TV: Babylon 5, S4 Disc 3

Episode 9:  Atonement

Presaging future SF serials, B5's seasons lag in the middle. Atonement rolls out one of the series' stock plots: the Minbari establishment is upset at Delenn (in this instance, for taking John as a lover) and calls her away to answer for it.  So yet another not-sure-if-I'll-be-back parting, yet another Lennier-belongs-at-her-side, and yet another no-Minbari-has-ever-done-this speech.  No Minbari has ever removed the Shadows from the universe, either, but that gets her no slack.

She and Lennier are summarily thrown into the Dreaming, which generates traumatic flashbacks of that first contact disaster with the Earthers.  While these events are well-covered ground, it does serve as our first meeting with the previous leader of the Minbari, Dukhat. He's played by Reiner Schone who absolutely nails Dukhat's reputed charisma and presence.  It's the best bit-part-of-alien-leader performance since Turhan Bey, and possibly better.

The lengthy flashbacks are meant only to reveal something awful: that Delenn, mad with grief and cradling Dukhat's body, declared jihad on the humans.   At this point in the series, it feels more like a "oh, that's bad," revelation than a "OMG! How could you?!" event.

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Pros: Schone.
Cons: A lengthy answer of a question no one was asking; worse, there's no mention of the imminent Minbari civil war, which would've justified this story in the long view.

Then: B
Now: C

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Episode 10: Racing Mars

Franklin and Marcus are headed for contact with the resistance on Mars, with a cover as honeymooners!  They run afoul of a Kept resistance middleman, introducing the concept for the present day and the note that they (supposedly) cannot be removed permanently.

Belatedly, Sheridan takes aim at Garibaldi, publicly upbraiding him about his recent ISN interview, making use of sparkling dialogue like: "it's just a cheap excuse for crummy behavior."   Painful stuff, stupidly staged (the point is about Garibaldi giving them bad publicity; so let's help that situation through a shouting match in a crowded Zocalo...) all for the hamhanded story-advancement reason of introducing three observing goons from Mars who have a new interest in Garibaldi, PI.
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Pros: This one's so bad, "Woo hoo?" is the only credit.
Cons: Worst artificial falling-out between cast members ever.

Then: B
Now: D

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Episode 11: Lines of Communication

Mars has become center stage now.  Franklin and Marcus work to solidify an alliance with the Mars resistance to Clark.  Whenever Franklin gets a subplot, he also gains a new love interest; this time she's the head of the Mars resistance.

The B plot introduces the plot thread of the Minbari civil war.  Strangely, the thousand-year close ranks between the castes has become unraveled in the space of a year, with each "looking after their own interests,*" which allows the Drakh, aforementioned Darkh servants of the Shadows a toehold near Minbari space.  Delenn takes a flight of White Stars out to deal them a harsh blow; it's sufficient to completely change their makeup in later appearances.**


The C gives Ivanova something to do, since even Franklin is out of medlab and doing Action Hero stuff on Mars. She'll be the new anchorman for the resistance, countering the increasingly lame ISN propaganda.

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* The beleaguered worker caste folk needed strong allies to keep the Warriors off their lawn; logically the first place to go is to creepy Nazgul-voiced aliens never seen before?  What about those ranger fellows?

** The still can't do justice to how they moved; sort of a constant pop-and-lock with a blur fx overlay. The eventual fight is one of the worst space battles of B5; contrivance-full and the Drakh shift from scary to cannon fodder during an ad break!

Pros: Cool ship designs for the Drakh, anyhow.
Cons: Awful battle indicative of no planning on a series that always had a solid long-range focus.

Then: B+
Now: C
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Episode 12: Conflicts of Interest

Continuing his terribly contrived falling-out with Sheridan, Garibaldi's one step from being run off of B5 on a rail.  Fortunately, his goony new friends are waiting to employ him as muscle (narrating every step of the way) for... Lise Hampton!*  They've smuggled in a pathogen that kills telepaths, which draws the wrong sort of attention.    When Garibaldi helps them out of a tight spot,  they reward him with a full time job as errand boy for mega-rich Martian industrialist William Edgars.  Funny how important Mars has become...

Our B plot continues Ivanova's role as Tokyo Rose, including a very rare Epsilon 3 visit, and even some padding humor from Zathras (but not that Zathras..) to acquire some extra broadcast power.

In the C, we continue the Drakh thread; and we learn the Centauri know of them -- centuries-old boogeymen.   Sheridan manages to get Londo and G'Kar not only into one room, but into agreement in condemnation of the Drakh; and to allow the Rangers to patrol their borders.
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* Garibaldi is called upon to use his intimate knowledge of B5 security; including his back-up identicard -- which is cleverly hidden under his own name.   As for Lise, back in season one she was going to marry "Franz" and have a child?  Well, now she's married to someone else -- the richest man on Mars to be exact -- because Franz had an affair, divorced her, and legally shanghaied the daughter she had been expecting on her last appearance.   It may be all this was planned from the start of the series, but in rapid-fire it sure felt like quick, pointless digging out of a hole. Why not just let Garibaldi say "Franz... Ferdinand? The richest man on Mars, that's who you married?!

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Pros: Londo and G'Kar together again.
Cons: Loads of padding just to get Garibaldi a new status quo.

Then: B
Now: C