Yora reviews Babylon 5

[Rodin]

Oh, right, this is that one.

I liked this episode. It's a clever way to tell the story differently and give different perspectives, which makes what would be a standard episode that we'd need to push the Narn-Centauri conflict forward a more interesting one because we can look at the gimmick. "The Illusion of Truth" is actually less interesting to me because it isn't as well-crafted and is kinda predictable as well. And the interesting thing is that the reporter is much more of a standard reporter than someone trying to make everyone look bad, which is what we get in the other episode.

I find the episodes to be pretty uncomfortable as a pair. They show a "what not to do" progression of news media - the first is flawed but provides a reasonably objective view of the conflict, while the second shows the absolute worst case. The way we've moved from the first to the second steadily over the past 30 years is rather upsetting.

There is something fun in this episode though. When the Psi Corps commercial is on, watch carefully. If you pause on the right frame, you can catch a subliminal message that pops up on the screen. I think it says something like "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" or something like that.

[comicshorse]

There is something fun in this episode though. When the Psi Corps commercial is on, watch carefully. If you pause on the right frame, you can catch a subliminal message that pops up on the screen. I think it says something like "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" or something like that.

"THE PSI CORPS IS YOUR FRIEND. TRUST THE CORPS"
According to Imdb

[Cikomyr2]

I find the episodes to be pretty uncomfortable as a pair. They show a "what not to do" progression of news media - the first is flawed but provides a reasonably objective view of the conflict, while the second shows the absolute worst case. The way we've moved from the first to the second steadily over the past 30 years is rather upsetting.

There is something fun in this episode though. When the Psi Corps commercial is on, watch carefully. If you pause on the right frame, you can catch a subliminal message that pops up on the screen. I think it says something like "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" or something like that.

That subliminal message had to be on frame juuuuust a bit longer than the legally allowed minimal-lenght message.

Because when you want to make an example of a subliminal message, you can't actually have a real subliminal message XD

[Yora]

I find the episodes to be pretty uncomfortable as a pair. They show a "what not to do" progression of news media - the first is flawed but provides a reasonably objective view of the conflict, while the second shows the absolute worst case. The way we've moved from the first to the second steadily over the past 30 years is rather upsetting.

Science fiction always comes in two kinds: Offering a vision of what society can achieve if we address problems right, and warnings of where society is headed if we don't address problems at all.

[Cikomyr2]

Science fiction always comes in two kinds: Offering a vision of what society can achieve if we address problems right, and warnings of where society is headed if we don't address problems at all.

I'd argue there is a third kind: reframing of current problems outside of our cultural context so we can look at the issue more objectively.

[Yora]

S2E16: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

Vir has to talk to Morden, who has come to the station, because Londo is away to the homeworld, since apparently the war is not going that well and he was wondering if Londo would like some more support from them. He clearly sees that Vir has no love for the war and despises him for his part in it, but tries to see if he can get his hooks into him, asking what it is that he wants. "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up at your lifeless eyes and wave."

Spoiler: Like this

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The security people handling the Narn refugees are begging Garibaldi to talk with Sherridan to let them take the injured Narn to medlab for propper treatment before sending them on their way. Sherridan gives his permission, knowing that it will make his superiors unhappy about using government resources on foreigners.
He's also been looking through the files from his wife's lost expedition to decide if he wants to throw them away. Garibaldi sees Morden's picture in the ship's crew file and is convinced he's seen the guy on the station. Sherridan wants to see him immediately.

Talia is visited by a government official from the new Department of Homeland Security Ministry for Peace who is on an information tour about the current security situation and would like her to attend.

Ivanova goes to medlab where she finds Franklin asleep at his desk because she's seen that he hasn't checked out of his shift for 36 hours with all the wounded Narn getting treatment. He says it's fine and can continue, but she orders him to go to his quarters to sleep.

Security takes Morden into custody as he's boarding a transport to leave and brings him to Sherridan. He admits that he was on the expedition but claims he was found in a space suit outside the ship with no memory of the ship's explosion. He says it took weeks until he was back on his feet and could inform Earth of his survival, but apparently the message got lost before it arrived.
Sherridan does not believe him, and since Morden is officially declared dead he is not an Earth Alliance citizen and does not have a right to not be held without charges.

The government official is holding a speech to mostly security officers and fighter pilots about a new official volunteer militia program called Night Watch that wants people to keep an eye out for unpatriotic activities and show their presence in public so everyone knows they are watching. Their goal is to give people confidence in their security, and to reach out to people who are feeling disconnected from society to better adress the issues that trouble them. And to fight against fake news.

Sherridan is determined to keep interrogating Morden but Garibaldi tells him that this is blatantly against all laws and his ass is on the line when word about this gets out. He's giving Sherridan a lot of slack with this situation but this has to stop, and he's absolutely willing to fight with him about this. Either Morden goes free, or he quits there and then, and when Sherridan insists he walks.
Sherridan gets called to his office to an urgent meeting with Vir. The Centauri government is demanding the release of Morden. Since he never misses any appointments and the records say he never left the station, they must be holding him in custody. As an official guest of the Centauri Republic they are extending diplomatic immunity to him. Sherridan finds it very interesting that the Centauri are that interested in him when he claims to be just a regular guy doing small business. He tells Vir diplomatic immunity applies only against criminal charges and they haven't charged Morden with anything. So no.
As he leaves the office, Ivanova catches him because Garibaldi spoke to her, and she tells him this has to stop or she has to inform Earth that he's breaking the law and not performing his duties. He only barely gets Ivanova to give him more time.
He then goes to Talia to ask her to scan Morden and she refuses because it's blatatly illegal. Sherridan tells security officer Zak to have Talia escorted out of the security area and also take Morden to a different cell along the same corridor. As they pass each other Talia can't help but look at him and senses two invisible alien creatures walking next to him, which causes her to faint. Sherridan comes to medlab to ask her what happened and she really is not amused and storms out. Sherridan thinks that this at least confirmation that there is something very strange going on with Morden.

As he leaves medlab, Delenn and Kosh are waiting for him outside, telling him he must release Morden. There is a great danger for the whole station if he keeps holding him and he just has to trust them on this. Sherridan demands to know what's going on and Kosh gives Delenn a nod to give her permission. She tells Sherridan that she can give him an answer, but if they let him in on their secret, he will never sleep well again.
They go to Delenn's quarters and she tells him that millions of years ago there were many great alien civilizations but eventually they left the galaxy. But a few of them stayed behind to be ready for a time when the Shadows return, a race even older than themselves. Their last appearance was a thousand years ago when they were defeated by the remaining ancients with help of the Minbari. After that the ancient lefts, with the Vorlons being the only ones that are still there.

"This is why Kosh can not leave his suit. He would be recognized."
"By whom?"
"Everyone."

Kosh shows Sherridan a vision of his wife's expedition exploring Zahadum where they discovered the awakening Shadows. They destroyed the ship to not let anyone leave who knows of their presence, and either killed or enslaved all of the explorers. If Morden spills the beans, the Shadows will know that their return has been discovered and start their invasion of the rest of the galaxy early, before Delenn and Kosh can prepare to fight against them. Sherridan told G'Kar he has to hold back his revenge against the Centauri to save his people, and now he must do the same.

Sherridan needs time to think and tells Zak the inaccurate popular story about the bombing of Coventry and the importance of not preparing against a coming attack to not let the enemy know you know their secrets.
There's a strange noise on the security monitors and Zak says it's a glitch from the surveillance system in Morden's cell. Sherridan remembers that Delenn said the Shadows will always be watching Morden closely and tells Zak to set the camera to different wavelength. While he does it, Sherridan sees two black aliens in his cell. He then tells Zak to let Morden go.

Sherridan goes to Garibaldi to apologize for his mistake and ask him to come back to work. But he doesn't want to tell what made him change his mind. As he leaves, Zak comes by to ask Garibaldi if he knows what's wrong with the captain. Garibaldi sees Zak's Night Watch batch and asks about it, and Zak says as a security officer he's always looking around for suspicious activity anyway, so he can just collect the little extra pay while doing it.

Shrridan goes to Kosh's quarters to tell him that he released Morden. He also wants Kosh to teach him what he needs to know to help them fight the Shadows. Kosh agrees, but also tells him "If you go to Zahadum, you will die."

--

Wow, this came out of nowhere! And I've seen the whole show probably three times before.

It starts pretty pedestrian with Vir having to suffer listening to Morden and showing that he sees the evil when it's in front of him but not being impressed or in any way tempted, and with another shady looking guy from the government showing up. That Morden has a connection to Sherridan's dead wife comes completely unexpected, but I think given what we've seen of Morden in the past, the expectation would be that they just have to let him go without learning anything useful.
Talia seeing the two Shadows with Morden and her reaction to it did turn up the tension very suddenly, but given the overall pacing of the show, my expectation was that this would be the peak of the episode.
But Delenn and Kosh waiting outside medlab together comes totally out of left field. It was immediately clear to me that they wanted to talk with him about Morden as well, which I think made for a great twist moment. Even if not everyone got that reaction, Delenn just says it direcly, getting the same effect. And then with basically no buildup, outside the doors of medlab, we get let in on the whole show's big mystery. Normally I would have expected something much more drawn that slowly builds up the expectation that something big will be revealed. This moment just comes out of seeming nowhere. I think this is fantastic.

At this point we knew about Londo getting help from the black aliens through Morden and that G'Kar thinks they are an ancient alien threat. And we knew that Delenn and Kosh are both involved in some mysterious conspiracy. But did we ever get any good hints that these two are connected?
I remember one time early on where Kosh crosses paths with Morden and tells them "They are not for you", after which he requests material to repair his suit. But that was a moment that was easy to miss with everything going on in that episode and a long time ago at this point.

That Night Watch thing is interesting. I wonder how obviously sinister this would have looked to American audiences in the 90s. The official makes it all sound very benevolent, but when you know about KGB, Stasi, SA, Red Guards, and Blackshirts, it's really obvious that this is about establishing a totalitarian thought police. We are everywhere, we are watching you, and if you're not with us you're against us. And Ministry of Peace sounds absolutely like 1984 or North Korea.
But thumbs up to making that guy sound actually friendly and talking about improving community and adressing social issues. Calling for genocides comes much later when you already have your loyal army.

[comicshorse]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=5][COLOR="#0000CD"]
That Night Watch thing is interesting. I wonder how obviously sinister this would have looked to American audiences in the 90s. The official makes it all sound very benevolent, but when you know about KGB, Stasi, SA, Red Guards, and Blackshirts, it's really obvious that this is about establishing a totalitarian thought police. We are everywhere, we are watching you, and if you're not with us you're against us. And Ministry of Peace sounds absolutely like 1984 or North Korea.
But thumbs up to making that guy sound actually friendly and talking about improving community and adressing social issues. Calling for genocides comes much later when you already have your loyal army.

Absolutely a '1984' reference I'd say. The Ministry of Peace controls the war against the other powers. The Ministry of Plenty controls food and rationing, the Ministry of Truth controls propaganda and the Ministry of Love monitors for and arrests dissidents (and so is responsible for Room 101).

When I first saw this way back I remembering being very impressed by Morden's reaction to being imprisoned, particularly when Sheridan spies on him in his cell. He doesn't rage or pace back and forth he just sits there, calmly meditating. At peace with himself and utterly confident in the protection of his 'associates'

[factotum]

Yeah, this is a cool episode, and obviously Vir's chat with Morden is one of his best moments.

Spoiler

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Only topped by the moment when he actually gets his wish, of course!

And I think this is arguably the moment when the Shadow arc really fires up in earnest.

[Grey Watcher]

S2E16: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

That Night Watch thing is interesting. I wonder how obviously sinister this would have looked to American audiences in the 90s.

The armbands always read to me as a pretty blatant reference to those worn by Nazis in the 1930's. I literally can't think of anything since 1945, real or fictional, that uses uniform armbands that ISN'T trying to evoke that specific association.

Still, as you say, props to the writers for nailing how these sorts of things get the initial momentum going.

[Dragonus45]

I'd argue there is a third kind: reframing of current problems outside of our cultural context so we can look at the issue more objectively.

Don’t forget the fourth, just having fun and forgetting about all the damn problems for an hour or two.

[Yora]

I just had the same discussion somewhere else, and I argue that there is no fiction that does not have a message or makes a value judgement about the creators' culture.

"Just having fun" is still a statement of how the creator proposes people should deal with conflict. When you cheer for a character, you cheer for the values that character represents and applaud the way the character dealt with the problem that was faced.

[The New Bruceski]

Still, as you say, props to the writers for nailing how these sorts of things get the initial momentum going.

It's great to introduce Zack as a perspective character for this, who joins because it's more pay for stuff he's already doing.

[huttj509]

My reaction to that description was "I remember all that stuff, I didn't remember it all being in ONE episode."

[Rodin]

At this point we knew about Londo getting help from the black aliens through Morden and that G'Kar thinks they are an ancient alien threat. And we knew that Delenn and Kosh are both involved in some mysterious conspiracy. But did we ever get any good hints that these two are connected?
I remember one time early on where Kosh crosses paths with Morden and tells them "They are not for you", after which he requests material to repair his suit. But that was a moment that was easy to miss with everything going on in that episode and a long time ago at this point.

There was also the scene in that same episode where Morden approaches Delenn. Delenn sees a shadow cross Morden's face and a symbol lights up on her forehead. She kicks Morden out immediately while hiding the symbol on her forehead from him.

That was such a "good cannot tolerate evil" moment that the association was obvious - both Kosh and Delenn recognized Morden as bad news. Kosh knew who he was, and Delenn suspected (if not more). So it wasn't a surprise when they were revealed to be working together.

The armbands always read to me as a pretty blatant reference to those worn by Nazis in the 1930's. I literally can't think of anything since 1945, real or fictional, that uses uniform armbands that ISN'T trying to evoke that specific association.

Still, as you say, props to the writers for nailing how these sorts of things get the initial momentum going.

Japanese school armbands come to mind. They're meant to denote authority and show that the wearer is a member of a group with power (like the student council) but there isn't a more sinister underlying message that I'm aware of.

There's also captain's armbands and black armbands in soccer/football. The former designating who the captain is so the referee knows, as the captain has special leeway in talking with the referee. The latter as a sign of mourning, usually when someone associated with the team has died.

[factotum]

It's great to introduce Zack as a perspective character for this, who joins because it's more pay for stuff he's already doing.

It's a real good sign of how insidious evil can be--it starts with you just getting extra money for doing stuff you'd be doing anyway, and so gradually turns to the nastier stuff that you don't notice, like the proverbial toad in the pan of slowly heating water.

[Rodin]

It's a real good sign of how insidious evil can be--it starts with you just getting extra money for doing stuff you'd be doing anyway, and so gradually turns to the nastier stuff that you don't notice, like the proverbial toad in the pan of slowly heating water.

I hate that proverb because it's not true. A toad that didn't notice water temperature changing slowly would not survive in the wild. They need to move to different temperatures of water all the time depending on the weather and seasons. If you actually try the experiment, the toad will eventually get uncomfortable and jump out to look for somewhere cooler.

[Yora]

The actual experiment was with a dead toad to test muscle reflexes.

[Cikomyr2]

I hate that proverb because it's not true. A toad that didn't notice water temperature changing slowly would not survive in the wild. They need to move to different temperatures of water all the time depending on the weather and seasons. If you actually try the experiment, the toad will eventually get uncomfortable and jump out to look for somewhere cooler.

How about crabs in a basket? Is that actually true?

[Thufir]

And Ministry of Peace sounds absolutely like 1984

The guy says they also call the Ministry of Peace 'Minipax', which is a direct 1984 reference.

[Cikomyr2]

The guy says they also call the Ministry of Peace 'Minipax', which is a direct 1984 reference.

JMS also is on record saying he hated that he had to make the Night watch wear armbands because it made the Nazi parallel too obvious, but there was no alternative for "identification sign that is easily seen on TV"

[Grey Watcher]

Japanese school armbands come to mind. They're meant to denote authority and show that the wearer is a member of a group with power (like the student council) but there isn't a more sinister underlying message that I'm aware of.

There's also captain's armbands and black armbands in soccer/football. The former designating who the captain is so the referee knows, as the captain has special leeway in talking with the referee. The latter as a sign of mourning, usually when someone associated with the team has died.

Huh. I wonder if it's an American thing, then. Though of those, the mourning armband sounds the most familiar. Does anyone know if they use that in the US military or something? I know Japanese stuff was even more niche and off the beaten path back then, so that's not something I would expect most American viewers to necessarily know about. And soccer's never been really popular here, so I can see where that would fly under the radar as well.

Still, even though the real world isn't quite so cleanly divided, I do have a distinct impression American produced media tends to be going for that exclusively. Though that might have softened in the last couple of decades as things like the Japanese school thing become more widely known.

I hate that proverb because it's not true. A toad that didn't notice water temperature changing slowly would not survive in the wild. They need to move to different temperatures of water all the time depending on the weather and seasons. If you actually try the experiment, the toad will eventually get uncomfortable and jump out to look for somewhere cooler.

There's always a relevant xkcd.

[Yora]

S2E17: Knives

Sherridan and Garibaldi are practicing baseball and Garibaldi tells Sherridan about a strange section in Grey Sector where the scanners keep malfunctioning and people have gone missing. Sherridan decides he has to go there sometime to check it out.

Londo gets attacked by a cloaked man who turns out to be an old friend pranking him.

Sherridan goes snooping around in Grey 10 and finds a dead man. He tries to call Garibaldi but the connection is bad. Suddenly the man grabs his head and then is really dead, and the comm is working again. Franklin checks him out and says he got nothing but a bad scare but no injury to his head. He assumes the corpse was merely twitching when Sherridan grabbed him. Garibaldi has the dead man's identity and plans to check his quarters, and Sherridan suddenly has his vision blurred by strange lights and gets dizzy.

Londo and Vir are talking about his friend Urza and the great deeds of their youth, and Vir tells Londo that every generation of Centauri seems to be mourning the great lost past of their glorious civilization.

Sherridan is taking a nap and wakes up hallucinating a pterodactyl in his quarters, and ends up shoting holes into his wall. Garibaldi comes running and there's nothing to be found, but Sherridan insists he saw an alien animal that once attacked him as a child.
Garibaldi also has news that the autopsy of the dead man revealed that he apparently smashed his own head against the wall until he died.

Londo and Urza are drinking for hours and talk about how things are developing in the emperor's palace. Urza thinks the war against the Narn is a mistake and was provoked entirely by the Centauri, and that a gang of nobles has ursuped power and murdered the last prime minister and got an idiot on the throne. And he has gotten information that he will soon be accused of treason and executed and disgraced. That's why he has come to Londo to ask him to use the influence of House Molari to save his family.

Sherridan goes to the command center to distract himself, where his vison goes blurry again and he hallucinates his wife's ship exploding outside the window. He goes to medlab to have Franklin check his brain again, but he can't find anything wrong. Instead he thinks the hallucinations are a stress reaction and Sherridan should take some days off from work.

Londo calls Lord Refa on Centauri Prime to demand the accusations against Urza being dropped, but Refa tells him this is impossible. If Londo were to pulically defend him, it would damage his own reputation to a point where he would become a liability to the ruling cabal. Londo reminds him that he was the one who helped them into power in the first place and Refa reluctanty says he will see if something can be done.

Garibaldi tells Sherridan he discovered that the dead man in Grey Sector had been travelling through the restricted area where Babylon 4 disappeared and perhaps he might have encountered the space anomaly that could still be present there. Sherridan never heard of the incident with Babylon 4 because it's top secret and all records were confiscated, but Garibaldi has a personal copy he's sharing with him.

Londo and Vir are invited to a banquet by Urza who has brought his friends and allies together to celebrate house Molari standing with them. Londo says that won't be necessary because he has arranged from the charges of treason to be dropped by calling Lord Refa. Urza is appalled that Londo is in league with Refa, because it was him who accused him in the first place and is one of the usupers. Londo defends himself saying that working with him is necessary to restore the greatness of the Centauri but Urza thinks treachery and conquest will only destroy the Republic from inside.
Londo thinks it's best that he should leave then, but Urza insists that he first has something he has to give him. He presents Londo with a sword that he carried during his greatest victory as a general. Londo says he can not accept it, and Urza challenges him to a duel to the death, unless he has become a coward. Londo doesn't let that stand and accepts the challenge.

Sherridan is watching recordings of Babylon 4 and senses another presence in his mind. He sees a hallucination of his parents and thinks he knows what the presence wants from him. Franklin get an alert from the monitor that tracks Sherridan's vital signs, and when he doesn't respond to his call he calls Garibaldi.
Sherridan takes fighter and tells Ivanova to give him permission to launch for a short flight. She lets him go but calls Garibaldi to ask if something's wrong.
Garibaldi takes another fighter to follow him. Sherridan tells him he has to go to the restricted zone.

Londo and Urza begin their duel and Urza seems to be having the upper hand. After an apparently long fight they are both exhausted and Londo stumble's to the ground, but Urza lets himself be stabbed before making a final blow. Being killed in a sword duel his family becomes part of the victor's house, and won't be affected when he will be decalred a traitor.

Sherridan reaches the annomaly and some energy jumps out of his body to enter it. Sherridan passes out and Garibaldi has to tug his fighter to safety before it drifts in as well.

Vir tells Londo not to feel too bad because he had no choice. Londo agrees, but says it's because he made a mistake following the wrong path and it is now too late to turn back.

--

I actually quite enjoyed watching this one even though it has very obvious big flaws. Sherridan's story is an alien of the week that has no relevance for anything and isn't even interesting in itself. It's something you'd expect in Star Trek, but here it is nothing but filler to get the 45 minutes full. The plot is pretty banal, but I do quite like the execution. The acting, dialog, and pacing are competently done for most of it.

Londo's story is much more relevant. Not necessarily for plot continuity, but for his character development. There is nothing crucial or terribly new in this one, but it does a good job of reinforcing previously introduced ideas. Londo is being told to his face by one of his best and oldest friends that he has allied himself with awful people who will have a horrible impact on the future of their people, which Vir has been telling him all along. And his reaction shows that he's not shocked by that accusation and does not make much of a defense or justification. He already knows it himself. That Refa is responsible for destroying his friend comes as a surprise, but it also doesn't really change anything at this point. Good acting on all sides by Londo, Urza, and also Vir. I remember when the show came out and I was much younger, Vir was just a funny sidekick, but watching it now again I feel like Vir is really contributing quite significantly to the quality of the show. He and Londo can make really good scenes just by themselves, even when Vir does not have anything outstanding to say.

I also very much took notice of how good that duel looked in its context. For a 90s TV show that does not include any other swordfighting, Londo actually makes a pretty convincing appearance as an old man who used to be a good fencer in his youth. He actually seems to handle his sword better than Urza, who is the superior fighter in the story.
It's not a great fight of course, but given the context in which it shows up, one would normally expect something much worse.

[Grey Watcher]

S2E17: Knives

--

I actually quite enjoyed watching this one even though it has very obvious big flaws. Sherridan's story is an alien of the week that has no relevance for anything and isn't even interesting in itself. It's something you'd expect in Star Trek, but here it is nothing but filler to get the 45 minutes full. The plot is pretty banal, but I do quite like the execution. The acting, dialog, and pacing are competently done for most of it.

A rare instance where your opinion of something is more positive than mine, it seems. This plot was so forgettable that I read two thirds of it before I even remembered it at all. And I've seen this show all the way through like half a dozen times, at least. I guess I'd have to watch it again to get a sense of the execution again, but it's such empty filler that it failed to make an impression on me at all. And I'm the sort of pedantic nerd who has to bite his tongue to keep from correcting people on minor wording errors when quoting things, so forgetting that an entire B-plot existed to the point of failing to recognize it when described feels like a lot.

Good acting on all sides by Londo, Urza, and also Vir.

In another instance where I'm being harsher than you for once, I always found the actor playing Urza to be a weak link here. He always came up to me as kind of hammy and overacted, robbing Urza of the dignity needed to make this land properly.

I remember when the show came out and I was much younger, Vir was just a funny sidekick, but watching it now again I feel like Vir is really contributing quite significantly to the quality of the show. He and Londo can make really good scenes just by themselves, even when Vir does not have anything outstanding to say.

I think that's part of what makes Vir work is that he sort of slips in under the radar because your first impression of him is "bumbling comic relief sidekick." (To viewers of a certain age, this is reinforced by Stephen Furst being best known up to this point for playing Flounder in Animal House, if you want to get meta.)

It just occurred to me that the show gets right with Vir exactly what it gets wrong with Franklin. Franklin's presented as A Man of Principle from the get go, and is pretty blatantly set up to be The Conscience. As a result, he comes off as preachy. Vir's pleas and reproaches regarding Londo's behavior come off as much more earnest because they're not coming from a direction you initially expect.

Oh and, having learned some Italian as an adult, "pazzo liati" feels really lazy. :-/

[factotum]

According to JMS, this episode and "Z'Ha'Dum" were screened out of order--Knives was supposed to go first, putting the reminder about Anna in place which would then be paid off in Z'Ha'Dum, but there was so much CGI work required for this episode they had to move it down the running order. I don't remember enough about the B plot here to know if that would have been helped by having the episodes the other way round, though.

[tomandtish]

S2E17: Knives

I also very much took notice of how good that duel looked in its context. For a 90s TV show that does not include any other swordfighting, Londo actually makes a pretty convincing appearance as an old man who used to be a good fencer in his youth. He actually seems to handle his sword better than Urza, who is the superior fighter in the story.
It's not a great fight of course, but given the context in which it shows up, one would normally expect something much worse.

Of course, that was handled even better when you realize what Urza is fighting for (or not fighting for as the case may be). He's the better fighter but wants to lose.

[Yora]

S2E18: Confessions and Lamentations

Ivanova is concerned about a Markab transport that has not arrived at the station and sends out fighters to go looking for it.

Franklin is concerned that in only three days, four Markab with bad health have died suddenly. The Markab doctor who had been looking after them doesn't see their deaths as surprising or suspicious, but Franklin wants to be sure that it's just a coincidence and make an autopsy of the last deceased.

Sherridan has been invited by Delenn and Lennier, who have cooked a ritually significant dish. It turns out to be a lot more ritual with a little bit of food involved than actually eating much, which annoys him, but he's willing to play along, since it seems to greatly matter to them,

Franklin finds something suspicious in the dead body and calls customs to have the other three bodies send to medleb before they are shipped to the homeworld for funerals.

The fighters have no trouble finding the missing ship and discover that the entire crew and all passengers are dead. They tug it to the station and request a medical inspection team.

Sherridan gets called away by Ivannova and meets with Franklin and the Markab doctor at the closed off docking bay. Franklin is quite angry with the doctor because he discovered all four markab who died recently were suffering from a disease that he surely must have known about. The doctor admits that it's an extremely contagious plague with 100% fatality rate. Franklin talks with him in private and the he explains the Markab have all been silent about the outbreak because of its cultural associations. The only known previous outbreak had happened on an isolated island with a very shady reputation where the entire population was wiped out before any assistance could reach them. It was then believed that they had all been killed as punishment for their sinful ways. (I was wondering if this is a very special episode (TM) related to something from the 90s. I suspected it might be AIDS, and now it definitely is.) When the current outbreak began, people first lied about it and others thought they would not be affected because they are not sinful. When the truth came out, it was already too late to contain it. Some people thought the homeworld has become sinful and fled to colonies, spreading the infection everywhere.
Franklin wants to know if there is any risk that it could be transmitted to other species, and the doctor really does not know.

Franklin gives a briefing about the situation to the officers, and Sherridan tells him that he will follow his advice on how they should proceed. The station is put under quarantine with no ships going in and out. Franklin thinks isolating the Markab on the station to one area is a bad idea because either the disease is transmitted through the air and has already been spread throughout the whole station by the ventilation ships, or it is transmitted through contact, in which case keeping the Markab widely spread out would be best. However, Garibaldi is concerned about rioting and thinks it will be easier to protect the Markab from attacks if they have them in one place.

The Markab ambassador is outraged about his people all being screened for the infection and the cultural implications, and is suspecting all kinds of conspiracies that place the blame on Sherridan. He decides he will take all Markab to one section where they will isolate themselves and pray, so that they will survive while all the sinful aliens on the station will die. Ivanova informs Sherridan that 4,000 Markab have gone into isolation, but they are still missing a thousand more who might be hiding somewhere, and she's concerned that they might be killed if people find them. Delenn and Lennier requests that she will be allowed to go with the Markab to help care for the sick. Sherridan thinks it's insane and too dangerous, but Delenn tells him that either Minbari are immune and there is no risk, or they are not and then it's probably already too late for them.

Franklin calls Sherridan that he has confirmation that the infection is airborne, and they also found a dead pakmarah with no clear cause of death. He wants to get an autopsy of the pakmarah but none of his people want to do it, so he decides to do it himself. The Markab doctor comes to medleb and says that he will do it, since he knows by far the most about the disease and he can they stay inside the quarantine lab.

Franklin and the doctor are alone in the medlab at night and chatting about plagues. The doctor recommends Franklin to get some sleep, but he says that has to wait since there is so much to do right now. The doctor starts to experience symptoms in the quarantine lab and recommends that they start recording his vital signs to get a good record of the disease's progression. Since obviously no Markab has ever gone to seek treatment before it was way too late. One of the assistants brings him the autopsy results of the pakmarah, which confirms that it died from the same infection. He assigns some people to figure out what similarity between the species makes them being both at risk of the disease.

The doctor is doing pretty badly but gives Franklins some suggestions what anatomical similarities they should check. But soon he's getting worse and reminds Franklin that sometimes there just isn't any solution and it matters more how they are able to handle the crisis. A few minutes later he dies, but the computer finds a match in the cells he suggested to check. Franklin calls Sherridan and Ivanova and explains that the disease inhibits the nerve signals that control the heart and lungs, causing death when the blood does no longer transport oxygen. He has a plan to create a treatment that will help the body to adapt to overcome the inhibition.

He creates first samples and takes them to the isolation zone, but as they open the door Delenn and Lennier are the only ones still alive, with all Markab being dead. Ships are send to Markab space to deliver the treatment, but find the entire homeworld dead as well.

--

This episode is brought to you by "restore Auto-saved content". I actually skipped this one to go straight to the season ending before some weeks ago. I just watched and wrote it today.

So yeah, this is Babylon 5's very special episode about 1995's current contemporary issue AIDS. As these things go, this one was actually pretty well done. It manages to pull it off without any real cringiness, unlike S1E10 Believers, for example, or a number of episodes on TNG. It's not putting it on too much with the sappiness, but having it all crammed into one episode and then never to be mentioned again still feels somewhat out of place. When Odo had his wasting disease that was ravaging his species in Deep Space Nine, they stretched it out over several seasons.
What makes the episode feel like a very special episode and somewhat forced is the weird time progression of the outbreak. A disease that is this incredibly contagious disappearing for hundreds of years and then effecting the entire species within a year seem like a stretch already, but everyone apparently dropping dead at once within a week, after the infection has been spreading for many months just feels unbelievable. I really like how Franklin is talking about plans to isolate the infected and contain the outbreak, and how Garibaldi gives his input from a security perspective without being an ass about it. Then there is Franklin and the Markab dogma talking about plagues and cultural denial of diseases. This all feels well researched and handled with appropriate care, but the fact that this is a one-shot story just makes it feel forced.
There are a few scenes about Delenn talking with a Markab child, which also manage to not get too much.

I assume the treatment Franklin developed was used to vaccinate the pakmarah and other species that have the relevant anatomical trait, though this isn't actually said in the episode.

I think it's my personal taste in fiction that makes me rate this as okay. If you're interested in this kind of stories, it probably might even be a good one.

[Rakaydos]

S2E18: Confessions and Lamentations

It's worth noting that the Markab homeworld comes up once later on.

Spoiler

Show

when Sheridan uses the jump gate and the WhiteStar's jump point engines to blow up a shadow battlecrab. "This jump gate is no loss, it is only used by scavangers anymore."

[Grey Watcher]

S2E18: Confessions and Lamentations

--

This episode is brought to you by "restore Auto-saved content". I actually skipped this one to go straight to the season ending before some weeks ago. I just watched and wrote it today.

So yeah, this is Babylon 5's very special episode about 1995's current contemporary issue AIDS. As these things go, this one was actually pretty well done. It manages to pull it off without any real cringiness, unlike S1E10 Believers, for example, or a number of episodes on TNG. It's not putting it on too much with the sappiness, but having it all crammed into one episode and then never to be mentioned again still feels somewhat out of place. When Odo had his wasting disease that was ravaging his species in Deep Space Nine, they stretched it out over several seasons.
What makes the episode feel like a very special episode and somewhat forced is the weird time progression of the outbreak. A disease that is this incredibly contagious disappearing for hundreds of years and then effecting the entire species within a year seem like a stretch already, but everyone apparently dropping dead at once within a week, after the infection has been spreading for many months just feels unbelievable. I really like how Franklin is talking about plans to isolate the infected and contain the outbreak, and how Garibaldi gives his input from a security perspective without being an ass about it. Then there is Franklin and the Markab dogma talking about plagues and cultural denial of diseases. This all feels well researched and handled with appropriate care, but the fact that this is a one-shot story just makes it feel forced.
There are a few scenes about Delenn talking with a Markab child, which also manage to not get too much.

I assume the treatment Franklin developed was used to vaccinate the pakmarah and other species that have the relevant anatomical trait, though this isn't actually said in the episode.

I think it's my personal taste in fiction that makes me rate this as okay. If you're interested in this kind of stories, it probably might even be a good one.

The "speed of plot" factor never bothered me so much. It helps that we're only seeing the confined space of the station. It's (I imagine deliberately) unclear how long this took to play out over the whole homeworld, how common it is for Markab's to even live off of homeworld at all, how much the cultural reluctance to talk about it essentially stifled information, and other factors.

I do appreciate that the reactions of the various characters feel pretty organic.

Spoiler: Into Season 3

Show

The first inklings of Franklin's stimulant addiction character arc finally start giving him some dimension. And to JMS's credit, it arises very organically from his character. It doesn't excuse his preachiness in a lot of other Very Special Episodes, but having high standards (arguably unreasonably high) and a level of arrogant dismissiveness of people who fall short are a logical starting point for this particular character flaw.

[Yora]

@spoiler: There's at least one more in S2E16. I think there were even earlier ones, but I can't find them now. But smart move to start during season 2 instead of first introducing it in season 3.

[factotum]

I think the thing that annoyed me most about this episode was the idea that the Markab are essentially dying because they believe the disease is a punishment for their sins, and thus they can just avoid it by not being sinful. The idea that the entire population of their planet believes that so strongly that they all died contradicts the idea that there's a Markab doctor on the station, because he clearly doesn't believe that claptrap and is furthermore able to help Franklin find how to cure the disease (albeit he dies himself in the process)--are we supposed to believe he's the only enlightened Markab in the galaxy? That no other doctors on their homeworld could possibly find out the same things he did?

Since I just flat out didn't believe the central premise it robbed the denouement of the story of its weight, so this is definitely not among my favourite episodes.