This is another episode that I don’t tend to revisit during a casual re-watch.  There is some decent stuff here, a little expansion of Delenn and Londo’s characters and more warning signs from Earth.  We get a bit more of a look into Ivanova as well.  The show at this stage is still trying to parcel out information on every character to the audience while also keeping one foot in the standard episodic TV format of the day, and the more serialized TV show that it would become and that is far more popular today. 

I like that the first scene up is showing a casual Delenn talking with her old friend, someone she knew before she ascended the power structure of her people.  I also like, in the context of the rapidly declining world we live in, both Delenn admitting to some regrets, and her poet friend quietly asserting that she would not be anything else.  Shaal Mayan played by Nancy Lee Grahn is certainly an idealized version of a writer, written by a writer, but I like it. 

This nice moment gets followed by an ugly attack on Mayan, complete with a branding and a warning to stay away from Earth. The camera lingers on her as she passes out, and we zip off to the credits.

The return shows angry Delenn, which is something Mira Furlan does well.  Angry Delenn will eventually deliver some fan favorite moments as the seasons go on.  She dresses down Garibaldi and Sinclair, dismissing their promises and “I told you sos”.  It sometimes feels like when Delenn is in ambassador mode she comes off as somewhat more meek, but here the character really comes across as one of the nine most powerful people from her world. 

Garibaldi briefs Sinclair on the fact that attacks like this one are spreading across the Earth Alliance, with evidence pointing towards a domestic terrorist group called Home Guard.  Sinclair objects to calling them pro-Earth angrily dismissing them as hate groups. Sinclair wants them all gone, but Garibaldi points out that there are too many people that either agree or don’t care. Which hits a little close to home these days.  G’Kar promises bloody retribution if his people are harmed, which in the early 90’s was probably meant to make him look unsympathetic but seems kind of nice in 2025.

Garibaldi goes through the standard cop routine with Mayan, which seems silly since he was just talking about it being the work of a terrorist group a minute earlier. She is pretty dismissive of his efforts, and you can’t blame her.  Franklin is somewhat more helpful, offering to remove the brand, which she rejects preferring to keep it. 

Meanwhile Ivanova and Garibaldi argue over who is going to take custody of some stowaways, kicking off the B plot of the episode.  Garibaldi has a fun moment where he threatens to destroy Ivanova’s illegal coffee plants in order to force her to take the job.  The two Centauri played by Kiron Maray, and Danica McKellar demand to see Ambassador Cotto, and the commotion attracts the attention of an old friend of Ivanova’s, Malcolm Biggs, played by Tristan Rogers. Ivanova is coldly dismissive, which is her standard move. Malcolm eventually tracks her down at a bar, and she receives him a little more warmly.  Apparently they used to be a couple, and he is keen to reconnect.  Ivanova shuts him down again, but leaves the door open. Later she receives an anonymous rose and smiles about it. 

We jump to Vir trying to explain to his cousin that he lied about his position.  Londo arrives, does some complaining and Sinclair is happy to dump the whole mess into his lap.  The two are young lovers who are fleeing arranged marriages, but Londo is enough of a traditionalist that he does not even see a problem with either of the arrangements.  Londo explains to them, and us, that a system of arranged marriages is a thousand year old tradition that is primarily done to increase the stability of their society by merging noble houses together.  He illustrates his point by showing off his three marriages, all arranged, and all unhappy. Describing them as sacrifices for the good of the Republic is not a great selling point, but he views it as part of being Centauri. His overt rejection of love is pretty hypocritical given his love affair with Adira, but that also seems pretty standard in these kinds of conservative societies. 

Michael Paul Chan shows up as an incredibly racist, and incredibly chatty suspect in the Mayan attack.  Garibaldi finds cause to arrest him, but it is clear that he is the number one suspect.  Sinclair for some reason uses all of this as an excuse to go talk to Kosh.  Kosh is just casually hanging out and viewing all of human history, while claiming that he does not take interest in the affairs of others.  When questioned on it, he just shuts down, which is a cool trick I wish I could do in similar circumstances.  

Sinclair and Ivanova get a scene to info dump about things that happened in the pilot that most people didn’t see, mostly dealing with the plot to assassinate Kosh. The scene is a small nod to the continuity that the show would eventually be known for.

The various plots start to collide, after a quick scene of Vir pleading for the young lovers, and Londo dissing his wives to call them Pestilence, Famine, and Death and another with Ivanova and Malcolm having a nice dinner and talking about their past, we find the two young Centauri walking along.  I like the quick shot from above we get.  Due to the limitations of budget and technology we don’t get a ton of shots of the interior of the station but this is a pretty nice one.  The loveliness is broken up when black clad figures appear out of thin air and start attacking both of them.  In the struggle one the attackers is unmasked and in a bit of panic they shoot him and run off before Vir finds them. 

Franklin gives Garibaldi and Sinclair a quick rundown of the medical situation of both of the kids, before G’Kar interrupts them by trying to whip up an angry mob.  G’Kar is being presented here as unreasonable, but honestly he has no reason to trust the authorities, especially given his background as a resistance fighter.  Garibaldi breaks things up, but tensions are running high on the station.  Two Drazi ambush our hate group guy and give him a pretty vicious beating.

The fallout from the beating also interrupts Ivanova’s date (see what I mean about all the plot lines converging) and she has to rush off to meet with Garibaldi and Sinclair.  While that happens the Mayan and the Centauri discuss love in Medlab.  

Surprise surprise, Malcolm’s presence on the station and the presence of an elite hate group are not a coincidence. He outs himself to the recovering racist guy on video tape, which then gets shown to Ivanova.  They come up with a plan to catch the hate group, and Ivanova demands to be in on the takedown. 

Sinclair decides to be a dick in public to some aliens and Delenn at a reception in order to pique the interest of Malcolm in recruiting him.  I do like that the plan relies on the hate group being so eager to recruit him that they would stupidly believe anything.  Those kinds of people are usually pretty dumb and the show is not shy about showing Malcolm as being pretty gullible here.  Sinclair has a heart to heart with him about how much he hates aliens.  He quickly brings Sinclair and Ivanova into his confidence especially after Sinclair gives a public presentation to the council about closing the investigation. 

We get a quick sweet scene where Londo uses his extensive knowledge of Centauri traditions to arrange for the two Centauri to get a shot at love.  

After that quick pleasant scene, we hop back over to Sinclair and Ivanova getting to go to a secret meeting of the Alien Haters Club.  Once they arrive the AHC guys show off their impressive camouflage suits, and they imply they have powerful friends in the military and the government backing them up.  They announce their plan to kill all of the major ambassadors in the station all at once and ask for help getting away.  They drag out the recently arrived alien scientist and ask Sinclair to execute her as a loyalty test which combined with Garibaldi’s team running towards them sets off a pretty standard gun fight, which Ivanova and Sinclair win handily. 

The bad guys get perp walked out of the station in front of Delenn, Mayan, and G’Kar.  The aliens make some snide comments about humans having great hatreds, which is odd coming from the Minbari who nearly annihilated the human race out of anger, and G’Kar who wants to annihilate the Centauri race out of anger.  I kind of wish the show had underlined that point a bit more, but either JMS trusts his audience or they just didn’t want to explore that. 

Next week we will take on S1E8 And the Sky Full of Stars.  It is a full dive into Sinclair’s background, and one that begins to confront one of the Season 1 mysteries head on: “Why did the Minbari surrender at the Battle of the Line?”

As always a reminder that you can watch the episodes on Amazon Prime, and on Tubi which has the same amount of ads but is subscription free.

The Good

• We get some more of Ivanova’s backstory and we get to see the character with hair her literally and figuratively down which is nice, even if it ends in heartbreak.
• I mentioned it above, but I am always a big fan of steely Delenn and this episode delivers on that.
• The Centauri plot is pretty paint by numbers young star crossed lovers stuff, but I like how it reinforces Londo as a romantic at heart, and how it also shows Vir starting to assert himself more. 

The Bad

• The hate group doesn’t get much to do in the episode despite being it’s focus.  I know those kind of people are usually pretty dull in real life but it would have been nice if Malcolm could have pointed to something that turned him onto this.
• The show really puts Ivanova through the relationship wringer in this episode which is a shame for a character that is still pretty stiff. 
• Londo’s whole speech about the shoes being too tight, comes across as something that seems more profound if you don’t re-watch it, but the more you think about it the sillier it seems. 

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• Home Guard is name dropped here, and the fact that it has decent support is another worrying sign for Earth.
• Vir gets into this mess by essentially impersonating Londo.  He will learn from this and the next time he tries something like it he will just make up a fake Centauri.
• The bad guys plan to try and kill Kosh.  Given what we see of Vorlons later in the show, it would have been kind of funny to see them try. 
• G”Kar has a talent for speechifying and rabble rousing.  Here it is an annoyance to the main characters, but eventually it is something that comes in handy.