Watching Nerve and Hidden Memory and noticing the way the writers used Gilina to show how both John and Aeryn have changed since the beginning of the season. What I noticed is that when John meets Gilina again, he’s so different from the first time he met her. You can see how much the situations he's been put in over the previous ~10 months have hardened him and made him constantly question peoples' motives. It's a bit sad once you see it. She met him when he was still a fish out of water trying to figure things out. He would give everyone the benefit of the doubt, very open and kind. But this time, he's at the Peacekeeper base posing as Larraq, on a mission to save Aeryn's life, so of course he's on high alert, has to make sure no one realizes he's not who he says he is.

When Gilina calls him over, he's super suspicious, pulls a gun on her, holds the gun on her while asking what she's doing there and why, and the whole time she has this look on her face that says, "Why are you acting like this?" When he realizes she's alone and that she had seen him come in and has been trying to help him, he lowers his guard, but he's still very standoffish and very much focused on how to get what he needs to get without being caught. It's really not the kind of reunion she wanted or what he probably would have liked in different circumstances.

Meanwhile, Aeryn has also changed a lot since Gilina had last seen her. The first time Aeryn and Gilina had met, Aeryn was very cold to her and tried to pull rank on her. She acted like a Peacekeeper addressing another peacekeeper who was "just a tech". But this time, Aeryn seemed glad to hear that it was Gilina who was helping John on the planet. When she saw her, Aeryn was much warmer and friendlier to her. And then she genuinely wanted her to come with them and it didn't feel like it was only because she would probably be killed for helping them.

It's just really interesting to see how both John and Aeryn have changed over the course of the season. Aeryn's change is more noticeable over time, but John's change wasn't as evident until he met back up with someone who he hadn't seen since he was very new to everything and Gilina was clearly thrown off by the wall that he'd put up.