Phoenix Rising

Continuing my tradition of putting up a picture to honour the main or recurring character who died in the episode, here's one of Byron. He doesn't DESERVE the honour, but I started it and now, to be consistent, I'm stuck with it. "Remember Byron" indeed. FORGET Byron! Bleck!

Reviewed by Veronica Grey, Psi Corps

Click HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE to see further pictures from the episode.

Well, this was an okay episode, but since it only had one plot and it was fairly simple, I don't have much to say about it. (Okay, okay, I guess the bit with Garibaldi is kind of a sub-plot, but...) The telepath arc FINALLY concludes--or does it--with the death of Byron and his people being shipped off the station. But at the same time, the war is continuing, only elsewhere...and it's gotten WORSE...
Okay, let's start off with a quick plot summary. The bloodhound units that arrived on B5 in yesterday's episode are still here, and they are hunting down the teeps. Byron tries to negotiate with Sheridan and the others desperately but it doesn't work. Meanwhile, Mr. Garibaldi tries to go kill Bester but finds out that he can't, because of a NASTY little mind-block Bester put in as part of his programming--which was NOT erased when the rest of the programming was. The "loose" rogue telepaths, the ones that are not holed up in Down Below, go around killing people, bust into Medlab, and take Dr. Franklin, his assistants, and Mr. Garibaldi who just HAPPENS to have barely just then come there to find out what to do about his mind-block hostage. Then we see the hostage video from "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" played out in real-time, only with the missing bits put back in. Then a lot of shooting and junk happens. Lochley and Sheridan call up Earthgov and ACTUALLY get permission NOT to turn the teeps over to Psi Corps, but to have custody of them in the Alliance. This totally pisses Bester off. Meanwhile, Byron manages to round up all his people in Down Below again and try to calm him down. Somewhere in here he tells Lyta what is between him and Bester. Then a big mess happens out in the hallway when the teeps are trying to surrender to the Alliance and Bester, FURIOUS that they are taking Byron away from him, shows up to take them ANYWAY, even though the new Earth President, Luchenko, said no. Firing breaks out. A container of some kind of toxic waste is hit, spilling all over the floor while everyone fails to negotiate with each other. Then Byron kills himself, by shooting at the toxic junk, which then explodes violently. YAAAYYYY!!!! But he takes several people with him. BOOOO. Lyta, being a moron, is heartbroken over him even though she's only known him for a few fragging weeks, and seems to be taking over as Queen of the Telepaths. In other news, Mars is winning the world series, Garibaldi has turned back to drink again (NO!!! DON'T DO IT!!) and--oh, incidentally, one more little thing--the Psi Corps Headquarters building back on Earth is BLOWN UP, with the words "Remember Byron" painted on the rubble! YIKES! Looks like these teeps are still pissed, what?
And that was basically what happened. Now for a list of the good and the bad.
The Good:
1. The way that the hostage video footage both matched what we had seen earlier AND gave us new information. I especially like how the gunshot we heard was NOT who we thought was shooting at whom. That was kinda neat.
2. Byron's connection to Bester--although I correctly guessed what their connection was INSTANTLY, I had kinda assumed that Byron had run off because he HADN'T obeyed an order, not because he HAD. He left the Corps because of extreme guilt and for a brief second there, he was alMOST sympathetic! But he blew all chance I may have EVER had of feeling anything for his plight by the end of the episode...Anyway, just for the record, go back and read my review of "Strange Relations"--I said Byron was a P12, I said he was a Psi Cop, and I said I was Bester's partner. Well, I'm not a Seeress for NOTHING...
3. The use of Asimov's Laws of Robotics. Very clever, very MEAN, and I loved the reference to classic sci-fi.
4. Practically all of Bester's lines--the little smartmouth was on a ROLL today. "Do you know what will happen if we lose Garibaldi?" "Zack gets his room?"
5. They got to use that little teak guy again. I kinda like him even if he IS on the violent side... 6. Bester's character got developed a bit more in this episode--at first, we thought all that "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" stuff was just phony, but it seems he actually does BELIEVE in the Corps, that he really DOES think that all the telepaths were on the same side, and that it really did HURT him, inside, to have to kill them. For just a moment, we saw underneath the mask of sarcasm to the real feelings, hidden inside. Another interesting twist, and a superb acting job for Walter Koenig.
7. DING, DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD!!! Meaning Byron. YAYYY!!!! HE'S DEAD!! YAY!!!! Lemme tell ya, no other B5 character has made me feel like that on their deaths. Good guys usually make me at least a little bit sad, bad guys make me disappointed that they won't be adding their particular brand of evil to the show to spice up the plot any longer or chew scenery. But Byron--I'm not sure, in the end, whether he was good, bad, or just NUTS--but he irritated me SO much, I am GLAD he is gone, either way. YAYYY!!! Pour the brevari, dance in the streets, crank up some disco, and pass the cheesy spoo!
The Bad:
1. The WAY Byron died. Now, I know he was going to kill himself. I expected that, in fact I was waiting for it with bated breath. However, I did NOT like the fact that he took several other people out with him. Who are YOU, to CHOOSE who lives and who dies? Jerk. What a total git! (Yes, I'm aware that that's a rude British-ism, but I can say it if I want and besides HE'S British, so it fits.) Also Lyta going on and on and on about how "I love you, Byron!" simper simper simper right before he died made me want to GAG. Then she kept saying to all the departing telepaths, "Remember Byron" over and over and over again. Oh, puh-LEEZ...
2. Garibaldi started drinking again! NOOO!!! Not after all that poor guy's been through, NOOOO...
3. I don't like the way Lyta is heading. And I'm NOT just saying this because I've seen the commercials on TNT for the later fifth-season episodes where she is acting like a villian and tells Sheridan snippily, "You cannot harm someone who has been touched by Vorlons". I mean I can see from HERE, even without the "glimpses into the future", that I don't like the way she's going. And since when has she been such a soppy, insipid romantic? BLECK.
4. There was nothing else in this story, just the teep thing, although I suppose that was good 'cos it wrapped it up faster, I would have liked a glimpse of Centauri Prime after being forced to listen to Byron for so long.
5. We had to hear the @#$#ing "willow" speech AGAIN!! ARRGHHH! Gag me with a wooden spoon, gross me out the airlock...
Well, that's it. It was an okay episode but it had several problems. I realise I have fewer on my "bad" list than I do on my "good" list, but in general I thought the episode was adequate, not great. The main thing is, BYRON IS DEAD!! YAAYYYYY!! WE DON'T HAVE TO SEE HIM ANYMORE!! (Although, if Robin Atkin Downes wanted to reappear as his Minbari character I wouldn't mind, he was okay, it's BYRON I can't stand...)
The bottom line: For better or for worse, a good chunk of the Season Five arc has now been resolved, and we're heading for the halfway point of the VERY LAST SEASON. The series is almost over. WAAHHH...

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