Lili Marquette wakes up from a three-year coma to find herself back on Earth after the Resistance has liberated the planet from the Taelons. She slowly begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.

Quotable Moments

Sandoval: I have my own Underground, and they will kill every last oneof you! Every last one! Listen to me!

Lili: So I'm guessing Zo'or is--    Multimedia Episode trailer - 'In Memory' Season promo    Related Links Earth: Final Conflict Roddenberry Productions Tribune Entertainment Liam: Let's just say he's no longer part of the Commonality.

Written by Cory Tynan
Directed by Terry Ingram

Lisa Howard - Lili Marquette

A Taelon shuttle rockets across an alien starscape. Aboard the ship, Lili Marquette awakens. She brings the shuttle's control systems online and determines that she is thousands of light-years from Earth.

An alien ship locks onto the shuttle. Lili puts out a distress call. Something breaches the shuttle's hull. A voice addresses her in an alien tongue, then switches to English and demands, "Identify yourself."

An armored figure enters the shuttle through the hull breach. The intruder's helmet retracts, and Lili finds herself face to face with a Jaridian.

ANALYSIS
So the Jaridians were behind things all along? What a surprise!

The "Character X wakes up in a world where things are not as they seem" scenario is a common one in science fiction, especially the televised variety. In its various incarnations, Star Trek turned in any number of variations on this hoary theme.

Hell, the entire run of The Prisoner was predicated on permutations of this premise.

The goal of this type of episode is to slowly lead the character in question toward the twin revelations of "things are not really as they seem" and "here's what's really going on."

Depending on how convoluted the writer makes the con, the character -- or "mark" -- might pierce several layers of false reality before coming face to face with the ultimate truth.

The best stories of this type force the writer to assume that the audience is in on the scam and, unlike the victim, the viewers know perfectly well that everything is artifice.

Still, even allowing for the "wink wink" factor, it's still nice if the episode can even momentarily surprise those watching at home, make them think briefly that the real lie is the one that we've believed for two and a half seasons.

Perfectly executed, these stories strike a tense balance between the viewers' cynical belief that "that trick never works," and their eternal, anarchic hope that this will be the exception that proves the rule.

Not so in the case of "In Memory". From the first conversation between Doctor Reed and the Colonel, there was no doubt in my mind that they were Jaridians, and that their charade was designed to exact some very specific information from their guest.

If that weren't proof enough, events rapidly unfolded in a manner that claimed the life of not one, but two principal characters, knocking one of them off twice for good measure. Exciting as these plot twists make things, contractual obligations trump storytelling every time.

Intending no disrespect to writer Cory Tynan, this was a concept just crying out for the paranoid, twisted sensibilities of someone like Howard Chaykin.

In Chaykin's hands, the manipulations Lili experienced would have been far subtler, the air of mystery for the viewer would have been decidedly more intense, and the impact of the final revelation would have been even more devastating.

Chaykin's writing has an element of ruthlessness that Tynan's lacks. Moreover, Tynan clearly has great affection for Lili, while Chaykin would not necessarily be swayed by such sentimental considerations.

Despite its flaws, this episode was a welcome break from the pattern set up in recent weeks that begins with a fiendish plot from Sandoval and Zo'or and ends with the Resistance foiling the scheme, but only managing to win a pyrrhic victory.

By bringing the Jaridians into the spotlight, this episode did more to advance the "final conflict" aspect of Earth: Final Conflict than the rest of this season's episodes put together.

The conclusion of "In Memory" suggests that the Jaridians' return to the story mix is still out on the horizon, but, while we still don't know much about the Jaridians' agenda or their capabilities, their piece is finally on the board.

Also welcome was the return of Lisa Howard, even if only for one episode.

The Jaridians clearly want to cast Lili in the heroic mode they suggested for her during the fantasy sequence, although their interpretation of that heroism may differ from what they've suggested so far. Whatever path she takes to get there, it seems clear that Lili has a pivotal role to play in the struggle among humans, Jaridians and Taelons.

Renee Palmer's exclusion from the episode suggests that the two women did not know each other. Given Lili's close relationship with Jonathan Doors, it seems surprising that he wouldn't have introduced her to his most trusted aide.

If later episodes confirm their acquaintance, Renee's absence from "In Memory" no doubt falls into the "it's too complicated to explain" category. If they never met, then someone has some explaining to do.

Thankfully, it seems unlikely that they will turn out to be long-lost, dimensionally disparate sisters, as in the ill-conceived arc from last season.

Why did Sandoval send Lili to the Jaridians? As a spy or as an emissary?

What was the broadcast range of Lili's CVI? Will Sandoval now know that it has been removed?

Did the Taelon warship pick up her distress signal? Did that ship survive the battle with the Jaridians? If so, will word of Lili's continued survival get back to Zo'or?

How will Lili feel about the Jaridians once she learns more about them?

The race to the season finale ramps up as new episodes begin again. In "The Fields", Liam and Renee go undercover in the Church of the Companions and learn that humanity is being used to produce sustenance for the Taelons. Scary!