Review

This skillfully written episode is a much better executed counterpoint to the previous episode. The girls go on a quest to procure an equally mundane objective as the guys were tasked with in the last episode, but in the process the girls are swept into some epic developments with regards to the political machinations of the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans and the cliffhanger surrounding Aeryn's capture by the Scarrans seals the deal.

Along the way there are a number of nice touches. Having just the girls as the primary protagonists of the story is an unusual choice and leads to some interesting character dynamics. Of particular note is the disproportionately important roles that Sikozu and Noranti played in the episode, which was a nice change of pace. I especially enjoyed Noranti detecting that the free drinks were poison. This nice touch of a scene is a fantastic parallel to a similar scene in Star Trek DS9's episode Ties of Blood and Water in which Weyoun similarly identifies poison by drinking it and then exhibiting immunity.

Continuing the trend of well executed female characters, Grayza of course makes a prominent appearance in this episode acting opposite to the awesome new villain: War Minister Ahkna. This Ahkna is the best offering from the Scarrans yet, as she adds a great deal of texture and subtlety to their interactions. Ahkna is not the blunt instrument that her minions and lackeys are. She truly is Grayza's Scarran counterpart in every way.

I greatly enjoyed that she saw fit to reference the recent destruction of one of their dreadnoughts and that she was keen enough to suggest that it may have been a lucky shot with an experimental weapon or possibly not even a Peacekeeper achievement at all. The whole series of negotiations was indeed a lot of fun. Ahkna played Grayza like a fiddle. Overall while this episode is mostly setup for what's likely to be cooler stuff to come later it manages to stand well on its own as quite an entertaining piece.