Bester does what he does best, Byron continues to be a frustrating but fascinating character, and things go BOOM (but not that boom.) Welcome my friends. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2262. The place: Babylon 5.
Spoilers ahead.
1. St. Byron
Byron is positioned as a messianic figure, specifically a Christ-like one, within the B5 telepath community. As the season has expanded, this role has grown to fit him more and more and JMS has trafficked in more overt references to do this idea. From the scenes of telepaths all reaching their hands out to touch Byron to his dogged preaching of non-violence to his long blond hair, it’s not hard to see this parallel. There are also flavors of the mosaic within him – the desire for a homeworld has a “let my people go” feel to it while what we learn of his past puts him as having once been Psi Corps before running into the “wilderness” and coming back a changed man.
He is not, however, holy. While the framing is messianic and channels two biblical juggernauts, Byron is distinctly human and highly flawed, even more so than Moses & Jesus. He’s not great at being a leader and despite preaching patience, he has precious little of it. I criticized this before, however, I’m starting to come around to this characterization. I think part of my issue was it felt inconsistent with how the show was presenting Byron. For all his mistakes, the framing usually had him “in the right” and thus seemed to absolve him and give his outbursts a pass.
Now, the chickens have come home to roost and the tone is decidedly ambivalent, which is exactly the right tone to have! With the additional context of his backstory as a former conflicted Psi Cop, we have a better understanding of the whys behind his attitudes, his approach to situations and how come he’s such a colossal dick bag at times.
If you were taught by Bester, of course you’d end up subconsciously incorporating the same thought processes, even when trying to consciously get away from them.
2. Are We the Mundanes?
Speaking of Bester, one of the things that struck me as odd in this episode was Byron’s explicit rejection of the worldview that “Mundanes” are lesser to Telepaths and therefore don’t matter; it’s how Bester views the world and we all know what he’s like. However, Byron has explicitly said those very things in past episodes. He doesn’t take it nearly as far, and retains that core hatred of violence no matter who it is done to; however, he has expressed a similar sentiment on more than one occasion to both other telepaths and non-telepaths.
I get the sense that Byron’s backstory was not fully solidified when he was first being developed and that his defection from the Psi Corps was a later addition, or at least the specifics of why he left were. If not, then the contradictions are more egregious and makes his moralizing in this episode feel less powerful and urgent. His conflict with Bester remains but the greater moral dimension, the conflict of ideologies and beliefs, is weakened or removed entirely.
This is one of those places where the rush of the back half of season 4 shows as things get stretched and squashed in strange ways to fit it to one season rather than parceled out in the background and foreground of more. Still, I think it’s effective enough and I really like what this episode does for Bester, putting him in a position to question his own views of the world.
3. Thomas of Telepathia
But you know who I didn’t like? Thomas. Who is this schmuck? Why’s he leading the telepathic resistance outside of Byron’s enclave? I don’t get it. I thought we’d have the one vocal telepath played by Victor Love be the leader. Maybe him being credited as “Telepath” should have given it away, huh? I guess we needed someone far more fanatical than him and even less thoughtful than Byron as the one who thought it’d be a good idea to break into the med lab and threaten everyone there.
Continued belowWhat a complete dingus! You don’t threaten Dr. Stephen Franklin, sick people, and other doctors & nurses and then expect to get your way dude.
I love how that’s what finally gets Byron to come out of his hidey hole. He realizes, once again like Bester, that paternalistic approaches to leadership do not work in the long run. That people have different motivators and moral lines and simply telling them they can be better isn’t a panacea. It is tragic, though, that his idealism is wounded by Thomas’ actions and then further destroyed by the episode’s end by Bester.
Dammit Bester.
4. Wake Me Up When the Flash Forward Ends
When I first read the description for the episode, the “Garibaldi is trapped in the med lab” bit set off a very faint synapse in my brain. It wasn’t until he was beaten up and thrown onto a pile of junk that it clicked and I realized we were seeing a scene that was teased back in the season four finale. Now, I didn’t talk about it in the actual review, opting to do something a little different than usual. I stand by that choice. It does mean I never got to dig into the implications of Sheridan’s choice to declare that he doesn’t negotiate with terrorists and leave Garibaldi for dead.
I love that scene, the fake out – of course G wasn’t gonna die there – and the scenes around it that featured Sheridan and Lochley. It’s an excellent example of Babylon 5 firing on all cylinders to create effective drama and put characters in tough but not outlandish situations. It’s meaty and the choice has a deep effect not only on the characters but on us too.
Like, what was the right choice here? Give Thomas what he wanted? Let G and the others die? Sheridan isn’t just representing himself or B5 now. The episode doesn’t condemn nor condone Sheridan’s choice, merely presents it and context and lets it play out. He needed to make a tough call and he made one. Now we’ll see the consequences.
5. Give Me Alcohol
If last episode was all about putting the finishing touches on a string of dominos, then “Phoenix Rising” is about tipping the first one over and watching them all fall. Or, in this case, watching as Bester tips them over again and again.
Lyta, after spending the better part of a season doing little except mooning over Byron, is made the new public face of this movement of Telepaths, an act of defiance against Bester’s Psi Corps. It is a glorious ascension during a moment of utter misery which will set the stage for a very interesting second half of the season.
Sheridan believed that a peaceful middle ground could be found and he almost got it. While his first attempt was deflated by Bester, the second, routing Bester, nearly worked. The standoff ended, most of the telepaths were safe from Psi Corps and the rest would be taken into custody but be safe from the Corps. But Bester, being Bester, fucked it all up and ends up not only destroying the piece, but radicalizing Byron.
Throughout the episode, Byron has his trust in his fellow telepaths damaged, then his trust in Sheridan and B5, and then finally in his non-violent approach altogether. Peace is no longer possible. And it is impossible to fault him for it. It’s truly heartbreaking to watch, even if I didn’t love the character, because of the implications of his choice. Many will die and it was all preventable.
I could feel my stomach dropping as he picked up the phaser and started singing “A Better Place,” raising it up before slowly pointing it at the fuel spilling onto the deck. What a perfect moment. Mournful for what was lost, prepared for what is to come, yet still clinging onto the traces of hope that remain.
And then there’s Garibaldi, who learns he has one final block courtesy of one Bester: he got Asimoved, unable to kill him nor knowingly let him die through inaction. It begins a spiral for Garibaldi but what sets him over the edge is the way Thomas’ attack plays out and, specifically, Sheridan’s message. More tragic than Byron’s fall is seeing Garibaldi start his.
Continued below
For four and a half seasons, we’ve heard how Garibaldi gave up alcohol. We’ve seen him almost give in a number of times only to stop at the last second. That didn’t happen this time. Instead, we close the episode out on him giving back in to the demon in a bottle, a powerful declaration of where we stand at the halfway point.
We can only hope this is the lowest point. I suspect, however, it is only going to get worse from here.
That about does it for now. Join me again in a week for revelations, revelations and more revelations on the station where, sadly, weapons are supplied.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Line of the Night:
Bester: “You can talk to me. Everyone talks to me. People like talking to me. I guess I just have that kind of face.”
