Most of my reactions to this episode are pretty much the same as most of the others who have posted here; it's not really that great an example of Babylon 5, but it does have some interesting concepts floating around it and an excellent character moment. Indeed, it is a testament to the show that Garibaldi would confront Sinclair about his seeming death wish so early in its run. Until that moment I just accepted Sinclair's heroics because he was the lead in the show and that sort of thing is what leads do, but this conversation hinted at something much more complex than that, and also signifies a difference in the way the commander would be treated.

I felt that the idea of a device that eliminates based on ideological differences was actually pretty interesting, but it was basically shoehorned into your standard "Frankenstein monster" plot (complete with a catchphrase). While Franklin does barely link it into some of the larger story arcs that are to come, too much of his time is spent on the relatively dull issue of Hendricks taking shortcuts.

J.M.S. says that this was his first script of the series proper, and I can't help but feel that the better elements of the story would have been more effectively exploited later on. The reporter, for example, serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, she's just a subplot for the sake of a subplot.

I did enjoy Christopher Franke's score much more than I did for his work on "Born To the Purple" (which was otherwise a much superior episode).