Dust to Dust

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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This episode is so intense it almost hurts to watch, but it is QUITE good.
"Dust" was first MENTIONED on the show WAAAAAY back, but was not explained until now. I remember Garibaldi complaining about "dust traffickers" way back in an early Season One episode! Gotta love it...
"Dust to Dust" technically has two plotlines, but since they are so closely interwoven, I will review the episode in one piece.
We start with the first OPEN bit of opposition to President Clark by our good guys as Sheridan supports a shopkeeper's right to keep an extremely anti-Clark poster up on his wall. Until now, all of Sheridan and the other's beef against Clark has been kept secret. Now he's supporting those who hate Clark in front of Nightwatch people. Will this cause trouble for our heroes later on?
Probably.
But this episode is REALLY about G'Kar's turning point.
Let's address the telepath/drug part first. Ivanova's "favourite person in the whole universe", Mr. Alfred Bester, Psi Cop, shows up on the station with his usual story of how someone very dangerous to Earth, the station, and Psi Corps ("Well, that's TWO legitimate concerns" says Ivanova) is loose on the station and MUST be stopped. Except for ONE little difference:
This time, it happens to be the TRUTH.
The scene where Ivanova ALMOST blows up his ship before he can dock but is stopped by Sheridan at the VERY last second is more than a bit chilling. I mean, I KNOW she hates telepaths really really bad but to see our Ivanova doing something that violent...premeditated...oooh...chills. "You have to learn to fight them without becoming them!" Sheridan tells her.
Bester is none too happy that the Captain is blocking him with a whole assortment of Minbari telepaths (if he scans them, he will find out about ALL their secret plans) but since Sheridan doesn't trust him as far as he can throw the STATION (Bester being TINY, and Sheridan being rather large, he could probably throw HIM pretty far...), he reluctantly agrees to let Dr. Franklin inject him with sleepers. Yes, the same drug that Ivanova's mother had to take all the time. The only alternative is to conduct his private business with the officers of the station in front of the Minbari teeps, SO...
This scene also tells us two more important things about Talia, offhandedly. She is now evidently dead--DISSECTED by the Corps!--and that Ivanova evidently really cared about her.
And so my favourite "classy dame" came to a HORRIBLE end...sigh...
Bester then explains what's going on. There is a very dangerous drug called "Dust" that activates the latent telepathic genes in normal Humans so that for a short time, they have VERY strong telepathic abilities and can rape someone's mind--experience their ENTIRE life within minutes. It's very intense and addictive. A normal victim usually recovers within days, but a telepathic victim NEVER recovers. Bester has reason to believe that someone on the station is trying to sell mass quantities of the stuff. Why? As a weapon, of course. And who would want a weapon that you can't see, hear, or trace...?
The camera cuts to...
G'KAR, who wants "dust" so he can hurt the Centauri's minds and figure out their secrets. He has hit bottom, he is desperate, and he is filled with NOTHING but hatred at this point. The man selling it to him, a slick and sleazy character named Lindstrom, warns him that it was meant for Human use only. While it CAN activate the telepath genes of almost any humanoid race, Narns don't HAVE telepaths, so if used on one of them, it could have nasty side-effects. G'Kar doesn't care; he purchases the drug anyway.
Somewhere around this time we have a scene where Londo is "negotiating" (read: threatening and demanding) with the Drazi Ambassador while Delenn and Lennier mediate, but even though he is at his most obnoxious and cold-blooded here, Vir sticks up for him anyway, still able to see the good inside. Awww....
Cut to Garibaldi, interrogating the main "fixer" of the station to find out who is dealing large amounts of dust and where they are. The rat won't talk until Bester pretends he can tell he's lying, upon which he breaks down and confesses about Lindstrom. Garibaldi turns to Bester after the guy leaves and says accusingly, "I thought you couldn't scan anybody!"
"I can't." smiles Bester. "But despite your Captain Sheridan's opinion of them, this badge and this uniform do have their...advantages."
"Like intimidation?" snarls Garibaldi.
"Absolutely!" says Bester, pounding the table and standing up. "Just like YOUR badge and YOUR uniform."
Ooooh...nice point. Low blow, but nice point...
Meanwhile, Londo is in his quarters, reading over Vir's report on Minbar before he sends it off to the offices on Centauri Prime. Vir is practically hopping up and down with impatience, reading it over his shoulder. "Well?" he demands, when Londo is finished.
"I have only seen one example of more extreme political naieveté." replies Londo. "That was when the Centaurum was addressed by a Lord Jano. We all thought he should be STERILIZED to protect evolution! But then, we remembered that he was married to Lady Arnos, so there was no need." He then goes on to completely twist around and manipulate EVERYTHING in Vir's report to make the Minbari sound dangerous and primitive. Buildings being thousands of years old--no new construction, low economy; they might become aggressive. Beautiful art, culture and philosophy means they are decadent and soft, etc. "They're a very spiritual people!" Vir yells in consternation. "You may leave that in," Londo assures him. "That always frightens people." And then...a VERY unwelcome visitor comes knocking.
G'Kar, his eyes dialated completely BLACK by the effects of dust, (same as what happens to Lyta when SHE goes into "enhanced telepathic mode", by the way) is having a REALLY bad trip. He storms into Londo's quarters, picks Vir up and tosses him like a rag doll, then moves in on Londo.
Back to "Bester and Garibaldi's Detective Agency", they finally track down the dust traffickers and catch them. There is a great line from Bester about piñatas and we do see that our heroes thought of G'Kar, but decided it was better to go straight to the source. Back to the real meat of the story.
A bleeding, beaten, pathetic, sobbing Londo is lying on the floor, desperately trying to talk the violently unstable G'Kar out of it, but of course it doesn't work and he rapes his mind.
I felt sorry for poor Londo, but that didn't stop this part from being fascinating. We learn some interesting stuff from G'Kar's journey to the center of Londo's mind (sorry, couldn't resist.) Such as how he only got his position on Babylon 5 because nobody else WANTED it! It's a JOKE to the people back home! (sniff.) Two observations here, one important and one not so much: A: This brings him closer to Vir, who ALSO got his position as a joke, and B: I notice that in the flashback, Londo is NOT wearing that huge spidery jewel insignia thingie that he wears ALL the time in the show's timeline. I used to think it might be the crest of House Mollari; now I think it must mean he's an Ambassador.
Enough of the fashion review, back to the real stuff--as G'Kar goes further and further into the confused and badly hurting Londo's mind, he finds out...ALL of it. EVERYTHING. His dream about the Shadows, becoming Emperor, and he and G'Kar strangling each other as old men--all of it. But worst of all--he sees ALL of his dealings with Morden.
"Why don't you destroy the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it?" "One thing at a time, Mr. Ambassador. One thing at a time..." And then the mass drivers moving in...
"YOU did it!!!" G'Kar screams. "YOU were at the center of it all!!!" He is about to completely rip Londo's mind apart, when he is stopped by...the voice of his FATHER?
G'Kar's father says that since the Narns and the Centauri are BOTH dying races (remember Kosh's line in "Midnight on the Firing Line"...?) then the least they can do is to die with dignity. It's a parallell of what Sheridan told Ivanova earlier--fight your enemy without BECOMING them. Then the glowing form of G'Lan flaps its wings and flies away before his eyes...
And G'Kar is broken out of the link, the drug worn off, on his knees, sobbing, while...KOSH glides quietly away.
KOSH? HE'S the one who made G'Kar see those things? Why?
From this moment forth, G'Kar is a very changed Narn. Gone is the angry strutting warrior or the proud resistance fighter; in his place now is a more spiritual man, at peace with himself and the universe. He smiles as Security takes him to the brig for his sentence of sixty days (I thought that purchasing an illegal substance, severely beating two people AND raping someone's mind would require a LARGER sentence than that, but hey...). He does not care about such petty problems now. Garibaldi offers to give him back the Book of G'Quan. "Keep it." says G'Kar. "I am now...somewhat closer to the source."
The episode is almost at its end with a very touching scene of Londo and Vir recovering together--covered in cuts, bruises, bandages, slings, etc., talking of Vir's position on Minbar. Londo is glad to hear that the Minbari evidently take Vir seriously. "Whatever happens, Vir," says Londo, "Promise you will never let them make a joke out of you."
Awwwww....
Just as things are getting warm and fuzzy, we have, at the very end, a scene where Bester, being escorted off the station, is met at the airlock by a redhaired lady Psi Cop (she was in an earlier episode, too, and is played by Walter Koenig's WIFE). They get into a casual conversation about how the PSI CORPS developed "dust" in the first place--so that all of this is HIS OWN PEOPLE'S FAULT!--and casually stroll away...

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