TV: Babylon 5, S1 Disc 2

 Disc 2's episodes are a better indicator of the future of B5.  Now that the introductions are complete, the show can begin servicing its long-term plot threads, to varied but overall positive effect.  Our cast is better defined, allowing more flexibility.  G'Kar, in particular, gets to try on his "real" personality, stepping away (mostly) from his angry-alien slot.




Episode 5: Parliament of Dreams

Our A and B plots mirror each other more than usual.  Ladies arrive for two of our cast, and in both cases their arrivals are unsettling.   For G'Kar,  it's Na'Toth (Julie Caitlin Brown),  a replacement for Ko'Dath, following her unfortunate "airlock accident," and immediately after his receiving word he has been targeted for death by an old enemy,   You'd probably guess that a major character is not going to be murdered five episodes in, and you'd be right.  

For Sinclair, it's his sometime love interest, Catherine Sakai (Julia Nickson).  There is something very peculiar about Sinclair's scenes with Catherine; the two demonstrate real chemistry!  It's not quite His Girl Friday banter, but it's as close as we'll probably see on B5.  From O'Hare's work to date on the show, you'd never suspect this was possible.  Catherine's a planetary surveyor, and will be around for two more episodes in season 1.

To keep up with the staffing arms race, Delenn's attache has also arrived.  Lennier is a younger Minbari fresh from the monastery and quickly oversells his humble naivete.  He brings up Delenn's Gray Council status (the third person thus far to do so in seven hours of the series; at least he's a Minbari...)  and she makes it clear she has heard enough about the Gray Council already!  Please, stop!

The B plot is badly set up in an opening scene where Garibaldi over-explains his frustration with the Commander's declaration of a festival for every species on B5 to demonstrate their religious ceremonies.   First, the Centauri host a decadent feast of thanksgiving, and we learn that Centauri Prime had two sentient species evolved on it; the Centauri wiped them out centuries ago; Londo's casual attitude toward genocide lends him a slightly darker mien.

Later, Delenn and Lennier preside over a solemn rebirth feast, which is misdirected as a possible Wedding ceremony -- with the implication that Sinclair is the groom!  While the ceremony is quickly forgotten within the series, it helps to foreshadow the events of season's end.


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Pros: Good banter, some character rehab for G'Kar.
Cons: Clunky opening, pat resolution to the assassin.

Then: B
Now: B+

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Episode 6: Mind War

B5's storytelling concept goes back historically to that of the Inn At the Crossroads.  You might have noticed that by here, in episode six, one or both plots usually start with "______ arrives."   In this case, Talia's former lover,  a high-level telepath on loan to the military, now gone rogue, or at least AWOL.

Rogue teeps are brought to heel by Psi-Cops, who occupy the top of the "P" scale; P12.  And so Alfred Bester, named for the author and played by our first Trek veteran to appear, Walter Koenig.   Bester is a smug, arrogant little man, and you pretty much want to hit him immediately.   Ivanova's longtime hatred of the Corps gets the better of her; her usually brief dour quips becomes an unwieldy long, monotone string of rhetorical questions such as: "You never cease to amaze me. All the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper.  What do you do in your spare time? Juggle babies over a fire pit? Whoops. there goes another calculated risk!"   Not her best .

You usually need four Templars for this.

Jason makes contact with Talia, revealing that as the subject of experimentation, he's been gifted with one of the Corps' holy grails: stable telekinesis. Most tekes' power level is negligible, and half of them go insane.  But here, his body is evolving rapidly, the power... overwhelming.   Gifted with moral fiber beyond that of Jack of the Ripper, he destroyed the research that led to his condition and fled.   He buys enough time to finish his transformation into an energy-based lifeform, and departs the known universe.

As a parting gift, he gives Sinclair a warning about the Corps' secret goals, and Talia an evolutionary nudge...

For all of that, the B plot is of surprisingly equal importance.  Catherine surveys a dead world against the advice of G'Kar, as the Narn have a partial claim.   Once there, she encounters.. something. A ship? A creature? A pretty CGI effect, anyway, one which cripples her survey craft and puts her in mortal peril.   She's saved by Narn fighters sent by G'Kar, and by way of explanation, Katsulas hits his first gravitas-lending monologue right out of the park.   It's a great scene, and serves G'Kar better in 3 minutes than he's been by the previous  8 hours of footage.


Pros: Good development of the Corps but particularly of G'Kar.
Cons: Bester's interesting but kind of half-baked at this point; he is served better in later appearances.

Then: A-
Now: A-

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Episode 7: The War Prayer

The run of good episodes ends here.  For the third week in a row, a main character's former lover has arrived on B5.  This time, it's Ivanova's ex, Malcolm,  who's both on the make for his old flame and secretly the leader of an anti-alien terrorist cell. They're behind a string of opportunistic alien assaults, but that's just a warm-up for their real goal: killing all the alien ambassadors on one night, a signal to launch an insurrection against alien influence throughout the Earth sphere.


As Malcolm's hidden agenda is uncovered, Sinclair uses Susan for a set-up.  Brusquely exiting a conversation with one of the more pitiful examples of a limited makeup buget, Sinclair throws around some ham-handed hate speech.  It's an indictment of racist wits everywhere, as such an obvious ploy is lapped up by Malcolm, who all but recruits Sinclair on the spot.

You thought Delenn's pilot makeup was bad?

The hook baited, Malcom's takedown scene is laughable.  Not only does he explain his plans at length like a Republic serial villain, we see that the station's security team assembled for this critical arrest totals five men (though eight eventually show up).  And they're not waiting nearby!  Malcolm's four goons, established early on to have prototype Earth Alliance military cloaking suits don't even bother turning them on once guns come out, and Sinclair alone wipes them all out.

Malcolm is frogmarched off the station, and for the moment the aliens get to crow about their moral superiority to the violent, racist humans...
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Pros:  Londo begins exhibiting a personality beyond everyday buffoonery.

Cons: G'Kar reverting to villain-of-the-week.  Bad Exposition award goes to Sinclair, who summarizes the events of the Gathering for Ivanova.

Then: B
Now: C-



Episode 8: And the Sky Full of Stars

This week's arrivals are two men, who, in the teaser identify Sinclair as "the target" and the ETA of his being "taken out" is "soon."  With the help of a debt-compromised security goon, they set up an electronic "cybernet" used for interrogation and abduct Sinclair.  They want to find out about the hole in the commander's mind; nice of them to help along his back-burner personal project.  When Sinclair quickly deduces a suddenly empty B5 is a virtual reality simulation, he is rewarded with the knowledge that at least the pain, well, the pain is real.  Garibaldi mounts a search for the commander, but as often happens, Sinclair gets himself out of trouble before Garibaldi can arrive.

The interrogation tactics are, well, dumb; Sinclair's captors could have simulated anything to get to their information but immediately take a thousand options right off the table to launch, well, an extended, overt q&a.   Once Sinclair knows it's all VR, how much can you gain by simulating and killing his subordinates, past and present?  This is made worse by their later decision to increase the VR power and the drugs, to upset Sinclair's reality after having thrown out the best chance for that to succeed.

After a few teases,we see Sinclair's version of events; while attempting to ram a Minbari cruiser, his fighter is powered down and he's brought before the Gray Council, recognizing one (guess who).  Lost in his intense flashback, he coldcocks the interrogators and escapes into red sector, still thinking he's in his memory hole.   Able to sense all this (no, not really; she just shows up as if by scripting magic) Delenn wanders into the standoff, and successfully talks Sinclair down.   He manages to keep the partially recovered memory a secret from his friends for now, but is more eager to learn the rest.

It seems like a warm and fuzzy end, but then another Minbari (warrior caste, silly-looking Grey Council forehead triangle decal) steps in and informs Delenn that if Sinclair ever learns the truth, he must be killed.*

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* A red herring; it's absolutely contrary to the later-revealed reasons for the Minbari surrender, and something a Grey Councilor would know.


Pros: Good flashback sequence.
Cons: The first, and least of one of JMS' favorite episode plots, the long-form interrogation.


Then: A-
Now:  B-