Rhapsody in Blue


Story by David Kemper and Ro Hume
Teleplay by David Kemper
Directed by Andrew Prowse


I have to say that this was the episode that let me know that it was actually Gilina that I hated and not John's Babe of the Week. I actually liked Alex. I thought she and John were cute together. It nearly broke my heart when John pushed the engagement ring under the bed.

And I thought it was truly cruel that Tahleen would use something like this against John. Actually, I thought a lot of what Tahleen did, or had the other Pa'us do, was cruel, not even taking account that Tahleen turned Zhaan to the dark side. That aside, I can't believe the kind of things she did. Using John's ex-almost-fiancee, and D'Argo's son... The ways that they messed with Aeryn and Rygel weren't all that bad, considering. No, I take that back. What she did to Aeryn was a mere inconvenience. I'm sure Rygel already has issues with his size and to think he was shrunk down to practically nothing has to be pretty terrifying. But what was done to John and D'Argo was just inexcusable. And if Tahleen didn't have enough strikes against her, she also knocks off her own father. Wow, does she not have one good bone in her body?

Major applause goes out to Virginia Hey on this one. Absolutely wonderful work. For one, I actually wanted to cry when Zhaan came out of unity with Tahleen (I wasn't that emotional before this show, either... Sigh...) We go from nice, gentle MommyModeZhaan to a red-eyed loony toon. And it was definitely effective! Creepy, too. But it was good to get a look into Zhaan's culture and past. It also adds some nice continuity from Zhaan's dark side in That Old Black Magic, and we see exactly why she snapped like she did. I hope to see more of this in the future, or at least references back to this. Zhaan's MommyMode kept me from believing that she would have been capable of the things she did in TOBM, and that's wonderfully contrasted to what she actually does. I want to see more of this, definitely.

I've made it a point to talk about the dynamics I like, and I'm liking the one between John and Zhaan. I'm not a shipper for them, but I like the friendship they have. Zhaan trusted him enough to let him see her crime, and John not only trusted her, he cared enough for her to try to bring her back through unity. It's definitely a sacrifice, and I think it's just one more example of the crew bonding together.

GRADE: A-

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