When Stan contracts a mysterious illness, the Lexx travels to the planet Ruuma in search of a cure. Upon arrival, the crew faces bad poetry, lesbian subtext and zombies galore!
(Originally aired in the United States on April 14, 2000)
Written by Paul Donovan, Jeffrey Hirschfield and Lex Gigeroff
Directed by Chris Bold
| All Kids Love 790 |
790: Tweedle! Do what you have to do: disembowel yourself and let Xev use your intestines for a lasso.
790: I do not contain a full complement of bio-diagnostic data. But I do got a whole lotta love. |
Stan: Oh great! He's cracked and we're zombie bait! |
Heedia: I just wish for once she'd call you what you really are: Beyond repulsion. A DNA disaster. A mewling mass of mucky BLECH. A baldheaded bobo. Imean, let's face it -- "creep" is a little bit of a compliment to you. |
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Louis Del Grande -- Roada
Mary Walsh -- Heedia
Louise Wischermann --
Lyekka
Lauren Abraham -- Lomea
WHAT HAPPENED
Hands break through a barricade that shores up the gates of a castle on the planet Ruuma. Outside, the attackers moan and mumble.
Roada, the high governor of the planet, waves a flickering torch at the invading hands, and they retreat.
He asks his wife and daughter -- Heedia and Lomea -- to find more wood. They insist that there is none left in the castle.
The family begins arguing. Heedia and Lomea blame Roada for stranding them here. (more
spoilers)
Each movement of the story is outrageous in its own right. There is no need to impose an overarching order to these elements.
ANALYSIS
Despite owing obvious debts to both Richard Matheson 's I Am Legend and George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, 'Twilight' is pure Lexx.
Although the undead, light-fearing, brain-eating content is familiar, it takes either inspiration or insanity to combine zombies with
Stan's dandruff shampoo cure, Kai's sudden poetic license and Lyekka's unintentional Sapphic seduction.
In the case of scripters Paul Donovan, Jeffrey Hirschfield and Lex Gigeroff, the jury is still out on whether they are
inspired or insane.
The disparate story elements don't mesh seamlessly. In the end, the dissonance among the plot threads contributed to the episode's charm.
Each movement of the story is outrageous in its own right. There is no need to impose an overarching order to these elements.
Indeed, doing so might have blunted their impact. Placing absurdity in context renders it less absurd.
Kais of Future Past
Episodes in the "Kai goes crazy" subgenre are among Lexx's best.
Michael McManus is a better actor than his usual stoic portrayal of Kai allows him to prove. Episodes like "Twilight" and "
Wake the Dead" offer him the challenge of stepping outside his character's usual boundaries.
Whether as an angstful poet or a teen movie maniac, McManus immerses himself in these variant characterizations. Though he still looks and sounds like Kai, McManus overlays an entirely new persona - complete with body language, on this basic template.
Stunts like this only work when the character is well established to begin with. The creators, the actor and the audience must all understand and accept the "rules" of the character before they get broken.
Even then, it is best not to go to this particular well too often. Goodwill and an adaptable performer can only carry you so far.
And in the end
Stan and the gang finally know that
Mantrid is on the loose and wiping out even more planets than they are.
This sets up an important question for the end of the season: now that they know, what will they do about it?
More to the point, what should they do about it?
Nearly every person our heroes have encountered throughout the season has been treacherous, sadistic or actively homicidal - frequently some combination of the three.
Perhaps they will conclude that allowing Mantrid to obliterate the entire universe isn't such a bad idea after all.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Where will Stan find more selenium?
BLOWED UP!
Lexx was 0 for 1 in this episode. Stan was prepared to destroy Ruuma, but Mantrid beat him to the punch.
After six episodes (don't forget, we reset the score when the SCI FI Channel finally showed the first episode), Mantrid is closing the gap. The count now stands at:
Lexx: two planets, two moons, one space station and one star.
Mantrid: three planets and one space station.
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?
SCI FI ran the following warning before "Twilight": "This program includes mature subject matter. Parental discretion is advised."
The mature subject matter in question was presumably the exchange between Lyekka and Lomea.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
For "Stan's Trial". Stan is caught in a sting operation and put on trial for his role in the destruction of the 100 Reform planets.
What do you think? Send your comments to the critic or editor.
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