Season 4, Episode 10:
Coup by Clam
While Moya is being repaired to enable her to withstand the effects of Tormented Space, the crew consume some of the local food, sharing amongst themselves. However, it turns out if not ingested by the same person, it becomes toxic. They must quickly find a cure or they'll die.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Accidental Dance Craze: Ho'Ock misconstrues John throwing himself into his arms on the dance floor (actually because he's linked to Sikozu, who's having her fingers cut off).
- Affably Evil: Dr. Tumii is awfully friendly for an extortionist and blackmailer. He even offers to refund 2/3rds of the money the crew pays him when he discovers he can't actually help 2/3rds of the crew he had poisoned. That doesn't stop him from getting his just rewards by the end of the episode, however.
- Big Damn Heroes: As the others are about to succumb to the effects, Scorpius eats the discarded mollusks to link with them and buy more time. As a result of his intervention, Aeryn and Sikozu avoid dying on the floor, Rygel is able to stop an attack from Tumii, and Crichton is able to fend off Ho'Ock.
- Captain Obvious Reveal: Mujombre didn't really look or sound male to begin with (having her breasts covered made her seem more like a woman with her breasts covered than a man). So the revelation that she was actually a woman wasn't really a surprise.
- Dissonant Serenity: Scorpius neck-snaps Mekken, then calmly tells Mujombre to keep working.
- Disguised in Drag: Played for laughs when Crichton and Rygel dress as women in order to infiltrate an alien brothel. Crichton gets hit on by a government thug who, in an interesting subversion, already knows that he's a man dressed as a woman, as he'd seen Crichton earlier. Also, Rygel doesn't bother to shave his beard (perhaps female Hynerians have facial hair as well) and appears to be wearing a wedding dress.
- Dutch Angle: Used to portray the disorienting effects of the clams on the characters.
- Fingore: The rebels cut off Sikozu's finger to locate Crichton, whom she's linked to.
- Forced Orgasm: When Noranti starts stimulating herself, D'Argo experiences a sudden and involuntary orgasm due to their temporary Psychic Link. He's horrified and promptly tries headbutting himself (and therefore her) unconscious.
- Heroic Second Wind: Scorpius provides one for our heroes by consuming the mollusks as well, providing extra time at the risk of his own life.
- Homoerotic Subtext: The black-clad thugs of the local misogynist government have plenty of Ho Yay. Just watch the interaction between Scorpius and Mekken (the mechanic's police escort), and Ho'Ock, the policeman who recognizes John Disguised in Drag.
- I Ate WHAT?!: The crew's first reaction when Tumii says he's given them fatal food poisoning. Their next reaction is to draw their guns.
- Info Dump: The villain insists in giving all the details of the local sociopolitical situation and exactly how the infection he is blackmailing the crew with works. He continues even after they've agreed to pay him off and told him they don't care, and then even after they offer to increase the amount if he'll just shut up.
- Karmic Death: The episode ends with Dr. Tumii possibly dying of the same food poisoning he blackmailed the crew with, after being force-fed by Rygel. Rygel then states his intent to leave the leftovers in the trash where they can be eaten by stray animals. It's never shown whether or not he actually does this or not, though.
- Neck Snap: Scorpius does a one-handed version to Mekken.
- Outfit-Rip Sex Check: Chiana rips open the mechanic's jacket to reveal her breasts.
- Phallic Weapon: "Who else has one of these under their skirt?"
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The guard sent to Moya who is extremely coarse and misogynistic (and it isn't just him - all the females of his native planet are badly oppressed). When Scorpius accompanies him on his tour of Moya to make sure he doesn't try anything underhanded, the guard uses the opportunity to loudly voice his relief that Moya is "controlled" by a male Pilot, among other things. And when he discovers that the mechanic he's guarding is actually a woman, he attempts to kill both her and Chiana—right before Scorpius breaks his neck.
- Prop Recycling: The "milking device" from "Scratch 'N Sniff" appears in the background of the brothel Crichton and Rygel sneak into.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Pilot does not-need-your-help! (Sikozu)
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised: The rebels have no problem with our heroes dying in agony, even though they offered to purchase the cure.
- Sinister Schnoz: Doctor Tumii has an impressively-sized nose (albeit with squick-inducing snot). It gets bitten off by Rygel at the end of the episode.
- Skewed Priorities: Crichton opposes Rygel's Disguised in Drag plan. He says it's embarrassing before adding he might reconsider if the dress was black (as he says, a slimming color) instead of purple. Rygel remarks it's this or dying from the mollusks.
- Space Madness: A variation as it's presented as an infectious disease rather than a side effect of Tormented Space. Really, they could have just made up any Space "X" Disease.
- Spanner in the Works:
- For the second episode in a row, Chiana is the only one unaffected by the danger threatening the rest of the crew. Downplayed in that rather than being completely immune to the mind-control bugs and so being able to save the day via her testimony as to the villains' plot and her precognition, she's just the only one who didn't eat the mollusks. Also, all she does is learn the truth about Mujombre and help her with the repairs; in fact her discovery as to the former's true gender is almost a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment, since it results in Mekken overhearing them and discovering the truth.
- Scorpius, as his ability to eat the rest of the mollusks (and later, regurgitate them) allows him to harmlessly diffuse their effects so the others don't die and can succeed in getting the cure. Possibly implied in the earlier refusal to allow a Scarran to descend to the planet, which could be due to knowledge of how the mollusks do (or don't) affect them, although this is never confirmed.
- Straw Misogynist: As a Planet of Hats. Meanwhile some female rebels are planning to usurp things.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Mujombre, the mechanic sent to work on Moya.
- Sweet on Polly Oliver: Subverted as he already knows Crichton's a man.
- Although, given some of Ho'Ock's dialogue, it could also be that he thinks Crichton's a woman, and when he saw Crichton trying to hide at the doctor's surgery, that Crichton was there disguised as a man.
- Take Me Instead: Sikozu volunteers to have her finger cut off, because at least she can reattach them.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Anyone who eats the mollusks appears to be suffering Space Madness and is killed. The coup is to be carried out by the rebels slipping the mollusks into the food at a high-class brothel attended by the ruling class.
- Technobabble:Crichton: One more word of technobabble out of you and I'm gonna cut out your tongue!
- Think Unsexy Thoughts: It doesn't work when someone else is having the orgasm.
- With All Due Respect / Ineffectual Death ThreatD'Argo: [re the cure] If this doesn't work, you're dead.
Dr. Tumii: With all due respect, so are you. - You Know Too Much: The rebels try to assassinate Tumii because they're on the verge of their coup. As they have the cure, it really doesn't matter that they didn't succeed, as our heroes are screwed anyway.
- You Won't Feel a Thing!: The crew of Moya are being examined by a doctor for Space Madness.John: Hey look I know you guys lie and all, but th-this is not gonna hurt too bad is it?
Dr Tumii: [cheerfully] Not a bit.
(The doctor turns on his Mind Probe, causing John's head to light up as he shrieks in agony)
D'Argo: [later] If you'd held your scream off one more microt I would have won the pool.
