1-21 The Quality of MercyI suppose it was inevitable that there would be a little drop in quality after the former outstanding instalments, but I am a bit disappointed with
The Quality of Mercy. My main gripe is with Chekhov's gun, in this case the alien healing device. Generally B5 avoids such cop-outs, but after this episode it is hanging in all its glory on the wall, waiting to be used, and it will unfortunately. It really serves no other purpose.
The episode does raise a few interesting questions about the criminal justice system and the death penalty. By this time capital punishment seems to have been abolished ("A life taken will not balance the loss of another life.") but really, the death of personality, i.e. a mind wipe, is effectively just another kind of death. And while the new personality in the body may live to serve society, it does in no way redeem the original criminal. One can even make the argument that the new person is entirely innocent, so why should he have to become a second-class citizen? Sometimes there are things to be said for old-fashioned justice, as put forward by Garibaldi. This question will be addressed in the future episode
Passing Through Gethsemane.
Personally, on an abstract moral level, I suppose I don't approve of the death penalty, but when I look at real life I cannot mourn or regret for some of people that have been executed, and I don't just mean people like the Nazis convicted at Nuremberg. The fictional example in this episode, the psychopath serial killer, surely deserved what he got.
I'll give
The Quality of Mercy a grade of
6- on my 10-graded scale.
1-22 Chrysalis"Nothing's the same anymore" are the words spoken by Sinclair after this season finale, and how true that is. And the changes will also be permanent, in the B5 universe there are no re-set buttons, and that's what so appealing about this show. Things really change and actions have consequences.
To the unsuspecting audience the assassination of the Earth President was almost as shocking as it was to the characters. In most other shows the heroes would’ve thwarted the attempt at the last moment. But not here, Garibaldi gets shot in the back (he didn't listen to his old boxing friend in
TKO) by one of his own before he could sound the alert.
But this is not all, much happens at the same time. They are indeed at a crossroads and after this episode many will take the wrong path, especially Londo. With the help of Mr. Morden and his mysterious Shadows a Narn outpost gets destroyed and the Centauri ambassador, while initially shocked, starts to descend the slippery slope.
The device Delenn has been building turns her into a chrysalis. Her transformation will be revealed at the beginning of next season. Interestingly enough, she defers to Kosh before going ahead, and he reveals himself to her. We don’t get to see him, but we do hear what sounds like flapping wings. The Vorlons seems like patrons of the Minbari.
One thing I didn't like about
Chrysalis was the scene when Clark is sworn in as the new President. It was deliberately staged to resemble Johnson being sworn in after the assassination of JFK. That implies the truth of the silly notion that JFK was the victim of a conspiracy and that somehow LBJ was involved (like Clark is here). Please! Keep Oliver Stone away from this.
But I'll still give
Chrysalis a grade of
9+ on my 10-graded scale.
Overview of season one - Signs and PortentsSumming up my grades, I get an average of 5,43 which would be
5+. That more or less confirms what I have thought previously. It was a rather average season, with a lot of average episodes and a few clunkers. But it also had a few really good ones when the big arc really kick into gear.
But it does start rather slow, and there are too many stand-alones. But I suppose that was inevitable since JMS had to sell this to a studio that wasn't accustomed to heavily arc-based story-telling. He had to be a bit sneaky. Also, he had to lure in the viewers and getting newbies lost this early on wouldn't do much good. Still, I was one that was won over late in the season when I noticed that this was something special.
Even now, I think that B5 holds up very well. So what if the CGI is a bit primitive by today’s standards. They were ground-braking, especially for televised science fiction, back then and I think it’s part of it's charm. And while CGI plays a big part, it's by far not the most important aspect of B5. That is the story and the characters, and that will always set it apart from anything else. B5 is and will remain a classic. It is a grand epic and this season was just the first chapter, the introduction of the long saga.
