An alien possession gives Crichton some intense moments on Moya.
Written by Justin Monjo
Directed by Catherine Millar
After Moya passes through a harmless energy cloud (TM, a trademark of and licensed by myriad Star Trek episodes) the crew is 'tasted' by a Rider, an energy being that has hitched passage. The Rider’s tasting hurts, leaving Crichton bleeding and everyone unaware of huge chunks of time passing – until John figures it out and someone, something, comes to take back the errant Rider. But by now the creature is inside one of the crew and there’s little way to tell who.
So far, so completely standard but ultimately the episode is fun because, as ever, it takes a stock SF plot and wrings it into a new, more dramatic shape. The chase to find out who the rider is in might be familiar but the crew’s reactions and especially Ben Browder’s ability to fall on his face are very good.
What’s especially good is that this is the John Crichton who is on Moya: last week we had the one on Talyn. And already the identical pair are changing, you don’t ever have the slightest confusion over who is who, and that’s an impressive feat for Browder.
What is perhaps not so great but is necessary for the future is this whole second story, unconnected to the first, with Scorpius and the wormholes. It was about time we found out what he did with the information. It's good that it isn't going well, but we’ve now also learned that the Peacekeepers need the wormhole technology if they’re to survive a coming war against the Scarrans.
That felt like a big dollop of plot to be handed in one go but at least it did tie back to the clever title: Losing Time did refer to how the Moya crew blanked out the odd hour or two but it was also saying that it’s time for losing, that about now, everyone is due a big defeat.
Review by William Gallagher
