Reraizure

Reraizure
Season 3
Episode 6
Aired on	September 12, 1995
Written by	Japhet Asher
Story by	Peter Chung
Directed by	Howard E. Baker
Episode Chronology
Previous	The Demiurge
Next	Chronophasia
Source

"Reraizure" is the sixth episode of the third season.

Synopsis

The episode centers on a web of betrayal involving Aeon and a Breen couple. The overall theme is that of memory and perception.

Opening title

Trevor's interrogation of a Monican agent leads inevitably to his favorite subject -- Aeon Flux.

Act 1

Trevor Goodchild questions Haemon, a captured Monican agent who was seen with Aeon Flux. Unable to get any information from him, Trevor feeds him a pill that he has extracted from a reptilian creature called a narghile. Aeon receives a blackmail message from Trevor, demanding that she bring a narghile to a specified location.

Muriel, a Breen woman detained for possession of a narghile, attempts to escape using a key that Trevor provided. The same night, Aeon infiltrates the prison. She recognizes Haemon there, but he doesn't recognize her. Aeon and Muriel have a tense encounter that ends with Muriel falling to her death. Aeon continues to an office in the prison building, where she exchanges a narghile for the blackmail material: a set of sex photos of herself and Trevor.

Muriel's boyfriend Rorty is arrested while waiting for her outside the prison. Aeon rescues him and they escape together in Rorty's car. He asks her about Muriel; Aeon denies seeing her, causing Rorty to despair. He takes her to his home to hide out.

Act 2

Rorty tells Aeon that he and Muriel once took narghile pills, known as bliss pills. The pills caused them to forget everything about themselves and each other. Regretting the decision, Rorty now collects narghiles in hopes of exterminating the species. Aeon seduces him in a moment of grief; later Rorty shows her the aerial platform where he has collected the narghiles, planning to blast them into the sun. Aeon climbs up to the platform only to discover that it is empty. Trevor lands on the platform and Aeon realizes that Muriel was secretly passing the narghiles to him.

By the time Aeon returns to earth, Rorty has discovered the photos. She lies to him again, telling him that the narghiles are secure. Confronted about the photos, she tells him the truth about killing Muriel and about the platform. Rorty attacks her in disbelief and she flees.

Act 3

Aeon infiltrates the prison again and steals the narghile that she left before. She escapes in a car that looks like Rorty's, but is actually driven by Trevor. She bails out, but Trevor comes back to face her.

Rorty ascends the platform and realizes that Muriel betrayed him. He activates the blasters while the platform is tethered, causing it to crash into the ground near Trevor and Aeon. Aeon rides the tether back to Rorty's house and cuts it, causing it to snap away with Trevor still holding on. She shows Rorty the narghile with Rorty's mark, proving that she was telling the truth earlier. Rorty, who already knows the truth, tells her to leave.

As she leaves, Aeon remembers the photos and returns to destroy them. She finds out that Rorty has taken the bliss pill and committed mental suicide. She leaves again filled with pity and in a state of misery.

Closing

"We are not what we remember of ourselves. We can undo only what others have already forgotten. Learn from your mistakes so that one day you can repeat them precisely."

Original: That's the funny thing about memory. We are not what we remember of ourselves. We are what people say we are. They project upon us their convictions. We are nothing but blank screens.

Trivia

• The "mistakes" quote refers to a quote by Winston Churchill and George Santayana. A similar quote is said by John Gill and in "There All the Honor Lies". A variant is used in "To Loose the Fateful Lightning".
• Another version of the closing dialogue states how people are remembered as they are perceived by others. They are "blank screens" that are not viewed according to the individuals self-view.