Babylon 5 3-15: Interludes and Examinations

Episode:

59

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Air Date:

06-May-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm sharing my thoughts on Babylon 5 season 3, episode 15: Interludes and Examinations. With a title like that, you can tell everything's about to kick off.

If you're wondering why the screencap is so fuzzy, it's because it's from a scene of the characters watching footage on a TV screen. Footage of fuzzy CGI.

Speaking of the characters watching TV, I should give you a SPOILER WARNING... about the DVDs. This episode features a commentary track with Bruce Boxleitner, Richard Biggs, Jerry Doyle, and Ed Wasser talking about the story together and they mention one thing in particular that you probably wouldn't want to know if you haven't seen the entire series. Just thought I'd give DVD owners a heads up about that.

Oh, also I'm going to spoil the hell out of this episode for you myself right now.

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See, I wasn't joking about that fuzzy CGI. Though knowing Babylon 5 the background's probably taken from an actual false colour Hubble telescope image.

The episode begins shortly after the end of Ship of Tears, where the Shadows finally began operating in the open, converting a fleet of Brakiri ships into this field of Brakiri space debris.

Though Ivanova lets us know in a voiceover that its actually been 10 days since the Shadows began attacking openly in Ship of Tears. She also mentions that it's August 3, 2260 today so that puts the episode exactly a month after Sic Transit Vir as well. Plus it's exactly two years after season one's Signs and Portents, and there's only 144 days left until Christmas.

So far the Shadows have been hitting the minor powers living close to the Rim, so no one's lost any homeworlds yet. In fact the attacks have been pretty random, which also makes them impossible to predict.

Her voiceover continues over a shot of a shifty security guard sneaking Morden onto the station.

Ivanova mentions they've had to hire more security, but it seems like they should've gone with more Narns instead of amateur jewellers like this guy, who thinks he's qualified to tell if the diamonds Morden's bribing him with are legit.

The voiceover reveals that security is struggling to keep the wrong people out now that they've lost access to Earth's database and can't run background checks, but she doesn't seem to know that some of their own people are just letting them on board. It's probably for the best that the Shadows end up killing this guy afterwards really, they did B5 a favour there.

The montage continues with Ivanova talking about how everyone's handling the stress. Thankfully we don't get another shot of Franklin yelling at his poor staff in Medlab. Instead he just takes some stims and then knocks his light into the camera to transition to the next scene.

I've been looking at his window back there, trying to figure out if he's got a painting hanging up behind it. Just a window looking out at a painting. Right now I'm leaning towards it being another curtain, with the frame of the window silhouetted against it by the light coming in.

Ivanova's still doing her voiceover, and she's worried that no one's seen Kosh in a week. Doesn't seem all that unusual to me, he's been in just four episodes this season. Well, five now.

Next one up in the montage is Londo, who actually gets to have some dialogue. He wants Vir to rent the biggest suite on the station and fill it with flowers, because Adira is finally coming back to the station. You know, that woman he met for one episode right at the start of season one. Knowing how much the flowers cost on this station he's going to be spending a lot on her.

Ivanova takes over again for the final part of her voiceover, as we see Morden go to his room and just stand there with the Shadows for a bit.

Man, they're an ancient alien race older than all the others, but they still haven't invented pants. I suppose that would hinder their invisibility though. Not that they ever use their stealthiness for anything interesting. If they wanted to they could sneak around and start killing the command crew... though I suppose that would give the game away that they're back.

Wait a second, everyone knows now that they're back, and the Shadows know that they know. If they're operating in the open outside the station, there's nothing stopping them from murdering people inside! They already killed that crooked security guy, any of the regulars could be next!

And that's the end of the teaser. The entire cold open was a montage with a voice over, so that's something different.

ACT ONE

Ivanova's finally done recording her personal log voiceover by the time act one starts, so we get to stick with one set of characters and listen to their conversation for a bit.

The Brakiri ambassador has come to Sheridan to ask for help, as the Shadows' technology is too advanced. Actually he wants him to get Earth to send help, which shows a serious lack of awareness on his part, especially as his government has likely sent ships here to defend the station from Earth.

Everyone's on their own now after being suckered into fighting each other and Sheridan can't believe they were each dumb enough to believe that they were only ones to be offered favours from the Shadows. Sheridan doesn't know what the Shadows want, but it's not friends. Even Londo Mollari had that figured out!

The Brakiri ambassador, on the other hand, could really use some friends right now, that's why he asked the Gaim ambassador to join them in this meeting. He's hoping that the Gaim will agree to give them some support as well, seeing as they're space neighbours.

 Here's four interesting facts about the Gaim for you: 

1. They're named after writer Neil Gaiman, who would later write an episode for the series. 
2. Their design is inspired by Dream's helmet from Gaiman's comic Sandman. 
3. They speak in clicks, translated by the device on the table.
4. Right now their ambassador is telling the Brakiri: "Lol no".

The Gaim haven't been noticed by the Shadows yet, but if they give assistance to the Brakiri that's going to change in a hurry. Though they may still be talked around if Sheridan can prove that his forces are equal to the Shadows.

Down in Medlab, Franklin's having an argument with Dr Hobbs about her patient. At first I thought she might have been the doctor we saw in Believers, but I checked and that was Dr Hernandez. I also learned that this is Hobbs' first appearance, but she'll be back.

He's getting very shouty with Hobbs, which isn't good as you generally want to be calm when you're also giving instructions to another doctor in the middle of a medical procedure. It's not his fault though, as Hobbs keeps pointing out that he's wrong, Garibaldi comes over to pester him about someone else who needs emergency treatment, and the one he's currently treating starts deteriorating fast. It's like everyone's trying to piss him off today!

Franklin finally loses it, yelling to the other doctor "I SAID 13 PSI! 13! 13! 13! NOW YOU GOT IT?" They get the patient up to 13 and this stabilises them. Tragedy averted! Though Hobbs is sure he said 9 psi earlier (he did) and says they can check the tapes to find out. Franklin replies that he doesn't give a damn what she checks; if she wants to watch Babylon 5 that's her own problem.

Meanwhile Londo is a lot more relaxed, as he's daydreaming about the episode Born to the Purple... where Adira betrayed him and stole his files. But he's not thinking of that part. Besides, he forgave her for that ages ago.

But Vir interrupts his monochrome flashbacks to tell him that his suite's ready. Poor Vir, the guy used to be the Centauri liaison to Minbar and now he's back to being Londo's personal assistant.

Londo heads down to check out his suite, but along the way the lights flicker and turn red, and he runs into his old friend Mr Morden.

ACT TWO

Morden's a bit annoyed with Londo, as he's fairly sure he's the reason that Lord Refa's not returning his calls anymore. You'd think that ambitious unscrupulous Centauri would be a near unlimited resource, but Morden's actually a bit put out by this.

He makes it clear that he needs the Centauri to go back to fighting pointless wars along their border, but Londo's well aware that he's just using them as agents of chaos and won't play along anymore. Even when Morden threatens his homeworld he doesn't blink or flinch. Though he is a bit disturbed by all the Shadow voices he's hearing around him.

Londo doesn't even know how much danger he's in right now, but fortunately Morden feels that they need him alive for now. Actually I suppose Londo does know how much danger he's in, as he got episode spoilers a few weeks back that revealed he'll live to become the emperor.

That was a pretty good scene I reckon, but they missed a great opportunity to have that pak'ma'ra from Sic Transit Vir show up again, see what was going on, then turn around and walk right back out again. Not really.

Here's a difference between B5 and DS9 for you: on B5 Franklin gets his shirt off, on DS9 O'Brien gets his shirt off. Man, no wonder Franklin needs stims. He does multiple shifts at Medlab, runs the free clinic in Down Below, goes on adventures with Marcus, and still finds time to hit the gym.

Franklin's on his way to do his second shift of the day, because Medlab would fall apart without him yelling "13" at everyone and nearly getting patients killed, but Garibaldi stops him to have another chat. He already confronted him over the stims a dozen episodes ago, back in A Day in the Strife, but they're at the point now where he's going to have to take official action himself unless Franklin accepts he has drug problem.

Meanwhile Sheridan's in his new war room, trying to figure out what the Shadows are up to. All he knows is that they're not trying to gain territory, as they hit an area and then leave without bothering to secure it.

Delenn reveals that it's the same move they used a thousand years ago. They're keeping the major powers off guard by being unpredictable. You need to know what an enemy wants to predict what they're going to do to get it, but the Shadows don't seem to want anything but to blow things up.

Personally I'm still trying to figure out what Sheridan's role is within the Army of Light. I know he's the co-leader of the Rangers in this sector, but he never seems to have to report to anyone above him and right now he's acting like he's the one calling all the shots. Does he get to be the leader by default because he's the only one in a position to rally the other races?

Rallying the League is the only way they're going to survive this war, as they need to organise all the races they can into one force. But that's never been done before, because it's bloody difficult!

What they need is a victory, something that sends a message to all the races that says "Together we can defeat this enemy", but even their best ship lacks the firepower to kill a Shadow vessel. To get even a single win they need a lot more ships and to get the ships they need a single win.

Poor Mira Furlan isn't getting much to do in this scene except sit at the table and look miserable, but it's nice to see that Delenn's become the one that Sheridan talks to when he's trying to work out how to defeat an ancient enemy far more powerful than themselves. Though I guess Ivanova's going to have to hang out with Marcus or someone instead now. Lennier too.

Fortunately Delenn's unhelpful but encouraging advice gives Sheridan a cheesy TV moment of inspiration and now he knows what he has to do. He needs to go speak to Kosh!

Meanwhile Garibaldi's once again demonstrating his uncanny ability to know where everyone is on the station by locating the exact table in the exact restaurant where Dr Hobbs is currently doing her paperwork. Seems that breaking away from Earth Alliance hasn't done anything to reduce the bureaucracy.

This isn't the Zocalo by the way. It looks like it, but when the camera pans across there's a window looking out at the curving grassy interior of the cylindrical section in the middle of the station. The Zocalo's located in the ball part at the front near the docking bays... I think. Either way it doesn't have any windows.

Garibaldi's come here to chat with her about Franklin, or more specifically Franklin's blood. She rightfully points out that checking his blood for stims would be a breach of his privacy, but Garibaldi reminds her he has the authority to do this properly, and he's trying to do Franklin a favour here by keeping everyone else out of it. But she still refuses! She's not going to break the rules. Though she does give him what needs to check for himself.

But as Garibaldi leaves the restaurant the camera pans over to reveal that Franklin was secretly spying on them the whole time! I guess Garibaldi doesn't know where everyone is after all.

ACT THREE

Meanwhile Vir's in some other part of the station that probably isn't the Zocalo either, getting a bit flustered over the various items of clothing Londo wants him to get for Adira.

Unfortunately he chooses to leave via the sinister red hallway and Modern ambushes him! Then Vir just walks away and leaves him there. Unfortunately Morden noticed him giving Londo's list to someone earlier, and uses it to figure out that Adira's coming to the station.

The moral of the story: buying things over the internet prevents agents of the Shadows from knowing what underwear you're getting your girlfriend.

Garibaldi manages to sneak into an abandoned Medlab during the 15 minutes that Franklin isn't working there, but Franklin catches him trying to check his blood scan anyway.

Actually he catches him deciding not to check it, as Garibaldi changed his mind at the last moment, reasoning that if Franklin can't talk to him about his problem then what's the point? I suppose this means he was going to go through channels and get the blood sample officially, as letting this carry on until he killed a patient would be kind of negligent

Though it turns out that Franklin was so pissed off that Garibaldi wouldn't leave this alone that he'd already ran the blood test himself! He admitted to Delenn a few episodes back that he thought he had a problem, but he honestly believed that the test was going to prove Garibaldi wrong. It didn't, and now he has to decide what he's going to do about it.

Hey it's Kosh! We caught a glimpse of him earlier in the episode but now he's in an actual scene, with dialogue!

Sheridan wants him to get the Vorlons to attack a Shadow target, to prove to the other races that the Army of Light isn't a hopeless cause. He doesn't even ask for much, he just wants a couple of Shadow vessels destroyed, but Kosh straight up refuses. It's not the Vorlon's time, apparently, they're not prepared yet.

Kosh probably expected that to be the end of it, but Sheridan gets in his face, asking him who the hell he thinks he is! He's noticed that they've been doing all the work while the super-powerful Vorlons have done nothing. They even sent an inquisitor to judge Sheridan and Delenn to see if they were fit to lead, like it was any of their business, but now they're acting like it's not their problem.

I get the impression that Kosh isn't happy about this, and so does C&C as they're picking up an energy surge. That generally means an Ikarran war machine is getting ready to shoot someone, or a berserker probe is charging up to explode, or a cybernetically augmented telepath is making a nest in Medlab; you know that the villain of the week is about to make a move when that energy surge gets picked up.

Though they also say it's a non-localised phenomenon, which is exactly the term Delenn used to describe a soul back in Passing Through Gethsemane.

Kosh accuses Sheridan of being "Impudent", which has to be the clearest and least cryptic he's ever been. But Sheridan points out that Kosh wanted to teach him to fight legends, and he's a legend too.

It's a shame to see the two of them argue after Kosh risked everything to save his life back in Fall of Night, but I'm glad someone's finally calling Kosh on his bullshit. Unfortunately Sheridan begins to get a good idea why people generally don't, as he gets smacked around by the same Photoshop cellophane effect that Jack the Ripper used on him.

Kosh dials his translation device up to 'stern' and tells him to leave, but Sheridan won't. This is like Londo standing up to Morden earlier, except more so as Sheridan is aware of what kind of danger he's in. Especially once Kosh starts drawing blood. But Sheridan points out that he's turned against his own government to fight this war and if he loses he's dead.

Nothing about this scene should work, as Bruce Boxleitner is throwing himself against a wall while arguing with an angry shower curtain, but he really sells it and Kosh's performer and voice actor somehow hold up their half of the scene. Apparently the actors got themselves properly worked up before filming to get the energy level right, and there's a lot of emotion in that weird Vorlon voice.

Sheridan mentions that Kosh put him in the position of leader and asked him to fight this war, which I guess solves that mystery. Kosh decides to put him into a new position: of being pinned to a wall about to die... but he doesn't go through with it. He relents and tells him that he'll do what he asks, but the price is that he'll not be there to help him when he goes to Z'ha'dum.

This isn't a huge concern to Sheridan, as he's already accepted that when he goes to Z'ha'dum he's going to die (Londo's not the only one who's been given spoilers). But Kosh basically says "Well you're definitely going to die there now!" Sheridan thinks he's choosing not to help, but Kosh assures him that he doesn't understand. Which is pretty typical for their conversations, as the guy seems utterly incapable of explaining anything properly.

There's a giant B5/DS9 similarity here I want to mention, but it's pretty damn spoilery so if you haven't seen Deep Space Nine you probably shouldn't click here to reveal it.

Don't click here to reveal.

Deep Space Nine 6-06: Sacrifice of Angels

At a crucial point in the war, when things seem hopeless, Captain Sisko and Captain Sheridan both visit their local cryptic godlike aliens for help. It takes a while, but the captains manage to talk them into finally taking direct action to destroy some enemy ships. Though afterwards they're told that this help comes at a terrible cost.

ACT FOUR

The League ambassadors are all invited down to the war room to watch as the Shadows try to attack the Brakiri again only to be wiped out by a Vorlon fleet! The Vorlons are actually doing something other than threaten the station or blow up their immortality serum, it's a miracle!
 
The episode does the 'icons on a monitor' thing that series do when they're trying to save money on effects shots, but only for a moment. They're not going to cheat us out of Shadows vs Vorlons.

It's just a shame that it takes place in front of that bloody fuzzy nebula again. Let's never go back to Brakiri space again, it looks rubbish.

The Shadow vessels aren't pushovers even against Vorlon energy beams, but they are eventually exploding. And the Vorlon vessels are able to survive direct hits from their beams. Seems like the solution here is to equip everyone with Vorlon technology!

Though now that I think about it, the Vorlons did give the Minbari some of their technology to use on the White Star, and that vessel's nowhere near as powerful as these Vorlon ships. I guess the Vorlons want the younger races to have a force strong enough to challenge the Shadows but not strong enough to turn around and threaten them afterwards. Which seems sensible, considering how everyone likes to be at war with each other.

Meanwhile Londo's standing in the customs area with his bouquet of star laces feeling uncharacteristically happy. Or at least he is until Adira doesn't show up.

There's no mystery here about what's coming next, it was obvious ever since Morden spotted Vir arranging for her gifts, but the episode drags it out a little just to twist the knife. Turns out that Adira died before she even reached the station. It was cheaper this way, as it meant they didn't have to get the actress back.

Hey it's Dr Hobbs again! She's all over this story. In fact I think she's plotting to claim Dr Franklin's place in the opening titles.

Hobbs tells Londo that there's no clue to what killed Adira, but Londo has a black and white flashback to the time he half-poisoned Lord Refa and realises that it must be his revenge. Though the next scene makes it clear that Morden arranged it, as he pays the assassin in the diamonds he took back from the security guard after he had him assassinated.

It's not all good news for Morden though, as someone whispers in his ear something that he clearly doesn't want to hear. It's almost certainly news that a Shadow fleet has been destroyed by Vorlons, but considering the date there's a chance that this is how he learned that Space: Above and Beyond had been cancelled, and that it was going to end on a cliffhanger.

Ivanova's voiceover comes back, this time because she's telling Sheridan about all the ambassadors signing up to join the Army of Light. It's late though so Sheridan decides to put off thanking Kosh until the morning.

The Shadows, on the other hand, would rather get their business with Kosh over with as soon as possible, so Morden breaks into his quarters and lets them all in.

We don't get to see what happens, we can't even see the Shadows and Kosh on screen at once, but it's clear that they're finishing what they started exactly two years ago in Signs and Portents.

Meanwhile Sheridan's having a dream about his dad.

Oh good, he's still Rance Howard. They've haven't changed the actor again. Though they have given him a proper set to act in this time!

Sheridan doesn't get what's going on here and apparently Bruce Boxleitner was pretty clueless himself during filming, but in the final edit it's pretty obvious by the intercut glimpses of the fight that this is Kosh messing with the guy's dream again. This time he's taking the form of his father like he did with G'Kar in Dust to Dust; seems like he sees himself as a paternal figure, or at least that's the image he wants to project. Kosh has been a cryptic git these past few years, but here he finally says what's on his mind like a normal person. Well, okay he's still a little bit cryptic.

Kosh-dad tells Sheridan that he was right, it had to be done, and that he shouldn't blame himself for the consequences. He pretty much says he attacked him in the corridor because he knew that sending the Vorlon fleet would mean sacrificing himself, and he wasn't keen on the idea. Some immortals get tired of living, but he's gotten used to it. But it's okay, because as long as Sheridan's here, he'll always be here. He said the Kosh line again!

Then the Vorlon dies, an energy wave goes across the whole station (in a way that looks rubbish in a screencap), and Sheridan wakes up yelling "Kosh!"

Well, shit is very much getting real now.

It's funny how these few scenes have redefined who Kosh is and has been all this time. He started off as a mystery dying in Medlab, then he was a super-powerful cryptic alien who got into people's heads, then he was the ancient First One leading the Army of Light, then he was an angel, and now we know that he was scared and prideful and that he regretted not telling them more. Though we don't know exactly what it is he didn't tell them, because he didn't tell them.

But he stayed at the metaphorical garden at Gethsemane despite knowing what was coming, and he died alone in the dark where no one could see, not for glory or for fame, but for his brothers. Charles Dexter and Jack the Ripper would be impressed.

ACT FIVE

Garibaldi's people are trying to investigate the murder, but they've got nothing. And even if they could find the Shadows, what are they going to do about them? Could they even hurt them?

We're told that the Vorlons have decided to cover this up to protect Sheridan's new alliance, and will sending over another Vorlon to imitate him. Though really they could just send over an empty suit and prop it up against a wall; no one would be able to tell the difference.

Sheridan realises that this must have been why Kosh said he wasn't going to be there for him at Z'ha'dum. Funny thing is, he says it out loud in front of Delenn and Garibaldi, and neither of them interrupts to say "What, you're going to Z'ha'dum? Since when?" At least he didn't mention Kosh said he'd die there.

Meanwhile Londo is chatting to his old friend Mr Morden. Turns out Adira was killed by poison and Morden's happy to give him plenty of reasons to believe that Refa targeted her to get back at him.

Londo hasn't been on the path to redemption exactly, but he's at least been on the path to sorting out his own planet and cleaning up his mess. Now that's been derailed. He was vulnerable to temptation when Morden first came to him because he was frustrated and desperate. Now he's depressed and vengeful and that's something Morden can work with just as well.

It's hard to know how much Londo suspects, these days what he's saying isn't necessarily what he's thinking, but what he's saying is that the rest of the galaxy can burn for all he cares. All he wants now is revenge... and the safety of his world. Even at his absolute lowest point his empire and his people are everything to him.

He's a bit like Bester in that way, plus they've both been driven by love to make an alliance with the people they hate. Now Bester's on the side of light and Londo's on the side of darkness again.

Down in Medlab, Franklin's got his officer uniform on and his painted on stubble, and he's called Sheridan down to tell him he's addicted to stims and is resigning from his job as chief of staff of the Medlab facility. Poor Sheridan is utterly blindsided by this; he clearly had no idea it was coming.

Franklin's given things some thought and has concluded that he takes the stims so he can work longer hours and he works longer hours so that he doesn't have a moment of free time to deal with his own problems. He doesn't know who he is anymore, beyond the job, and he needs to take some time off to figure himself out.

And the episode ends with Kosh's ship mourning its dead owner in its own way... by flying into the sun. Well, Epsilon Erdiani.

First we lost Kosh and now we've lost his ship! Now they're going to have to find something else that's equally weird to put into spooky Docking Bay 9. Wait, sorry, I mean 13.

13, 13, 13, I've got it.


CONCLUSION

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I guess showrunner jms called this one Interludes and Examinations because The Vorlons Kick Ass, Kosh Dies, Franklin Quits and Londo Turns to Evil would've been too long, and perhaps a little bit spoilery. It definitely seems like he was subverting expectations with the title to catch people off guard.

It might seem unlikely that anyone would be tricked into thinking the first episode to come after the Shadows started attacking openly was going to be a quiet one, but it was the 90s. There was a real chance that it was going to be about the crew all playing baseball together or pulling off a casino heist. Did I mention that this was a really damn good episode of Babylon 5? I mean it's no Severed Dreams, but they severed Kosh and that's plenty shocking in its own right.

There are three plots running through the episode: Sheridan trying to persuade the super-powerful Vorlons to give him the win he needs, the super-powerful Shadows trying to persuade Londo to come back to the team, and the slightly less powerful Garibaldi trying to persuade Franklin that he has a problem.

It's nice that Franklin's finally dealing with his stim addiction though, and he did it before someone died because of it! So he's doing better than Dr Rosen from The Quality of Mercy. His story arc hasn't been all that compelling though, as he's mostly just gotten angry and snapped at people. The last time anything really happened in his arc was when Garibaldi confronted him in A Day in the Strife, and since then his inevitable departure from Medlab has felt like a plot point looking for a good place to land. But it's finally landed and Franklin is out.

Londo's revelled in the suffering and death of millions of Narns a bit too often this season for me to say that he's been on a redemptive journey, but he's certainly come around to the idea that he does have a choice and has been more proactive and cunning in his attempts to avert a bad future for his people. He's not a desperate drunk anymore, he's a serious political player who's killed his best friend and poisoned his most powerful ally. So I find it a bit hard to believe that even blinded by rage and despair he doesn't suspect Morden even a little. Plus he doesn't even need him, he could get revenge all by himself! I also struggled to buy into Londo's intense love for Adira, mostly because it's been three years since her only appearance. She didn't even appear on screen for the video chat!

But the drama worked for me and it was the tragic icing on top of a surprisingly depressing episode. The heroes have gotten their first big win and brought their alliance together, and everything sucks! Londo's plot suffers from being a bit obvious, but there's also a tragic inevitability to it. You can see the workings of the machine that will kill Adira and you're hoping that something will stop it, but nope it all goes according to plan. And then they go and kill Kosh as well.

The biggest plot in the episode is Sheridan coming to realise he needs Kosh's help for a win, and Kosh realising that he has to die. When he appeared to G'Kar in a vision and told him that some had to be sacrificed if all are to be saved I don't think he realised that he was one of the ones that had to be sacrificed. He definitely didn't communicate it to Sheridan very well when he finally did realise it. Meanwhile the Shadows have a great working relationship with Morden and respect his input, and are able to get a lot done because of it.

Kosh has barely shown up this season and we've seen next to nothing of the training he was supposed to be giving Sheridan, but his death still feels like a huge deal. He was their cryptic absent Gandalf. Plus Babylon 5's very first story was about the crew saving Kosh from assassination and hunting down the one who tried to kill him, that's how they proved they were up to the job. This time the assassins were successful and the crew don't have the first idea how to find or catch his killers. The Shadows are way out of our heroes' league, but now they have to somehow fight them anyway. And it seems like they've used up their '1 free attack by the Vorlons' coupon, so they'll be doing it with their own crappy ships, and definitely no help from Earth or the Centauri. All that's certain is that the next episode is going to be wild.

Next episode: Franklin goes to a bar.

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COMING SOON

Babylon 5 will return with Walkabout. I wish I could skip to the epic War Without End two-parter like my DVDs want me to, but I will resist.

I'll be resisting for a long while though, as Walkabout will be the last of my B5 reviews until April. That means you've got three whole months to wait for my review of Grey 17 is Missing!