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b5_revisited2016-09-26 12:00 pm
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Recap and Discussion: 2 X 21 The Fall of Night
And the season ends with a bang, a prayer, and the sound of beating wings...
Keffer is out again, shooting other StarFuries in War Games. Sheridan is conducting the games and discussing the Centauri as possible targets. Ivanova tells him fun is over.
Vir and Lennier meet in a bar. They go right into talk therapy.
‘You never know what it’s all about. Until later, when it’s too late.’
‘They never listen to us.’
‘Makes me nervous.’
‘Same time tomorrow?’
‘Sure.’
The Drazi and Pak’mara want to speak with Sheridan, urgently. He tells Ivanova their fighters have to get better, and soon. She says she will see to it, personally. And if they don’t improve, she’ll issue live ammo. For inspiration.
The ambassadors tell Sheridan and Ivanova that the Centauri are attacking their bases; that the war is spreading.
Sheridan calls Mollari into his office. Londo is the Man in Black, testy and arrogant beyond belief. Sheridan appeals to his better nature. Hah. Londo wavers, oh so briefly, then climbs back up on his high horse.
‘Do not start getting delusions of grandeur. You will not survive them.’
Prophecy and projection, all in one statement!
Sheridan discusses the changes in Londo with Garibaldi. Garibaldi tells him they can’t get through to Londo as long as he is afraid.
Very perceptive, Mr. Garibaldi!
While they are talking Ivanova breaks in over the com to announce the arrival of Frederick Lantze, from the Ministry of Peace back on Earth. Sheridan thinks maybe Earth is starting to take the Centauri incursions seriously. Garibaldi is pessimistic.
Keffer chats with another pilot and she mentions a couple of pilots have seen ‘the ghost’ in hyperspace. His Spidey senses tingle.
Frederick Lantze, played by Roy Dotrice (Father! You know, Beauty and the Beast!), our very own EarthGov Neville Chamberlin, arrives, along with Mr. Welles, played by John Vickery (Neroon! With hair!) his co-director and head ofLeg-Breaking Nightwatch.
Keffer speaks to Mitch in the bar. Keffer remains determined to find the ships he saw, and prove there is another race out there. Mitch thinks he’s nuts for trying to find the Big Bad, but is glad someone else is seeing Shadows.
Ivanova is speaking with Lantze in his quarters (very nice ones). We zoom in on a flower for symbolic effect, then they discuss a pen, and Christmas, his grandchildren, his desire for a legacy, the War. Susan likes him.
‘There’s been enough death. Time for something better.’
A Narn heavy cruiser comes out through a jump gate on the other side of the planet, where no one can see them but C&C.
It is Na’Kal of the G’Tok. They were on deep patrol when the Centauri took the Narn homeworld. They have been fighting and fleeing ever since. But they can’t keep it up, and they are requesting Sanctuary at Babylon 5.
Ivanova is settling down with afternoon tea in her quarters when Mr. Welles arrives foran interrogation, quid pro quo a chat. He offers her a ship captaincy, a little more quickly than she might get on her own merits, in return for…her support. For her being a spy, and an informant. She wants to know if Lantze is aware of this offer from Nightwatch. Welles says no. Then she tells him what she thinks, and shows him the door.
Sheridan tells G’Kar about the G’Tok. Sheridan wants to give them Sanctuary, and will tell Lantze about their presence once they finished repairs. He explains Lantze’ presence to G’Kar who thinks Earth is getting ready to come out against the Centauri aggressions. Sheridan obviously thinks so too. G’Kar leaves to prepare for a meeting with Lantze. He is ecstatic at the news, both of the surviving ship and of the emissary from Earth.
Mr. Welles meets with the local Nightwatch. He confronts Zach with his lack of enthusiasm. He makes him put the finger on a merchant in the Zocalo who was complaining about regulations. Zach is uncomfortable but unwilling to buck the crowd.
Small betrayals make the larger ones easier.
Keffer takes delivery of the records from Mitch’s ship which gives him a way to track the Shadows in hyperspace by neutrino emissions.
Lantze is done meeting with the ambassadors and members of the League who have issues with the Centauri. G’Kar comes up to him in the corridor and Ivanova introduces Lantze to him. Lantze refuses to speak to G’Kar, and seems almost in a panic to avoid it. This is not a good omen.
Na’Kal speaks with Sheridan, telling him the repairs are going slowly and they have wounded they cannot treat because there is not enough energy for the whole ship. Sheridan gives his word that they will be protected while in B5 space and they can take their jump engines off-line, giving more capacity to their medical systems.
Lantze comes to C&C asking about combat maneuvers and training using Centauri examples. One of the C&C people keeps looking over her shoulder at Welles and Lantze (The Mole!) Lantze protests, vigorously, and demands they stop because it will jeopardize his mission. Which is to sign a Non-Agreession treaty with the Centauri. They will be allies.
‘We will, at last, know peace in our time.’
The weasel from C&C approaches Mr. Welles in the elevator. She is a Nightwatch spy and tells him there is something he needs to know.
Sheridan vents to Ivanova. He says his uniform is now just a piece of cloth, that he doesn’t know what it stands for any more. Ivanova says that in the new year, 2260, maybe they will re-define it, make it mean something again.
She gives Sheridan a Christmas present, which is a piece of shrapnel from the Black Star. It is meant to be a reminder that sometimes the impossible is possible.
Londo appears on the com, his usual gracious and gentle self, and demands that they turn over the Narn cruiser and its crew to the Centauri. Sheridan pulls the ‘your signal is breaking up’ ploy and signs off, telling the com station to run a diagnostic (presumably to keep Londo from hitting re-dial). Now they know they have a mole. Susan tells him it was probably Welles and his Nightwatch spies. They are everywhere.
Sheridan and Ivanova run for C&C. Sheridan asks Na’Kal when his jump engines will come back on line and is told it will be a while. All hell is about to break loose. The Centauri know the Narn ship is there, and they’ve come to take them. They take up position blocking the jump gate. Sheridan won’t go back on his word and scrambles Zeta Squadron, telling them to surround the Narn ship. Lantze shows up in a right snit, and Sheridan has him escorted off the deck. He is using the ‘treaty’s not signed yet, boyo’ excuse to do what he wants. And what is right.
Sheridan tells Londo toget stuffed that the Narn ship is under his protection while in B5 space. That the fighters will escort it out through the jump gate. That if the Centauri try to stop them, or attack the fighters or the Narn ship, he will respond with deadly force.
Londo looks dyspeptic.
The recorded exchange between Sheridan and Londo is sent to the Centauri ships, and the defense grid is engaged. Sheridan tells Na’Kal to haul ass, or at least meander quickly towards the jump gate. The Centauri ships target the Narn ship, Zeta Squadron, and the station itself. Sheridan targets the Centauri ship. Once the blast doors are closed (to protect C&C from direct hits) the machine noise sounds like a submarine, giving it a lovely claustrophobic air.
The Centauri shoot first.
A lovely space battle ensues and the Narn ship escapes through the gate with its StarFury escort. The Centauri ship has been hit hard by the defense grid. It explodes, and breaks up. There is no time to mount a rescue.
Lantze is peevish and annoyed when his stupid plans are thwarted.
Welles observes coolly. Sheridan does the finger pointing thing, trying to get the guy to see sense. He quotes General Order 47 which is a Good Samaritan requirement. Narn is not engaged in war with Earth, and so they had to help a ship in distress. Lantze continues to bluster, but Welles intervenes with his own oily solution. Sheridan was right, the Joint Chiefs support him in the encounter with the Centauri but not the actions leading up to it. Welles tells Sheridan he has to apologize. To the Centauri, for doing his job, in front of the ambassadors, in the Zen garden. He does, however, get to write his own speech.
‘As with everything else, it’s the thought that counts.’
Back to Keffer, hanging in hyperspace, following the Narn ship to the next jump gate. His Shadow-sniffer sends up the alarm and he breaks off to check it out.
Sheridan practices his apology in his quarters. Nice dress duds.
His apology ends: ‘I’m sorry I waited as long as I did to blow them all straight to Hell.’
Keffer makes the recording for which he will be remembered.
He’s found his nightmare.
The ambassadors and representatives gather in the Zen garden.
Londo stands alone. No one speaks to him. Sheridan heads to the transit tubes. Two Centauri louts observe and follow. G’Kar signals Ivanova from behind a bush. He offers to speak on Sheridan’s behalf.
Keffer is blown to hell but not before he sends the visual record of the Shadow ship off attached to a homing beacon.
Sheridan is lost in thought on the train.
Delenn approaches Kosh in the garden. They talk earnestly, and conveniently migrate to a quiet corner to continue their discussion.
Everyone on the car leaves except the Centauri who gives Sheridan an evil look as he exits.He has left behind a little gift. Sheridan overrides the train doors, opening them between stations. He is really high up, above the agricultural area, above the garden. He is weightless but the ground is moving pretty fast. When he hits, it’ll be a smear job. Ivanova calls for jet packs, for rescue personnel, for someone, anyone, but it will be too late.
Delenn tells Kosh. ‘You know what’s at stake. If you are going to do anything, you must do it now.’
Kosh opens his suit and emerges. The sound of wings, a brilliant light. And everyone sees their own religious figure in the light.
Except Londo, who peers quizzically up.
Butterfly Kosh saves Sheridan, then returns to hiscocoon encounter suit.
Delenn comes to talk to Sheridan about the Vorlon. Sheridan is awed but cautious. Are they being guided or manipulated? Is it a matter of faith versus action? Good versus Evil? Light versus Dark? Or is it something more?
Sheridan may not trust the Vorlons, but I think he does trust Kosh.
‘It is a matter of perspective.’ Delenn weasels out of a direct answer like a boss.
Now Kosh is revealed and the Shadows will know the Vorlons are preparing for them. Lucky no one knows about the Shadows….
A-a-nd Keffer is missing.
Meanwhile, in the Zocalo: A Drazi and a Narn discuss the being in the garden, and decide the station has been blessed. It is a good omen for the new year.
‘And you, Ambassador Mollari? What did you see?’
‘Nothing. I saw…nothing.’
Susan’s voiceover lists what happens next--
‘It was the end of the Earth year 2259, and the war was upon us.’
The Centauri, as expected, take advantage of Earth’s neutrality and being to move against the Non-Aligned Worlds.
A more personal war is looming, as Zach sees evidence of his own culpability in the closing of an old man’s shop by order of the Ministry of Peace, now under investigation of sedition.
As Susan lights the candles in her menorah, the voiceover continues:
‘We came to this place because Babylon Five was our last best hope for peace. By the end of 2259 we knew that it had failed. But in so doing, it had become something greater. As the war expanded, it became our last best hope for victory. Because sometimes peace is another word for surrender. And because secrets have a way of getting out.’
We end with ISN, which has obtained Keffer’s final recording. A new ship, a new race. No one knows who they are.
The Shadows have come out into the light.
Discussion Points:
Why are the Vorlons morally ambiguous at this point but the Shadows unmitigatingly evil?
Has Londo lost his chance at redemption? Is he beginning to wonder?
Will Lennier and Vir retire to a small farm on Minbar and raise goats?
Was Kosh saving Sheridan a good move or a bad move?
Is Keffer really gone? (according to JMS, he is an Ex-Keffer.) Some folk thought he might come back a la Mr. Morden. Now there's a thought....
Keffer is out again, shooting other StarFuries in War Games. Sheridan is conducting the games and discussing the Centauri as possible targets. Ivanova tells him fun is over.
Vir and Lennier meet in a bar. They go right into talk therapy.
‘You never know what it’s all about. Until later, when it’s too late.’
‘They never listen to us.’
‘Makes me nervous.’
‘Same time tomorrow?’
‘Sure.’
The Drazi and Pak’mara want to speak with Sheridan, urgently. He tells Ivanova their fighters have to get better, and soon. She says she will see to it, personally. And if they don’t improve, she’ll issue live ammo. For inspiration.
The ambassadors tell Sheridan and Ivanova that the Centauri are attacking their bases; that the war is spreading.
Sheridan calls Mollari into his office. Londo is the Man in Black, testy and arrogant beyond belief. Sheridan appeals to his better nature. Hah. Londo wavers, oh so briefly, then climbs back up on his high horse.
‘Do not start getting delusions of grandeur. You will not survive them.’
Prophecy and projection, all in one statement!
Sheridan discusses the changes in Londo with Garibaldi. Garibaldi tells him they can’t get through to Londo as long as he is afraid.
Very perceptive, Mr. Garibaldi!
While they are talking Ivanova breaks in over the com to announce the arrival of Frederick Lantze, from the Ministry of Peace back on Earth. Sheridan thinks maybe Earth is starting to take the Centauri incursions seriously. Garibaldi is pessimistic.
Keffer chats with another pilot and she mentions a couple of pilots have seen ‘the ghost’ in hyperspace. His Spidey senses tingle.
Frederick Lantze, played by Roy Dotrice (Father! You know, Beauty and the Beast!), our very own EarthGov Neville Chamberlin, arrives, along with Mr. Welles, played by John Vickery (Neroon! With hair!) his co-director and head of
Keffer speaks to Mitch in the bar. Keffer remains determined to find the ships he saw, and prove there is another race out there. Mitch thinks he’s nuts for trying to find the Big Bad, but is glad someone else is seeing Shadows.
Ivanova is speaking with Lantze in his quarters (very nice ones). We zoom in on a flower for symbolic effect, then they discuss a pen, and Christmas, his grandchildren, his desire for a legacy, the War. Susan likes him.
‘There’s been enough death. Time for something better.’
A Narn heavy cruiser comes out through a jump gate on the other side of the planet, where no one can see them but C&C.
It is Na’Kal of the G’Tok. They were on deep patrol when the Centauri took the Narn homeworld. They have been fighting and fleeing ever since. But they can’t keep it up, and they are requesting Sanctuary at Babylon 5.
Ivanova is settling down with afternoon tea in her quarters when Mr. Welles arrives for
Sheridan tells G’Kar about the G’Tok. Sheridan wants to give them Sanctuary, and will tell Lantze about their presence once they finished repairs. He explains Lantze’ presence to G’Kar who thinks Earth is getting ready to come out against the Centauri aggressions. Sheridan obviously thinks so too. G’Kar leaves to prepare for a meeting with Lantze. He is ecstatic at the news, both of the surviving ship and of the emissary from Earth.
Mr. Welles meets with the local Nightwatch. He confronts Zach with his lack of enthusiasm. He makes him put the finger on a merchant in the Zocalo who was complaining about regulations. Zach is uncomfortable but unwilling to buck the crowd.
Small betrayals make the larger ones easier.
Keffer takes delivery of the records from Mitch’s ship which gives him a way to track the Shadows in hyperspace by neutrino emissions.
Lantze is done meeting with the ambassadors and members of the League who have issues with the Centauri. G’Kar comes up to him in the corridor and Ivanova introduces Lantze to him. Lantze refuses to speak to G’Kar, and seems almost in a panic to avoid it. This is not a good omen.
Na’Kal speaks with Sheridan, telling him the repairs are going slowly and they have wounded they cannot treat because there is not enough energy for the whole ship. Sheridan gives his word that they will be protected while in B5 space and they can take their jump engines off-line, giving more capacity to their medical systems.
Lantze comes to C&C asking about combat maneuvers and training using Centauri examples. One of the C&C people keeps looking over her shoulder at Welles and Lantze (The Mole!) Lantze protests, vigorously, and demands they stop because it will jeopardize his mission. Which is to sign a Non-Agreession treaty with the Centauri. They will be allies.
‘We will, at last, know peace in our time.’
The weasel from C&C approaches Mr. Welles in the elevator. She is a Nightwatch spy and tells him there is something he needs to know.
Sheridan vents to Ivanova. He says his uniform is now just a piece of cloth, that he doesn’t know what it stands for any more. Ivanova says that in the new year, 2260, maybe they will re-define it, make it mean something again.
She gives Sheridan a Christmas present, which is a piece of shrapnel from the Black Star. It is meant to be a reminder that sometimes the impossible is possible.
Londo appears on the com, his usual gracious and gentle self, and demands that they turn over the Narn cruiser and its crew to the Centauri. Sheridan pulls the ‘your signal is breaking up’ ploy and signs off, telling the com station to run a diagnostic (presumably to keep Londo from hitting re-dial). Now they know they have a mole. Susan tells him it was probably Welles and his Nightwatch spies. They are everywhere.
Sheridan and Ivanova run for C&C. Sheridan asks Na’Kal when his jump engines will come back on line and is told it will be a while. All hell is about to break loose. The Centauri know the Narn ship is there, and they’ve come to take them. They take up position blocking the jump gate. Sheridan won’t go back on his word and scrambles Zeta Squadron, telling them to surround the Narn ship. Lantze shows up in a right snit, and Sheridan has him escorted off the deck. He is using the ‘treaty’s not signed yet, boyo’ excuse to do what he wants. And what is right.
Sheridan tells Londo to
Londo looks dyspeptic.
The recorded exchange between Sheridan and Londo is sent to the Centauri ships, and the defense grid is engaged. Sheridan tells Na’Kal to haul ass, or at least meander quickly towards the jump gate. The Centauri ships target the Narn ship, Zeta Squadron, and the station itself. Sheridan targets the Centauri ship. Once the blast doors are closed (to protect C&C from direct hits) the machine noise sounds like a submarine, giving it a lovely claustrophobic air.
The Centauri shoot first.
A lovely space battle ensues and the Narn ship escapes through the gate with its StarFury escort. The Centauri ship has been hit hard by the defense grid. It explodes, and breaks up. There is no time to mount a rescue.
Lantze is peevish and annoyed when his stupid plans are thwarted.
Welles observes coolly. Sheridan does the finger pointing thing, trying to get the guy to see sense. He quotes General Order 47 which is a Good Samaritan requirement. Narn is not engaged in war with Earth, and so they had to help a ship in distress. Lantze continues to bluster, but Welles intervenes with his own oily solution. Sheridan was right, the Joint Chiefs support him in the encounter with the Centauri but not the actions leading up to it. Welles tells Sheridan he has to apologize. To the Centauri, for doing his job, in front of the ambassadors, in the Zen garden. He does, however, get to write his own speech.
‘As with everything else, it’s the thought that counts.’
Back to Keffer, hanging in hyperspace, following the Narn ship to the next jump gate. His Shadow-sniffer sends up the alarm and he breaks off to check it out.
Sheridan practices his apology in his quarters. Nice dress duds.
His apology ends: ‘I’m sorry I waited as long as I did to blow them all straight to Hell.’
Keffer makes the recording for which he will be remembered.
He’s found his nightmare.
The ambassadors and representatives gather in the Zen garden.
Londo stands alone. No one speaks to him. Sheridan heads to the transit tubes. Two Centauri louts observe and follow. G’Kar signals Ivanova from behind a bush. He offers to speak on Sheridan’s behalf.
Keffer is blown to hell but not before he sends the visual record of the Shadow ship off attached to a homing beacon.
Sheridan is lost in thought on the train.
Delenn approaches Kosh in the garden. They talk earnestly, and conveniently migrate to a quiet corner to continue their discussion.
Everyone on the car leaves except the Centauri who gives Sheridan an evil look as he exits.He has left behind a little gift. Sheridan overrides the train doors, opening them between stations. He is really high up, above the agricultural area, above the garden. He is weightless but the ground is moving pretty fast. When he hits, it’ll be a smear job. Ivanova calls for jet packs, for rescue personnel, for someone, anyone, but it will be too late.
Delenn tells Kosh. ‘You know what’s at stake. If you are going to do anything, you must do it now.’
Kosh opens his suit and emerges. The sound of wings, a brilliant light. And everyone sees their own religious figure in the light.
Except Londo, who peers quizzically up.
Butterfly Kosh saves Sheridan, then returns to his
Delenn comes to talk to Sheridan about the Vorlon. Sheridan is awed but cautious. Are they being guided or manipulated? Is it a matter of faith versus action? Good versus Evil? Light versus Dark? Or is it something more?
Sheridan may not trust the Vorlons, but I think he does trust Kosh.
‘It is a matter of perspective.’ Delenn weasels out of a direct answer like a boss.
Now Kosh is revealed and the Shadows will know the Vorlons are preparing for them. Lucky no one knows about the Shadows….
A-a-nd Keffer is missing.
Meanwhile, in the Zocalo: A Drazi and a Narn discuss the being in the garden, and decide the station has been blessed. It is a good omen for the new year.
‘And you, Ambassador Mollari? What did you see?’
‘Nothing. I saw…nothing.’
Susan’s voiceover lists what happens next--
‘It was the end of the Earth year 2259, and the war was upon us.’
The Centauri, as expected, take advantage of Earth’s neutrality and being to move against the Non-Aligned Worlds.
A more personal war is looming, as Zach sees evidence of his own culpability in the closing of an old man’s shop by order of the Ministry of Peace, now under investigation of sedition.
As Susan lights the candles in her menorah, the voiceover continues:
‘We came to this place because Babylon Five was our last best hope for peace. By the end of 2259 we knew that it had failed. But in so doing, it had become something greater. As the war expanded, it became our last best hope for victory. Because sometimes peace is another word for surrender. And because secrets have a way of getting out.’
We end with ISN, which has obtained Keffer’s final recording. A new ship, a new race. No one knows who they are.
The Shadows have come out into the light.
Discussion Points:
Why are the Vorlons morally ambiguous at this point but the Shadows unmitigatingly evil?
Has Londo lost his chance at redemption? Is he beginning to wonder?
Will Lennier and Vir retire to a small farm on Minbar and raise goats?
Was Kosh saving Sheridan a good move or a bad move?
Is Keffer really gone? (according to JMS, he is an Ex-Keffer.) Some folk thought he might come back a la Mr. Morden. Now there's a thought....
no subject
2. It would be lovely for them both, wouldn't it?
3. Good in that we get to keep Sheridan but bad in that the Vorlons are exposed to the Shadows.
4. I kinda liked him but he had all the features of a redshirt.
no subject