(This is a work in progress. I will add to it as I watch my way through the series again.)

At the end of the episode, John is recording a message for his dad on his tape recorder. He's sitting all alone in a huge room, possibly the Command, at one of those trademark strangely shaped Moya tables. There's a late night impression about the room. John is repairing the little DRD that was damaged when inspecting Farscape 1, taping his antenna while he's talking to his dad. He's continuing a conversation he had with his dad at the beginning of the episode, in which he denied being nervous about the launch. While he is talking, Rygel on his hovering throne approaches and makes a grab for John's dictaphone. John grasps Rygel's arm and explains to him the concept of 'mine'. Rygel, unperturbed, only retorts 'Are you a sound sleeper?' as he floats away. John switches the dictaphone on again and adds the following to his message:

'And there's life out here, dad. Weird, amazing... *psychotic* life. And death, in technicolor. You know, what you said about those rattlers in the stomach? Well... I’ve got them now.'

Camera zooms out, leaves John sitting small and lost in the big, alien room. Leaves me wanting to hug the lonely astronaut.

D'Argo and Aeryn, drained by the gauntlet, are waiting for Crichton - and united by their lack of confidence in the human's skills, they discover some common ground. Then, they obviously decide that they are not comfortable with too much common ground and start to insult each other again. A nice bit of characterisation for both Aeryn and D'Argo, on different sides until very recently and now having to get used to being on the same side, and having to get used to the idea that they may actually have a lot in common with their respective former enemy.

Tag scene: D'Argo and John in the galley. D'Argo is glum. John asks him how's he's doing, D'Argo replies that he will recover. John gives a low laugh and asks, 'Yeah, when?' D'Argo bristles, asks if John is mocking him. John counters: 'D'Argo, I mock all of us.' They lapse into a short exchange about women; D'Argo 'apologises' for falling for Matala, citing his years in prison as explanation: 'It's been so long.' When D'Argo leaves the room, John mutters 'Now, that I understand. . . man, do I understand.' We're left, as so often in the early episodes, with a distinct impression of John's loss and loneliness.

I think what remains in my memory most clearly from this episode is the scene in which John bluffs the PK commandos into believing he is a dangerous, multiplying creature. He enters the room where the PKs lie in the throes of heat delirium, surrounded by a horde of fake Johns, and confronts them with the words 'Did you ever have one of these days where life just ain't what you thought it would be?' -- and you know that he's really talking about himself and the crazy turn his life has taken recently. The PK asks 'What kind of a creature are you?' and you can see the suppressed emotion - rage? - on John's face as he replies, 'That's a good question. It's too bad Crais didn't ask that before he declared war on me.' Then D'Argo arrives and wants to shoot, but John doesn't let him; he wants to handle this himself. For the first time since he's been on the run, he has a chance to actually do something about his pursuer, send him a message. You can see that finally being in control, even if only for a moment, is giving him back something important...

Short, but poignant moment: John is talking to Linnea, seeing her excitement at having made contact with alien life. She suddenly grows self-conscious, observes that he, being so used to alien life and space travel, probably thinks her excitement ridiculous,and he assures her, quietly, that he understands her excitement very well. Linnea in this episode is a great foil for John, living through so many of his recent experiences in a slightly different way, giving John a chance to reflect on the sudden changes in his life, making him realise, maybe for the first time, that he is now the alien... The equation of John and E.T. is taken up once again in a dialogue in season four where John speaks some of E.T.'s lines...

John's exasperation and growing despair, especially in the scene where he is 'commed' by Aeryn:
Aeryn: 'We have a situation up here.'
John, exasperated: 'I'm sure it's no more interesting than the one we have down here.'
Aeryn: 'Rygel's body fluids have turned explosive.'
John, resigned: 'I stand corrected.'

It is also very touching to see Aeryn 'do the Madame Curie thing', as John puts it, and gaining some confidence in her intellectual abilities as a result.

John's and Gilina's goodbye. John's reasons for sending her away ('This is no way to live'), expressing clearly, for once, his feelings about his new status as an intergalactiv fugitive aboard a stolen Leviathan. John's sweeping statement that 'life sucks'. Gilina's quiet reply, 'it brought us together.' John's acknowledgement that, 'okay, it sucks a little less.' The loss of John's innocence is well under way; already the pressures of life in the Uncharted Territories are beginning to grind him down...

The scene that finally convinced me of Ben Browder's capabilities as an actor (after initial doubts): John wakes up after the dispersal of Maldis, to find Rygel stealing his shoes. For a second, John is frantic, grabs Rygel and holds him, looking around wildly, asking where he is and what happened. Rygel offers a fantastic fabrication about having saved John's life. John still looks around himself with a look of mingled bewilderment, relief, and despair on his face. He still has Rygel, who is babbling away rather frantically himself, gripped in both hands. Relief and a kind of resignation finally win the struggle of emotions on his face, and he says, 'Well, this ain't Kansas, and you're way too homely to be Aunty Em, but, come here, Toto,' and kisses Rygel on the earbrows. Then he falls over backwards laughing.

The scene is incredibly touching because in a matter of seconds, Ben Browder displays a whole barrage of emotions that all make equal sense in the situation. John is clearly torn between discomfort, or maybe a kind of disappointment, and immense relief. He is not just kissing Rygel for a joke - he is, I think, actually very glad to have Rygel there in that moment, because in the light of what has just happened to John, even dishonest Rygel stealing his shoes offers him something to ground himself in. John needs his shipmates desperately, even if they constantly ridicule him - he needs them because he has so little to cling to; they are the only thing in his life that can offer some kind of safety and stability.