Severed Dreams

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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WOW!
I am not normally a big fan of what I call the "Earthforce" episodes, nor of space battles as opposed to character development, but I have gotta say, this is one of the BEST B5 episodes ever. It, like The Coming of Shadows, in Season Two, won a Hugo award. Out of B5's two Hugo-winners, The Coming of Shadows is definitely my favourite, but this one is great too. It is great because of the suspense, the tension, and the tragedy. The sense of impending doom, the wonderment at how did things GET this bad?, and the simple fact that in THESE space battles, it's GOOD guys against GOOD guys! We have to kill our OWN people to save ourselves. In this case, every single blast of pretty lights, every single snazzy special effect, is killing someone that either we or the main characters KNOWS, personally. That's the difference. That's what turns what could have been a pretty standard episode into something truly meaningful, scary, and heart-wrenching.
And when it's over, NOTHING will ever be the same in the B5 universe...
The episode pretty much has one monolithic plot, as the part with Delenn ties back into it later. This was really, by far, my favourite part (and I'm kinda ticked that I couldn't find a picture of it). It was SO GREAT getting to see Delenn be her good ol' butt-kicking self from the first season again, especially knowing ahead of time that this will be just about the very last of this side of her we'll ever see...
I loved her getting RIGHT into the face of the snooty guard on the Grey Council's ship, I loved her angry, fiery speech to the Council itself to get off their robed butts and DO something!, and she easily by far got one of the best lines of the whole series, let alone this episode:
Enemy Earthforce ship: "Stand down or we'll be forced to open fire!"
Delenn: "Why not? The ONLY Human Captain ever to survive a battle with a Minbari fleet is behind me. YOU are in front of me. If you value your lives, BE SOMEWHERE ELSE."
Upon which, they all turn tail and jump the HELL out of there...and we realise yet again, how perfect she and Sheridan are for each other...
You want space battles? This episode has them out the wazoo. Except, of course, with the added B5 dimension of showing the EFFECTS of the big noises and shiny things. It reminds us that war is NOT fun. It KILLS people, people just like you and me, people just like our families and friends. Sheridan calls his father just before the battle, trying to pretend it's just a casual, friendly call, but they BOTH know that this could very well be the last time they ever speak to each other. Clark's evil order to OPEN FIRE on the Mars colony because they declared independence causes civillian lives to be lost. Major Ed Ryan mentions how the captain of one of the "enemy" Earthforce vessels is someone he knows, with a wife, three kids, and an Abyssinian cat named "Max". (For me, the cat was the crowning touch.) And to me, the most dramatic scene--the one where the reporters at ISN FINALLY get the actual truth out after years of being too afraid to say it, as they can ALREADY see the troops heading towards the building, and they go off the air while being attacked. This is a great example, for me, about how Straczynski can make you care about even the MINOR, background characters--at the end of the war, when the REAL ISN comes back on the air, and the first reporter you see is the main lady one you're used to seeing (the one played by Maggie Egan; the character doesn't have a name beyond "ISN Anchorwoman"), my reaction was, "IT'S HER!! SHE'S OKAY! SHE WASN'T KILLED!!" Then I stopped, looked at myself, and went, "WAIT a minute...since when did I care so much about a background character!" But that's just it. The writing is so good that it makes you cheer even the minor people. And seeing how this scene went, you would not be remiss in assuming the poor lady had been killed.
Arc advancement? You got it. In this episode, you can FEEL the plot moving under you, so fast that you might fall off unless you're careful, in fact. By the end of Severed Dreams, Mars, Orion 7, and Proxima 3 are independent colonies. ISN no longer exists--until it comes back shortly afterwards as a pure propaganda machine. Delenn BREAKS the Grey Council. That is it. The Minbari no longer HAVE a ruling body. AT ALL. And if all that wasn't dramatic enough, Babylon 5 itself BREAKS OFF FROM EARTH!
I also love how they managed to do all this big dramatic stuff with things that had been set up carefully, through all this time. Delenn broke the Grey Council by convincing them that they were not following the rules set down by Valen--rules we HAVE heard before. Garibaldi's security team was able to fend off the boarding parties (which was a nice touch, by the way--sci-fi battles practically NEVER think to use boarding parties, as my brother has lamented on several occasions) by using the Narn security force they got in the last episode. The White Star stared down the Earthforce vessels, we already knew that Mars has wanted independence for some time, B5's secession itself was foreshadowed by Sheridan taking off his Earthforce badge in Messages from Earth. And Sheridan was able to make that fateful announcement by using the holographic system of The Great Machine on Epsilon 3!
Another theme of this episode that I liked was heroic women. Oh, yes, B5 has ALWAYS been pretty darned equalistic, and for that I thank them. But to me, it seemed that most of the best suspense/drama highlights were by female characters. Ivanova in her Starfury, Delenn and the Grey Council's the valiant Captain Sandra Hiroshi's kamikaze "blaze of glory" ending, and the brave ISN anchorwoman trying her best to get the REAL news out even while under attack by government troops! In this episode, the women truly shined, and being a feminist, I abso-fraggin-lutely loved it.
You would think that in an episode this serious they would not have any time for any humour. Ah, but you're forgetting, this is Babylon 5, a show that is actually WRITTEN well, so yes, they DO manage to squoosh some in--just a bit, right at the beginning. The scene with Londo running afoul of the Narn security guard was delightful, and I think it marks probably the ONLY time you'll catch me laughing WITH a Narn at a Centauri's expense, but you gotta admit--Londo REALLY had it coming to him, yes?
I leave you now with this public service announcment: Friends don't let friends fly Starfuries drunk.
Valtoo!

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