Babylon 5: "Day of the Dead"

Written By: Neil Gaiman
Directed By: Doug Lefler

Capsule Summary: Some of the crew are caught with the Brakiri as they celebrate their "Day of the Dead," a remembrance of the recently deceased. A pair of famous entertainers visits the station.

Quotable Highlights:

  • "Tonight is the day of the dead. Tonight the dead return."

  • "We can purchase Babylon 5 for the Brakiri. It must be ours by sunset."

  • "I strongly advise you against this transaction. It is dangerous and foolish and unwise."

  • "Hello, Londo. I came back." "Adira?"

  • "You got a robe, Kitty?" "Dodger!"

  • "Zoe? Oh, my god. Zoe."

  • "Good evening, Ranger Lennier." "I know you." "I should hope so. When I was alive I was known as Mr. Morden."

  • "Looking back on it, I think I just tried to make people happy."

  • "Delenn does not love you as you love her, and she never will." "I know that." "No, you don't, not in your heart."

  • "Do you like being a Ranger, Lennier? Would you like it any better if I were to tell you that you will betray the Anla-shok?"

  • "I'm prophetic, not infallible."

  • "I don't want to become Emperor. I want to stay here with you."

  • "Lizzie, I do remember my death. I didn't want to hurt you but, yeah, I did do it on purpose."

  • "I have a message for you from someone named Kosh." "What's the message?" "'When the long night comes, return to the end of the beginning.'"

    • A good character episode, although far from perfect.

    Finding out a little more about yet another league race beliefs was rather nice (I personally like the fact that the first half of the season has basically fleshed out the league a bit). However, the "Day of the Dead" aspect of the episode in general was just a little vague for my tastes and the whole "a mile of the station has dissappeared" thing was a bit over the top for just a character story and should have been left more open for interpertation (since some points in the episode seem to trully suggest that the dead have come back to life and the station has actually transported to the Brakiri planet instead of just being cut off from the station) if it was going to be vague on the religous issue.

    The Rebo and Zooty scenes could have easily have been shortened some in my opinion (never have been a fan of slapstick). The only scenes I liked with Rebo and Zooty where when some of the other characters were around. Some of the moments during the dinner meeting between the comedy team and Sheridan and Delenn were good. Also, Lochley's reaction to Rebo and Zooty was an agreeable line of thought (to me at least).

    Also really enjoyed Sheridan's questioning of Lochley's "selling the station" decision. It was nice to see their roles reversed from what we have seen so far. For once one of Lochley's sole decisions comes under the gun from Sheridan who can't do anything.

    It was nice to see Lochley's character developed more fully. While it wasn't the best stuff I have ever seen on Babylon 5, but it does finish filling in her character in general which was nice (considering the character has been rather sketchy, with a few exceptions up to this point). Once again, we have a character with a dark past of addiction and lost hope who turned around to get it together.

    Both Londo and Garibaldi's visits seem to observe how much the characters have changed from the first couple seasons. Both characters have been really dark lately, and it was nice to see their old lighter and more humorous sides, even if only for awhile.

    More dark implications for Lennier. First his reference to Sheridan as Delenn's "mate" made obvious his growing uncomfort around Sheridan. Then after Lennier's talk with Morden, we get a hint of what's to come and how big Lennier's mistakes just might be in the future. I personally think that, some time in the future, Lennier will betray the Rangers to save Delenn when he has to choose (as did Marcus for Ivanova in some sense).

    Nice to see Morden again in a suitable role for possibly the characters last appearance. Morden seems to have crossed every main character's path (and in the process brought the character's dark side out) now.

    And of course I don't want to forget to mention Kosh's message (which I didn't expect). It was a nice surprise with bigger implications in the long run. I will let everyone else debate what it means.

    This episode had some good character work, but because of the confusion over the "Day of the Dead" itself and some overuse of Rebo and Zooty's humor it doesn't get as high a score. Had both of these issues been centered on less, I would have probably raised my score a point higher.

    Rating: 7.5

    Next Week: A Look at the Psi Corp Point of View



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