anyone in Crais's crew has heard from a high-ranking officer in a long time.
  • That's an Order!: Doesn't work on someone you had removed from your chain of command, Crais.
  • Two-Faced: A good-guy version; Stark's half-mask covers a glowing white light that he uses to calm Crichton after his torture.
  • Traumatic C-Section: Done with a gunship cannon, no less.
  • You Have to Believe Me!: Crais is right that the memory of him and Crichton was faked. Too bad for him that he sounds half-crazed and that his overall credibility is dangerously low.
  • Your Worst Memory: As with "That Old Black Magic," the memory of Bialar Crais being conscripted into Peacekeeper service is brought back to hurt him; already in agonizing pain, Crais is so emotionally distraught at the sight of his father that he can only scream at Scorpius to switch the chair off.

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