Recap and Discussion of 3 x 4 – Passing Through Gethsemane

This episode is not one of the arc eps but I think it is a defining episode for several reasons. JMS wrote this one as an exploration of forgiveness, he said. We also do find out something quite startling about Lyta. Two things actually.

The ep begins with Ivanova and Brother Edward watching Sheridan and Brother Theo play chess. Theo and Sheridan also are talking a bit of trach and a bit of theology then Theo beats Sheridan and smiles and tells him he won by divine inspiration.

Brother Edward has some nice little figures he’s carved and says Sheridan can have the on he’s working on when it’s done.

Ivanova is called to docking bay 13, where a Vorlon ship comes in and Lyta Alexander gets off it.

She is telling Sheridan, Ivanova, Franklin and Garibaldi about going to Vorlon space and leaving her ship in a lifepod and waiting 5 days before the Vorlons rescued her. She says she can’t tell them anything at all about the Vorlon homeworld. She says she going to work for Kosh. Franklin says she should go to Medlab so he can check her out. After she leaves, Garibaldi asks if they all were creeped out by her story. They all raise their hands.

Brother Edward is talking to a potential client for their data services and when he rises to leave, a black rose falls from his bag. The client says it looks as though he has a secret admirer.

Garibaldi is watching the news when Delenn asks him if he can provide extra security for a Minbari trade delegation. He is watching a story about a man who has killed several people and is found guilty and mind wiped. Garibaldi thinks it is not enough punishment. Delenn doesn’t quite get his eye for an eye attitude.

Franklin examines Lyta and finds her in great shape, even better than before. She says she needs to go unpack and get to work.

Brother Edward finds writing on the wall – Death Walks Among You – in blood. He call Garibaldi but it’s gone when he shows up. Garibaldi tells him they will investigate and he will find Brother Edward different quarters.

Londo sees Lyta and greets her warmly. She is NOT warm to him. He tells her he’s heard she has been to the Vorlon homeworld and he wants to know about it. She says no and he threatens her with the Psi Corps – then she gets really mean and tells him she is no longer with them and she can make him have dreams so bad that he will scream all night. Londo says the way his life is going, how would he know the difference.

Brother Edward goes to speak to Delenn and Lennier about their religion. They tell him that all Minbari are one soul and they are all the universe trying to understand itself. When they ask about his belief, he tells them of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Satan offered Christ the change to escape his fate but Christ chose to suffer and die for the sins of his brethren. Edward said he wonders how he would react in Gethsemane. Lennier mentions Valen and that he Minbari not born of Minbar…. But Edward has to leave.

Edward goes to brown 17 and bumps into a Centauri getting off the elevator. He hears a woman scream and then sees Death Walks Among You again then people saying ‘Youkilled her.’ Then he sees her dead on the floor. Then he is back on a street in the dark…

He comes to then goes to his room. He is thinking when Brother Theo comes and tells him he missed morning prayers. Edwards tells him he’s been seeing some frightening things and Edward says maybe he could leave them alone. Edward says he can’t. Theo offers to stay but Edward tells him to go.

After Theo leaves, Edward asks the computer top cross reference these things: Death Walks among You, a black rose, Charlie and a dead woman. It says it will know the answer in 4 hours.

Theo goes to see Sheridan about Edward’s dreams. He says the do not dig deeply into their brothers and wishes the captain to check the computer records. He says Edward is the best among but he fears for his life and sanity.

Garibaldi finds Edward looking for his bag where he last saw visions. He tells him the lab didn’t find anything. When Edward returns to his quarters, the computer tells him of a man named Charles Dexter, who killed 9 people and was mind wiped. He sees footage revealing that he is Charles Dexter.

Garibaldi makes the same report to Sheridan, telling him that where Dexter was volunteering was burned and Dexter walked away, presumed dead.

Edward does not believe in the mind wipe, saying it does not allow a man to confess his sins if he can’t remember them. He says the good he’s done is not enough. Theo tells him that God knows and forgives his sins even if he’s forgotten them.

Garibaldi reports that someone did write on the wall and that perhaps a telepath caused the hallucinations. He thinks someone is seeking revenge.

A group of people come into where Edward is and one tells him they have been searching for him to exact their revenge. The leader says the others have wimped out but he has not. He is a son of one of the women Edward killed.

Sheridan and Garibaldi bring Lyta in to read their telepath and she tells them where Edward is.

They find him crucified and dying. He says to forgive the one who did it and tells Theo he always wondered if he had the courage to stay in Gethsemane. Zack brings in the killer.

Edward asks Theo if there is enough forgiveness to forgive for what he’s done and Theo says yes. He reads him his last rites and Edward dies. The man who killed him is proud of his actions.

Susan and Lyta are talking and Susan says that in the few weeks since Lyta left on Vorlon business, the killer pled guilty and was sentenced to death of personality.

Theo gives Sheridan the little carving that Edward had been working on and introduces their new brother, Malcolm, the man who killed Edward.

Lyta goes to see Kosh and some bright light comes from her eyes and mouth and goes into Kosh. She has gills!


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Quotes:
Delenn: We believe that the universe itself is conscious in a way that we can never truly understand. It is engaged in a search for meaning. So it breaks itself apart, investing its own consciousness in every form of life. We are the universe trying to understand itself.

Brother Theo: You must excuse the captain, Malcolm. You interrupted his train of thought. I believe you were saying that forgiveness is a hard thing but something ever to strive for. Were you not, captain?
Capt. John Sheridan: Yes. Yes, I was. Good luck to you. I hope things work out.
Malcolm: I'm sure it will. Thank you, Sir.
Brother Theo:We must be going along now or you'll miss your flight.
Brother Edward: "It's alright, Theo. I knew what was going to happen. I even waited for them to come, so forgive them for doing what had to be done. I always wanted to know if I would have the courage to stay at the garden of Gethsemane. Now I know, Theo. Now I know.""

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Questions:
1. Did it bother you that the mind wipe could be undone so easily?
2. Why did Franklin not notice Lyta’s gills?
3. Was Garibaldi’s opposition the mind wipe really any different from Brother Edward’s?
4. Why did Londo want to know what Lyta saw at the Vorlon homeworld? Curiosity or something more sinister?
5. Do you believe Lyta’s story?

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Sources:
The Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Passing_Through_Gethsemane
Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/048.html
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517677/?ref_=ttep_ep4
Babylon 5 Quotes: http://koti.kapsi.fi/a1bert/Quotes/NoRobots/B5/048.html