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Episode Guide > Season Three > Self-inflicted Wounds part 1: Could'a, Would'a, Should'a US OAD: March 30, 2001 Written by: David Kemper Directed by: Tony Tilse Summary: Zhaan's condition is getting worse and the only cure is locating a planet where the Delvian can rest in good soil. Pilot locates such a planet and Moya is headed for it when something interesting happens. To John's surprise and delight, a wormhole suddenly appears near Moya. Deviating from the course that will help Zhaan, John delays Moya just long enough to study the phenomenon. Unfortunately, before anyone can react, another ship emerges from the wormhole and collides with Moya. Impaled by the unknown ship, Moya is thrown into the wormhole and both ships are out of control. The crews of both ships, unable to communicate with each other, find themselves face-to-face and are not happy about it. Realizing the other crew has wormhole knowledge, John decides to cooperate with their main scientist, Neeyala. The rest of Moya's crew is not so enthusiastic about this arrangement and is very leery of the other aliens. Neeyala determines that to have any chance of survival, one ship must be sacrificed. Neeyala's crew, assuming that because Moya is severely injured, it is their ship that should be saved. John, obsessed with obtaining wormhole information, cooperates with Neeyala's plan, much to the chagrin on Moya's crew. There is a sense that Neeyala isn't being entirely forthright about the situation. During Season of Death, John's brain was made whole when diagnosan Tocot repaired it using neural fluid from aliens that are remarkably similar to the human. John insisted that two of these creatures, still frozen in their cylinders, be brought on board Moya. John's hope was that they might have information on Earth. Unfortunately, when the first of these creatures was accidentally revived, he promptly died. Just as Moya was about to startburst in an attempt to exit the wormhole, Rygel accidentally opened the second container. It contained a female who identified herself using a very long and incomprehensible name. John called her Jool for short. Unlike her unfortunate relative, Jool didn't die and, upon learning she had been kept in the cylinder for many cycles, screamed a horrific screech that nearly deafened John and Rygel. The episode ends with the crew resigned to abandoning Moya, who is seemingly near death. Analysis: It's way too early to say for sure, but I have the feeling that SIW part 1 is a turning point for Farscape. There is so much going on, so many clues to analyze, that the plot borders overload. Here is what we know as of now: Zhaan is clearly deteriorating. The crew is in a desperate search for a planet where Zhaan can sit in soil and recover from the effects of her unity with Aeryn in SOD. Unfortunately, John's momentary delay with the wormhole set into motion events that impact Zhaan's chances of recovery. There is another wild woman for John to tame. Her name is Jool and if you can imagine Private Benjamin in spikes you have the general idea of what this woman is like. She's beautiful (of course), loves leather (she'll fit in), and has a rather unique scream that melts metal. She comes across more annoying than interesting, so we'll just have to see what the writers do with her. John has his eyes on wormholes again. Can't remember John even mentioning wormholes in the second season. Guess with Scorpy's chip gone John feels comfortable working on a way home again. In fact, he shows more interest in going home during this episode than he has since A Human Reaction. It is clear John feels Neeyala is a type of kindred spirit when it comes to exploration and wormholes. She recognizes John's enthusiasm and exploits it to resolve the situation in a way that benefits her. This doesn't necessarily make Neeyala evil, or even an enemy of Moya and its crew. However, she is single-minded in her pursuit of wormholes and returning her ship to normal space, at any cost. One of the curious aspects of this episode involves images John viewed through a devise given to him by Neeyala. Supposedly, it collects data to aid in navigating wormholes. Scenes of countless alien worlds flash before John, suggesting to him the limitless possibilities of wormhole travel. John is shocked to view a flash of the Three Stooges among the alien images. John assumes the Stooges image is from a television broadcast and Earth must therefore be closer than he ever imagined, perhaps as little as 30 or 40 light-years away. Here is where I get confused. The images are mostly from places and aliens John has visited the last two cycles. Are the alien images, including the Three Stooges, from the wormhole or were they really pulled form John's unconscious memory? Because of the Stooges, I would say they are from John's memory, but a close inspection of the images show alien places that John could not possibly have seen. These include the courtroom on Litiara from DALD, the home of the builders from the Princess trilogy, and the monastery that the crew will not visit until Different Destinations, still two episodes away. So, is that an oversight of Farscape's post production crew, or a clue that something else is going on? Only time will tell. Overall, a fast-paced and entertaining episode that leaves plenty of lose ends for part 2 to clean up.
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