Episode 17: The Face of the Enemy
Surprisingly, Sheridan's taken halfway through the episode. Since betrayal was Garibaldi's last test, Edgars reveals his master-stroke: after rehashing his paranoid fear of telepaths comments from last week, he tells Garibaldi about the virus.** Goon #1 Wade steps in and delivers a few words about evolution, but it's just bland recitation; the actor clearly has no idea (nor cares) what any of this SF gobbledygook means.
Garibaldi reaches into his mouth, pulls out an artificial tooth -- not loaded with poison gas, sadly -- but instead a transmitter. He meets his puppetmaster: Alfred Bester, who at long length fills in every single detail in answering that longstanding question of G'Kar's. It's faintly absurd that Garibaldi's path from Security Chief to Edgars' new goon was all luck, but that's what Bester insists. His usefulness now over, Bester releases Garibaldi's memory and his free will, leaving the man less of a wreck than a better actor would suggest. He recovers to a world where he is hailed as the hero who betrayed Sheridan, Edgars is dead, and the virus is missing.
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* Sending out the Agamemnon with a loyalist crew to lure John Sheridan into custody is the kind of thing a smart adversary might do. Belatedly, this tactic is attempted, which leads to the last real battle of the war..
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** In a nicely played moment of heavyhandedly written self-realization, Edgars chokes on his words when he finishes a sentence with "the telepath problem..."
Pros: A step up for the non-fx visuals: Garibaldi's release from control; Sheridan's takedown scene borders on outstanding direction...
Cons: ...of a music video.
Then: B
Now: C
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Episode 18: Intersections in Real Time
Yay, it's time for another interrogation! No villain is ever interested in killing the commander of B5; they only want to subvert. This time there is no cybernet, no Jack the Ripper. Just Sheridan in a room being browbeaten by the banality of evil in the bureaucratic mold. Banality wins the first pass, quickly duping a starved Sheridan into wolfing down poisoned corned beef.
The gambit works well into the second session; and Sheridan is so weak from stomach distress he accepts a cup of water with even less suspicion. So Banality springs the trap, openly demanding Sheridan sign the lengthy confession prepared for him. Sheridan refuses: tie score at halftime.
In act three a Drazi (Wayne Alexander, drink!) is thrown into the mix. The Drazi confesses to subverting Sheridan to the Vast Alien Conspiracy. Boxleitner summons up all the hurt and outrage he can muster to try and convince the Drazi to resist; it's a scene that he's never had a chance to play before and he makes the most of it.* And so Rossiter brings in a wet detail of six men to take the Drazi out behind the chemical sheds. When they leave, the lights dim, suggesting Milgram's experiment. Tie after three.
Act four begins the real bargaining phase: go on tour as a spokesman for Clark. Just sign the paper. Sheridan thinks of Delenn, and the rest is easy. Advantage: Starkiller.
In Act five, Banality plays Good Cop, giving him one last chance to say no; he's wheeled out on a gurney as a priest reads Sheridan the last rites. He's then placed in another chair in another room, and Banality II takes over, reading the same preamble...
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* If you've seen both, it's impossible to watch this and not think of Chain of Command, the TNG episode with a similar subplot of the captain's interrogation. Except there it was Patrick Stewart versus David Warner as written by Ron Moore, and the comparison is lopsided...
Pros: The third try at an interrogation episode is the best.
Cons: With so much of the season's big stories compressed into small space, this episode could've been put to better use.
Then: B
--
Episode 18: Intersections in Real Time
The gambit works well into the second session; and Sheridan is so weak from stomach distress he accepts a cup of water with even less suspicion. So Banality springs the trap, openly demanding Sheridan sign the lengthy confession prepared for him. Sheridan refuses: tie score at halftime.
In act three a Drazi (Wayne Alexander, drink!) is thrown into the mix. The Drazi confesses to subverting Sheridan to the Vast Alien Conspiracy. Boxleitner summons up all the hurt and outrage he can muster to try and convince the Drazi to resist; it's a scene that he's never had a chance to play before and he makes the most of it.* And so Rossiter brings in a wet detail of six men to take the Drazi out behind the chemical sheds. When they leave, the lights dim, suggesting Milgram's experiment. Tie after three.
Act four begins the real bargaining phase: go on tour as a spokesman for Clark. Just sign the paper. Sheridan thinks of Delenn, and the rest is easy. Advantage: Starkiller.
In Act five, Banality plays Good Cop, giving him one last chance to say no; he's wheeled out on a gurney as a priest reads Sheridan the last rites. He's then placed in another chair in another room, and Banality II takes over, reading the same preamble...
--
* If you've seen both, it's impossible to watch this and not think of Chain of Command, the TNG episode with a similar subplot of the captain's interrogation. Except there it was Patrick Stewart versus David Warner as written by Ron Moore, and the comparison is lopsided...
Pros: The third try at an interrogation episode is the best.
Cons: With so much of the season's big stories compressed into small space, this episode could've been put to better use.
Then: B
Now: C
--
Episode 19: Between the Darkness and the Light
Now the props come out. Sheridan remains interrogated by Banality II, and with the help of strong drugs he takes the appearance of Franklin casually chit-chatting over coffee.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi's made contact with the Marsies, who don't believe his I-was-brainwashed-by-the-Psi-Corps excuse and beat him awhile. Franklin gives him a chance to talk his way out over the laborious protestations of Number One. In comically rapid push-the-reset-button fashion, Garibaldi has cleared his name and has led a successful rescue of Sheridan within the act.
Away, Ivanova has opted to lead the White Stars into battle against Clark's elite task force: Omega Destroyers mixed with Shadow ships. The result is ugly (the Leonov studded with random black prongs) but only marginally more effective against the White Stars than normal Omegas. Ivanova tries her luck with the dramatic speech full of righteous anger, but it's so dreadful* that even with a 3-1 advantage she's mortally wounded.
Taken back to the fleet and trussed up in mid-20th century medical headgear, she has a brief reunion with the rescued Sheridan. Susan fibs about the enemy numbers to make her one outing as battle commander less of a botch, and John lets her.** Delenn is surprisingly callous, all but wrenching him away from his dying friend!
Stoically Russian to the end, Susan absolves him of any guilt for her demise and bids he continue on to Mars.
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* It's easily her worst dialogue in three seasons, Glibness aside, a rule in screenwriting insists that Good Guys only lose battles through their own stupidity, never by simply being overmatched.
** She does get a good line disparaging the Minbari for their dishonesty...
Pros: Someone realized the White Star's inherent advantages against Omegas...
Cons: Garibaldi's status reset, a large glossing over of Sheridan's rescue, and of course Ivanova's awful speech.
Then: B+
--
Episode 19: Between the Darkness and the Light
Now the props come out. Sheridan remains interrogated by Banality II, and with the help of strong drugs he takes the appearance of Franklin casually chit-chatting over coffee.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi's made contact with the Marsies, who don't believe his I-was-brainwashed-by-the-Psi-Corps excuse and beat him awhile. Franklin gives him a chance to talk his way out over the laborious protestations of Number One. In comically rapid push-the-reset-button fashion, Garibaldi has cleared his name and has led a successful rescue of Sheridan within the act.
Away, Ivanova has opted to lead the White Stars into battle against Clark's elite task force: Omega Destroyers mixed with Shadow ships. The result is ugly (the Leonov studded with random black prongs) but only marginally more effective against the White Stars than normal Omegas. Ivanova tries her luck with the dramatic speech full of righteous anger, but it's so dreadful* that even with a 3-1 advantage she's mortally wounded. 
Stoically Russian to the end, Susan absolves him of any guilt for her demise and bids he continue on to Mars.
--
* It's easily her worst dialogue in three seasons, Glibness aside, a rule in screenwriting insists that Good Guys only lose battles through their own stupidity, never by simply being overmatched.
** She does get a good line disparaging the Minbari for their dishonesty...
Pros: Someone realized the White Star's inherent advantages against Omegas...
Cons: Garibaldi's status reset, a large glossing over of Sheridan's rescue, and of course Ivanova's awful speech.
Then: B+
Now: B-
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Episode 20: Endgame
Clumsy-callous, Delenn insists on moving Ivanova back to B5, where in her dying coma, she will be "safer" than in the midst of a massive battle-fleet. She must have known that Marcus would become suspicious from one of Lennier's chance comments, scour the station, find the Alien Healing Machine from season one and die saving her.* Further, she tells only Sheridan about this, and his interstellar comms are jammed by the EA: not one ship from this fleet can be spared to move outside the jamming and send a message to B5. That would be silly!
Borrowing a page from the Centauri's conquest of Narn, Sheridan does intend to take Mars, but quickly and then move on Earth. The Mars forces are staggeringly effective, managing to smuggle the Shadow-modified teeps onto the entire Earth fleet of 36 remaining Omega-class ships. This fulfills one of John's wishes, that the loyalists are quickly and bloodlessly put to defeat. Belatedly, one of #1's extras is allowed to express moral outrage at using people as weapons. It's nice to see Franklin hoist on his own moral superiority, but him confronting Sheridan would have been more valuable to see than having the spoiler preserved.**
Arriving in Earth orbit, Sheridan delivers a speech imploring the folks on the ground to act now that there's much less risk involved. Immediately, Senator Yale rallies a less-than-impressive mob (two of whom are armed!) for a march to President Clark's office. Alas, he's taken the Hitler route, leaving behind the planetary defense to begin leveling the planet***...in ten minutes. Gosh, is there enough time for a massive, unopposed battle-fleet to stop the unmanned satellites?
In theory I think it's a detriment for the show to almost never put Clark on camera through all this (Tolkien homage, no doubt), but given how immensely stupid the man is at every turn, having to watch him justify his actions on a regular basis would have been unbearable.
--
* Points for remembering it exists (and Carter makes the most of his last words) but this is a herculean contrivance to ensure events: all the points used to get him back on B5, and then the obvious extras that he studies Franklin's notes but goes all the way anyhow -- how about a little life energy to trade for a Real Messed Up Intensive Care Ivanova? Then he could sit at her bedside for months!
Actually, he doesn't die; he ends up only cryonically suspended. This way he can later feature in an "edgy" prose story; but for all intents and purposes he's dead here. No, nobody thinks of "hey, he just used this Alien Healing Machine to save her, why don't we use it to bring him back, since we know it can be used safely if you're not obsessive and dumb."
** It's also much cheaper to cut down on large battles...
*** Earth has orbital-based particle beams that can wipe out whole cities from orbit in seconds -- maybe the Shadows aren't so impressive...
Pros: Bringing back the choked-up pre-Clark ISN reporter for the first post-Clark broadcast, including some deft pro-Sheridan spin. If only we knew anything else about her.
Cons: Quick wraps make for unsatisfying drama.
Then: B+
Now: C
--
Episode 20: Endgame
Clumsy-callous, Delenn insists on moving Ivanova back to B5, where in her dying coma, she will be "safer" than in the midst of a massive battle-fleet. She must have known that Marcus would become suspicious from one of Lennier's chance comments, scour the station, find the Alien Healing Machine from season one and die saving her.* Further, she tells only Sheridan about this, and his interstellar comms are jammed by the EA: not one ship from this fleet can be spared to move outside the jamming and send a message to B5. That would be silly!
Borrowing a page from the Centauri's conquest of Narn, Sheridan does intend to take Mars, but quickly and then move on Earth. The Mars forces are staggeringly effective, managing to smuggle the Shadow-modified teeps onto the entire Earth fleet of 36 remaining Omega-class ships. This fulfills one of John's wishes, that the loyalists are quickly and bloodlessly put to defeat. Belatedly, one of #1's extras is allowed to express moral outrage at using people as weapons. It's nice to see Franklin hoist on his own moral superiority, but him confronting Sheridan would have been more valuable to see than having the spoiler preserved.**
In theory I think it's a detriment for the show to almost never put Clark on camera through all this (Tolkien homage, no doubt), but given how immensely stupid the man is at every turn, having to watch him justify his actions on a regular basis would have been unbearable.
--
* Points for remembering it exists (and Carter makes the most of his last words) but this is a herculean contrivance to ensure events: all the points used to get him back on B5, and then the obvious extras that he studies Franklin's notes but goes all the way anyhow -- how about a little life energy to trade for a Real Messed Up Intensive Care Ivanova? Then he could sit at her bedside for months!
Actually, he doesn't die; he ends up only cryonically suspended. This way he can later feature in an "edgy" prose story; but for all intents and purposes he's dead here. No, nobody thinks of "hey, he just used this Alien Healing Machine to save her, why don't we use it to bring him back, since we know it can be used safely if you're not obsessive and dumb."
** It's also much cheaper to cut down on large battles...
*** Earth has orbital-based particle beams that can wipe out whole cities from orbit in seconds -- maybe the Shadows aren't so impressive...
Pros: Bringing back the choked-up pre-Clark ISN reporter for the first post-Clark broadcast, including some deft pro-Sheridan spin. If only we knew anything else about her.
Cons: Quick wraps make for unsatisfying drama.
Then: B+
Now: C
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