Death Walker
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Reviewed by Keela Shanri
Hmmmn...this episode was...interesting. There were three seperate plots going on at once, one of which I'm assuming will be important later but it had nothing at all to do with the rest of the episode's story.
First of all, the main plot(s). This woman named Jha'Dur, called "Deathwalker", a HORRIBLE weapons researcher who made the most sadistic biological and cybernetic weapons available to kill people of all races, billions of them, has arrived on the station 30 years after committing her most dastardly crimes. One problem--she's supposed to be 30 years OLDER. But she's not.
Turns out, she's got a serum that can promise immortality to anyone. No aging, no disease. This makes EarthGov--and the Narns--take an interest in her. The League of Non-Aligned Worlds gets into a fight over whether she should be tried or just killed, and in any event, who should get custody of her.
The sub-plot to this is that Na'Toth, G'Kar's aide, has sworn a "Shon-Kar", or Blood Oath, against Deathwalker and will stop at NOTHING to kill her. Heck, she practically beats the chick "into another incarnation" the instant she comes on board! (But Security stops her from killing her.)
And finally, the third plot, the unrelated one, has to do with Talia sitting in on very, very STRANGE negotiations between Ambassador Kosh and some weird guy called "Abbut". ("A herring is just a herring, but a good cigar is a Cuban!" And what was up with all that "Hour of Scampering" stuff?) At the end it turns out that Kosh just wanted this guy, who was a cyborg recording device kinda thing, to scan HER and find out what her worst fears were so he could use them against her later. YIKES! Vorlons don't like telepaths, it seems. Which begs the question...why did Kosh have Lyta, a telepath, for his ambassadorial attaché later?
So much for the plot summary. Now for the good part.
First of all, I want to put out a congratulations to Sarah Douglas for her portrayal of Jha'Dur. I think she is one of the best guest-star actors we've had so far during the first season. She was WONDERFULLY insane as Jha'Dur, completely sadistic, creepy, bug-eyed, and OFF THE DEEP END. I think she goes into the "Babylon 5 Crazies Hall of Fame" alongside Cartagia. Now, she doesn't BEAT Cartagia, as she doesn't have his amusing/scary mood swings, his delightfully campy mannerisms or his gorgeously dashing fashion sense, but she is DEFINITELY in the same league. Shudder! She did a great job.
The Dilgar are an interesting-looking race, it's a pity they're NOT still around. Mostly humanoid, but with green, slit-pupiled eyes, manes of hair, and pointed ears, they have a rather felinoid tinge to them. Cat-people! Neat.
And I do find it interesting that the Minbari Warrior Caste, or more specifically a group of them called the "Wind Swords", were sheltering her. And the Minbari government KNEW about it. The darker side of Minbari society is starting to be shown here...shades of things to come.
I thought Ivanova's way of stalling the different alien warships--get them to fight amongst themselves--was rather clever.
As for the ending...well...I dunno. I mean, sure, it made SENSE to just blow her out of the sky. But having the Vorlons come in and do that almost smacks of a "deux ex machina" (or however one spells that). I mean, it's just too EASY of a solution. I personally would have liked to have her get shipped successfully back to Earth for the increasingly corrupt and sinister EarthGov to deal with, and leave us hanging, wondering WHAT will come of it, and fearing the worst. Not only would that have ended the episode on a rather OMINOUS note and made us wonder more about exactly how bad EarthGov is getting, and therefore plant even MORE seeds for that particular arc, but it also would have left one of the best B5 villains ever still alive, at least for a while, so perhaps we could run into her again.
Ah, well. As Londo (and as you Humans) said, "All's well that ends well!"
I just kinda wish that it HADN'T ended quite SO well...
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