This is one of those episodes I remember as mind-blowing (literally) … and, in rewatching, see a lot more flaws than I remember. The direction is clumsy, some of the lines are damned awkward, and the plot has some major holes. It's still a big episode, but weighed down by weak points.
There's really only one key A-plot. The rebels on Mars (http://goo.gl/C5VTwJ) get word of a problem on B5, and the next thing we know Lyta Alexander — the telepath from the pilot episode — is arriving at the station (http://goo.gl/7ktsTU) to tell the command staff (http://goo.gl/ZOku6V) that someone on B5 is a Psi Cop sleeper agent, with a deeply embedded traitorous personality undetectably hidden in their brain, watching and plotting. Lyta can telepathically send out a password to unlock the hidden personality to reveal the traitor (http://goo.gl/YsTN9a) — but doing so will also destroy the person's "real" personality.
There's a lot of plotty bits of greater or lesser import that go on (including lots of hints that Ivanova is the hidden bad guy), but ultimately it turns out that Talia Winters — the current telepath on the station all the past two seasons — is the hidden traitor. Activated by Lyta (http://goo.gl/KOza3Y), she's revealed as the spy (http://goo.gl/k9L5YY – GIFFiness: http://goo.gl/hyFLXX) (but, fortunately, before she was brought actively into the conspiracy).
It should be taut, paranoid, you-won't-know-who-to-trust action, and there's a certain amount of that to be sure. But there are too many distractions, and amidst all of it, one of the core facets of working to reveal the traitor (which any of them could be without knowing it) is that revealing the traitor will destroy the person it has been hiding in. That stake (which my 14yo daughter immediately clued into) is never acknowledged, never even talked about after Lyta mentions it. It's a plot consequence in the episode, but that's a fundamental issue that everyone should be terrified about. The debate is instead over the (relatively) paltry "Can we believe Lyta, and do we dare let a telepath into our head?"
(B5 later deals much more effectively with death of personality — but this time, it feels more like a plot device than something real to relate to.)
Another element of the story that's overlooked is that New Talia is simply let go — which is kind of odd, given that she's implicated in an attempt on Lyta that killed one security guard and critically injured another. I could conjure legit reasons why it makes sense to cut her loose (our secrets don't get revealed, their secrets don't get revealed, the balance of terror continues), but it's not even addressed.
The implications of "Mind War," where an omniscient Jason Ironheart apparently didn't notice the sleeper personality in Talia and instead gifted her with telekinesis, making her apparently Psi Corp's perfect weapon now — aren't really talked about, either, and the hook presented about the recording Kosh made of her personality in "Deathwalker" (http://goo.gl/HTqKXt) is never followed through on. While the revelation of Talia was planned, Andrea Thompson decided to leave the show for a variety of reasons, making for another set of plot hooks that were simply dropped with her. I regret the plot hooks, not Thompson's departure.
There's a B-plot that's joined at the hip with the above, and that's about Ivanova. She's frazzled, she's under pressure from multiple directions, and she gets slammed by two big additional stresses in her life this episode. First, we learn the deeper root of her antipathy to Psi Corp and telepathic probing — she's a latent telepath herself, afraid of being outed, losing her career, and facing the decisions her mother faced. Getting through sharing that with Sheridan (http://goo.gl/LlHq5b) is a brief but moving part of the story, well done. But in parallel with that is a story that's obvious, but never stated: Ivanova and Talia are having a love affair.
Now, that would be considered a mildly edgy, perhaps consciously trendy, even bordering cliche plotline today. In 1995, almost twenty years ago, it was … pretty radical. It's not in your face girl-on-girl action, to be sure — it's never clearly stated (and some of the fans simply didn't believe it), but the clues are given pretty broadly, in body language (http://goo.gl/QvCTNp), in their sleeping together (http://goo.gl/sMT7RR), in how Susan reacts to Talia's personality destruction (http://goo.gl/UqgMfG http://goo.gl/aOr5YZ).
It's bold and noteworthy — but just like there's awkward railroading in the John/Delenn relationship (see below), the Susan/Talia thang feels to me like it's jumped way too far, too fast, to establish the emotional bond that's going to be violated here. It needed more build-up, which was been lost in the rush of episodes this season.
(Poor Ivanova — betrayed by an old boyfriend in Season 1, betrayed by a new girlfriend in Season 2 … one can only wonder what will happen in Season 3 … http://goo.gl/18zEci)
Not surprisingly, the Susan/Talia shippers wax lyrical over the couple (http://youtu.be/q0tw-r61R8g, http://youtu.be/tHmGcTTRQLs, http://youtu.be/8HcsXl1qkE8, http://youtu.be/I5xGeQvVP9A), most of which serves to remind me how much I preferred both women with shorter / braided hair.
There's an additional minor C-plot lurking in the shadows — Delenn and John beginning to make uncomfortable goo-goo eyes at each other (http://goo.gl/aDi9WN http://goo.gl/2rlwQB)). It feels clumsy, between Delenn being charming sage and Sheridan being the put-upon commander who doesn't have anyone to talk with. The encounters between them here this starts to surface (http://goo.gl/bKHrDT) feel contrived.
The last thread getting any attention here is back with Lyta … and her own love affair with Kosh (it's all about love this week, it seems). Of course, she did the scan on him back in the pilot episode (http://goo.gl/Y0GqCh). Apparently she knew more than she ever revealed to her Psi Corp / EarthGov interrogators about what she sensed. So, having proven her loyalty, she ends the episode rapturously getting another glimpse of what lies within the encounter suit (http://goo.gl/iK5g6q), and she will be moving on with her earlier stated resolve to explore into Vorlon space …
Overall, it's a game-changing episode in many ways, with a long-time regular character being revealed as a traitor, the tension of the conspiracy against EarthGov (and the menace of Psi Corp) ramping up, and some character emotional stuff being paraded about. There are some not-insignificant plot issues, though, that burnish the sheen here.
But not to worry, bigger and badder and more jaw-dropping (in a good way) things are coming Real Soon Now …
Most Dramatic Moment: Susan confonts New Talia, who basically sneers over every ragged emotional surface that Ivanova is showing (http://goo.gl/QBYCxa).
Most Amusing Moment: Garibaldi pretends for a moment to be the sleeper agent when given the password … and nearly gets lynched by the rest of Our Heroes (http://goo.gl/XvQb63 http://goo.gl/pt1Kpl http://goo.gl/rooB6T). Most inadvertently amusing moment: the hi-tech "Universe Today" newspaper recycling / printing machine. (http://goo.gl/YNMLdD)
Most Arc-ish Moment: Lyta chats with Kosh at the very end (http://goo.gl/9Xz6Zo). Yeah, those two are going to have a special relationship in the future …
Overall Rating: 3.9 / 5
– Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/041.html
– Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Divided_Loyalties
– IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517645/
– AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-confessions-and-lamentationsdivided-loya-97420
– Kay Shapero: http://www.kayshapero.net/b5review/Divided.htm
– TV Tropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BabylonFiveS02E19DividedLoyalties
Next episode: "The Long, Twilight Struggle," as Londo discovers the horrifying price of glory and power.
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