Season 2, Episode 21:
Liars, Guns and Money, part 3: Plan B
Moya's crew hear a message left by Crichton, in which he tells them that Scorpius' neural chip is starting to take control and that by handing himself over to Scorpius, he can free Jothee and maybe have the chip removed. But as far as Aeryn's concerned, this doesn't change anything: they're still going ahead with the rescue plan, except now the target is Crichton. The mercenaries won't work for free and the crew are broke, but Aeryn points out that once they've gained access to the Depository, they can take all the money they want. Jothee, who has some serious resentment for his father, refuses to be part of the plan. Crais and Talyn arrive, having responded to Moya's distress call, and Talyn supplies his mother with nutrients to help her heal. At the Shadow Depository, Scorpius has Crichton drugged and tied to a rack so that he'll be pliable and willing to divulge wormhole information. He enters Crichton's mind to speak with the neural clone, who confirms that the chip is ready to be removed. Satisfied, Scorpius calls in his command carrier. When left alone with Natira, Crichton tries to goad her into going inside his head and talking to the neural clone.
Moya's crew commence their attack. Rorf the tracker manages to track down Crichton, but gets caught by Scorpius and Natira, who puts out Rorf's eye and forces him to confess the whole plan. Zhaan and the Sheyang Teurac make it to the Depository's power generator, but Teurac is too sick to produce a fireball capable of destroying it, so to keep his honour, he shoots himself and triggers a massive explosion that destroys the generator. While the lights are off and security is down, Aeryn, D'Argo and Bekhesh storm in and take out a ridiculous amount of guards. Meanwhile, Crichton convinces Natira to speak with the neural clone, who confirms that Scorpius is planning to kill her for attempting to assassinate him. She helps Crichton and Rorf to escape custody, but the neural chip starts taking control of Crichton and forcing him to go to Scorpius.
In orbit, the Zenetian pirates are supposed to deploy the Flax in order to stop pursuers, but they're contacted by Lieutenant Braca onboard the command carrier and persuaded to change sides, instead deploying the Flax early in order to tie up Moya's crew in their attempt to escape. Talyn arrives and destroys the Zenetian ship, destroying the Flax and allowing Chiana to pick up Zhaan and Stark in a transport pod. In the Depository, the group are cut off from their exit, Rorf is killed and Crichton is completely overtaken by the neural chip. The only thing that stops Scorpius from taking him is Aeryn, who knocks Crichton out and carries him further into the Depository. At the last minute, Aeryn comes up with a new plan: she and the rest of the group manage to hide in one of the vaults before Talyn swoops in and fires on the Depository, destroying it. Moya's crew are safe in the vault — and what's more, now they've got more currency than they could possibly hope to spend.
As the rest of the crew gloats over their victory, Bekhesh leaves, promising to deliver Rorf and Teurac's shares to their families. Aeryn thanks Crais for his help, but he reveals that it was Talyn, following his warrior instincts, who made the decision to help. Meanwhile, Crichton is being driven insane by the neural chip's constant whispering, and when D'Argo and Jothee visit him, Crichton begs D'Argo to kill him.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Big Damn Heroes: Talyn destroying the Zenetian ship.
- Bittersweet Ending: The crew rescue Crichton and get a lot of treasure, but Teurac and Rorf are dead, Moya is still ill from the fire, and Crichton's mind is practically broken.
- Brick Joke: Aeryn's night vision eyepiece isn't working when the lights go out. It finally starts working a moment before the lights come back on.
- Eye Scream: Natira does this to Rorf and nearly to Crichton.
- Freak Out: Crichton during the escape.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Scorpius interrogates Rorf, who steadfastly refuses. When Scorpius gives up, he reveals that he was the good cop to Natira's bad cop.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment:Natira: What the frell is that?
Crichton: [smiling] That's Moya. - Hypocrite: Crais chastises Aeryn for wanting to use Talyn for violent purposes on the grounds that he had been lectured numerous times by her on the same subject.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Teurac blows himself up to take out the generator. Later, Rorf shoves Crichton out of the way of an energy blast and is mortally wounded.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: John is so broken by what Scorpius and the neural clone are doing to him that he begs D'Argo to kill him.
- Killed Off for Real: Teurac, the Zenetian pirates, and Rorf.
- Momma's Boy: Talyn came running when he heard Moya's distress call. He also returns to save her from the Flax.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Crichton's goodbye message is played.Aeryn: You see how you misread him?
D'Argo: Yes. - Shout-Out: Crichton calls Scorpius "Fronkensteen" and refers to Natira as Frau Blücher. (*WHINNY!*)
- Too Annoyed to Be Afraid: The Zenetan pirates try to take over Moya after they realize that their payment has been destroyed in the events of the previous episode, even holding Chiana at gunpoint. Aeryn responds not with the usual mixture of caution and professionalism she'd use in a hostage situation, but with utter bile - not because she's trying to shame them into helping, but because, after everything that's happened in the last two episodes, she's just had enough.
- Even if you wanted to, I wouldn't go into battle with you now. Do you know why? Because you're a coward and an idiot! What do you think you're going to get if you steal Moya? She's a half-burned Leviathan! You have to be the stupidest pirates I've ever met!
- Tuneless Song of Madness: In the final scene, Crichton can be heard trying vainly to shut out the voices in his head by singing "Daisy Bell" and growing more and more upset as his attempts fail - until he finally begs D'Argo to kill him.
- Villains Want Mercy: Natira, learning that Scorpius plans to kill her, demands that Crichton take her with him to Moya, in spite of her numerous horrible acts throughout the three-parter. Unfortunately for her, Crichton is too in the middle of a massive Freak Out to be of much help.
