
Jacobs, naturally, has run afoul of the B5 underworld, leaving Sheridan and Garibaldi in a sticky position of rescuing and then extracting Jacobs from the station without the newly-arrived mob of Earthforce Intel agents becoming aware.
During this, Kosh decides to follow up on his telepathic drive-by on Sheridan. He requests a meeting, but then clams up when Sheridan proves too unruly; only Starkiller's indignant use of Morden's question: What do you want? Forces Kosh out enough to reluctantly accept Sheridan as an apprentice for the work ahead...
--
* Another person who never gets a name, and frankly if I'm throwing in with a conspiracy, I might want better identification from my contacts.
Pros: Minor insight into Kosh, Vorlons.
Cons: Very slight episode with a tiny B plot. Also, searching on foot for one guy on a 5-mile-long station.
Then: B+
Now: C
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Episode 14: There all Honor Lies
Sheridan draws the A story when he in self-defense kills a Minbari (Warrior Caste) who randomly assaults him. Delenn, naturally, is aghast, and warns the Minbari government might want to charge Sheridan with murder (given all the lingering bitterness from the Black Star, one can only imagine how many murders...). Garibaldi, though, smells a frame, particularly as the one witness is a lying Minbari.
Complicating issues is the arrival of an EA defense attorney (played by former Na'Toth actress Julie Caitlin Brown) who bumps the jeopardy level: Sheridan not only will stand trial, but no matter the outcome he'll be replaced as commander of B5!* Spoiler: It all works out.

The case takes a back seat when Kosh arrives for Sheridan's first lesson in comparative philosophy. It's only a couple of minutes, but it's the only scene in this episode I remembered -- take that as you will...

Ivanova's wacky B-plot: managing the newly christened B5 Gift Shop! It could generate as much as 2 million credits a year! But then Londo finds out...
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* This time around it occurred to me that Earthgov's unusual decision to encourage a Sheridan trial and thus provide an opportunity for removing him from command might be payback for his less-than-subtle hindrance of the Dr. Jacobs hunt in the previous episode. As this is never confirmed, I suspect I am seeing unintended depth.
Pros: Good callback to Quality of Mercy, and the best use of JMS's gregorian monk fetish.
Cons: A largely forgettable Peter David-written episode, with dialogue that feels like JMS took a pass or two at polishing.
Then: C+
Now: C
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Episode 15: And Now For A Word...
MASH did it. Later, B5 would do it again: The documentary show-within-the-show. Here, Interstellar News sets their in-depth investigative series "36 Hours" aboard B5, told entirely from the POV of their cameras. ISN filters their footage through both the slightly-sensationalized media view, and that of an isolationist, Clark-administration Earthgov.
As the ISN crew arrives, they witness a Narn ship destroy a Centauri transport (alleged to contain WMDs!) and the episode more or less follows up on this event, dropping in further background on the ongoing war, and allowing new viewers to catch up with the series in general -- including, sadly, another in-show reference to the "250,000 humans and aliens" aboard. ISN interviews all the series' principals with leading and push questions, saving the worst treatment for Delenn, who gets to have her human-appearance anxiety buttons pressed yet again.

Further, we hear bad tidings from back home, such as Clark's Orwellian "Ministry of Public Morale" programs which has pushed him to unprecedented approval ratings! Balancing this, Ivanova's C&C lackey, present for nearly a full season, finally receives a name!
--
Pros: Some very nice CGI for a minor episode, and G'Kar finally gets an origin story.
Cons: Exposition heavy, much is a catch-up for new viewers.
Then: B
Now: B
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Episode 16: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
After a few delays the arc moves ahead, as Garibaldi just-so-happens to see Morden on a crew manifest of the Icarus, the ship Anna Sheridan was on. Mr. Sheridan gets a tad unhinged, bringing the man in for interrogation. Morden plays dumb as to the fate of the Icarus: PTSD amnesia. John isn't buying, and when the gloves start to come off, Morden comes right back with a pleasant, certainty-tinged threat to remove Sheridan from command.
In the B plot, the happily Orwellian Ministry of Peace comes a-calling, enlisting normal, everyday folks to receive fifty credits a week just for wearing a black armband and keeping an eye out for disruptive acts, words, ideas... thoughts. Because some people just don't know any better, and need to be helped; and normal everyday folks help those in need, right? As the command staff has already signed on with Hague's anti-Clark side (might it be a good idea for one of them to see what the other side is up to?) it falls to Zack Allen to join the Night Watch.
After ten hours of Sheridan fruitlessly yelling at Morden, Garibaldi's had enough: either charge the guy, release him so Garibaldi can watch him until he does something he can be charged with. Sheridan chooses neither, and Garbaldi resigns. Next comes Vir* who demands Morden's release while conferring Centauri diplomatic immunity for their benefactor. This wrinkle surprises Sheridan, but he's too far in the moment to be looking at the big picture just yet.
His course unalterable, John enlists Talia to scan Morden; given the dicey legality, she refuses but later "accidentally" scans him when Sheridan coincides her trip down the corridor with Morden's cell transfer. She catches a glimpse of the ethereal shadows which follows Morden everywhere, but the shock sends her to medlab -- keep in mind how powerful she's supposed to be now.
Kosh and Delenn join the Free Morden team. They have a different motive, though. Perhaps it's the hours of stressful interrogation talking, but Sheridan has no patience to listen*to Delenn's very pertinent tale of "beings billions of years older than both our races," and their ancient home on the Rim of known space where strange things have been happening since the moment he stepped onto B5. It's an uncanny moment of utter stupidity. Yet more idiotically, when Delenn speaks of "the last" of the ancient First Races --who aided the younger ones in the last war with the Shadows -- with Kosh standing beside her, Sheridan genuinely has no idea who she's speaking of.
Tired of his stubborn refusal to accept the clue they're offering, Kosh shows John (technologically? telepathically? Does it matter?) the Icarus landing on Z'ha'dum and waking the Shadows from their thousand-year hibernation. Still. John remains a pragmatist: now we can hold him forever! But Delenn counters with a question perfect for the B5 edition of Scruples: Do you tip off the ancient, powerful enemy that you know what they're up to, or do you fore go vengeance for your slain wife -- not that John can continue accepting that she is in fact dead.
The scope of the conflict settling on him, John relates his conundrum to Zack Allen, likening the decision to the audience-recognizable Earth History example of Churchill, Enigma, and Coventry. Just as Zack is on record has being happy such decisions are beyond his purview, inhuman noises are heard from the monitors of Morden's cell. On a hunch, Sheridan scans the cell on a variety of wavelengths, and catches a fleeting glimpse of the Shadows.
And so he makes his choice. In return, he demands Kosh teach him how to fight the Shadows, and vows to go to Z'ha'dum. Where he will die, Kosh warns. But not alone. That will do.
--
* At the time Sheridan seemed spectacularly obtuse given the many events of the season involving the Rim, and the Centauri War, and G'Kar's warning, and now his wife has made it all personal. Perhaps it's that obsession with Anna that's made him so dumb, but his response seems too angry...
Pros: Finally brings the Shadows front and center.
Cons: Lame, coincidence-based entree into all that
Then: A-
Now: B+
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