Babylon 5 3x4 Reaction

You MUST/NEED to watch Voyager! I'm quite surprised that you haven't. It's probably my favourite ST series.

Amanda Williams

I just ran across Exorcist 3 last night and there's Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer (inhabiting the body of Damian Karras). I forgot he was in that movie but DAMN what a performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prBXxurcSqc

Plays a Betazoid who is a originally part of the Maquis crew who kills a fellow Voyager crew member. Tuvok mind melds with him to attempt to understand his motives and almost goes mad, but in the process the mind meld basically changes/ stabilizes him. Basically is on house arrest then until Season 2/3 2 parter he helps save the ship after being presumed dead, but dies in the process. Very sociopath type character as well.

Nathan Cline

Never watched Voyager.

Mega Reacts

Another note: In a perfect world, JMS would not have recapped the death of personality since it was covered in Season 1's The Quality of Mercy. He knew fans would remember so the story would ultimately be satisfying and the solution would not be as obvious as it was to you. Unfortunately, the suits were always concerned with new or casual viewers being able to enjoy the show and so connecting threads were constantly repeated via flashback sequences and additional bits of exposition throughout the series. Joe knew the fans pretty much remember everything but at the same time he did agree that accommodations had to be made for the less fanatical viewers and so the show was very often dumbed down for their sakes.

I remember watching this and saying, "Oh, it's so nice to see Brad Dourif playing against type as a nice guy and not some sleazy weirdo, murdere.... oh, well shit. In a perfect world, JMS would have liked to had Edward appear in earlier episodes with Brother Theo so the reveal would have more punch. Of course, the casting of an academy award nominee and cult favorite to merely hang around would've invited speculation as to why he was there. Dramatically, this is a great episode, which allows us to further explore the pitfalls of the ridiculous "death of personality" sentencing, which fails on so many moral, ethical and now spiritual levels. It's one of the few breaks you'll get this season.

I wouldn't call this episode "weak". It was slow-paced, but a lot of the slow-paced B5 episodes have some amazing acting. Including this one. I also like the artistic choices, like the lighting in the scene where Theo and Edward talked before Edward was attacked.

Benno Witter

I know you are a Star Trek fan. was a little surprised you made no mention of his Star Trek Voyager role. Maquis Crewman Lon Suter. (Murderer) and later hero)

Nathan Cline

I love this episode. Probably because it makes me think about my own beliefs. And Sheridan is a stronger person than me because I don't think I would have been able to shake that person's hand at the end of the episode. I'd be too filled with anger still.

kat

This is perhaps my favorite episodes of B5, at least as far as stand-alone episodes go. It is predictable, and you caught everything earlier than I did when I watched it. But it's meant to be. You know where it is going, but not how it is going there. The moral questions it raises about forgiveness are good ones, and in many ways this episode really expands on the idea of Death of Personality brought up in season 1. The twist at the end is a hell of a twist, too, and raises the question of "What is forgiveness". The acting was great as well on all sides, but Brad really brought his A-game.

Awww, I’m really bummed you didn’t enjoy it! This is actually one of my fave episodes, partly because of Brad Dourif, who never disappoints, but also because it tackles some of the ethical issues mentioned previously. I don’t think the ep ever tries to hide the direction it’s going in - the title gives quite a bit of the game away, as does Edward’s speech to Delenn - but the symmetry of Edward dying for the sins of Charles (atoning for someone else’s sins) draws that parallel to the Gethsemane speech very neatly. BUT - and this is the bit I like most about it - is that we’re never really sure what we want out of that. If Edward isn’t Charles any longer, then he was essentially martyred, and an innocent was killed. But then that means Theo’s welcoming of Malcolm at the end shouldn’t make us recoil. (I enjoyed your instinctive recoil at his ‘crazy eyes’) But if the fact that he COULD be made to remember meant that Charles was somewhere in there - well, is it really justice in that case? Or is it just removing someone’s memories and giving them a fresh start, but the potential for a reoccurrence is there? (Presumably if it ever turns out that someone was wrongfully convicted Psi Corps could break a block and restore the original person? Is there even a risk of wrongful conviction if you have the option of a Psi Corps scan?) Interestingly, this episode was originally intended to be part of season 2, but it was delayed significantly because someone sent JMS a story idea / mentioned something awfully close to what this episode had already been planned out to be; it took this long to go through all the legal elements. If I recall correctly the person who mentioned the idea wasn’t even intending to be malicious, but as a consequence JMS will not receive / listen to / discuss any plot elements of his upcoming work, in case something similar starts. In fact, early fandom (& fan fiction) actively segregated itself in restricted areas to ensure that nothing like that happened again, especially as JMS was on usenet way back when, and there was therefore the risk of him coming across it accidentally.

Victoria

YESSSS!!!(infinity exclamation marks)!!!!!

MrTickleTrunk