![\"Vir](\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Babylon-5-3x12-Sic-Transit-Vir-Vir.jpg\" "\\"Babylon")
<\/a>… not helped when, walking along with his B-Plot, he gets attacked by a Narn following a blood oath. Hmmm, what has Vir done to deserve that? Further digging leads Ivanova to discover that all those Narn that Vir absconded with are now reported dead. \u00a0She and Sheridan are appalled to find Vir complicit in such war crimes, while Londo is appallingly pleased. \u00a0Both sides are set back on their heels when Vir confesses the Narn aren’t<\/em> dead — he forged other papers to get them (mostly sick and injured from devastated towns on Narn) off to B5 and other locations where they’d be safe. \u00a0Perhaps goaded by G’Kar’s “dead, dead, dead” speech<\/a> in “Comes the Inquisitor<\/a>“), Vir’s fighting the good fight, behind the scenes, bureaucratically — that, coupled with his hesitant fondlling of the throne in Scene 1, are both reminders\u00a0of his ultimate fate.<\/p>\n Londo — who’s been blithely chuckling about the only good Narn are dead Narn in a gobsmackingly bald-faced way — is outraged. He manages to cover up the conspiracy, but Vir’s role as liaison to the Minbari is over. \u00a0Like others who have been sent there, he “went native.” Now he’ll remain on B5, where Londo can watch after him. (Coincident, of course, to Stephen Furst’s short-lived sit-com being canceled, and Vir being fully available for work on “Babylon 5” again.)<\/p>\n Furst does a decent job as the terrified but determined Vir, doing something he knows is wrong to his people but that he feels compelled to do by his own conscience. It’s a big step forward for the young Centauri, who, sadly, gets little credit for it from anyone. \u00a0Jurasik’s Londo, on the other hand, does one of those “Yeah, you viewers think I’m just a conflicted good guy who’s gotten in too deep, but I’m actually a racist asshole who smiles broadly at genocide (and not just for public consumption)” bits. In some ways, it’s a terrifying performance.<\/p>\n B-Plot<\/strong>: Oh, in the meantime, Vir’s wife, Lyndisty, arrives<\/a>. Or, rather, his arranged to-be-wife, awaiting the final formalities. Vir, ever-flustered and in mid-conspiracy, wants nothing to do with her, being instead dedicated to the idea of marriage out of love, true love. She sets out to convince him that she’s lovable, and it’s working pretty well, given that she’s intelligent and poetic and pretty damned cute. Oh, and she kisses well, too, enough to get Vir to turn to Ivanova for sex advice (hilarity ensues). And she’s even more impressed with him when he fends off that\u00a0attacking Narn.<\/p>\n Except, it turns out, that attacking Narn was actually going after Lyndisty, not him. Seems her father was one of the early military\/medical officials on Narn after the war was over, and supervised (with Lyndy’s help) “culling the herd” to eliminate individuals or even whole villages that showed too much resistance. Where Londo’s virulent prejudice is to be expected based on the character’s earlier behavior (though, honestly, it’s over the top here), Lyndisty’s come as a serious “fair is foul and foul is fair” moment.<\/p>\n LYNDISTY: Everyone knows that whenever there’s trouble, there’s always a Narn at the center of it somewhere. That’s all they are , you know, trouble. It’s not their fault, they’re simply inferior. It’s genetics. They’re lazy, they foul their own nests, everything they touch falls apart … [They’re not really intelligent, you know. Spiritually, physically, they’re little more than beasts of the field. They’re slow, and once they get out into the general population they become parasites.] The sooner they’re dealt with, the better for everyone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n ([Bracketed] text in the original script.)<\/p>\n And then, as a sign of her love, she offers up another Narn assassin she captured,\u00a0offers the privilege of killing him to her fiance.<\/p>\n Eek.<\/p>\n We don’t see how that scene plays out (frustratingly — though an Ivanova line was inadvertently cut later confirming that the injured Narn that was “found” is in Medlab, recovering). In the end the marriage is on hold, given the (suppressed) scandal of the A-Plot. Both characters are determined to sway the other, but, heck, she may be a brainwashed, genocidal maniac, but she’s a good kisser, and Vir figures beggars can’t be choosers.<\/p>\n It’s … weird. The plot makes some sense (holes aside — how did the Narn track her there, for example, and how did Vir get out of carving up the second one), but Vir’s reaction come across as too mixed. He’s appalled at her bloodthirstiness and dismissal of the humanity (so to speak) of the Narn, but he’s also not kicking her to the curb. It’s supposed to be amusingly pragmatic, or even loyally optimistic on his part that she’ll be reformed by his influence; instead, it makes the viewer question just why Vir is so much into protecting Narn refugees, and how dedicated he is to that cause.<\/p>\n C-Plot<\/strong>: \u00a0John asks Delenn to dinner<\/a>. \u00a0John fixes Delenn dinner. John doesn’t cook good <\/a>flarn<\/a>,<\/em> but Delenn will never tell.\u00a0Frustratingly, they keep getting interrupted whenever things are getting hot.<\/p>\n Poor John and Delenn.<\/p>\n Sigh. This is more awkward and eye-rolling than I remember it being the first time around watching the series.<\/p>\n D-Plot<\/strong>: Ivanova is having problems figuring out her role in the Grand New B5 Status Quo, leading to nightly dreams (one of which — the old “showing up at work naked” — we actually see acted out. It’s amusing, in a pedestrian way).<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>