4x21 - We're So Screwed, Part 3: La Bomba

The subtitle of this ep, "La Bomba" is a play on the title of the Richie Valens song "La Bamba." Richie died in a plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and "The Big Bopper" (J P Richardson) on February 3, 1959. "The Day the Music Died" is a song written as a memorial to this accident.

Emperor: Minister Ahkna's forces have done a superb job in quelling the unrest, a duty to which I'm sure she's eager to return.
J: See ya later, sweetheart.
OK, not really a Crichtonism...but since Minister Ahkna is played by Ben Browder's wife, Fran Buller, I thought this was cute.

Emperor: Were you planning to leave?
J: Temporarily. Grayza called with another offer, but you had a riot going on, we didn't want to bother you, we decided to take our own car.

(everyone is ganging up on Scorpius for foiling their escape plan)
R: You stopped us from leaving.
J: You stuck a knife in our back!
To stick a knife in someone's back is to betray them

Ahkna: Grayza doesn't frighten me, a Command Carrier doesn't frighten me, you're bomb doesn't frighten me and neither do you.
J: Damn, I'm on the brink of devastation Minnie Pearl.
Minnie Pearl was a staple of the television show Hee Haw. She always wore a big hat with the price tag hanging on it. Since John as called Ahkna "Hat Lady" in the past, he's probably just come up with another way to refer to her hat.

J: 1812, is this room bug free…good boy.
A bug in this case is referring to a small listening device used to spy on someone

S: Crystherium utilla.
J: The flower.
S: Yes, very important.
J: Ah, it better be. That why they're growing it in the Batcave?
S: That's right, you've been there.
J: Listen up, Grasshopper. I finally have a plan that works. It's simple we get in, we break bread, we see the sights, we grab you we get out and now you're going to throw flowers at me.
S: We need to destroy the Crystherium.
J: Flowers trump wormholes.
S: At the moment, yes.
The Batcave is where Batman hangs out. To break bread with someone is to sit down and talk and try to come to peace with them. "Trump" is a card game reference. To trump someone while playing cards is to have a better hand than your opponent.

J: (to Harvey) What have I told you about smoking in my head.

J: What happens when they eat the flower?
Harvey: Big brains, evolutionarily competitive. You know, Stahleek, Ahkna
J: And if they don't eat them?
Harvey: Your dog could beat at checkers.
Checkers is one of the more simple strategy games. Harvey is trying to imply that without the Chrystherium, the Scarrans are idiots.

S: You rescued Stark before I could breakthrough
J: Sorry to stitch you up

Harvey: Boss says lay low. Don't go near him. Give him some peace.
To "lay low" is to stay out of sight, to be inconspicuous.

Harvey explains why he lied about having broadcast John's thoughts to Scorpius
Harvey: Failsafe. You screw the boss, I find a way to get you re-interested.

J: (about Scorpius) No, he screwed us.
Harvey: And now you get on your high horse. We had a deal. Hey, you took a bribe, you banked the cut, but when the heat's, on you're just another dumb copper doing his job - unbelievable.
To get on your "high horse" is to act like you're better than someone or to act really self-righteous. To "bank a cut" is to take a bribe or steal money seized in a crime bust. "Copper" is an informal name for a police officer.

J: So here we are, Cadaver and Hutch, a team. What now?
S: We must destroy the flowers.
"Cadaver and Hutch" refers to the television series from the 1970's, Starsky and Hutch.

(John and Aeryn are walking down a corridor, speaking quietly)
J: We could always give the Scarrans what they want.
A: We'll be dead in a few microts.
(they run into Ahkna)
J: Or we could try the Bonsai approach.
OK, a little dictionary work here. Banzai is a Japanese war cry. A bonsai plant is a Japanese plant that requires great patience to grow. Growing bonsai plants is an art form. The art of dwarfing trees or plants and developing them into an aesthetically appealing shape by growing, pruning and training them in containers according to prescribed techniques. Now, in my head I can see John using either word...Banzai, meaning it's time we blast the hell out of here or Bonsai, meaning we take our time and get the Scarrans and Grayza just where we want them.

J: You understand I know nothing about Scarran politics, but I'm guessing that that means that they fire him and you get his job. Ambition. Well, if it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere it were done quickly.
(to Aeryn who has moved in to separate him from Ahkna) Thanks, she scares the crap out of me.
A: It's the hat.
To get fired is to lose your job. "If it were done..." is from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I. Scene VII. Macbeth says this when he and his wife are deciding to kill the King.

A: So what do you think?
J: I think Lady Macbeth is going to find a way to screw us? But Staleek is probably way ahead of her, which leaves us with plan….
A: E
(John is writing "hi there" on the bomb)
J: E for?
A & J: Elevator
Since John had already quoted Macbeth, he is referring to Minister Ahkna as Lady Macbeth. Most people only come with Plans A and B....John and Aeryn are really reaching if they are now on Plan E. hehehe. We also had a site fan write in a tell us the "Hi there" that John writes on the bombs is a reference to the Stanley Kubrick movie Dr. Strangelove.

J: What the hell is that, some sort of massage tool?
Sik: It's a drilling elevator, but it won't do us any good without the key chip.
D: What is he doing here?
J: Scorpius, he's giving us the shaft as usual. Everybody in…mind the gap…safer in than out.
To give someone "the shaft" is slang for screwing some body over. This episode is full of references to getting screwed, which makes sense considering the title. "Mind the gap" is what it says on subways and trains whenever a train reaches a station.

Sik: They're trying to override the override
J: Dueling overrides, don't you hate that.
If it's anything like dueling banjos, I'd hate it too. I'm reaching here, but this probably a reference to the movie Deliverance and again a reference to getting screwed.

J: What the hell is going on up there?
D: We couldn't override their override of our override.
J: Great, they stole our getaway car.
I think we've covered getaway cars before, but just in case, a getaway car is what you use to getaway...fast.

J: Hey, did you get my bomb?
C: What?
J: I can't believe it. I left a nuclear bomb in an elevator.
C: It's alright, you've done worse.
LOL...you gotta love Chiana's view on life

J: We gotta go. Do the math, it's over.
S: I do not lose.
J: I'd be happy to give you lessons. Now, are you in or out.

D: Drill's on.
J: Do you know how to drive this Wonka-vator?
"Wonka-vator" is a reference to the book, Charlie and the Chocalate Factory, and the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. At the end Charlie and Willie Wonka get in an elevator that shoots up into the sky and flys over the town.

J: (to D'Argo about his elevator driving skills) I never did like Disneyland. Dad, are we there yet?
Disneyland is an amusement park in Southern California. There are Disneyland theme parks now around the world - Europe, Japan, and Florida - there are probably more.

J: Everything old is new again.
This sounds familiar and a search on Yahoo! shows why....it's something that's said commonly when styles, such as art, clothes, and music come back around and are once again popular. For example, I'm stealing the clothes my mom used to wear in the 70's from her closet because they are back in fashion. I just hope the 80's fashions don't come back around. You will not see me with Madonna hair and neon clothes. I promise.

J: Hey honey, guess what I did at work today? I wore a bomb. A nuclear bomb in a field of flowers. I could get lucky. Tomorrow I could get a bigger bomb.
Poor John... we've had a few people write into and remind us of the Barry Goldwater vs. Lyndon Johnson presidential campaign of 1964. During that campaign, the Johnson campaign ran a commercial, only once, in which a little girl is seen in a field of flowers,
picking the petals from a daisy. While she is doing so, she counts the petals (one, two, three...). Upon reaching ten, a male's voice starts counting down from ten (ten, nine, eight...). As the camera moves in closer and closer on the girl’s face, an atomic bomb explodes and we see a reflection of a mushroom cloud in the child’s eyes. You can watch the commercial online.