Season 1, Episode 6 – Mind War

This is actually one of my favorite episodes. Jason Ironheart rocks!

We see an incident with other fighters in the beginning and then Ironheart shows up on Babylon 5.

But first we see Catherine Sakai talking business with a man from Universal Terraform, who is interested in having her survey Sigma 957 for Quantium 40, which is what jump gates are made from. He tells her that it’s in contested space and that she’ll need permission from one person: G’kar.

It is at this point we meet Alfred Bester and Miss Kelsey,. Psi-cops who are chasing Ironheart. They say that he is a rogue telepath and that they are to bring him in or kill him. He has killed his instructor and is considered dangerous. They say he was also given a failsafe that they can turn him ‘off; with their own minds.

We switch back to Ironheart, who seems to have some sort of attack that makes his whole room shake.

Talia tells Sinclair that Ironheart was her instructor at the academy and is a P10, which is a very strong telepath and bester says that Psi-cops are P12s. Bester scans Talia to make sure she is telling the truth, despite Sinclair’s onjections. Ivanova is present and we see her hostility toward telepaths as well.

Despite having been told not to have any contact with Jason, he contacts her and she does see him. He tell her he needed a safe place to wait.

Meanwhile Catherine talks to G’kar, who warns her not to go to Sigma 957. He says it’s not a safe place to go. She argues with him and he tell her one of the most famous quotes in the whole series and one that proves true many times over: "Let me pass on to you the one thing I've learned about this place. No-one here is exactly what he appears. Not Mollari, not Delenn, not Sinclair. And not me. My warning is sincere. Ignore it at your own peril.” Sakai says she’ll go over his head and go anyway.

Back to Ironheart. He tell Talia of volunteering for Psi-cop experiments to make stronger telepaths, painful experiments that were actually designed to make stable telekenetics, which were extremely rare. The experiments worked and Ironheart says one day he was able to see ‘everything’.

Garibaldi comes to Sinclair with info on where Jason is. Bester is reading him as he comes into the room.

Sakai leaves for Sigma 957.

G’kar calls his homeworld and orders two heavily armed fighters to Sigma 957.

Ironheart reveals that Psi-Corp wanted assassins and such and that’s what the telekentics are for. He begins to shake again and tells Talia to leave.

The whole station shakes and Bester and Kelsey call it a mindquake.

Ironheart sets up a force field in Level 16.

Bester says Ironheart is not really human anymore and they really don’t know what he is. Ivanova makes a crack about him having the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper.

Talia goes to talk to ironheart again and he lets her into his force field. He tells her he never meant to hurt anyone and that the Psi-Corp thing goes deeper than anyone knows, that they’re trying to control the government itself.

He tells her he is ‘becoming everything’.

Sakai arrives at the planet and launches her probe. A jump gate forms.

Talia takes Sinclair for a ride on the train and tells him that Ironheart wants to meet. She tells him that they were lovers and goes into this long thing about telepaths making love, the gist of which is that one doesn’t hear the voices from everyone then. She says has come to B5 to tell her goodbye.

Sakai see a huge, amazing orb-like thing and then it goes away. Her ship is damaged and low on power so she can’t even contact B5 and her orbit is deteriorating. Soon she will crash into the planet.

Sinclair see Jason, who tells him that Psi-Corp wants to control everything then he explains how he can see all the way to the particles that make up matter and that he can manipulate them as well. He says Psi-Corp cannot be allowed to have such power and that’s why he killed his instructor, the man who invented the formula that made him that way.

He asks Sinclair to help him become. Sinclair tell Ivanova to clear a path for Ironheart to leave.

Two ships come out of hyperspace near Sigma 957, the Narn fighters that G’kar ordered, and they tell her they’ve come to rescue her.

As Ironheart is getting ready to board a ship to leave, Bester and Kelsey find him and attack. He makes Kelsey disappear and attacks Bester then he leaves B5 and when he is outside the station, he and his ship sort of explode into a huge light mass. He tells Talia telepathically that he left a gift and tell Sinclair that he will see him in a million years.
Sinclair sends Bester away. Sinclair says he will report Talia simply a pawn under Ironheart’s control and he won’t report Bester for his wrongdoing. Bester’s parting shot is that he’ll be back.

Talia finds her gift in her quarters – she can move the penny she had unsuccessfully tried to move in her TK tests back at the academy.

Sakai returns and asks G’kar what she saw. He tells her what she saw was so ancient and big that we were like ants to it. He says there are many old and vast things out there. “Yes, they are a mystery. And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the universe, that we have not yet explained everything. Whatever they are, Miss Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957, and they must walk there alone.”

This is actually one of my favorite episodes, showing the dark side of Psi-Corps and giving us some idea how insidious they will become. I am one of the few wh absolutely hate telepaths in the B5 world and I find that Jason Ironheart is the only one I ever liked. I also like the many hints of other things to come.

Some questions to ponder:
1. What did Ironheart become? How would you interpret his reference to seeing Sinclair in a million years?
2. What did Sakai see?
3. How did you feel about Bester? Psi-Corps?
4. Is there a need to monitor and control telepaths?



Sources:
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/006.html
IMDB: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/006.html