Story: Passing Through Gethsemane
Written By: J. Michael Straczynski
Season: 3
Lyta returns to the station yet again, this time working with the Vorlons and Ambassador Kosh, being sort of stationed on Babylon 5 from now on, though she will come and go a lot (most likely to explain several episodes of absence, much like Talia had). She is now the only human to ever go to the Vorlon homeworld, but she gives no info about what she’s seen. She does seem healthier than she has ever been. And from their she just helps out slightly in the advance of the major plot of the episode, and the episode ends with a weird scene in which she and Kosh share some energy beam and she has gills. It is weird, but I’m sure that will get explored further down the road.
The main story involves one of Brother Theo’s monks, Brother Edward, seeing strange memroies that couldn’t be his but seem so vivid. It seems that in this future the death penalty has been replaced with a mind wipe. You commit murder, instead of killing the person, they just kill the personality, wiping everything away and creating a new, nicer personality that will serve the community as penance for their heinous crimes.
It turns out Brother Edward was once Charlie Dexter, a serial killer known a the Black Rose Killer...and his mind wipe has put him on the path of being a monk. This was an excellent episode that worked great because of the performance from guest star Brad Dourif, who really knows how to come into a sci-fi show and play a kinda scary killer (see “Meld”). In fact what’s really great about his performance here is how likable he is throughout. Brother Edward is not a killer at all, he is in fact a very kind and gentle man, who seems wise and interesting...yet is haunted by this evil former self.
A highly recommended episode, that shows what this series can do even when it’s doesn’t focus on the ongoing stories, which is where it usually shines.
NEXT TIME: The First Ones
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