All I'm going to say is the best is yet to come.At long last, continuing on with review of the second season of B5 beyond just the raw numbers.
Babylon 5 -- The Entire Second Season
Unlike with the first season, I didn't change any of my ratings while going through the second season again. I definitely think the second season is shaped the series up into something that looked like something much larger in scale than the first season did, but it doesn't change my liking the first season as much as I did. Season 1's goals and Season 2's goals were just different. I feel like the first season's just was to acclimate viewers to the universe of Babylon 5.
DS9 had the benefit of starting off on top of what the Star Trek universe had been previously built up with three seasons of TOS, six movies, and over five seasons of TNG. Babylon 5 had to introduce us to everything and build everything up entirely from scratch. So, no, I wouldn't have wanted the first season to have been more like the second. We couldn't have had something like the Season 2, it wouldn't have been as effective, without us having a chance to get to know the characters and the settings a little in Season 1.
And with that out of the way, I love what B5 was able to do with Season 2. Corruption is everywhere! The Earth Government is corrupt. With a power imbalance favoring the warrior caste, the Minbari are corrupt. The Centauri are corrupt. With help from the Shadows, the Centauri-Narn War was over in a flash and the Narn are now occupied. Kosh, Delenn, and Sheridan have to make sure the Shadows don't know that they know about them. Then there's Babylon 5's mission statement, which was turned upside down. It used to be the last best hope for peace and now, as Ivanova said at the very end, "Sometimes peace is another word for surrender." Sheridan is fighting corruption at every turn, whereas Londo is giving into corruption at every turn.
I also now feel like I have a much better sense of Earth in this season. Corruption is everywhere! The Earth Government increasing wants to use Babylon 5 as a military base instead of a diplomatic base. General Hage recruits Sheridan to start working underground to retake Earth from corruption, since hey believe there was a conspiracy behind President Santiago's death and President Clark might have had something to do with it, even if they can't prove it. "All Alone in the Night" was a major turning point. When Sheridan brings Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin in on what's going on, that's when they became a real team, a real unit beyond just what their duties are to Babylon 5. Sheridan in turn recruits Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin. Shortly after this episode, Nightwatch begins to appear, and you can immediately tell this will lead to more friction between Earth and the command crew of Babylon 5.
Now for a quick rundown of the main characters.
Sheridan: The switch from Sinclair to Sheridan was handled as best as could be under the circumstances. I warmed up to Sheridan within a few episodes. The message Sinclair sent to Garibaldi reassured us he was still out there. And also helped with the transition. By the middle of the season, Sheridan has a good enough feel for his command crew that he lets them in on everything that he has going on behind-the-scenes. Which makes Ivanova's promotion make more sense. More on that in a bit.
I love how much Sheridan is nothing like the image the higher-ups have of him, since he's notorious for being "Starkiller". To quote General Hage, "You're not a jarhead, but your reputation makes you look like one!" In any other series, Sheridan would insist or try to prove he isn't. Here, they go along with the image since it keeps Sheridan on Babylon 5. It's an effective way to break normal storytelling convention in a way that makes sense for the series. The Minbari think of Sheridan as their blood enemy, especially at first. Which makes the blossoming romance between Sheridan and Delenn so amazing. If the Minbari warrior caste ever finds out, it'll make them think of Delenn as even more of an outcast!
Ivanova: I understand that Sheridan putting her in charge of all the silly nonsense that Sinclair used to deal with allows him to focus on the Bigger Picture, but it also means that Ivanova gets stuck with all the silly stuff. The most solid material for Ivanova this season was having to privately admit that she's a latent telepath and that's why she didn't want Psi Corp ever reading her mind. Another highlight for her was standing put to Nightwatch when they try to bribe her with faster promotions if she works for them. She puts her foot down and says she'll work her way up the chain of command the honest way, even if it takes more time. She doesn't want to be exploited by anyone. Not by Psi Corp and not by Nightwatch.
Londo: If there's any character who keeps digging himself in deeper and deeper, it's him. Either because of his own ambition, what Morden enables him to be able to accomplish, what type of strings Lord Refa wants him pull, or all three. An empowered and emboldened Londo strips G'Kar of his ambassadorial status after the end of the Narn-Centauri conflict. And every working relationship Londo had on Babylon 5 goes South overnight. He's turned into the enemy in our midsts. In a way, I miss the purely comic relief Londo from Season 1, but I find the evil-turned-more-evil Londo from Season 2 more compelling. The most telling piece of dialogue comes from the end of "Knives". Londo says he wants to go to sleep. Which is symbolic of him still being able to sleep at night even after everything he's done.
G'Kar: The most amazing thing the second season did, that the first season did, was make the Narn look very sympathetic. And it managed to G'Kar look like someone standing up for a greater cause: the freedom of the Narn from the oppression of the Centauri. That's something I never would've been able to picture while I was watching "The Gathering". We've come a long, long, long way from the days of when Sinclair fooled G'Kar into thinking he swallowed a tracker, just for comic relief. Any sense of comic relief between G'Kar and Londo also disappeared after this season, where petty bickering took a turn for something much more deadly, much more serious, and Londo was out for blood. Figuratively and literally. This season really put me on G'Kar's side. When Vir tries to tell G'Kar he's sorry, it's just not enough. After all the Narn who were killed by the Centauri, all he can say is "Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!"
Delenn: After coming out of her metamorphosis, she looks part-Human, part-Minbari. She's meeting Humans and Minbari half-way exactly. Delenn becomes the character exploring Humanity. If this were Star Trek, that's where it would stop. But, through Delenn, Sheridan is also exploring more about the Minbari. I also liked seeing that Delenn and Kosh are worried about the Shadows. These two Ambassadors are looking at things on a whole other level. They're looking at the threat the Shadows represent. As opposed to Londo who embraces the Shadows and G'Kar who's in the dark. I wasn't surprised at all when Delenn was dismissed from the Grey Council for having turned into a half-breed.
Garibaldi: He started off the season in Medlab, recovering, being disoriented by the Sinclair-to-Sheridan switch, and then doing a lot of soul searching to see if he still wanted to be Chief of Security before deciding he does. After that first batch of episodes, he was mostly just the Chief of Security and not much else. This wasn't really a Garibaldi Season for most of S2. He's mostly just there to fill his role. Nothing wrong with that, but he hope he gets some meatier material in Season 3.
Talia: A perfect of someone who justifies Ivanova's paranoia about Psi Corp. Talia seems trustworthy but her loyalty to Psi Corp is a problem because of things even Talia doesn't know about. It's really tragic what happens to her. She begins to distance herself from Psi Corp, but they take her back with a vengeance by essentially turning her into someone else. Would've been interesting to see how the Ivanova/Talia relationship would've developed if they hadn't written her out.
Franklin: Still committed to his own ethical code, still determined to do what's right, and still willing to do things underground to do good even if the higher-ups won't let him. In other words, Franklin's still reliably doing what Franklin does. Nice to see his father, how they're different, and the baseline ways they're similar in terms of dedication to their duty.
Keffer: Except for "GROPOS" and "The Fall of Night", Keffer was useless. His primary purpose was to be killed by the Shadows and grab a snapshot of him on his way out. His greatest contribution to the series was to be cannon fodder.
Vir & Lennier: Good to see more to both of their characters and how they aide their respective Ambassadors. Having that scene with them at the bar at the end of the season comparing notes was gold.
Kosh: He's starting to feel more like a character now than just a plot device.
Bester: Not a main character but I'm including him anyway. Still an asshole! How much the Babylon 5 crew has to hide from him now shows much the series has evolved and how much has been built up over the course of just two seasons.
Looking forward to Season 3!
Regarding Keffer...
He was a character that was basically forced on to B5 by the studio. JMS really does not like 'hot shot pilot' type characters, so he was eager to get rid of him. (Which is pretty clear when you look at how little he was actually in during the season.) But at least he was able to use him for that final bit in "THE FALL OF NIGHT".
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