TV: Babylon 5, S4 Disc 4

Episode 13: Rumors, Bargains, and Lies

A little change-of-pace "A" plot, focusing on the humorous manipulation of the truculent League ambassadors to get them to allow Rangers legal authority in their sectors.   It's another classic trope from the B5 playbook, resolving at long length an unnecessary problem.  Further, Sheridan acts wildly out of character, treating the situation as a practical joke.



The B is darker, picking up Delenn's intervention in what has become the Minbari civil war.  It's most recently burned the (all-crystalline) capital city.  It's also a not-too-subtle rebuke of the misinformation and secrecy in the A plot.   To force a resolution, she meets with Neroon, the only Warrior Caste leader she can trust, or more practically, has had a name and speaking role in the past.

The Religious Caste crew of her ship is so unnerved by Neroon's arrival that they decide that instead of a brokered peace that may possibly favor the warrior caste, mass suicide of the ship is a better option. Fortunately, the Warriors are no more stable, and make a run at unseating Neroon before negotiations can continue. The Minbari ability to go to pieces at the first sign of the unexpected remains astonishing.  

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Pros: Neroon continues to be the best (only?) recurring character.
Cons: Reveals the previously high-value allies in the League worlds as a pack of easily-duped rubes.


Then: B-
Now: C

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Episode 14: Moments of Transition

Our A plot offers the conclusion of the Minbari civil war.  Neroon has double-crossed Delenn, supplying his caste with her plans and now the Warriors move to end the war as expediently as possible.  Since having an honest disagreement followed by a resolution unfavorable to one of our main characters would be complicated and mature, Shakiri throws any such notion aside. Cackling openly, he strokes his beard and  declares he'll have Delenn murdered the moment she's off-world.

Delenn takes advantage of an esoteric tactic out of Minbari history: the pre-Valen tradition of playing chicken for global leadership as all of Minbar observes.  Shamed into competing, Shakiri withdraws at the first moment of discomfort; Delenn means to go the full nine and martyr herself.  As she begins to cook, Neroon, illustrating again how minor characters get the great moments, forces her aside, loudly renounces his Caste, and takes a flaming death for everyone.

Later, Delenn reforges the Grey Council, now rebalancing its representatives with more Worker Caste.  She delivers a speech about how the Workers are the forgotten when War and Religion are in control.  An interesting point, probably the writer speaking again -- and speaking of forgotten, maybe the Workers should have taken a role in all this before now?  Any role? A single non-Zathras mention, even?

In what would surely make the top-five list of Worst B5 Segues,  Ivanova storms in on Sheridan with hot news: Clark's forces have now committed a crime so egregious the resistance can't just sit around anymore: killing 20,000 human refugees.   Clark has previously bombed civilian targets  and put down most of a revolt against him -- surely this latest 20,000 is the smallest fraction of deaths he's ordered.*   Yet this time it's the turning point: Sheridan will have no more of this! War against Earth! Now!

The B involves Lyta.  After another meeting with a potential client goes sour* because of Lyta's, um, rogue teep status. With no regular income following the Vorlons' departure and utterly forgotten by Sheridan, she is forced to cut a deal with a visiting Bester: she'll receive phony Corps status  in exchange for her body.  Bester wants her genome to study whatever it is the Vorlons did to enhance her abilities, with the agreement void should Lyta fail to die a natural death.

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* Since we never see any of the other Earth territories except Mars, which as a thriving resistance movement, why not mass-driver or germ-bomb Proxima 3 or some other place that had actually been mentioned before?

* We haven't seen the others.  I wish we hadn't seen this one, either.

Pros: Shockingly, all of the new Grey Council receive names!
Cons: Clear case of "Minbari Civil war? Check.  What's next? Earth? Check."

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Episode 15: No Surrender, No Retreat

With the war for Earth now front and center for the series, the first target is Proxima 3; presently under blockade by Clark's forces and running low on supplies.  Among the six heavy destroyers besieging Proxima, only two captains are hard-line Clarkies (One of those is Captain Beckstead, late of the OCB). Two are neutral, and one is one of John's instructors at the academy who graciously allows John time enough to state his case.

The fight seems harder on the Good Guys than it should: the White Star class* is much, much more nimble than the EA Omega-class (Leonov)  destroyers, and the latter are never shown as firing from anywhere but fore and aft (Captain Beckstead even points out the danger of "exposing their flank" to fire).   As Sheridan agonizes endlessly about killing fellow humans, it's possible they were being much more lenient in the first engagement.  At the end, the Clarkies are killed or fled, and two of the Omega ships join Sheridan.

The B plot involves the ongoing development of Londo and G'Kar's new relationship.  After a year spent becoming arguably the largest villain in the known galaxy, Londo has taken a new course to redress his mistakes.  He seems overly optimistic in attempting to mend the fences with G'Kar on short notice, and his introductory small-talk is suitably forced, but, at length, G'Kar allows a measure of reconciliation; rising from ice to bitter cold.

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* Why does the second-in-command not recognize a White Star?  Is Clark briefing only his Most Loyal with useful tactical knowledge?

Pros: Solid, if minor, B-plot.
Cons: Speech-heavy.

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Episode 16: Exercise of Vital Powers

This episode is telepath-centered in both of its stories.

In the A plot, Garibaldi returns to Mars, and meets the formerly disembodied voice of William Edgars. Zimbalist's one of those grandly old-school professional actors who can sell the worst dialogue; his opening scene is only average stuff -- mostly infodumping about the corporate view of the Clark administration, and expressing a bit of interest when Garibaldi suggests Edgars help in removing Clark could pave the way for an Edgars administration. But his crinkled brow, little shakes of his head; he's acting in a way few of the regulars can.

Garibaldi is subjected to a secondary interview while under telepathic observation.  Edgars hates telepaths, won't employ one -- yet there she is, and he has no problem with aggravating the Corps by summarily executing her when the work-for-hire is done. The two pertinent questions of the interview: "Are you still in love with my wife?" and "whatever happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"

The answers are enough to bring Garibaldi into Edgars' inner circle: vehemently anti-Corps, seeing teeps as the new superhuman fascists, the SS of Clark's government.  Speaking for Corporate Terra, they're almost ready to move on Clark, but need a little more time to perfect his anti-telepath virus with which to have a hedge against the Corps.  And so this is what's wanted of Garibaldi: betray Sheridan, give Clark a few nights of easy sleep so the military-industrial complex can lure him back to Io.

The B continues the thread of the captured Shadow teeps, which Sheridan wishes mobile on short notice.  Another chance medlab walkthrough by Lyta reveals a medical breakthrough: telepaths can help them, at least on a limited basis.  Unfortunately, that's not quite what Sheridan has in mind for the patients...*

Why hasn't this avenue of treatment been tried before?   This episode in general and this plot point in particular illustrates that teeps in B5 are just another setting element like a ship or planet; they're used when the plot demands and not really incorporated into the universe.  Edgars' pathological fear of them would seem more natural if we saw examples of telepath behavior other than obvious outliers like Lyta, Bester,  and Talia.  It's a missed opportunity that would shore up the weaknesses of the Edgars storyline.

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* The necessity of using the teeps as anti-ship weapons is unclear; earlier in this episode Sheridan notes that with a few more defections the war will be terribly one-sided.

Pros: Fills in details of the Earth civilian (albeit super-rich) perspective on current events.
Cons: Like the Minbari civil war, events move ahead faster than dramatically necessary.


Then: B
Now: B