Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 22 – Sleeping in Light

Dreamwidth

And The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

The last 5 minutes:


Well, we have gotten through another watching of Babylon5 and I still cry about 10 times in the last episode.

John dreams of Lorien and he knows that it’s time.

They invite all the old friends to come to Minbar for a party and to say goodbye.

Susan is a general – a bored and dissatisfied one. Vir is the Emperor of the Centauri. Michael is rich and still on Mars with Lise. They have a daughter. Stephen is visiting him. He is still a xenobioliogist on Earth. They tell stories and laugh.

Delenn offers Susan the job as Ranger One.

After they are all abed, John tells Delenn he will go for a Sunday drive.

He visits B5 and JMS turns off the lights one last time. He heads to Coriani VI and is met by Lorien and goes beyond the Rim.

The others gather at the ending to say good bye to B5 and it’s blown up so as not to be space junk.

I’ll leave you with the toast:


Thanks for taking this journey yet again with us.

I am taking a short break and we will pick up with Crusade then the movies.

Rewatch for Season 5, Eposide 21 – Objects at Rest

Recap on Dreamwidth

The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5


And so the tears began. This was the goodbye episode.

I cry a lot at these last episodes. I hate goodbyes and have had to say it to so many…

Anyhow –

The episode opens with John saying goodbye to Lochley and thanking her. Ta’lon comes to G’kar’s quarters, where Vir tells him that G’kar will not be returning. He lets himself in and listens to G’kar’s message, making him the Narn ambassador to B5. Franklin is telling Dr. Hobbes that she is to be the new head of medicine on B5, because she knows how all the medlabs work. Lennier shows to escort John and Delenn to Minbar and their new home. Tessa Halloran is going to run her security detail out of B5 because she will be closer to more information that way,

On Mars, Garibaldi hires a new board for Edgars Industries – the troublemakers and malcontents from before because he knows they want to make their workplace a better place and will help him do that.

Even though John and Delenn want a quiet departure, the press leaks their details and a crowd turns out to bid them goodbye. And Delenn speaks:
No Word for Goodbye:


On the way to Minbar, we have the debacle with Lennier, a bit that I never quite figured out.

Londo visits and leaves John and Delenn’s child a gift – a keeper but we never really find out a lot about that, do we?

And I cried here and there all the way through.

1. Did Lennier have this thing planned all along? Did he set John up?
2. What would Londo have told John and Delenn had John had enough alcohol for him to get drunk? (John didn’t bring any as Minbari do not drink it.)
3. How long did Lochley command B5? Was Ta’lon a good ambassador?

One final note – Zack said he’d be there until they closed the doors --- and he is as we see in the last episode.

Join us next week and I’ll tell you about crying from the first moment to the end.

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 18 – The Fall of Centauri Prime

Recap - Dreamwidth*

And The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

This is real beginning of the end. This is one of the saddest episodes television that I’ve ever seen with the possible exception of “Sleeping in light”.

Londo’s goodbyes broke my heart over and over. If I ever doubted that he was the hero of the series, this episode served to remind of what he was willing to sacrifice for the good of his people. And a ‘love’ story as important as John and Delenn’s was the friendship that grew between Londo and G’kar. Their goodbye was particularly poignant.

I have little to say about this one. It speaks for itself.


*

1. Was the Vorlon homeworld New Earth?
2. Which character did you feel the sorriest for?
3. So there was some discussion about how the Drakh changed from the first time we saw them until now. Were they two different species OR did they just make them different because it was cheaper?
4. Did Delenn make a mistake in telling Lennier they could pretend he never told her he loved her?

*Note: I will no longer be linking to LJ posts or posting at LJ. It is Russian owned and over the last few weeks, they have locked LJ down to the point that they no longer allow cross posting, among other things. I am planning on deleting my own Journal there when I have saved the info I need from it.

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 16 – And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder

Recap:
Dreamwidth
Livejournal
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

Well, we literally see the other shoe drop in this one.

Delenn and the candle:


Everything goes to hell.

The Alliance is told what the Cantauri have done and they blockade the Centauri.

Londo takes G’kar and heads home to try to figure out what is going on.

And Michael Garibaldi gets drunk – Garibaldi causes the war by not getting the message he was supposed to from the Whitestars and war breaks out. And the bastard doesn’t even act like it’s a big deal.

Zack figures out what is going on with Garibaldi but gives him a second chance.

I was so over Garibaldi this time through that I wanted to strangle the character. I have found myself nitpicking him since season 1 this rewatch. He is not a villain, per se, but he sure does cause a great deal of the pain and sorrow for all the others and not all of it (not even half of it) is Bester’s fault.

*

1. Was the war inevitable? Or did Garibaldi cause it?
2. Is the Regent the only one with a Keeper?
3. Did G’kar and Delenn’s goodbye make you cry? (it did me).
4. In a contest, who got all the best speeches: Delenn or G’kar?

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 14 – Meditations on the Abyss

Recaps:
Dreamwidth
Livejournal
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. ~ Nietzsche

Was this the abyss JMS meant with this episode? I think so.

So we have Delenn sending Lennier on a secret mission, one so secret she doesn’t even tell Sheridan. Why not?

The Drazi spy on Londo and it makes Vir angry. Londo actually knows nothing, but he is very proud when Vir gets angry and stands up to the Drazu who planted the bug.

G’kar gets his new eye. It’s red like his real eye.

Lennier is stranded in space with only an hour of air as a training. The other Minbari recruit does not fare as well as Lennier – his reasons for joining the Rangers were that he lost two family members who were Rangers and he felt he must carry on their work. Were Lennier’s motives better?

Michael is drunk and stupid on his floor. On this watch through, I find I have little patience for Garibaldi and his shenanigans.

And G’kar explains god and truth to his followers. And no one gets it. He then tells them what they want to hear and they’re happy. Franklin got it, though.


*

1. Why doesn’t Delenn send someone other than Lennier? Why keep it from Sheridan?
2. What the hell is Garibaldi’s problem?
3. What did you think of fierce Vir?
4. Just what DOES the ep title mean?

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 12 – The Ragged Edge

Recaps:
Dreamwidth
Livejournal
And The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

Now we move on to the fall of Garibaldi – again.

And the rise of a religious icon!

The attacks on the shipping lines are still going on and the council is boycotting meetings on B5. A witness gets away this time and they send Garibaldi to get the evidence. He’s become a drunken idiot again and mentions it to no one so he screws it all up and almost gets himself killed on the Drazi homeworld. He does manage to get a button as evidence. The button is from the Centauri royal guard.

G’kar notices that he and Londo are being followed around by Narn. Ta’lon tells him about his book being stolen and copied and becoming a bestseller on Narn. He has become “a religious icon” and Narn have traveled to B5 to see him and hear his words of wisdom. G’kar is, to say the least, a reluctant messiah. Ta’lon explains that all Narn know is hate a violence and G’kar is one who offers them more, a world of love and peace. G’kar reluctantly agrees, but is still not happy with the silliness of his followers.



Franklin takes a job as head of Xenobiology on Earth, taking the place of Dr. Kyle, who was in ‘The Gathering’ when he retires at the end of the year. He says it make his study of alien physiology even easier. He tells John at the end of the episode.

Garibaldi drinks Afterburner Whiskey – there is an Afterburner Biersschnapps and several cocktails called Afterburner.

*

Questions:
1. Is it possible that Ta’lon was the one who borrowed G’kar’s books at the behest of the Kha’Ri?
2. Was what Bester did to him the thing that drove Garibaldi over the edge and back into the bottle?
3. Do you think someone might have noticed how erratic Garibaldi is acting besides Zack?
4. Shouldn’t Franklin have told Captain Lochley that he was leaving first?
5. Why does the Alliance put up with the Drazi?

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 10 – A Tragedy of Telepaths

Links to the recaps:
Dreamwidth
:ivejournal
And
The Lurker’s to Babylon 5

Everything is a mess:
Lochley is not happy with what is facing her with the telepath problem on Babylon 5. She says in the opening on her log: ‘this place is one long exercise in frustration.’

The Alliance members are at one another’s throats because they believe that the attacks on their ships are coming from each other, when in truth, someone is making it look that way to destabilize the Alliance.

Londo and G’kar find Na’toth, who has been imprisoned since Narn fell to the Centauri two years ago. Londo comes up with a plan to get her off of Centauri Prime.


Byron and some of his followers are barricaded on Babylon 5 and some of this followers are out committing violent acts in his name. Lochley finally calls Bester when Byron refuses to come out.

And there we have it…

Questions:
1. Did/do you think it can end well for Byron?
2. Did/do you think it can end well for Londo?
3. Was Lochley out of options when she called Bester?
4. What would be your solution for the telepaths?
5. Are there rogue telepaths of other races?
6. Do you think the Drazi have committed enough crimes to be expelled from the Alliance?

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 8 – Day of the Dead

Links to the recaps:
Dreamwidth
Livejournal

And the Analysis at The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

One of my favorite bits and I’ve tried it – it does work.


This is probably one of my top ten B5 episodes. Neil Gaiman wrote it and JMS added the message from Kosh.

Lochley ‘sells’ the Brikiri part of the station for their major religious holiday – Day of the Dead. During this night (because they are nocturnal), the dead visit. There are resemblances to the Mexican Day of the Dead, a celebration of one’s dead family members, who are able on this day to visit their loved ones again. Did you notice they also had candy skulls? They weren’t as cute as Sugar skulls but the idea was there.

John is thrilled that the comedy team, Rebo and Zooty, are coming to visit. Everyone (almost) loves them. I would maybe compare them to the Three Stooges. They even make Delenn laugh.

Lennier comes to visit Delenn and be there for the Day of the Dead. He says he is seeking wisdom. Is he?

G’kar brings his stuff and asks to sleep in the C&C, as he does not want anything to do with the Day of the Dead.

When the DotD begins, part of the station disappears, as if It isn’t even there.

Stuff starts:
Morden comes to visit Lennier. He has non wisdom he says but he does know the future – Lennier will betray the Rangers. Lennier seems pissed that eh didn’t get a better dead person.

Garibaldi is awakened by someone in his shower – Dodger. She says she has no wisdom but that you can sing any Emily Dickinson poem to Yellow Rose of Texas and he’s gotten old.

Londo gets Adira and he has one lovely night with her before he has to go home and be the Emperor.

Zoe comes to see Lochley and we see what Lochley must have been like when she was young. Zoe is selfish and silly, but she tells Lochley that she did OD on purpose. She also gives her a message from Kosh for John: "When the long night comes, return to the end of the beginning."

By morning, it’s all over and everything returns to normal, more or less.

Rebo tells Sheridan they’re giving up comedy for politics.

Questions:

1. Was it real? Why or why not?
2. What do you make of Dodger’s visit to Garibaldi?
3. Which comedians would you compare Rebo and Zooty to?
4. So were Lochley and Zoe pals or something more? There has always been a lot of speculation. (20 years later, Lochley’s password is Zoe’s Dead.)
5. Who might have appeared to G’kar?

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 6 – Strange Relations

Links to recaps:
Dreamwidth
Livejournal

And the analysis and commentary at The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

Lochley and Byron and Bester! Oh my!

Delenn and Lochley have a little chat, Byron is strange and Lyta gets drawn in, Michael is nosy and then he gets punched. Bester comes for the rogues and Lochley outsmarts him. There is an attempt on Londo’s life so Delenn asks G’kar to be his bodyguard. G’kar gleefully agrees. They leave for Centauri Prime.

Oh yeah, Lochley was once married to John.

That about covers it.

Oh and JMS wrote the silly song at the end.



This episode was mostly forgettable, as was most of Season 5 for me, due to Byron. It did have some important points – John wanted Lochley as head of B5 because he trusted her since he knew her very, very well. This is where Londo gets G’kar as a bodyguard, which is VERY important to the future. And Lyta seemingly joins Byron’s group.

*

1. Why was G’kar so happy to take the job as bodyguard?
2. Couldn’t Byron’s teeps tell with all their mind powers that Stephen would not hurt them? Seems pretty odd how limited they are when they want to appear as pitiful victims and how strong they are when they want to be
3. Wouldn’t it be easy to find out that Lochley was the former Mrs. to Sheridan? Wouldn’t her file have that info?
4. Do you think Lyta has any clue how strong she is?

Rewatch for Season 5, Episode 4 – A View from the Gallery

Links to the recaps:
Dreamwidth
Livejournal

And some analysis at The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5

Londo and G’kar in the shelter:


This is one of my favorite episodes.

I love the look at the people we know from someone else’s POV. Londo and G’kar cracked me up and also were quite sad with the stories of their youth. Mack’s crush on Delenn was cute and his hero worship of Sheridan. Bo was so much more thoughtful in many ways than Mack, but I found myself hoping that things went well for them. They were sort of that OC character that you create who is more likable than the canon characters in fanfiction.

I also loved that the aliens wore helmets – that way, no one had to make up an alien face or spend money on makeup. We also have no idea who they were – that was of no importance either. The CGI wasn’t bad for a low budget show. I really have never understood the obsession with the CGI some viewers seem to have – the story was the thing, not the special effects.

I wasn’t crazy about Byron’s mind f*ckery but then I never like much that he does.

*

1. Which bit was your favorite?
2. Did you enjoy getting this view of the crew?
3. JMS said the comments about Ivanova were more directed at the busy bodies who made so much of her departure. What did you think about that bit?
4. Did they have different colored uniforms because they were in different branches of EarthForce? What do you think?