Farscape s02e16: The Locket

Series

Farscape^[1][2]

Season

2^[2]

Episode

16^[2]

Original US air date

25 August 2000^[2]

Running time

44 minutes 16 seconds^[1]

Published by

Farscape YouTube channel (rights holder)^[1]

Summary

The episode is the sixteenth of Farscape's second season and was first broadcast in the United States on 25 August 2000.^[1][2]

What happens in "The Locket"?

The episode opens with John Crichton addressing the viewer directly, describing himself as a lost astronaut who was shot through a wormhole.^[4] The living ship Moya passes through Stellar Mist, and her sensors detect no toxins that could account for the rapid aging now affecting Crichton.^[4] Pilot calculates that Aeryn Sun has aged 160 Cycles in a single solar day and warns the crew that reversal is unlikely.^[4]

Aeryn wears an antique locket that Chiana gave her, originally taken on a Commerce planet, and says in conversation that she has lived for 165 Cycles and has had three sons and a granddaughter.^[4] Zhaan and Stark attempt to join their spirits in order to glimpse the time continuum surrounding Moya.^[4]

Crichton travels to the planet, where Aeryn's granddaughter confronts him at rifle point.^[4] Warned that he will be trapped on the planet for 55 Cycles if he does not leave through an opening, he asks to be brought back to Moya before that happens.^[4] Aeryn quietly bids Pilot a final farewell and asks him not to alert the rest of the crew.^[4]

Memorable quotes

“I have lived for 165 Cycles I have had three sons and watch them die and I have a granddaughter will die if I don't get to her”5:30

“I do not want to live a life without a past I want to see my son again”31:42

“I am too old for this”36:14

“we seem to have returned to a time just moments before MOA went went into the Mist none of them remember anything yet yet we do because we've returned to a time before any of it happened”39:23

In the episode

0:30 Pilot returns after meditation Crichton comes aboard Moya after two solo days and speaks with Zhaan about meditating while Aeryn is on long-range recon.

1:32 Aeryn returns aged decades The crew pulls an aged and disoriented Aeryn from her transport pod after she vanished into the stellar mist.

4:02 Aeryn claims decades of life Aeryn insists she has lived through sons and a granddaughter, showing an old locket that proves she aged a full lifetime in one day.

7:31 Chiana watches over Aeryn Chiana tends to the dying Aeryn and shares a strange moment of apology and gratitude before Aeryn's final goodbye.

10:32 Crichton finds Aeryn on the planet Crichton descends through the mist and finds Aeryn alive with a young woman who claims to be her granddaughter.

13:29 The mist begins to close Rygel senses the opening in the mist sealing shut, cutting off Crichton just as he tries to return to Moya.

15:34 Zhaan and Stark join spirits Zhaan and Stark attempt a Delvian mind link to sense whether a void in time surrounds Moya after the pod's signal is lost.

18:32 A different life on the planet Crichton is shown years later on the planet, arguing with the older Aeryn about his refusal to give up on returning to Earth.

23:02 Fifty years of waiting Crichton finally powers up a sealed communicator after decades on the planet and makes contact with the still-orbiting Moya.

27:02 Aeryn dies on the return Crichton arrives back at Moya to announce that Aeryn passed away on the journey back to the ship.

30:01 Planning the reverse starburst The crew debates whether to back Moya out of the mist or reverse starburst forward, choosing the risky forward jump to reclaim their lost years.

34:35 Time freezes during the jump The reverse starburst halts time across the ship, leaving only Crichton able to move and reach the manual controls.

38:30 Time rewinds to before the mist The crew emerges to find themselves moments before entering the mist, with Zhaan and Stark the only ones who remember what happened.

40:03 D'Argo learns his son's fate Chiana shows D'Argo a slave manifest that lists his son Jossie being sold, giving him a new urgent mission.

Background

Farscape was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by the Jim Henson Company; from the second season onward, its episodes run for about 44 minutes without commercials.^[1][3]

The episode can be watched here because the rights holder made the full episode available as a public upload on its own Farscape YouTube channel on 15 February 2025.^[1]

In the series

The Locket is the sixteenth of the 22 episodes in Farscape's second season, which originally ran on US television from 17 March 2000 to 19 December 2000.^[2]