Season 1, Episode 2: Soul Hunter

I found this to be one of the most bizarre episodes of the whole series. The whole idea of soul hunters is simply creepy, no way around that. Even JMS said that about them. I also found it odd that they made one of the movies about soul hunters as well. Go figure. Delenn spoke of them almost as Earth children would of the boogie man – an evil thing come to take you away!

I think the soul hunters were just a plot device to tell us more about Delenn and the Minbari. We learn that Minbari are reborn so they must die with their souls intact and WE LEARN THAT DELENN IS ONE OF THE LEADERSHIP OF THE MINBARI! Why would one of the leadership be an ambassador on B5?

We also meet Dr. Franklin, the new doctor and a man of science, who says he doesn’t believe in the soul. Franklin is a favorite character of mine though I think he had some of the worst plots in the entire series. He is replacing Dr. Kyle, who is going back to Earth to work with the president.
Ivanova says she is Russian, which explains her stiff manner of speech and her pessimism. She also is becoming quite funny with her deadpan sarcasm. Her conversation with Franklin shows both:
Ivanova: "If we lived 200 years, we'd still be human. We'd still make the same mistakes."
Franklin: "You're a pessimist!"
Ivanova: "I'm a Russian, doctor. We understand these things."

On a more solemn note, she performs the ceremony when they bury in space the man killed by the soul hunter: "From the stars we came, and to the stars we return, from now until the end of time. We therefore commit this body to the deep."
We also see Sinclair out of the station and putting his life on the line again by retrieving the soul hunter’s ship before it collides with the station. He surely is different from Picard on Star Trak, very different. Sinclair is always very much a man of the people on B5, as opposed to Sheridan, who really was more like a governor. JMS steams over the comparison to ST in any form.

The signs and portents are there in this one – Delenn says to Sinclair, when she awakens after the soul hunter tries to kill her: "I knew you would come. We were right about you." The soul hunter says to Delenn as he sees into her mind: "You would plan such a thing? You would do such a thing? Incredible." They practically hit you over the head with them.

In the end, Sinclair tells the soul hunter to go away and not to ever come back to Babylon 5, that their kind are not welcome there. It seems that everyone but humans knows them as many of the aliens aboard the station hide in their rooms when the first soul hunter comes aboard and there are several who leave the station altogether.

So some questions:
1. Was the second soul hunter any less creepy than the first? What is your opinion of them? Evil? Not?
2. What ‘certain classes’ of Minbari do you think Delenn meant when she said only certain classes interested the soul hunters?
3. What do you think of n’grath?
4. Were the souls attacking the soul hunter in the end?
5. Did the soul hunters remind you of the technomages? How?



Sources:
The Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/002.html
The Babylon 5 wikia: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Soul_Hunter_%28episode%29


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