Grey 17 is Missing
Reviewed by Ranger Lufa Caldoni
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Well.
MOST Babylon 5 fans HATED this episode. They say it is one of the very worst, if not THE worst, B5 episode ever made.
But in case you haven't figured it out already, I am NOT most fans! I LIKED this episode!
It was funny, interesting, clever, and full of wonderfully eccentric characters on the one hand. It was dark, important, suspenseful, and action-packed on the other. Lennier got to develop his character, Marcus got into a big long pike-fight, one of our favourite villains returns--what's NOT to like? (Heck, my brother even liked it and HE hardly ever admits out loud that he's impressed by ANYthing...)
There are two main plotlines in this episode, neither of which has anything to do with each other but I'm NOT one of those compulsive-type fans for whom everything has to be tied together at all times or else I get mad, so that was okay by me. The first one, which the title is named after, concerns Mr. Garibaldi's excursions into a mysterious "lost world" aboard Babylon 5 itself; the second plotline has to do with the Rangers, basically. Let's start with the title-thread first.
It's just another ordinary day in B5 security. Zack Allen, poor put-upon soul that he is, is conducting interviews with maybe-telepaths of all different races to see how many the Army of Light (do you realise the initials of that are AOL, same as the EVIL internet service provider, the one most people hate? Considering how much Straczynski is into the 'net, I find that interesting...) can recruit to fight against the Shadows. The beginning scene, with the guy who is NOT a telepath but wants to be hired anyway 'cos he needs the money, was HILARIOUS! "What am I thinking?" Zack challenges him. The guy screws up his face melodramatically, does this stupid gesture like a wizard casting a spell or something, and replies, "Got it. And I think you're real cute, too." "OUT!" yells Zack. Hee hee. I was on the FLOOR...
Anyway, after that scene, we see the command staff decide that this random recruiting isn't working very well, so they'll have to use Franklin's files on that underground railroad for telepaths he was running through the station (don't ya just LOVE how everything comes together?). Ivanova manages to track Franklin down in Down Below, where he looks like a total wreck--evidently, stims have a bit of a delay factor before the withdrawal symptoms kick in. He gives her the password to get the information out of his personal computer on the condition that they send no-one else after him, that they leave him ALONE. It's a touching scene and I LOVED the password for the files--Harriet.
As in, Harriet Tubman, who ran the REAL "underground railroad", during the American Civil War. NICE touch.
Move on to Mr. Garibaldi, who is playing with his gun--no, really, it's a GUN, not some euphemism, get your minds out of the gutter!--when Zack walks in and tells him this weird story. It seems this maintainance engineer in Grey Sector, who had actually fixed something ("You're right. That IS weird"--another great line) has...disappeared...even though it's a closed station. "I've always hated that whole sector--it's like the Centauri Triangle in there." (CENTAURI Triangle? Wait a minute...)
So Garibaldi, being the hard-boiled film-noir detective type that he is, decides to check it out for himself.
He goes and talks to a supervisor who works in Grey Sector (played by Katherine Moffat, who has also been in both "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and on DS9 as well, and I know you didn't need to know that but I don't care) about what happened. She mentions that there are 29 floors in Grey Sector, when there SHOULD be 30. Also, here we get to hear the great "thin air" line--"Why do things always disappear into THIN air--why isn't it ever fat air, chubby air, mostly-fit, could-stand-to-loose-a-few-pounds air?" "I'm sorry, that's not my department."
The 29 vs. 30 floors gets Garibaldi suspicious, so he gets into an elevator and starts counting the seconds between floors, figuring that when he finds one that takes twice as long--that's where the missing floor is, and that's where, supposedly, he'll find the missing worker. (This method impressed everyone in my family. It really IS clever.)
Well, to make a long story short (too late) he eventually finds an extra-long gap between Grey 16 and Grey 17, and stops the elevator on the way up to find an entire new level of the station he's never seen before--a lost world! An intriguing idea. He is just starting to look around when he is shot by a tranquiliser dart from a talking dummy and when he wakes up, he is surrounded by members of this nutball cult, Lurkers who have been hiding out here since the gods know when.
Now, I must take a moment here to praise the leader of the cult, Jeremiah. Played very well by Robert Englund (also known as Freddy Krueger!), he was a WONDERFUL little nutball. Cowardly, hyperactive, big gestures, the glasses perched on the edge of the nose--he was FUN. And he looked exactly like a GNOME to my fantasy-fan mind--a little Gnome living in, essentially, a dungeon--this whole thing had SUCH a Dungeons-and-Dragons-type feel to it. And since I LIKE that kind of thing...He played a very entertaining character. "I don't think I'm quite as transcendant as I thought yet!" "Well, get your transcendant butt behind me!" Hee hee.
Anyway, it turns out that this cult believes in a rather twisted version of the Minbari religious beliefs, about how the universe itself is alive, "we are the universe trying to understand itself.", to attain perfect purity. But to REACH this purity--you have to be EATEN by a "perfect" predator!
THIS is where the episode falls down, although not as completely for me as most fans think, because the "Zarg" that Garibaldi has to fight (shooting it with the spare bullets from his gun that we were shown earlier, and a steam-pipe--he gets to be MacGyver in this thing!) DOES look like just some guy in a rubber suit.
Still, overall this is a very funny and different plotline, and I LOVED the part at the end where Garibaldi is trying to explain his BIZZARRE day to Sheridan in one, long, unbroken, totally CONFUSING sentence made up of fragments and contradictions...
Now, on to the other plotline. After Sinclair left (and became Valen, though only a very few characters know that) there is now no-one to lead the Rangers. Rathenn, back on Minbar, tells a very startled Delenn that they have chosen HER to be their new leader.
She does not really WANT this power but agrees to take it anyway as it is a great honour. However, as always on Babylon 5 (or Minbar for that matter), there are complications.
You see, the Warrior caste--represented by our old friend Neroon in this episode--are NOT happy with the idea of a member of the RELIGIOUS caste taking control of a MILITARY operation, not at ALL. Neroon sees this as merely the culmination of some dark ambition of Delenn's, starting with her encouraging the Religious caste to build warships without permission from the Warriors. Now, she did NOT mean it that way; it all just happened, she isn't REALLY trying to grab power. But Neroon is NOT convinced, and he threatens her with DEATH if she does not refuse the position of Ranger One.
"But no Minbari has ever killed another Minbari for a thousand years", protests Delenn. "It was set down by Valen--"
"So was the Grey Council." sneers Neroon. "And now that that is gone, the rules have changed..."
Delenn then makes Lennier PROMISE not to tell Sheridan. This is a GREAT episode for Lennier because it finally lets him develop a bit! He FINALLY stands up to Delenn and goes against her wishes for the first time (that we see) in this episode, because he goes to MARCUS and tells HIM about the threat on her life, thereby "not breaking the promise by breaking the promise". "I'm amazed, Lennier", remarks Marcus. "How you can twist something around so that it means what you want it to mean instead of what it actually IS. Is this a natural talent or do they have some martial-arts training course for the philosophically inclined?"
Marcus, done being a smart-ass (for the moment) goes off and challenges Neroon in a "denn-shah", or fight to the death, even though he KNOWS Neroon is going to win because he's bigger and stronger. At the end, Neroon is just about to deliver the killing blow ("I've just broken two of your ribs." (WHACK) "Sorry, three.") when he stops and asks Marcus WHY he was willing to fight to the death for Delenn.
"I am a Ranger", Marcus shouts, panting, dripping blood and sweat, his hair plastered over his eyes (in other words, he's in bad shape), "We stand in the dark places no other dares walk. We live for the one, we DIE FOR THE ONE!!"
And we are not shown what happens after that--not at first, anyway--but in the next scene, we see Neroon crash Delenn's inaguration ceremony and toss his pike--his BLOOD-covered pike--down on the floor.
He then explains how once he realised that there were HUMANS willing to fight for her life, to the death, that SHE had the loyalty and that the Rangers would follow no-one else, so he gave up and let Marcus live. "At the last moment--he was more Minbari than I was. But there is blood between you and the Warrior caste now--just as there is blood between us and the Humans". He then spits out her new title, "Entil'zha" as if it is a bad taste in his mouth, and stalks out of the room, leaving everyone stunned.
The last scene shows him talking to Marcus, who is laid up in Medlab ("He might not want to listen to you", "Then I'll speak BRIEFLY.") about why he had let him live, essentially what I just said above. "Next time", Marcus croaks weakly from his bed, "next time...you want a revelation...can't you find...some way...that isn't quite so...uncomfortable?"
And from the other room, a very CONFUSED Delenn and Lennier hear Neroon's laughter ringing out...
All in all, this was not the very best episode they ever did, no, but it was an entertaining little romp and it was DIFFERENT.
And as the commercials say--different is GOOD.
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