I am so sorry that I didn't get this posted Monday. Life has been interfering with my real work!

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Rewatch for 1 x 14 – TKO

This episode is about a prize fight and prejudice on Babylon 5, but it’s also about Susan Ivanova and the loss of her father and what it really meant to her.

There is an excellent recap by vjs2259 Here (and at Livejuirnal). She points out several funny things about the episode – both A and B plot.

JMS talks a LOT about Ivanova at the Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5 as well. I am not sure I can add all that much to the discussions they have.

But that won’t stop me from trying!

This was originally one of my least favorite episodes, but I rather enjoyed this rewatch. Garibaldi’s boxing friend, Walker Smith, comes to B5 to try to regain ground he lost when he refused to throw a fight on earth. Some things never change, I suppose. This part of the story gives us a glance at the prejudice on the station. The aliens seem to hate humans – perhaps because they run the station and represent authority? What other reasons?


Smith wants to fight in a to the death alien fight called the Mutai and, Garibaldi can’t seem to talk him out of it. He finds a man who is familiar with the Mutai and its rules, who helps him make a challenge. Smith trains and fights to a draw, surprisingly, and wins the respect of the aliens involved in the Mutai. Smith leaves B5 to go back home and try to revive his career there. We do see a report that the fight makes news back home on Earth.


Rabbi Koslov has come to bring Susan her legacy from her father and to sit shiva with her. She tells him that she isn’t going to do it because her father didn’t offer her love when both her mother and her brother were gone. The Rabbi does a little scheming and Susan does a little thinking and finally decides to sit shiva for her father after she realizes that he did love her and he had apologized to her for his own shortcomings just before his death. The legacy was their family’s samovar – which is a container used to heat water for tea.


I think this part was not only about forgiveness but also about embracing our heritage. JMS does mention they cut a long discussion about whether the fish was Kosher or not.

So what do YOU think? Which part was more important? Why do the aliens hate the humans so much?