"Map of the Mind"
Reviewed by Donner

Out of five stars:

An okay episode but, boy... so much unnecessary fluff!

THE GOOD

• Okay, I don't care what anyone says. Tembi Locke is the best thing to happen to Sliders since JRD left. I've seen a few mean-spirited posts saying that she can't act and that this episode was a blessing because she had very few lines. Here's a news flash for ya folks... all of that going crazy and staring off into nothing... THAT'S ACTING!!! Acting isn't just walking around and saying lines, acting is in the facial expressions... acting is in the stage presence... Acting, my friends, is a multi-layered talent and the fact that Tembi manged to be expressive without dialogue only proves that the girl is talented. (I'm willing to bet that human two-by-four Robert Floyd couldn't have done what she did in this episode.)

• Rembrandt and Maggie's little side trip into the culture of creativity-is-illegal world was nice... very reminiscent of old-school Sliders.

• Rembrandt's speech to the inmates as he went into evangelist mode was something we've never seen Remmy do and, aside from the fact that the scene was borrowing from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", it was quite funny to watch him get into it.

THE BAD

• Okay... so why was it necessary for Diana to become telekinetic and "bond" with the universal consciousness? It didn't advance the plot, it was confusing, and it was unnecessary! Someone should tell the producers that less is more!

• Okay... so why was it necessary for the doctor's daughter to be in the story? She didn't advance the plot. She only made it more confusing, and... well... she was dumb!

• Okay... so was the doctor only faking his insanity at the beginning? It seemed like bad comic relief.

• Robert Floyd in three words: Smarmy, smug, and annoying.

• Boy... Mallory just waltzes in and picks up an ID badge and everyone in the crazy house just assumes he's a doctor? Have they ever heard the term... malpractice lawsuit? How about... CHECK THE FILES AND SEE WHO THE HELL HE IS!!!

• Robert Floyd in three more words: Untalented, wooden, and dorky.

• I hereby nominate the CAT scans of the brain as the absolute worst graphics I have ever seen. Where'd the set designers get them? A children's book?

THE VERDICT

Feh... Not a terribly bad episode... but not a terribly good one either. Full of fluff and unnecessary sci-fi plot devices that did nothing to advance the plot and that... is extremely... annoying.

Personally, I suspect King PECKerhead.

Donner
If you don't like it... for God's sake, DON'T WATCH IT!!!