Farscape/Recap/S01/E16 A Human Reaction
Season 1, Episode 16:
A Human Reaction
Through sheer happenstance, Moya discovers a wormhole and Crichton sees Earth at the other end. He flies down the wormhole in his module and crashes in Australia, but the homecoming is less than welcoming. The government is suspicious and wants to know everything about Crichton's time on Moya, and even Jack, his own father, seems distant. Things get worse when Aeryn, D'Argo and Rygel arrive in a transport pod and are locked in quarantine, something Aeryn says even the Peacekeepers would never do.
Things reach boiling point when Rygel is killed for the purposes of autopsy and D'Argo disappears entirely. Jack helps John to escape the government lockdown and he reunites with Aeryn, who escaped quarantine when the government came to take her away. They hide out in an old apartment of Jack's, and that night they sleep together. Next morning, Crichton begins to realise that everyone and everything he's seen since coming through the wormhole is based on something from his own memory, including things that couldn't possibly exist anymore: he tests this hypothesis by trying to visit a place he's never been before (the ladies room of a local pool hall), only to meet an energy barrier.
It is revealed that everything was a giant simulation, a test built by aliens known as Ancients, who are trying to find a world where they can settle down. Aeryn, D'Argo and Rygel really did come through the wormhole, but the latter two were spirited away from the simulation when required and treated well in the meantime. "Jack" is really one of the Ancients, who wanted to provoke a human reaction from Crichton to determine how the people of Earth would react to the Ancients arrival. Humanity failed the test, being too destructive and suspicious, so the Ancients must continue searching and examining the memories of other races they encounter. Crichton and "Jack" wish each other good luck at finding their home, and the crew of Moya return to their ship.
So, that was the typical Yank the Dog's Chain "fake return home" episode that every Trapped in Another World series does eventually, and nothing in it will have any future relevance after the Reset Button got pressed. OK?
Tropes present in this episode include
- Alien Autopsy
- Creator Cameo / You Look Familiar: the men in the toilet are played by director Rowan Woods, designer Ricky Eyres, and Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo) with no make-up.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Crichton obviously thinks so
- Inhumanable Alien Rights
- Innocuously Important Episode: This episode secretly begins the plot arc that will dominate the entire rest of the show.
- Mandatory Line: Chiana has one brief scene at the beginning, as this was the first episode made after the decision that she would survive "Durka Returns" and there wasn't time to rewrite it to give her a bigger role.
- Riddle for the Ages: Was Aeryn in on the Ancients' deception of Crichton from the start? At one point she has a discussion in Sebacean with "Jack" that is left conspicuously untranslated. At any rate, the slight consent issues that would be raised if this were true might be why John and Aeryn having sex in this ep rarely gets brought up again.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens
- Wondrous Ladies' Room: used as a plot point!
- Yank the Dog's Chain