After a short recap, we drop right back into the action, and it turns out the large mysterious ship from the cliffhanger in the first episode is an Earth Alliance warship, the EAS Hyperion. Captain Ellis Pierce, played by Ron Canada,  quickly responds to Garibaldi’s confused greeting and lets him know that he has been sent by Earth to take control of the situation.  

During the credits, Sinclair and Ivanova make it back with their guest, dropping him off with Dr. Franklin, before confronting Pierce.  I have always been curious about Ron Canada’s casting.  Not that I have anything against the actor, but based on how poorly his costume fits I feel like he might have been a last minute substitution.  In any case he lays down the law to Sinclair, insisting that other races will soon find out what is on the planet and Earth wants to make sure that it is in their control when that happens.  Sinclair bristles at Pierce’s philosophy, and we are off to a rocky start, which seems to happen any time other Earth Alliance officers show up to Babylon 5. 

We then get a little casual police brutality out of Garibaldi.  A loud mouth in the bar is a little too excited to see Earth cracking down on Mars, and Garibaldi takes it personally enough to attack him, while in uniform no less.  Policing really did transition fully into the future.  

Sinclair begins his scheming on how to get rid of Pierce and the Hyperion, but his normal ally Senator Hidoshi, is no help.  Between the government’s obsession with acquiring advanced technology after nearly being exterminated by the Minbari, and the crisis on Mars, there is not much that anyone can or will do for Babylon 5. 

The commander has to bounce from that situation to a new one courtesy of Pierce.  The captain has sent an expedition towards the planet that got turned away by an even more hostile defence system. Sinclair bluffs by claiming that they have a jamming device that is the only way to get to the planet and Pierce backs off.  Ivanova then delivers more bad news, the latest landing attempt has destabilized the planet further and there is a danger of it breaking apart.  Not a problem for the Hyperion, but a major problem for the station. 

The command staff meet up to figure out a response.  They start planning evacuation, though Garibaldi points out there is no way to get everyone off before the planet explodes.  Ivanova gets to be Russian about it, and say that she is used to hopeless situations.  As she leaves the meeting though she is accosted by Londo who has heard rumors about most of what has happened. Ivanova stonewalls him enough that he leaves frustrated. 

Sinclair confronts Garibaldi about him assaulting a civilian, but in a gentle way, and both arent so much concerned with the attack itself, but the fact that the civilian could have made a formal complaint and what it says about Garibaldi’s mental state.  Jerry Doyle gets to do his best to act concerned and anxious about his old girlfriend on Mars again. The scene gets somewhat better at the end with Sinclair making Garibaldi promise to get Ivanova off the station before it blows up.  Patronizing yes, but he does it out of a sense of concern for her and her future, and I have always thought it was a cool thing for him to arrange. 

The mysterious alien in medlab wakes up, and apparently is able to call out in some manner across the station to lure Draal to sickbay.  He and Delenn aren’t too weirded out by this, and just barge on in to medlab and speak to the patient, played by Curt Lowens, who confirms that the planet will explode if no one takes charge of it.  Sinclair and Ivanova digest this before being interrupted by Pierce who is sending another expedition.  Sinclair decides that he is through playing with that asshole and threatens to shoot down any ships approaching the surface.  Pierce backs down and the situation is calmed down for a moment before a mystery ship comes through the gate.

The new ship scans the station and the earth ship. When it opens communication Sinclair is shocked to see another alien like the one they have in medlab.  The new arrival claims that that he and his people have been searching for the planet for centuries and have responded to its distress signal. The alien rudely demands everyone leave in ten hours, to which Pierce responds that the alien has nine hours to withdraw.  Ivanova is unimpressed and declares it the worst case of testosterone poisoning she has ever seen. 

Varn ,the alien in medlab, tells Sinclair that the new arrivals are violent outcasts, and that the planet was deliberately hidden from them.  He begs Sinclair to not let them have it, before he passes out again.  

Delenn, Draal and Londo sit down and share their information about the situation.  The three quickly come to the conclusion that they need to take Varn back down to the planet, and that one of them will have to take his place in the machine.  They quickly break out Varn and head to the planet, pursued by Garibaldi.  The alien ship is outraged by this and starts shooting, while the Hyperion and the station return fire. 

The battle sequences are pretty good here, showing a growing confidence in terms of staging and inventiveness.  This far along it seems like the show is finally realizing that they can do practically anything with computer models, including things that would be difficult to do with physical models. 

Garibaldi catches up with the others, and Draal reveals that he as the guest star is the logical choice to go into the machine.  He gets plugged in and lets everyone know that the planet is now off limits, as the technology is too powerful.  He also warns that the weapons systems are now fully powered and he will shoot down anyone attempting a landing.  The alien ship tries to test that out, and is quickly vaporized by a gigantic laser beam.

Down on the planet Varn promises to watch over Draal.  He lets Delenn know that once a person is integrated in the machine they can send their thoughts out and experience the galaxy.  Not a bad deal for Draal’s retirement.

Garibaldi finally gets his phone call to Mars, and manages to speak with his old girlfriend Lise, playbed by Denise Gentile.  He is relieved to see that she is ok.  He is less relieved to hear that she is now married to someone else and that there is no hope of reviving their relationship.  

The episode ends with a small chat between Garibaldi and Delenn, and they discuss the events on the planet, as Delenn looks out the window and says goodnight to Draal.  

Next week we get to the bottom of what exactly happened to Babylon 4(or do we?) with the excellent Babylon Squared.  

As always, a reminder that you can watch the episodes on Tubi with ads.

The Good

• A good solid movie length scifi story that manages to tie everything up pretty neatly. I can see why this one would have appealed to the VHS market.
• Londo gets a chance to be the hero which is rare for him.  
• Ron Canada, despite my suspicions about his casting, is a pretty good minor antagonist in this one.  I think most of his actions are pretty well written for a captain that resents having to negotiate with a lower ranking officer over a situation. 

The Bad

• Jerry Doyle is given some more heavy emotional lifting that he is not up for.
• Garibaldi’s police brutality is papered over pretty quickly, as just one of those things which is kind of gross. 

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• The great machine is set up as something that will come back and it does, though usually only to cause trouble.
• In a bit of casting shuffling John Schuck will get to step into the Draal role while Louis Turenne will come back as a new recurring character in Season 3. 
• JMS’s notes indicate that the Hyperion is a rarity in Earth Force, an Earth warship that survived the Earth-Minbari war.  In Season 2 we get a lot of close looks at the next generation of ships which are more impressive. 
• Delenn mentions that she now owes Londo a favor, one that he will use on Vir’s behalf in Season 3, when Stephen Furst takes another job temporarily.