With a title like “Interludes and Examinations” you would think that this would be a breather episode, or maybe a quieter one that sits with our characters.  Instead we get a major character death, a major development in the war against the Shadows, a big backslide for a character that had been making strides towards being better than they used to be and another character realizing that they weren’t doing as good as they thought they were and then crashing out hard. A slew of major changes to deal with, and only seven more episodes this season to go. 

The episode opens up a voice over from Ivanova and the situation is grim.  The Shadows are moving openly and kicking the absolute shit out of some of the smaller powers.  The chaos of the situation has caused gaps in B5’s security and Mr. Morden is able to slip on to the station by bribing and then murdering a security guard.  Franklin is clearly not handling the stress well, and even Kosh is avoiding going out in public. 

Londo meanwhile is excitedly getting new clothes and commanding Vir to rent a suite and fill it with flowers.  Turns out that Adira, the woman he fell in love with in Season 1 is returning to the station and Londo is elated.  Vir is happy for Londo and it is all around sweet.  Uh oh.

Sheridan calls a meeting with two of the ambassadors, trying to get a handle on the Shadow incursion.  The Brakiri ambassador admits that their military is hopelessly outclassed, partially due to the loss of many of their ships fighting their own war against their neighbors before the Shadows attacked.  Sheridan acknowledges that the Shadows put many worlds in the same position over the past two years, even if he does not understand what the Shadows want.  Sheridan then turns to the ambassador from the Gaim, to see if they can help, and they reject the idea out of hand, citing the fact that they have gone unnoticed and the fact that no one has the strength to actually stop the Shadows. 

Things are also hopping in Medlab, where Franklin and another doctor are arguing over the treatment of an alien patient.  As their disagreement continues Garibaldi rushes in with a wounded security guard, and while he is dealing with that he makes a minor mistake that almost kills his first patient.  That part is not what ends up worrying Garbalidi.  It is Franklin’s reaction, denying any wrongdoing and throwing a full on tantrum in the middle of Medlab over the situation.  You can clearly see that Garibaldi’s hairs are up on this one.  

Londo reclines in his quarters for a while, having black and white flashbacks to his time with his beloved, a rare example of the show holding the audiences hand about something that happened in a previous episode.  His reveries are interrupted by business and while he is walking to some appointment we get a creepy encounter with Mr. Morden, after all the lights go out, bathing the corridor in well, shadows. As well as creepy red light.   Morden is upset about Londo interfering with his arrangements with Refa, but Londo is unimpressed with Morden or his threats.  As he leaves a Shadow whispers something into Morden’s ear, but whatever it is he disagrees, ominously telling his invisible friend that there are other ways.  

Garibaldi goes to visit Stephen after he gets off work, only to find the doctor preparing to go take an extra shift, insisting that he can handle it. Michael stops him, and points out how he has begun coming apart.  The doctor does not handle the conversation well, and explodes.  Garibaldi leaves, promising that he will have to keep looking into things.  He promptly goes to Dr. Hobbs and starts asking about toxicology samples that are collected on all of the doctors and how he can gain access. The doctor is unable to help him due to ethical concerns, but she is sympathetic to Garibaldi’s mission of trying to find out what is going on without harming Franklin or his career. 

Sheridan and Delenn hang out in the new War Room and Sheridan lays out all of their problems if they hope to take on the Shadows.  His main problem is that he has no way of proving that he can even slow the Shadows down.  He laments that he needs at least one victory to show the other races that it is possible to fight back.  Delenn lets him know she has complete faith in him, and then he has a brainstorm to go and talk to Kosh.  

Vir busies himself arranging things for Adira’s visit, including lingerie and flowers much to his own discomfort.  Vir spys Morden in the market and tries to avoid him unsuccessfully.  Vir is even less afraid of Morden than Londo was and simply walks away from him.  Morden then goes to the merchant Vir was speaking with and weasels some information out of him.  

Garibaldi sneaks into Medlab and begins to retrieve the information from the computer before cancelling the procedure.  Franklin watches him do this and quietly confronts him.  Franklin admits that he figured out what Garibaldi had planned and had already performed some of the tests on his own blood, hoping to rub Garibaldi’s face in the fact that he was wrong about the doctor’s addiction.  The results though clearly indicated to him that he is hopelessly addicted to stims.  Garibaldi offers his help, but Franklin is unsure of where to go from here. 

Sheridan excitedly outlines his plan to have the Vorlons engage the Shadows in one small battle, just to prove to everyone that they are not invincible.  Kosh flatly refuses before explaining that the it is not his time.  Sheridan flies into a rage at the rejection, confronting Kosh about the last few years.  This manages to enrage the Vorlon to the point where he even begins attacking Sheridan.  Sheridan remains defiant, pointing out that between the Shadows and Earth’s government he has no reason to fear the Vorlon killing him.  Kosh eventually relents, but with a sadness letting Sheridan know that he wont be there for him in the future.

Kosh is as good as his word, and the next time the Shadows come out to beat up on the Brakiri the Vorlons send a small fleet to engage them.  It’s squids vs spiders and the squids carry the day, quickly destroying several Shadow ships and scattering the rest.  The Gaim and Brakiri ambassadors watch and it is clear that this will help both of them.  It is the rare moment of joy in this episode.

That joy is almost immediately stomped on as Londo waits at customs for his love that does not come.  Instead a stretcher with a body bag comes out, and Londo suspects poison.  We get another hand holding flashback to a few episodes ago, where Londo poisoned Refa causing his suspicion.  Londo is completely devastated by the death, openly sobbing in front of Vir.  Later we see Morden paying off the assassin, before he gets word of the Vorlon attack and springs into action.  While Sheridan sleeps, Morden and his Shadow associates break into Kosh’s quarters and attack him.  

While Kosh is fighting off the Shadows, he takes the time to project into Sheridan’s dream posing as his father.  He apologizes and lets him know that he was right, and not to blame himself.  He goes further to say that he knew Sheridan was right all along, but that he was afraid of the consequences of openly fighting the Shadows, implying that he knew they would kill him for this.  He finally dies and his death causes a wave of pure energy to erupt out of the station.  Garibaldi gives Sheridan and Delenn a rundown of the forensics, but he is stymied by the lack of a body.  Delenn and Sheridan assure him that they know Kosh is dead, and so does the Vorlon government which has sent instructions for Kosh’s remains. 

Londo gets the toxicology results back from Adira and he shares the information with Morden.  Morden is no dummy and he pins everything on Refa, as a way to get back in Londo’s good graces. He is back for sure, as Londo lets him know that he wants Morden and the Shadows to help him get revenge on Refa, and he does not much care what the consequences are for that help, as long as it does not directly affect the Centauri people. 

We also get one closing scene between Sheridan and Franklin.  Franklin has decided that he cant do his job and get clear of his addiction at the same time.  He resigns from his job, and insists that he needs the break to figure out who he is when he is not a doctor.  Sheridan is stunned but reluctantly lets him go.  

The final scene is Kosh’s living ship, that cannot live without him, taking all of his remains and flying itself into the nearest sun.  Taking him into the light.

This is one of the more momentous episodes from a character standpoint of the season, and we get many big changes one after the other.  This one also had a commentary track on the DVD set back in the day which was pretty fun to listen to as well.  The death of Kosh is pretty much inevitable, given the forms of the mentor having to die, and I think the show handles it well.

Next we get the return of an old character and the tying off of some heavy long term plot elements with the first installment of “War Without End”. 

As always the series is available to stream on Tubi for free, with ads.  

Where do I know them from?

• Jennifer Balgobin, playing Dr. Hobbs had a relatively quiet career, though she did get to appear in Contact as well as Space:Above and Beyond. 
• Jan Rabson the sleazy vendor is a prolific voice actor and has appeared in all of the Toy Story films. 

The Good

• Kosh’s death is handled well and is meaningful.  Like I mentioned above it kind of has to happen, but at least he gets to have one open and honest conversation with Sheridan before he goes.
• I enjoy the use of shadows in most of the scenes, as this episode certainly represents the low point for the characters in their fight against the Shadows. 

The Bad

• I was never a fan of Franklin’s drug plot, and having worked in substance use disorder programs, I feel like it is handled ok here, but that it is not particularly handled well in future.  

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• The Vorlon’s come riding to the rescue and it is portrayed as a good thing here, but without Kosh around they are going to quickly morph into something else.
• Londo gets dragged back into the fold pretty quickly and his feud with Refa will have unintended consequences. 
• Kosh being inside of Sheridan’s mind at the moment of his death will also have consequences, though it seems clear that Kosh may have done it on purpose.  I guess there is nothing like pulling one over on the younger races one last time. He truly was in it for love of the game.