Recap and discussion of 4 x 16 – The Exercise of Vital Powers

This is another of the episodes that I hate.

Garibaldi is horrid and I have never been convinced that it was all Besters’ work.

Here is the recap:

Ivanova announced more victories on their long march to Earth.

We join Garibaldi headed for Edgars Industries on Mars. He babbles some stupid gibberish about Sheridan and then we see Wade tell him he must wear a blindfold on his way to see his new boss. Wade asks Garibaldi if he knows that Mars was named for the god of war. What? Garibaldi lived there – of course he knows it. Wade says he’s a literature major or something but he sounds more like a moron.

Stephen is working on the frozen teeps, as per Sheridan’s request. He’s making no headway until Lyta comes by and somehow wakes one and suppresses the Shadow Tech enough that the man seems calm. Stephen realizes he has to find a way to do this artificially. He is also quite annoyed that Sheridan will not tell him his plans.

Lise comes to see Garibaldi after he arrives at the Edgars’ home. She tells him he should not have come. Edgars comes in, sending Lise away. Garibaldi says he has come because someone has to stop Sheridan and Edgars owns the 4th largest company on Earth, makes chemical weapons had has a lot of power.

Edgars says they must bring Clark down non-militarily though he doesn’t explain why at this time. Edgars says he will decide if he will bring Garibaldi all the way in.

Lyta works with one of the teeps again but nit doesn’t go as well.

Garibaldi is roused in the middle of the night by thugs who take him to an interrogation by Edgars, with a telepath monitoring them. He says he does not remember what happened during his captivity at the end of the Shadow War. He’s asked what he thinks of telepaths and he he says he doesn’t like them.

After the questioning, Edgars tells Lise that Garibaldi is okay.

Wade kills the telepath.

When Garibaldi comes to see Edgars again, the old man babbles some crap about loving oranges. Garibaldi is having none of it and asks what is going on. Edgars gies some babbly speech about the ancient Greeks and happiness. Then he asks Garibaldi what kind of world they’d have if it were a world of telepaths. He does not want Sheridan to unseat Clark because he believes the telepaths that helped Clark get power will take over. He says the people who really run the world need a little time to fix things and that Sheridan is a spanner in the works.

John contacts Ivanova. He tells her things are going well and he worries when that happens. He asks to speak to Franklin and Franklin won’t talk any more until Sheridan tells him what he plans to do with the telepaths. John tells him but we are not privy to that conversation. Afterwards, Lyta asks him if he is okay and he says no. He then asks her to go with him to Mars.

Lise brings Garibaldi food and tells him he should go.

We see Wade and Edgars with 3 telepaths and Edgars says to ‘put them down’.

Garibaldi tells Edgars he’s in and Edgars tells him he has to prove himself by giving them Sheridan. Garibaldi says the way to find him is through his father and that he knows how to find his father. Edgars says Clark won’t kill Sheridan because he’ll want to make an example and by that time, he and his group will have things in hand.

The show ends with Garibaldi leaving Mars and whining some more.

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Quotes:
Edgars: "Do you know how the ancient Greeks defined happiness?...Happiness, they said, was the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope." - William Edgars


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Questions:

1. If you understand the quote in relation to Edgars then tell me. He sounds a lot like the Shadows and their BS to me.
2. Do you think Lise is completely innocent in the doings of her husband? Why does she keep warning Michael away?
3. Since Edgars says the mega-corps actually rule the world, is it possible for the Shadows, Clark and Psi Corps to have done all this without their knowledge or even their help?
4. Again, how much of this is simply Michael Garibaldis’ own paranoia?

Sources:

The Lurker’s Guide to Babylo0n 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/082.html
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517700/?ref_=ttep_ep16
The Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_Exercise_of_Vital_Powers
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exercise_of_Vital_Powers