(Holy moley — I haven’t watched / reviewed any B5 since August? Well … there’s been a new TV season and … um … stuff.)
The Minbari Civil War comes to a head! Mr. Bester pays a call on Lyta Alexander! And the stand-off between EarthGov and B5 blows up!
A-Plot: The civil war on Minbar is going badly for the Religious caste, as the Warriors surround cities where the Religious are holding out and threaten to destroy them. Neroon is hanging out with Shakiri, the leader of the Warrior Caste, and speculating on the best way to defeat them and what comes after. Shakiri shows himself to be a piece of work — no, don’t worry about destroyed cities because they can be rebuilt, and don’t worry about lost lives because they’ll be reincarnated, and, besides, life and death is meaningless to a Warrior …
NEROON: Is it wrong to value life? I thought that is why we fought.
SHAKIRI: We fight because it is our nature. It is the calling of our heart. Life and death are simply two possible consequences, both equal, neither valued nor feared above the other. For a warrior death is simply the release from our obligation.
Yeah, remember that line, Shakiri …
Minbar in Flames
Ultimately, Delenn and company, besieged in a burning city, agree to surrender (despite all the denial of planning to surrender in the previous episode). They contact Neroon to make arrangements: the surrender will take place in an ancient temple once used for the succession of power back before the days of the Grey Council. Shakiri thinks this is a splendid idea, buying into Neroon’s observations that the place is already wired for planet-wide broadcast, and that it will harken back to the traditions that the Warrior caste claim to believe in. Shakiri adds the filip that, post-surrender, Delenn will want to head back to B5 — which is fine by him, because a convenient accident en route will remove her from any future concerns.
The two sides meet, the TV cameras start rolling, and Delenn surrenders. Shakiri starts boasting to the audience about how the Warriors are now in control and will bring Minbari back to the old ways, etc., etc. …
Delenn in the Starfire Wheel
… when Delenn springs the trap that, apparently, she and Neroon had actually been cooking up. The tradition for that temple was that, yes, one side would surrender and acknowledge being beaten. But rulership in “the old ways” was then based on self-sacrifice. A switch is flipped and the ceiling starts to open up into the Starfire Wheel, a bright beam of energy striking the floor of the temple, gradually widening. Delenn steps in; if she dies, then the Religious caste gets to be in charge.
Neroon ends the Minbari Civil War
Shakiri, trapped by his own boasting from before (as pointedly noted by Neroon), and the planetary audience, has no choice but to step into the beam, too, but he bails back out again very quickly, as expected. But Delenn has decided to take this to the limit, sacrificing herself for peace on Minbar. Neroon is stunned and appalled. He dives into the beam, pushes her back out into Lennier’s arms, then declares that though he was born a Warrior, he dies a Religious — and does so.
NEROON: I was born Warrior caste. Now I see the calling of my heart is Religious! The war is over! Listen to her! Listen –!
Delenn reforms the Grey Council
Later, still recovering from burns, Delenn reconstitutes the Grey Council — but this time with only two members each of the Religious and Warrior castes: the rest will be Worker caste, with the Religious and Warriors there to advise and serve.
DELENN: You had forgotten the Worker caste, hadn’t you? When our two sides fight, they are the ones caught in the middle, forgotten except for when it is their turn to serve, to build, and to die. They build the temples we pray in, the ships you fight in — and look to us to guide their hands. But prayers are fleeting, and wars forgotten; what is built, endures. They do not wish to conquer, or convert, only to build the future.
The center light of leadership will be left vacant in honor of Neroon, until “One Who Is To Come” comes to take it up in the future. Thus are ancient prophecies created …
All told, this neatly wraps up the story line — perhaps a bit too neatly. Shakiri’s ignorance about tradition feels a little forced; he’s too easily tricked. On the other hand, John Vickery does a fantastic job with Neroon, both in playing his betrayal of Delenn completely straight, and then in sacrificing himself for the peace. His recurring character will definitely be missed.
The actual Starfire Wheel itself, and the temple around it, are not well-executed. There’s a bright light, but little context, and little sense that the light itself is slowly destroying those within it. It’s a technical/budget bobble that robs this scene of a bit of its urgency.
B-Plot: Poor Lyta can’t get a break. She’s a really powerful telepath, but B5 doesn’t seem to need her any more, and she can’t get any commercial jobs because she’s not in the Psi-Corps, which means that companies aren’t covered for liability in telepathic services. She’s booted from her quarters (informed by a distraught Zack) into something smaller because she can’t pay — and isn’t willing to be paid to illegally scan Garibaldi to see if there’s something funny going on with him.
And who should show up at that point than Alfie Bester, with his shit-eating grin and quiet sarcasm. He promises Zack he’ll stay away from the command staff; he’s here on private business, which turns out to be approaching Lyta. He wants to clandestinely hire her back into the Corps — that will let her take jobs again, though she’ll have to wear the gloves and badge. She won’t be under Corps control, though.
Lyta and Bester
BESTER: I mean, being a freedom fighter, a — a force for good, it’s — it’s a wonderful thing. You get to make your own hours, looks good on a resume — but the pay — sucks.
The catch is that, after her death, her body gets turned over to Bester. He’s jonesing to determine what the Vorlons did to her to (yeah, he knows) bump up her P-rating.
Lyta laughs in his face, but is beginning to get desperate. She wangles a job, on retainer, from Garibaldi — who mistrusts telepaths, but sees both her need and remembers her past service. Alas, his reclusive employer, William Edgars, phones him and, somehow aware of the the transaction, orders Garibaldi to fire her. He reluctantly does so, leaving Lyta betrayed one last time. She’s been abandoned by the Vorlons. Abandoned by B5. Even her last resort, Garibaldi, has thrown her over.
Lyta! Nooooooo!
She has no choice but to take Bester up on the devil’s bargain.
Pat Tallman does a good job with Lyta this outing, getting progressively more desperate, even as she’s further and further abandoned by everyone but her bete noir, Bester. Her final tears in the mirror as she re-dons the Corps garb are striking.
C-Plot: Garibaldi is still working on B5, but getting impatient with the early-morning phone calls (with no video) from his employer on Mars, and by a lack of invitation to go visit him. But, as Edgars’ agent, he agrees to help slip stuff past B5 Customs — for industrial security reasons, of course — much to Zack’s chagrin.
As noted, he temporarily hires Lyta — who lets him know that a passing-by Bester has just scanned him. Garibaldi gives chase, and has to be pulled off of Bester by security.
Garibaldi will start being important Real Soon Now
Subsequent to that, Edgars forces Garibaldi to fire Lyta, as he won’t have a telepath working for him or for someone so close to him. Garibaldi isn’t thrilled by this, but caves.
Okay, so it’s not a terribly coherent plot, but Garibaldi’s definitely being jerked around. That’s going to affect him pretty soon.
Meanwhile: Bester is pleased with his visit:
Personal log: Bester, Al. August 3rd, 2261. By provoking Mr. Garibaldi, I have put him even further at odds with his former associates, and further on the path I need him to follow. What I came here to get, I got — even her. Guess you could call it a bank shot. Yes — I’ve had a nice day.
The Pollux demonstrates the kinder, gentler side of the Clark regime
Ivanova has been reporting on the Voice of the Resistance how things haven’t been going well for Clark and his EarthForce stooges; ships continue to desert from Earth, or defect. But at the end of the ep, a sea change occurs: EA ships have attacked civilian refugee transports trying to flee the Proxima 3 colony, killing thousands. Ivanova is apoplectic, but it catalyzes Sheridan: they have to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop and go on the offensive against Clarke’s armed forces.
SHERIDAN: This madness has gone on long enough. I don’t care if we’re not ready, I don’t care if we’re outnumbered or outgunned, I don’t care what ISN says about us. This stops, and it stops now! Now, if Earth wants to declare war on us, then it is time that we took the war to Clark. You tell the others: starting right now, we fight back and we fight back hard!
IVANOVA: I thought you were looking for some other way than firing at our own ships. They’re following orders —
SHERIDAN: Any crew that executes an order like that is guilty of war crimes, and they deserve whatever they get. No, we’re riding in, Susan. Anybody who wants to defect and join us, fine. If they get in our way, we will knock them down. If they kill one of our ships, we’ll kill three of theirs. And we keep going. We never slow down, and we won’t stop. We’re going after the colonies, then Mars — and then Earth. And God help anybody who gets in our way.
Unfortunately, this last scene doesn’t quite work. The escalation feels too quick. Ivanova is too shrill with outrage at the beginning, then (as quoted) becomes the voice of reason. Sheridan’s speech-fu feels a bit stretched, too. It’s a big moment and it sets the wheels rolling toward the rest of the season, but it’s not what it should be. That’s because that’s not how it was supposed to happen.
Overall: A solid episode that advances the plot, involves most of the cast, and gives us Bester. Good times.
JMS notes that all of the characters in this episode, even when on opposite sides, are “right” to some degree. Zack is right to brace Garibaldi for smuggling. Garibaldi is right in noting that it’s small beer vs rebellion. Even Bester is right in noting to Lyta how she’s been screwed over by the B5 leadership, and that only the PsiCorps has an abiding interest in her (even if it’s primarily for her body); maybe that’s why he’s the real winner of the episode.
He also has said that this episode started really showing the compression of plot needed to fit the five-year arc into (what was then decided) a four-year series. Originally, the Minbari Civil War would have had a few more episodes; the EA attack on civilian refugees and the reaction to that would have had its own episode, not just a tag at the end. The Earth Civil War was originally to end around the 4th or 5th episode of Season 5; by clipping off bits of plot development, JMS wrapped it up by the end of Season 4, but some of those ragged seams are visible here.
Most Dramatic Moment: Neroon, making the final sacrifice, followed closely by Lyta, crying in the mirror.
Most Amusing Moment: There’s not a lot to laugh about here, though Scott Adams (of “Dilbert” fame) does do an amusing turn as a potential client of Garibaldi’s, and Bester’s wit is in full force in every scene he’s in (“I want your body”).
Most Arc-ish Moment: Huge arcs all around, but the trigger at the end of the war against Earth portends the most for the future.
Poor Lyta. Poor Zack.
Overall Rating: 4.0 / 5 — Solid, solid work, from both the regulars and the guest stars, hampered by some shaky FX and rushed pacing. (Rating History).
