TV: Babylon 5, S2 Disc 2

Introductions complete, we move on.  None of the long-range stories would be complete within Season 2, which means we're in for a lot of groundwork being laid.  So while there's four stories here with roots in the series' arc, none of them are indispensable for it -- indeed, the disc can be skipped with no serious consequences for the viewer.






Episode 5: The Long Dark

Our first "monster of the week" episode of the second season involves the appearance of the Copernicus, another exploration vessel but one of considerable vintage -- from shortly before contact with the Centauri.   Its crew of two, a married couple, was in hibernation; the husband has died, apparently from his internal organs vanishing.  Quicker than you can say "Spock's brain,"  Franklin takes a protective, semi-romantic interest in the surviving woman.  Since she is a fish out of water, he walks her around the station to introduce her to mid 23rd-century life and such transparent pick-up lines like "My quarters were closer than medlab," which works even on those recently widowed under bizarre circumstances...

Her recurring nightmares are, naturally, not simply the after-effects of such an unusually long hypersleep.   Rather, a semi-tangible creature came aboard during the Copernicus' century-plus mission, a creature intelligent enough to lay in a new course for... Z'ha'dum?

Now our command staff has no reason not to believe G'Kar.  Yet they do nothing.

Pros: At least it's a monster-of-the-week that ties into the ongoing story.
Cons: Franklin will go after anything!

Then: B
Now: B.

--




Episode 6: A Spider in the Web

Last week, a major puzzle piece on the nature of the Shadow threat was dropped in the lap of our intrepid command crew.

I've never much cared for Mars.

This week, they're busy with other issues and don't even discuss it.  Instead, it's a Talia episode.  She's monitoring negotiations between an Earth businessman and a member of the Mars Provisional Government, the nogoodniks who are pressing for Martian independence.   This sort of corporate support pleases no one in Earthgov, particularly Senator Bluth, who warns Sheridan the anti-Earthgov results of an independent Mars.

Proving that the "creeping fascism back home" movement isn't monolithic (indeed, the left and right hands are not on speaking terms) a Psi-Corps black ops project runs a game on the negotiations, setting a programmed agent to kill the Corporate. Better, the agent is a famous Free Mars terrorist.  Well, it'd be a better motive if the deal he just killed was pro-Earth, which it wasn't.  In either case, he leaves Talia alive to set the whole station against him, eventually bringing him down.

In his mind, Talia sees that the puppeteer du jour is a "deceased" Psi Cop, but we're left with no tangible proof of this, and Talia remains pro-Corps enough to keep mum, anyway.

Sheridan displays the first hint of a spine versus Earthgov, encourages the talks to continue while keeping the results from nosy Senator Bluth. He also discusses his hobby for secret government projects, of which one is Bureau 13, which isn't actually named as this week's antagonist, and is in fact never mentioned again.

Pros: Like Chrysalis, this one establishes the Earthgov fascists as a viable threat.
Cons: Like Bureau 13, Sheridan's lengthy talk of black ops projects is never heard again.

Then: B+
Now: B-

--



Episode 7: Soul Mates

Two of our cast have visitors this time.  Londo's three wives ("Famine, pestilence, and death," you'll recall) and Talia's ex-husband.  Since he's risen in Centauri nobility, Londo no longer has need of three wives, and cuts off two of them, Lear fashion.  Timov is the shrew, Mariel the smoldering temptress, and Daggair, somewhere in between.   Londo tests them, eventually keeping Timov, whose loathing is at least honest.

On the same transport, fresh from looting a Centauri archeological site is Matt Stoner, Talia's weaselly ex-husband (arranged Corps marriage for breeding purposes) who lost his telepathy in a drug experiment and left the Corps.  And he offers the same for her, if she wants it.  Which she does.

Just for the record: that's two telepathic ex-lovers, both Psi Corps experimentation victims.

It's a sham, the experiments made Stoner an empath.  The Corps wants Talia back to breed more empaths. Fortunately, Psi Corps sends a taxi for him and he's never seen again.

Meanwhile, in the ongoing Merrie Comedie of Susan Ivanova, a now humanish Minbari ambassador needs fashion tips!

--

Pros:   A nice visit with a friendly, season-1 style Londo.
Cons:  Stoner's lead-weasel dialogue which ruins a perfectly oily performance.  Seriously, you want to throttle him.

Then: B-
Now: C-

--


Episode 8: A Race Through Dark Places


Bester returns to Babylon 5 while on the trail of his raison d'etre: rogue telepaths who are escaping Psi Corps.  He has detected the existence of a full-blown underground movement smuggling them off to alien worlds. While Bester attempts to start a new page with the command crew, his personality is just too much for them to overcome.*  Even Talia, who interned with Psi Cops when she was in training is repulsed, but that's also from her carrying stable TK Ironheart gave her.  It's also given her shields capable of blocking him, which would put her in the P12 range.

Byron foreshadowing. God help us.

It turns out that Franklin is running the "underground railroad."   Utilizing the upjumped Talia and the dozen or so fugitive teeps on B5, they mindscrew Bester into thinking he's killed them.  He leaves happy, they leave safely, and the railroad will bypass B5 in the future.


Our secondary plots are strictly lightweights; a comedic trifle where Sheridan and Ivanova are caught in a budgetary snag regarding the size of their quarters, and, slightly more important in the long term, Delenn arranges a dinner date with Star Killer Sheridan.


--

* Ivanova advises Sheridan to look at the files from Bester's last visit.  But Sinclair said the records were going to be erased at the end of Mind War!  Hmmm...

Pros: Increments along the background Psi Corps plots, and shows we haven't forgotten Talia's gift.
Cons: Standard issue filler plots.  A ton of teep exposition, strange in the second of two consecutive Talia episodes.

Then: B+
Now:  C-