[For Christmas, my son gave me a “Okay, I’ll watch the rest of B5 with you” as a gift. Woo-hoo! So, I’m picking up after the last review I did (in July of 2016(!)), skipping forward a few eps I never wrote down commentary for.]
The war to retake Earth heats to the boiling point, with a big win and a tragic loss. SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE (if you haven’t seen it).
A-Plot: Garibaldi convinces the Martian Resistance, and Franklin, that, yup, Bester had broken his mind back when he was “missing,” turning him against Sheridan and leading to his betrayal of the commander. The convincing is done through Lyta and her mind-probing him — a desperation move on his part, but demonstrating that she can break a P12 mind lock. Yikes!
(On the list of critiques for the ep: Garibaldi is welcomed back into the fold far too effortlessly. Even if Lyta’s mindprobe exonerates him, the suspicions of a year, and the anger of the past few episodes, are not so easily disposed of that the casual banter he then becomes part of is natural or believable.)
He’s flown back to the fleet where he cleans up awfully nice and gets a passionate hug with Delenn. He does note to her that he’s had an awful time, but he’ll talk about it with her later. Hope so, because that was a remarkable recovery from where he was earlier in the episode. Indeed, isn’t someone going to recommend a fully psych eval before they put him in charge of his own wardrobe, let alone the a fleet of ships heading off to a climactic battle?
Guess not …
(Note: there is a short, cut-for-time scene in the script, after Sheridan’s freed, where Lyta offers to get rid of the pain still in Sheridan’s head from the torture and drugs. Sheridan refuses: “No, let it burn … gives me one more reason to come back … blow this place to hell and back.” No, no reason to worry there …)
B-Plot: Ivanova’s leading the fleet along, diverting course to take down some EarthGov ships that were responsible for civilian atrocities, both to clean up the mess and get some potential deserters to her side. One of those willing to turn lets her know that not all who have are loyal, and that they’ve gotten word back to Earth about the fleet’s movements and plans, and Earth is planning an ambush with some new, elite units.
Ivanova decides to take the White Star fleet ahead with her to deal with that menace, rather than risking the more conventional forces on her behalf, or letting the other rendezvousing elements get caught in the trap. We get some nice emotional byplay between Marcus and Ivanova, including showing that she’s figured out he’s become besotted with her, and leaving room for that to develop. Uh-oh …
On arrival, the White Star fleet is confronted by a large fleet of Earth warships, but they look all shiny and spiky and black. Yup, Earth has backwards-engineered some of the Shadow tech they previously capture, and has installed it on the Earth ships, which makes them …
… well, seriously creepy-looking, able to absorb more fire from the White Stars than usual, but, ultimately, no bigger of a threat. The White Stars win through use of their greater maneuverability and one of Ivanova’s most over-the-top speeches ever (which is saying something).
Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova, Commander, daughter of Andrei and Sofie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance, and the boot that is gonna kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart. I am death incarnate and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.
Oookay …
Then, just as the battle is winding down, her White Star is hit by a big chunk of debris, killing everyone on the bridge except Marcus (who appears unscathed, due no doubt to his Ranger training), and Ivanova (who, if she isn’t horribly crippled and injured by the stuff that fell on her, certainly is when Marcus drags her out and carries her in his arms away to find help) …
She’s returned to the fleet, and is put under Minbari medical care, which is where Sheridan finds her when he returns, alongside Delenn. Marcus is the faithful hound at the foot of the bed, inseparable from her, sad eyes never leaving her. Poor Marcus …
Just as with Sheridan’s haggard look earlier, Ivanova looks horrible, complete with shoulder and head braces to deal with what are clearly spinal injuries (thanks, Marcus!), and we learn that she has only a few days to a week to live. She and Sheridan get some nice dialog, showing how their relationship has deepened into friendship, and she asks him one final favor: that he lead the battle to Earth in command of his old ship, the Agamemnon. He agrees, and, taking charge, the fleet heads off to its final battle, to liberate Earth.
Meanwhile: Londo and G’kar convince the other alien races in council aboard B5 that they should assist Sheridan’s efforts, just as Sheridan in turn had helped all of them at different times. Londo in particular notes that the humans have gone out of their way to help other races in a fashion that none of them (the Centauri included) would have, and that means they should now help the humans in their time of crisis. They inform Delenn that they hadn’t roped her into the discussion because everyone knows she and Sheridan are a thing, and this way it doesn’t look like that’s the reason the aliens are helping.
Overall: The momentum toward the season’s climax is running at full steam now, complete this episode with not one but two space battles. Yet even with that, we have the resolution (somewhat rushed) of the Sheridan in Chains subplot, immediately replaced by the unexpected terminal injuries of Ivanova. That last will, in turn, play out over the next few episodes.
The result is an episode that is sort of a mess, pacing-wise, but still packs an emotional wallop. There are individual elements that come together neatly, but some scenes that needed a little more time or thought to play well (the recruitment of the League of Unaligned Worlds to align behind Sheridan is more consequential than it sounds, but is literally shoehorned into the action). This rush to resolve things was driven by JMS’ awareness that, barring a miracle, this was going to be the final season, and his 5-chapter epic needs to be compressed down into 4. Indeed, in the original framing of the series had Season 4 ending on the cliffhanger of Sheridan in prison in one of the prevoius couple of episodes. Now JMS needed to free Earth and wrap up a bunch of things he wanted to fit into the whole next season, and that compaction definitely shows here.
Most Dramatic Moment: The sickbed encounter with the critically injured Ivanova is, for the most part, delightfully done. Indeed, this episode (including her byplay with Marcus earlier) gives Claudia Christian one of her best outings in the series. Interestingly, it comes when she turns down the volume and Ivanova-ness down from 12.
Most Amusing Moment: Again, it’s an episode that doesn’t have a lot of humor (aside from some Garibaldi & Co. banter). Maybe the best is when Ivanova reveals to Marcus that she’s learned some Minbari of late, and that she actually knows that something he told her in that language a while back wasn’t just a formal greeting, but an observation about her beauty — which she thanks him for, unexpectedly, then leaves, leaving him gobsmacked (and making subsequent events in the ep all the more dramatic).
IVANOVA: Hey. The last time we were in this room together you said something to me in Minbari. I happen to have an eidetic memory. It went [in Minbari] “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met.” You told me it was just a greeting.
MARCUS: Yes.
IVANOVA: Well in case you hadn’t noticed I’ve, uh … learned a little Minbari since then. Thank you.
MARCUS: [In Minbari] You’re welcome.
Most Arc-ish Moment: Creepy EarthGov Shadow-Tech Cruisers are Creepy. It’s ironic that the government that has been so adamant about rejecting alien influences is so quick and effective in incorporating evil alien technology into its fleet.
Overall Rating: 4.0 / 5 — Action and heartbreak, if a bit rushed and melodramatic in places. (Rating History).
Other Resources for this episode:
- Lurker’s Guide
- Babylon Project Wiki
- IMDb
- AV Club (covers eps 18-20 of the season)
- TV Tropes
- Sci-Fi Musings (home of the little videos in so many of these reviews I’ve done)
- Sundry Thoughts
Next episode: “Endgame” … as the freedom — and very existence — of Earth hang in the balance.
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