Alright, people, that's enough chatter. Here's my down and dirty view of this latest episode.

WARNING: Written while listening to my 'Cruel Angel's Thesis' MP3 on repeat.

The good: Aeryn and Zhaan. Some didn't like this subplot--I found it to be the saving grace of the episode. We have some dynamo acting from Claudia Black and Virginia Hey and character development for two of our favorite female characters. The visuals were also astounding--I was reminded of the teaser trailer for the Harry Potter movie...or Legend. Only a very very perverted version of this. I loved the slow falling of what could be snow...very artistic. Maybe that's just the anime fan in me speaking.

Poor Aeryn's gonna have one hell of a time getting that dusty yellow crap off of her prowler, though. ;)

I also thoroughly enjoyed the Southern stuff from Crichton. Again, Ben Browder shows us that he's nothing but a good 'ole boy stuck in a very strange place. (Both on the show and quite probably in Real Life...not having Crisco...I cannot fathom this concept...) He may be smart, he may be adaptable, but there is a definite reason that he's often portrayed as an idiot in sillyfic and fan comics.

The bad: I'm gonna get lynched for this. I do not like the pairing of D'Argo and Chiana. Here is my reasoning.

Chiana is a teenager. I think we've been shown this...she acts like a kid, she talks like a kid, and she has the raging hormones of a kid. I see her as being around my age, which is 19.

D'Argo is a grown man--a widower with a child. He is a mature, educated individual who has a LOT of life experience under his belt.

So. Now. I'm from the south. And I went to a hick school. I knew girls like Chi. I was friends with gutterpunks. And I've seen situations that I can draw analogies to. I see Chiana as this--she's the bad girl, the rebel, the 11th grader who, while being smart, blows it all and goes off to smoke a little with her older brother and have sex with his friends.

Those girls inevitably ended up falling for men much older than themselves. I know a girl who married a 32 year old that had a 10 year old kid. It's not a healthy behavior.

So...all of this based on nuances from a simple show. I'm hoping desperately that it turns out to be a purely sexual affair.

And now the shippers can lynch me. I'm still a J/A shipper...always will be. And I'm starting to ship for...oh, well, you prolly don't wanna hear this one. ;)

The ugly: The gorilla-rancor. Smooth move, Johnny. We get our scifi reference of the week nonverbally. I just wish it coulda been less obvious. I don't need to be beaten over the head with this stuff.

Also, the acid burning the guy's flesh off. Dude, that was just sickening. It's amazing what shows can get away with these days...not that I'm complaining.