Conflicts of Interest
Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri
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This episode did have its good moments. Unfortunately, virtually NONE of these were on the main plot, which was about Mr. Garibaldi's increasing involvement with Wade and whoever he works for and his increasing distance from his former friends. The two subplots were about beginning to forge a new alliance against the Drakh and the "Voice of the Resistance. But in the old Centauri tradition of getting the worst out of your way first, let's start with the Garibaldi plotline.
Now, you KNOW your episode is in trouble when the MAIN, big part of it is the worst part! That's not a good sign. Okay, so the Garibaldi plotline did have some decent parts, such as the beginning of his involvement with the mysterious Mr. Edgars, the introduction of the telepath...erm...serum...the explanation of whatever happened to Lise's kid (it was a girl, her name is Debra, and she will be living with her father, Franz and his NEW wife--not Lise. I'd been kinda wondering ever since "A Voice in the Wilderness."), and for some reason, I don't know WHY, I like Wade. He's not normally the type of character I would like, but I think it has something to do with the fact that even though he's a thug, he seems to be a relatively SMART and well-educated thug, which is a rare combination. Whatever, he's an interesting character for some odd reason.
But this plotline had problems coming out of its EARS. Observe:
1. The man who wanted Garibaldi to find his daughter--sure, fine, let us know that even though Garibaldi has resigned and all of that, he's still a nice guy at heart. That's okay, show us that, good. But this was OVERDONE! Besides the semi-funny line "I don't want to get me in trouble" the whole scene was so SCHMALTZY!! Bleck! It was SOOOO saccharine and sweetsy-poo. Not at ALL what I expect from B5. And the guy playing "Ben" was a horrible actor, and way too emotional, and the lines STUNK. "I can't eat, I can't sleep, she's the only thing in the universe for me!" Can we say MELODRAMA, boys, girls, and hermaphrodites? YUCK! I felt like I needed a drink of water to counteract all the sugar after that scene. Bleck.
2. What the heck was up with that leprechaun who was their contact? If it wasn't for his beard, I would have assumed that anyone with a voice that high must be a girl, and his acting was atrocious, too. I was GLAD when he got shot!
3. I DO NOT like Lise. Not AT ALL. She is a whiny, fickle, gold-digging, selfish little BRAT! "Oh, Michael, don't LEAVE me, MI-chaaeeelll...." screaming whenever a gun goes off, shrieking and cowering and whimpering. Oh, sure, it was Franz who left HER, not the other way around, and HE was having an affair, but still, you gotta wonder, exactly WHY did he divorce her so QUICKLY? My guess, since there's nothing wrong with her looks (I would KILL for cheekbones like that...) must be her personality. And since I couldn't stand even listening to her for five minutes at a time, I can just imagine how hard it would be to put up with her in person, so to Franz, I say, GOOD MOVE! And I do not believe for one moment that she "traded up" to Edgars JUST because he was kind to her. Oh, no, it was definitely also (if not entirely) the money. She has such a whiny-little-rich-girl thing to her that I imagine she would never even CONSIDER living a life of moderation, so she'd have to marry rich. Not to mention--the main thing that annoys me about her--the scenes where she's talking to Garibaldi sound like a fragging SOAP OPERA!! They're so...melodramatic, big pregnant pauses, drippy, soppy romance stuff--OH, NO! WHAT did Brad say to Melanie? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!! etc. (Now, I realise I shouldn't go dissing soap opera actors--after all, according to the Internet Movie Database, Wortham Krimmer (Emperor Cartagia!) has been a regular on "One Life to Live" for almost 8 years now! Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) and Joshua Cox (Corwin) have been on the same series. Various people from Star Trek have also been on soaps--Kira, Garak, Kes, and Janeway to name just a few.) All around, she's an irritating character, has a yucky personality, and her dialogue makes me want to either throw up or go to sleep. Not a good combination.
But a question remains--that message she left for Garibaldi, under her unmarried name--was it a soppy, soap-opera-diva-ish whine, or was it an actual message, perhaps a WARNING, something she thought it important for him to know but did not want to say in public? We'll never know...
4. The whole thing with Garibaldi's identicard--it was OBVIOUS that once he had his stuff taken away from him, he would instantly get into trouble, and lo and behold, he does. Also Garibaldi's attitude grated on my nerves (yes, I know he's had his little brain messed up, but STILL...) through the entire episode. And what's with all this hurtful resentment about having Zack be the one to take his gun away? When a cop resigns, he's ALWAYS supposed to give up his stuff the instant he does so, it's the normal regulations! It shouldn't be any big deal! Sheesh!
Okay, now onto more pleasant subjects. The scene with G'Kar, Londo, and Sheridan was short but very welcome, I think I NEEDED a Londo scene right about then. Basically, Sheridan wants to put White Stars on patrol on the borders between the Centauri Republic and the Narn Regime. He hopes that if he can get these two, Londo and G'Kar, to agree to this, the other League worlds will allow White Stars to protect their borders too. If the Narns and the Centauri agree on it--and they never agree on ANYTHING--then that should be enough to convince the others. At first, both ambassadors hate the idea, but they eventually grudingly agree to it, and so the new alliance that was formed to fight the Shadows looks like it has a chance to stick around a little longer...
And now on to the best part of the episode--the FUNNY part. Ivanova's efforts to get "The Voice of the Resistance" up and running. They have everything else they need, but they need a good source of power to be able to broadcast all the way to Earth. Her scene with Franklin was great, "Or, we could just use Epsilon III" she says, RIGHT after he said, it, and then goes on about how only a total IDIOT would fail to see that right away, and then he starts PRAISING her for stealing his idea, with this wry little smile on his face the entire time. It was great. But by far the hightlight of the episode came when she went down to Epsilon III itself and met--Zathras!
Only it wasn't Zathras. It was Zathras. See the difference in pronunciation there? To clarify--there are ten of them (TEN! I feel sorry for their mother...), all named Zathras. The one who went back in time, the one Ivanova met, was supposedly "the quiet one of the family." GULP. He never shut up! And he was the QUIET one? Hee hee...Then The Zathras Who is Not Zathras went on and on and on, about how he never gets anyone to talk to, so sometimes he talks to dirt, sometimes walls, sometimes ceiling, "but dirt is closer. Dirt understands. Dirt is used to EVERYONE walking on it." and goes on about how insects are a good source of protein, etc. TOTAL stream-of-consciousncess babbling. SOMEWHERE in here, I don't know how, Ivanova somehow got him to shut up long enough to explain her problem and get the power source she needs. She must have, because, by the end of the episode, she is making her first broadcast as the anchor of "The Voice of the Resistance", from the former War Room.
And the truth is, indeed, back in business.
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