A-Plot: B5 has a new "political officer," a seductive blonde (http://goo.gl/M9MWs9) named Julie Musante (http://goo.gl/kObQNv) — who (honestly) sucks at her job, give how she clumsily juggles both carrots and sticks, tries to get Sheridan on her side through flattery and threats and stripping naked while his back is turned (Babylon 5 Voices of Authority), and manages to alienate the one person on the station who might give her the time of day, puppy-dog-eyed Zack Allen, the Number 2 in B5 Security.
Nevertheless, her arrival is a bit of horrible timing, given the B-Plot activities, leading to Sheridan having to deal with her a lot more than he'd like (Babylon 5 – Voices Of Authority (Restaurant Conversation)). But between seduction and bandinage, she's also riling up the Night Watch folks on the station by channeling her inner Ann Coulter, hinting at coming purges and traitors amongst us and that whole song and dance. Zack's really uncomfortable with all of this, but he's also getting cheesed at Garibaldi; clearly there's something going on that the Chief isn't including Zack in (for obvious-to-us reasons), but Zack's mightily irked about it.
Things are somewhat set back to the status quo when Musante has to leave abruptly because of a scandalous vid that's been released anonymously back home about President Clark (see B-Plot as well). Zack comes to the brink of blowing everything, but dials it back … for now.
B-Plot: Delenn and Draal (the Guy in the Great Machine down on the planet http://goo.gl/gsqYc2) want Our Conspiracy of Light to go out recruiting — in particular, to try and get some allies among the "First Ones," the remaining few elder races (and past opponents of the Shadows) who are still lurking out there, with giant Do Not Disturb signs on them. Quoth Draal, "Delenn tells me that you are going to try contacting the First Ones. It is a magnificent idea. A daring, and splendid idea. In doing so you will see things no human has seen before. It will be fun. Assuming you are not vaporised, dissected, or otherwise killed in an assortment of supremely horrible and painful ways. Exciting, isn't it?".
We last saw saw some of them back on Sigma 957 in the (excellent) Season 1 ep "Mind War" (g'kar talks to catherine about sigma 957) — and so it is back to Sigma 957 that we go (http://goo.gl/GyiZ9J).
The first time is worked out between Draal and Ivanova (GIFfy http://goo.gl/VEEavw), via psychic projection, with Ivanova using the sensory array of the Great Machine to visit the planet (http://goo.gl/9zjMIJ, http://goo.gl/AF2dRr, http://goo.gl/rjC6yx) — where she's almost ensnared by the Shadows. On her mind's way back, her law-level telepathy lets her somehow tap into the destruction of Earth Force One, when President Santiago was assassinated. But more than that, she sees (and so the Great Machine is able to record) (or else she reads it in the Great Machine's own mass surveillance records) a broadcast between then-VP Clark and some faceless (but familiarly voiced) character in which Clark fiendishly cackles about the assassination that the other has arranged for (http://goo.gl/fX2tw1).
The release of that video, via General Hague's conspirators back on Earth, leaves President Clark in a world of political hurt, and our conspirators on the A-Plot hoping that it might all be over soon, HA!
Having established that there may be First Ones there, Ivanova takes the White Star (with Marcus the Ranger along to translate Minbari — http://goo.gl/O9szTh, http://goo.gl/Na0kXQ) out to Sigma 957 herself, and, yup, the CE3K Mothership of the Walkers appears (http://goo.gl/lVzR2L, http://goo.gl/aLydE8). Ivanova tries diplomatic contact, but this particular race (http://goo.gl/nPqJNL) seems irked that the Earthers have already allied with the Vorlons. When they make to leave, Ivanova does what she does best: make people angry, in a truly lovely scene where she plays the Walkers like a piano, and extracts their promise that they will be there when called. Woot! (Babylon 5 scene : The Walkers of Sigma 957)
C-Plot: This one runs parallel to the A-Plot. G'Kar didn't just fall out of the turnip pouch, and he's been noticing that Delenn and Sheridan and Garibaldi and others have been doing a lot of private meetings. He's also heard rumors of Humans and Minbari collaborating as "Rangers." He gets nowhere with Delenn (http://goo.gl/1ODzyI), but has a fine scene with Garibaldi where their new semi-relationship gets defined, and G'Kar suggests that if Garibaldi can't help him yet, maybe he can help Garibaldi.
Which help turns out to be a midnight delivery of the Book of G'Quan. "Read it! Then we'll talk." "I don't read Narn." "Learn!" (http://goo.gl/DWutvn) Good advice.
All in all, a solid episode. The regular cast (including Zack) do a strong job; Ivanova makes a few too many funny faces for my taste, but she also gets one of the best dialogs (especially playing off of Marcus). G'Kar shows both the sparks of his old jeez-I-hate-that-guy character and the more thoughtful, embittered, but inspired one he is becoming. The plot criss-crosses a bit much, some of the more overt humor feels forced, and the overall feel is that things are a bit too crowded here, but it's still a good ep.
Most Dramatic Moment: G'Kar braces Garibaldi about the conspiracy he can smell is going on and is maddeningly being shut out of. "The Centauri took my world, my government, my title. They did not take me self-respect, and I did not think they had take the respect I had earned from others. Was I wrong? … I know we have never exactly been friends — but until now we have never been strangers."
Most Amusing Moment: Ivanova either in "negotiations" with the Walkers (http://youtu.be/Op2jLtbzWJI?t=3m20s), or else projecting herself up from the planet while Sheridan and Musante are in an … interesting position (Babylon 5 – 3.05 'Voices of Authority': Ivanova and Sheridan).
Most Arc-ish Moment: Clark and an "unknown" figure discuss Santiago's assassination. Or else perhaps the commitment of the First Ones to participate in the coming war. They'll be back …
Most Disturbing Moment: My daughter listening to Musante's tactics and rhetoric and saying, "Jeez, does she think this is 21st Century United States?" Disturbingly prescient, Mr Straczynski.
Overall Rating: 4.0 / 5 — Well done, well acted, loads of fun, occasionally too disjointed for its own good, but a lot of nice character pieces being moved around the board.
– Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/049.html
– Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Voices_of_Authority
– IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517719/
– AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-voices-of-authoritydust-to-dust-98882 (includes next ep)
– Kay Shapero: http://www.kayshapero.net/b5review/Authority.htm
– TV Tropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BabylonFiveS03E05VoicesOfAuthority
Next episode: "Dust to Dust," with the return of everyone's favorite (or second-favorite) villain, and a chance for G'kar to wreak some bloody revenge.
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