"A Human Reaction"
Air Date: August 20, 1999

Finally, a really compelling, frustrating and totally watchable Farscape episode. After the last two dips in the series, "A Human Reaction" is manna from heaven. There's as much to like about this ep as there was to dislike about the last two. The writing and dialogue are intelligent and coherent, the plot follows the story arc and characters are actually in-character.

To summarize, a conveniently placed wormhole presents Crichton with the opportunity go to home. Or so he thinks.

The episode begins with Crichton sitting alone recording his musings to a microcassette recorder:

"Always the same here, dad. Nice and quiet. It's late... Space. I don't really know what time it is. I miss the sun, day, night. Simple things."

You can hear not just in his words, or in the tone of his voice, but also in the spaces in between his words exactly how much he misses his homeworld.

The confusion starts when Crichton crashes on Earth. Despite only a seven month absence, the Earth he finds himself on isn't the one he remembers. What's more is he's quickly placed between a rock and a hard place once Rygel, Aeryn and D'Argo are captured -- either he must act in the best interest of the military which would result in the deaths of his friends or protect them and separate himself from all he's ever known.

We the audience are dragged right along with Crichton as he finds out that not only is he not on Earth, his father isn't really his father and that nearly all he's seen and heard and felt was part of an experimental trial.

The best thing about this ep, the thing that made me wanna holler "Hot Damn!" is the consummation of the heretofore unresolved sexual tension between Aeryn and John that began in "The Flax". All you see is them kissing in that room but do the math. In any universe, one plus one equals a couple, y'all. What I am really trying to figure out is did they or didn't they? Was that or was that not Aeryn Sun?

The theme of "Home Is Where the Heart Is" which is central to the whole series is brought to the forefront in "A Human Reaction". No matter what the species, the drive to find Home or a place to stake a claim as Home is hard-wired and hard to shake. Just look at the lengths to which the aliens go to find a new home.

I await the the next new Farscape with baited breath and hope that it at least gives a hint of resolution. Kudos to the writer of "A Human Reaction" for giving us such a great cliffhanger.

--- Vivian Lee

Farscape can be seen Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel at 8pm and 12am EST