The episode begins with the trial of a murderer. He is convicted and sentenced to the ultimate personality--"death of personality". It seems that in the 23rd century, they no longer do capital punishment as we know it, but use telepaths to literally wipe away the old mind and re-create a new one that is devoted to a lifetime of service to others. However, Talia hates being pressed into this duty--especially since the minds of killers can be so frightening. And, when it comes to sick and disturbed minds, this murderer is in a class by himself! A concurrent plot involves the doctor finding out about a "healer" (June Lockhart) in Down Below who seems to be using some sort of "quack cure". However, when he investigates, he is surprised to find that the alien device DOES work after all! There's a lot to this episode, and unlike many episodes, the two plots merge perfectly late in the show. This one really got me thinking about my own feelings about the death penalty--and I love shows that make me think and intelligently challenge my opinions. Well-written and acted, despite being a "filler episode" (one that doesn't directly relate to the plot involving the Shadows), it's well worth seeing.
7 Reviews
Not a "filler" episode
mfurtado113 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I agree that this was a well-written and acted episode, but I have to point out that it was not entirely a 'filler' episode.
The alien machine that was used by Doctor Rosen (June Lockhart) in this episode returns in a later episode ("Endgame" - season 4) in which Marcus uses it to revive Ivanova from fatal injuries suffered in the final battle to free Earth from President Clark's forces. Since the machine (apparently constructed by a long-lost alien race as another alternative to capital punishment) draws life from one person to heal another, Marcus gives up his life to save Ivanova.
The legal and ethical ramifications of this episode could fill a book. The ultimate criminal punishment - death - has evolved somewhat from brutal stonings, crucifixions and hangings to more 'humane' methods such as lethal injection and gas. The two alternatives depicted in this episode show where these developments could lead, and that regardless of the 'improved' techniques capital punishment will always remain problematic.
The alien machine that was used by Doctor Rosen (June Lockhart) in this episode returns in a later episode ("Endgame" - season 4) in which Marcus uses it to revive Ivanova from fatal injuries suffered in the final battle to free Earth from President Clark's forces. Since the machine (apparently constructed by a long-lost alien race as another alternative to capital punishment) draws life from one person to heal another, Marcus gives up his life to save Ivanova.
The legal and ethical ramifications of this episode could fill a book. The ultimate criminal punishment - death - has evolved somewhat from brutal stonings, crucifixions and hangings to more 'humane' methods such as lethal injection and gas. The two alternatives depicted in this episode show where these developments could lead, and that regardless of the 'improved' techniques capital punishment will always remain problematic.
A solid episode with three storylines
Tweekums13 September 2018
This episode features three separate storylines. In one we learn that Dr Franklin is running an unofficial free clinic in Down Below; when he notices patient numbers are falling he discovers that a woman is using alien technology to treat people. At first he is suspicious but later learns more about the machine. In the second story line a killer has been convicted and is due to have his personality deleted; before that is done he must me telepathically scanned by Talia Winters; an experience she finds most unpleasant. In the third storyline Ambassador Mollari offers to introduce Lennier to the 'real' Babylon 5 with interesting consequences.
This might seem like a filler episode featuring three little stories but it is rather fun and gives us a further insight into several characters. It also has subtle political messages about capital punishment and the provision of healthcare for the less well off; these details aren't overstated though. The first two stories are more serious and provide the moral questions and some good drama. The third, involving Mollari and Lennier, balances that nicely with some more light-hearted moments as Lennier is first taken to a bar, complete with exotic dancers, and then to a casino where his knowledge of probability is put to good use. During these scenes we learn so interesting details about Minbari intolerance to alcohol and Centauri anatomy! Bill Mumy and Peter Jurasik are great in their roles. Overall a good episode that provides drama and comedy.
This might seem like a filler episode featuring three little stories but it is rather fun and gives us a further insight into several characters. It also has subtle political messages about capital punishment and the provision of healthcare for the less well off; these details aren't overstated though. The first two stories are more serious and provide the moral questions and some good drama. The third, involving Mollari and Lennier, balances that nicely with some more light-hearted moments as Lennier is first taken to a bar, complete with exotic dancers, and then to a casino where his knowledge of probability is put to good use. During these scenes we learn so interesting details about Minbari intolerance to alcohol and Centauri anatomy! Bill Mumy and Peter Jurasik are great in their roles. Overall a good episode that provides drama and comedy.
You think these are just for decoration?!
XweAponX23 May 2021
There are several really great things about this episode. For one, Billy Mumy's "mother" from lost in space, June Lockhart, shows up as a alleged "quack" which Dr. Franklin initially tries to humiliate and persecute. Because she is "taking patients away from his illegal underground medical clinic in brown sector". But she is not what she appears to be, and her humble part in this story becomes the centerpiece of some important Babylon 5 plot points in later episodes.
We also have Mark Rolston, who has been a fixture on Star Trek and in Aliens (as Vasquez' sidekick with the motorized machine gun who gets dissolved into microscopic chunks with dead alien acidblood). He is cast sometimes as a good guy, and sometimes as a bad guy and he is very good at portraying both. In the Trek Universe he has played a character somewhat similar to that which he plays here, ie, a murderer who is scheduled to be brainwiped. In the seventh season ST Next Generation episode "Eye of the beholder", he torments counselor Troi through "telepathic genetic residue"- several years after his death. Here, he torments TalÃa Winters almost the very same way, but in real time. In fact there is a very good connection between Mark Rolston's character and Talia, and this could only be shown, not spoken about. It had to be seen in Talia's mind's eye, and it is not remotely close to a routine Teep scan: she was right to have ambivalence about performing this function...
The Rolston-story and June Lockhart's story head to an inevitable and unavoidable collision, and the tables get turned neatly and irrevocably. Meanwhile...
In one of the last appearances of pre-shadowized and Mister Mordenized and "still laughing" Londo, he brings Lennier on a field trip to the sleaziest bars, strip clubs, and poker palaces that the station has to offer. Mollari unfortunately succeeds in getting Lennier to open up about his life as one of the religious caste, which had the same amount of excitement as looking at a plate of tripe for Londo- until Lennier happens to mention that he is an expert at statistics and probabilities. This is when the fun starts. But then of course, Lennier being Lennier, he doesn't have a concept of how his advantage can actually be used as an advantage, therefore causing Londo to reveal something extremely unique about Centauri Anatomy: and this is where we have to refer back to the episode "the parliament of dreams", where the Centauri are celebrating all of the gods that they worship and Mollari makes a comment about one particular God that has a superfluity of certain appendages.
We also get to see Lennier's kickboxing skills, Jean Luc Picar... er, I mean Van Damme would have been proud of him.
Ironically Billy Mumy's character never interacts directly with "Maureen Robinson"... but that is because of the separation of the A and B storylines of this episode. Actually there is an A, A 1/2, and a B storyline in this episode, as the June Lockhart thread directly connects to the Mark Rolston thread. Which gives Dr. Franklin an opportunity to make an incredible discovery which is left in his capable hands, a discovery which will become important in the first episode of season two, and also in one of the last episodes of season four.
This is the last lighthearted episode of B5 we get for a while, and it was properly placed in season one, right before the "Chrysalis" episode. One of the attractions of Babylon 5 was how characters came and went with the storytelling, never affecting the entire story but slightly changing the tone of the show. Season one had a lot of humor and Londo was always at the center of it.
We also have Mark Rolston, who has been a fixture on Star Trek and in Aliens (as Vasquez' sidekick with the motorized machine gun who gets dissolved into microscopic chunks with dead alien acidblood). He is cast sometimes as a good guy, and sometimes as a bad guy and he is very good at portraying both. In the Trek Universe he has played a character somewhat similar to that which he plays here, ie, a murderer who is scheduled to be brainwiped. In the seventh season ST Next Generation episode "Eye of the beholder", he torments counselor Troi through "telepathic genetic residue"- several years after his death. Here, he torments TalÃa Winters almost the very same way, but in real time. In fact there is a very good connection between Mark Rolston's character and Talia, and this could only be shown, not spoken about. It had to be seen in Talia's mind's eye, and it is not remotely close to a routine Teep scan: she was right to have ambivalence about performing this function...
The Rolston-story and June Lockhart's story head to an inevitable and unavoidable collision, and the tables get turned neatly and irrevocably. Meanwhile...
In one of the last appearances of pre-shadowized and Mister Mordenized and "still laughing" Londo, he brings Lennier on a field trip to the sleaziest bars, strip clubs, and poker palaces that the station has to offer. Mollari unfortunately succeeds in getting Lennier to open up about his life as one of the religious caste, which had the same amount of excitement as looking at a plate of tripe for Londo- until Lennier happens to mention that he is an expert at statistics and probabilities. This is when the fun starts. But then of course, Lennier being Lennier, he doesn't have a concept of how his advantage can actually be used as an advantage, therefore causing Londo to reveal something extremely unique about Centauri Anatomy: and this is where we have to refer back to the episode "the parliament of dreams", where the Centauri are celebrating all of the gods that they worship and Mollari makes a comment about one particular God that has a superfluity of certain appendages.
We also get to see Lennier's kickboxing skills, Jean Luc Picar... er, I mean Van Damme would have been proud of him.
Ironically Billy Mumy's character never interacts directly with "Maureen Robinson"... but that is because of the separation of the A and B storylines of this episode. Actually there is an A, A 1/2, and a B storyline in this episode, as the June Lockhart thread directly connects to the Mark Rolston thread. Which gives Dr. Franklin an opportunity to make an incredible discovery which is left in his capable hands, a discovery which will become important in the first episode of season two, and also in one of the last episodes of season four.
This is the last lighthearted episode of B5 we get for a while, and it was properly placed in season one, right before the "Chrysalis" episode. One of the attractions of Babylon 5 was how characters came and went with the storytelling, never affecting the entire story but slightly changing the tone of the show. Season one had a lot of humor and Londo was always at the center of it.
Babylon 5--The Quality of Mercy
Scarecrow-889 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
If it hadn't been for The Quality of Mercy starring the welcome presence of Lost in Space's June Lockhart, I would have probably already forgotten about this episode of Babylon 5. It is so inconsequential and unspectacular. June stars as a doc who lost her license and is looking to redeem herself through the use of an alien healing machine in the poverty-row section of Babylon 5, the Downbelow. Dr. Franklin gets wind of her healing a lot of the patients he gives free clinic to and wants to see if she's a quack or legit. He really wants to know if she's on the downlow in the Downbelow. The machine is actually a healer and June's Dr. Laura Rosen has learned a great deal about how it works but is dying from a disease called Lakes and only has a short amount of time left. Laura has a daughter named Janice (Kate McNeil; Monkey Shines & The House on Sorority Row) who advocates for her mother with Franklin so won over he asks her out to dinner and agrees to let Dr. Laura continue healing without interference. The subplot has a psychopath named Karl Mueller (Mark Rolston) being sentenced for the murder of three people on the B5 station, convicted and sentenced to be brainwiped. Psi Cop telepath, Talia, must temporarily enter his mind and sees that Karl has killed a lot more than three people, offering for her to join his "symphony" of victims. Karl is being taken to the brainwipe when he frees himself, heading for Downbelow after Garibaldi shot him in the arm. Karl will hold hostage Laura Rosen threatening to kill Janice if she doesn't heal his arm wound. Franklin figures it out but by the time he gets there, Karl has the two of them under his controlÂ…that is until Laura realizes she can use the machine to remove the disease plaguing her body and give it to the Karl! It was kind of neat knowing two members of the cast of Lost in Space were part of the same episode even if they don't share any scenes together. It was nice to see B5 give Billy Mumy's severely underwritten Minbauri character, Lennier, a little showcase, "taken under the wing" of Londo who is encouraged by his superior to make better relations with other species on the station. Londo introduces a stunned Lennier (showing more than a bit of discomfort) to an "alien stripper club" and a poker table to hopefully utilize Minbauri probability mathematics to gain a bit of an advantage (good relations means possible good profits). The poker game also reveals an "appendage" Londo would like to use to sneak a peek at the other players' cards! Once Lennier learns of the identity of this appendage, he plans to take an oath of silence on the matter. Sinclair factors very little in the episode, only at the very end. In fact, most of the principles (besides Franklin, Lennier, and Londo, with Talia and Garibaldi popping up in the killer subplot periodically) have very little to do in the episode. This whole episode just feels like downtime for writers on the show, making an anti-death penalty statement when Karl is convicted and sentenced as Garibaldi seems on his own in his belief that the scumbag should be put out of everyone's misery.
definitely not a Filler
wolfnet200016 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
another thing that comes from this episode is the bit about Londo and Lennier where Lennier takes the blame for the incident for which they were involved. it would become a key point to Sheridans own situation in 'There All the Honor Lies' concerning how 'Minbari don't lie' but through Londo learns they would to help another save face as Lennier did for Londo.
Between that and the Healing machine reappearing towards the end of season 4 definitely eliminated from being skip-able.
also we get to learn a little more about Centauri biology which again gets mentioned in later episodes, such as when Vir finds he has a 'wife' and he reveals to Ivonova that 'centauri males have 6'
Between that and the Healing machine reappearing towards the end of season 4 definitely eliminated from being skip-able.
also we get to learn a little more about Centauri biology which again gets mentioned in later episodes, such as when Vir finds he has a 'wife' and he reveals to Ivonova that 'centauri males have 6'
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