TV: Babylon 5, S4 Disc 2

Episode 5: The Long Night

It's the long night before the big day.  At B5, the Sheridan-rallied Largest Fleet Ever gathers.  On Narn, Londo's desperate conspiracy is forced to act sooner than they'd like to avoid a Vorlon annihilation of the Shadow-tainted Centauri Prime.

He'll choke on exposition, like this!

This episode exemplifies B5's tell-don't-show credo.    The first two acts are plodding heavy with telling the story-in-progress; anyone tuning in for the first time will not be lost, but may find their intelligence insulted as characters who presumably already know what's going on tell one another what's about to happen.   "Previously on B5" clips would have been perfectly respectable instead.

 Londo's receipt of poison for Cartagia is especially awful; all this planning and he evidently has no idea what the toxin is or how quickly it works.  Worse, the scene is capped with some hilarious mugging by he and Vir; all their careful secrecy of the last four episodes forgotten as they shout treasonous plot points back and forth.

The conspiracy to murder Cartagia comes down to this: G'Kar will create a distraction prior (hopefully) to his execution, during which time, none of the court loyalists will notice Londo poison him.  Subtly, G'Kar is frogmarched while in a safe-for-tv approximation of being crucified.  His acid-weakened chains are a  key part of the plot, but Cartagia calls Londo over to confide "to be on the safe side," his loyal guards replaced the chains.   This statement would ratchet the tension if Cartagia was in the least aware of Londo's plot, but he isn't -- it's just more awkward telling.

The series briefly becomes an outtake from Ming's throne room as G'Kar bursts free,  one lone figure handily occupying... six or eight guards.  Londo steals Cartagia away to "safety," which triggers the last of his Me So Crazy bits.  This scene is so clumsily determined to have a shocking twist by dint of Vir ultimately assassinating Cartagia, it ends feeling more predictable than having Londo's plan succeed.   No sooner have Londo's co-conspirators bleated their approval (most of them don't actually rate bleating scale) to the court of his motion to leave Narn, while artlessly noting the emperor leaves no clear line of succession.   And so Londo becomes Prime Minister, a move that's not suspicious at all, oh no.

...and for the tenth time, G'Kar's manhood is questioned by the newly free Narns who "really" suffered during the occupation as he once again refuses right of vengeance on the Centauri.  Poor G'Kar, forever a martyr.

Over in the B story,  as Sheridan's fleet gathers, we're told of the stakes in this war: the Shadows have employed their own planet-killing system, whose effects are narrated by Ranger White; later called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice -- which he also narrates, helpfully -- to lure the Shadows to battle with Vorlons and Sheridan's fleet.

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Pros: The end of a lot of planning.  And the end of Cartagia, too.
Cons: B5-as-radio-drama seldom more in effect than here.

Then: A-
Now: C-


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Episode 6: Into the Fire

The plots swap places; here the B is concerned with Centauri Prime. Having succeeded in his coup, Londo sets about evicting the Shadows from his homeworld before the Vorlons arrive.  Morden plays hardball, but for the first and only time Londo is one step ahead.  He executes Morden's pet Shadows first, and adds to the insult by nuking the island where the Shadow ships were hidden.   After weeks of being upstaged by Cartagia, Jurasik sinks his teeth into some vengeance long in coming.  Morden clumsily lays some groundwork for Sheridan's WWE flashforward, but it's not long before he's a severed head mounted on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price.

Ironically, all this was unnecessary, since over in the A plot..

Sheridan has drawn all the First Ones left in the galaxy to a planet of unseen, peaceful, asparagus people. The Vorlons were going destroy them, but faced with their ancient rivals, a fleet of younger races, and rogue First Ones picking off strays, a stalemate ensues as both sides attempt to win Sheridan and Delenn to their cause.

They use the old chestnut of Telepathic Projections of Cast Members as their proxies, but as with every other interrogation, our heroes are stalwart.  Three years ago, when the series had just introduced us to the Shadows, would we have thought that the war was going to be resolved by a determined "Get the hell out of our galaxy! Both of you!"  I'll admit it: I did not.

All the first ones; Order, Chaos, irritating Lorien... gone to the gray havens, beyond the rim.  Drink.

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Pros: Satisfying end of a very long plot.
Cons: Horrible scene explaining that Morden, nor Refa, had Adira killed -- as if Londo needed further justification to kill him.

Then: A-
Now: A-

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Episode 7: Epiphanies

Now that the larger war has been won, we turn our attention to Earth.  With Sheridan at the peak of his popularity and revered as a messianic figure to many alien races -- and having lost their major ally in the Shadows -- Clark's government has decided to resume moves against B5 (wouldn't even one move by them during this season been helpful to remind us of the EA situation?).  They've picked Bester to spearhead one.  Luckily, he has Garibaldi under this thumb for just such an occasion, and compels Garibaldi to resign from his office.

Bester returns to the station to barter: Sheridan makes a tech run to Z'ha'dum in order to hasten the treatment of the telepaths acquired back in Ship of Tears and Bester will share the intel he has.   This prompts the question of why is Bester the first one to broach the idea of raiding an abandoned Z'ha'dum?  The EA itself tried that years ago -- presumably it'd be easier now.  They arrive in time to see a looting force of the rarely-mentioned Dark Servants of the Shadows as they leave Z'ha'dum just before it explodes.

Thwarted, Bester has a moment alone with his hibernating girlfriend, taking the time to helpfully (and verbally; something he employs only for dramatic effect) explain all of his plans.  Indeed, he has nothing good planed for our ex-security chief.   Surprising?

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Pros: Lyta makes it through an entire episode without grating on my nerves...
Cons: Clark retaining his position as the dumbest despot ever.

Then: C+
Now: C-

Episode 8: The Illusions of Truth

For those who found season two's And Now for a Word  a heavyhanded entry in the "newsreel episode" genre, we offer you this, the idiot Clark regime's all-propaganda remake.  And so, it begins when a security team finds a suspicious load of cargo at the docks: weapons? dust? Worse. They're media.  ISN* has returned to film another expose about heroes, now that they have been outlaws for almost a year.

Sheridan, while suspicious of their motives (what with Bester just confirming B5's top place on Clark's hit list last week) takes them at face value, answering questions honestly and at length.

...and finds his words egregiously arranged to support ISN's theory that he suffers from mental illness and is being dominated by alien races. 

In the B plot, it's a new life for Michael Garibaldi, PI, interrupted by his Corps programming that reminds him (and us!) that he works for no one but them.


* Strangely, the ISN graphics' globe is centered on the western hemisphere, even though they're based in Geneva...

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Pros: A charming look at the future of journalism before Fox News.
Cons: A writer's screed on McCarthyism that depends upon the characters to act like complete morons to facilitate.

Then: B-
Now: D