Season 1 Episode 15: Grail

A man comes aboard the ship, a man that Delenn and Lennier consider a special guest but Sinclair and Garibaldi find it rather humorous when they hear that he searches for the Holy Grail. His name is Aldous Gajic. Delenn gently chides Sinclair, explaining that anyone who is a True Seeker is important and sometimes the journey is the important part. She tells him he is a True Seeker as well.

IN the Downbelow, Deuce, a thug (played by Williams Sanderson) tells a young B5 construction worker(Jinxo) that he wants the station blueprints or 100,00 credits or they’ll do something to him – they let him watch as a tentacle brain wipes a woman who testified against them. The thing lives in what looks like Kosh’s suit.

Then there is the hilarious lawsuit between Mr. Flinn and an alien who appears to be a vree (who looks like a Roswell Grey). The human is suing for damages to his ancestor. I loved this – it added nothing to the ep but was VERY funny!

Franklin has the woman Jinxo saw mindwiped in his medlab. They talk about finding out what did it.

While Aldous us exchanging some credits at an ATM, Jinxo picks his pocket and Garibaldi nabs him and they haul him before the Ombuds. Aldous takes Jinxo and says he will be responsible for him. Jinxo explains to Aldous why he can never leave the station: He left B1 and it was sabotaged, same with B2, B3 blew up and B4 disappeared so he’s afraid to leave this one… and cause so much death.

Alduis says he is lucky that he cares so much for the people on B5 that he wishes to save them.

Franklin and Ivanova discover the killer is a Na’ka’leen Feeder from Centauri space and they begin to hunt for it. Londo is terrified when they ask him about it and locks himself in his room.

Aldous tells how he became a seeker after the death of his wife and family because ‘the numbers finally add up.’

Deuce and his men catch Jinxo and Aldous and they also have the Ombuds. Aldous saves the Ombuds but is mortally injured. Security anbs the rest of the bad guys. Aldous dies and Thomas, Jinxo’s real name, decides to seek the Grail instead.

The ep ends with Thomas leaving the station and Sinclair and Ivanova waiting for the boom… and we get her most famous speech;
"No "boom" today, "boom" tomorrow. There is always a "boom" tomorrow. What? Someone need to keep some perspective around here. Sooner or Later... Boom!"

Quotes:

Aldous and Delenn:
Aldous: "These two sides of your culture – do they ever agree on anything?"
Delenn:"Yes, and when they do, it is a terrible thing – a terrible power, as recent events have shown us. Let us hope it never again happens in our lifetime."

Delenn and Sinclair:
Sinclair: "On Earth, the Grail is nothing but a myth – it's a nice story to tell your kids. For someone to spend his entire life looking for it is... well, it's not often taken very seriously."
Delenn:"How sad. He is a holy man – a true seeker. Among my people, a true seeker is treated with the utmost reverence and respect. It doesn't matter that his Grail may or may not exist, what matters is that he strives for the perfection of his soul – for the salvation of his race... that he has never wavered or lost faith."
Sinclair: "I wish him luck. He's probably the only true seeker we have."
Delenn:"Then perhaps you don't know yourself... as well as you think."

Questions:

1. This is one of the stand alone episodes, as JMS calls them, but was it really?
2. Was I the only one who thought the mind wipe creature’s tentacle looked a bit like one of Londo’s parts?
3. Did anyone else notice the unfortunate name of the ship that Thomas left on?
4. Did you LIKE this episode? What were it’s strengths and weaknesses?


Sources:
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/015.html
The Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Grail
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517653/?ref_=ttep_ep15