TV: Babylon 5, S3 Disc 4

Episode 13: A Late Delivery from Avalon

This one is fairly tongue-in-cheek.  Another true seeker, played by another famed genre/character actor (Michael York) arrives on another Arthurian quest.  Actually,  he's suffering from PTSD and thinks he's King Arthur. This gets him into trouble with security, though G'Kar and Marcus, particularly -- happening by on one of his friendship-building talks with Franklin -- take a liking to him and is inclined to take Arthur at face value, in light of last year's encounter with Sebastian.



The true cause of his PTSD stems from his EA service on the Prometheus, the ship who carried out the disastrous first contact with Minbari, provoking the war.  Only by reconciling with his "Lady in the Lake," Delenn* is he healed.  Thereafter, somewhat in improved control of his faculties, he's shipped off to a near-certain death in the ruins of Narn, where his spirit "will help the survivors."

It's been a long time since Garibaldi had a B-plot to himself.  This episode might illustrate why.  His birthday food supplies have come in, but the station post office won't release them without a usurious fee.  The Chief of security spends fully ten percent of the episode coming to the obvious solution.


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* The reconciliation is teased but not fully seen.  And as for the Prometheus, we will see the events of the first contact from the Minbari POV later in the series.

Pros: G'Kar hamming it up like a renne fairee, and a light directorial touch for material that could've gone way too far over the top.

Cons: Garibaldi's subplot, the unavoidable feeling this was an inventory story that had to be used now or never.

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Episode 14: Ship of Tears

Bester returns in the A plot, this time one where putting him on the sleepers won't help.*   He's learned of the Shadows' part in the Clark regime, and forms an alliance with Sheridan to intercept a weapon shipment that is revealed as a transport of hibernating telepaths from the Corps.   When the first one out of the box just so happens to be Bester's mistress, now uncontrollably psychotic from cybernetic implants forced on her by the Shadows, which alllow her take control of electronics in her immediate vicinity.** In exchange for Franklin's attempts to cure her, Bester makes his alliance ongoing.


In the B, it's all New Alliance business. ISN is back on the air, after "months."  Its first broadcast leads with the official story that the attack seen in Severed Dreams was the work of anti-Earth saboteurs.    Yes, it took months for Clark to come up with this lame idea to insult the intelligence of every viewer on Earth and "two thousand" colonies.  Worst. Despot. Ever.***

Before G'Kar can finally, officially join, Delenn has to sit him down to admit how much, and more importantly, how long, she's known of the Shadows.

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*  And surprisingly, his talent is necessary.  It also establishes the Shadows' aversion to teeps.

** In a nice irony (or leaden foreshadowing), Bester despises the notion of teeps being sent to the front lines on military ships, and that's exactly what the Shadows are doing with them,

*** If the Shadows are manipulating Clark, the no-prize explanation is that inciting violence with stupid excuses fit their goals...

Pros: G'Kar finally gets in on the IA, turns the page on his villain-of-the-week status forever.

Cons: Ridiculous practical effects for the weaponized teep.

Then: B
Now: B

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Episode 15: Interludes and Examinations

Ten days have passed since the Shadows went public, and Morden's snuck aboard to bring our most rebellious Centauri ambassador to heel.   When sternly worded warnings fail to bring Londo back into the fold, Morden returns to Bester's logic from last week -- The enemy of my enemy is my friend -- and has someone on the Shadow team poison a dancing girl who is also returning to B5 after two years away.   The frame, naturally, works flawlessly, and Londo reups his deal with Morden in exchange vengeance on Refa.*

Sheridan's trying to rally the minor alien races into his alliance, but they will not openly resist the Shadows unless he proves he stands  a chance against them.  Forgetting last episode's discovery of the teep vulnerability,  he childishly browbeats Kosh (over perfectly good objections from old Kosh, if Sheridan were listening) into making a show of force.  While a battle is won (coincidentally timed with a nonaligned-worlds tour of the B5 war room), the direct conflict violates very old rules between the two races, and in reprisal Kosh is slain by Morden's guards.

With all this going on, it may surprise that the A plot is Franklin finally hitting the wall on his stim** use. First comes the irrational decisions, then another hamfisted Garibaldi intervention.  Chastened, he takes an indefinite leave of absence to get his head together.
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*Which he could have done without Morden,  if his assurances of poisoners back home were true.  Further, aside from Londo being a central character, there's no reason for the Shadows to be so dependent upon him, particularly as a Centauri contact.  If they found one Refa, they could find another...

** The stims have a 20th-century side effects.  Odd!

Pros: First One vs. First One eye candy.
Cons:  Lots of character decisions that betray the heavy hand of the writer.

Then: B+
Now: C

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Episode 16:  War Without End (1)

Finally, the other side of Babylon Squared.  Ambassador/First Ranger Jeffrey David Sinclair returns to B5 after reading a thousand-year-old note.  His arrival coincides with another temporal rift in sector 14, this one accompanied by a distress signal from future-Ivanova as (apparently) B5 is being overrun.

Garibaldi leaves on an hours-long trip to investigate the rift.  En route, his fighter's long-range sensors determine that the rift is being fed from.. Epsilon 3.  You know, that planet adjacent to the station?   Good sensors, B5!  Luckily, down on E3,  Zathras is in charge, explaining that Draal is busy controlling the great machine and can't be distracted. While Zathras is the usual mixed, leaking bag that is B5 humor, at least we're free of Shuck's ham.

Everyone else packs onto the White Star and also heads for the rift in sector 14.  A lengthy infodump* ensues, detailing the links between their present activities, B4, and the thousand-year-old war with the Shadows. Sheridan requires much more convincing than one would reasonably expect at this point, and between this scene and the many Babylon Squared flashbacks (pertinent scenes are repeated nearly in their entirety) it starts to feel as if maybe War Without End could've fit in one episode.

Arriving six years in the past, they first must destroy the Shadow ships sent to "sabotage" B4 as they had the previous three.**  During this operation, Sheridan's plot device is damaged, causing him to be unstuck in time -- disappearing,  rather than simple flashback/flashforewards as seen previously. This allows Sinclair to take command of one last mission, certain of his path for the first time in his life.***

Sheridan finds himself in the future, at the feet of Emperor Londo Mollari, who promises him an imminent death for the fall of Centauri Prime at the hands of the Shadows' servants.


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* Delenn specifically mentions the Minbari cannot control "a time field this unstable," suggesting that they can, in fact, control time fields.  

** Nitpick: Was it really necessary to have 3 stations sabotaged and destroyed? Was it just because "Babylon 5" is a cool sounding series title?  Why did the Shadows wait until B4 was complete before making a run at it?  Did 3 previous attacks increase security around the construction (apparently not)?  I'd love to see the ISN report when B3 was sabotaged "Yup, they did it again.."   How did the EA ever get funding approval for the latter 4 stations, particularly 4 and 5?

In the ongoing series of "things I'd do differently," I'd make the title station B3, with B1 destroyed and B2 stolen.

*** O'Hare is quite relaxed and sometimes even bordering on charismatic in WWE.  A shame it took this long for him to grasp the role.

Pros: Cool spoilers that aren't really spoilers for long-term events (do you really think the good guys would lose the war?).  O'Hare finally seemingly comfortable.

Cons: Padding, oh so much padding.

Then: A-
Now: B