Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

I did that same thing while I was writing Babylon 5 season 2 reviews for my site.

I ended up getting carried away and continued binge-watching season 3. Before I knew it I'd gotten through all 5 seasons before I'd published my review of the episode Knives. Don't make my mistake!

I made it to the first episode of Season 3 last night. Then I got tired and had to stop.

Luckily the final three episodes of Season 2 are distinctive enough that I can separate them in my mind when I write the reviews. I'll have to re-watch the first episode of Season 3 though, when I write the review for it, because it won't be fresh in my mind anymore by the time I get to it. Great start, though!

I think the third season is going to be my favorite thus far.

I've also got it mapped out in my mind that I'm going to get up to the 88th episode of DS9 and 55th episode of B5 during the same day/week. It'll be a huge milestone in this journey, because I'll be exactly half-way through both series. The middle of Season 4 of DS9 and the middle of Season 3 of B5. Time flies!

 

[Lord Garth]

Sorry for the delay but life got in the way (that rhymes!), I came up with ideas for a story I'm working on, and on the side, bit-by-bit, I finally finished my review for "Nixon's Women", the third episode of For All Mankind. Feel free to check it out. But now I'm watching...

"The Visitor" (1st Half)

Great interior design for Jake Sisko's house. It really does look like an old man lives there. Then there's the aspiring writer-to-be, a young woman who comes across as an up-and-coming writer want to speak with someone she looks up to. There's the stereotype of beginning a story with "It was a dark and stormy night" because it is a dark and stormy night but it's contrasted with it not being dark for Jake at all. It's the day he expects to see his father again. Though he doesn't let her know this upfront and begins by telling the story that led up to why today was the right day for him to finally tell this story instead of sending her away.

It's the day he lost his father, circa DS9's present timeframe. Jake ever the writer, is determined to finish the part of his story he's working on. I can relate. As I'm currently developing a new story myself for a future project. I can't talk about it, but I was in the groove yesterday and the day before, and once you're in that zone, you don't want to get out of it. For anything.

But Sisko convinces Jake to see an inversion of the Wormhole, which only happens once every 50 years, some technobabble thing happens, and then Sisko disappears right in front of Jake's eyes. It's all so fast. There's a memorial service, everyone tries to help Jake through the grieving process, a few months pass, and then Sisko appears in front of his son just as randomly as when he disappeared the first time and was presumed dead.

Nine months pass, on top of these few months, so it's been about a year, and it's interesting how tensions with the Klingons hit a boiling point around the same time they actually will at the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth seasons. I think the writers knew from the beginning of the season where they wanted to take it by the end. I feel bad for the Bajorans in this timeline. First they lost Kai Opaka, the Kai who helped them through the Occupation, and now they've lost their Emissary, who they looked up to afterwards. Kai Winn is more like the politician who happened to be elected to office. I don't think Bajorans look up to Winn in the same way that they looked up to Opaka or revere Sisko. But that's going off on a tangent. Increased hostilities with the Klingons and the loss of Sisko makes the Bajorans believe the Federation can't protect them. When it the Bajorans form a mutual defense pact with the Cardassians, it makes me cringe. Not at the episode, but at the Bajorans, knowing what's to come.

The lighting, or lack thereof, is perfect when Kira enters Sisko's former quarters, where Jake still lives, and all you can make out are the outlines of Jake and Kira any color in the shot at all being a highlight to breakup what's otherwise all black. Jake doesn't want to leave the Deep Space Nine because he thinks it's leaving behind anything left of his father. While I don't entirely believe that because there has to be plenty of his father in New Orleans, I can see why Jake would think that. Kira understands and tells Jake she'll let him stay a little while longer but when she says he has to go, he has to go.

A little later Sisko appears again in front of Jake, and this time Sisko sticks around long enough for the DS9 crew to see him as well. I'm glad Sisko reappeared before Jake left the station. Not just because he reappeared but now, if Jake ever saw Sisko again, they wouldn't think he was crazy or like he was like Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched, my go-to when I think of someone who's seen something, tells everyone, and then no one else sees it.

Cirroc Lofton's performance is amazing when Sisko asks Jake how he's doing. For Sisko, it's only been a few minutes. For Jake, he thinks his father's been dead for a year. Sisko immediately understands. He wants to make sure Jake is going to be okay. O'Brien, Bashir, and Dax try to do whatever technobabble thing they can do, but it doesn't work and Sisko disappears again.

Before he even said it, I remembered the elder Jake saying that watching Sisko disappear that time was even worse than we he first lost him on the Defiant because now it wasn't that he was dead, it was he's still alive but somehow been forever pulled away, outside of time, making any type of closure impossible.

Right before the commercial break, when the young writer call tell Jake is having a hard time, she offers to leave and to come back another time. He says she can't, it has to be today, because he's dying. When they leave on that zinger and then come back from it, they make it look like it's fake-out even though it's not. He is dying. And that's the whole point of why today is so important. But he softens it by letting her know that at his age you always have "I'm dying" on your mind. I wouldn't know. I'm not that age. But I imagine it'll be much more prevalent on my thoughts then. Either way, when you're watching for the first time, it lets you relax a little thinking that he's not dying right now. When you watch it from a second time on, the scene rewards you because it's letting you know in bold neon letters what's coming up before trying to make it look like it's not.

I forgot about this, but it doesn't surprise me that the Klingons took over Deep Space Nine, just like the Cardassians later would. Seems like DS9 was destined to be lost, temporarily or otherwise, one way or the other. It's also exactly midpoint of the episode where Jake leaves DS9. It's a good choice, pacing wise to have half the episode with Jake's time on DS9 and the other half being post-DS9. It also gives the audience time for Jake's loss to bake in, and let that disruption breathe, before finally showing Jake trying to move on with his life.

What else was interesting, and it's not something I thought about until now, is that the first half of "The Visitor" is an alternate look at what the fourth season of DS9 could've been, just like how "Year of Hell" is an alternate look at how the fourth season of VOY could've been.

And at this midpoint, I'll stop here and pick up my thoughts on the rest of it later.

 

[DonIago]

Even your recap is making me emotional. :\

I don't know that my parents have ever seen another episode of DS9, but after trying every time I saw them (I don't see them often because they live seven hours away), I finally got them to watch it a few years ago. It didn't make them DS9 fans, but I think...I hope...they understood why I was showing it to them.

 

[Lord Garth]

Somehow five days escaped from me. Let's pick this up where I left off.

"The Visitor" (2nd Half)

After leaving DS9, Jake moves back to Earth. Next time we see him, he's 20 years older, has a wife, and they're visited by Commander Nog. Interesting that the status quo in the Alpha Quadrant hasn't changed. The Klingons still control DS9 and the Wormhole. Seems like the war is over, but the Dominion haven't been seen in over 20 years. The Klingons are willing to let Starfleet go through the Wormhole to test the waters. Translation: if someone gets attacked, it won't be them. So honorable.

Later on, Sisko appears, he gets to see Jake's wife, he sees that Jake has two published books, Sisko wants to get caught up with his son, then he disappears again.

Then Jake goes back to school, majors in something related to Subspace Theory, gets a Doctorate, it's been 50 years since Sisko's disappearance, Jake's in his 60s, and the old DS9 crew is back on the Defiant. So... this would be around 2420-ish, give or take, about 20 years after Picard. I'm not going to lie; the old age makeup doesn't look too good on Bashir or Dax. Back to the Future this isn't. So, aside from because of the stellar performance Tony Todd gave, I'm glad they had him play the older Jake because it's less of a hurdle to make someone who's already an adult (an adult adult) look old than it would've been to make Cirroc Lofton look old.

Jake mentions that Worf threw his weight around with the Klingon High Council to give the Defiant permission to enter the Bajoran system. This sounds in line with the "All Good Things" Future where he's a Governor. Bashir mentions they haven't worked on two-dimensional controls in a long time. My mind automatically went back to Picard. La Sirena had holo-controls, but I don't think the Stargazer or the Enterprise-G did. So, I'm guessing that around 2400 was a transitional period and there were full 3D controls by the 2420s. That's my head-canon. Speaking of Picard. I'm glad they kept the communicator design from the AGT Future. I'm also glad PIC S2-S3 ultimately kept the same design outline from the AGT Uniforms, but gave them a DS9/VOY skin and added some features from the Monster Maroons.

Anyway, I loved when Bashir said that after they got Sisko back, maybe they should get together on DS9 at Morn's for Old Times' Sake. Love that he's running the bar! And now, that line makes me think of the end of the last episode of Picard when the TNG crew are at Ten Forward on Earth.

Jake designs a Subspace Flux Isolator. This reminds me of a book I read when I was in college: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. It's been over 20 years, but what I remember is that he was a novice when it came to auto repair but taught himself how to repair a motorcycle. Jake has taught himself all about Subspace Mechanics. When he puts his mind to it, he can learn about anything.

It's really hard to watch when Jake reaches Sisko, Sisko asks what he's done with his life, only to find out that Jake threw it all away trying to get him back. Sisko tells Jake to promise him he'll make a life for himself, "Promise me!!!" before Jake disappears and ends up back on the Defiant without getting his father back.

At least Jake goes back to writing after the last time he saw his father. Jake tells the writer that he'll post his stories posthumously. He figured out how what happened his father, how he can get Sisko back to where he belongs, and she figures out it's going to be soon. Jake doesn't say how soon, but it's implicit that it's going to be very soon. The writer leaves, Jake looks around his house, and I appreciate this episode taking its time to have a scene like that. Then Jake grabs the baseball, which has always been symbolic of Sisko will return.

Jake sits back down, with his new stories on his lap, the baseball in his hands, he dozes off, birds are in chirping in the background and then wakes up and sees his father. It's a perfectly composed, shot, and directed scene.

Damn. Now we're getting to the part where it's hard to watch. Sisko his glad Jake went back to writing. Jake tells his father he figured out how to send him back. Sisko finds out Jake's dying and says the line, "Jake, my dear sweet boy."

Then Sisko's back on the Defiant, dodges what he was told to dodge, and he's back in his own time, with his son as a teenager. Jake asks his father if he's okay, and Sisko emotionally says "I am now," while Jake has no idea what's going on.

Nothing else needs to be said about the episode. It's a 10.

Sorry it took so long to get to the second half. Things really have been busy for me and this was the type of episode where I really had to make the time. Especially this one. I remember watching "The Way of the Warrior" one week in 1995 and "The Visitor" the next. I don't think there's ever been as strong of a first three hours of a Star Trek season to begin with, before or since. That makes DS9 Season 4 one of the best seasons of Star Trek right off the bat.

 

[Lord Garth]

Let me answer The Question. I know what The Question is. Here's the answer: No. I didn't cry.

And no, it's not a "men don't cry" thing. Like I said, it did get hard to watch. But it didn't get to the point where tears were coming out.

So, as strange as it's going to sound coming from such a Discovery Fan (), now I'm going to share this nice little song from Ozzy Osbourne. No More Tears.

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[Bad Thoughts]

Ted Chiang gets a lot of credit for using scifi devices to explore parenthood in "Story of Your Life," but I think The Visitor did it first and did it (slightly) better. Sisko is really a major player in the episode, despite the limited screen time. He sees Jake give up on his dreams and his happiness. It's the life that should have been, based on choices, not the life that will be because of contingency. Many people come here to complain that because they had shitty parents, the episode lacks merit. However, Sisko (and Brooks) shows us what parenthood should be, focusing a child's attention on what will motivate her or him. The child needs to know the parent will be gone some day, and they can't spend their lives trying to please mom and dad. Jake's suicide was in many ways his last mistake, but it's the one that allows this lesson to be past on.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

I grew up in a single parent household with just my dad so Jake and Benjamin's relationship has always been important to me and the episodes that focus on father and son always resonate with me.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Divided Loyalties" (B5 S2E20)

Spoiler

Setting up a meeting with Talia in a few days. They want to bring Talia into their inner circle. Dangerous, dangerous move. Good thing Sheridan and Garibaldi didn't have time to do that! As we'll see.

Ivanova and Talia seem like best friends. This episode had the chance to seriously challenge Ivanova's views on telepaths, and not trusting them, but after this episode, it proves why Ivanova's correct to suspicious of either them or what Psi Corps has done to them.

The way it plays out when Ivanova invites Talia to stay at her place for the night, I thought as I was watching, "Does this look like what I think it looks like?" Hinting towards the beginning of a romantic relationship between Talia and Ivanova. Then I thought to myself, "No. This is 1995, they wouldn't do this between two regulars in a sci-fi series yet." But I looked it up online and I wasn't the only one who thought the subtext was there. Going to that other series and the other sex, it's like the subtext between Bashir and Garak. And, arguably, the strictly one-way subtext with Bashir for O'Brien. But anyway...

Lyta's back! It's weird to think of how many cast changes to Babylon 5 there have already been by this point. After "The Gathering", Takashima, Kyle, and Lyta were all replaced. Then after the first season, Sinclair was replaced. So, not including the Ambassadors, Garibaldi is the only original cast member left. Or at least he was until now!

I love the use of black-and-white for the flashbacks, when Garibaldi tells Sheridan and Ivanova about what happened to Lyta. The shots look like something from a music video. It makes the flashbacks look very lively and stand out more. Along with the mysterious-sounding music in the background. Adding to eerie feeling of "what happened?"

Sheridan and Delenn have a seen together and a conversation that goes on too long about the meaning of the word "butt". It goes on and on, about five times longer than necessary. It's not bad enough to affect how I'll rate the episode, but it must've been there to pad out time. The scene ends with Sheridan's hand on Delenn's, before duty calls. They'll definitely, definitely end up a couple.

"What's real? What's not? Who can be trusted? Who can't?" are the questions going on in Ivanova's mind when everyone is paranoid about a sleeper agent being on Babylon 5.

This is Ivanova's most substantive episode in a while. Not only did it reinforce how deeply she doesn't want to be read by telepaths, but she privately confesses to Sheridan that she's a latent telepath. What I like is the red herring. After the confession, when Ivanova tells Sheridan sometimes she doesn't even know who she is anymore, you're led to believe maybe she might be the sleeper agent Lyta's looking for.

When Sheridan finally has the command crew together and asks Talia to look at them one-by-one, he volunteers himself first. He says a great line, "I can't ask anyone else to do this if I haven't done it myself." Great line! And a sign of a great leader. I've always believed a true leader is someone who wouldn't ask someone to do something they wouldn't do themself.

Shout out to the fake out Garibaldi did when Lyta was reading him. Someone has to lighten the mood!

Then Ivanova finally submits to the test to prove she's not a sleeper agent to put any doubts about her to rest once and for all. Then Talia walks in, Lyta tests her and says it's Talia! Then switch flips in Talia.

So... that was very sudden. The sleeper within Talia replaces the Talia we've known during the first two seasons, then -- there's no way to say it other than to say it -- she becomes The Bitch from Hell. She's the mean girl from a stereotypical high school or college movie. That evil sorority sister. You get the idea. All I can say is, this is one of the most sudden ways I've ever seen a character written out of a series. Wow. When Ivanova confronts her at the end, you can see the hurt in her eyes. Talia mocks it. Ivanova says the Talia she knew really is dead, and that's the last we see of Talia.

Just to make sure I understand this correctly: The Talia we saw until this episode really was the real Talia and now this sleeper agent has taken over, who used to only be able to come out at night while Talia was sleeping. Right? Or am I getting it wrong?

The episode comes around full circle when Lyta visits Kosh and sees what he really looks like once again, before leaving. The camera smartly doesn't show what Kosh looks like, keeping it a mystery. I've said I've already seen the end of the season, so I know Kosh plays a major part of the season finale. Watching this again, it looks like it was a clue to tip us off about what was to come shortly.

Overall, I give this episode an 8.

In other news: The interesting thing about the newspaper Universe Today, besides literally being made out of paper that's recycled every day, is that it gives you the news you want. As opposed to a standard newspaper that gives you the news the editors deem newsworthy, or something like cable news where they only tell you the type of propaganda they want to feed you.

You can even arrange together your own personalized edition of the news in real life, if you pick and choose the types of combinations you want while disregarding the rest. This episode predicts the way may people seem to get their news today. Tailored specifically to them and what they think is important.

I'm going to try to do "Comes the Inquisitor" tomorrow. I want to get the second season done! First, so my reviews can catch up to what I've already seen (up through the early third season as of this typing), and also so I can hit the middles of DS9 and B5 at the same time.

EDITED TO ADD: Corrected some glaring typos. I was super tired last night.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Comes the Inquisitor" (B5 S2E21)

Spoiler

It's hard to tell which is the A-Plot and which is the B-Plot since both have almost equal importance and screen time, but I'll call story with Sebastion the A-Plot, since he's the Inquisitor. Either way, the A-Plot and the B-Plot both have a narrative similarity. Delenn and Sheridan have to prove their worth to the Inquisitor. G'Kar has to prove his worth to the Narn Resistance.

And Sheridan has to be kept out of the A-Plot long enough to do his part to help things along in the B-Plot. This is another situation where we'll look at the B-Plot first.

The B-Plot: G'Kar is urging the Narn to fight back against the Centauri, even the war is "over", because he wants to lead the Resistance. G'Kar tries to secure weapons, Garibaldi won't let him to it on the station but knows a third party G'Kar can go through, and it looks like everything will work out... Until one of the Narn asks G'Kar, "If you can't get communication through [to the Narn Homeworld], what makes you think you can get weapons through?" Which is actually a very good point. They also ask if he'll step aside if he can't get communication through.

In a master political stroke, G'Kar doesn't answer directly and only says he'll be able to get a communication through within 24 hours. He didn't want to box himself into a corner they wanted to box him into. Sheridan and Garibaldi help G'Kar since they want someone they know in charge of the Resistance. The message gets through and the Narn rebels accept G'Kar. Nice to see the mechanics behind achieving communication that most people take for granted. And nice to see G'Kar earn leadership in a rebellion that he assumed he could take for granted. Nothing can be taken for granted.

My favorite two scenes are: 1) When Garibaldi makes the offer to G'Kar to get weapons through a third party and thanks G'Kar for not lying to him. 2) When Vir is in an elevator with G'Kar. Vir says he tried to stop the others but they wouldn't listen, and he apologizes. Then G'Kar says that Vir can't apologize to the dead. I think that if Vir actively moved against Londo, then he would've been in a better position to tell G'Kar he was sorry. At best, I'm sure that G'Kar sees Vir as a coward.

The A-Plot: Kosh approaches Delenn and tells her Sebastian, the Inquisitor, is arriving to Babylon 5. He was taken from Earth in 1888 and trained by the Vorlons. In that manner, he reminds me of Gary Seven from TOS's "Assignment: Earth".

Sebastian wants to see if Delenn is worthy. He keeps asking the same question over and over again, "Who are you?" Sebastian says whatever he can think of to Delenn to make her unsure of herself or question her worth, but she doesn't waver. Lennier finds out, thinks Sebastian is trying to kill Delenn, tells Sheridan, then Sheridan tries to come to the rescue. Sebastian ties him up and begins asking him a series of rapid-fire questions. Is he prepared to lead people into battle? Is he prepared to be friendless? Is he prepared to sacrifice others? He keeps blasting out these questions without giving Sheridan a chance to even answer. Delenn then tells Sebastian to stop and if he wants to take someone, he should take her. Delenn and Sebastian are willing to sacrifice themselves to save each other. Sebastian notes this, says they're worthy, and they're the right people to be in the right place at the right time to fight in the upcoming war.

The above is acted well enough, and it's captivating enough to watch as a viewer while it's actually happening but, afterwards, I have to be brutally honest: I don't think that was necessary. Sorry. We already know what Sheridan and Delenn are willing to do for each other. Maybe the Vorlons don't, but I feel like this is something Kosh would already know.

Afterwards when Sheridan pieces together who Sebastian is, with Ivanova's help, he strongly implies that Sebastion was Jack the Ripper. That all sounds interesting, except Jack the Ripper was the murderer of several women. It's possible that the Vorlons have reformed Sebastian, and I think that's exactly what happened, but it's still an odd choice to send someone who used to be Jack the Ripper to test Sheridan and Delenn. The logic doesn't really hold up, except that JMS wanted someone from the 19th Century and wanted the soundbite of Sebastian, a.k.a. Jack the Ripper, wanting to kill Delenn. Complete with Delenn in danger, Lennier running scared, and Sheridan coming to the rescue. And Jack the Ripper is apt since it looked like he was trying to mentally rip Delenn apart.

Overall: The A-Plot is entertaining but flawed and the B-Plot is a solid case of showing how people can work around the system. It's better than a 7, but it's not an 8, so I'm going to go with a 7.5.

BTW, if you want to know all three TOS episodes I could find similarities to, they were:

• "Assignment: Earth" as I mentioned, since Vorlons took Sebastian off Earth and re-trained him.
• "Wolf in the Fold" for the Jack the Ripper angle, and off-world no less.
• "The Empath" because of the torture Delenn and Sheridan are willing to go through to save each other.

One more episode of B5 Season 2 left, but first it's back to DS9 for some "Indiscretion".

 

[Farscape One]

Good review, but I do have to disagree about one thing.

Spoiler: Delenn

This was a test to see if Delenn would be willing to die alone, without a friend or anyone to remember her... literally, only for the cause. Not so much about seeing WHO it was she was saving, just that she would. To see if the cause matters more than herself. And we've seen this of her before. (When she willingly goes into the Markab quarantine zone, for example.) I thought it was one of her finest moments and speeches.

(Though there is one later in the series that just trumps everything she ever says. I won't say when or where. You'll know it when it happens.)

I do think it made sense that it was Jack the Ripper because who better to weed out those who are 'for the cause' only to be really out for themselves and their own ego and megalomania. (Sort of like a former thief is usually a bit more effective at keeping things secure than many others because they know and have used so many of the tricks.)

 

[Lord Garth]

Okay, so I ended up finishing off Babylon 5 Season 2 first. "Indiscretion" is coming soon, I promise! But B5 Season 2 just felt like unfinished business. Anyway, on with the show!

"The Fall of Night" (B5 S2E22)

Spoiler

Janet Greek is back in the Director's Chair for the end of the season! Glad to have her back. I'm going to begin with the end. Ivanova's monologue at the end perfectly fits the shifting backdrop of the series. "Babylon 5 is now the last best hope for victory instead of the last best hope for peace. Especially since peace means surrender." Truer words have never been spoken.

Even after the Centauri-Narn War ending, it looks like war is going to break out on three other fronts. The Centauri against other worlds. Within the Earth Alliance itself. Between the Vorlons and the Shadow.

The A-Plot

The Centauri are provoking other worlds, making Earth concerned that the Centauri's conflict is no longer just with the Narn. Sheridan tries to get through to Londo, but to no avail. Later on, Garibaldi tells Sheridan this isn't the Londo he used to know. Between this episode and "Long Twilight Struggle", I couldn't agree more.

Lantze, an Earth Representative, wants Sheridan to stop training his forces to fight the Centauri. Lance plans to sign a non-aggression pact with the Centauri. "At last, we will know peace in our time." Never has this sounded so wrong. Sheridan is rightfully upset that Earth signing a non-aggression pact means they step aside whenever the Centauri go after someone. He used to think putting on his uniform meant something. "Now it's just a piece of cloth." It feels hollow. When Londo sends the message to Sheridan, "I demand to speak to you at once," I said in out loud "fuck off." I kind of wish Sheridan would be able to get away with saying the same. Though he basically says the same thing with, "Your signal is breaking up! End." Sheridan stops a Centauri ship that was attacking the Narn refugees at Babylon 5.

Lantze isn't happy that Sheridan put Babylon 5 in a position that makes it look pro-Narn. Welles, Co-Director of the Ministry of Peace, points out that Sheridan did act according to regulations and says the Centauri are willing to drop the matter since they attacked first, if Sheridan will apologize for helping the Narn. Sheridan is furious. He won't apologize for doing his job. This was my favorite scene and favorite moment in the episode. Then Welles tells him the President is ordering him to.

From what I'm able to tell: President Clark is having Lantze enact his agenda and Welles helps Lantze navigate any curveballs they might run into. Between Lantze and Welles, Clark is probably hoping to beat Sheridan into submission... or have him replaced with a team player.

I love the backhanded "apology" that Sheridan practices in the mirror! He knows this will finish off his command of Babylon 5, but I think he's prepared to fight underground until he can bring the fight to the surface. He's not sure how yet, but I know him will enough now to know the wheels are turning inside his head. Between the fledgling underground resistance he has with Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin and the secret alliance he has with Delenn and Kosh. He's got all the pieces on his chessboard that I can tell he'll eventually bring together. With or without the Earth Alliance.

As the camera pans across Hydroponics, where everyone is gathered and waiting for Sheridan to give his "apology". You can tell this is the money shot of the episode. Maybe of the season. Everyone gathered is with friends, colleagues, and allies... except for Londo, who's by himself. Symbolic of how he's isolated himself.

I like the "subway" within Babylon 5 that's taking Sheridan to Hydroponics. It really does make it feel like Babylon 5 is one giant city in space. I didn't see the bomb coming, that was meant to take Sheridan with it, but neither did Sheridan. His jumping out looks obviously fake, but only so much they could do with blue screen or green screen.

Interesting that when Kosh gets out of his suit and rescues Sheridan, everyone sees someone different, leaving the mystery of what Kosh look like intact. Kosh, with is angelic wings, as he appears to Sheridan, looks like a Guardian Angel. Even though the scene with Kosh rescuing Sheridan looks fake, it still somehow feels majestic for a moment. Kosh is a being of light fighting the Shadows. It fits.

After Sheridan is rescued by Kosh, the episode doesn't show whether or not Sheridan gave his speech. I'm leaning towards he didn't, because he still has a job afterwards, and everyone probably forgot because they were too distracted by their perceptions of the Kosh sighting. In the end, the Centauri seemingly still have a non-aggression pact with the Centauri, but the Centauri have begun to invade non-Narn worlds.

The B-Plot

Keffer finally gets something useful to do. For the first time since "Gropos". He wants to prove there's something out there. Something that wacked one of his pilots. He wants to prove what happened. Keffer obtains something from the black market to track what he doesn't know are the Shadows. He's out looking for them. When he encounters one of their ships, he begins recording the encounter. Then the Shadow ships destroys Keffer!

Ironic that Sheridan and Delenn have a discussion about how they're safe from an attack by the Shadows if the Shadows don't think they know about them yet. Then there's a news broadcast that Keffer recorded an image of a Shadow ship right before he was killed! Keffer. At the very end of the season, he was finally made useful to move the overall plot forward. He was the sacrificial lamb.

The C-Plot

You can tell Lantze and Welles are going to be the main Earth Antagonists going forward. The people we're supposed to hate. No surprise that Welles is closely attached to the Night Watch Program and gives Zack such a hard time about not reporting something minor to Night Watch. Guaranteed something is going to eventually go wrong with Night Watch and things are going to head south really fast.

Toward the end of the episode, there's sign on a shop that says, "Closed by the Order of the Ministry of Peace pending allegations of sedition." That's not just a sign that the stop is closed. It's a sign of what's to come. Don't tell me, but I think there's going to eventually be a situation where Garibaldi and Zack are put at odds with each other over something related to Night Watch.

At one point, Welles tries to get Ivanova to join the Night Watch, but she declines. She doesn't want anyone pulling any strings to help her to become a Captain sooner. She'll do it the right way. She can't be bribed. Unlike a lot of other people, where I bet Welles dangled something they really wanted right in front of them and they went for it.

Overall

Not the emotional powerhouse of "Long Twilight Struggle", but still a lot going on, and a lot of pieces being moved into place for next season. I give it a 9.

 

[DonIago]

^IIRC and FWIW, the quote about "peace in our time" is a paraphrase of what Neville Chamberlain said after meeting with Hitler. We all know how that turned out.

 

[Lord Garth]

Babylon 5 -- The Entire Second Season (1st Part)

Spoiler

After the switch from Sinclair to Sheridan...

I initially wasn't sure if I'd like the second season better than the first. As it went along, I began to see why people thought it was better. By the end of the second season, I thought Babylon 5 had really gotten into a groove. Just like DS9 eventually really got into a groove.

The way the numbers shook out, I like the second season of Babylon 5 a bit better than the first, and I see where things have really started to pick up now. But the difference in quality to me isn't as much as the difference in quality it was to other people.

The biggest difference between the Season 1 and Season 2 was that the second season felt more like it was constantly building on top of itself. Whereas the first season felt more stop-and-go. When the second season was on the ball, it was really on the ball.

Babylon 5 Season 1

Spoiler

"The Gathering" (counts twice) --> 7
"Midnight on the Firing Line" --> 7
"Soul Hunter" --> 6
"Born to the Purple" --> 8
"Infection" --> 4
"The Parliament of Dreams" --> 8
"Mind War" --> 9
"The War Prayer" --> 8
"And the Sky Full of Stars" --> 10
"Deathwalker" --> 8
"Believers" --> 10
"Survivors" --> 9
"By Any Means Necessary" --> 8
"Signs and Portents" --> 8
"TKO" --> 7
"Grail" --> 8
"Eyes" --> 10
"Legacies" --> 8
"A Voice in the Wilderness, Part I" --> 7
"A Voice in the Wilderness, Part II" --> 8
"Babylon Squared" --> 7
"The Quality of Mercy" --> 8
"Chrysalis" --> 10
-----
Season 1 Average --> 7.92

Babylon 5 Season 2
"Points of Departure" --> 7
"Revelations" --> 8
"Geometry of Shadows" --> 10
"A Distant Star" --> 7
"The Long Dark" --> 6
"Spider in the Web" --> 7
"A Race Through Dark Places" --> 7
"Soul Mates" --> 6
"The Coming of Shadows" --> 10
"GROPOS" --> 8
"All Alone in the Night" --> 9
"Acts of Sacrifice" --> 8
"Hunter, Prey" --> 8
"And Now for a Word" --> 10
"There All the Honor Lies" --> 7
"Knives" --> 7
"In the Shadow of Z'ha'Dum" --> 10
"Confessions and Lamentations" --> 8
"The Long, Twilight Struggle" --> 10
"Divided Loyalties" --> 8
"Comes the Inquisitor" --> 7.5
"The Fall of Night" --> 9
-----
Season 2 Average --> 8.07

These are the numbers before I binge the entire season again this week for the rest of the Season Review. At this stage, as of the end of the B5's second season, I still like Deep Space Nine a little bit more than Babylon 5, but it's definitely competitive.

---

Meanwhile, right now, I'm five episodes into the third season of Babylon 5. Like I said before, I'm ahead of where my reviews are. I'm watching it just for the Hell of it. And the third season is already my favorite season of the series so far. I don't need a calculator to figure that one out. It's not even close.

So, it'll be fun to see how the third season of Babylon 5 stacks up against the fourth season of Deep Space Nine. In a friendly competition sort of way. I'm enjoying both of these shows.

Once I reach the mid-point of their runs, I'll have a post where I'll finally compare both of them side-by-side. I think the half-way mark is a good place to do it for the first serious time.

 

[Leviathan]

....the idea of a rewatch of DS9 and B5 is interesting.

I was there at the dawn of the age of circular space stations with arcs....should revisit that age.