Getting back to business as usual after the two-parter is going to involve dealing with the fallout from several revelations that have not yet been addressed. Kosh’s death, Franklin’s resignation, and the secret that telepaths can disrupt Shadow vessels. “Walkabout” manages to lay track for all three pretty quickly in a decently fun episode that has a bit of battle, and has a good story for G’Kar which I always appreciate. On the down side we have to deal with “Cultural Appropriation: The Religion” and a lackluster romance plot during the 44 minutes as well.
We kick things off with Londo throwing a tantrum about a Narn heavy cruiser helping out to protect Babylon 5, in a short fun scene with Garibaldi. Elsewhere Lyta arrives and searches for Dr. Franklin, and questions Dr. Hobbes about Kosh’s death. She is particularly interested if anyone was there or had spoken to him. This segues into the new Vorlon ambassador arriving and having a weird moment with Captain Sheridan, who happens to be walking on the outside of the station to relax. Like I said the episode very quickly moves to pick up all of the dangling plot threads.
G’Kar and Na’Kal share a meal of swedish meatballs, which are apparently a universal delicacy. They discuss that only about ten war ships from the Narn navy have survived the war, but his ship the G’Tok is one of the ones that is in the best shape, thanks to Captain Sheridan giving him shelter all the way back in “The Fall of Night”. He eagerly asks about striking back against the Centauri, and G’Kar insists that the time is not right, and the best thing they can do is protect Babylon 5.
Ivanova and Sheridan head down to the cargo bay to meet the new Vorlon ambassador, and they have a discussion about Franklin, and the fact that he has not been in or out of his quarters in days. The new ambassador looks positively sinister compared to Kosh, complete with a red light in place of Kosh’s green one. They have a quick discussion about keeping Kosh’s death a secret, and the new ambassador will pretend to be Kosh just in a new suit. The ambassador is as unhelpful as Kosh, insisting that he is Kosh and that all Vorlon are Kosh.
Garibaldi goes and confronts Franklin in plain clothes and Franklin explains that is religion Foundationism, borrowed the concept of a “walkabout” from Australia, and that he is walking until he finds himself. I like the concept of the Foundationists, a religion that was founded by people freaking out about aliens so they created one big Earth super religion to compete, but in practice they seem pretty dumb. Garibaldi is suitably dubious of the whole thing, good lapsed Catholic boy that he is, but it seems more like Franklin is in the throes of a breakdown rather than some kind of religious ritual.
New Kosh goes and examines the ruins of Kosh’s quarters, quickly finding evidence of the Shadows. He then runs into Lyta in the hall and begins choking her, showing us that he doesnt just look sinister. He is concerned that a part of Kosh may have been inside of her, but she manages to convince him to not only not kill her, but also to let her keep her job. Later she ends up sharing her reservations about the new ambassador with Sheridan, in the process she starts to realize that part of Kosh may be alive in Sheridan.
We touch back on Franklin’s plot as he ends up getting involved in a romance with a singer at a Down Below bar. She comes on to him pretty strong and he rolls with it, until she asks him to get her a powerful drug using his medical background. Later on she steals his ID and uses it to buy the drugs, but Franklin finds her passed out with the meds. Turns out she has a terminal illness, and the drugs would have helped her to continue to function. Franklin sees to it that she is given care and then just kind of wanders off to continue his walkabout.
Sheridan briefs the war council and some additional people, including even New Kosh in the background. He outlines their thoughts on a weakness in the Shadow ships, but G’Kar points out that his statement is full of equivocation, and Sheridan admits that they do not know anything for sure and that he would like a test. The war council is dubious, and they demand they he take additional ships with him, to which he reluctantly agrees. However not many races are interested in sending those ships. Delenn agrees right away, but G’Kar hesitates and only promises to discuss it with Na’Kal. Na’Kal shoots the idea down out of hand, citing the sheer power of the Shadow ships, and indicating a lack of concern for what happens to Sheridan.
We get one of my favorite scenes of the episode, when Garibaldi angrily wakes a sleeping G’Kar to give back the book of G’Quan, as he is disgusted that the Narn cruiser is still here. G’Kar weakly points out that Sheridan could be wrong and that Na’Kal does not want to go, and Garibaldi responds with a tirade about how it is not up to Na’Kal and how G’Kar needs to live up to his principles and make it happen. I confess righteously angry Garibaldi is one of my favorite modes of his, and Jerry Doyle for all of his weaknesses as an actor is able to sell it pretty well. This scene and the scene earlier in the season where he confronts the Night Watch members are some of his best.
Sheridan and Lyta fly off to confront the Shadows. On the way while they are making conversation, Lyta asks some questions to feel out whether Sheridan knows that a piece of Kosh is still in him. They get interrupted when Lennier finds a Shadow ship attack in progress and they jump in and intervene. Lyta attempts to jam the ship, and it does not go well, causing her to crumple in pain, as the Shadow ship begins heading their way. Lyta snaps out of it and gets mad enough to try again, and it works. The Shadow ship becomes frozen in place, though the effort causes Lyta to cry blood. They pour everything into the weapons and manage to kill the ship with the White Star.
Sheridan debriefs Lyta, and she reveals that the Shadow ship had sent off a distress call before they killed it and soon after four more Shadow ships arrive. The Minbari cruiser jumps in, using it’s telepaths to jam three of the Shadow ships, but the fourth slips through. Lyta is too worn out to help but at the last minute the Narn ship arrives and ambushes the Shadow ship, and with a little help from the White Star they manage to destroy it. G’Kar contacts them and it turns out he not only brought the G’Tok, but also rallied the other races to send a small fleet. The Shadow ships retreat, much to everyone’s astonishment.
We get a small scene at the end where Lyta confesses to New Kosh that someone may have a piece of Kosh, but she still holds back that it is Sheridan.
To be honest, this is a pretty standard episode of the show, not one of the greats but serviceable. After the entertaining time-travel hijinks of the last few episodes, this one does the grunt work of moving our plots ahead and it gives a tantalizing glimpse into a future where the fight can be taken to the Shadows, instead of their ships being signs of imminent doom.
Next week we get to another of the Season 3 episodes that is considered kind of weak, with “Grey 17 is Missing”. I consider it akin to “TKO” from Season 1, in that the B plot is interesting and character building, but it is saddled with an overtly silly and forgettable A plot.
Hard to say where you can find Babylon 5 at the moment, but I am continuing on with some pretty good quality downloads from Itunes that I made years ago.
Where do I know them from?
- Robin Sachs is back, having previously portrayed Na’Kal as well as a Grey Council member. I think we have done him before, but you can always err on the side of caution and point out that he is the nefarious Ethan Rayne in Buffy.
- Erica Gimpel plays Cailyn, and she has a very long resume of TV and movies. I have never really seen her in anything else, but she had a starring role on the 80’s show Fame.
The Good
- The scene between G’Kar and Garibaldi is great, and we get strong movement on all of the plotlines.
- I like in particular how the Shadow’s weakness to telepaths was foreshadowed enough times in the course of the show that it does not feel like it came out of left field just to give them a weakness.
The Bad
- The Franklin plot is not great, but at least the singer does not die to teach him a lesson about life or some such nonsense, even if she is never seen again.
Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)
- Later on we find out that the main reason that telepaths work against the Shadows is that the Vorlons created them to do just that. Another way that the “magic weapon” feels earned.
- Cailyn the singer gets mentioned once more when Marcus is looking through medical records in season 4.
- The new Kosh uses the same actor, but with a different digital process, so maybe it is true that they are all Kosh.
- The credits list New Kosh as Ulkesh, but the name is never used on screen and he will always be New Kosh to me.