Babylon 5

[Kraig]

"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum"

One of my favourite long-form storytelling moments is when the paths of two important characters who'd previously been kept apart by distance or the plot finally intertwine.

It wasn't until Sheridan began interrogating Morden that I realised such a moment was happening. But of course, I thought, why has it taken this long? The prominent station chief and a puppet of dark, powerful forces come to face to face and once again, this feels like the "start" of the real Babylon 5.

Indeed, Delenn essentially sat Sheridan (or the audience) down and explained what's really going on, what this whole thing's really about, what it's going to look like from now on. And yikes - no wonder Kosh hadn't really done much up to this point. He's watching, he's waiting. He stands ready for the time - has the time come?

In other news, the Night Watch made themselves known (and not the watchers on the walls) - despite their seemingly benign directive, why do I get the feeling that they're not necessarily good news for the station?

This episode was pretty heavy on the exposition - in fact, seemingly every important scene involved a speech of some kind. Fortunately, I didn't find this detrimental - I found the whole thing to flow very well, and enjoyed the ratcheting intensity as more and more people called for Morden's release. Poor Winters, by the way, sent right into a telepathic trap. But what a slap to pay Sheridan back in kind.

A highly entertaining show, even it seemed to serve more as another prologue/tease for what's to come.

Rating: **** (though probably the best of the 4-star offerings so far)

-Vir's smile and wave to Morden! I wonder if he'll get his wish?
-One thing I wasn't clear on; are the Vorlons, as a race, the last remaining First Ones? Or just Kosh himself? The dialogue seems to suggest both. "All but one." "There's still one of them out there?" "For centuries the Vorlons stood alone, watching and waiting." "Aside from the Vorlons, we do not have the First Ones to help us this time."
-So Morden's never alone - does he (and by extension, do the Shadows) know Kosh's identity? I presume not.
-"If you go to Z'ha'dum... you will die."

Spoiler: Read after you have seen the episode: Interludes And Examinations.

One thing you might have missed is that Dr. Franklin starts using "stims" in this episode.

The opening scene with the Narn refugees coming into the station and Garibaldi and Allen talking, The Narn refugees moving toward the camera and turning right going back around the wall and double back through the doorway in a continuous loop until Michael and Zach stopped talking. Saves on extras, prosthetics and makeup.

I will also say that I preferred O'Hare's weary yet strong Sinclair compared to Boxleitner's Sheridan. I don't know if that's a controversial view or not. The latter seems a little oddly upbeat and cheery compared to his supposed character history as a grizzled soldier and famed Minbari-killer. Still, it's only been one episode so I'll give him a chance.

Also, as you can see from the interrogation of Mr. Morden, Sheridan isn't the Mr. Nice Guy, all upbeat and interested in orange juice and water showers anymore. This is one of the points I didn't want to spoil for you when you first posted about Sheridan replacing Sinclair.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've always seen Sinclair as a TNG style captain and Sheridan as a DS9 style captain.

Sheridan is more centrist now but as of the 90s, Sheridan was more like the kind of magnanimous leaders you saw in science fiction and the 'Principled tactician' was an oddity.

A Distant Star: How did I never notice that as Dr Jacoby before?! The first time I saw it I was watching Twin Peaks obsessively.

 

[Farscape One]

Because he wasn't wearing the two colored glasses.

 

[BlueStuff]

"Confessions and Lamentations"

I was surprised by how harrowing this one was. Even though they were merely "background aliens", the sudden end to the entire Markab race was extremely powerful and shocking.

I should've known better - I was looking at the clock, wondering how Franklin was going to fix this whole thing before time ran out. Of course, he didn't. The heroes failed - and the price was 2 billion dead.

How about that horrific ending? Opening the isolation section to find Delenn and Lennier huddling amongst mountains of Markab corpses - wow. Am I to understand that Sheridan and Delenn are romantically involved? They're extremely affectionate towards one another.

Speaking of which, I much enjoyed Sheridan's dinner with Delenn, lovingly (and painstakingly) prepared by Lennier. How fortunate that the ceremony had ended while Sheridan was "meditating."

As an aside, this must be the best Franklin episode so far - certainly the one that's given him the most range and the most responsibility for the story's power. I can't think of a better Franklin moment in my short experience watching the show than ordering his frightened Medlab staff to get moving after learning that the disease seems to jump between species.

How interesting, too, to watch this in the age of COVID - there were unfortunate parallels in the response of certain individuals physically attacking the Markab and the current violence towards Asians.

Rating: *****

-You'd think Sheridan would know better than to repeatedly attempt taking bites of the meal before receiving instructions on Minbari customs. He did it over and over and over again, meaning Delenn had to stop him! If I were him, I'd wait for specific directions and follow them exactly before moving a muscle - especially given the possibility of poor Lennier having to "start all over again, from scratch"!
-Hey, Keffer showed up! I'd almost completely forgotten that guy.
-Garibaldi hesitating before ultimately deciding to help the Markab victim to his feet.
-Children do not seem to fare well on B5.
-"Don't look away, Captain. All life is transitory, a dream. We all come together in the same place, at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you, in a little while, in a place where no shadows fall." The Grey Havens?

 

[Jan]

Favorite line from that episode: "I didn't know that similarity was required for the exercise of compassion. They are afraid. We wish to do what little we can."

 

[Kraig]

"Confessions and Lamentations"



How interesting, too, to watch this in the age of COVID - there were unfortunate parallels in the response of certain individuals physically attacking the Markab and the current violence towards Asians.

At the time the show was written it reminded me more of how religion and politics treated AIDs, and how those with the disease were treated by a lot of the general public. At the time our then President Reagan, and a lot of the religious moral majority didn't care about those that had it because it was seen as a punishment from god for someones lifestyle. A lot of people for the most part were scared by people who had the disease.

Any time you go down that road, where you blame groups of people for having a disease, instead of treating them with dignity, you get the result of what happened in the episode.

Reagan changed his mind about AIDs when it affected someone he knew (Rock Hudson) contracting and eventually passing away from it. Reagan named a scientist and virologist by the name of Anthony Fauci to head the NIAID. You may have heard of him. Dr. Fauci was like Dr. Franklin in this episode, he tried to do what he could, but met resistance from the Religious and the Right leaning Political community by those who blamed the people afflicted. The COVID-19 pandemic is history repeating itself, with a lot of the same "players" now focusing their misplaced rage at the Asian and Pacific Islander community.

 

[Farscape One]

B5 was made during Clinton's presidency, not Reagan's.

 

[Rhodan]

B5 was made during Clinton's presidency, not Reagan's.

Then again, you can say it was retrospective memento.

 

[Farscape One]

Maybe.

A great episode, either way. Franklin was at his finest here.

 

[Kraig]

B5 was made during Clinton's presidency, not Reagan's.

I'm saying that is what event the episode reminded me of, when I first viewed it, at its initial airing, on the Prime Time Entertainment Network.

 

[Farscape One]

Gotcha. I misunderstood what you were saying.

 

[Kraig]

Gotcha. I misunderstood what you were saying.

No problem, sorry if my earlier post was unclear. I get that a lot.

 

[Snaploud]

I just finished showing my wife season 1 on HBOMAX. She enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. She jokes that Kosh would have answered Mr. Morden's "What do you want?" question with just the word "poptarts...." Whenever Kosh is on-screen, we make some comment in mysterious-kosh-voice about looking for poptarts.

 

[Forbin]

I just watched Z'Ha'Dum. It's been a while. My God, it's just as powerful as the first time I saw it. And G'Kar's amazing soliloquy at the end still brings me to tears.
The "wham" episodes were usually directed by Janet Greek, but this was directed by Adam Nimoy!

 

[DonIago]

In retrospect, I feel like "Z'ha'dum" is a little talky, and as one reviewer noted, it ultimately doesn't really tell us much we didn't already know (or couldn't easily guess)...but the last act of it is amazing, and when I say a "little" talky, I mean a little.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Watching Acts of Sacrifice.

The plot point where the diplomat who believes in superior and inferior races realizes humans are just like them after seeing the slums looks a bit different now. Before it seemed like a convenient misunderstanding, but I think he was unironically correct about the way human culture works.

His people probably learned a great lesson from human culture, that you can protect the social heirarchy by telling everyone they're equal. I'm sure he put this wisdom into practice right away.

He probably studied human historical records, and proposed the plan to his peers to push about universal equality, but then whenever anyone suggests putting those ideas into practice, sarcastically call them 'Woke'.

 

[Rhodan]

I and my father have a little fun with Vorlon ambassador, since in the Czech word "kosh" means "bin/basket" and it actually found the way even into dubbing. In the episode "A Race Through Dark Place" Sheridan´s joke "Kosh who? Gesundheit!" isn´t much translatable, so the answer here was "For trash!"

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

In retrospect, I feel like "Z'ha'dum" is a little talky, and as one reviewer noted, it ultimately doesn't really tell us much we didn't already know (or couldn't easily guess)...but the last act of it is amazing, and when I say a "little" talky, I mean a little.

I think that's a by-product of the network, PTEN, not allowing them to have a "Previously on..." at the beginning of each episode. It made B5 at times exposition heavy and repetitive, but they were trying something clearly new to American SF-TV... so there had to be a few bumps!

 

[DonIago]

"Z'ha'dum" does basically begin with a "Previously on..." though. Delenn's opening narration with flashbacks isn't as captivating as G'kar's postscript, but it's still a great way to set the mood for the episode.

 

[JD]

Why wouldn't they let them do recaps?