The balls started rolling last ep pick up speed this time out. There feels like about 2-3 episodes of activity going on in this single outing, and even the most quiet of plotlines pushes forward at high speed. In so doing, we see a lot of the ways characters have changed from the past, like hothouse flowers forced to bloom.
A-Plot: G’Kar has already made a lot of accelerated off-screen progress in tracking down Garibaldi, by way of finding that a Starfury was salvaged somewhere, getting a piece of it, and tracking down the seller. Questions, refusals, and bar brawls ensue (enlivened by Marcus showing up unexpectedly). That gives the two of them a chance to chat, where G’Kar confesses he’s doing all this because Garibaldi is his friend, and he’s never had a friend who wasn’t a Narn. Marcus, in turn, confesses that he’s never had a friend who was a Narn (which feels a bit odd, since there’s no real sign of friendship between the two of them before this; rather, Marcus is clearly there because it’s a beau geste, a chance for him to seek self-destructive glory in the service of others).
Unfortunately, G’Kar has apparently lost his Underground Resistance Savvy since his younger days, since he pretty quickly gets himself captured by the Centauri military.
Which is fine, because that’s when the storyline (which could have taken an entire episode) gets really interesting. Emperor Cartagia, still batshit crazy and bat-bite dangerous, summons Londo to give him a “gift” — G’Kar, bound and delivered. Londo’s shocked and dismayed, but (of course) graciously accepts the lunatic emperor’s largess.
Later, Londo visits G’Kar in his cell, and it’s a key scene for both characters. For his part, Londo realizes that as much as he’s hated G’Kar, he takes no joy in the latter’s capture and imminent torture to death.
LONDO: If you wished to die, you could have simply told me. I would have attended to it, quickly. With at least a measure of dignity.
and
LONDO: You have never been a friend to me, but what he will do to you — I would not wish on anyone.
Further, he needs G’Kar, to assist in his plan to kill Cartagia. If Vir is the only Centauri he can trust, G’Kar becomes the only other being beyond that who can be trusted as well, and who and can assist in saving his people — a sad realization for Londo, who once saw the Narn, and G’Kar in particular, as the bete noir of his people’s existence. And the horrible irony is that Londo — triumphant, in a high position in court, in the place he always wanted to be, and terrified of it — is now dependent on someone who he’s hated, someone who is in the worst possible and least powerful position anyone could imagine.
For his part, the Narn plays it cagily, willing to trust Londo only so far, and willing to assist him only if Londo promises to see to it that Narn is free. Londo leaves, his once greatest enemy now an ally.
B-Plot: Meanwhile Delenn is fasting — starving herself to death, actually — in grief over Sheridan’s apparent death and guilt over having driven him away from her. Lennier (who loves her, of course, and whose main rival for her affections is now apparently gone) breaks her confidence to tell Franklin — who, in turn, tries to talk her out of it. He fails — and it’s noteworthy that the Old Franklin would next have drugged her and stuck a feeding tube down her throat, convinced of his own righteousness. He doesn’t — and that says something about the doctor’s growth.
Next thing we see, Franklin calls up Delenn and asks her to Sheridan’s room. He’s been sorting through the captain’s personal effects to see what should be put in storage, what sent back (somehow) to family on Earth, and he just happens to have stumbled across Sheridan’s video diary. He leaves Delenn alone to watch an entry from last May that he’s bookmarked.
SHERIDAN: Personal log, May 14, 2260. We actually had a quiet day today — it’s hard to believe with so much going on lately. Now that we’ve broken away from Earth, everything has hit the fan. It’s not what I wanted. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me, but it had to be done. The job now is to turn this around and make it into something positive. My dad always told me that’s the only way you deal with pain. You don’t surrender, you don’t fight it — you turn it into something positive. He used to say, “If you’re falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You’ve got nothing to lose.” And in a way, I feel the same way about Delenn. During the war, I fought Minbari, I killed Minbari, saw many of my friends die at Minbari hands. Here I am, in love with one of them. For a long time, I thought about not saying anything, but — the moment my heart crossed that line, there wasn’t much I could do but see it through. Yeah, I’ve fallen off one hell of a cliff, but when I look in her eyes, I let myself think, maybe I really can fly.
It’s a moving moment — and it galvanizes Delenn. She calls together the White Star fleet, telling the Rangers commanding the vessels that they need a way to rally forces of Light, who have abandoned the war against the Shadows. They will do so Wild Bunch style, a last ride of whomever is willing to go, charging into Z’Ha’Dum against the Shadows, most likely to fall, but possibly to fly.
Yyyyeah. Maybe Franklin should have tried the feeding tube.
C-Plot: Sheridan, of course, is still alive. Except, Lorien explains, he’s not (as a check of his pulse confirms). He’s been caught, trapped between moments of time — Tick, he’s alive, Tock, he’s dead.
LORIEN: Between moments. When we are born, we are allocated a finite number of seconds. Each tick of the clock slices off a piece of us. Tick. A possibility for joy is gone. Tock. A careless word ends one path, opens another. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Always running out of time. Yours is almost used up. You’re between seconds — lost in the infinite possibilities between tick and tock. Tick. You’re alive. Tock. Well, it was a good life, but a short one. Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
It’s an evocative speech to the viewer, but Sheridan refuses to believe it, refuses to give in to being dead, because he’s sure he’s critical to the cause against the Shadows.
There’s lots of rambling, pseudo-philosophical conversation between the two of them, complete with wordplay and cryptic utterances by Lorien, but we do glean a few apparent facts. First off, Lorien is millions of years old — not just one of the First Ones, but the First One. What he’s doing there is a bit mysterious (he’s “waiting” for “someone to talk to”), but the Shadows know he is there (hence their always returning to the planet after defeat), as do the Vorlons. His true form is not as Sheridan sees him, but we (and Sheridan) catch glimpses of it now and again — a swirling light, holding Sheridan in darkness, chanting the Vorlon and Shadow questions, “Who are you? What do you want?” to him over and over again. (Later he adds, “Why are you here?” to the repertoire.)
Lorien also casually asks, “Did you know you have a Vorlon inside you? Well, a piece of one.” Kosh’s fragment in his head, along with Sheridan, are enough to trap him there, perhaps for an eternity, because neither are willing to die.
LORIEN: You can’t turn away from death simply because you’re afraid of what might happen without you. That’s not enough. You’re not embracing life, you’re fleeing death. So you’re caught in-between, unable to go forward or backward. Your friends need what you can be when you are no longer afraid — when you know who you are, and why you are, and what you want. When you are no longer looking for reasons to live, but can simply be. … You must let go. Surrender yourself to death. The death of flesh. The death of fear. Step into the abyss — and let go.
Sheridan has to find a reason to live, not to avoid dying — a JMS theme that was first posited by Garibaldi to Sinclair back in “Infection.” Sheridan, at least, has an opportunity to answer: as he begins to fade into the darkness, he can come up with only one. “Delenn.”
(Interestingly enough, that call out to Delenn after the flashbacks wasn’t in the shooting script; instead, in the darkness we see Sheridan’s face. “Will this work?” Then Kosh’s image. “I do not know … I am afraid.” And Sheridan, “Yes.”)
I had forgotten how long and wordy this whole subplot was, some of it interesting, some of it tedious, all of it weird. It’s hard to parse out which parts are science fictional, which psychological, which philosophical — which makes sense if we’re talking about a conversation with God (or the nearest equivalent), but which also pulls one out of the reality of the plot.
The final moments, as all goes dark, are still oddly affecting. The fear in Sheridan’s voice and features is palpable. A good job by Boxleitner.
D-Plot: So, whatever did become of Mr. Garibaldi? We, the viewers, know he was hauled off with his Starfury inside of a Shadow vessel. We know, from Marcus’ research, that the salvager of that Starfury was tipped off by Interplanetary Expeditions, which has been known to deal with both Shadow artifacts and Earthgov / Psi-Corps before.
And now we know that he’s trapped in a little round room, going stir crazy, being asked questions by a calm voice, and pounding the walls. The voice wants him to settle down, and tell what he remembers after being taken from B5. When Garibaldi gets too violent, he’s gassed — then a someone in Psi-Corp uniform and a gas mask comes in and looks down on him.
Overall: I mentioned above that this episode highlighted character changes. I’m going to narrow that down a bit, and say that it focuses on characters learning to let go. G’Kar refuses to let go of his friendship for Garibaldi, and ends up suffering mightily. Londo lets go of his hatred of G’Kar, and grows. Franklin lets go of his ability to solve everything. Delenn lets go of her guilt over Sheridan’s death and is able to take action (foolish or not). And Sheridan lets go of life, to end up … where?
Only Garibaldi is unable to let go, in this case of his secrets, and so he remains trapped.
It’s a very busy episode, lots of this and that and other things, and four robust, intense plotlines. Does it feel a bit rushed? Yeah. A lot here would have been better served being spread out a bit. But it still largely works, because these characters and the situations have already been well-established, and the viewer can fill in what was missing.
Most Dramatic Moment: Londo and G’Kar confront their mutual hatred inside the Centauri cell. Londo has been describing the gruesome torture G’Kar will face.
G’KAR: And does this please you?
LONDO: No. No it doesn’t. Once, long ago — no, not even then.
Most Amusing Moment: Marcus and G’Kar have some nice banter, especially over Marcus’ battle pike. “I like it.”
Most Arc-ish Moment: Sheridan metaphorically jumps once more.
SHERIDAN: [In the dark] What if I fall? How will I know if you’ll catch me?
LORIEN: I caught you before.
SHERIDAN: What if I die?
LORIEN: I cannot create life, but I can breathe on the remaining embers. It may not work.
SHERIDAN: But I can hope.
LORIEN: Hope is all we have.
Overall Rating: 4.2 / 5 — Good meat, but a bit rushed. (Rating History)
Other Resources for this episode:
- Lurker’s Guide
- Babylon Project Wiki
- IMDb
- AV Club (covers eps 1-4 of the season)
- J Paul Halt
- TV Tropes
- Sci-Fi Musings
Next episode: “The Summoning,” in which our two wayward party members — Sheridan and Garibaldi — return. But all is not well with one, the other, or both.
(Google+ links to this post here and here.)