2.03 - Taking the Stone

Learning of her brother's death, Chiana steals Aeryn's Prowler and flies to a nearby cemetery planet. There, she joins a group of teenagers living underground and Aeryn and John must convince her to return with them before she goes through the gang's possibly fatal initiation.

Well, where did you bury your leaders on Erp? - Dominar Rygel XVI
Just... underground. - John Crichton
Next to where you lived? That's disgusting! - Dominar Rygel XVI

You robbed the dead? - Ka D'Argo
And believe me, it wasn't as easy as it sounds. - Dominar Rygel XVI

Aeryn! What the hell is wrong with you? You are the pin-up girl for Frontal Assault! - John Crichton

Lately, do I seem a little... crazy to you? - John Crichton
What do you mean, "lately"? - Aeryn Sun

Chiana is staggering through Moya, obviously upset. She arrives in Command and finds John, who has one of the consoles open and is working on the inside. Chiana asks him what he is doing and he distractedly tells her that he is trying to understand the navigation system. She tries to talk to him but he brushes her off, saying he doesn't have time for her. Even more upset, she leaves.

She goes to the Maintenance Bay where she uses a laser tool to cut open her stomach. She withdraws a small, disk-like object which is pulsing slowly. The pulses stop and she lifts the object above her head then smashes a DRD with it. She whispers "Nerri" and leaves. A brief time later, Aeryn's Prowler leaves Moya and heads towards a nearby planet.

Aeryn and John are in Command and Aeryn is upset that Chiana has stolen her Prowler. Pilot reports in and says that several of his systems were off-line and so he did not detect her departure immediately.

D'Argo and Zhaan arrive with the disk that Chiana removed from her stomach. Zhaan says that it is a "Life Disk", a device which some species have surgically implanted which creates a permanent link with others that are close to them. Chiana has removed this one and it is non-functional which means whoever it was linked to is dead.
"Oh man!" says John in sudden realization. "She was trying to talk to me and I blew her off."

On the planet, Chiana leaves the Prowler and detects some people moving around her. Several men rush out and grab her, pinning her against a pillar. One of the men says something about "marking her" and pulls out a knife.

Sometime later, Aeryn, John and Rygel arrive on the planet in a transport pod. Rygel identifies the planet they are on as a Royal Cemetery Planet and says that the entire planet is covered in graves. John finds an opening leading underground and some of Chiana's clothing. He and Aeryn enter looking for Chiana. Rygel stays on the surface and Aeryn tells him not to rob any graves.

Rygel sees an object on the ground and pulls it, causing a crypt to open and reveal a large cache of gems and jewelry.

Aeryn and John are making their way through some tunnels underground when they hear someone singing a long, undulating note. Rushing to its source, they find Chiana hanging upside down between two swinging stone blocks. She is wearing strange clothing and her hair is spiked and colored. A large number of similarly dressed people are watching her. She is singing the note and the soundwaves seem to be keeping the blocks away from her.

Aeryn fires a shot from her pulse pistol and yells for everyone to get down. John runs to Chiana but she drops to the ground on her own and pulls away from him. She yells that she would have lasted longer than anyone else in the device if they hadn't interrupted.

John tries to ask her what is going on and she tells him that now she doesn't have the time for him and leaves. One of the men who had been watching her, Molnon, calls John "ancient" and offers him some mushrooms. Several of the others comment on how "historic" Aeryn is. One of the men tries to fondle her leg and she kicks him away. Molnon tells the others that Aeryn and John are "worn out" and they leave as well, leaving Aeryn and John staring after them in confusion.

John gives Aeryn the life disk and tells her to ask Chiana about it since she is mad at him. She starts to leave and he tells her to not get angry with Chiana over the Prowler and to "be nice".
Aeryn stops and looks at him. "I'm not good at nice." she says.
John shrugs in resignation. "Just don't shoot her."

The transport pod returns to Moya with Rygel on board. He goes to his cabin and is met by D'Argo. D'Argo wants to know where Aeryn and John are and Rygel tells him that they went underground looking for Chiana. D'Argo says that Pilot lost contact with them several arns previously.

D'Argo notices the pile of treasures that Rygel has brought back from the planet. He accuses Rygel of robbing from the dead and Rygel does not deny it. D'Argo leaves in disgust. Rygel starts looking through his treasures and picks up an ornate mask. A bug crawls out of the mask and Rygel grabs it and pops it into his mouth.
"Bonus!" he exults, chewing.

Aeryn finds Chiana and gives her the life disk. She tells her that the life disk is for Nerri, her brother. The fact that it has stopped means he is dead.

Aeryn starts to offer condolences but Chiana cuts her off and says she wants to show Aeryn around. She tells her some of the things that the underground dwellers do, like running naked through rings of fire and hanging in the sonic device they first found her in. Aeryn asks if she has had too much to drink and Chiana accuses her of being boring like John and everyone else on Moya. She also tells Aeryn that they have to stay for the "Gathering".

Meanwhile, John is wandering through the caverns. He comes across Molnon and another man, Das. He tries to talk to them but Molnon calls Das and they continue onward. John follows them and finds himself in a large chamber in which most of the clanspeople have gathered. In the center of the chamber is a large open shaft which descends downwards for some distance and extends upwards to the surface. Aeryn joins him and they both look down the shaft.

Molnon yells that it is time to celebrate and a woman enters carrying a baby. The clanspeople start singing a long low note and, to John's surprise, several of them jump into the shaft. They fall but an energy field appears at the bottom of the shaft which catches them safely.

Aeryn identifies the field as a "sonic net". She says it is created by the note the clanspeople are singing and that Peacekeepers use something similar for aerial combat training.

Molnon now asks who will "take the stone" and Das steps forward onto a rock extending over the shaft. The clanspeople start singing the note again and Das steps off into the shaft. This time however, the note stops before he reaches the bottom and he falls to his death. Molnon triumphantly announces that Das has "taken the stone" and the clanspeople respond by arching their hands over their heads. All of them file out and John sees Chiana standing on the overhanging rock.
"Drad." she says. "I gotta do that!"

Later, John sees Chiana talking to a pregnant clanwomen, Vyna. John goes to talk to Chiana but Aeryn stops him and tells him that the life disk was for Chiana's brother. She also says that if John tries to get her to leave she will stay just to spite him. Aeryn leaves as does a reluctant John.

Leaving Vyna, Chiana goes to talk to Molnon who is preparing Das' body for burial. She asks him why he isn't more upset over his friends death and Molnon tells her that they don't fear death because they take the stone. Those who die have simply taken the stone for the last time. He also tells her that taking the stone is the "second dradest" thing there is. Chiana asks him what the dradest thing is and he kisses her. She immediately returns the kiss. John, who has appeared in the doorway, sees this and leaves, angry.

Up on Moya, Zhaan is in Rygel's cabin, chanting. Rygel is annoyed but she tells him that she is afraid that the items he took from the planet are cursed and she is attempting to protect him. He becomes angry and asks her to leave.

Aeryn and John find Vyna and ask her what she and Chiana were talking about. Vyna says that Chiana has said that she wants to take the stone when the baby is born and Vyna gave Chiana her blessing.

Aeryn and John then go to find Chiana, who is hanging upside down in the same device they first saw her in. John tries to talk to her and apologize but she becomes angry with him. She says that she likes it here because all of the clanspeople live before they die, unlike everyone on Moya. He continues to argue and she yells at him.
"In case you haven't noticed," she says "I'm not your kid, I'm not your sister, and I'm only your... your tralk in your dreams! So, please, please go away!"

John becomes frustrated at her and at Aeryn for not backing him up and leaves. Aeryn tells Chiana that they have heard that she is going to join the clan and take the stone. Chiana admits that she might.

John goes looking for Molnon. He cannot find him but instead finds a woman who is following him, Janixx. Janixx is older than the other clanspeople he has seen and her face is oddly diseased and peeling. Part of her skin comes off on his hand when he grabs her.

Janixx tells him that what is happening to her happens to all of the clanspeople after about 22 cycles if they do not take the stone. She and the other "old" clanspeople hide away from the others because they make them uncomfortable. She says that Das knew what was happening which is why he took the stone. She runs off and John continues his search.

John eventually finds Molnon and starts talking to him about Chiana. He realizes that Molnon is getting close to 22 cycles and doesn't want to die so he is hoping that Chiana will take his place and take the stone for him. Molnon will not talk to John at first and insists that John eat one of the mushrooms he is holding. John does and immediately becomes disoriented.

Molnon tells him that he wants to have a child but that he is afraid that the next time he takes the stone he will die. So, he is hoping that Chiana will die in his place. John tells him that he will tell Chiana what he said but Molnon says that he will not remember the conversation. John passes out on the floor and Molnon leaves, laughing.

Aeryn finds John lying on the floor and revives him. He tells her that he thinks he convinced Molnon to convince Chiana not to jump. He also gives her the skin he got from Janixx and asks her to send it up to Zhaan. He then goes off looking for Chiana.

John has a medical kit and is taking a pill from it when he finds her. She says that she knows that he talked to Molnon and is glad that he understands. John thinks that she is ready to come back to Moya with him but she says she isn't; she is planning to jump. John tries to explain to her that Molnon is using her so that she will die in his place but she doesn't believe him. He pretends to accept her decision then pulls an injector from the medical kit and injects her, knocking her out.

Aeryn returns and asks what is happening and John tells her that he is taking Chiana back to Moya. Aeryn tells him that it won't work, that if Chiana wants to kill herself then she will find a way to do so and that they have to let her work through her grief here. John is reluctant but realizes that she is correct and puts Chiana back down. He then sits down next to Aeryn.
"How did you get so insightful?" he asks her.
Aeryn shrugs. "I understand loss." she tells him.

On Moya, Rygel has taken the various treasures and used them to decorate the walls of his cabin. He is admiring the result when all of the items start to fall from the walls. Everything falls except the mask.

Zhaan is talking to Aeryn and John and telling them that the skin sample Aeryn sent up shows the results of long term exposure to radiation. The normal radiation levels on the planet are too low to be harmful but somehow the caves the clanspeople live in amplify the background radiation to dangerous levels. Aeryn and John realize that if the clanspeople leave the caves then they will be safe.

As Zhaan signs off Rygel enters Command and confronts her and D'Argo. He tells them that he knows that they are somehow responsible for the items falling from his wall but that he is not going to return the treasures.

Aeryn and John go to find Vyna who is now giving birth. She tells them that since a new baby is being born that someone will have to take the stone and that the clans are gathering in the central chamber. They tell her what they have found out about the radiation and that they think Das knew too. She admits that Das did know but that he took the stone anyway. She tells them that they are too old to understand and yells for them to leave.

Aeryn and John go to the central chamber and confront the clans there. John tries to explain about the radiation but Molnon won't listen. The clanspeople start to advance on Aeryn and John until they pull their pulse pistols.

John pulls Molnon to the edge of the pit and threatens to push him in. Molnon says that the clans want the stone but he will let them vote on if they should stay or leave and that he will go along with whatever the clans decide. He arches both of his hands over his head and the rest of the clan returns the gesture.

John tries to talk to Chiana who is angry. John says that he is trying to help her but she says that no one can help.

Rygel is back in his cabin. He has his back to the wall and is looking at the treasures and saying that he will not take them back. Several jeweled pins start moving and suddenly all of them fly at him, imbedding themselves in the wall around his head. Rygel calls for Pilot and asks if the transport pod is fueled for launch.

Back on the planet, John finds Molnon who tells him that all of the clans have voted and that all of them voted to stay. John thinks that they didn't believe him about the radiation but Molnon says that they did but that they all wanted to keep taking the stone. He says he will call for the ceremony to begin again and John hits him, knocking him unconscious.

John goes to the central chamber and finds Chiana alone there and standing over the pit. She asks if the clans voted to leave and he says no, that they wanted to continue to take the stone.

Chiana tells him that she always took her lead from her brother. She never had any courage on her own or did anything on her own, she only followed Nerri. John tells her that she has shown him courage many times but she says that she has to do this for herself.

While John watches, she starts singing the same note as before and jumps into the pit. John watches as she falls and, at the last second, the sonic net forms and catches her. John starts cheering her and she realizes that she did it. She shouts and arches her arms over her head in the clanspeople's gesture.

Later, Aeryn, John and Chiana are on the surface. Rygel is also here and is reburying the treasures he took earlier. Chiana digs a small hole and places the life disk in it, burying it. John tells Aeryn about the mushroom and asks if he has been acting crazy lately.
"What do you mean, 'lately'?" she asks him. Aeryn leaves for her Prowler.

John walks up to where Chiana is still kneeling beside the buried life disk and crouches down next to her.

"Hey, old man." she says without looking up.
"Hey, little girl." he says back. "You okay?"
"Yeah." she says, looking at him. "You know, Molnon was right about one thing. The jump was incredible. You should have tried it."
John shakes his head. "Nah. I'm too old."

John stands and helps Chiana to her feet.
"It's time to go." he tells her. "Let's get out of this dead place."

Chiana appeared as a Nebari prisoner and joined the crew in Durka Returns but did not mention a brother at that time.

Chiana revealed that she could fly a Prowler in Nerve.

What happened to Nerri, Chiana's brother?

When Chiana first arrives three clanspeople find her and one of them pulls a knife to "mark her". The next time we see her she is apparently accepted by the clanspeople and is hanging upside down in the "sonic cowl" with a complete makeover. What happened between these two scenes to cause her to be accepted by the clanspeople?

What will happen to the clanspeople living underground? And why were they living on a cemetery planet in the first place?

Were the treasures Rygel took really cursed or were D'Argo and/or Zhaan trying to frighten him into returning them?

Well, after a promising first episode the second season has quickly bogged down with a few below average episodes. I had a few problems with Vitas Mortis last week and almost as many with Taking the Stone.

The episode started off well even if John did seem a bit out of character in brushing off Chiana when she wanted to talk to him. Of course, Chiana isn't exactly known for her deep conversations and he may have figured that she was just wanting to flirt with him again. Still, it seems odd that he wouldn't even talk to her.

Then we find out about the life disk and her brother. Chiana has gone down to the planet in Aeryn's Prowler so Aeryn, John and Rygel go after her. Aeryn is obviously going after her Prowler and John is worried about Chiana (and feeling a bit guilty as well) but why is Rygel there? It seems a bit odd for our favorite Hynerian to be worried about someone other than himself but there have been a few episodes where it seems that there is some interest on Rygel's part in Chiana. It may just be a bond between two thieves but it is possible he would have been worried about her.

Of course, the real reason for him to be there is so he can find the treasure trove and here is where the episode starts to fall apart for me. The cursed treasure subplot seems tacked on and really doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the episode. On the other hand, without it D'Argo and Rygel would have had nothing to do and Zhaan would have only had a minimal part. Even the subplot isn't done that well with a few too many hanging questions, mainly the nature of the curse or even if it was real. More could have been done but the subplot ends as quickly as it began without having the least real impact on anything.

The episode should have been about Chiana coming to terms with the death of her brother but it instead gets overshadowed by John trying to get her to leave the clanspeople and his attempts with Aeryn to determine what is happening. The entire radiation gimmick seemed a bit tacked on and the clanspeople culture could have developed as it did even without the radiation.

For something that is so central to the plot, we don't really get to learn much about the clanspeople either. We know they live underground. We know they have some... interesting ideas regarding entertainment. And, it seems as if every time a child is born one of the older clanspeople kills themselves. This implies that they have limited resources and are attempting to keep their population count stable but this is never directly addressed in the episode. This could have been interesting but instead all we get is a continuing stream of "Drad", "Garda", "Nixar" and "Narl" which may add flavor but doesn't count as development.

Actually, very few things are ever addressed about the clansmen. Where did they come from? How do they live? Where do they get food? That sort of thing. All of it is glossed over. We see Vyna getting drunk and Molnon giving the mushrooms to John but that is about it.

When Chiana first arrives she is threatened by three clanspeople and one of them pulls a knife to "mark her". When we next see her, she is in the "sonic cowl" trying to set a new record. What did she do to be so accepted by the clanspeople so fast? Yeah, it moves the plot forward but raises more questions than it answers.

Chiana apparently is putting herself in the situations she is in to help pull herself through her grief. It is suggested at one point she has to do these things to remind herself she is alive. Later, she says that she always took her lead from her brother Nerri and has to do this to prove she can do things herself. This could have been a major theme of the issue but instead it almost becomes part of the background.

The problem here is that the background is nothing that we haven't seen a dozen times before. Drugged out teens living only for extreme thrills who die at 22 is almost another science fiction cliche and one that has shown up in just about every show at one point or another. The problem here is that Farscape doesn't really add anything new to the formula.

Add to this the fact that the clansmen's society is totally unchanged by anything that happens here and the whole episode loses its focus.

There are a couple of nice scenes here, the brief conversation between Aeryn and Chiana and the ending scenes with Chiana and John, but overall the episode had a great deal of promise that it somehow never lived up to. I rank this the lowest of any of the second season episodes and recommend it only if you have to see the complete series.