Lets get it out of the way at the start. I dont really care for Season 5 of Babylon 5. I am not alone in this. Most fans of the show feel that this is probably the weakest season, even wobblier than the first uncertain season. Cast shakeups, behind the scenes drug problems, as well as not enough coherent plot for 22 episodes will all plague this season. Even more problems arise just in the general feel of the filming and in the CGI. All of these changes were more or less outside the control of JMS and the other producers, as TNT came on scene and started making decisions. Still even amongst the problems there are still some decent episodes and at the very least we get to spend some more time with the characters we do like.
A note as of this writing I had to switch to Itunes episodes that I bought years ago, and I am unable to take screenshots due to disgusting DRM bullshit inherent in the platform. In future I may dig out my DVD copies.
The episode opens with the introduction of a character I do not like, Captain Elizabeth Lochley. She shows up, acts officious and pretends to be better and more knowledgeable than the longtime B5 staff. She also has an Earthforce uniform that is just plain the wrong shade of blue which always bothered me. Corwin does his best to brief her, but she pretty much runs right over him.
On Mars instead of checking in on Garibaldi we end up with a creepy assassin with a thing for musicboxes. He has captured a Ranger and explains to the man that he is going to kill him to send a message, and he even drapes a cardboard sign on the man’s corpse.
New credits! I think they may have been going for creating a sense of continuity, but for a long time fan it just reminds me that the really good seasons are all in the past.
Delenn and Sheridan get a cutesy domestic scene, talking about their day but Delenn questions Sheridan about wet socks in the bathroom. He tells a cringey military story about needing to have something to do when you get back otherwise you are courting death. Delenn teases him, before he is interrupted by the news that Lochley is onboard.
Sheridan goes to meet with her, and they indicate that they know each other. They have a quick conversation about why the hell an Earthforce officer has been brought in to command an independent station, which is essentially just papering over the plot hole that this involves. Lochley demands the authority to command the station completely, and Sheridan agrees. Lochley gets pulled away but before she leaves we get introduced to another thing I hate about her character, the ambiguity about what side she was on during the Earth Civil War.
Garibaldi is on the station, irritating the hell out of Zack, and they end up walking past our creepy assassin. Lochley and Corwin deal with the dead ranger that was brought along by the assassin and dumped just outside the station. As they ponder that situation someone manages to send a message to Sheridan’s quarters promising that he is a dead man.
Lochley decides that the dead Ranger is not too important and goes to lunch, where her irritating character is met with an even more irritating new character, Byron. Byron is an impossibly assholish telepath who likes spouting empty high minded language. He arranges a meeting with her later and then she is pulled to Franklin to talk about the autopsy.
We finally check in on a good character, as we see G’Kar struggling over his writing. Sheridan visits him, and they discuss names for a bit, before Sheridan asks G’Kar to turn his writing talents to creating an oath of office and a declaration of principles for the new alliance. G’Kar takes the job right away and kicks out Sheridan to get started.
Lochley goes to her meeting with Byron, where he introduces her to another half dozen telepaths that he has brought onto the station. Lochley then shows that she brought security along as well. Byron explains that he and his telepaths are looking for a place to create a colony, before eventually leaving to create a telepaths only world somewhere in the galaxy. He introduces the others, including Simon a mute telepath that likes to communicate by sending images into people’s brains. Byron offers the services of the telepaths in exchange for room and board. She insists that they come to Medlab to be checked out.
Delenn meets with the Gaim ambassador, and the poor newbie is swiftly murdered by the mystery assassin as Sheridan receives his death threats from the same man. The killer rambles on about how presidents that preside over wars deserve to die for it, and he blames Sheridan for the Earth Civil War.
Franklin examines Simon and indicates that he can speak just chooses not to. Simon projects a scene into his head. He gets distracted for a minute and the telepaths vanish as he gets pulled into a meeting about the impending plot against the Captain. Delenn, Londo, Garibaldi, and G’Kar are worried for his safety but Sheridan is determined to not live differently due to the threats. Lochley backs him up and urges him to go with the ceremony. Garibaldi takes off after her to confront her, and she is immediately dismissive and rude towards him, sneeringly calling him a consultant.
Simon tunnel rat telepath ends up crawling through the ducts, before being attracted to the sound of the assassin’s music box. He scans the man and sees his plan to sneak into the inauguration with the Gaim ambassadors environmental suit and kill Sheridan. He accidentally bumps his head at the revelation and ends up getting shot for it. Simon survives the shooting and begins crawling away.
At the inauguration security is in full force. Garibaldi meanwhile is running down the identity of the assassin by analyzing the voice message. He lets Zack know the man’s identity, John Clemmons an Earthforce officer that was in charge of an Earth colony world’s version of Gitmo. He was a dedicated Clark supporter who is wanted for murder and torture. We of course see that he is already inside the inauguration area. Before Clemmons can strike, Simon stumbles in and sends everyone Clemmon’s plan. Security starts a gunfight but he quickly takes a hostage and runs off. Sheridan resolves to continue the ceremony in a different part of the station.
Clemmons is resourceful enough to beat up a Starfury pilot and steal his ship. Luckily for him the ceremony has been moved to the observation dome, the one part of the station most at risk from a Starfury. Unluckily for him Garibaldi figures out his plan and goes to intercept him. G’Kar explains the principles and talks about the freedoms of the new alliance. He is just about to administer the oath when the Starfury appears out the window. Clemmons threatens Sheridan for a bit but the delay is long enough for Garibaldi to sneak up behind him, grapple and then throw him out to where the defense grid can kill him. G’Kar, fed up with his ceremony being ruined, comes back in and asks Sheridan if he wants to be president, and then just has him put his hand on the book and say “I do”.
Sheridan’s first presidential act is to call Byron to a meeting. Sheridan offers his condolences to Byron on the loss of Simon and then offers them the colony they wanted on Babylon 5. Sheridan explains to Franklin that he thinks in the event of a Telepath War it couldn’t hurt to have some friendly telepaths that are not members of Psi-Corps.
Garibaldi gets a scene to bother Lochley again, letting her know that he has been appointed head of covert intelligence for the Interstellar Alliance and that means he will be involved with meetings going forward. Garibaldi also brings up the fact that Lochley has not shared which side she was on. She gives a bullshit evasive answer that 100% reads as her being on the side of Clark.
Overall a decent business like episode with some fun action bits, that is let down by two incredibly grating characters that get shoved into the mix so that new plot lines can begin. Season 5 has many shameful episodes to come, but this one at least is not the worst. Next week we tackle “The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari” which I quite like to be honest.
Where do I know them from?
- Tracy Scoggins as Capt Elizabeth Lochley, I know best from her time as Cat Grant on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
- Anthony Crivello as John Clemmons, I honestly dont remember from anything else, but IMDB tells me he has guest starred on a lot of shows, including an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
- Robin Atkin Downes, as Byron the asshole, has had a long and prolific career as a voice actor. Chances are if the character is British it was him, though I most recently saw him in Star Trek:Lower Decks voicing a Klingon officer.
- Trevor Eyster, as Simon, was a regular on Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts playing Sponge Harris.
The Good
- It was fun to see G’Kar go full insane writer, and it was nice to see Sheridan try to start the alliance with some principles.
The Bad
- Byron and Lochley both in the same episode is too much too soon. Tracy Scoggins feels like she is just trying to play Ivanova, but dumber and more cryptic.
Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)
- In terms of arc we get several mysteries set up to try and make Lochley an interesting character but they fail. Her cutesy faux-mysterious answers on which side of the Civil War she fought on would probably land better if the war had not only been over for like a week. We also get the mystery of how she knows Sheridan which is possibly even dumber.
- Garibaldi’s long season arc starts here with barely a ripple but will have terrible consequences for him.
- Byron is here, to show that even if a telepath is not in the Psi-Corps he can be a supercilious, bigoted asshole in every interaction he has with regular people.
- We will also sadly start to see less and less of Jeff Conway this season as his substance use disorder took hold of him again.