A very interesting episode.
The John/Talla relationship was interesting to see, most Sci Fi relationships focus on the emotional/cultural problems, but in reality, there would likely be strong biological hurdles to overcome with any "alien" species, and it was neat to see that in this case (hehe also a good reason why Superman and Lois Lane WOULD NEVER EVER WORK!). One thing I am still waiting on in Sci Fi, is to see a gender dismorphic race. Humans are used to the idea that men and women are roughly equal in size, intelligence, and ability... but there are many species where this is not the case, where male and female members have radically different body sizes and capacities (think bees or ants as one example). It would be interesting to see the cultural dynamics of such a society.
The diplomacy aspect was....well pretty dumb to be honest. I don't know how they ever thought it would be a good idea to lie to the other contingent and then just go "well now that you know us a little better, we have totally been lying to you this whole time, sorry!" I mean....did they really think that would work? I get the idea of having the ladies show the contingent around and handling the negotiations, but to actively say "oh yeah our ladies are in charge, just like you".... I mean damn that's a whopper of a lie.
The Isaac aspect was pretty cool, and it was neat to see a little bit of the Kaylon origin. The whole emotion thing was a very interesting dilemma. On the one hand, the notion of "love the person as they are" vs "making them into the person you want them to be" is a common relationship issue we struggle with.... and its a bit of a thin ice discussion (some people might have felt just as Claire did, and other people might have been disgusted with her decision to "change" Isaac). They tried to ground it with Kelly's relationship to Ed, but honestly its a pretty different scenario. Kelly wanted Ed to work less, to make some changes in his actions. But in this case, Claire is literally trying to change who Isaac is at a fundamental level.... that's a big deal. But on the other hand, how can Isaac, who has absolutely no experience with emotion, ever truly make an informed choice? Is denying him the chance to experience it because of his own ignorance also cruel? Again a wonderfully interesting dilemma.