Life’s been busy. Really busy. And with so much very good genre TV on these days, it’s take a while to start getting back to the B5 Rewatch … but here we go!
With this episode, the B5 begins opening up a new front, both in terms of the story and in terms of the setting of the series. The title stays the same, but the tableau definitely grows in size. The only problem is that there’s not a lot of there there — the episode trundles along without any big reveals or even much of a story. Just like Franklin and Marcus, we travel from points A to B, with just a few moments to amuse us along the way.
A-Plot: Marcus and Franklin continue “on the Road to Mars,” though not without first making unxpected contact with Captain Jack (no, not that Captain Jack) (nor that Captain Jack), their entre to the Mars Underground. They learn that the Mars Colony knows next to nothing about B5 since the news embargo and EarthGov propaganda started, and haven’t heard anything about the Shadow War.
The Underground are not sanguine about accepting Marcus and Franklin at face value, especially with rumors of assassination squads being sent in “from the outer sectors.” Things go from bad to worse when their DNA doesn’t match up the way it’s supposed to. Things get weird when Captain Jack tries to assassinate the Underground leader, “Number One,” only to be foiled by Franklin; a shot by Marcus hits some sort of weird alien thingie that was on Jack’s back, but Jack flees.
Examining the critter (which appears to be one of the Keepers we’ve seen on Centauri Prime), Franklin determines that it might have been controlling Jack, and realizes that Jack’s been hinting at stuff in his conversation with them. They contact him by communicator, but after he explains that he was being controlled, the creature is still embedded with him and will take him over again. He suicides with a thermal grenade on the transport tube just as it starts to regrow.
Franklin ends up going on a date with Number One as they await the other Underground leaders gathering in a few days.
B-Plot: Ivanova stages a small coup to kick Sheridan out of his office and get him to take some PTO. Sheridan, at loose ends, finds that pretty much all the TV channels from home are embargoed except for that defaming interview that Garibaldi give a few eps ago (“The Illusion of Truth“). He tracks Garibaldi down and they end up in a confrontation, between Sheridan’s self-righteousness and Garibaldi’s paranoia. Sheridan sees the former Security Chief’s actions as undermining their cause, while Garibaldi sees Sheridan having abandoned the cause to build a cult of personality around himself. Sheridan storms off, to the apparent interest of three shadowy individuals.
Those three engage with Garibaldi later on, presenting themselves as others who are concerned about Sheridan as he is. Garibaldi’s no fink, but they are persuasive in convincing him that Sheridan really is a threat to the people and values Garibaldi holds dear.
Sheridan tries to reconcile later with Garibaldi, but when an alien throws herself at Sheridan’s feet, Garibaldi gets rough with her, and, in the ensuing confrontation, whallops Sheridan in the jaw. Sheridan stops Security from arresting him, but warns Garibaldi that next time he’ll fight back.
Garibaldi goes back to the folk who talked with him earlier, convinced that Sheridan has lost it — that he has to be stopped for his own good.
GARIBALDI: I think he’s lost it. He’s started to believe the things everybody’s been saying about him, bought into this hero worship thing. It’s become about him, not what we’ve been saying, not what we’ve been fighting for. If he could see straight, he’d see it to, he’d agree with me. In the end, we’ll lose everything we’ve been working for because of one man.
WADE: That’s what happens when the man begins to matter more than the cause. Are you with us?
GARIBALDI: I won’t hurt him.
WADE: We won’t. Just give him to us, when we tell you to. We’ll see to it that he gets the help that he needs. Are you with us?
GARIBALDI: [After a moment] I’m with you.
Meanwhile: Ivanova addresses the problems of supply shortages by suborning black marketeers and smugglers, using both carrots and sticks. Rather than smuggling weapons and drugs, B5 will pay to have them smuggle in machine parts, food, and other needed supplies (but no drugs, weapons, or other naughty things). In return, B5 will keep them maintained and in operating order — and overlook any past illegal activities.
IVANOVA: We’ll upgrade your data systems and supercharge your engines. If they have an accident, we’ll repair them. And your ships will have accidents sooner or later.
SMUGGLER #1: My pilots don’t have accidents.
IVANOVA: They will. I’ll see to it.
SMUGGLER #1: You wouldn’t dare.
IVANOVA: I’ve got a 200 megawatt pulse cannon on the forward cargo bay that says otherwise. Suffice it to say that the odds of you having such an accident are greatly reduced once you sign with us.
Delenn springs another courtship ritual on Sheridan, who’s just about ritualled out — until he learns it’s about discovering their sexual compatibility. He shows up at her quarters later — only to discover that this particular ritual is witnesses / chaperones. Outside the door of her bedroom, at least.
Overall: “Racing Mars” doesn’t get anywhere significant, but it travels down the story road pleasantly enough. The A-Plot starts to outline the players and parameters of the Mars Rebellion. The B-Plot more fully establishes the rift between Sheridan and Garibaldi and where things are going from here. Meanwhile, Sheridan and Delenn get closer, Ivanova gets more command experience, and life goes on. Except for Captain Jack. But the end of the episode really doesn’t show any hugely significant changes from the beginning, and the in-between is more vignettes than a story in itself. Even JMS admits this is a “furniture moving” show, simply getting from points A to B
Rowan Kaiser in the AV Club article linked to below notes that B5 was still of an era where the characters had to be heroes, and that this limits where the story can go. Though the show plays with grays and occasional moral ambiguity (esp. with G’kar and Londo), the Human and Minbari protagonists are all too often Heroes whose way forward is always to be more Heroic.
If B5 were done today, Sheridan might be visibly tempted by the adulation of the crowds, at least a bit, all in the name of leading his righteous cause. Garibaldi’s concerns would seem less crazy, or at least have some plausibility. Heck, even the Minbari-ritual-of-the-week would be less of a play for humor and more an examination of the profound differences between Earth and Minbari cultures, and how difficult a road both Sheridan and Delenn have ahead of them. Instead, Sheridan is shown as being clearly in the right, and Garibaldi either crazy or corrupted.
If there’s room for a reboot of B5, it’s to see the same story without the forced framework of White Hats vs Black Hats, where protagonists have more distinct feet of clay, and heroism and love may ultimately win but don’t necessarily conquer all along the way.
Most Dramatic Moment: The conclusion of the episode, as Garibaldi, going full “Sincere Judas” (a la Jesus Christ, Superstar) agrees that Sheridan needs to be put down, for his own good and the good of the cause.
(Honorable mention to Captain Jack’s suicide.)
Most Amusing Moment: Identities to steal for fake identicards are scarce, so Captain Jack ends up giving Marcus and Franklin identicards indicating they are a married couple honeymooning on Mars. Marcus spends the rest of the episode playing the role deliciously, mostly to make irk Franklin.
MARCUS: Just my luck. First time in my life I’m a war hero and nobody knows about it. And worst of all, I’m married to you.
FRANKLIN: Well, that’s not my idea.
MARCUS: Oh, you say that now. Tell that to your mother. She never stopped calling us about it. “So when’s the big day, I’ve got to pick out patterns. Your father isn’t going to live forever,” and on and on and on and on.
FRANKLIN: I hate this. I really hate this.
MARCUS: You’re just nervous, that’s all. You’ll get used to it. [To Captain Jack] Next thing, he’ll be locking himself in the bathroom all night.
What’s also neat about this is that it’s not presented as something outré, and the humor is more about marriage than about homosexuality. Neatly done by JMS, subtly filling in the history of the 23rd Century in showing that gays are part of the normal world without actually preaching about it.
(Honorable mentions to Lennier’s inquiry of Sheridan “the morning after” (“Woo-hoo?”) and to Marcus and Franklin playing “I Spy” in the hold of the ship (“And that’s when I shot him, your honor.”).)
Most Arc-ish Moment: Probably goes with the most dramatic, as Garibaldi’s actions will lead to some significant plottiness for him and Sheridan.
Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5 — (Rating History).
Other Resources for this episode:
- Lurker’s Guide
- Babylon Project Wiki
- IMDb
- AV Club (covers eps 10-14 of the season)
- TV Tropes
- Sci-Fi Musings
- Sundry Thoughts
Next episode: Arguments with the Resistance, unrest on Minbar, and stirrings in the shadows, in “Lines of Communication”
(Google+ links to this post here and here.)