Diminishing Discourse Part 1

## Diminishing Discourse

**Diminishing Discourse** (also referred to as **Diminishing Discourse - Part 1**) is the sixteenth episode of Season 1 of Elliott from Earth, and the final episode of both the season and Chapter Two.

## Synopsis

Elliott and Frankie decide to tell Mo the truth about the dinosaurs.

## Plot

Important details about the plot or story are up ahead
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At home, Frankie and Elliott consider how they should break the truth about what happened to the dinosaurs to Mo, who still believes that dinosaurs are alive and living alongside humans on Earth. They decide most of their ideas, such as using comics that depict the extinction, are too direct. When Mo suddenly arrives, curious about what they want to tell him, Frankie suggests that the best way to do it is to just be gentle and honest and tell him themselves.

Upset by the truth, Mo ends up running away in tears, and goes to hide in the vegetation in his home next door. Elliott follows, trying to explain the situation further despite Mo telling him to go away. As Elliott tries to convince Mo to listen, Mo suddenly turns around and roars at him, causing Elliott to quickly stop talking and recoil in shock and fear. Mo becomes even more upset, and runs off without another word. Elliott only watches as he does, shaking and distressed.

Elliott soon returns outside, where Frankie is observing the other inhabitants of the neighborhood. They both notice that something weird is happening throughout the area: the different alien species seem unable to communicate, and Elliott and Frankie can't understand any of the languages being spoken. As they go to visit The Head to figure out what's going on, they see that it's happening all over the Centrium.

The Head ends up being in complete disarray, since the alien individuals that form it can't communicate or work in unison properly. Only the linguistics expert can communicate with Elliott and Frankie, thanks to his knowledge of "Earth language". He tells them that he thinks the situation is their fault, saying that the babbledrogs in Biosphere 1138 are no longer "creating language" and that it must have something to do with their arrival. Elliott and Frankie are confused by this, but decide to go to the biosphere together to investigate it.

In Biosphere 1138, Elliott and Frankie notice that it is abnormally quiet, and that the area is completely devoid of any fauna. They decide to look around and see if they can find any babbledrogs, but find 105E first. 105E explains that she was sent down there by The Head to help search for the rock, and that she's able to communicate because droids aren't affected by the translation gas since they don't breathe. When Frankie and Elliott ask if she knows where the rock is, 105E reveals that she had found it before but refuses to go near it, and starts to lead them toward it.

Along the way, Elliott stops when he notices a familiar landmark, and realizes it's the clearing where he and Frankie first met Mo. Elliott is upset by this, and tells Frankie that he can't stop thinking about how Mo roared at him earlier or worrying that Mo won't be his friend anymore. Frankie comforts him, and suggests that maybe the roar was only because of the translation issues. Suddenly, she's interrupted by the croaking of a nearby babbledrog. Intrigued, Elliott and Frankie both rush over to watch the babbledrog, and notice it hopping toward a long line of paralyzed babbledrogs. As soon as the active babbledrog makes physical contact with the other ones, it becomes paralyzed in the same way.

Elliott and Frankie notice an electric pulse going through the chain of babbledrogs, and decide to follow it. They end up finding a giant pile of paralyzed babbledrogs, where all them are attached to one another and pulsing with electricity. 105E arrives alongside them, and explains that something within the pile must be absorbing the babbledrogs' bioelectricity and paralyzing them, as well as draining the power from any droid who tries to touch it. Frankie suddenly realizes that the whole situation may truly be because of their arrival, but before she can elaborate, the pile begins to tremble and collapses, and the babbledrogs wake up from paralysis.

Frankie and Elliott see Mo standing where the center of the pile once was, having caused its collapse. Elliott and Mo are excited to see each other again, but suddenly become hesitant after what happened earlier. They both apologize, and Mo reveals that the real reason he was upset was because he lied to others about Earth and dinosaurs and humans, and because his former beliefs about those things were all wrong. When Elliott asks if it means that Mo isn't upset about being the last of his kind after all, Mo tells Elliott that because he's from Earth, just like Elliott and Frankie, he's not truly the last of his kind.

Frankie approaches them, asking what happened with the babbledrogs. Mo explains that there was something that was bothering the babbledrogs inside the pile, which he retrieved. He reveals it to be the rock, to Elliott and Frankie's excitement. Frankie steps forward as she tells Mo what it is, and places a hand on the rock while Mo still holds it. This causes it to activate, and it begins glowing and shaking and keeps Frankie and Mo from letting go as it starts to levitate with them. Mo is confused about what's happening, but Frankie immediately begins to panic and tries to tell the rock that she can't leave. Elliott, still on the ground below, also quickly becomes distressed. When Mo asks where they're going, the rock tells him that they're going to his home. Mo asks if that means they're going to Earth, but the rock says that Earth is not their destination.

As the transport sphere forms around Mo and Frankie and prepares to launch out of the Centrium, Elliott runs toward it, calling for Frankie. From inside the sphere, Frankie promises she'll come back for Elliott, just before the transport sphere shoots upward into space. Knocked back onto the ground by the force of the launch, Elliott is left behind and stares up at the sky in shock and horror. 105E approaches, wondering aloud if it was supposed to happen.

## Continuity

* Elliott mentions that he previously met Linguistics at "the copy store", referring to the events of Regurgitated Reminiscence.
* The clearing where Elliott and Frankie met Mo in Wednesday Part 2 is shown again.

## Trivia

* *Jurassic Park* is referenced when Mo mentions an incident in which dinosaurs "ruin everyone's day at the theme park" and indirectly quotes the film, before Frankie tells him that he's thinking of something from a movie.
* This is the first episode to feature Frankie since Parallel Paradox.
* This episode was originally referred to as "Diminishing Discourse Part 1" on some early TV guide listings prior to the episode's premiere. The reason for this is unknown.