Babylon 5 had a decent stable of recurring characters, even if many of them meet grisly fates, and every season we can always look forward to the return of Bester.  Here he is even more welcome, as the show decides that we have had enough fun for the past few episodes.  Now it is time to sit down and eat our Byron and Lochley vegetables.  

The episode picks up from the previous one pretty much the next day.  Delenn approaches Lochley in the hallway in another attempt to make the character interesting.  Delenn lets her know that she knows the real reason Sheridan picked her and Lochley asks that it be kept a secret for now, so we know that it is going to come out pretty soon.   Especially when we see Garibaldi creeping around the corner, listening in on their conversation.   

Elsewhere Londo is gazing out at a newly arrived Centauri warship that has arrived. He sadly explains to Zack that one day, he will leave Babylon 5 and never be allowed to return.  Zack tries to cheer him up asking him to imagine what it will be like to be emperor, and Londo reveals that he will be Emperor Mollari II, as an ancestor of his had taken the throne, and ended badly.  He also references his future death, and indicates that he somehow knows that this is the start of the path that leads to that particular ending for him.  As they talk a minor accident happens in Babylon 5’s docking bays, and we hop on to credits.

Lochley inspects the damage and is informed that it will be nearly twelve hours until the main docking bay is repaired.  As she heads in, we check in on Lyta stealing a bunch of drugs from Medlab.  Franklin points out that the telepaths are welcome to come into Medlab, but she argues they wish to have more independence than that.  Franklin is a softie though and lets her leave with the drugs.  

She takes the drugs to Byron and begs him to take vitamins and get some rest.  He then talks about a past life as a copper smith and resting by a river.  The music and staging suggest that we are supposed to find this profound in some way.  Thankfully Lyta calls him out a little on refusing to actually give her an answer.  Thankfully everything gets interrupted by the arrival of a very SS coded team from Psi-Corps called a Bloodhound Unit.

Garibaldi finds out about Bester and rushes off to confront him where we find him having tea and telling jokes with Lochley.  Lochley jumps up to defend the Psicop punching Garibaldi and having him arrested and thrown in the brig without charge, though she has to threaten the security officers.  

Back down in Medlab Delenn and G’Kar are asking Franklin to take on a task of cataloging medical information from the different races.  Franklin excitedly agrees.  As Delenn and G’Kar leave G’Kar laments that he does not seem to have much to offer the ISA.

Lochley goes to see Sheridan who is pretty mad both at her cooperation with Bester,and her detainment of Garibaldi.  She shittily accuses him of not hearing her side of the cooperating with fascists debate.  She then points out that the telepaths are technically criminals in Earth, and thus she has to fully cooperate with the Psi-Corps in their capture and torture.  It is a weak argument, and a dumb one, as Sheridan could have fixed the situation through some other legal maneuvering.  He instead orders Lochley to find a way to avoid handing the telepaths over to Bester.  

The Centauri ship eventually gets tired of waiting on the docking bay and heads for home, but explodes as it tries to leave.  Lochley and Zack quickly figure out that Londo was the target for the bombing but as they discuss what to do, Lochley figures out that Garibaldi has looked at her personnel file and decides to address that first. 

While she is doing whatever it is that she is going to do, Bester and his group head down to look for Byron’s group, but get confronted by Lyta.  Lyta accidentally slips up and lets Bester realize that he is being jammed by her.  As they move to physically search the area, she telepathically slaps some of them.  Bester is unmoved, pointing out that all of this is taking its toll on Lyta and that she can’t keep it up. She threatens him, and he calmly explains that he will just come back with a force from station security in order to force their way past her.   

Lochley ignores all the serious business to go and rant at Garibaldi about how she has a good past with Bester and has no reason to curtail him.  Garibaldi questions her again on why she was chosen to run the station, and she accuses him of being too jaded.  She eventually breaks down and admits that she and Sheridan used to be married, and that is why Sheridan knows he can trust her despite her being on the other side of the civil war.  They end their cordial conversation with Lochley telling Garibaldi he has to stay in the brig.

Elsewhere on the station, security is doing a good job of rounding up the stray telepaths.  Lyta watches helplessly as Bester and Zack discuss what to do with the ones captured so far.  She eventually gets telepathically called by Byron to hide out in Down Below.  He tells her he is leaving, as his vow of non-violence means that they cannot fight back.  Lyta disagrees with this plan but he is not dissuaded.  

Lochley holds a briefing, where Zack reports that they have nearly rounded up all of the telepaths.  No one has any ideas on how to delay Bester and his people, until Franklin explains that he will be taking leave to study cross-species infections, inspiring Lochley to come up with a plan to save the telepaths.  

Delenn has a meeting with G’Kar where she proposes that he become Londo’s bodyguard, due to the frequency of attempts on his life.  G’Kar is skeptical until Delenn points out that he would be the first free Narn to attend the Centauri Royal Court, and that idea amuses him enough to agree. 

Lochley delivers that bad news to Bester that the telepaths must be quarantined for sixty days due to Earth regulations about diseases.  Bester accepts this, though he is very creepy towards Byron as he leaves and he extracts a promise from Lochley that the telepaths will not be allowed off station.  Lochley then lets Zack know that he can let all the telepaths go as soon as Bester and his people are off the station.  

Londo gets the bad news about G’Kar being his bodyguard, and the two head off, already arguing with each other.  As they leave Corwin and Lochley discuss the situation with Bester.  Lochley laments that they have only temporarily solved the telepath problem.  Her train of thought is interrupted when she remembers to have Garibaldi released.

For our final scene we get a somewhat cringy scene of the telepaths all singing together, completely surrounded by candles.  The candles are a bit strange as is the vocal singing from a group that is all about telepathic supremacy.  Lyta joins in with them, discarding her Psi-Corps badge to do so.  

The whole episode moves us along our plot tracks pretty well, with the main downside being that the show still feels like it is forcing these new unlikable characters on us.  Some of that is the acting, but a lot of it is the writing as well.  When Sheridan or Marcus were introduced as new main characters they were brought on fully.  Byron and Lochley feel like they were brought on just to generate some conflicts.  Next week we talk about the legacy of the Vorlons and some good old fashioned genocides in “Secrets of the Soul”. 

Where do I know them from?

• Not much in the way of new guest actors in this episode.

The Good

• The episode does a good job of showing why Lochley did not side with Sheridan in the war.  She is a stickler for the rules, and does not seem to mind if the rules lead to a horrific outcome as long as they are followed. 

The Bad

• Byron and Lochley have really worn out their welcome for me, and this is only episode 6 out of 22.  

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• Earth is aggressively reasserting their dominance over Babylon 5, which clashes somewhat with how the previous episode portrayed that.  
• G’Kar begins his relationship with Londo at the court, possibly taking us another step closer to Londo’s vision of the future.