Season 3, Episode 17:
The Choice
Aeryn seeks refuge on a planet with a supernatural reputation after the loss of the Crichton she'd grown close to. Stark starts to hear Zhaan's voice, but nothing on this planet is what it seems when an old enemy returns.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Call-Back:
- One of the visions of Crichton that Aeryn sees is based on "A Human Reaction".
- Another of the visions is the aged version from "The Locket". Her memories of that incident were supposedly erased via Reset Button raising questions of how she sees that version in this episode.
- Cassandra Truth: Strak, Crais and Rygel all try to tell Aeryn that her mother is still alive and on the planet, but, due to her grief and general apathy, she doesn't believe them until Xhalax breaks down her door and holds her at gunpoint.
- Continuity Nod: Aeryn uses fellip nectar to drown her sorrows; she told Crichton about it in "A Human Reaction" after he introduced her to Earth beer, when they thought they were mourning Rygel and D'Argo's deaths.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Aeryn spends most of the episode holed up in a squalid apartment and drinking to deal with losing her version of Crichton.
- Foreshadowing: At the end of the episode, Crais believes they've detected Moya's location. Stark also left behind his mask, saying to give it to the Crichton on Moya.
- It Gets Easier: Confronting Aeryn, Xhalax reflects on how she got to this point.Xhalax: I wasn't an assassin, until I killed your father. I was a pilot. I was bred to be a pilot, but they made me kill again and again. Finally, I stopped caring.
- Lampshade Hanging: Rygel scoffs at the blood-eyed seer, saying the blood looks fake.
- Moving Beyond Bereavement: Mourning for Crichton, Aeryn spends most of her time drinking heavily, taking increasingly aggressive lengths to avoid her shipmates, and occasionally interacting with an imaginary Crichton; at one point she even goes so far as to seek out the services of a mystic that can bring back the real Crichton. In the end, following a violent confrontation with Xhalax in which she finally gives vent to her sorrows, Aeryn is able to move on from her grief by returning to cold-blooded Peacekeeper professionalism, and tells the illusory Crichton he has to leave now; her Imaginary Friend sadly turns his back on her, and a cut later, Aeryn is alone - but finally free to return to Talyn.
- Only Sane by Comparison: As ever, Rygel is obnoxious and spooky by his unusual surroundings, but he notes he's the only one in the crew not interested in mating with Aeryn and thus is the only one who can rationally talk to her about her grief.
- Pet the Dog: Rygel talks to Aeryn about losing Kellor and how Crichton wouldn't want her to succumb to grief like this.
- The Power of Love: Aeryn says she learned that the Peacekeepers aren't remarkable because they never do anything for love. Xhalax says she's wrong.Xhalax: Cycles ago after your birth, I was given an order; they called it a choice. One of you must die, they said. I killed your father, so you could live. I did that for love.
- Put on a Bus: Stark stays on the planet to ascertain what Zhaan's voice is trying to tell him.
- Sadistic Choice: Xhalax reveals that Peacekeeper Command forced this on her after she visited Aeryn all those years ago. She was told to assassinate either Aeryn or Talyn; she reluctantly chose Talyn so that Aeryn could live.
- Say My Name: When Aeryn's grief reaches a fever pitch after Stark tries to convince her that her mother is still alive, she climbs out onto her apartment's window ledge and shouts Crichton's name into the unlistening void of a city.
- Skepticism Failure: Rygel laughs off the blood-eyed seer, until the name "Kellor" is spoken.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Rygel previously loved Kellor, but he wouldn't marry her because that would've meant going against his family. The blood-eyed seer says Kellor forgives him, but the memory of the whole thing still deeply disturbs Rygel.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Rygel sees a gathering of well-armed mooks.Rygel: Uh, Stark?
Stark: What?
Rygel: Who are they?
