"You're asking the wrong spaceman."

[danceswithwords]

Standard disclaimer: this post and/or the comments may and probably will contain spoilers for the entire series. Previous episode posts here.

Comments

[thassalia]

I'd never rank Vitas Mortis up there as a favorite episode, but I think it's a necessary episode for all of the things that you've listed as making it worthwhile. It does establish John wearing the PK clothes as armor - swathed head to toe in black leather, even his hands covered. It shows us John's protectiveness over his family, the way that none of them can spare anything for Nilaam after she hurts Moya, John and Aeryn growing closer, the laundry, the sniping, the working together, the need to still have identity that's seperate from life as a fugitive. While the episode is neither spectacular nor overly compelling, it shows us all of these things, and I think for that, it's worth seeing.

Also, I have to admit I absolutely love the moment when John's laying on the frozen amnexus fluid, taping the glass, and Aeryn's gone to get grenades, and Chi asks if she's really going to blow things up, and John says, "Well, with Aeryn, you never know." Hee - I just really love that laundry is an issue:)

[danceswithwords]

I absolutely love the moment when John's laying on the frozen amnexus fluid, taping the glass, and Aeryn's gone to get grenades, and Chi asks if she's really going to blow things up, and John says, "Well, with Aeryn, you never know."

I love that moment too, his casual acceptance, even affection, for the fact that Aeryn's solution set definitely includes grenades. It's small, but it says a lot about how far John's come in his understanding of her, how unlikely he is to be dismissive of her violence the way he was when he first met her.

[thassalia]

I also like the edge of possibility:) It's something he's come to terms with - probably because she's no longer directing that violence at him. Is learning to challenge it in useful ways:)

[dangermousie]

Why do I like it? Two words: leather overcoat.

/shallow

[danceswithwords]

Heh! Hey, that's a legitimate reason.

[danceswithwords]

I think we are still seeing repurcussions of his Aurora Chair torture here in how protective he is--like a mother hen.

Definitely, and I like how subtle but pervasive that influence is in him, how he's just a little off kilter, still himself but in a slightly skewed way. He tells Nilaam that losing the people he cares about scares him, and that's really revealing--after all he's been through, probably the only other thing that scares him is falling into Scorpius's hands again.

I certainly don't hate this episode (I save my S2 ire for "Picture If You Will"), but it's kind of like "I, ET" for me--just not much happening. Nilaam's voice also irritated the crap out of me, and I later figured out it was because they were dubbing Melissa Jaffer over the younger actress.