Got Some Explaining To Do

Stan: We are an advanced species. We're supposed to learn from our experiences and improve our decision-making accordingly.

Related Links Lexx World Kai: If I may modify your statement, we are not three men. We are two men and one woman. Randor: Woman? What sort of man is that? Kai: Woman ... is a different sort of man from the only type you seem to have here.

Stan: Now I see what you're getting at. But there's just one problem. See, I'm a man. I don't know if that means anything to you, but it happens to bequite important to me.

Written by Paul Donovan
Directed by Bill Fleming

Matthew Burton - Brother Randor
Matthias Klimsa - Brother Traygor

Aboard Lexx, Xev suggests a landing on the island below, which is this planet's only landmass. Stan points out that there are no signs of technology, and reminds her of the trouble they encounter whenever they land on a strange planet to satisfy one of her whims.

At first glance, "Nook" seems like a strange choice for an introduction to Lexx. For all the hype about sex and high space adventure, this is a quiet hour of television.

The low-key approach is a tremendous asset. In the case of "Nook", "quiet" equals "character-driven" and we come away with a better feeling for Stan, Xev and Kai than we might have in one of their more action-oriented adventures. When the adrenaline starts flowing in later episodes, we'l1 know what to expect from Our Heroes.

Xev: "I like this planet. I like Nook."

It's amusing that U.S. viewers' initiation to Lexx was the episode in which Xev lost her virginity. This milestone aside, sexual politics played a significant role in this episode.

The scenes between Stanley and Brother Traygor were handled well.

Their situation could easily have devolved into the "don't drop the soap" homophobia that commonly passes for humor about sexual misunderstandings between men.

Instead, there is an uncomfortably humorous angle to Stan's realization that Brother Traygor likes him as more than just a friend, but his rejection of that advance is handled in a respectful and sensitive manner.

One might take issue with Stan's characterization of his own lifestyle as "natural," a perspective that implies Traygor's form of sexual expression is unnatural. However, Stan doesn't seem to mean it that way, and might simply be insisting that heterosexuality is "natural" as far as his own preferences are concerned.

Given that Stan has to explain his sexual orientation to someone who's still fuzzy on the notion of what a woman is, his reliance on cultural stereotypes and unconscious judgment calls makes sense. He may be guilty of ignorance, but it's hard to see any malice.

Xev doesn't fare quite so well.

Oddly, the casual genocide that erupts at the episode's climax doesn't lead to much angst, which points out how far outside the mainstream Lexx falls. In Star Trek, the destruction of Nook would have led to moralizing and an opportunity for Xev to vent her grief and guilt. Aboard Lexx, it's more a matter of "oh well, the planet blew up, I told you so," and on to the next adventure.

This may not reflect humanity's highest ideals, but it is a refreshing change from the lily-white -- and often untenable -- "morality" most shows assume we'll bring into space with us.

Besides, the destruction of Nook wasn't Xev's fault. There was a worm in the apple of the perfect society long before Xev and the others arrived. Brother Randor was seduced by knowledge, while Brother Traygor hid away the forbidden skill of literacy.

Xev was no more than a catalyst for the changes inherent in Nook's social order. She is both Eve and snake in the brothers' Eden, the unwitting -- if not wholly blameless -- victim of institutional and personal misogyny.

Through no fault of anyone except Brother Randor, Xev is held accountable not only for the "sins" her presence occasions, but those caused by the inherent impossibility of maintaining an unchanging society.

Why did Stan go to meet Brother Traygor by the gate? Was he hoping to continue their "discussion?" Was he going to take the brother up on his offer?

What will Xev do now that she's finally experienced "the pure uncomplicated satisfaction" of sex? Will it make her libido easier or harder to control?