"Durka Returns"
Air Date: August 13, 1999

Being an eternal optimist, I was hoping this week's installment of the Perils of Moya's Crew would be an improvement over "Jeremiah Crichton". Unfortunately, I found a whole hell of a lot of things to kvetch about. What kinds of things? Oh, stuff like plot, characterization, and writing just to name a few.

Let’s start with the plot, shall we? An accidental starburst results in Moya crashing into another ship carrying a motley crew of its own which includes an infamous war criminal, a thief and their jailer, the latter two belonging to a race known as the Nebari.

To say that the setup of this episode felt forced would be a serious understatement. It all begins when we are expected to believe that the ship Moya encounters and accidentally disables just happens to contain Rygel's torturer. This coincidence might not have seemed so overly convenient if not coupled with glaring problems in characterization.

In short, the characterization was a joke. It was like everyone, with the exception of Rygel, took a handful of stupid pills. Rygel, in the only true moment during the setup, wants Durka dead (I have to admit I laughed when he tried to bite the sh*t out of Durka) and I for one don't blame him. Caution and simple common sense would have called for all of them to be at least confined to quarters until their ship was repaired.

But of course if anyone besides had voiced a complaint or shown a bit of common sense, then the writer would have had to come up with a more cohesive plot and better understanding of the characters he forced into the events of this mockery of an episode. Simply put, the characters were acting out of character in order to allow the story to be told the way the writer wanted it to.

Granted this ep was probably written specifically as a showcase for the villains - most notably Gigi Edgley’s Chiana, who was very reminiscent of Daryl Hannah’s Pris the Replicant in Blade Runner, and David Wheeler’s creepy Selto Durka - with even the usually heavily featured Crichton not really getting to do much except run round Moya. However, the Kafka-esque jailer Salis, who truly believed that mind wiping was the only answer to society’s ills, turned out to be the most interesting so of course he was the least used villain of the piece. Hopefully the crew has not seen the last of the Nebari.

I should point out that this episode wasn’t a total waste of time and film though. It did finally resolve Rygel's issues concerning his torture at the hands of PK Captain Durka, we find out the fate of the Peace Keeper ship The Zelbinion (see “PK Tech Girl”), the dialogue was fair (although annoyingly peppered with Crichton's usual flippant Earth colloquialisms - "Durka's gone Hannibal Lecter on us!"), and the acting was almost good enough to make me forget the serious wormholes in the writer’s sorry excuse for characterization.

And in spite of it all, the episode did have an noble theme, that of facing one's demons. Aeryn was right - in the end, Rygel comported himself honorably and courageously in his confrontation with his old enemy.

If nothing else, I had fun picking nits out of "Durka Returns".

-- Vivian Lee

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