Whilst visiting a commerce planet, Crichton is lured into the tent of a fortune teller, and finds that his spirit is torn from his unconscious body and thrown into a deadly arena with his most feared enemy...

This is another one of those episodes that I really didn't enjoy first time around but have enjoyed this time. I don't know whether it's the knowledge of what's to come or just the fact that I finally "got" what the series was trying to do, but this time through I am picking up lots of little details that escaped me when I watched them initially.

This episode, I found, was mostly about Zhaan and the hints towards her "savage" past. It also deals with Crais and his motivations, and deals them in a way that is pretty much totally free of schmaltz. Other series would have played on the fact that his father gave he and his brother up to the Peacekeeper's at an early age, tugged on the heart strings, had a big swell of emotional music and had him see the error of his ways. Not here. The brief memory of his childhood, as summoned by Maldis, serves one purpose - to rev up Crais's need for revenge to such a degree that not only does he want to kill Crichton even more but also drives him to kill his own Lieutenant once he is back on his carrier. How did he get away with that?

As for Zhaan, it is quite clear that her savage side is something that she has been suppressing ever since becoming a priestess during her incarceration. By the end of the episode this side of her has been well and truly reawakened, much to Crichton's shock, and is left hanging, obviously to be revisited.

As an enemy, Maldis is interesting. He bears resemblance to many beings from previous series, such as the Squire of Gothos and the energy being from Day Of The Dove in the original Star Trek. He doesn't pose much of a physical threat to our protagonists, but is able to create situations that will pit them against each other, and then feed off their hatred. Cliched, yes, and definitely a means to an end in this episode. But, as Zhaan observes, he will probably reconstitute one day.

Not a great episode, by any means, but it is the first time we have seen Crais since Premiere, and therefore kickstarts the ongoing story in entertaining fashion.

Plus you see how Crichton starts the episode trying to use reason and logic. To talk to Crais, to tell his side of the story and to explain that he did not intend to kill his brother, it was an accident. But then by the end of the episode Crichton has come to accept that he will never be able to talk to Crais, he just does not want to listen and is too far gone, and is willing to just kill him and get it over with.

An early sign of John's eventual character path perhaps?

I can't really add much to this, it would seem you've covered everything ;)

Very clever, how the plan for Crais to keep searching for Crichton and to what end, and how it was revealed (does that make sense.?) I like stuff when you think you know what will happen and then it goes off at a tangent :thumbsup:

And Zhaan, i'm very, very curious. So now we have 2 crew members of Moya with a dubious past. Can't wait to see what they have actually done.

These series started as a very slow burner for me, I'm glad to say, I'm beginning to enjoy it :)