For much of the first season of Babylon 5, the series still hadn't established any sort of over-arching plot to connect the episodes like it would have in seasons 2 through 5. In some ways, it was as if the genius behind the series, Michael Staczynski was still trying to feel for a sense of direction. Because of this, so many of the season one episodes are self-contained in that they don't connect well with previous or later episodes. This is pretty much the way of sci-fi shows like Star Trek, but for B-5, this makes these earlier episodes less satisfying.
While this episode does raise an interesting moral dilemma and it relates to some current religious practices that forbid medical interventions, it is still is at heart a filler episode because it contributed nothing to the underlying themes of the show. While at times heart-wrenching, this lack of context compared to most other episodes dooms it to the category of "skip-able".
While this episode does raise an interesting moral dilemma and it relates to some current religious practices that forbid medical interventions, it is still is at heart a filler episode because it contributed nothing to the underlying themes of the show. While at times heart-wrenching, this lack of context compared to most other episodes dooms it to the category of "skip-able".