ear Death
ear Death
Nick investigates the death of a young doctor when Natalie is unable to determine the cause. Intrigued by the doctor's experiments in near death experiences, Nick secretly agrees to "go under" in an attempt to reconcile his own past. But the experiment goes awry and Natalie must find a way to bring Nick back form his altered state of consciousness.
The plot of this episode reminded me of those old science fiction movies where a scientist makes some really neat breakthrough, causes some damage, and, at the end, people shake their heads and cry out "he tampered in God's domain". One of the scientists even fit into the evil scientist role fairly well -- the one who, when Schanke asked if they ever experimented on humans, noted "unfortunately, that would be considered unethical".
In fact, even the way the characters spoke was the same hokey style. Over and over, different people relate that they were "in a place where life and death were merged". Even Janette used that identical description of the place she was at when LaCroix brought her over. The scenes just looked like a well-lit desert to me. With the exception of the glowing door, there wasn't anything to remind me of life *or* death.
The claim that these near-death experiences in some way renew the body, killing off diseases, was a nice twist to add. And Natalie did a good job of playing the "rational scientist", arguing that this mystical limbo wonderland is just a load of nonsense.
And Julie Stewart did a brilliant job of playing Dr. Linsman, the main supporter of this research into altered states of consciousness. She's the typical protagonist: pretty and intelligent, but fanatical enough about her research to kill in order to protect it, but still remorseful enough that she confesses the murder to Nick (ok, so the confession is done while he's unconscious... still...).
Of course, the part of this episode that will have an effect on future episodes occurs entirely within this strange land between life and death, where Nick tries to convince the robed figure (Death?) to let him die as a mortal. The robed figure forces Nick to confront the evil that he's done, and to realize that redemption isn't something he can just ask for -- it has to be earned. Nick finally realizes that he needs to atone more for his sins just before he's brought back to the world of the living. This could cause a change in the way he acts; rather than seeking instant solutions that would make him mortal again (and just doing good deeds as a secondary act), the emphasis should be reversed now. Only time will tell.
Episode rating (0 to 10): 8
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