An overzealous prosecutor puts Stan on trial for treason, but was his alleged role in the deaths of billions treachery or incompetence?
(Originally aired in the United States on April 21, 2000)
Written by Lex Gigeroff and Paul Donovan
Directed by Srinivas Krishna
GUEST STARS
Nina Franoszek - Grand Prosecutor Jihana
WHAT HAPPENED
Stan searches for the Celes Pleasure Transport. He enlists 790’s help, but the robot refuses to participate in Stan's "joyless quest for sexual relief."
Stan appeals to Xev. She sympathizes with his plight and orders 790 to locate the transport.
790 reluctantly complies. . . (more spoilers)
ANALYSIS
There is a difference between treason and incompetence. Treason implies a conscious betrayal of one's principles for either personal gain or dogmatic satisfaction.
Stan, on the other hand, was guilty of little more than being inept and venal. He simply made a bad call when he used his secret mission for his own advantage.
Though he did receive tangible benefits, there was no malicious intent behind his actions.
This isn't to suggest that Stan is not accountable for the consequences of his actions. Although the sentence was ultimately suspended, Kai made it clear that Stan deserved to be punished.
Stan’s sentence is never carried out, of course. It’s a slight cop-out but it is also a natural consequence of episodic series television.
Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!
Ultimately, even the pain of flesh-eating worms would be less punishing than the weight of Stan's guilt.
He should have killed himself before allowing the information in his possession to fall into the Divine Shadow's hands -- a heroic death, while personally unsatisfying, would have been a small price to pay for the safety of nearly one hundred planets.
In the abstract, one life balanced against countless billions is a fair exchange. In the final analysis, however, this degree of selflessness is unnatural. If ours were the life in question, how many of us would have the courage to die for an abstraction, even one on a galactic scale?
It isn't a pretty thing to admit, but the survival instinct trumps self-sacrifice in most instances, at least at the 685 billion-to-one level.
Brian Downey does an effective job conveying Stan's guilt. His reactions -- mostly limited to facial expressions -- as Stan watches his past catching up with him are devastating.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Does Jihana's miscarriage of justice mean that Stan is now exonerated?
Now that Stan has made peace with his past, will his behavior in the present change?
REALITY CHECK
Even in a court as biased as the one in this episode, it is unlikely that any prosecutor would be allowed to carry out a death sentence on request.
BLOWED UP!
Lexx continues its shocking streak of not casually destroying everything it encounters, but Mantrid keeps up his end by destroying the Celes pleasure transport.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
For a rerun of "Mantrid".
What do you think? Send your comments to the critic or editor.
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