Learning Curve
Reviewed by Lufa Caldoni, An'la'shok
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This was a relatively simple episode on the surface, but it actually set some stuff up for the arc later on, if mainly in character-development ways. It actually had four plotlines--the main one being about these Rangers that travel to B5 to report to Delenn, then there's one about this new main thug in Down Below and Security's efforts to shut him down, then one about Garibaldi trying to figure out what's the deal with Lochley, and, last but not least, the idea of using telepaths in the Alliance's intelligence gathering missions that was mentioned back in "The Paragon of Animals" is going forwards. But first, let's address the Ranger plotline.
We start off on Minbar, where some young Rangers are trying to learn how to meditate, but two of them are not taking to it very well. One of them is a Warrior Caste Minbari named Rastenn who does not see how sitting and thinking can help one face danger. "Well," says his teacher, an old, kindly Religious Caste Minbari (played by Turhan Bey, or in other words, EMPEROR TURHAN! Eeeek! This little Centauri-phile did a mental backflip when she recognised him) "you seem to have the SITTING part down. As for thinking--we'll leave that to the advanced class..." and then he gets into a friendly argument with another older teacher, this one a Warrior Caste Minbari, in which they insult each other and Durhann, the other older teacher, then gets down to business. He is travelling to Babylon 5 to report to the En'til'zha herself, Delenn, and he wants Turval to come with him. Turval goes on about how honoured he is until Durhann says that he only picked him because everyone else is BUSY, and then they hear a laugh from the class. They turn around and another young Ranger, this time a Religious-Caste Minbari named Tannier, is trying VERY hard to keep a straight face. "I thought I told you to listen only to your inner voice." "I am. My inner voice is smiling." "NOBODY has an inner voice that smiles!" protests Durhann. "I do." grins Tannier. So, since these two, Tannier who laughs and Rastenn who can't think, are causing so much trouble, Turval picks them to be his escorts and the four of them show up on B5. "Babylon 5--the home of PEACE!" Tannier says reverently.
Cue the body falling to the deck, of course. The new guy in town, Trace, is killing people and leaving them for Security to find to leave them a message. He's trying to take over all of Down Below, after N'Grath went down. (I don't know exactly what happened to N'Grath, but I was SO GLAD to hear that name mentioned 'cos it goes all the way back to the FIRST SEASON! YES! Hurray for continuity!). Zack does some very intelligent detective work and figures out exactly how the people are being killed and why, and Trace figures he's dangerous so he decides that he has to "take Zack out", even though his men rightly warn him that to go after THE Security guy is NOT a good idea...
Meanwhile, the two teachers, Turval and Durhann, are reporting to Delenn. They explain how they've taken in some recruits from other worlds--Drazi, Yaloo (?), Abbai, and even a Pak'ma'ra, whom they have NO idea what to do with. They complain about his smell and the fact that he won't learn any other language, etc. (So, in other words, if a Pak'ma'ra can get in, then I should have NO trouble with my CENTAURI Ranger character! YES! Ha-ha!) I kinda feel sorry for the Pak'ma'ra, for, as Delenn says, they are not BAD people, but they are always shunned and hated everywhere they go for things that they cannot help, and they are lost, rootless wanderers forced to live off other people's scraps basically. So she then solves the "problem" of the Pak'ma'ra by putting him to work as a courier--who better for a secret messenger than someone that everyone already overlooks all the time anyway? And that, right there, is a perfect example of the quality in Delenn that is both her finest part and her undoing--the fact that she always is able to see the GOOD in people, no matter who or what they are. (The speech Lennier made about her "world" from "Rumours, Bargains, and Lies" comes to mind here.) Speaking of Lennier, Turval has some disturbing news about our favourite little Minbari. Well, first he discusses Marcus and how he joined the An'la'shok for the wrong reasons--not to serve, but to atone, and from there goes to Lennier. Basically, he's overworking himself, taking on too much, hurting himself badly during the combat training because he wants to be more macho to please Delenn, to prove to him that he can also be a dashing warrior type. (Poor baby! Sniff. Don't you hurt my Minbari pookie! The MAIN "pookie" from B5 is, of course, Vir.) Delenn looks very upset at this news and when Turval asks if she knows why Lennier is acting this way, she does not want to talk about it...
Meanwhile, the two kid Rangers, Rastenn and Tannier, are set loose and they instantly, being idiot teenagers, go straight towards Down Below, where they are set upon by Trace's thugs. Actually, they hear a woman scream and Tannier decides to go help her because it's his job as a Ranger, no matter who needs saving, but Rastenn, the so-called "braver" Warrior Caste one, sits on his butt and does nothing. So poor Tannier is beat to a bloody pulp and once Trace learns that he's a Ranger, which is sort of a police force, he decides to leave him where Security can find him.
Cut to Medlab, where Tannier is lying down in bed and Turval, the teacher, asks Rastenn why he did not come to help. Rastenn explains that basically he was afraid of being laughed at, that he did not want to risk his life unless is was for a good cause. Turval then launches into a speech about flowers and mountains that was WAY too philosophical for me to fully follow (although, here's an odd thing--in one of my old fantasy stories, there IS a part where someone has to get a flower off the top of a very high mountain as a quest. The difference is, the flower was the only one left that made a healing substance that would cure a sick Empress, so it was NOT a trivial, meaningless quest.) Much as I like the guy (Turval) that speech left me going, "Huh?" Anyway, he manages to shame Rastenn and then Durhann comes by and announces to Delenn that they are going to now do some ritual called "Mora'dum" which leaves her not very happy at all. "Mora'dum?" asks Franklin. "What does that mean?"
"It is a part of Ranger training", she answers. "It means--'application of terror.'"
Meanwhile, on the Garibaldi/Lochley front, they come into conflict yet again over lunch. There being nowhere else to sit, Lochley begrudgingly accepts Garibaldi's invitation to sit with him and Zack whereupon he starts making all kinds of nasty insinuations about which side she was on in the war while she pours what looks like about HALF THE ENTIRE SUGAR BOWL into her coffee! BLECK! (I'm NOT kidding; watch the scene! And then she actually DRINKS it afterwards, gag me! I would've choked!) "Okay, Mr. Garibaldi," she says, finally getting too pissed off to ignore him any longer. "You want to know which side I was on?" She stops as she realises that the ENTIRE room is watching. "You were right. I was NOT on your side. I was on the side that says it is NOT the military's position to make policy. I was on the side that says that you follow orders until one comes along that goes against your conscience. And then you decide whether to follow it or not. Maybe you're right, or maybe you'll end up against the wall facing a firing squad! But your decision affects only you."
"Does anybody else here think this food tastes funny?" wonders Zack aloud, trying DESPERATELY to change the subject.
"And to hell with the rest of the universe, is that it?" says Garibaldi, completely ignoring Zack.
"Well, there you have me at a disadvantage, Mr. Garibaldi," snips Lochley, very angry. "I don't pretend to know what's right or wrong for the entire universe. (Meanwhile, Zack continues to complain about the food.) "I am a soldier. That means that my vocabulary is rather limited. I only really know three words--duty, loyalty, and honour. If one falls, the others are meaningless. You asked me if I took up arms against my own government, Mr. Garibaldi. The answer is no." And with that, she stands up and stalks off, leaving her food sitting there (which I'm imagining Garibaldi probably ate, knowing him.) Everyone applauds her! That surprised me, but hey, it was a good speech.
So then Garibaldi asks Zack to pull Lochley's personal files, because after all he did the same thing when Sheridan came aboard, but Zack refuses. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe just because somebody doesn't agree with you doesn't make them the enemy?" asks Zack incredulously. "No." says Garibaldi. "Sheridan SAYS he hired someone from the other side to make a show of peace, but I don't buy it. There's more to this thing than what they're saying, Zack."
Then somewhere in here there's a scene in which Garibaldi meets with the two renegade telepaths that Byron let him have (on Lyta's behalf) and explains what kind of work he'll have them doing, etc. It's a small scene but I'm assuming it'll be important later...
Cut to Delenn and Lochley, where Delenn explains that she will not need the station's help in finding out who beat up her Ranger (Tannier) or in dealing with it, they are taking care of it themselves. Then she explains the Mora'dum--the Ranger who has been terrorised must turn the terror back on the one who did it to him, "take back the power." A side-note here: I noticed a similarity between the word "Mora'dum" and the word "Za'ha'dum", and for a moment I thought that hey, maybe "dum" is a root-word meaning "terror"! So "Za'ha'dum" would be, say, the "land of terror" or "realm of terror", where the Shadows live, eh? Then I remembered that Zha'ha'dum is a NARN word, not Minbari, and went D'OH! Well, it was a nice theory while it lasted....Anyway, Tannier has to be healed by Franklin JUST enough to walk--or in this case, limp--and then go face down his terror by himself.
During this conversation, Lochley makes some comment about how allowing this kind of thing is "not like" Sheridan, and this gets Delenn suspicious, but Lochley changes the topic and now there are TWO people who want to know what the REAL reason is that Sheridan picked her...
Meanwhile, down in Down Below, Security clears completely out of three levels and that completely fails to make Trace worry, although his "thugs-r-uss" guys are. Then the lights go out and all these sudden screams start sounding around them, along with that strange little snick sound that a Minbari fighting-pike makes when you extend it. This was great--it was like something out of a cheesy horror movie almost. Shadows stalking you from behind..."Who's there?" WHACK thud stalk stalk stalk WHACK SCREAM thud etc. Eventually a very nervous Trace finds himself completely alone with the thing causing all this chaos--which turns out to be one extremely beat up Minbari teenager. He turns frantically around in a circle in the dark, facing Minbari everywhere. He says it's not fair that he has to fight all of them. "No, not all of us, just him." says Durhann as a spotlight comes on, revealing the bloody and bruised Tannier. A pike is thrown at Trace's feet. He complains about how he doesn't know how to use one of these things but picks it up as he realises these people are serious and that no other weapons are coming. As he fights the two older teachers both make fun of him, which I LOVED. It was so funny and it served him right. Turval goes on about how here you see a classic arch-type in action, a "bully" as the Humans call them, a coward who is all muscle and no brains, etc. Then Durhann makes fun of his fighting technique and says that even the Pak'ma'ra held the pike better on his very first training session! Meanwhile, they are going at it hammer and tongs. The difference is, Trace is hitting Tannier's pike but Tannier is hitting Trace's BODY. He beats him almost senseless, and when Trace gets up and throws the pike down to the ground, refusing to use it anymore, Tannier joins him in hand-to-hand combat just as well, using martial arts techniques (my brother at one point said that the philosophies of Ranger fighting that Turval had been espousing earlier sound a lot like Wing Chun philosophies! Why am I not surprised...) and then Tannier REALLY beats him senseless. As they leave what's left of Trace for Security to deal with, Turval asks Tannier how he feels now. Tannier says he's not repressed anymore (hee) and they all break for lunch and some extra-strength Tylenol for Tannier's bleeding, bruised head...
Meanwhile, Garibaldi finds Zack "not" looking at Lochley's file and after he leaves, "doesn't" have a peek for himself.
And back in Sheridan's quarters, Delenn mentions her conversation with Lochley earlier and how she said that something was "not like you. What did she mean by that, John?" Sheridan gets this INCREDIBLY guilty/sheepish/oh-gods-she-caught-me look on his face and closes the glass doors so we can't hear what is said next.
When we come back to our happy First Couple, there is obviously trouble in paradise as Delenn is lying down on the EXACT opposite side of the bed from Sheridan and refuses to look at him. "I assume you were planning to tell me about this eventually."
"Well," Sheridan hems and haws, "I was waiting for the right time..."
"Ten seconds after you thought of it would have been about right!" snaps Delenn.
Whoah boy. What's THAT all about? Tune in tomorrow to find out...
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