As I say in every season when we get to this point, each season has a name.  Signs and Portents, The Coming of Shadows, Point of No Return, and now No Surrender, No Retreat.  Each of the seasons has one episode that shares its name.  In season 1, it was episode thirteen, in 2 and 3 it was episode nine.  For season 4 we had to wait all the way until episode 15 to get to this point, but the episode is well worth the wait.  We get some definitive movement on the Earth Civil War plot, and we at long last get some good scenes with Londo and G’Kar, two characters who have been largely absent.  We also get probably one of the best space battles to ever show up on television.

We start out with martial music and an angry voice over from Sheridan.  He and Ivanova call an emergency meeting of all the various ambassadors to announce that they are going on the offensive against Earth and would like all the governments to renounce any mutual defense treaties they have with the Earth Alliance.  They get vigorous support from G’Kar and no one really objects.  With that the campaign against Earth can proceed. 

After credits, we see Marcus darting into the war room with fresh intelligence.  He reports that six EarthForce destroyers have blockaded Proxima III by positioning themselves to cover both the planet and the local jumpgate.  Marcus also is able to identify the ships and their captains, including the two ships that killed the civilians.  Sheridan tasks Marcus with finding out if any of the ships avoided firing on civilians and the ranger rushes off to complete this new mission.  Sheridan also asks Franklin to begin working on making the frozen telepaths mobile.  He and Ivanova discuss the situation some more, and Sheridan is blunt that he hopes to overwhelm the enemy ships and force their surrender, but that if they dont they will have to be destroyed. 

We get a short scene between Vir and Garibaldi, where Vir questions Garibaldi on why he is not helping with the move to liberate Earth. Garibaldi gives a weak answer about fighting in his own way and leaves it at that.  

We get another scene in the war room, showing some more of Sheridan’s preparations.  He sends some White Stars on a fake run at Earth, hoping to pull ships back toward Earth while they hit Proxima.  At every stage Sheridan is making logical and intelligent moves to set the battle up so that he has every possible advantage.

Marcus meanwhile manages to talk with the resistance on Proxima gaining more information on the EarthForce blockade force, and the resistance also plead with Marcus that whatever is going to happen had better happen soon.

While the Earth characters are scrambling around Londo is busy doing some supportive things on his own.  He arranges to meet G’Kar at his quarters, and the Narn takes some pleasure in being irritating to Londo.  G’Kar and Londo quickly fall into sniping at each other before Londo pulls back and tries to get to the point.  He offers G’Kar a drink and a proposal.  He is planning on having his government take Sheridan’s side in the war, and he wants the Narn Regime to join him in issuing a joint statement indicating both of their government’s support.  G’Kar rejects the drink and tells Londo to leave without discussing his proposal.

Sheridan assembles the Rangers and his pilots for their final mission briefing outlining the plan to separate the ships and surround them, hoping to force a surrender.  He acknowledges the difference between what they are doing and the fights they had defending themselves from Earth in the previous season.  We also get to see the detail that Sheridan has given his personal White Star a paint upgrade to let everyone know which ship is his. 

Sheridan sends in his first three White Stars and we switch to the EarthForce perspective.  They detect the ships jumping in on the far side of the planet and send two of the ships, the Pollux and the Nemesis.  Sheridan is caught off guard that it is not both of the most hostile ships.  However he moves forward with his plan and sends another wave of ships in reminds everyone to not push the EarthForce ships into a corner.  The second wave heads in, alerting the enemy to the fact that this attack is coming from Sheridan.  The EA forces maintain their split, and then receive Sheridan’s message, revealing the third force of ships coming in from the jump gate, completing the trap.

Sheridan implores the ships to surrender or to abandon their blockade and retreat.  The fleet commander orders everyone into the attack, this is when Captain MacDougan of the Vesta chimes in and tries to talk Sheridan out of the attack.  The two argue the morality of the orders over the radio before an irritated Captain Hall orders everyone to open fire on Sheridan’s forces and the battle begins in earnest. 

Captain Hall on the Heracles quickly realizes that the Vesta is not assisting him, and Mackie announces that his ship cannot support illegal orders.  Hall pivots right away and orders the ships XO to take command.  

Sheridan tries something bold and tries to feel out The Furies heading straight at them and broadcasting their peaceful intentions, offering them the chance to avoid the fight as long as they don’t shoot them.  This works out but the Vesta comes about and attacks. Sheridan hesitates to fight back against his old friend’s ship, but luckily the crew mutiny against the XO and put the captain back in charge.  The situation quickly turns against the Earth forces, as both the Vesta and The Furies are standing down and Juno runs away.  That leaves Nemesis, Heracles and Pollux to face the Babylon 5 fleet alone. 

Things quickly get even worse for the Earth fleet, as Pollux is fully destroyed by a collision with a White Star.  Shortly afterwards Nemesis surrenders and then everything is down to Heracles.  The captain dithers about surrendering, fearing the results of a tribunal for slaughtering civilians he wishes to go down fighting and his first officer relieves him of command and gives up the fight. 

Sheridan feels ambivalent about the victory, worrying over the amount of dead on both sides, but he quickly moves on to meeting with the surviving captains to appeal to them to join the fight against President Clark. He offers them three options depending on their comfort level.  Flee back to Earth controlled space, stay and help guard Proxima 3, or to come with him and liberate more colonies.  The officers then debate the meaning of their oaths.  They swore an oath to protect and defend the Earth Alliance, as much as they swore to obey the President, and Sheridan argues that the first part is far more important than the second, even if some of the assembled officers dont seem as sure about that.  He also lets them know his ultimate plan is to rally enough Earth ships to win the war and then turn the whole mess over to the voters.

Back on Babylon 5, in a lovely moment of thawing relations, G’Kar meets Londo at the bar, orders a drink on Londo’s tab, and announces that he will sign the joint statement, but not on the same page.  Londo is smart enough to graciously accept this victory and not argue the point.

MacDugan comes to Sheridan with the results of the deliberations.  One ship will retreat and stay out of the war, one will stay to help defend Proxima 3, and two others are going to join Sheridan’s rebel fleet, which in a nod to Season 3 we see includes the Alexander. We end with Ivanova announcing the results on her show, and Garibaldi leaving the station to head to Mars. 

I really enjoy this battle episode for a few reasons.  I like that we get to see the preparations and the strategy that Sheridan employs, and I like that it is communicated very clearly to the audience.  I also like that unlike previous fights against Earth, we get the perspective of the enemy ships, since Sheridan is emphasizing that he does not want them to be the enemy.  This personalization is helpful and something that was lacking in most of the fights preceding it.  This episode is a great high, though we have to come down a little next week for more of the Garibaldi intrigue in “The Exercise of Vital Powers”.

Where do I know them from?

• Ken Jenkins as Captain Hall, is of course Doctor Kelso from Scrubs.
• Richard Gant as Captain MacDougan is a long veteran of TV and film, however I remember distinctly seeing him in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
• Marcia Mitzman Gaven as Commander Levitt has not had a very long career, but she was the fill in to voice Helen Lovejoy, Maude Flanders, and Miss Hoover, for 11 episodes between 1999 and 2002 on The Simpsons.

The Good

• The pacing and staging of the fight against Earth are truly excellent.
• I also like how Sheridan appeals to his fellow officers using a realistic pitch, that is practical but also appeals to the idealism that the others may have once had. 

The Bad

• This is another where I got nothing, except for some shitty sound quality in some sections early on that I have heard in every version.

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• The Earth Civil War kicks into high gear, but in a very restrained way, with Sheridan just as concerned about building a large base of support as he is in winning outright victories.  Already thinking about how to win the peace before he has won the war.
• JMS addressed one of the nerdy complaints about this episode in a way that dovetails with my first bullet.  The White Stars could absolutely annihilate the Earth ships with little difficulty, but Sheridan is trying to avoid a massacre which makes the fight more even.
• G’Kar and Londo are on their way toward a relationship that is one of my favorite pairings.
• A lack of Delenn is glaring in this one, but timeline wise you could argue that she is still not done cleaning up Minbar.  Also Sheridan may be smart enough to not have Delenn associated with attacking Earth forces.