The hunt for the first ones begins, G’Kar changes his name to Joaquin Phoenix, and something’s not right with the Vorlons. Welcome my friends. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2261. The place: Babylon 5.
Spoilers ahead.
1. Ah, Reminds Me of the Hunt
After sitting out most of “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?, Ivanova is back in action and raring to go. She wants to search for more First Ones to help join in the fight, a task she’s been keen on ever since encountering the ones that go Zog, a fact you’ll notice I am very keen on referencing as often as possible. This is a good development for her, as it is a natural extension of her prior projects, gets her mind off of the grief of everything that happened with Sheridan, and allows Marcus & Ivanova more screen time together. Maybe it’s just Marcus who’s great at banter and brings it out in others but this is another fantastic pairing. Both the serious and the funny conversations are excellent and meaningful.
I also love the way we started this plot line. As we know by now, the White Star is piloted only by Minbari who only speak Minbari, hence Lennier always being there. Delenn & Marcus are both fluent speakers of Minbari whereas Ivanova just learned a few phrases, which leads to her absolutely butchering most of them and Delenn & Marcus being eminently polite to both steer her away from going at it alone and keep her feelings in tact. While I would have loved to see a story where Ivanova flounders on the deck of the ship, having Marcus go along with her to translate is much better and avoids all the worst kinds of “miscommunication” tropes out there.
Plus, as I said before, it gives us more opportunities to see Marcus & Ivanova together, which also gives us more opportunities to see Marcus try to allude to his love for Ivanova and fail to get through once again. Sorry bud, maybe next time.
2. Lyta Can’t You See, He’s Just Not the Vorlon For Me
I knew Nu Kosh was bad news but I had no idea he was this much bad news. Not only does he treat Lyta like a meat puppet when they’re together and he’s riding around inside her, he also forces her to live in barren, squalid conditions in her own space. Just a bed! And even that’s “too decadent” or something. It’s ridiculous! And a portent of a huge shift for the Vorlons.
Kosh was always mysterious and terse but there was a sense that he cared about everyone and everything. With Nu Kosh, that’s all gone. What’s replaced it is something closer to the Shadows and, as we learn from both Lyta trying to infiltrate his mind and from what Ivanova & the White Star crew discovers in a secret space pocket, it seems like all the Vorlons have reached the same conclusion. It’s pretty harrowing and knowing that they’ve essentially lost the Vorlons to a genocidal crusade to go all scorched earth and remove the Shadows from existence is a horrible, but very effective, story development. We’ll see how this plays out. I suspect I’ll have a lot more to say about it as we go along.
3. Why’s the Script Just Say “Follow Krimmer’s Lead?”
Vir, as far as I know, really only holds contempt and hate for one person in his heart: Morden. He’s, generally, a very affable guy who is prone to seeing the good in all people, even if he does it beneath a very nervous exterior. After the scene with Cartagia in the courtyard, it seems like that list has grown to two.
I don’t know how much of that scene was scripted but if it was, I cannot believe they got this in any less than ten takes. I mean, come on, did you see the faces of all the guards behind him? They were on the verge of cracking up at Krimmer’s “screaming” monologue and were caught off guard by every action he took. You can’t tell me that him completely missing them with the rag was intentional. It was like being hit by a whirlwind and, much as I find Cartagia reprehensible, that scene was hilarious.
Continued below4. I’m the G’Kar, Baby
Speaking of screaming and Cartagia being a sadistic fuck, G’Kar is not having a good go of it here on Centauri Prime. Not only is he a prisoner, but he’s also being made to dance like a chained animal for the royal court, tormented for their pleasure, before being actually tortured in order to elicit something, anything. All he has to do is scream, but he cannot, for to scream is to validate the whims of these monstrous people. It is not pride that holds him back, though that is a part of it, but rather self-worth.
The episode plays with the question of how much does one give up in order to survive. Where is that line? Londo, perhaps not understanding that he’d likely do the same thing in G’Kar’s place, thinks that it is harmless to give the Emperor and his braying court a small show, to sacrifice a bit of shame to give them what they want in order to stave off the pain or worse. G’Kar does not see it that way, seeing instead that the best way to live is with resolve and to not bend.
It all culminates in an absolutely harrowing scene of G’Kar being electro whipped with the promise of death if he does not scream by the 40th lash. It’s the best scene of the episode. It is also the hardest to watch, not because the camera revels in the violence, which itself is no more gory than an episode of The Flash, but because of how it’s framed and shot. We’re asked to be as complicit in the viewing as Londo & Vir, who are horrified but can’t do anything but watch and silently plead for G’Kar to give in. And when he does, it’s clear that it is a tragedy rather than a relief.
Is that the right move? Should Londo have done something more drastic? I think those questions are ones we’re meant to ask and ones which will linger long after the episode has ended.
5. I Spy…the Flimsiest Prison
He’s back babyeeeeee. The head of security himself has been rescued by good old Zach Allen from his prison of shrink wrap upon an escape pod. Again, Garibaldi doesn’t really have a lot to do, and neither if we’re being honest does Allen, but what we do get from him is enough to make me worry about his role in the rest of the season. See, it’s heavily implied that he’s been turned into a sleeper agent or something for, I believe, The Shadows. That’s huge if true! He’s gonna be on the inside of so many important meetings and here he is potentially being compromised after his kidnapping.
Plus, who knows if he even trusts anyone on the ship! He’s always been a paranoid character and the stuff we saw last week may make him think that anyone trying to ask him “what happened” is a trick and that he’s secretly still on that weird ship. There are a number of ways this can go and I’m ready for all of them.
Oh, and some guy named Sheridan came back on board? I’m sure that won’t be important.
That about does it for now. Join me again in a week for more Londo plotting, Vorlon scheming, and maybe some good news for the B5 crew on the station where everything changed in the year of destruction and rebirth.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Line of the Night:
Delenn: “Tell the crew, anyone who laughs will answer to me personally.”
