"Hidden Memory"
Airdate: January 14, 2000
The tables are turned as Moya's crew bails Crichton and company out of the Peacekeeper fire.
The big blessed event of this episode is the birth of Moya's baby. Never mind if it's a boy or a girl, check out all those weapons Junior's carrying! And those colors? The ever popular Peacekeeper red and black scheme. Oh baby, what a baby!
This roller coaster ride just gets wilder as the ball gets rolling and Moya's crew gets two additions as well as a new, dangerous adversary on their heels.
Crichton's crazy cell mate Stark (Paul Goddard) turns out not to be mad as a hatter but crazy like a fox. His actions are a bit puzzling as first he threatens Crichton, then comforts him as if he were a babe. But where his character truly opens up is when he reveals that the trait he possesses that made him a slave has also kept him alive, allowed him to beat Scorpius' chair. This revelation that the power to beat the Aurora Chair comes from a member of a race of slaves is intriguing. Will he stay on as a member of Moya's crew? He doesn't ask to stay, it seems, yet he's not seen making goodbyes. I'm hoping that he'll pop up in a later episode.
Speaking of Gilina, I feel even sorrier for her now than I did for her in "Nerve." I admired her for asking Crichton the question about Aeryn and not giving up when he tried to laugh her off. Though sad, it wasn't at all a surprise that Gilina died helping Crichton and Chiana escape. Alyssa Jane Cook deserves some kind of consolation pay for doing the combined thankless roles of Mary Sue and Redshirt.
Chiana, on the other hand, still has tricks to spare. "Hidden Memory" plumbs the depth of Chiana's character as she believably moves from vicious (killing Jaddio) to heroic (saving Moya's baby) to scrappy (the mauling scene with Rygel) all in this one episode.
Aeryn's confrontation with Crais is the most astonishing and emotional scene I've seen in quite a while. I love that Aeryn is the instrument of her own emancipation from Crais and her Peacekeeper upbringing and breeding. I honestly thought Sun would kill the helpless Crais as he sat strapped into the Aurora Chair looking beaten. While the old Aeryn Sun who always followed orders might have released Crais and the Aeryn Sun that had been made into a fugitive may have killed Crais outright, but this was another Aeryn Sun entirely. This was the Aeryn Sun that has learned over time to think and feel and do for herself. And as this new Aeryn Sun emerged, she did the unexpected and after telling Crais he'd never order her again - she gave him his life. Of course she was cruel in her literal-mindedness by setting the torture device to full throttle. Ouch.
Speaking of Crais, the glee nearly spilled out of me when Scorpius put him in the Aurora Chair. His deepest secrets were laid bare for all to see. But it was a fitting karmic kick in the ass for the trouble he's caused not just for Moya and her crew but the people under his command, as well.
I have to say I taped "Hidden Memory" and watched it over and again. It was that good. Strong characterization, tight writing and direction and effortlessly good acting were all present and accounted for.
-- Vivian E. Lee
Farscape airs at 8pm EST, Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel.
We welcome your comments on The 11th Hour and this review. Please send letters to: letters@the11thhour.com
