What just happened here? I’ve watched the show a couple of times already and I’m not entirely sure, but I know I loved every minute of it! Amazingly enough, there were no new aliens from the Creature Shop to enthuse over, not much CGI, no alien worlds being explored. Only Crichton, his TV, his shipmates and some of the best writing of the season so far.  

“Alien Visitations” was very well done, using several earth experts (including David Kemper and Brian Henson) who analyzed Bobby’s videotapes of Moya’s crew on earth. Although some of the people doing the analyzing were pro-alien, the majority seemed to be either terrified or repelled. Rygel probably summed it up best when he said, “It’s a backward planet full of superstitious xenophobic morons.” 

Getting to see what happened on earth between the scenes in Terra Firma was fantastic. Several items stand out in my mind as great character-development. 

Chiana was broken-hearted over the death of her friend, the rat. Poor kid’s probably never had a pet in her life before and just because it’s not a pet that most humans would consider, you have to remember that Chiana’s probably had sex with less appealing beings. Over the years, I’d forgotten that Chi is still a very young person. With all the troubles she’s been through she’s grown up much to quickly. On earth with John’s cousin/nephew (whatever) her youth is very apparent. She had as much fun playing with the makeup as I did when I was a kid. I don’t remember drinking out of the toilet, though. 

D'Argo couldn’t resist showing off a bit for Bobby Crichton but his ship’s capabilities freaked out the talking heads on “Alien Visitations,” especially when D'Argo said that earth has no defense against Lo’La and that we have to learn that we won’t always be victorious. He scared the hezmana out of them with that statement! Earlier in the program, D'Argo appeared to be quite hurt by the fact that people watching him on Letterman weren’t laughing with him but at him. I don’t think they’re laughing anymore. 

Rygel – gotta love him! He instantly picked out the best (a.k.a. the worst) food on earth to stuff himself with while he bet on football and dialed 900 numbers. 

Sikozu is always the realist. She quits the search for Katratzi before anyone else. She’s brilliant and she knows that no matter what Crichton believes, she’d remember the name Katratzi if she’d ever heard it. But she’s actually the key to the whole mystery. Other than Aeryn, the only link John has to Katratzi is a brief mention by Sikozu/Stark in an unrealized reality. 

John hasn’t slept, he probably hasn’t eaten. All he’s done is stare at the TV and try to figure out how to find Aeryn. When it hits him where he heard the name “Katratzi,” it seems that he has a difficult decision to make. It turns out to be one of the easiest decisions he’s ever made. Aeryn. After nearly four years on the run, struggling to remain one step ahead of every insane military commander in the universe hunting him for wormhole technology, John comes to his decision in a split second. He makes a deal with Scorpy to trade the one thing he has left that’s of value: wormholes for Aeryn. 

I have a lot of questions about what’s really going on in this episode. First question is: when. When did Scorpius set John up? Was it as early as Promises, Scorpy’s first arrival on Moya with Aeryn? Was that even Aeryn? Did he actually remove the neural clone or merely silence it to lull John into a sense of security? Has he been waiting all this time for his chance to make a trade? Or did he slowly come to the realization of John’s not-very-well-hidden feelings for Aeryn and knew his chance would come? 

Which brings me to several inconsistencies, the main one being that back in Terra Firma, John’s cousin was Bobby Crichton. This week the same person is John’s nephew Bobby Coleman. Unless there are a whole lot of dueling banjos in the Crichton family, something is a bit off-center here. For another thing, D'Argo himself denied that he was a general, yet he’s given the title several times during the course of  “Alien Visitations.”  The pumpkin the sheriff was showing off was different from the original. Are these really inconsistencies or is John now living in a reality not his own? Screw up? I don’t think so.