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b5_revisitedAnd here we are---another (maybe the last?) Rubber Monster Episode! At least it is the B plot this time, which is offset by a corker of an A plot highlighted by the return of NEROON!
First the recap, then thoughts:
Zack is registering, or maybe recruiting, telepaths to help in the war against the Shadows.
Sheridan and Ivanova discuss the recruitment of telepaths, and why they might not want to be on the front lines in a war. Sheridan suggests going to Dr. Franklin to see if he has any contacts left from the Underground Railroad days. The good doctor is still on walkabout but Ivanova can find the files, or him.
A maintenance guy is in an electrical shaft looking for a dead cable relay in Grey 16. When he is attacked, screams, and is sucked down BY SOME THING…
Meanwhile back on Minbar, Delenn is meeting with Rathenn (and the actor’s name is Time Winters. Whoa dude what?)
They are discussing the ex-Ranger One, Sinclair. Lennier approaches, bearing a silver box, which is all he found in Sinclair’s room, all that was left of a life.
His Ranger pin, his EarthForce pin, a picture, a watch, a patch, and a medal from the Battle of the Line. Rathenn comments that it always seemed as if he was only visiting this life and did not want to be overly burdened by it. Delenn asks Lennier to put the box on her ship; she will see if it returned to his family back on Earth.
Rathenn approaches the subject of a replacement for Ranger One. Delenn immediately agrees to back Rathenn, but he instead tells her the Rangers will follow her, and possibly only her. They are approaching a critical time, and it is important they have someone to rally behind. Delenn protests that she cannot return to Minbar but Rathenn tells her the Rangers will come to her.
Garibaldi is playing with firearms when Zack enters complaining about a weird report from Grey Sector. They play with Garibaldi’s Grandma’s gun for a while. Garibaldi is feeling nostalgic for Earth. He polishes off the Smith and Wesson and absent-mindedly puts the bullets INTO HIS POCKET. And asks Zack what’s going on in Grey Sector. Zack tells him about the missing maintenance worker, and Garibaldi decides to investigate because he likes mysteries. Hates the Grey Sector though; too much like the Centauri Triangle.
Susan enters a dive bar, causing consternation among the clientele. She enters a curtained alcove and finds Stephen, who is looking pretty damn rough.
He is going through stim withdrawal. Susan asks about the telepaths. Stephen has a backup of the information but wants to be left alone in return for telling her where to find it. He needs to keep walking until he meets himself and somehow work this out. Susan can’t or won’t promise, but he tells her anyway, then tells her to go away and not come back.
Garibaldi meets with a rep from maintenance who tells him they’ve looked but can’t find their guy, not anywhere in the 29 levels in Grey Sector. 30, says Garibaldi. Nope, she replies, that a mistake in the schematics, only 29. DUN DUN DUN!!!
Sheridan is a-okay with Delenn getting a new title.
Delenn is not convinced although she’s willing to be. She wants to hold the initiation ceremony on the station. Sheridan is interrupted by Susan, who has Stephen’s information on the telepaths. He congratulates Delenn again, and leaves. A voice offers his own congratulations…IT’S NEROON!
He makes a sarcastic and cutting remark about power and who is strong enough to ignore its siren song. Nice phrasing! He thinks Delenn has PLANNED IT ALL and is ready to nowTAKE OVER THE WORLD THE GALAXY Minbar, at least.
“A religious zealot, propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power…always a bad idea.” BURN
He gives her the ‘opportunity’ to give up the position of Ranger One and turn over command of the Rangers to the Warrior Caste where it belongs. He declares he has sworn to stop her, by any and all means necessary.
......Okay, let us pause and reflect. The Warrior caste has taken over the Grey Council which is broken anyway so it doesn’t matter. They pooh-poohed the Rangers and the prophecies FOR YEARS, sulked in their tents when not allowed to finish their splendid little war with, and genocide of, the humans, ‘allowed’ the Religious caste to build ships and train their recruits, and piddled around while the Shadows were gathering power. Now they want to swoop in and take over the Rangers…for what?? To finally get off their asses and fight the war they have been preparing for since the time of Valen? What makes them think EXACTLY that the Rangers---especially the icky contaminating human ones, will follow a Warrior caste-anointed Ranger One anyway??
Lennier approaches and Neroon scuttles back into the woodwork.
Garibaldi plays with the station turbo lift, counting levels.
His is a demanding and time-consuming job.
Lennier is aghast at Neroon’s threats. Delenn downplays the danger. This is incredibly short-sighted of her. The Minbari elite have belittled her again and again, acted like she’s nuts or power mad, and basically treated her like dirt. Is it paternalistic of her to believe the best of them still? Hubristic?
“He said he would use any and all means necessary. I respectfully suggest that he intends to go far beyond harsh language.”
“No Minbari has killed another in a thousand years.”
Delenn makes Lennier give his word he will not tell the Captain about Neroon’s threats.
Lennier bows his head in submission, but doesn’t look in the least happy. He must be having Inquisitor flashbacks.
Garibaldi has found a discrepancy in the floors of Grey Sector. So, he calls for back up…Nah, he goes in alone. There is another floor between Grey 16 and 17. The doors close behind him (who didn’t know that?) He almost calls for help, but no, there’s a noise. Pulling his PPG he goes into the next room which is full of junk. And a puppet. Which says:
“You shouldn’t be here. You’re in trouble.” And shoots a dart out of its eye, like they do.
He goes down slow, unable to complete his call for help, as the puppet laughs and laughs.
Lennier enters Marcus’ quarters.
He is trying to avoid breaking a promise, by breaking a promise. Marcus wants to know if he had to take a class in martial arts for the philosophically inclined. Lennier can’t tell anything in the B5 chain of command because that would get back to Sheridan. So, he tells Marcus about Neroon’s challenge, and warns him “He is trained at killing your people. He is very good at what he does.” Lennier can’t let Neroon go after Delenn, and can’t go after Neroon himself because if a Minbari kills another it could lead to civil war.
Marcus, being bent on self-destruction and proving himself, jumps at the chance.
Garibaldi wakens on a concrete floor minus his comlink, and his PPG. He hears voices, and turns to see a group of Lurkers, and a man behind some kind of podium, their leader.
“Consider the Hand...” Or Talk to It, Whatever!
Here Jeremiah basically gives Delenn’s Starstuff speech, only upside down and inside out. Which is what this cult is all about.
Rangers Assemble! Delenn and John are hanging out at the docking bays welcoming the arrivals. They take a moment to chat. We learn that Delenn’s mother left after she was born to join the Sisters of Valeria. And that she was very close to her father.
They snuggle.
Jeremiah continues giving his version of Minbari philosophy while Garibaldi searches for a way out of CrazyTown.
Lennier is helping hang drapes when a Minbari approaches. Neroon has been located. We see Neroon in a tunnel of some kind, and Marcus appears, declaring that he shall not pass. Or something like that.
He invokes denn’sha, ‘to the death’. (The Narns have one of those too) (Also having Princess Bride flashback time. To the pain!) Neroon does a name drop, explaining he was taught the pike by Durhan himself. Marcus rather smugly replies, ‘Really? So was I!’
And the fight is on.
The ceremony progresses. Marcus’ absence is noted. And Entil’zha’s robes are laid at Delenn’s feet.
Garibaldi keeps looking for way to get the hell away from the loonies, while Jeremiah continues to attempt conversion, or at least explanation. Garibaldi is starting to actually steam at the ears. He takes Jeremiah hostage, sort of.
Neroon beats the hell out of Marcus.
“I am a Ranger. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass. We live for the One. We die for the One.” So not Aragorn but Gandalf??
Neroon asks Marcus one more time why he is doing this. Marcus tells him. For her. In Valen’s name.
Garibaldi and Jeremiah finds the maintenance’s guys clothes. Jeremiah decides that his mission is to help Garibaldi see, and that it is his time to move on. A loud screeching noise is heard. Jeremiah continues to babble about purity of mind, purity of purpose. A way out. But the body must also have a way out. We choose to return to the Universe through that perfection, through the Zarg.
Garibaldi wants to know if Jeremiah is nuts. Yes. Yes, he is.
Rathenn is about to declare Delenn Entil’zha as Neroon approaches bearing a bloody pike. He tells her there is blood between them, and blood between the Warrior caste and the humans.
“I do not think they would die for me. But they would die for you.” He practically spits out the title, “Entil’zha.” He exits and Lennier leaves in haste to find Marcus.
The Zarg approaches through the steam, and Garibaldi pries loose a steam pipe and sends the rubber monster fleeing, if temporarily. He casts about for a weapon, and puts his hand in his pocket!!!
Lennier finds Marcus and he is alive.
Jeremiah tries to convince Garibaldi to be eaten. Garibaldi makes a blow gun using a metal pipe and Grandma’s bullets. Jeremiah is not sufficiently transcendent as it turns out, so he’s not ready to become Zarg food. The Zarg comes back and Garibaldi shoots him down. He flops and falls.
“I hate Grey Sector.”
Delenn and Lennier observe Marcus recovering in MedLab. Delenn takes Lennier to task but he tells her that all we know is that we will die.
“It is only a matter of how, when, and whether it is with honor.”
He also points out that she is now the leader of an army heading into war and they will be fighting and dying, for her, and her cause, and she’d better get used to it.
Neroon enters, and Delenn snarks at him. ‘Come to finish the job?’ Neroon says grimly that if he had wanted him dead, he would be dead. Which is a point.
Neroon talks to Marcus. One Warrior to another.
“And death there was. The death was mine. To see a human invoke the name of Valen. To be willing to die for one of my kind, when I was intent on killing one of my own. The rightness of my cause disappeared. Strange, that a human in his last moments, was more Minbari than I. Perhaps it is true what Delenn says, that we are not of the same blood, but we are of the same heart.”
Marcus snarks back at him. Delenn and Lennier hear Neroon laugh and wonder.
Garibaldi comes in to report. Sheridan is pissed, and then Sheridan is confused.
Hokay. So a lot to unpack here. This episode while duly reviled for the Rubber Monster of the Week, has a lot of looking back and looking forward. The cult of Jeremiah I find interesting--that humanity would include those who revile the Minbari and those who revere the Minbari after the war, and especially considering the way it ended, is understandable. The ambiguity and deception that ended the war also created rifts in the Minbari culture, particularly between the Warrior and Religious caste. They play out in this episode, and set up future problems, as well. The cult is almost a fun-mirror image of the dedicated Rangers, particularly the human ones. Jeremiah wants to appropriate the Minbari culture; Marcus wants to be incorporated into it. Neroon is a traditionalist who is breaking their most important tradition. Delenn has gone against every tradition but still believes in them. I mean, it is literally a funhouse, this episode!
There are hints of what Delenn and Neroon's relationship will become, there are callbacks to Sebastian's accusations both from Neroon and from Lennier (who points out facts that recall the Inquisitor's questions of Sheridan...who would you be willing to sacrifice? Delenn didn't answer those questions at that time, but she will have to, and Very Soon.) There are echoes of the future shown in War Without End...'but the sacrifice, the terrible, terrible sacrifice'. There are indications of what Lennier is coming to think of Delenn--here he promises but doesn't let it stop him. He is starting to see her as fallible, I think, and that leads to impossible contradictions in his personality. Lennier and Marcus's relationship, which deepened in Ceremonies of LIght and Dark, grows again, looking forward to Lennier's agony in Endgame/Rising Star. There is a lot of Lennier in this episode, a darkening, an understanding of reality that highlights the changes he has undergone.
The nostalgia Garibaldi shows at the beginning is a hint of things to come as well; disillusion, striking out on his own, solving his own problems, a desire for simple answers. He never buys into the big picture, in my opinion, following leaders out of personal loyalty rather than ideology.
So what did you think? Did you fast forward through the Jeremiah and the Zarg (great band name!) bits? Did Neroon have a point? Could Lennier have become the power behind the throne if he hadn't had the hots for Delenn?
First the recap, then thoughts:
Zack is registering, or maybe recruiting, telepaths to help in the war against the Shadows.
Sheridan and Ivanova discuss the recruitment of telepaths, and why they might not want to be on the front lines in a war. Sheridan suggests going to Dr. Franklin to see if he has any contacts left from the Underground Railroad days. The good doctor is still on walkabout but Ivanova can find the files, or him.
A maintenance guy is in an electrical shaft looking for a dead cable relay in Grey 16. When he is attacked, screams, and is sucked down BY SOME THING…
Meanwhile back on Minbar, Delenn is meeting with Rathenn (and the actor’s name is Time Winters. Whoa dude what?)
They are discussing the ex-Ranger One, Sinclair. Lennier approaches, bearing a silver box, which is all he found in Sinclair’s room, all that was left of a life.
His Ranger pin, his EarthForce pin, a picture, a watch, a patch, and a medal from the Battle of the Line. Rathenn comments that it always seemed as if he was only visiting this life and did not want to be overly burdened by it. Delenn asks Lennier to put the box on her ship; she will see if it returned to his family back on Earth.
Rathenn approaches the subject of a replacement for Ranger One. Delenn immediately agrees to back Rathenn, but he instead tells her the Rangers will follow her, and possibly only her. They are approaching a critical time, and it is important they have someone to rally behind. Delenn protests that she cannot return to Minbar but Rathenn tells her the Rangers will come to her.
Garibaldi is playing with firearms when Zack enters complaining about a weird report from Grey Sector. They play with Garibaldi’s Grandma’s gun for a while. Garibaldi is feeling nostalgic for Earth. He polishes off the Smith and Wesson and absent-mindedly puts the bullets INTO HIS POCKET. And asks Zack what’s going on in Grey Sector. Zack tells him about the missing maintenance worker, and Garibaldi decides to investigate because he likes mysteries. Hates the Grey Sector though; too much like the Centauri Triangle.
Susan enters a dive bar, causing consternation among the clientele. She enters a curtained alcove and finds Stephen, who is looking pretty damn rough.
He is going through stim withdrawal. Susan asks about the telepaths. Stephen has a backup of the information but wants to be left alone in return for telling her where to find it. He needs to keep walking until he meets himself and somehow work this out. Susan can’t or won’t promise, but he tells her anyway, then tells her to go away and not come back.
Garibaldi meets with a rep from maintenance who tells him they’ve looked but can’t find their guy, not anywhere in the 29 levels in Grey Sector. 30, says Garibaldi. Nope, she replies, that a mistake in the schematics, only 29. DUN DUN DUN!!!
Sheridan is a-okay with Delenn getting a new title.
Delenn is not convinced although she’s willing to be. She wants to hold the initiation ceremony on the station. Sheridan is interrupted by Susan, who has Stephen’s information on the telepaths. He congratulates Delenn again, and leaves. A voice offers his own congratulations…IT’S NEROON!
He makes a sarcastic and cutting remark about power and who is strong enough to ignore its siren song. Nice phrasing! He thinks Delenn has PLANNED IT ALL and is ready to now
“A religious zealot, propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power…always a bad idea.” BURN
He gives her the ‘opportunity’ to give up the position of Ranger One and turn over command of the Rangers to the Warrior Caste where it belongs. He declares he has sworn to stop her, by any and all means necessary.
......Okay, let us pause and reflect. The Warrior caste has taken over the Grey Council which is broken anyway so it doesn’t matter. They pooh-poohed the Rangers and the prophecies FOR YEARS, sulked in their tents when not allowed to finish their splendid little war with, and genocide of, the humans, ‘allowed’ the Religious caste to build ships and train their recruits, and piddled around while the Shadows were gathering power. Now they want to swoop in and take over the Rangers…for what?? To finally get off their asses and fight the war they have been preparing for since the time of Valen? What makes them think EXACTLY that the Rangers---especially the icky contaminating human ones, will follow a Warrior caste-anointed Ranger One anyway??
Lennier approaches and Neroon scuttles back into the woodwork.
Garibaldi plays with the station turbo lift, counting levels.
His is a demanding and time-consuming job.
Lennier is aghast at Neroon’s threats. Delenn downplays the danger. This is incredibly short-sighted of her. The Minbari elite have belittled her again and again, acted like she’s nuts or power mad, and basically treated her like dirt. Is it paternalistic of her to believe the best of them still? Hubristic?
“He said he would use any and all means necessary. I respectfully suggest that he intends to go far beyond harsh language.”
“No Minbari has killed another in a thousand years.”
Delenn makes Lennier give his word he will not tell the Captain about Neroon’s threats.
Lennier bows his head in submission, but doesn’t look in the least happy. He must be having Inquisitor flashbacks.
Garibaldi has found a discrepancy in the floors of Grey Sector. So, he calls for back up…Nah, he goes in alone. There is another floor between Grey 16 and 17. The doors close behind him (who didn’t know that?) He almost calls for help, but no, there’s a noise. Pulling his PPG he goes into the next room which is full of junk. And a puppet. Which says:
“You shouldn’t be here. You’re in trouble.” And shoots a dart out of its eye, like they do.
He goes down slow, unable to complete his call for help, as the puppet laughs and laughs.
Lennier enters Marcus’ quarters.
He is trying to avoid breaking a promise, by breaking a promise. Marcus wants to know if he had to take a class in martial arts for the philosophically inclined. Lennier can’t tell anything in the B5 chain of command because that would get back to Sheridan. So, he tells Marcus about Neroon’s challenge, and warns him “He is trained at killing your people. He is very good at what he does.” Lennier can’t let Neroon go after Delenn, and can’t go after Neroon himself because if a Minbari kills another it could lead to civil war.
Marcus, being bent on self-destruction and proving himself, jumps at the chance.
Garibaldi wakens on a concrete floor minus his comlink, and his PPG. He hears voices, and turns to see a group of Lurkers, and a man behind some kind of podium, their leader.
“Consider the Hand...” Or Talk to It, Whatever!
Here Jeremiah basically gives Delenn’s Starstuff speech, only upside down and inside out. Which is what this cult is all about.
Rangers Assemble! Delenn and John are hanging out at the docking bays welcoming the arrivals. They take a moment to chat. We learn that Delenn’s mother left after she was born to join the Sisters of Valeria. And that she was very close to her father.
They snuggle.
Jeremiah continues giving his version of Minbari philosophy while Garibaldi searches for a way out of CrazyTown.
Lennier is helping hang drapes when a Minbari approaches. Neroon has been located. We see Neroon in a tunnel of some kind, and Marcus appears, declaring that he shall not pass. Or something like that.
He invokes denn’sha, ‘to the death’. (The Narns have one of those too) (Also having Princess Bride flashback time. To the pain!) Neroon does a name drop, explaining he was taught the pike by Durhan himself. Marcus rather smugly replies, ‘Really? So was I!’
And the fight is on.
The ceremony progresses. Marcus’ absence is noted. And Entil’zha’s robes are laid at Delenn’s feet.
Garibaldi keeps looking for way to get the hell away from the loonies, while Jeremiah continues to attempt conversion, or at least explanation. Garibaldi is starting to actually steam at the ears. He takes Jeremiah hostage, sort of.
Neroon beats the hell out of Marcus.
“I am a Ranger. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass. We live for the One. We die for the One.” So not Aragorn but Gandalf??
Neroon asks Marcus one more time why he is doing this. Marcus tells him. For her. In Valen’s name.
Garibaldi and Jeremiah finds the maintenance’s guys clothes. Jeremiah decides that his mission is to help Garibaldi see, and that it is his time to move on. A loud screeching noise is heard. Jeremiah continues to babble about purity of mind, purity of purpose. A way out. But the body must also have a way out. We choose to return to the Universe through that perfection, through the Zarg.
Garibaldi wants to know if Jeremiah is nuts. Yes. Yes, he is.
Rathenn is about to declare Delenn Entil’zha as Neroon approaches bearing a bloody pike. He tells her there is blood between them, and blood between the Warrior caste and the humans.
“I do not think they would die for me. But they would die for you.” He practically spits out the title, “Entil’zha.” He exits and Lennier leaves in haste to find Marcus.
The Zarg approaches through the steam, and Garibaldi pries loose a steam pipe and sends the rubber monster fleeing, if temporarily. He casts about for a weapon, and puts his hand in his pocket!!!
Lennier finds Marcus and he is alive.
Jeremiah tries to convince Garibaldi to be eaten. Garibaldi makes a blow gun using a metal pipe and Grandma’s bullets. Jeremiah is not sufficiently transcendent as it turns out, so he’s not ready to become Zarg food. The Zarg comes back and Garibaldi shoots him down. He flops and falls.
“I hate Grey Sector.”
Delenn and Lennier observe Marcus recovering in MedLab. Delenn takes Lennier to task but he tells her that all we know is that we will die.
“It is only a matter of how, when, and whether it is with honor.”
He also points out that she is now the leader of an army heading into war and they will be fighting and dying, for her, and her cause, and she’d better get used to it.
Neroon enters, and Delenn snarks at him. ‘Come to finish the job?’ Neroon says grimly that if he had wanted him dead, he would be dead. Which is a point.
Neroon talks to Marcus. One Warrior to another.
“And death there was. The death was mine. To see a human invoke the name of Valen. To be willing to die for one of my kind, when I was intent on killing one of my own. The rightness of my cause disappeared. Strange, that a human in his last moments, was more Minbari than I. Perhaps it is true what Delenn says, that we are not of the same blood, but we are of the same heart.”
Marcus snarks back at him. Delenn and Lennier hear Neroon laugh and wonder.
Garibaldi comes in to report. Sheridan is pissed, and then Sheridan is confused.
Hokay. So a lot to unpack here. This episode while duly reviled for the Rubber Monster of the Week, has a lot of looking back and looking forward. The cult of Jeremiah I find interesting--that humanity would include those who revile the Minbari and those who revere the Minbari after the war, and especially considering the way it ended, is understandable. The ambiguity and deception that ended the war also created rifts in the Minbari culture, particularly between the Warrior and Religious caste. They play out in this episode, and set up future problems, as well. The cult is almost a fun-mirror image of the dedicated Rangers, particularly the human ones. Jeremiah wants to appropriate the Minbari culture; Marcus wants to be incorporated into it. Neroon is a traditionalist who is breaking their most important tradition. Delenn has gone against every tradition but still believes in them. I mean, it is literally a funhouse, this episode!
There are hints of what Delenn and Neroon's relationship will become, there are callbacks to Sebastian's accusations both from Neroon and from Lennier (who points out facts that recall the Inquisitor's questions of Sheridan...who would you be willing to sacrifice? Delenn didn't answer those questions at that time, but she will have to, and Very Soon.) There are echoes of the future shown in War Without End...'but the sacrifice, the terrible, terrible sacrifice'. There are indications of what Lennier is coming to think of Delenn--here he promises but doesn't let it stop him. He is starting to see her as fallible, I think, and that leads to impossible contradictions in his personality. Lennier and Marcus's relationship, which deepened in Ceremonies of LIght and Dark, grows again, looking forward to Lennier's agony in Endgame/Rising Star. There is a lot of Lennier in this episode, a darkening, an understanding of reality that highlights the changes he has undergone.
The nostalgia Garibaldi shows at the beginning is a hint of things to come as well; disillusion, striking out on his own, solving his own problems, a desire for simple answers. He never buys into the big picture, in my opinion, following leaders out of personal loyalty rather than ideology.
So what did you think? Did you fast forward through the Jeremiah and the Zarg (great band name!) bits? Did Neroon have a point? Could Lennier have become the power behind the throne if he hadn't had the hots for Delenn?
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Date: 2017-03-06 04:03 pm (UTC)