The Season 4 firehose of plot continues in “Moments of Transition”. We get forward movement with Garibaldi, a sad little plot for Lyta Alexander, and the conclusion of the already short Minbari Civil War storyline. All of which is the set up for a massive escalation in the Earth Civil War plot. Thankfully this is the last of the episodes between the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, and we get into series of episodes that feels like they flow at a better pace.
We start things off with Garibaldi’s mysterious employer, Mr.Edgars, waking him in the middle of the night. In true rich asshole fashion William Edgars does not care about the time difference and is calling to assign Garibaldi another smuggling gig. Elsewhere on the station, Sheridan is also awake, having trouble sleeping while communication with Minbar is impossible.
On Minbar the shimmering crystal city has been shattered, with fires raging and attacks occurring. Delenn and Lennier meet briefly, for Lennier to deliver the Warrior Caste’s demand for surrender.
Neroon strolls into the office of the leader of his caste. They celebrate the quick end of the war and trash talk the Religious Caste. Neroon points out that the cost of the war was high, but his superior brushes this aside. He also angrily brings up the war with Earth again, something that is a sore subject for the Warrior Caste even after more than ten years.
On the station Zack is just about to bust Garibaldi for his smuggling, when Bester arrives. Bester insists that he is there on private Psi-Corps business. He asserts that since Babylon 5 is claiming to be a free port then he is allowed to come on board to attend to things that have nothing to do with the command staff. Zack eventually runs Garibaldi down, and he plays dumb. He then plays offended when Zack indelicately questions why Edgars is employing Garibaldi.
Delenn eventually informs Lennier that she has convinced the rest of her caste to surrender to the warriors.
Bester’s private business ends up being Lyta. He lets her know that he knows she is having trouble making ends meet, and he offers a solution. He offers to place her name on the list of deep cover agents, instead of the rogue list. This would allow the Corps to vouch for her with employers. He only asks that she wear the uniform of gloves and the badge, and he also wants custody of her body once she dies. He whips out a Power of Attorney contract and even points out that he has added a clause that would make the whole thing null and void if she dies of anything other than natural causes. He puts his cards on the table, and admits he wants her corpse because the Vorlons managed to boost her ability and he is hoping that Psi-Corps scientists would be able to figure out how it works. Lyta turns him down flat, but he is undeterred.
Back on Minbar, Neroon is walking his leader Shakiri through his plan for the surrender. He brings up Delenn, and Shakiri bluntly admits that he plans to kill her before she can make it back to Babylon 5.
Zack has to go and let Lyta know that she is being evicted and moved to smaller quarters on the station since the Vorlons are no longer paying her bills. Zack also decides to ask her if would be willing to scan Garibaldi without his permission. He points out that Garibaldi has been acting strangely since he returned and he wants to get some idea if something is wrong. Lyta objects, on general moral grounds, and because Garibaldi is something of a friend.
Back in Garibaldi’s little corner he uses as an office a client is asking him to find his dog and cat, offering time and a half for Garibaldi to do so. The man insists that the two are planning on taking over the galaxy. As Garibaldi is still reeling from that, Lyta stops by to ask for a job. Bester swings by, drink in hand to bother them both. As he leaves he blatantly scans Garibaldi, which Lyta notices, causing Garibaldi to assault the Psi-Cop before being dragged away by security.
Delenn and Lennier arrive for the surrender ceremony, and Delenn hands Lennier some instructions for afterwards. Sharkiri lords over Delenn and triumphantly accepts her surrender using it to launch into a speech about rebuilding under his own leadership. Delenn insists that surrender does not mean giving up their right to form the government, and she reveals that this location has a mutual sacrifice weapon in it, where the clan with the better claim to leadership would prove it by sacrificing their leader to a kind of energy beam called the Starfire Wheel. She challenges Shakiri to step into the flames with her. He eventually steps in, after being shamed by Neroon, and then flees being killed by the device. It is then revealed that Neroon was in on this the whole time, but does not understand why Delenn is not also fleeing. He eventually realizes she will sacrifice herself so he ends up rescuing her and subjecting himself to the wheel. Before he dies he publicly converts to the Religious Caste, handing the victory to Delenn.
Garibaldi is woken up once more by his employer, who gets right to business and demands that Garibaldi fire Lyta immediately. Garibaldi is confused but Edgars insists and he breaks the bad news to Lyta, while Bester watches and monologues about his victory as Lyta turns to him in desperation. He also specifically mentions turning Garibaldi more against the station staff as another victory. .
Delenn, despite her victory is weary, but has one more chore to perform in order to tidy things up back home and she decides to go in a Marxist direction. She decides to reform the Grey Council, with two warriors and two religious members and then five from the Worker Caste, who had largely been forgotten in the civil war. Delenn decides that they should have the dominant voice as they tend to always get screwed over in disputes between the other castes.
On the station, Ivanova barges into Sheridan’s quarters ranting about something. She reveals that EarthForce ships jumped to Proxima 3 and destroyed several ships full of refugees, killing over 10,000 civilians. This is the last straw for the Captain, and he decides that working around the edges is no longer enough, and that he has to confront Clark and EarthForce head on, no matter the cost in blood on either side.
We finally are through with the housekeeping episodes that form the bridge between the two most important plot arcs of the season, and now we are at long last arrived at the fireworks factory. Next week we get to see perhaps the very best scifi space battle ever put on a small screen with “No Surrender, No Retreat”.
Where do I know them from?
- Bart McCarthy as Sharkiri is a TV veteran that I saw most recently on Children’s Hospital as Todd the Vagrant.
- Scott Adams shows up as the prospective client for Garibaldi, clearly discussing Dogbert and Catbert. A funnier cameo back before he lost his mind.
The Good
- I like that Neroon and Delenn scheme together to bring about the best end they could hope for in the civil war.
- Thus passes Neroon, always a dick, but always having that dickishness come from a genuine place which counts for something.
The Bad
- Clearly the Minbari Civil War deserved more than a glorified two-parter, but those are the Season 4 blues.
Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)
- Mira Furlan once again knocks it out of the park in some scenes that have to have hit very close to home for a woman that fled a civil war in her own country.
- Bester really aggressively shows off that he was the one that messed with Garibaldi, but Lyta does not make the connection sadly.
- Sheridan is fully galvanized and to his credit he does not waver from this energy.