Episode no. Season 5
Episode 13 Written by J. Michael Straczynski Original air date 15 April 1998 | Directed by Stephen Furst Production code 514 | |
"The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" is an episode from the fifth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. Unlike other episodes, it follows the actions of the Psi Corps from the Corps' internal view.
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Meaning / Background
The title is reference to the Psi Corps slogan. The Psi Corps was created to segregate telepathic humans from the rest of humanity (Largely out of normal human's fear of the telepaths, but arguably it also was done to protect the telepaths from mob violence).
Telepathic children are removed from their families as soon as their abilities manifest, often at a young age. (The families are often depicted as not wanting their telepathic children—as a result, the children are socially "orphans" in a sense). The Psi Corps acts as the teacher, protector, provider, and family for the telepaths. They are taught that the Psi Corps is the only organization they can trust—arguably quite true considering the fear normal humans have of their abilities.
So the slogan sums up the Psi Corps being the telepath's surrogate family. And the slogan implies the level of loyalty and devotion the telepaths are expected to have for Psi Corps,
Synopsis
Bester pursues a murderous telepath, using the pursuit to train two rookie Psi Cops in the finer points of their new jobs.