The Quality of Mercy
Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri
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Well, this was an...unbalanced episode. Although it was not BAD as a whole, and even the A-plot, which interested me the least, turns out to be VERY important to the arc later on, the fact remains that this was an episode with three almost totally unconnected plots going on at once--and the LEAST important one was the best!
Okay, let's start with the A-plot. This involved Dr. Stephen Franklin running an illegal free clinic in Down Below out of the goodness of his heart. Ivanova finds out but does not shut him down, in fact, she decides to help out. He then discovers that his "business" is being eaten into by a "Doctor" Laura Rosen, who is using some strange alien device to heal people. He tries to get her to stop as he thinks she is just a con-artist, but after getting yelled at by her daughter, Janice, and then finding out that she really IS helping people, he changes his tune. The alien device was originally meant to kill criminals, it turns out, and take their life force and give it to the terminally sick so that they could live. But Laura Rosen learned to operate it at lower settings. She's already dying of Lake's Syndrome anyway so she doesn't care. This part is pretty boring but important 'cos (a) it mentions the alien machine for the first time, and (b) it has the first mention of a doctor getting hooked on stims...
Switch scenes--B-plot. There is this horrible serial killer dude on the station and he has been sentenced to be mind-wiped.
Talia Winters has to scan him before the wipe so that they can determine, AFTERWARDS, whether it truly worked or not by scanning him again and comparing it. But she does NOT want to. The last time she was in the mind of a serial killer it was the most horrible thing she EVER experienced. "There are...things...that live inside our minds, Mr. Garibaldi", she says. "Terrible things."
But she does it anyway, and after a really freaky scene, the killer dude breaks free and RUNS for it. Security loses, him, but operating on a hunch, Franklin finally finds him in Down Below, hooked up to Rosen's machine, using it to fix his broken arm (he broke it when he busted himself out of the handcuff-thingies) and FORCING her to give him her life's energy while holding a gun to her daughter's head.
But Rosen suddenly hits the button to REVERSE the flow. The dude experiences the HORRIBLE pain of Lake's Syndrome before he eventually dies. And she is not only still alive, but much healthier now!
And so, those two plot lines tie together at the end. Laura Rosen leaves, Janice goes on a date with Franklin (hey, why not?) and Franklin gets to keep the machine, thinking it might come in handy someday.
Oh, it will, it will....just not in a way you could have planned, dear Doctor...or wanted...
You would think that's the whole episode, but no, there's still one thing left--the only thing that truly saves it: the C-plot.
It starts off with Londo in his quarters, being bossed around by an officious Senator (over a viewscreen) who should seem rather familiar to anyone who has seen later episodes--he's played by Damian London, the same guy who plays the campy but likeable "No-Name Minister Dude", a recurring character who first (?) appears in the third season. This is not the same character however; the mannerisms and personality are totally different--the Senator is with-it, cold, in charge, and snippy, whereas "The No-Name Minister Dude" is a fluttery, perpetually nervous DITZ. (Which shows you how good the actor is, if he can play two different characters of the SAME race, hairstyle, and almost the same rank, and STILL have them be so distinct from each other..)
ANYway, where was I? Oh, yes, the Senator tells Londo that he needs to make better relations with the other races on B5, says he'll be in touch, and signs off. After making a rather crude comment and gesture in response ("Touch THIS.") Londo wanders out into the corridor and spies Lennier. He gets into a conversation with him and discovers that Lennier has nothing to do for the next couple of days before Delenn gets back, and that he has lived practically ALL his life in the Temple and therefore is extremely naive.
Seeing this as an opportunity to get some of his orders out of the way and also have a little fun, he offers to take Lennier "under his wing" and show him the Babylon 5 HE knows. BWAHAHAHAHA...
This whole subplot was delciously funny from beginning to end, even if it WAS very crude in places! The look on Lennier's face when the dancer dropped her dress...Londo trying to trick him into drinking alchohol (and then changing his mind in a BIG hurry when he found out that it turns Minbari into violent psychos!), his asking the waitress, Mertana, to "Kill me!" while Lennier was droning on and on and on about his studies of Minbari language (I, personally, kept wanting to say, "THANK you, Mr. Data!"), all of that was GREAT.
Not to mention, how about Mr. Lennier KICKING MAJOR BOOTY?! WOW! That was a REAL roundhouse kick from Bill Mumy, NOT a stunt-double! I am impressed! He may be a little guy but remind me NEVER to get Lennier mad!
Oh, and I also got a huge kick out of him imitating the way Londo said "poh-karr." Hee.
Which leads us to..."the cheating-at-poker scene".
Well....ermmm....uh....I may be a Centauri woman, but I never wanted to see HIS...attributes! Eww! Give me someone slightly better-looking, hmmn?
No, seriously, to someone who didn't KNOW what those were ahead of time, I am sure that that scene was not so much a gross-out as it was STARTLING. I mean, here you've got this race that looks so very MUCH like just Humans with funny haircuts, and then, with almost NO warning, this TENTACLE comes snaking out of the guy's clothes! It's very ALIEN, and very unexpected! But, however, _I_ knew that it was not JUST a tentacle, IF ya gets my drift, BEFORE I saw the scene so I was sitting there completely grossed out and blushing (purple, of course!) WHILE I laughed...
And on that wholesome family values note, I leave you with this great quote from Franklin and Ivanova:
FRANKLIN (in the Down Below clinic, hears Ivanova come in, assumes she is a patient, doesn't look up) You can start by taking off your clothes.
IVANOVA: Well, I'd prefer dinner and flowers first!
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