"All Alone in the Night" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 2X11, "All Alone in the Night". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
Sheridan is abducted by a mysterious alien ship. Meanwhile, Delenn travels to Minbar to find out if the Grey Council will allow her to continue as an ambassador after her transformation.

Extra reading:
The article for "All Alone in the Night" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

One of the B5 episodes that is interesting in retrospect (the dream, the introduction of Ta'Lon) but still forgettable in itself, with a cliched plot and bad guys who are built up as a big threat but are never even alluded to again.

I always think that the "man in between" is actually Lorien, whatever conclusion Sheridan came to.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Lorien as the "man between" makes far more sense than Sheridan's interpretation!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Yes, between the Vorlons and Shadows, between life and death for Sheridan. And it's also a fanon for me that the "between the darkness and the light" line in the Grey Council oath was not "protecting the light from the dark", as the Minbari seem to interpret it, but Sinclair recognising that the Vorlons and Shadows were not respectively good and evil and a third way would eventually need to be found.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*adopts this fanon as well*

You know, this would actually fit with To Dream in the City of Sorrows (aka the "what Sinclair was doing between Chrysalis and War Without End" novel written by Kathryn Drennan) beautifully, because that one has Sinclair develop an increasing distrust against the Vorlons and being unwilling to take their goodness for granted the way the Minbari do. (I pick and choose with the tie-ins; you know we feel the same way about The Shadow Within, but the Sinclair novel is much better.)

Question: considering Sheridan isn't Centauri, how come he has this somewhat prophetic dream to begin with? Is Kosh's presence in said dream and awareness of it a sign that Kosh has already started to do what he later seems to do with G'Kar in Dust to Dust and with Sheridan during his own death in s3, i.e. some kind of telepathic communication?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I always assumed it was a message from Kosh in typically oblique Vorlon style, although some of the content seems to imply that were this true Kosh was already having his own doubts about the righteousness of the war.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that's who it meant - it seemed to be the only part of the dream that could be meaningfully interpreted.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

Afterthought - I think the dream sequence is also the first time the question "why are you/am I here" appears..., forgotten by most of us when Lorien comnes up with it again a few years later.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Came back to this post and noticed this - Emperor Turhan says it to Sheridan in "The Coming of Shadows".