Episode Review: Luck of the Draw
Season 1
Airdate: 5/17/95
Rating: 4/5
Episode Details
Airdate: May 17, 1995
Network: FOX
Director: Les Landau
Writer: Jon Povill
Notable Guest Stars: Nicholas Lea, Jason Gray-Stanford (uncredited)
Nielsen Ratings: Viewers: 9.9 Million, Rating: 6.7, Share: 11, Rank: 70
Worlds: Population Control World, Evergreen World
Memorable Quotes:
Quinn: “It’s barbaric.”
Arturo: “On the contrary, my boy– in some ways it’s more human than our society.”
Quinn: “Professor, they kill people to limit the population.”
Arturo: “In our world, millions of people die every year through war, famine, disease, caused in part by the fact that we refuse to accept limits on our population. Here, they kill volunteers– painlessly, and generously reward their beneficiaries. Now… you may abhor their methods– as indeed do I– but as a man of science, you cannot dismiss the result.”
“My dead relatives were a pain in the butt! I don’t care to deal with any of them!” – Rembrandt Brown
Leave it up to Sliders to take such a serious situation and turn some of it into comedy to lighten the mood. The Sliders discover a world where the lottery is a form of population control. As the Sliders land on lottery world, Wade befriends a newfound dog, “Henry”. I’ll just start out and say that we don’t see the dog after this episode. It’s a minor flaw that some find as a large nitpick. Although we don’t see the mutt after this episode we do see him jumping through the wormhole and it’s pretty humorous to see.
After they buy some fresh fruit, the Sliders try their hand at playing the lottery. They learn the more you play the more chances you have to win. Oddly enough the “playing” involves an ATM machine dishing the player out any amount of money they want. The Sliders act as if this earth is a Utopia like place. It’s the little things in this episode that I feel add so much. For instance a billboard declares “Drink BC Cola. Birth Control In a Can!” Transit systems are the city’s public cars, and they’re free for you to use. To top it off Professor Arturo unknowingly dropped his wallet and a young gentlemen actually returned it! Hard to believe in our society. Wouldn’t we all love such a place?
There’s no poverty or racial strife, you could go on and on. When the Sliders get their Lottery ATM money, they unknowingly are entered into a death lottery. The higher money you take the greater chances you’re taken away and euthanized. I tend to believe the majority of people today would take their chances on this. Whether it be poverty or a night on the town I see that our own world could accept this. Who knows maybe they eventually will. It’s something I wouldn’t take a part of. It’s essentially an extravagant form of Russian Roulette and you get the perks of literally anything you want before they snuff you out.
The Professor takes money after explaining there is no such thing as something for nothing. That always rings true. That scene also has been edited concerning the dog. Quinn says at least he’s not biting you, but he originally said at least he’s not humping you. I’m uncertain whether the banter of them walking off screen was intended either. John Rhys-Davies says to the dog “get out of my damn way!” and Cleavant goes into a hilarious spiel after, as the on lookers say “You got to admire those high rollers. May they rest in peace.”
Arturo and Rembrandt go off to fish while Wade and Quinn go horseback riding. They temporarily discuss “the issue” between them, if you know what I’m talking about. This is one of those rare occurrences where they discuss a possible relationship. Actor Jerry O’Connell knew that the writers didn’t want any “hanky panky” going on between the Sliders too. Fine by me. There’s probably too much to handle from one world to the next for a relationship anyway, besides… this isn’t a soap opera. Having a bit of tension between the two is fine by me. But this is scifi, black satire and drama. I don’t see it turning into a romantic escapade. But then again everything turned into movie ripoffs so what am I saying.
After Rembrandt’s fine fixings at dinner, Wade learns she has won the lottery. Limousine rides, necklaces, rings, cars, dresses and more are all free for Wade. No dealer can turn her down, anything she wants she gets– at no charge… well not really. Quinn feels it’s all too good to be true, and he’s right. He learns that the lottery Wade won is a death sentence– a form of population control, and there’s no way of backing out. It just goes to show you that material possessions are only temporary. They can only satisfy for a certain amount of time. There’s no comparison to true family, love and friendship.
One thing that startles me is that Arturo never seemed to be pessimistic of the lottery like Quinn was. Given Arturo’s “non involvement with the locals” I expected more of him. Soon after Quinn discovers the actual “winnings”, he lets the rest of the Sliders know. At the lottery ball dance Wade takes another lottery winner named Ryan as her date, and he also goes along with them to the next world. Ryan is played by Nicholas Lea who is know for his guest appearances on The X-Files. While Wade has a ball, Rembrandt gets into a huge amount of trouble with his escort. He wants her to go with him to another world.
This is an interesting episode that explores a different yet deadly form of population control. On quite an interesting note this episode won the Turner Prize for the Environmental Media Awards. They’re known for awarding the best TV episode or film for the best “environmental message”. Crazy huh? On a final nitpick I have to say that Wade’s whaling scream at the end of the episode is atrocious for an actress. I guess you wonder why she’s screaming. Well, one slider won’t make it to the next world with a bullet to the shoulder. All in all, the first season finale delivers an exciting and dramatic ending to the season.