The Ugly Truth
Teleplay by Harry Werksman Junior & Gabrielle Stanton
Directed by Tony Tilse

PLOT
Talyn destroys an alien ship. Crichton and the others are put on trial for the crime. Each of them gets called to the Diary Room to recount their version of events.

REVIEW
Again, it all finished in the 39th minute and again the padding began with this storyline of D'Argo's son. It became obvious very quickly that we were going to have to hear every character's account of the events on Talyn, an idea which did seem tedious.

In practice it worked much better than advertised. The stories all varied amusingly, not just with straight lies but also via more subtle twists of emphasis. In D'Argo's version, for instance, he was the leader of the group and tended to stay to the foreground. This was not necessarily the case for the other versions of the event.

The set design, was easily the most striking aspect of what must surely have been an otherwise low budget episode. The interrogation chair above the water was simple and yet very effective. While the 'flying hubcap' was cheap, you did become convinced that there was a sheer drop around it.

When a series doesn't successfully make the audience care about a character, it sometimes tries to show you that you should by having another character care profoundly. This may explain Zhaan's rather sudden and rather deep sorrow at Stark's fate. Although that could just be Zhaan finally getting to do something and milking the scene for all she could.

DID YOU NOTICE?