The Quality of Mercy (Babylon 5)

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“The Quality of Mercy”
Babylon 5 episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 21
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Lorraine Senna Ferrara
Guest stars June Lockhart (Dr. Laura Rosen)
Kate McNeil (Janice Rosen)
Mark Rolston (Karl Mueller)
Damian London (Centauri Senator)
Jim Norton (Ombuds Wellington)
Production no. 117
Original airdate 17 August 1994
Episode chronology
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"Babylon Squared" "Chrysalis"
List of Babylon 5 episodes

"The Quality of Mercy" is an episode from the first season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Dr. Franklin investigates an alien healing machine being used by a physician in Downbelow. A murderer is convicted and sentenced to a "death of personality."

[edit] Detail

Londo is told by one of the Centauri senators to make more efforts with other species, as their support may be useful. Shortly after this he meets Lennier, and offers to show him more details of Babylon 5.

A resident, Mueller, is found guilty of three murders and is sentenced to a mind wipe, an alternative to capital punishment in 2250s Earth which involves obliterating the condemned's existing personality and replacing it with one programmed to want to perform community service for the rest of his natural life.

Ivanova finds Dr Franklin is running an unauthorized free clinic in Down Below. She is sympathetic to Franklin's cause. However Franklin in turns hears of rumors of another clinic being run and investigates. He finds a lady, Laura, using an alien machine that allegedly cures humans (and possibly aliens, though this is never disclosed in the show). Franklin talks to her daughter, Janice, and finds her mother use to be a doctor, before she made an error due to a stims habit. She then went in search of alien medical technology to make amends and found this device.

Londo has taken Lennier to a club with exotic dancers, and narrowly avoids giving Lennier an alcoholic drink, which reacts badly with the Minbari physiology. Londo is rather bored of Lennier's talk, until he mentions he studied probability. Londo suggests they tests his skills with a game called poker.

Talia scans the prisoner and finds not one but dozens of murders he committed. She is overwhelmed by the events and has to break contact.

Lennier appears to be quite good at poker, but does not quite grasp the subtleties of the game, meaning he is only winning modest amounts rather than large amounts.

Franklin investigates further and finds the machine takes life energy from one person and gives it to the patient. He tells her the machine is gradually killing her. Laura says she is aware of this, but she has a highly painful and degenerative condition and has a few years left to live. She agrees to give Franklin the machine in the event of her death.

Back at the gaming table, it appears Londo is using some parts of his anatomy (later revealed to be one of his six tentacle penises) to switch cards, much against the rules of poker (and decency). When discovered, this causes a fight to break out.

Mueller has escaped from his captors and heads for Down Below. He is shot in the escape, and heads for Laura's clinic, where he holes up and takes Laura and Janice hostage. He forces Laura to treat him with the alien device, but instead she reverses the device to drain his life energy. She remarks to this cold-blooded killer that he is experiencing in a few agonizing seconds the condition she bore for several years. This process kills Mueller.

Laura is brought before a magistrate which clears her of any criminal charge due to acting in self defence. However, Laura feels morally unwell at having taken a life to extend her own - even if that life belonged to an irredeemable mass murderer.

Sinclair confronts Lennier and Londo, Lennier takes the blame, and both are excused because of diplomatic immunity. Lennier discovers the true nature of Londo's appendages and a little about Minbari culture: that honesty is valued, but that one may lie to save face for another.

[edit] Arc significance

  • Introduces the Alien Healing Machine, which will appear twice more over the course of the series.
  • This episode introduces an unusual quirk about male Centauri physiology, which is referenced (primarily for comedic effect) later in the series.
  • The Minbari willingness to lie to save face is an almost-unknown cultural facet whose general lack of awareness causes conflict in several episodes.
  • Laura's previous addiction to stims foreshadows Dr. Franklin's own addiction to stims in the future.

[edit] Production details

"The Quality of Mercy", a title taken from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, was originally called "The Resurrectionist."

[edit] External links