Also a good use of Chekov's acid-sacks-in-Budong-meat.

Agreed. All the acid burning effects are disgustingly great, but boy did the Keedva ever remind me of Kirk fighting the Gorn, and not in the "affectionate callback" way I imagine the show intended. Browder still sells it though, and overall I liked this episode more than Alasdair did, I think.

I think he makes those references because he knows no one will get them - they're his way of staying connected to home. I also think he gets even more blatant in ab/using his pop culture references post Aurora chair as just one more way he's getting unhinged in a way the other Moyans can't realize.

It definitely danced along the line between Irish and Jamaican a la Tina Fey in that 30 Rock episode, but why Kyvan had to be the same guy as Maldis didn't make the most sense to me (mostly because it took me out of the story and made me think instead about the guy in drag). Maybe it was just to give the actor…

I took John's reaction, especially at the end (this person like me, you loved them?) as being very hopeful because it's Aeryn's subtle, emotionally stunted way of saying she just might love him too. I thought that was really powerful, and that lesser show would have made explicit ("yes, and I love you now!") what…

Pilot is just great. Finding out he's been in constant pain for 3 years really affected me! Though I'll confess my preferences are reversed, as I really, really love Aeryn (and perhaps relate a bit too much to her, uh oh …).

I'm a newbie too and I agree! I loved both episodes this week, and I think TWWW is probably my favorite of the season so far. While I like the weird, I guess I prefer it when it's grounded in character development and heightened emotions I can still relate to.

My hand-wavy explanation is just that he's guessing how its spelled in English based on his own whims, and writing it in the door when no one else can read it is just part of the crazy. It's not like any of the others would find him weirder for yelling "Traltixx" while pointing at indecipherable scribbles (to them) on…

Newbie confession:
This episode was weird, and enjoyable, but … I didn't completely love it like everyone else seems to? I mean, I definitely enjoyed it and it is VERY quotable, but I am pretty sure I like other episodes I've seen so far better.
::hides::

The crouton line and the HAL bit convinced me for quite some time that everything in this ep was in Crichton's head.

Yep - and is the same way Aeryn and D'Argo willingly took responsibility for what they did when wearing the Tavlek thingy way back in "Throne for a Loss."

Before Scorpius showed up, I wondered whether Traltixx was Wayne Pygram in a different costume. They both share that scenery-chewing formality you mention.

I already mentioned this farther up (repetitive!), but I think it's not just Aeryn's lack of emotional development that makes her laugh off John's concerns, but that Crichton has always seems so inscrutable to the other Moyans, pop culture references, compassion, and all, that they can't distinguish the shading…

Literal LOL from me.

I enjoyed the scene where Aeryn talks Crichton out of carrying Chiana back on the ship -it showed really nice emotional growth for her - but at the same time I'm not sure I agree as much as everyone else seems to that John would have been in the wrong to forcibly keep her from (trying to) hurt herself. In a real life…

People have mentioned this in the comments before, but what I liked was also that John is probably more aware than any other Moyan that he's gone round the bend. He's the one who brings up that his actions might be less-than-logical to Aeryn, and while she points out it was stupid to eat the high/dead shroom, she sort…

It was a victory because she wanted to kill herself maybe and then didn't? And then it wasn't even the end of the episode! Truly, that was bad.

I am … Pleased? To have inadvertently brought up a meme I don't know? Down the Internet k-hole I go to learn more!

The PK's are definitely better at getting results, but for pure shifty bastard-ness the Cardassians can't be beat (also their goals are definitely less about getting information than about breaking their victims. With the aurora chair, that seems just like a side effect, not the main event.).

That is completely accurate. It is especially important to act out your choice emphatically!