A Distant Star is the first weak episode of Season 2 in my opinion. Though not as bad as the worst of Season 1 (looking at you Infection).  It represents the last of the “Sheridan settling in arc” and expands upon the universe in some fun ways, but it is hamstrung by being corny in a lot of ways, with much of the humor of the episode not landing well at all, and a weird repeat musical sting that gets a bit grating through repetition.  

The episode opens with that new piece of music and shows a jump gate being repaired.  A random captain played by Russ Tambyln orders a message sent to Babylon 5, and it turns out he is Captain Jack Maynard, an old friend of Sheridan’s, in command of a terribly named ship called the Cortez.  Sheridan comments that it is an explorer class ship just as it comes through the gate.  It is shown as being quite massive compared to other ships we have seen in the past, dwarfing the star furies that come out to meet it. 

The two old friends do some chatting, that ends with Maynard making an offhand comment that he never thought he would see Sheridan in a job quite like commanding Babylon 5.  They chat later and Maynard expands on his comment, mentioning that he thought Sheridan would be commanding his own explorer ship.  Sheridan gives a half-hearted defense of his new position but it is clear that the comments touch a nerve.  There is a later scene where he unloads all of his feelings at Ivanova and admits to being uncomfortable with his new duties. 

Later Maynard holds court at Earhart’s chatting with Sheridan, Ivanova, Keffer, and another pilot named Ray Galus played by Art Kimbro.  Maynard mentions that he has operated on the Rim for the last several years, and later lets Sheridan know about a mysterious alien ship that he saw while on a scouting run.  The description sounds similar to the ships of Londo’s “associates”.  

The very “B” B-plot kicks off with Franklin ordering Garibaldi to go on a special diet to help his recovery from his wounds.  Garibaldi objects and explains that he is soon going to be making his favorite dish of bagna cauda, an Italian fondue dish.  Franklin seems horrified by the list of ingredients and forbids Garibaldi from making it.  Franklin then explains he is going to do something similar to all the senior officers.  Garibaldi responds by scheming with a technician played by Miguel A. Nunez Jr. to secretly bring in the ingredients to his special meal.  Franklin meanwhile moves on to giving out diet items to Sheridan and Ivanova.  

The show takes a brief detour as well to show that the local Minbari are not happy with Delenn’s new appearance.  Honestly I think this would have been a better episode if they had cut more of the diet hijinks and focused more on this plot.  The random Minbari merchant questions Delenn, and she does not exactly handle it very well, being dismissive and obtuse.  Something that she is probably used to getting away with as a Grey Council member but not something that serves her well here. 

Maynard says goodbye and boards his ship with nearly 30 minutes of run time left in the episode so you know something bad is going to happen.  Shortly thereafter a random accident disables the ship and it begins drifting in hyperspace.  The show has not delved too deeply into what goes on in hyperspace before and this is presented as a deadly situation.  They send a spotty mayday that Babylon 5 picks up, and they spring into action.  They organize the pilots to try a unique rescue method, hoping to be the first group to successfully rescue a ship stranded in hyperspace.  Babylon 5’s fighters find the ship, but then Galus gets killed by one of the mysterious black spider looking ships and Keffer ends up getting knocked around and disabled.  He manages to point the way for the Cortez but gets left behind.  He watches the black ships come and go for a while before he realizes he can use them to figure out a route home.

We get a sweet ending to the B plot when Garibaldi explains that he makes bagna cauda on his birthday every year in honor of his late father.  Franklin relents on the diet, and he and Garibaldi share the meal.  Sheridan gets a good quiet scene with Delenn, lamenting the loss of his people during the rescue, but she makes him feel better about his position as Babylon 5’s commander.  Keffer makes it back and states his intention of finding out what it was exactly that killed his squadron commander.  The episode ends on a hopeful note as Sheridan realizes he does belong after all. 

Next week we get an episode that is more appropriate for Halloween with a ghostly monster let loose on the station, in “The Long Dark”.

As always, a reminder that you can watch the episodes on Tubi with ads.  It is apparently back on Amazon Prime, but Tubi is free and their ad breaks are smaller. 

The Good

• Sheridan finally feels established on Babylon 5.
• We get some nice backstory for Garibaldi that is not some kind of dark secret or tragedy so that is nice.
• I enjoy the show getting more creative with the outer space scenes.  More and more they are realizing they can do more with CG. 

The Bad

• Most of the humor is cringy stuff, and you could ditch 90% of Franklin’s health plot. The funny thing being that Richard Biggs was actually a health nut that was always after his cast mates to take better care of themselves. 
• No way around it, naming a peaceful exploration ship the Cortez is pretty fucked up. 
• I really liked the Delenn plot about her people beginning to doubt her, but I put it here because it deserved more than one quick scene. 

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• Now all the major characters are settled we can start a series of plots that begin to bring them all together in a conspiracy about the President.
• Hyperspace will get brought up a few times as a place that is inherently dangerous, even more so than space.  I kind of like the idea that most races really have only a vague idea of how it works, they are all just content to use it for their own ends. 
• Keffer’s obsession with the Shadow ships will eventually be his undoing, much to the delight of JMS. 
• Garibaldi’s obsession with Italian cuisine and good ingredients will surface again when he has to go toe to toe with the Earth Alliance Postal Service.