Recap and Discussion 2X8: A Race Through Dark Places

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For years I thought of this episode as ‘the dinner date episode’. Apparently other things happen.

The station is in bad economic straits due to having to dock military ships for free and turn away commercial traffic. Extra rent is being asked of Captain Sheridan and Commander Ivanova because they have big rooms-- 30 credits a week for an extra 7 square feet. Sheridan refuses and demands Ivanova join him in his crusade.

Meanwhile, on Mars....


Bester is torturing a telepath for information on a telepath Underground Railroad. The man uses nursery rhymes to block telepathic scan. The clearing house is (drum roll please) Babylon Five.The telepath dies under Bester’s scan. (This idea will show up again, that telepaths being inside a dying mind is Not Good.)

Sheridan rants to Franklin about the rent. Franklin thinks he is doomed. Delenn walks up and asks for a private talk with Sheridan. She wants to better understand what it is to be human so she asks him to diner. Just to talk.


They are so cute.

“One day they’re shooting at you. The next day they’re taking you out to dinner. What a Universe!”

Bester comes to B5, requests an immediate meeting with command staff. Unregistered telepaths are a security risk. Garibaldi (Mister Bagna Cauda himself): “The law’s the law.” A brief discussion of how humanity dealt with telepaths when they were discovered to be among us.

“We took away every right they had and shoved them into a big black box called PsiCorps.”

Sheridan says give Bester the help.


Really, Captain, he's no mensch.

Susan tell him look up Bester’s record in the station files and learn why that might not be a good idea.

Bester and Talia spar as they walk thru the Zocalo. Bester hears someone mentally say ‘Murderer’. Talia hears nothing.

The rogue telepaths meet and decide to run, but they also decide to kill Bester.


Wowza.

Dinner at the Fresh Aire restaurant. Delenn enters in a little black dress. Sheridan is gobsmacked. He is also quite the little gent, defending her against undesired attention.


"What do you recommend?"
Oh girl, you had to ask!

Garibaldi runs down Ivanova at Earhart’s. Next round is on Garibaldi because he wants to discuss work in the bar. That’s the rule in Earhart’s, and a good one it is! He wants a contact inside the UR. Susan declares she has nothing to do with the Railroad and wishes him good hunting.

Sheridan and Delenn close out the restaurant. They discuss cats & goks and laughter.
“Such creatures are an attempt by the Universe to make sure we never takes ourselves too seriously.”

“We believe no race can be truly intelligent without laughter.”

“It would appear we have much more in common than we would have imagined.”
Then a meaningful silence comes upon them and they stare at the tablecloth.

Talia gets a late call from Bester. He invites her to breakfast to ‘get to know her better’. Yuk. It sounded so much nicer coming from Delenn. Talia reminisces about Ironheart after the call, and puts a penny into the wall. She’s gotten better with coinage. She knows Bester has scanned her; doesn’t know why hasn’t he figured out she was given the gift of telekinesis.


Afraid of what's she becoming.

She wonders if Jason hid her gift somehow, if that was part of the package. This is interesting coming after last week’s reveal that she wants out of PsiCorps to the extent of considering a way to rid herself of her powers.

Sheridan gets home to find the door to his quarters locked. Susan tells him it’s pay up or move. ‘The rent’s too damn high!’ party might get his vote at this point.

“Millions for defense but not one penny for tribute!” This is a quote from Robert Goodloe Harper, representative back in the day of both SC and MD, responding to a request for a bribe to stop the undeclared naval war between the US and France in the early days of the American republic. This was part of the XYZ affair (a military and political conspiracy) during the Adams administration. Perhaps Sheridan wasn’t kidding that he collected conspiracies??

The telepaths plan their move. They practice blocking scans with nursery rhymes as they assemble illegal weaponry.

Susan and Sheridan bed down in his office. This is not as interesting as it sounds, as she gets the couch and he gets the chair. He tells Minbari and Vorlon jokes.


Smug and happy.

At breakfast, Bester probes Talia about the President’s death and the feelings of the command staff. They get a hint of the conspirator’s thoughts. Shots are fired; Talia is kidnapped. Bester doesn’t notice or apparently even remotely care. Garibaldi does. Bester says better work on finding the telepaths, and her, then.

The telepaths question Talia to see what she knows and gauge her loyalties.

Franklin heard from the Railroad and reports to Sheridan that Talia is okay and they want a meeting. It’s clear what side Stephen is on.

The telepaths tell their sad tales of PsiCorp perfidy to Talia, attempting to sway her, or at least to make her understand their POV.

Garibaldi is taking a team into Downbelow to where the two dead telepaths lived, hoping to find the rest of the group. He tells Bester he can come with them but to wait for the team. Yeah right.
The leader of the telepaths tells Talia, “Maybe the Corps served a function a long time ago. Now it’s something else. I know it. You know it.” This is an interesting point. The little guy was pushed to P12 or 13 and escaped with Ironheart, and they set up the Railroad. He knows Talia was given something by Ironheart and he thinks she can help them.

Sheridan arrives for the meeting.


Guess who?

Franklin is there and confesses his role as leader of the escape route. Talia comes out and asks Sheridan to listen to Franklin and the telepaths.

Bester goes ahead of the security team because of course he did.

Franklin tells Sheridan about the doctor’s campaign to help the telepaths back on Earth avoid PsiCorp and the telepath regulations; how they started to ferry them off planet through Babylon Five. His clinic in Downbelow was a way to find them and get their records cleared for further travel without alerting the Corps or EarthGov. Sheridan is caught between a rock and hard place having heard Franklin’s explanation. Talia says there is a third option (Oooh foreshadowing).

Bester arrives.The telepaths confront him hand in bare hand, a joining of their powers.


The gloves come off.

It appears that Bester and Talia, who has turned on them, mow them all down with PPGs.  “The Corps is Mother; the Corps is father,” says Talia. Bester leaves as they hear Garibaldi and his people coming. He will deny all knowledge of this unfortunate incident.


United we stand.

It turns out what Bester thought he saw was a joint telepathic projection. Bester will not press ahead with the matter because he doesn’t want anyone to know he slaughtered rogue telepaths, them all being family and all. Talia tells Sheridan to avoid Bester in case he scans him (that’s illegal!)

I do wonder about PsiCorps checking official station records but maybe he figures lurkers die and don’t get recorded all the time. Or maybe he asks Sheridan to cover it up? It was a massacre, hard to see how it could avoid coming out in some way.

Sheridan says if there’s nothing illegal going on NOW and if Bester drops his request for help finding the telepaths, he’s okay to let it lie. He tells them to clear out and leave his station. Franklin says they have to find another place since their cover’s blown anyway, and he’ll be out of it as well. Sheridan reams out Franklin.


I need a drink.
And a place to stay.

The little guy tells Talia: “You can’t go back again.” And “He gave you more than you know. What we did back there, it shouldn’t have worked. Nor against a PsiCop. You tipped the balance.”

“What am I?” asks Talia.


“The future,” he replies and fades to black.

Sheridan works a fiddle to get his and Susan’s quarters back. He learns that he snores but doesn’t believe it. (You know what would help with that? A tilted bed!)

Bester leaves to tackle the mountain of paperwork that comes with covering up a massacre. He is disappointed by Sheridan’s attitude in this recent matter. He asks Talia to keep an eye on Sheridan. He leaves and looks back at her, questioningly. Like he tried to scan her…and failed.


Alone at last...

Susan’s in her lovely blue pj’s when Talia comes in with wine and an apology.


Hi honey! I'm home!

And a request to talk. And to ‘re-evaluate their relationship’ (!) Susan asks her indirectly to take off her PsiCorps pin, she does, and they sit down to talk.


Take it off!

I have never understood what was meant to happen with Talia’s storyline. I admire JMS for having an out for every (major) character/actor and branching options for how to go forward. That’s a devotion to story, that is, and well done in most cases. But Talia, well…they seem to be setting her up to be pivotal and then. Well, we’ll see in a few more episodes and maybe discuss it further then.

Comments

[ruuger]

For years I thought of this episode as ‘the dinner date episode’. Apparently other things happen.

Clearly this is "the dinner date episode" for me too, because it took me a second to remember what the actual plot was :D

But Talia, well…they seem to be setting her up to be pivotal and then.

I think she was going to be Lyta and become all powerful (Had JMS already decided at this point that telepaths could be used as weapons against shadows?). When did JMS find out that Andrea Thompson was going to leave, I wonder? That is, at what point did Talia's arc switch from her original one to the trap door arc.

[nic]

LOL, I was not yet a shipper when this episode first aired (that came later) so now I really, really want to re-watch this one!

I am also curious about JMS and Taliaès arc.