The Face of the Enemy

And so, another great villian--two if you count Wade (and I do) bites the dust. My GODS, they're dropping like WORMS!

Reviewed by Veronica Grey, P10
Secret Psi Corps Research Facility, Mars

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"The Face of the Enemy" is a VERY hard-hitting, important, dark, and DEPRESSING episode that revolves almost entirely around telepaths, in a way. At least, they play an important role in both/all three (hard to tell exactly where two of them break off, if at all) plotlines. On the one hand, we have Franklin and Lyta arriving on Mars, on the other, we FINALLY get to find out exactly what DID happen to Mr. Garibaldi--but the price, the terrible, terrible price!
Oh, there I go again, quoting that strange half-Minbari woman...let's start off with the Mars plot, it's the simpler of the two:
Basically, what happens is that Franklin and Lyta make it to Mars with their "cargo"--the frozen telepaths. A whole BUNCH of 'em (maybe every one they've got.) Evidently Sheridan has some plans for them in an upcoming battle, one that does not make Franklin happy at all. What he has in mind, we'll have to wait a while longer to see. At any rate, Number One is NOT happy. Turns out that EarthGov has been using "bloodhound units"--Psi Corps operatives who do very, very deep scans on anyone even REMOTELY connected to the resistance. The scans can cause heart attacks, strokes, etc--there have been several deaths already. So needless to say she is NOT happy to see Lyta there, even if she isn't Corps. (You could practically FEEL the sparks coming off the two of them in that scene where they're eating dinner together with Franklin as a hapless buffer between them--it was like watching two angry cats go at each other.) When Lyta explains to Franklin why Number One is so mad, we also get to hear the REAL story of why she quit working with the Psi Cops for the first time--once, years ago, there was a murderer who was going after telepaths only, but they could not get the authorities to care about the problem enough to catch the guy. So they did all kinds of illegal deep scans on suspects until they found the guy. When they did, they implanted images in his mind so horrible that he spends all his days and nights screaming in an institution at things only he can see, and he has to be restrained at all times or else he'd claw his own eyes out to make it stop.
SHUDDER!!!
Just yet another reason to stay the hell away from Psi Cops...
Now, let's move on to the main plotline. We start with our heroes, Sheridan and company, in hyperspace on their way towards Mars. They are approached by the Agamemmnon, because they want to join their forces (I don't care if it IS his own ship, I would have been a little suspicious anyway--the line about "We've been chasing after you for weeks now!" sounded kinda ominous, especially) and Sheridan gets the news that his father has been captured, so he goes off to Mars and leaves the fleet in the hands of Ivanova. Delenn and Lennier are given charge of the station (which shows you how far we've come; from fighting Minbari to putting them in charge in your abscence. the same way you would any other friend!) The fleet continues on towards Earth.
Back to Sheridan, but first, we need to check in with Mr. Garibaldi. He goes ahead and sets up Sheridan just like Edgars told him to, but it's obvious he doesn't like it, even underneath all the programming. As he goes out the door, Edgars tells him that what he's doing will benefit humanity, and maybe in time Sheridan will even forgive him when he realises that his capture actually helped defeat Clark. "Maybe," says Garibaldi, "but it seems to me, the last guy who did this was paid 30 silver pieces for the job." Oh, VERY nice reference. I'm not religious but even I got that one. And having Garibaldi himself be the one to say it was a very nice touch.
So Garibaldi meets Sheridan in the funky dive bar where he was told to come, and right after he puts the tranquiliser tab on Sheridan's hand--he tells him it's a trap. Now, he's already drugged his friend so he can't escape, but the one last shred of the real Garibaldi inside tries to help Sheridan a little bit at the last by warning him that if he fights he'll only be hurt worse. Oh, geez...
What follows is one of the most creepy, artsy, and BIZZARRE sequences of Babylon 5. No matter HOW many times Straczynski says he was NOT thinking of MTV when he wrote this scene, I'm sorry, but it TOTALLY looks like a music video. Sheridan attempts to fight his way free even while under the influence of the drug, and the end result is a STRANGE scene with slow-motion, strange angles, stark, strange, jumpy editing galore, flashing lights, black-and-white, weird looming faces, and jumbled, chopped-up images of violence, all set to the beat of strange, eerie, loud, techno music. VERY MTV! And in the background--Garibaldi's guilt-stricken face, lit in sharp relief by lighting (or something) flashes against the black backdrop...all alone, in the corner...
Another scene in which Babylon 5 attempts to wed its music to its actions, I find this sequence more effective than Lord Refa's death scene in "And the Rock Cried Out..." because here, the music FITS the mood rather than contrasts with it. I dunno, I just like things to match. Anyway, they capture Sheridan, and we then get the most CHILLING ISN broadcast in which a cheery newscaster lady blithers on about how "the evil renegade" Sheridan has been captured and is being "well-treated"--intercut with images of what's REALLY going on--he's being beaten to a bloody pulp in his cell, shackled so he can't fight back. ANOTHER shudder!!
Meanwhile, Garibaldi goes back to Edgars and FINALLY finds out the real truth--Edgars IS making a serum to combat a deadly virus that attacks only telepaths, yes.
But he is ALSO making the virus itself.
WHOAH, that's a bombshell and a half! Although not completely unexpected, considering his attitudes towards telepaths in earlier episodes. He plans to infect all the telepaths with this and then hold sway over them with the drug--either they do what he says, or they don't get the drug, and they die. He's planning to create a slave race! "Whichever species has the technological or evolutionary advantage wins, Mr. Garibaldi", Wade explains. "Carthage; Neanderthals vs. Homo Sapiens--they showed us that. Now, it's Homo Superior vs. Homo Sapiens. On a level playing field, Homo Superior wins every time."
"Unless we cheat..." mutters Garibaldi.
Meanwhile, he is told not to leave the compound for a while, as the virus is being set into place, and Edgars and Wade leave.
And so does Lise, who heard the entire conversation from around the corner of a wall!
And Garibaldi takes out one of his molars and activates a hidden transmitter...
In the next scene, Garibaldi somehow appears to be on one of those shuttle thingies, which I don't quite get 'cos it seems to be a PUBLIC shuttle, and he was told not to leave the compound. At any rate, Lise shows up and says that she knows what Edgars is doing and she believes he's wrong, but Garibaldi shoos her away--he's got someone else to meet with right about now.
And onto the train steps...MR. BESTER!!
Of course, we already got a very strong hint that Bester was behind Mr. Garibaldi's programming earlier, in the episode "Moments of Transition". But here, we find out the REAL secrets. First, Garibaldi gives Bester the information from his mind about Edgars and the telepath drug/virus plot, and Bester calmly says, "Well, we'll deal with it...in our own way..." and then, rather than just leaving him like that, with "the real you beating at the inside of your skull, screaming to get out", he decides to be "magnanimous" and tell Garibaldi the TRUTH. Finally.
Well, basically, this is it. First, Garibaldi was captured by the Shadows, who wanted to "adjust" him, because he was one of the three (the others being Ivanova and Delenn) who could replace Sheridan if he died at Za'Ha'Dum, and they thought he was the one most easily pushed into the darkness. Psi Corps has been working with the Shadows for some time, so when they heard that Garibaldi was going to be "adjusted" by the Shadows and that Psi Corps was going to have something to do with it, Bester made sure his people got in on the operation. So they reprogrammed him, all right, but in THEIR way, to do THEIR job--get rid of Sheridan, and find out what Edgars Industries was doing against telepaths, exactly. (Note: The silver-haired Psi Cop in these flashback scenes was played by Harlan Ellison! Really.) All they had to do was emphasise some of his natural tendencies--rebelliousness, distrust of authority, stubbornness, and suspicion. And then all they had to do was nudge him in the right direction from time to time (with those weird light-patterns). Right after they were done "adjusting" him, they had to make absolutely SURE he did not remember anything of what happened to him, hence the questioning and pacing in the little round room in those creepy flashbacks.
Oh, and Bester suspects that the telepath virus may be Shadow technology, after all, they do hate telepaths, don't they...?
So now, Garibaldi knows everything. What to do with him? Should Bester shoot him? After all, that would almost be a mercy compared to how he'd feel when his real self wakes up and realises what he's done. But, instead, Bester chooses to let him live, break the programming, let him be his real self--and let him REMEMBER everything.
And once Bester leaves, Garibaldi remembers. ALL of it.
His anguished scream echoes up and down the tunnel...
Poor Garibaldi! (sniff).
And back in Edgar's house, he finds both Edgars and Wade brutally murdered, and the two vials--virus AND antidote--taken. The Psi Corps have indeed "taken care of it", in their own way. He looks around for Lise but cannot find her. Evidently no-one can, as reported on ISN later that evening (naturally the death of such a huge tycoon would make the evening news.)
And so, yet ANOTHER great villian dies--how many IS that this year? Let's count--just off the top of my head, Cartagia, Morden, Neroon, and now Edgars and Wade. I used to complain that Cartagia didn't get enough time in the sun before he died, now I realise I spoke prematurely. Edgars only got TWO EPISODES of us getting to see him before he died, and then it was off-camera! At least Cartagia got five entire episodes and a dramatic death-scene...SHEESH! Stop killing off all the villians, people, or it won't be interesting anymore!
Garibaldi then tries to call Ivanova to explain and apologise, who has by now heard about what happened to Sheridan and that it was Garibaldi who set him up, and her response is that "if that son of a bitch ever shows his face on Babylon 5, I want him shot on SIGHT."
Geez...
And the fleet continues towards Earth...

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