b5_revisited

Recap and discussion for Season 2 – The Coming of Shadows

"The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. A self-contained world five miles long, located in neutral territory. A place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and aliens. A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night. It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind...the year the Great War came upon us all. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5."
– Captain John Sheridan

The highlights:
Our season begins with HUGE changes. John Sheridan comes aboard as the new Captain, after Sinclair was transferred to Minbar as the first ambassador. Delenn is still in her cocoon and Garibaldi is still in a coma. After someone tries to kill Delenn and some other excitement, Sheridan finally gives his good luck speech, to an empty C&C.

Sheridan’s sister comes to visit. We learn about his wife, Anna.

Morden assures Londo that he cannot be connected to the attack in Quadrant 37. Londo jokingly suggests Morden and his associates hit the Narn homeworld as their next target. Morden tells him “One thing at a time.”

G’kar comes back to B5 convinced that something ancient and evil is out there.

Franklin and Sheridan use the alien device to save Garibaldi.

Delenn comes out of her cocoon as a Minbari with hair… that’s about the only way I know to describe her.
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And that’s’ just the beginning.

We have the green and purple debate, the technomages stop at B5 on their way out of the galaxy.

Sheridan’s friend, Jack Maynard, comes a callin’ and tells Sheridan there are strange things out in space. Keffer sees the shadow as they escort Maynard’s ship.

An old ship comes with a hidden passenger, trying to get back to his masters at Z’ha’dum!

We learn about Bureau 13 and how insidious Psi Corp is… actually, we will learn worse soon.

Londo’s wives come to visit. Timov is a delight! One of Talia’s old boyfriends comes by and says he can cure her… Talia has obviously slept with every person she’s ever met.

Bester tortures telepaths. He is one nasty little SOB. He comes to B5 to find some rogues – Talia and the rogue mindf^$k him.

John and Delenn have dinner and begin to make googoo eyes at one another.

The Centauri Emperor comes to B5 and dies before he can make peace with the Narn. Refa and his cohorts take over the government and attack the Narn. The Narn declare war.
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Dodger and Garibaldi, Franklin’s dad and the battle in which they are not prepared.
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John is abducted and Delenn is demoted and kicked of the Grey Council. John has the dream… yes, that one.

Ivanova has a very strange date with one of the Lumati.

Clark’s doctor comes to hide since he knows Clark was not sick when he left the president to die in the explosion. We find out John has a mission from General Hague.
Hague

B5 has merch!

ISN visits and does and expose and very odd one. We see the Psi Corps commercial.

Vir tells Morden what he wants, what he really, really wants.

Franklin starts using stims.

Londo kills his old friend at his request.

The Markab all die, every last one of them.

Talia is a sleeper agent and was Susan’s girlfriend.

We meet Draal.

Londo watches as Narn is bombed into the stone age.

Jack the Ripper comes.

Kosh is an angel-like thingie
kosh_revealed

~~~

That was a fast recap.

This season has the coming of shadows in many ways: The Shadows and the Centauri alliance, Psi Corps and its relationship with Clark, the Ministry of Peace and the Nightwatch. Shadows are everywhere!

John Sheridan begins his fight with darkness and begins a friendship with Delenn. He is at first a bystander but that will change as well and big time. At first, it isn’t clear which side Sheridan is on, but that is made clear when the inquisitor comes to town.

We begin to see that Babylon 5 is a battleground of sorts simply by virtue of its isolation. It becomes more and more estranged from Earth as the season goes on.

When the Centauri attack the Narn, things move fast and the war is soon over with the complete devastation of the Narn. The season ends with Earth making an alliance with the Centauri while the station seems more neutral. The members of the non-aligned worlds are terrified that they will be next and it does seem that the Centauri are beginning to attack neighbors to create what they are calling a buffer zone.

The season ends with Babylon 5 fighting for its neutrality while Earth is becoming alarmingly and increasingly more totalitarian as the Ministry of Peace and Nightwatch encourage citizens to spy on one another, to report ‘thought crime’. Some of Babylon 5’s officers and security staff belong to this group.

Are they ready for what is coming?

We shall see.

*

Questions:
1. Did you wonder, at first, what side Sheridan was on?
2. What character, in your opinion, grew the most in this season? Why?
3. Did “Comes the Inquisitor” make you begin to question Kosh’s motives?
4. Do you see parallels in B5 and the world today?
5. Would it really have made much difference if the Emperor had lived long enough to apologize to G’kar and the Narn?
6. Did you think that Bureau 13 and Epsilon III would feature more than they ever did?

I hope you all enjoyed this season and will join us for the next one.