We come down from the delirious highs of “Severed Dreams” with a quieter episode that is all about immediate consequences, and how we move on while dealing with them. It makes sense that you cant do something as crazy as break away from Earth without there being pushback, but thankfully the crazed white human supremacists dont have a very well thought out plan. In the process we get to learn a little more about the characters, which is always a benefit of episodes that are not quite as frantic.
We get started with Ivanova shipping off the rest of the easily found Night Watch members, thankfully most of the morons had arm bands, but they do point out that Garibaldi is still diligently working to de-Nazify the station. The man strolls in and he has traded his cane from last episode in for a cast, and the three discuss how things are on the station. The three also discuss the problem of having a central computer that can be remote operated by a now hostile government. Garibaldi proposes a complete wipe and reboot, and just happens to have the codes required for this operation, even though he is not supposed to. Sheridan leaves this to Garibaldi and Ivanova, and then insists that he will do the rounds, to show people he is not afraid. This means of course we cut to him in the sights of a cheesy future sniper rifle.
Delenn gets a short scene with Lennier, and they discuss the Minbari fleet commander coming on board for a tour of the station. Delenn asks him how he feels about everything, and he answers from his faith pointing out that the prophecies he has studied predicted all of this and everything is as it should be. Delenn is more dubious, pointing out that prophecies are a poor guide, and pointing out that not all of them are pleasant predictions.
When we get back from opening credits the sniper is interrupted by his superior, he references the fact that they have a plan that does not include killing Sheridan, at least not yet.
Delenn meanwhile meets up with Marcus, and indicates that she wants to convene a rebirth ceremony to help people heal. Marcus points out that everyone has other ceremonies they may wish to do instead, and we cut to Sheridan and the rest of the command staff performing a burial at sea ceremony for the fallen from the recent battle. It is short and sweet, and it is another good way to give the previous episode’s battle some more weight.
Londo does not have a ceremony in mind, but he is certainly trying to get his people’s house in order. He has called our old sleazy friend Lord Refa to a meeting on the station. Refa is grumpy but accepts Londo’s offered drink. Londo launches into a list of complaints about recent decisions the government has made, and he orders Refa to undo them and to stop dealing with Mr. Morden. Refa smugly refuses, revealing that he hopes to use the chaos to one day claim the throne himself. That is when Londo drops his bombshell that the drink Refa is working on is poisoned. Londo has slipped him part one of a binary poison. If he does not cooperate Londo will see to it that someone will give him the second half of the poison. Couldnt happen to a nicer guy.
The silliest plot kicks off with the computer restarting, and in a scene that hits different these days, it restarts with an obnoxious AI personality that does not work right. The voice is resistant to commands, and even mocks Garibaldi’s injury. Eventually Garibaldi gets it sorted but not before shooting out a speaker with his gun in frustration.
Sheridan misses the computer fun, being pulled away by Delenn who outlines the ceremony she plans on having. She also mentions that she plans to include many of the station’s inhabitants. Delenn then decides to confront Marcus about his hesitancy concerning the ceremony, but he manages to evade her. She moves on to trying to recruit most of the main cast, but she keeps getting shut down ( I am a big fan of Londo’s asshole remark of “I intend to have other plans”). Even G’Kar cites being too busy. Marcus swings by to try and talk her out of it again, and she decides it is time to press on him some more. Marcus eventually reveals that he does not want to participate because he has nothing left to give up for it. Delenn points out that he could use the ceremony to give up his survivors guilt.
The main plot kicks into high gear with the Night Watch remnant discussing their plan to attack Delenn instead of Sheridan, in the hopes that this will cause the Minbari warships to depart, leaving the station vulnerable to another attack. The plan is as half baked as anything you would expect from these losers. The meeting ends with the creepy sniper talking about how he dismembered a Minbari prisoner during the war while keeping the guy alive. Everyone looks on and smiles, even when the guy breaks out into song to celebrate the idea that he will get to do it again. If the show needed us to be more against the Night Watch then it succeeded.
The plots collide when the Night Watch spring their trap, capturing Delenn, the Minbari captain and one of his officers. The command staff and Marcus gather as the ring leader, someone named Boggs, contacts them with their demands. They kill the wounded Minbari officer to show that they are serious. Marcus runs off in a fury, while the rest try to figure out how to trace the call. Marcus confronts some of the other folks that hang out in Down Below and proceeds to beat them all nearly to death to find any information about the kidnapping plot.
Delenn and the ship captain conspire in Minbari to escape, and creepy sniper reveals that he learned their language, mostly to help torture Minbari prisoners. He taunts them with the knowledge that no matter what happens he plans to kill them both. Delenn mocks him and his madness, leading him to go a bit crazy before being brought back down by Boggs.
Lennier comes across Marcus in the aftermath of his brawl, and starts asking questions about the rebirth ceremony. When Marcus questions him,he has a moment of incredible anger as he lifts Marcus up and very coldly reminds him that Minbari and Humans are not the same. Lennier breaks down a little and reveals as part of the ceremony that he is in love with Delenn. He insists that it is a pure love that Marcus could not understand and just typing that makes me wince at his profound naivete. They get interrupted by one of the mobsters waking and Marcus extracting some information from him.
Marcus reconvenes with the others just as Ivanova reveals that they have detected a noise in the video that puts it in Grey Sector. He supplies the level, and they find out that someone used Garibaldi’s authority to seal off a small section. Using this information Sheridan sets up a deception to get them to move the hostages, and then traps them on the move. After a brief shootout security gets the upper hand, but the creepy guy tries for to lob a throwing knife at Sheridan, and Delenn jumps in front of it. Sheridan chases the guy down and has a great cathartic beat down moment.
Delenn is confined to her bed in MedLab and so the command staff bring the rebirth ceremony to her. Each one gives up their Earthforce uniform and confesses a secret. Sheridan that he cares for Delenn more than he realized, Ivanova that she was in love with Talia, Garibaldi that he is afraid all the time of his alcoholism, and Franklin that he has a problem(with stims). Delenn manages to pull a fast one, anticipating the actions of the command staff, and she gifts them all new uniforms.
This is not exactly one of my favorite episodes, or one I revisit, but I think it is a pretty solid Babylon 5 episode. It leans heavily on the continuity aspect by immediately having the crew have to deal with the fallout of their actions in various ways, both silly in the case of the computer, and serious in terms of the Night Watch remnant. By embracing this messiness it delivered and episode that felt very real, a continuation of that effect from the previous three. Next week we get to go a little fanciful with an alien heavy plot where Vir does his best Oskar Schindler impersonation in “Sic Transit Vir”.
Where do I know them from?
- Boggs is played by Don Stroud, who showed up previously in the dreadful TKO from the first season. More recently he was the Sheriff that King Schultz kills in Django Unchained.
- Paul Perri plays the unhinged sniper and he also plays the creepy pro-Cylon activist in season 2 of Battlestar Galactica.
- Friend of JMS and consultant for the show Harlan Ellison plays the voice of the AI computer.
The Good
- Many of the characters get some quieter moments to advance their characters here, after the non stop action of the past several episodes.
- We get the new uniforms!
The Bad
- The Night Watch guys fall for the ruse awfully easily, but then again they probably would be that stupid.
- Lennier’s quick flash of disdain for humans was powerful, and something that I think could have been developed more as the seasons progress.
Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)
- JMS was interested in the idea of heroes dressed in black uniforms hence the change up here.
- Jerry Doyle broke his arm during the filming of the fight scenes in Severed Dreams, necessitating the quick change of injuries from one episode to the next. Oddly enough the AI line about him having a broken arm was written prior to this, and was not an improvisation, leading to some superstition amongst the cast any time JMS would write in injuries in future.
- Lennier will eventually betray Sheridan, and I feel like this episode shows that underneath his dutiful exterior he is seething with emotions.
- The station logo also has changed now, from an olive branch to a sword and shield, reflecting their new role in two wars.