Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

I guess I'd call "Blood Fever" a Primal Love Story. So, what Farscape says still works.

I'm looking at the first four episodes of DS9 Season 5 and a thought has occurred to me now that I've re-watched three of them and "Nor the Battle to the Strong" is up next as the fourth.

"Apocalypse Rising" brought a temporary ceasefire to the Klingon/Federation War. Then "The Ship" focuses squarely on the Dominion as the adversaries. It got me thinking, "They wrapped up the Klingon War, now we're getting the focus put back on the Dominion!" Then we get two Klingon episodes immediately afterwards. One about love ("Looking for par'Mach...") and one about war ("Nor the Battle...").

Knowing what's ahead: I'm thinking of it as "The Ship" is there as a signpost of what's to come, with the situation with the Dominion becoming more tense. And then the surrounding episodes are, "We have to get as much of the Klingons out there as we can and tell the stories we wanted to before we wrap up this period of the show!" "In Purgatory's Shadow" & "By Inferno's Light" being the next Major Shift.

One thing in particular that stands out is Grilka's House rejected Worf as an outcast. That doesn't really work anymore after Worf joins Martok's House. And Grilka hanging around DS9 is specifically intended to be a sign the easing of tensions. And that doesn't really work before now. Throw in Kira's pregnancy and time needed for things to become even more awkward beyond just the initial shock, as well. Between all of these things, "Looking for par'Mach In All the Wrong the Places" is an episode that can only happen during the first half of the fifth season.

 

[Farscape One]

Also important to note is that "THE SHIP" was DS9's 100th episode, so I can see it making sure the Dominion would be a focus for it rather than a Klingon episode.

 

[Lord Garth]

"And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place" (B5 S3E20)

Spoiler

An usual title for an episode, but what an episode! It's got two things that work to its advantage: 1) A slow burn that leads to great payoffs, and 2) Misdirection that keeps you off the scent until the end.

I had no idea that one of Delenn's main things that she was dealing with was creating an entire fleet of ships like the White Star. Sheridan was very pleasantly surprised. Now they have a fighting chance against the Shadows. Especially if they have Telepaths on all those ships. It's going to help Sheridan to be able to share his burden with Delenn since the it's already the same exact burden to being with. Their fleet versus the Shadows. Sheridan and Delenn being on the same page is exactly what Brother Will wants for them as well.

Brother Theo and Brother Will have an interesting friendly rivalry going on between them, with Will being Protestant and Theo being Catholic. Not the type of thing I'd expect to see in a science-fiction show, but I welcome it.

But let's get to the main plot. Londo is purely Machiavellian in this episode. He wants Vir to deliver a message to G'Kar that Na'Toth is on Narn and needs to be rescued. Londo gives Vir this lie to tell G'Kar, but that in itself is a lie, in case Refa -- who wants to undercut Londo in any way that he can -- has a Telepath and wants to find out what Londo is up to through Vir.

Once G'Kar was on Narn, I didn't think he'd be walking into a trap. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I kept thinking, "There has to be something! Babylon 5 is never as straight-forward as this!" And to my delight, it was Refa who was the one who walked into a trap. Refa's guards were no longer loyal to Refa, Londo's recording let G'Kar know what Refa was responsible for against the Narn, and then Refa's alone surrounded by people who want to kill him for revenge. Then G'Kar delivered the line of the episode, "Keep the face intact, it will be needed for identification. The rest is yours!"

Afterwards, Vir is understandably upset that he was used (and extorted), but this the first time in a long time I've been on Londo's side about something: getting rid of Refa by any means necessary. Complete with the episode showing the Narns talking down Refa to the sound of gospel music being sung as it cuts back to the choir on Babylon 5. Amen! Hallelujah!

Great episode, though it's all about getting to the pay-off, and it takes a bit to finally get there so I give it a 9.

This episode goes from Z-Minus 14 Days to Z-Minus 10 Days. I'm guessing that 10 days after this episode is a major showdown between Sheridan and Delenn's new fleet and the Shadows.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Spoiler: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place

I love And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place, maybe more on a rewatch than I did the first viewing. I remembered stories like Severed Dreams and War Without End so I was ready for them to be amazing, but this caught me off guard. Even knowing all the surprises it's still great. Even the quiet scene with Sheridan and the reverend discussing who he shares his burden with worked for me.

And the scene at the end, with Sheridan and Delenn finally kissing in front of their new fleet was a suitable pay off for all the times Delenn had been vague for the last two season. 'We can't do anything yet', 'it's not time', 'we're not ready', 'we haven't prepared'... over and over again. Now we finally learn what she was waiting for, and yeah I can see how a fleet of White Stars is something you want to get finished before you take on the Shadows.

I'm a bit more stingy with my scores than you are, but I give this a 10.

 

[DonIago]

On the one hand I get it from a dramatic television standpoint, but on the other hand, logically speaking, Delenn had no good reason not to tell Sheridan about what she had going on in the bakground either. It may have been KRAD who first led me to consider that.

But the episode is a lot of fun to watch overall, possibly the most fun episode of the series.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Delenn's tendency to withhold crucial information is a core character trait. Or character flaw.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Nor the Battle to the Strong"

While I'm not a veteran, I have friends who are, and I've heard stories that I won't repeat here, and from my admittedly second-hand knowledge, this seems like one of the most realistic depictions of war that Star Trek has ever done. There's a break in the Klingon ceasefire. One of the planets Bashir and Jake are flying near is on the frontline, and Bashir takes Jake directly in with him.

The setup is perfect on a character level. Jake wants to get a job as a Reporter, so he wants to write an article on Bashir. Except he can't even pay attention to anything Bashir is saying. Then, he's excited when they go to the frontlines, only for that excitement to disappear once they're in a cave with cramped space, medics all over the place, with wounded and dead patients everywhere. Jake goes from excited to disoriented to scared, overwhelmed, and outraged all within the space of this one episode. He runs the gamut of emotions, getting his first real taste of war for the first time.

He's afraid when he and Bashir are temporarily out on the battlefield, gets scared, separated, and then runs into a wounded solider who's about to die and Jake can't do anything about. This soldier might as well have been in Vietnam or the Middle East. It felt real. And he taught Jake that he couldn't automatically make things right by bringing him to the Bashir. Then he died, and Jake ran off to try to make it back to base.

It seemed like Jake made a friend when he was helping out as medic earlier in the episode, but then Jake snaps at this friend when he and some others are cracking jokes about the best way to die. It was some black humor, but I completely understand it if they're surrounded by death all the time. It's their way of coping, or they'd go crazy. But Jake doesn't see it that way and explodes at them. Then Bashir has to take him aside and asks Jake what's really bothering him. Jake says he feels like a coward.

He feels like a coward again when there's an explosion, everyone has to evacuate, Jake's pinned down, and he starts blindly firing at raiding Klingons. Hiding, shooting without rhyme or reason, just shooting. Then at the end of the episode, the ceasefire is reinstated and Sisko's there to take him to the Defiant.

When Jake writes the article about his experience, Sisko is proud of him. He tells Jake that anyone who's been a battle can see themself in that article, when talking about the fine line between courage and cowardice. I have two thoughts about that. First, Jake being a writer writing about war reminds me of the author Henry David Thoreau writing about war, and maybe that might've been an inspiration for this episode. Second, Jake was "lucky" that he had something "exciting" to write about. There are going to be several times where he'll have to write about stories that he's not so excited about. So, he'll have to get used to writing those too. But at least he'll have his foot in the journalistic door, and he learned some hard lessons about life and death along the way.

Other parts of this episode? Seeing Sisko trying to find work to do to keep his mind occupied while the Defiant is rushing to jake and Bashir makes sense. Especially to avoid thinking about what might've happened to Jake, if the worst had happened. There are some other character bits as well that tie into how fragile life is: such as Odo forgetting he can't turn into a bird mid-air anymore to stop a criminal, or O'Brien being worried that Kira drinking caffeine will turn his baby into a caffeine addict.

Overall, it's starting to sound like a cliche to say this, but it's the truth: this is an episode of Star Trek that could only have been done on DS9. For the third time in a row, I give it a 10.

 

[Troi]

Its one of the best episodes of star trek imo.

 

[Turtletrekker]

"Nor the Battle to the Strong"

While I'm not a veteran, I have friends who are, and I've heard stories that I won't repeat here, and from my admittedly second-hand knowledge, this seems like one of the most realistic depictions of war that Star Trek has ever done. There's a break in the Klingon ceasefire. One of the planets Bashir and Jake are flying near is on the frontline, and Bashir takes Jake directly in with him.

The setup is perfect on a character level. Jake wants to get a job as a Reporter, so he wants to write an article on Bashir. Except he can't even pay attention to anything Bashir is saying. Then, he's excited when they go to the frontlines, only for that excitement to disappear once they're in a cave with cramped space, medics all over the place, with wounded and dead patients everywhere. Jake goes from excited to disoriented to scared, overwhelmed, and outraged all within the space of this one episode. He runs the gamut of emotions, getting his first real taste of war for the first time.

He's afraid when he and Bashir are temporarily out on the battlefield, gets scared, separated, and then runs into a wounded solider who's about to die and Jake can't do anything about. This soldier might as well have been in Vietnam or the Middle East. It felt real. And he taught Jake that he couldn't automatically make things right by bringing him to the Bashir. Then he died, and Jake ran off to try to make it back to base.

It seemed like Jake made a friend when he was helping out as medic earlier in the episode, but then Jake snaps at this friend when he and some others are cracking jokes about the best way to die. It was some black humor, but I completely understand it if they're surrounded by death all the time. It's their way of coping, or they'd go crazy. But Jake doesn't see it that way and explodes at them. Then Bashir has to take him aside and asks Jake what's really bothering him. Jake says he feels like a coward.

He feels like a coward again when there's an explosion, everyone has to evacuate, Jake's pinned down, and he starts blindly firing at raiding Klingons. Hiding, shooting without rhyme or reason, just shooting. Then at the end of the episode, the ceasefire is reinstated and Sisko's there to take him to the Defiant.

When Jake writes the article about his experience, Sisko is proud of him. He tells Jake that anyone who's been a battle can see themself in that article, when talking about the fine line between courage and cowardice. I have two thoughts about that. First, Jake being a writer writing about war reminds me of the author Henry David Thoreau writing about war, and maybe that might've been an inspiration for this episode. Second, Jake was "lucky" that he had something "exciting" to write about. There are going to be several times where he'll have to write about stories that he's not so excited about. So, he'll have to get used to writing those too. But at least he'll have his foot in the journalistic door, and he learned some hard lessons about life and death along the way.

Other parts of this episode? Seeing Sisko trying to find work to do to keep his mind occupied while the Defiant is rushing to jake and Bashir makes sense. Especially to avoid thinking about what might've happened to Jake, if the worst had happened. There are some other character bits as well that tie into how fragile life is: such as Odo forgetting he can't turn into a bird mid-air anymore to stop a criminal, or O'Brien being worried that Kira drinking caffeine will turn his baby into a caffeine addict.

Overall, it's starting to sound like a cliche to say this, but it's the truth: this is an episode of Star Trek that could only have been done on DS9. For the third time in a row, I give it a 10.

Best Jake focused episode in the show. It gave Cirroc Lofton a chance to show us what he could really do.

 

[DonIago]

It's almost a shame that "The Siege of AR-558" will come along later and make this episode feel like it was a warm-up for what's to come (I'm somewhat surprised they weren't written by the same people), as it feels a bit like everyone talks about that episode and this one gets underserved in the process. Much like that episode, and for similar reasons, I find this one hard to watch, and it's another example of DS9 doing things that I can't really imagine another Trek series pulling off (though while writing this I briefly imagined the Prodigy kids facing a scenario like this....).

 

[Lord Garth]

Next up, Dirty Dancing! It's been a while since the last time I've seen it.

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Oh, wait. No. Sorry, my mistake! I meant Babylon 5's "Shadow Dancing"!

"Shadow Dancing" (B5 S3E21)

Spoiler

To start off with, if you're going to go find yourself: don't do it in the crime-ridden ghetto. Why do I say this? Because you just might get shanked! And that's exactly what happens to Franklin. Then Franklin sees himself. I'll call what he sees Franklin #2. I love Franklin #2 because he tells Franklin what a fuck-up he is. He's been running all his life. The job to run from his family. The stems to run from his job. Now the walkabout to run from everything. So, Franklin, bleeding like crazy, gets up, walks, makes it long enough to be rescued by medics. Glad that storyline's wrapped up. Too bad Franklin had to be stabbed with a knife to find what he was looking for.

Meanwhile, the League of Non-Aligned Worlds reluctantly votes to commit their ships to aiding Sheridan and Delenn's fleet to fight the Shadows. I can see their point-of-view when it comes to their reluctance. They don't want to leave their worlds defenseless. At the same time, mobilizing a fleet against the Shadows is important. So, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place and tell Sheridan they hope it's worth it.

The combined fleet looks impressive. I'm taking note that this is the first time in B5 (or DS9) that I'm seeing such an organized fleet and with so many different attack wings. So, that was interesting for me to finally see on my projector. Interesting choice of camera work to depict the Minbari telepaths in those ships. And the battles looked pretty good by '90s TV CGI standards. I was fully bought into it.

But, oddly enough, the main thing that interested me the most were the relationships. I'd say it's bizarre because I'd say I'm not usually a shipper, but then I'm all about Margo/Sergei on For All Mankind, Janeway/Chakotay on Voyager, Worf/Dax on DS9, and here we are with Babylon 5. I'm all about Sheridan/Delenn and Ivanova/Marcus. At one point I said out loud to Ivanova and Marcus, "Go to bed with each other already!"

Interesting Minbari tradition where the woman gets to see if they like the man's true face. Delenn likes Sheridan's true face, so I guess that makes them even more of an item. Whatever works for them!

One last thing to mention: I like Garibaldi being worried about Franklin, but then trying to deny it in the most Tough Guy way possible. "I just didn't want to lose a bet!" Yeah, right.

Then there's the cliffhanger ending. Sheridan's wife! That's a cliffhanger! What the Hell are the Shadows up to with this?!

The Z-Minus Countdown continues! I expect the next episode to be a major powerhouse. And I liked this one too. I give it an 8.

One episode left of B5's third season. If I have it in me, I'll cover it later on tonight. If not, then tomorrow.

 

[DonIago]

^No comment on the ending of the episode?

 

[Lord Garth]

^No comment on the ending of the episode?

Added it in. Can't believe I forgot that! But anyway...

Spoiler

Sheridan's wife! That's a cliffhanger! What the Hell are the Shadows up to with this?!

 

[The Lensman]

Muniz's death is also keenly felt because we got to know him in 2 other season 4 episodes: "STARSHIP DOWN" and "HARD TIME".

Not to me. I told my then girlfriend "He's gonna die". Because Berman Trek had become that predictable to me. We'd seen plenty of nameless Redshirts die since the OG, and it was obvious to me that they gave the guy a little more face time before they offed him so we'd have some kind of reaction to his inevitable demise. Mine was boredom.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Z'ha'dum" (B5 S3E22)

Spoiler

This probably one of the weirdest season finales of anything I've ever seen. Short of a Jimi Hendrix song at the end of Battlestar Galactica Season 3.

Anna Sheridan, really "Anna", takes Sheridan to meet with representatives for Shadows. I couldn't believe it even as I was hearing it. Though I can understand Sheridan wanting to do whatever he can to prevent the terrible future that he foresaw even knowing that he's going into a trap. Delenn must've felt horrible, not only because she's worried that Sheridan will die but because the last time they saw each other they were having a fight about trust. Sheridan wasn't sure how he could trust Delenn if she'd be willing to withhold information about Anna, if she knew anything.

Anyway, Sheridan meets with these Shadow representatives: Justin, a new character who doesn't look like Justin, Morden (naturally!), and of course Anna. And it turns out that the Shadows want to knock down civilizations every thousand years and say that the strong will survive and become stronger. That's how they want to create order in the universe? Only the strong survive, and they'll force it to be that way? That's a messed-up point-of-view.

Justin also tells Sheridan that the Vorlons want to manipulate the younger races and shelter them, instead of putting them through Hell and helping them to grow. Justin compares the Vorlons to parents and maybe. But it sounds to me like the Shadows are also a form of parent: the narcissistic type, who have their favorites. In this case whoever it is who survives.

And then the cynically say that there's always a Resistance, as if it's "been there, done that, happens every time," and they've identified Sheridan as that leader this time around. I think they're trying to tell Sheridan, "We've been through this several times, we know how this always ends up, so why even try?" Which is a horrible misreading of Sheridan on their part. If he were the type to just roll over like that and say, "You know what? You're right!", then he wouldn't have led the fight to have Babylon 5 break away from Earth and establish independence. So, what they were expecting was short-sighted in the extreme.

So, Sheridan does what any sensible person would do afterwards and sends two nukes and the White Star crashing into his location, then jumps away from the explosion. Now, I know there are two seasons left of the show and Zathras said Sheridan represented The Future. So, he has to survive. But I'm also thinking, "How the Hell does Sheridan survive this?" It's like watching a serial from the '40s that always ended on a crazy cliffhanger.

Before all that craziness, Sheridan says he knows that this Anna isn't his Anna. She acts nothing like her. So, his Anna is effectively dead. Good thing he didn't sell out to the Shadows, or he'd be effectively dead too. Justin said they didn't want to kill him and turn him into a martyr, but they wanted to kill Sheridan metaphorically and make him act according to their plan to have the weak die.

In a way, the Shadows actually remind me of Species 8472 from Voyager. "The weak will perish." And the Shadows have Human-looking representees while Species 8472 will have representatives who take Human form.

I feel so bad for Delenn, who thinks Sheridan is dead. Oh yeah, and Garibaldi is captured. To be continued!

This isn't my favorite episode of the season, that's still "Severed Dreams", but this was still a jam-packed episode that made for a great way to finish the season off. It's loaded with all kinds of surprises, shakes things up, and allows us to get inside the heads of the Shadows. Great acting from Bruce Boxleitner, as Sheridan is given a ton to do. Mila Furlan as well, as Delenn grieves what might have happened. And great directing from Adam Nimoy. I give it a 10.

If I missed anything, it's because it's late, and I'm still trying to process everything. I'll binge-watch the entire season before I give my Season Review. But I want to get my Season Review for Voyager out of the way first. Expect the VOY Season 2 Review sometime this week, and the B5 Season 3 Review early next week.

Three seasons down, two to go!

 

[DonIago]

Added it in. Can't believe I forgot that! But anyway...

Spoiler

Sheridan's wife! That's a cliffhanger! What the Hell are the Shadows up to with this?!

Spoiler: Shadow Dancing

Even though it had been prefigured in "War Without End", it was still a bit of a shock to have Anna just waltz in so soon after those events (I don't know how much in-series time would have elapsed between the two events).

 

[DonIago]

Not to me. I told my then girlfriend "He's gonna die". Because Berman Trek had become that predictable to me. We'd seen plenty of nameless Redshirts die since the OG, and it was obvious to me that they gave the guy a little more face time before they offed him so we'd have some kind of reaction to his inevitable demise. Mine was boredom.

I haven't checked Memory Alpha, but is there supporting evidence for the claim that Muniz was made recurring with the specific intention of killing him off later?

Somewhat off-topic, but it really annoyed me that VOY built up secondary characters in Engineering (Hogan in particular) within the second season and then killed them all by the beginning of the third.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Spoiler: Z'ha'dum

Now, I know there are two seasons left of the show and Zathras said Sheridan represented The Future. So, he has to survive.

That episode also said that they could change the future and that's what Sheridan had in mind here iirc.

One thing I appreciated about this episode is that it does the opposite of what you'd expect from a season finale. Instead of an epic space battle, it has a bunch of people in a room drinking tea. Though there is a bit of an explosion at the end, RIP one of my favourite spaceships in science fiction. The White Star went too soon (much sooner than the Defiant) but at least it died doing what it loved: wrecking Shadows.

One thing I didn't appreciate is that in the UK, Channel 4 kept us waiting 10 months for the next season. I thought this was the series finale and that was it for the show! A bit of a depressing ending, but not too different from a lot of the other sci-fi in the 90s. So I'm glad I was wrong about that.

 

[Lord Garth]

Spoiler

That episode also said that they could change the future and that's what Sheridan had in mind here iirc.

True point.

Of course, I also saw the covers of all the season sets, including Season 5 where Sheridan has a beard! So that, unfortunately, already give it away, but no problem. The question just shifted from "if he survives" to "how he survives", and that works too.

Instead of an epic space battle, it has a bunch of people in a room drinking tea.

Something I also appreciated.

Though there is a bit of an explosion at the end, RIP one of my favourite spaceships in science fiction. The White Star went too soon (much sooner than the Defiant) but at least it died doing what it loved: wrecking Shadows.

I have Star Trek too ingrained in my brain. I just assumed there would be another White Star next season. If not, then it really is a surprise that they got rid of the White Star this soon!

 

[DonIago]

"Z'ha'dum" (B5 S3E22)

Spoiler

This probably one of the weirdest season finales of anything I've ever seen. Short of a Jimi Hendrix song at the end of Battlestar Galactica Season 3.

Anna Sheridan, really "Anna", takes Sheridan to meet with representatives for Shadows. I couldn't believe it even as I was hearing it. Though I can understand Sheridan wanting to do whatever he can to prevent the terrible future that he foresaw even knowing that he's going into a trap. Delenn must've felt horrible, not only because she's worried that Sheridan will die but because the last time they saw each other they were having a fight about trust. Sheridan wasn't sure how he could trust Delenn if she'd be willing to withhold information about Anna, if she knew anything.

Anyway, Sheridan meets with these Shadow representatives: Justin, a new character who doesn't look like Justin, Morden (naturally!), and of course Anna. And it turns out that the Shadows want to knock down civilizations every thousand years and say that the strong will survive and become stronger. That's how they want to create order in the universe? Only the strong survive, and they'll force it to be that way? That's a messed-up point-of-view.

Justin also tells Sheridan that the Vorlons want to manipulate the younger races and shelter them, instead of putting them through Hell and helping them to grow. Justin compares the Vorlons to parents and maybe. But it sounds to me like the Shadows are also a form of parent: the narcissistic type, who have their favorites. In this case whoever it is who survives.

And then the cynically say that there's always a Resistance, as if it's "been there, done that, happens every time," and they've identified Sheridan as that leader this time around. I think they're trying to tell Sheridan, "We've been through this several times, we know how this always ends up, so why even try?" Which is a horrible misreading of Sheridan on their part. If he were the type to just roll over like that and say, "You know what? You're right!", then he wouldn't have led the fight to have Babylon 5 break away from Earth and establish independence. So, what they were expecting was short-sighted in the extreme.

So, Sheridan does what any sensible person would do afterwards and sends two nukes and the White Star crashing into his location, then jumps away from the explosion. Now, I know there are two seasons left of the show and Zathras said Sheridan represented The Future. So, he has to survive. But I'm also thinking, "How the Hell does Sheridan survive this?" It's like watching a serial from the '40s that always ended on a crazy cliffhanger.

Before all that craziness, Sheridan says he knows that this Anna isn't his Anna. She acts nothing like her. So, his Anna is effectively dead. Good thing he didn't sell out to the Shadows, or he'd be effectively dead too. Justin said they didn't want to kill him and turn him into a martyr, but they wanted to kill Sheridan metaphorically and make him act according to their plan to have the weak die.

In a way, the Shadows actually remind me of Species 8472 from Voyager. "The weak will perish." And the Shadows have Human-looking representees while Species 8472 will have representatives who take Human form.

I feel so bad for Delenn, who thinks Sheridan is dead. Oh yeah, and Garibaldi is captured. To be continued!

This isn't my favorite episode of the season, that's still "Severed Dreams", but this was still a jam-packed episode that made for a great way to finish the season off. It's loaded with all kinds of surprises, shakes things up, and allows us to get inside the heads of the Shadows. Great acting from Bruce Boxleitner, as Sheridan is given a ton to do. Mila Furlan as well, as Delenn grieves what might have happened. And great directing from Adam Nimoy. I give it a 10.

If I missed anything, it's because it's late, and I'm still trying to process everything. I'll binge-watch the entire season before I give my Season Review. But I want to get my Season Review for Voyager out of the way first. Expect the VOY Season 2 Review sometime this week, and the B5 Season 3 Review early next week.

Three seasons down, two to go!

Spoiler: Z'ha'dum

I dunno...it's a heck of an episode to be sure, but I can't think about it without being reminded of how a reviewer described it as an hour-long con game (albeit a riveting one), in that the conversation with Justin et al. doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know; it just lays out the facts more directly than they've been laid out to this point. We already had ample reason to believe the Vorlons weren't angels (pun intended), but Justin finally unambiguously points out how they've manipulated the younger races as surely if less overtly than the Shadows have. The Shadows' disdain for the Vorlons is ultimately just as reasonable as the Vorlons' disdain for the Shadows; neither side is ultimately right, and the younger races are just caught in the middle.

That last sequence though...everything from Sheridan whipping out his PPG to the ominous music swelling in the background to Sheridan being given one last chance by Anna flanked by a horde of Shadows to the White Star crashing through the dome of the Shadow city to Kosh speaking more directly than he ever has to the Z'ha'BOOM is incredible.

And then G'kar's mournful epilogue...

Unrelated: I recently watched the original "True Grit" for the first time, and it was a pleasant shock to see a much younger Jeff Corey, who plays Justin, in the film.