Guardians: Outlook 1x09 'AA'

by J.J. Estes

An innocent drink from a pool on an alien world didn't seem like a bad idea, but Aya's about to find out that even the simplest things can lead to trouble.

Guardians: Outlook chugs on with another new episode, although this is a reworking of a script from the original 11-episode series, for those of you who remember that. And I should, given that I wrote that version of it! So this one deals with Aya's curious nature getting the better of her whilst on an off-ship mission, and all being well should leave plenty of room for some juicy character development. Let's move on...

A startling opening scene has James delivering a defiant speech to somebody off screen, before handing his gun to a sick-looking Aya and daring her to end her own life, before we flash back thirty-six hours in the best Alias tradition. Blimey! The Outlook is in orbit over an Earth-like planet with a pre-industrial culture, so given the tech difference it seems a ground mission is out. Anna thinks otherwise, however, her natural sense of diplomacy winning James over as he approves a trip down to the planet's surface. Engel makes a 'oops, did I say that out loud?' slip as he asks for Lakshanya to join the team, and with that little ship set out of harbour we're off into Act I.

Anna wants to lead the ground mission but James isn't having any of it, the power dynamic still very one-sided between them. Ivan catches Aya getting ready and tries to get her to join him in a toast for the road, but she declines, and her at once naive and wise comments about his alcoholism actually give Ivan pause for thought before his next swig. Good to see Ivan's drinking being used as an actual character point instead of just comedy! The Lander flies over some farming settlements, and Engel wisely suggests they try there first. One, so he can get some data into his sampler so they can communicate, and two so they don't scare the bejaysus out of the populace by heading to the big city first. However, James lands right on some guy's farm, and before you know it the team are being led as captives through the city, the reptilian populace looking on. James in unfazed, safe in the knowledge he learned how to captain from the king - James T, in case you were wondering. That's James T. Kirk. Of Star Trek. Come on, people, pay attention! Anyway. Led into the mayor's impressive, Renaissance-style mansion, the team meet the bigwig himself, and as James makes the introductions we skip forward a little to find Aya and Lak eager to shop, and Ruben doing his best to keep the ladies in line. Aya finds a fountain that seems to be a local watering hole of sorts, but as she leans in to take a sample, one of the alien guards looms over her and he does not look happy...

James and Engel leave the mayor's mansion, James apparently having set up some kind of vague trading agreement to Engel's unease, before the duo spot the trouble by the fountain. Motormouth Aya is trying to talk her way out of things, but when James arrives Ruben knows it's Engel who needs to handle this one. His sampler tries to explain that Aya only wants a sample of the water to study, but the guard is firm. No freebies. Aya takes a swig of the water and gets to keep the rest, and as the team get ready to camp out to wait for the city's big chief to arrive and speak with them, Aya continues taking photos of everything in sight. Lak catches her drinking her water sample again, and as night rolls in James makes a call up to the bored Anna in the Outlook overhead. Ivan's playing cards with his boys (or 'work' as he classes it - nice dialogue there too) when James speaks to him, requesting the resident tech genius' help to put together some goodies to trade with the aliens. There's a good moment as Engel calls James on his unorthodox tactics - a little conflict never hurts the group dynamic - before the crew bed in for the night. Aya, noticeably, looks in a bad way and appears to have drunk all of her sample. Hmm. James wakes up to find Aya's jumped ship, and lo and behold, there she is back in the town square, stocking up on water from the fountain. And then James finds her. Busted!

Back on the lander and with the rest of the crew now all woken up, James is busy chewing Aya out, despite her pleas that she can't explain what she was doing. When she mentions feeling thirsty and knowing that only water from the fountain would do, James and Engel don't have to stretch their intuition much to figure out that the fountain is the source of the problem. James leaves Lak to do her best attempt at analysing the water samples as the boys trek back into town to see the mayor, and as a shivering Aya watches them go, we rejoin James' team as they reach the town hall. The mayor gleefully tells the team that the water has addictive qualities, and the leadership use it to keep the people in line! The only way to break the addiction is to go cold turkey, something that is especially painful and also a good motivation to keep the townsfolk in line. Back on the lander, Lak thinks she's identified the rogue element that causes the addiction, but before she can decipher her discovery, she's tasered by Aya, who bolts back towards the city again! The boys arrive to find Lak down and Aya missing, and a stern-faced James resolves to bring Aya back.

James finds Aya refilling her canteens at the fountain, watched by several curious members of the populace, and tells her it's time to go. A tearful Aya seems to be aware of what's happening to her, her science nerd brain able to deduce the situation quite easily, but she's also helpless against the pull of the addiction, not having the physical or mental toughness to resist. Aya starts to freak out, disarming James when he goes to tase her and forcing him to pull his gun, scaring the aliens off by firing some warning shots and dragging Aya kicking and screaming all the way back to the lander. Dr. Unwin and Anna are waiting back on the Outlook, having to strap Aya down to get her to the sick bay after she makes another break for freedom. Next thing we know, we're back on the Lunar Base, with a worried Unwin afraid that despite the fact Aya's going to be okay, she could easily hurt herself from the increasingly violent withdrawal fits she's having. A frustrated Ivan's anguish is clear to see, but Stansen tells James to get in there and keep her calm until the effects wear off. We then get a great little moment as Aya begs James to kill her, and we're back up to the Teaser as he challenges her to do it herself, and Aya's willpower finally catches up with her. Problem solved. A nice little moment between Anna and James leads to another between Ivan and Aya, with Ivan getting a little perspective on his own addiction issues as he comforts the recovering Aya.

Great stuff. A strong, character-driven episode that showcases the main strength of this series - the layers of traits, quirks and details that make up the crew here. These characters have already demonstrated some very good, well-developed three-dimensional qualities (even Ivan, despite the attempts to turn his alcoholism into a running gag), and this episode gives most of them a chance to do something. Well, except Anna, who gets left behind again and really needs some stronger stories besides acting as James' stooge if she's going to keep up with the others! Even though the episode still falls into the show's annoying habit of trying to cram as many dry comeback lines to almost every comment someone makes as possible, the central story here isn't bad and it serves as a platform to get some really interesting stuff out of the crew. So more episodes like this, please. The first season of Stargate SG-1 benefitted from getting plenty of character-focused episodes in early on, so that by the last stretch of the season the entire team was solidly drawn out. With a few more episodes like this, Outlook will have the same advantage.