"Banks of the Lethe" - Episode #108 (slight spoilers below) (Click here for synopsis)

This is one episode that is definitely not easy to review as you will see below.

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On one hand, as I watched it I really enjoyed it as an exciting story with an original and intriguing premise!

Sending a message, especially an interactive one, back in time was a great idea, and gave the opportunity for a story that fills in some of Dylan's backstory nicely. Also, I thought the actress portraying Sara (Sam Jenkins Sorbo!) did a good job and made the role both touching and credible.

The Perseid scientists gave some credibility to the unexplained 'linking' of Rommie to the singularity. Also, discussing teleportation in terms of the very real theories of quantum entanglement was a nice realistic touch.

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On the other hand, I winced a lot during the hour and when I went back over it I found much to question.

Yes the plot was original, but how believable was it? Even the story acknowledged that sending messages in and out of a black hole is impossible, making it hard to 'suspend disbelief' for such a major plot premise.

While the part of Sara was well done, Dylan's reactions failed at times to be believable, which may reflect difficulty by Kevin Sorbo in showing depth of emotion on screen. Dylan seems uncertain, first saying "Sara is my Commonwealth", but later forsaking her with little regret since the Commonwealth is, "more important".

Also, it is hard to see how Dylan (or Harper) fails to face the fact that teleportation via "tearing you apart particle by particle" seems like just a high tech form of suicide!

Toward the end the simultaneous battles are both hard to believe and hard to follow. The Perseid race joining the Commonwealth is in line with the series premise, but hard to swallow given that the current "Commonwealth" is only one poorly manned ship! Perhaps the implication is that the Perseid's will be the founding member of a new Commonwealth, but this is not clear at all.

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I considered this to be an episode that was enjoyable to watch and had some good ideas if you do not look too closely, so I have given it a good overall rating. However, I hope that somewhat poor attention to detail and believability does not characterize future episodes.

The rating for the episode is given below. For information on how my rating system works, click on this link.

Reviewed 11/28/00 by Larry Kramer       Updated 10/11/01

© 2000 Larry Kramer (See Copyright Disclaimer)