Aeryn's no sooner gone missing in a stellar mist than she's back again - 165 cycles older and insisting she has to go back to the granddaughter she left on the planet below...

Ok. For me this is a strange episode, one of those I can't quite decide if I like or not.

I'll admit to a tear or two when the others find Old John cradling Old Aeryns dead body, and giving a little cheer when he opens the locket and finds that the picture of Aeryn's "One true love" is of him :thumbsup: As if it could be anyone else ;)

And I fairly groan in frustration at the end when Aeryn and John look in the locket to find his picture has disintergrated :angry:

All in all I love the John/Aeryn interactions but the rest of the episode is a bit average.

And the whole Zhaan and Stark save the day bit? :x

John: Aeryn, I'm gonna try to get out of this. I told them our plan and… oh baby, there are so many places that I wanted you to see... people. There's this lake in Maine, used to spend summers there when I was a kid. Had more mosquitos than a dog had fleas. Dad and I, we'd camp out there and one night the astronauts landed on the moon. I remember looking up at the sky. I knew right then what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I couldn't have been more than four years old. Ha, yeah I really wanted you to see that. Oh, damn baby I miss you already. Who else am I going to tell this crap to? I love you.

I must admit that this is one of my favourite episodes of the second season. It's not that it's particularly outstanding, or even that it makes any sense (it doesn't), but I think it's mainly because it is such a complete rip off of one of my all time favourite TNG episodes, The Inner Light, which was (and still is) an absolute masterpiece. Okay, the events here are actually taking place as opposed to being created in Captain Picard's mind by an alien space probe, but the principle is the same (one or more characters living their entire lifetime in a matter of minutes or hours).

Taking all that into account I should really hate The Locket, but I don't. I love the scenes of John and Aeryn growing old together, becoming this crotchety old couple who do nothing but moan and bitch and take the piss out of each other. Some of those bits are very evocative and it gives the episode a subtle romantic feel that is underplayed to good effect.

The technobabble that surrounds those scenes, however, makes no sense at all. Quite why Zhaan and Stark sharing unity should freeze time or allow Crichton to move freely around the ship is never explained to any satisfaction. And as for starbursting backwards to put everything right... It seems like the writers had this wonderful idea of letting the viewers see John an Aeryn grow old together but never really knew how to get there.

Really speaking, they would have been better off keeping the expositional side of things to a minimum and concentrating on the central relationship, because that is where the real emotion in this episode lies, particularly in the latter stages as Aeryn passes quietly away and John sees the contents of the locket.

Stark's return is a mystery. This is typical Farscape, though. It has a habit of dropping characters into our laps without much of an explanation. And I always liked Stark, so it's fun to have him back. And, of course, he brings big news for D'Argo, whose relationship with Chiana has just hit a bit of a hiccup.

Practically every sf series eventually gets around to having some of its characters age prematurely, as far back as I can remember to Star Trek TOS's The Deadly Years, and this is Farscape's entry into that little sub-genre. I like it, but then I'm an old softy. :lol:

Techno babble aside, cos physics, so not my thing ;) I really liked this episode.

You do have to wonder, just how many times Moya will become stuck in an alternative reality/time continuum, blah blah blah, before this series is through :rolleyes:

Farscape does Darby & Jones. Bless :lol:

I loved Crichton and Aeryn growing old together, he really is, a grumpy old man :lol:

Aeryn obsessed with gardening :lol:

Loved Aeryn's feisty granddaughter :thumbsup:

Another emotional gem, as John and Aeryn finally return to Moya, 50 years after John arrives on the planet . Aeryn dying in John's arms, :cry: :cry:

and finally John opening the locket, to see his image, as Aeryn's only one true love :cry: :cry: :cry:

I don't actually understand the Stark/Zhaan bonding to free Moya :unsure:

The big revelation regarding D'Argo's son at the end :o

I think they can probably manage it a few more times yet :lol: ;)

Is that a spoiler...? :blink:

I picked up on that as well Steve. The Inner Light for me is one of the best episodes of sci-fi I've ever seen. That being the case I must admit to a bit of :rolleyes: when I realised what was going on here. Now, while I would say that it's not as good as The Inner Light, it's still damned good in places.

Great to see Stark back, although his wedged in explanation of where he'd been was quite obviously wedged in :lol: I'd been wondering where he'd disappeared to all season. If nothing else, Stark gives Zhaan someone to bounce off, and she was even quite tolerable here.

I quite liked those scenes as well :thumbsup:

A fine effort.

Sorry got to disagree, I wouldn't call it a rip off of The Inner Light it may be the same principle at the core but its a very different story and also one that has been used before - HG Wells.

The main theme of the episode is really the relationship between John and Aeryn which is done beautifully and superbly acted.

Totally agreed Karen, its so not fair :(

You're right, rip-off is overstating the case a little. The Inner Light wasn't the first use of that particular plot.

Yes, rip-off was a bit much. Hey, I was on a roll :lol: