Epiphanies
Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri
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This episode was very good but I'm not quite sure how to review it. It had SO many different plotlines going on at the same time that any chance I might have of getting the sequence of events in the correct order has gone RIGHT out the airlock. So this is going to be even more scatterbrained than most of my reviews. You have been warned.
You'd expect the episode right after the Shadow War had ended to be quiet, for nothing to actually happen. BWAHAHA think again...
First of all, let's tackle what seems to be the "main" plotline, the telepaths/Earth one. Psi Corps is working on a secret project along with EarthGov, Nightwatch, MiniPax, and the Ministry of Security. None of the groups are allowed to know what the other ones' parts are. As Bester, our favourite little slimeball, comments, that will indeed cause problems. If you ask me, Clark is getting too paranoid for his own good. Still, once Bester finds out about this nasty plan to shut down Babylon 5 for GOOD by cutting out their support at home, he goes right to the station to cut a deal.
When he asks to see the B5 staff, this causes Sheridan to ask Lyta to come along to keep Bester from scanning them. And this results in the beginnings of what was probably The Cutest Relationship That Never Happened.
Zack Allen is assigned to go fetch Lyta, and finds her unpacking. She explains that New Kosh forced her to get rid of everything except her mattress while she was working for him, and now that he's dead, she's buying stuff. (She continues buying stuff all through the episode, it's a nice touch. And wouldn't B5 just be the most FUN place to go shopping in?) Zack tells her why he is there, and Lyta then complains--not without reason!--that every time someone wants her on this station, it's always to do something for them, to USE her. Scan this person, block that one, protect so-and-so, set up the Vorlons, go jam a Shadow ship, etc. No-one ever comes by to just TALK to her, ask her to dinner. No-one ever treats her like a person. And this is why I like Zack. Out of everyone on the station--he is the only one who DOES. He's the first one we ever see being NICE to her. Even if he IS a dork about it. And I must say--this is also when I first started actually liking Lyta. Before I didn't know what to think of her really, she didn't seem to have that much personality. But once she becomes sad and lonely, I start to indentify with her. (I still like Talia too though.)
Later on, after everything else is over, Zack brings her a pizza and helps her unpack! Awwww. WHY couldn't Straczynski have just LET them be a couple, huh? They would have been so cute together! But as they say, it's an imperfect world...
Which brings me back to the main plot. Bester at first wants to take Lyta back to the Corps, but Sheridan nips that idea in the bud with one of the episode's MANY wonderful lines: "And I'd like to nail your head to the table, set fire to your body, and feed your charred remains to the Pak'ma'ra! But we don't live in a perfect world, do we?" This causes EVERYONE to smile or grin, including Franklin, who is looking more relaxed and happy than I've ever seen him (but then again, maybe a lot of what we thought was "natural" personality was actually those stims, eh?). Then Bester starts trying to scan everyone at the table and keeps getting blocked. When he tries it on Lyta, she ZAPS him and gets this MARVELOUS little smirk on her face. Heh heh heh.
Anyway, Bester then explains what he wants. He knows what the second phase of Clark's plan against B5 is, and he will tell the B5 staff about it IF they will take him to Za'Ha'Dum to recover whatever Shadow technology remains there, in the hopes of using it to wake up his lover, the "blip" Carolyn. At first they refuse, but he eventually convinces them and tells them the plot: Clark is sending out a group of Black Omega starfuries--a Psi Corps special squadron--to blow up a group of Earthforce Starfuries that patrol a jumpgate near B5, and make it look as if the "evil renegades" at Babylon 5 were actually responsible for the slaughter of their own people. When in fact CLARK'S killing off his own people! Nice guy, huh? Ivanova leads a Starfury squadron from B5 out there to warn the EarthForce people about the trap, and together they fight off and destroy the Black Omega fleet, and Clark's nasty little plot fails.
Meanwhile, Sheridan, Delenn, Bester, and Lyta go out on the White Star to Za'Ha'Dum. The others are none too happy being stuck on a ship with Bester but it does at least give Sheridan and Delenn a very cute scene together, as she goes on about how being on a beach with nothing to do would make his head implode, and then they REEEEAAAALLLY kiss. I mean, big, hot mama, clutching, throes-of-passion kiss. Whoo-hoo, as Lennier would say...
Anyway, once they get there, they first see a bunch of ships...LEAVING Za'Ha'Dum, in a big hurry. And there are absolutely no defenses, nothing to stop them. These things tip Sheridan off that something is wrong and much to Bester's frustration, he executes the "getting the hell OUT of here" maneuver. Upon which, the ENTIRE PLANET goes "boom"!! Of course they wouldn't want to leave their technology behind for other people, would they, now?
Who WERE those ships fleeing Za'Ha'Dum right before the blast? Allies of the Shadows, "dark servants", Delenn called them. Where were they going? Wait and see...
Back on the station, Bester is completely ripped up about the loss of the technology that could have saved Carolyn, and he stops outside her cryo-freezer in Medlab to talk to her for a few minutes. This is SUCH a touching scene. He may be evil, but he really, truly DOES have real emotions. The way he was carrying on about Carolyn in "Ship of Tears" MAY have been an act for all we knew, as he was doing it in front of the others and he did want their help after all. Manipulating their emtions is JUST the kind of thing he'd do. But here, he is ALONE. There is no-one around for him to act FOR. And what he says to the unhearing Carolyn makes him cry--and almost brought tears to MY eyes. He's evil, I had to keep telling myself, but gods, what a sad scene. And what an INCREDIBLE acting job from Walter Koenig. You have to be REALLY good to play an absolute slimeball that can also make you cry.
And just what IS his "ace in the hole", anyway? Hmmn...
After this, Sheridan comes into Lyta's quarters and accuses her, "theoretically", with having MADE the booby-trap on Za'Ha'Dum go off just then, because the timing was AWFULLY convenient. "Theoretically", Lyta did it because she didn't want the technology at Za'Ha'Dum to fall into ANYONE'S hands, and because Bester had hurt so many rogue telepaths like herself, broken up so many families, that she wanted to hurt HIM for a change, let HIM feel what it was like to lose a loved one. (Another testimony to the wonderful writing on B5--I can TOTALLY see her point while ALSO getting misty-eyed over Bester's soliloquoy to Caroyln!) "Theoretically", Sheridan says that while he does agree with what she did and why, if she EVER tries to make a major command-level decision like that again without asking him first, he'll nail her head to the table and...no, wait, that was Bester...he'll turn her over to the Psi Corps. Eek.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi is acting weirder and weirder. First, he gets a strange message that is nothing but swirling lights and colours, then he automatically deletes all mention of it from the station computer records. He draws a glum face in the steam on his bathroom mirror and later on, he RESIGNS from head of Security! He seems to be acting awfully depressed lately. What's up with that? Again, wait and see...
At least his friendship with G'Kar, who is seen going to Franklin about his poor eye, seems to be intact. The scene with their reunion was great. Garibaldi keeps sorta backing away, apologising up a storm, as G'Kar gets closer, and closer, and CLOSER, with this totally grim look on his face, and then he...
...picks him up in a huge bear hug and dances him around the room, SINGING, "Welcome hoooommmmeee, Mr. Gar-i-bal-deeeee..." It was SO CUTE!! I loved it. An adorable moment. In fact, I loved ALL the resting, reuniting, cleaning things up, partying, etc. parts in this episode. Some people like only straight action and story-arc, but I think that scenes like this make the show seem more realistic and the characters more like real, feeling, three-dimensional people.
Other random moments:
The whole scene with Zack and the new Security cadets was just PRECIOUS, one great big funny line from beginning to end. When Londo comes on board, "Ah, Meesterr Allen! I trust that description (something weird) does not apply to me?" Zack: "Ambassador, I'm surprised to see you here. Did they get tired of you back home?" Londo: "Tired of me, oh, no, Mr. Allen. In fact the Emperor himself said that I would only leave Centauri Prime over his dead body. And if I remember correctly, you said that I would only come back to Babylon 5 over YOUR dead body. With my busy schedule, I can only honour so many requests at once, so, as much as it will be a burden to you, you will simply have to wait your turn!" I LOVED that! Then the whole bit with Bester coming on board ("I assume my old quarters in the brig are still available? I've become so attached to the place" and Zack's answer: "For you, Mr. Bester--always.") and then the three Elvis imitators! A wonderful breath of silly air after all the darkness and destruction of the first six episodes.
Londo and G'Kar's reunion--GODS G'Kar was mean to him! Hey, he helped you free your world, what's all this "You no longer exist in my universe" crap? Damn snooty Narns...
I ADORED the beginning scene of the episode in which EVERYONE, human and alien, is jitterbugging in the Zocalo to swing/big band music while Starfuries zoom around trailing coloured smoke and do trick maneuvers outside to entertain them. The decorations--streamers, balloons, confetti, icicles--were a very nice touch. And I always love anything that shows all the races having fun together. (Speaking of having fun, I think that one lady Narn in the background was having a little TOO much fun--she was totally shaking her booty! I almost fell over dead laughing.) Franklin is happy and relaxed--and dancing very well, might I add, a real gentleman--with his singer ladyfriend again. And Sheridan and Delenn share a tender moment.
On the White Star--Bester: "The Corps is mother, the Corps is father."
Lyta: "In that case, Mr. Bester, I'm an orphan." You go girl!
One word: DISNEYPLANET? Hee hee...
And now onto the last actual plotline, the Centauri one, which as usual I've saved 'til last 'cos even in a wonderful episode full of such great lines, the Centauri parts were of course still the best. Londo is leaving Centauri Prime to go back to B5 because his homeworld is not safe for him, politically, at the moment. That delightfully campy little No-Name Minister Dude blithers on about flowers and how they reflect his philosophy of life (a rather depressing philosophy!), trying, in his own way, to get Londo to stay. Londo explains that the Centaurum met the other night to choose the next Emperor, but decided to hold off on that for a while so they could choose more wisely this time (and why am I now thinking, "He chose...poorly."? Heh heh.) The Minister agrees that that is probably a good idea, after all, the Royal bloodline hasn't been what it used to be lately, "too much intermarriage I suppose. It's like I always say--once you reduce a family tree to a family bush--you can't hide as much beneath it!" (Despite the fact that he then laughs hilariously at his own joke, that IS a great line.) So, Londo finally manages to get out (this little guy TALKS a LOT. Not that I'D know what that's like or anything...), they have decided to pick a Regent to fill the position in the interim.
"A Regent?" twitters the Minister, fluttering his hands around as only he can. "Oh, my heavens, whoever would want THAT job? I suppose it PAYS fairly well, from what I've heard, but it's purely a ceremonial title--"
"Actually", Londo breaks in, "they have chosen--YOU."
The Minister is still babbling on, unhearing. "I mean, who in their right mind would--ME?" understanding suddenly dawns. "OOhhh!!" And then he gets the most INCREDIBLE expression, his eyes going HUGE, and flutters his fingers even more than I thought was possible, suddenly all delighted and honoured and happy beyond belief. He doesn't think much of the job--until he GETS it! Then, it's different.
Londo then introduces him to HIS Royal Court, and tells him to go ahead, give them his first orders, that's what they're waiting for. As the entire Court (who are ALL, maybe even the women, taller than this tiny little guy!) bow to him, the new Regent walks over to the curtains and says his first Royal Order: "I'm thinking...pastels?"
DELIGHTFUL scene. And this marked when I first started actually LIKING this character. At first, I found him amusing. In "The Hour of the Wolf", when I noticed that (a) he did NOT cut his hair short to suck up to Cartagia like so many of the other nobles, and (b) he was the one to warn Londo about the "Shadow Cabinet", I realised that this character did indeed have a bit of a spine. But here, HERE, once he starts showing some emotion other than nervousness, once he starts being HAPPY, I started liking him. Odd. For Lyta, to get me to start liking her took her being UNhappy, for the Minister/Regent, the exact oppostite. (Well, as Gillian Taylor said in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, "Whoever said the Human race was logical?)
But like all happiness on Babylon 5, it quickly leads to tragedy, and we see that even minor recurring characters cannot escape in the very end scene of this episode.
Remember those "dark servants" of the Shadows that were fleeing Za'Ha'Dum? Want to know where they were going?
Centauri Prime. That's where.
The poor, harmless, funny little Regent wakes up, gibbering with terror, and muttering about how it was all "just a dream! Just a bad dream!" to find a KEEPER on his shoulder!!
AACCCKKKK!!!! NO!!! IT'S STARTING ALREADY!!! THAT HORRIBLE FLASHFORWARD THAT WE SAW IN "WAR WITHOUT END" IS STARTING TO COME TRUE AFTER ALL!! NOO!!!
And so he gets SMASHED by the "anvil of fate" RIGHT when I had started to actually LIKE him. Grrr....
We REALLY don't live in a perfect world, do we?
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