A Human Reaction

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“A Human Reaction”
Farscape episode
John's "father"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 16
Written by	Justin Monjo
Directed by	Rowan Woods
Production no.	10116
Original airdate	August 1, 1999
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List of Farscape episodes

"A Human Reaction" is the sixteenth episode of the television program Farscape from the first season, written by Justin Monjo and directed by Rowan Woods.

Original airdate: August 1, 1999

1 Synopsis
2 Guest stars
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Crichton is ecstatic when Pilot detects the formation of a wormhole: a possible route home. Deciding to take the risk, Crichton readies Farscape One and says farewell—which he finds harder than he expected. He asks Aeryn to come with him, but she declines.

Crash-landing in Australia, Crichton is greeted by a military squad with a tranquiliser gun, and treated with deep suspicion by his IASA colleagues over his absence and sudden return, the alien technology on his module, the foreign microbes in his brain, and his ability to understand all languages; only his father, Jack Crichton, seems to believes it's really him. The situation becomes far more complicated when one of Moya's transport pods follows after him, bearing Rygel, D'Argo and Aeryn—they had approached the wormhole to see if Crichton was OK, and inadvertently got sucked in. They are intercepted and captured. Rygel is killed and dissected, and then D'Argo is taken away.

Determined that no one will take her alive, Aeryn knocks out a guard and Crichton quickly joins her in her escape. The two seek refuge for the night in an empty house. Crichton is shattered by the deaths of his friends and the terrible paranoia that has overtaken the people he thought were his friends and colleagues. He and Aeryn seek comfort in each other's arms. The next morning, however, Crichton starts to realise that nothing is as it seems. He confronts his "father", Jack, who explains to him that all of this is a simulation based on Crichton's own memories, and "Jack Crichton" is really a member of the species "the Ancients," whose own world has become unlivable. Their mythology has told them they are to make their new home on a world whose inhabitants will welcome them, and as they only have enough power for one last trip, they create such simulations from the minds of each new species they encounter to see if that species will be the one that will welcome them. From Crichton they sought "a human reaction" to aliens, and thus learn that earthlings will be hostile to them. When the Moyans, who are actually unharmed, went after John, they decided to add them to the simulation for the purposes of verisimilitude. After showing Crichton his true form, Ancient Jack bids John farewell and good luck in his search for home.

[edit] Notes

The introduction to the Ancients.
John and Aeryn consummate their mutual attraction.
The "Was it a bass or a trout" question is first mentioned.
When John realizes that something strange is happening and runs away from Aeryn, he identifies one of the extras as someone whose sister he dated. In reality, the name John uses is an ad lib by Ben Browder. It is the name of a high school classmate who Browder thought would be likely to watch the show, since he was a trekkie. But that person never contacted Browder following the airing of the show.
The rain Aeryn admires and the strange light in John and Aeryn's hideaway were an accident— an ad lib by Claudia Black and an improvisation by the director.