Die Me, Dichotomy

"Die Me, Dichotomy" is an episode from the second season of the Australian television series Farscape, written by David Kemper and directed by Rowan Woods. It is the season finale, ending on a cliffhanger.

Synopsis

The crew of Moya are visiting an ice planet with a Diagnosan—an alien skilled in medical matters—and he is working on healing Moya of the burns she sustained in Liars, Guns and Money Part III: Plan B. Meanwhile, John is desperately trying to stay in control of his mind, and is losing. The Scorpius chip finally takes over control of John, and heads over to the neural cluster to signal Scorpius his location. Aeryn tries to convince John to stop what he's doing, and she tells him she loves him. He seemingly tells her the same, but in actuality it is the neural chip manipulating Aeryn. Her guard down, he knocks her unconscious, then licks her nose.

Jothee arrives and tries to tongue John unconscious, but John grabs his tongue and knocks him out, gloating about his victory little realising that he has given D'Argo an opening who successfully tongues him unconscious. Aeryn and Jothee are restored by the Diagnosan, but now John is handcuffed to prevent any further violence. The Diagnosan examines him and isn't sure he can help—his brain is riddled with tendrils from Scorpius' neural chip. While tied up and waiting, the Scorpius chip tricks Zhaan into letting John go, and he escapes in his module.

Aeryn chases after him in her Prowler, threatening to shoot him down if he won't return with her. John agrees to surrender, then instead hits her ship with the landing gear of the module, crippling it. Aeryn ejects, but is going to land on a frozen lake. Her chair has landing jets that will weaken the ice, but she can't eject from her chair because the seatbelt release mechanism is jammed. John regains control of his body, and begs Aeryn to get out of the chair. She exchanges tearful words of farewell with him, then crashes through the ice and drowns.

The crew of Moya gather for Aeryn's funeral. She is laid in a stasis casket. D'Argo gives her his qualta blade; Rygel (who, as an amphibian, pulled Aeryn's body from the lake) gives her a medal of his that he retrieved from Durka. John cuts off a lock of Aeryn's hair to keep with him. He blames himself for her death.

Then it is time for John's surgery. The Diagnosan gets the chip out but the surgery leaves John aphasic, unable to speak intelligibly. Just as the Diagnosan is ready to help restore John's speech, Scorpius arrives with Braca and several others in a Marauder. Scorpius cripples the Diagnosan (who was the one who implanted Scorpius's cooling rods) by removing his mask, then takes the freshly removed neural chip. He leaves John on the table, sentencing him "to live" with the agony of unfulfilled revenge, as John is now helpless, unable to speak, with his memories in Scorpius' hands, the love of his life dead by actions he blames himself for, and the one doctor who can help him lying prone by his feet. John screams impotently and unintelligibly.

Guest stars

• Hugh Keays-Byrne as Grunchlk
• Wayne Pygram as Scorpius
• Matt Newton as Jothee
• Lani Tupu as Bialar Crais
• Paul Goddard as Stark
• Thomas Holesgrove as the Diagnosan Tocot
• David Franklin as Lieutenant Braca

Production notes

• Claudia Black, when she first read the script, became worried that she had been fired.
• When released on DVD, this episode was put out of order onto disk 9 while the preceding episodes, Liars, Guns and Money Parts 1, 2 and 3 were put together on the 10th disk (both disks were included in the box labeled Season 4 Collection 1, which was the way seasons 2 - 4 were released, instead of the single-disk releases for season 1).