Recap / Farscape S 01 E 18 A Bugs Life

Season 1, Episode 18:

A Bug's Life

Moya is approached by a Peacekeeper Marauder demanding help with a fuel leak from their engines. John persuades the others that their best hope is to allow the Peacekeepers on board and pretend that Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel are still prisoners, with John and Aeryn as the Peacekeeper crew and Chiana as John's *ahem* "servant".

The Peacekeepers turn out to be a Special Ops crew led by Captain Larraq, with science officer Hassan, and mooks Thonn and Rhed. They are carrying a mysterious object that they retrieved from the Uncharted Territories to a Gammak Base, a top secret scientific outpost in the territories. After some initial sparring, Larraq and Aeryn find themselves getting on rather well.

Everything seems to be going well, until Rygel and Chiana have to investigate the mysterious sealed cargo in case it's something valuable. They discover an alien being in stasis. Thonn comes upon them, and something from the alien jumps to him. He kills the alien and Rhed, and then transfers the mysterious thing to Chiana before passing out.

Chiana tells John and Larraq that Rygel killed Rhed. Larraq explains that what they were carrying was a sentient virus capable of possessing its hosts. If it stays in the same host for more than an arn, it will produce spores capable of infecting multiple people. Larraq and John decide to ally with the "prisoners" and hunt Rygel, who is hiding in the shafts and who everyone believes is infected with the virus.

Everyone finds Rygel, and Larraq shoots him with a stasis gun and takes him away to put him in the box. Chiana transfers the virus to Crichton, who finds Hassan in the medical bay and beats her to death with an iron bar.

Zhaan and D'Argo find Chiana, and realise from what Larraq told them about the virus's effects that she has been possessed. John is in command with Aeryn and Larraq, increasing Moya's speed towards the Peacekeeper base, when the others burst in and explain that the virus is loose and probably in Crichton. A mass brawl breaks out, during which the virus jumps from Crichton to one of Aeryn, Larraq, D'Argo and Thonn. It can't be Crichton or Chiana, since the virus can't reinfect a former host.

Zhaan manages to create an antibody to the virus, and starts testing the others. Aeryn and Thonn test negative, and Larraq breaks and opens fire, proving that he is the new host. The others hunt him, but he kills Thonn and takes Aeryn hostage. To distract the others, he stabs her and runs, planning to take the Marauder to the Peacekeeper base and let the virus loose. John gets Pilot to briefly activate Moyas Starburst drive, and the energy discharge ignites the trail of leaking fuel from the Marauder and blows it up.

Aeryn wakes up to find Crichton sitting near her bedside. He informs her that the stab wound nearly killed her, that Larraq is dead, and that Moya is quickly putting distance between themselves and the Gammak Base. Aeryn admits to being saddened by Larraq's death but thanks Crichton for being there for her.

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This episode includes the following tropes:

• Armor-Piercing Question: The others want to take the commandos by surprise as quickly as possible, but Crichton would rather wait in order to gain more information. When the others point out that doing so puts them closer to a Peacekeeper base they'd all rather avoid, Crichton hits them with this to demonstrate why they need more information.
  Crichton: And what if it's not the only base?
• Batman Gambit:
  • After being freed, the virus infects Thonn, kills Rhed, and then jumps into Chiana—creating confusion over what exactly happened and implicating Rygel.
  • When Zhaan says Crichton's really infected, the virus immediately punches Aeryn (knocking her into Thonn) and then Larraq. When D'Argo tries to restrain Crichton's body, everyone else ends up touching each other, which means no one can be sure who the virus is in now (save Crichton and Chiana).
• Big "NO!": D'Argo when Aeryn is stabbed. Crichton follows, as Aeryn falls to the floor.
• Black Site: The Peacekeeper base in the Uncharted Territories is a "Gammak base", meaning it's location is Need To Know. As Crichton needs to know to take him there, Larraq gives him the coordinates.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: When the Peacekeeper squad arrive on Moya, John prevents Larraq from asserting authority over him by having the DRDs shoot the pulse pistol out of his hand.
• Body Surf: How the virus operates. It isn't airborne, so it has to spread through touch.
• Boldly Coming: Despite the Fantastic Racism of the Peacekeepers, Larraq makes a comment on how attractive Zhaan is and his commandoes note with approval the "non-reg server" that Crichton has attending him. Then again when you're a Spec Ops unit out in the Uncharted Territories, you don't have to care much about an official ban on interspecies fraternization. And as Thonn points out to Chiana, they've only had their own squadmates for company for almost a full cycle.
• Continuity Nod: Crichton handwaves the lack of a control collar on Moya by claiming they've developed a means of controlling the Pilot instead.
• Contrived Clumsiness: Chiana gets an impression off the crate key hanging from Thonn's belt by spilling a drink on him. As this means she has to touch his groin area to clean it up, he's not bothered by this.
• Dramatic Irony: The virus can't reinfect a previous host, so Thonn (unaware that he had ever been infected) was actually safe during the final stand-off.
• Dwindling Party: The Peacekeeper squad are killed one by one as the episode progresses.
• Enemy Mine: The Peacekeepers ally with the others, including the "prisoners", once the virus gets loose.
• Foreshadowing: There's a good deal of talk about a new Gammak base in the Uncharted Territories, which the crew of Moya hopes to stay clear of. Chiana also lifts an ID tag off Larraq, which Crichton uses in the next episode. And then there's Aeryn's wound...
• Grand Theft Me: The virus takes full control of the given host.
• I'm Not Doing That Again: Having been the most vocal about Crichton's plan, D'Argo intends to throw out the chains at the end of the episode. He vows he won't be a prisoner (play-along or otherwise) ever again.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Infected!Larraq does this to Aeryn.
• It Can Think: The Intellant Virus is quite crafty, using the knowledge of its hosts and biding its time to strike.
• Just Think of the Potential!: Larraq's team was to bring the virus to the Gammak base, where the scientists would figure out a way to use it to overtake enemy forces.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: When the virus leaves a host, that person has no memory of what happened while infected.
• Little "No": Zhaan when she realizes too late that the virus pulled off its second Batman Gambit.
• Lock-and-Load Montage: Aeryn gets a brief one as she dresses up as a Peacekeeper again.
• Mexican Standoff:
  • The commandoes deploy from their Marauder before it's fully landed and enter Moya with their guns at the ready, leading to a standoff with Aeryn armed with a BFG before Crichton settles the issue of who's in charge by making them duck for cover under a barrage of DRD fire.
  • When D'Argo and Zhaan arrive on command to warn the virus is in Crichton, the virus triggers fight in which everyone gets in close proximity and touches each other. When it's done, everyone's pointing guns at each other and no one knows who the virus is in.
• My God, What Have I Done?: While infecting Crichton, the virus attacks Hassan and beats her to death. Even though it wasn't his fault, Crichton can't help but be disgusted with himself when he finds out what happened.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Everything would have been OK if not for Rygel's and Chiana's incorrigible greed.
• No Sympathy: As a result of his experiences, Rygel is feeling cold and sick. D'Argo is in absolutely no mood to listen, saying Rygel brought all this on himself by opening that container.
• Notice This: There's a close-up shot of Larraq's ID that Chiana later steals, which he produces it to show his authority to commandeer Moya.
• Pet the Dog: Chiana tries to assure Crichton that what happened to Hassan wasn't really his fault.
• Play-Along Prisoner: And none of them are very happy about it. D'Argo is chained up with the hooks going into his chest, while Zhaan has to force Rygel to give up his throne sled, then Pilot locks them all in their old cells.
• Punch-Clock Villain: All the Peacekeeper squad seem to be reasonable and honourable people.
• Race Against the Clock: If the virus spends an arn in a given body, it will be able to lay millions of spores.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Larraq acknowledges how he works his troops hard during a mission, so he's not going to hassle them on formalities like standing whenever he enters a room.
• Sadistic Choice: In Larraq, the virus gives Crichton and D'Argo the choice of letting it leave for the Gammak Base or seeing Aeryn get stabbed. When Aeryn tells them to stop the virus, it stabs her as a distraction to run away.
• Say My Name: Crichton shouts Aeryn's name when she's stabbed.
• Shipped in Shackles: D'Argo has to be chained to the walls of his cell to fool the Peacekeepers into thinking this is a regular prisoner transport. He can barely hide his resentment over having to be bound again, and once the Peacekeepers are all dead he makes a point of destroying the chains so he won't have to go through it again.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title to A Bug's Life, which had come out the year before this episode aired.
  • While in Crichton, the virus talks D'Argo and Zhaan out of unfreezing the supposedly infected Rygel and making an antibody for him.
  "You might kill Rygel. You might think your magic pill and then Rygel's up walking around the ship, coughing up spores... CATS and DOGS living together!"
• Small Role, Big Impact: An infected Larraq stabbing Aeryn leads to Crichton having to infiltrate the Gammak base in the next episode, which adversely changes the course of the series by introducing Scorpius and leading to Crais's downfall.
• Spanner in the Works: The crew have to pull their deception because Larraq's Maurader detected them by sheer chance, while Crichton had to play Peacekeeper captain because the only such uniform on Moya didn't fit Aeryn.
• Super-Strength: According to Hassan, the virus can augment a given body's strength.
• These Hands Have Killed: John is upset by the virus using his body to kill Hassan.
• Verbal Business Card
  Aeryn: Lieutenant Aeryn Sun. Ustar Regiment. Special Duty assignment.
  Larraq: Larraq. Captain. And my assignment's none of your business.
• The Virus: The intelligent virus that is the villain of the episode.
• Weaponised Exhaust: John uses the energy discharge from the Starburst drive to destroy Larraq's Marauder.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: John's horrible attempt at a public-school English accent when impersonating a Peacekeeper commander.