Passing Through Gethsemane
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| "Passing Through Gethsemane" (Babylon 5) | |
| Season 3, Episode 4 | |
| Air Date (US): | 27 November 1995 |
| Production No.: | 305 |
| Written by: | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Directed by: | Adam Nimoy |
| Guest Stars: | Brad Dourif (Brother Edward) Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander) Louis Turrenne (Brother Theo) |
| Prev: "A Day in the Strife" | Next: "Voices of Authority" |
Passing Through Gethsemane is an episode from the third season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5.
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Plot synopsis
A Vorlon transport docks at Babylon 5 with Ambassador Kosh and the human telepath Lyta Alexander aboard. The senior staff of Babylon 5 is, to say the least, curious about what Lyta's seen on the Vorlon homeworld, where no human has ever been. But she is silent on that point. When she's examined by Dr. Franklin in MedLab, however, she is given an even cleaner bill of health that she had before; even remnants of childhood injuries are gone.
One of the brothers of the Dominican order on the station, Brother Edward, receives a small package with a black rose while he's conducting a business transaction for his Order. It remains a mystery to him, along with some writing apparently in blood. Brother Edward starts to hear voices and have flashbacks of a woman's murder. He raises his concern that he may be going insane to Babylon 5's security chief Michael Garibaldi and the head of his order Brother Theo.
Brother Theo petitions Captain Sheridan to use Babylon 5's resources to find out what Brother Edward's tormented by before he does. But Brother Edward finds out first that he was the Black Rose Killer, a Jack the Ripper-like murderer on an Earth colony. Several women died before he was caught nine years ago and sentenced to "death of personality", the 23rd century response to the death penalty that obliterates a criminal's mind and restructures it (akin to Alfred Bester's novel The Demolished Man) so, minus his criminal tendencies and his memory of his previous life, he performs constructive rather than destructive acts for the rest of his life.
However, several families of the Black Rose Killer's victims have come to Babylon 5 seeking revenge, and they've hired a Centauri telepath to reawaken memories of Brother Edward's past life. Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Brother Theo arrive just in time to find Brother Edward beaten and hanging from construction beams shaped like a cross. Edward is grateful to die for his crimes now that he remembers them and also because he wanted to know if he would have the courage to face his persecutors the way Jesus did in Gethsemane. One of the revenge killers is apprehended and is welcomed into the Order by Brother Theo as Brother Malcolm. Theo is willing to forgive him for what he's done and challenges Sheridan that forgiveness is not the most difficult thing to do.
The episode ends with Lyta and Kosh (with his environmental suit open) exchanging essences -- or is she sending him hers?
Arc significance
Production details
The title is derived from the garden of Gethsemane in which Jesus waited and prayed before he was arrested and crucified.
Trivia
Given that one of the major Babylon 5 Influences is The Lord of the Rings, it is probably worth noting that Brad Dourif, who plays Brother Edward/The Black Rose Killer, later appeared as Gríma (Wormtongue) in Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).
External link
- Lurker's Guide Episode Page (http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/048.html)