This Week, On Alien Visitations... (WARNING: Spoilers for Farscape Episode 4.17, "A Constellation of Doubt")

Wow. That was cool!

And having thus summed up my overall reaction to the episode, here we go with the usual spew of random thoughts:

As solid an episode as "Terra Firma" was, there was one complaint that a lot of people had about it: that the "media circus" surrounding the aliens seemed very subdued and un-circus-like, and that we got to see disappointingly little of Earth's reaction to the whole thing. It's nice -- very nice -- to see that being rectified here, especially as the whole thing is handled with such brilliance and creativity. Man, they got the style of that particular kind of "news" show down absolutely pat. And some of the clips were utterly hysterical. I loved Noranti. And Chiana talking to Crichton's cousin about sex. And every single one of the "talking head" commentators.

The human reaction (heh!) seemed quite believable to me, and I'm sure it surpises absolutely no one, except, oddly, for John. Well, actually, even John seemed more disappointed than surprised. I'm not entirely sure why, though. Isn't this more or less what he was originally hoping for? To warn Earth, to put them on their guard for "when the real space monsters show up"?

Maybe the change in John's attitude towards Aeryn of late can be traced back to that conversation with his sister. (I'm sure there was more of it than what Bobby got on tape.) I like that thought. I think I'm going to keep that thought. It makes a lot more more sense of the current turn of their relationship.

OK. I actually knew about that clue in "Unrealized Reality," because other people had noticed it and posted thoughts about it on the internet. In a way, I kind of wish I hadn't, because it deprived me of one of those lovely moments where I smack myself in the forehead and go, "Damn it, how did I miss that?", which is always fun. Give me the booby prize, by the way. I remember, after UR aired, there were a number of people saying things like, "What was Sikozu-Stark saying just before Crichton shot her? Was that signficant? What did it mean?" And my reaction to that was basically, "Oh, come on. She's just chanting. Stark's always chanting. It's probably some preparing-to-become-incorporeal ritual. It doesn't mean anything. Sheesh, and people say I overanalyze." I forget; when it comes to Farscape, sometimes overanalyzing isn't. I still have no idea what the hell it all means. But I have the feeling the upcoming conversation John's clearly planning on having with Einstein is going to be very interesting, indeed...

It's beginning to become very clear that John is being manipulated somehow. But by who? Scorpius? Einstein? Stark[*]? All of the above? I'm actually much more interested in finding out the answer to this than I am in what's going to happen to Aeryn, to be brutally honest.

How 'bout that tag scene, huh? Aeryn for wormholes... Yeah, well, it wasn't hard to imagine that it would finally come down to that. (Well, geez, come on, John, did you actually think that "let's just kiss quietly so Scorpius doesn't find out" thing was actually going to work?) Do you think he'll actually be willing to keep that bargain? My guess would be "yes."

If Scorpius isn't behind Aeryn's kidnapping (and it's difficult to imagine how he could have arranged it, but it's usually a mistake to put anything at all past him), I imagine he's having some seriously mixed feelings right about now. He'll do anything to get wormholes, but having to face an entire base full of Scarrans has to be very, very high on his list of Least Favorite Things to Do. (I'm really hoping we do get some good character stuff for Scorpius out of this situation. Given that he's actually part of the "crew" now, he's been seriously underused this season.)

[*] Well, there've been some really wild theories proposed as to exactly what (if any) role Stark might be playing in this season's events. Personally, I have no clue, but it seems to me that he has to be significant somehow. His departure left one hell of a loose end, and the writers have been taking considerable care to not let us forget about him. I'm really hoping he does show up soon with his share of the answers. I miss the heck out of Stark, and I really want to know what he's been up to (or, in one particular case, why he's been up to what he's been up to).