Been a little iffy about this series; first couple of episodes were interesting, regulars attractive but hallucinatory alter egos seem a bit much, more a quirky plot device than organic element, introduced by writers desperate to stand out.
This episode not only integrated all of the show's elements, it did so in a moral context that has dogged Western Humanism since it was invented by that ancient rabbi: the impulse towards personal gain even at the expense of your peers and the impulse to value those peers as you value yourself.
The story centers around packages of sarin sent to carefully selected victims and then expands like roses petals into broader and broader blossoms until that central issue blooms and becomes the point of the episode, all without becoming preachy or maudlin or heavy-handed, as each petal emerges just as organically as that of a rose.
Will this one episode turns out to be a single pearl or the precursor of riches? That's a question whose answer I'll be looking forward to discovering.
P.S. Yes, there are elements of Humanism in Buddhism and Zoroastrianism and, yes, that rabbi may have been directly influenced by Persia's religion but his emphasis on the individual as the arbiter of morality based on our commonality and the value of our separate existences defined Western Humanism as a very different creature. We should value one another, not because some authority (God, Caesar) orders us to, but because we are, in a non-collective sense, one another.
This episode not only integrated all of the show's elements, it did so in a moral context that has dogged Western Humanism since it was invented by that ancient rabbi: the impulse towards personal gain even at the expense of your peers and the impulse to value those peers as you value yourself.
The story centers around packages of sarin sent to carefully selected victims and then expands like roses petals into broader and broader blossoms until that central issue blooms and becomes the point of the episode, all without becoming preachy or maudlin or heavy-handed, as each petal emerges just as organically as that of a rose.
Will this one episode turns out to be a single pearl or the precursor of riches? That's a question whose answer I'll be looking forward to discovering.
P.S. Yes, there are elements of Humanism in Buddhism and Zoroastrianism and, yes, that rabbi may have been directly influenced by Persia's religion but his emphasis on the individual as the arbiter of morality based on our commonality and the value of our separate existences defined Western Humanism as a very different creature. We should value one another, not because some authority (God, Caesar) orders us to, but because we are, in a non-collective sense, one another.
