Babylon 5 3-20: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place

Episode:

64

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Air Date:

14-Oct-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Babylon 5 episode 64: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place.

Now there's a proper title! In fact there's so much title there that they couldn't show the station in the same shot as it'd be hidden behind the wall of text. Plus it starts with 'and', which makes it feel like it's just a fragment of an even longer title.

This is actually is the longest title of any episode of Babylon 5... except for the The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father, which has the the same number of words but is exactly one character longer (including punctuation and spaces). Here, have a list of some of the longest sci-fi episode titles so you can see where this fits in the grand scheme of things:

• Star Trek: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (50 characters)
• Discovery: The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (48 characters)
• Babylon 5: The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father (40 characters)
• Babylon 5: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place (39 characters)
• Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (38 characters)
• Twilight Zone: The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross (38 characters)
• Battlestar Galactica: Taking a Break from All Your Worries (36 characters)
• Stargate: SG-1: There But for the Grace of God (30 characters)

By the way, if you're looking for SPOILERS, you're in the right place, as I'll be spoiling the hell out of this episode and anything that led up to it. Though if you're a first time viewer, or just don't want to be reminded about what happens next, you've got nothing to worry about here.

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Well, that's ominous. And vague.

Writer jms apparently felt that starting Interludes and Examinations with a series of scenes narrated by Ivanova worked pretty well as he's gone and done it again here. The episode begins with shuttles leaving the station as Ivanova explains via voice over that they're sending the telepaths they were recruiting in Grey 17 is Missing to their allies in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

They've recruited a good number of them as well, most of them human surprisingly. I guess Ivanova must have been able to use Franklin's contacts in the underground railroad to get hold of some rogue telepaths, as there's no way the Psi Corps are letting any of their telepaths sign up to serve on the front line in a war.

Ivanova continues her narration with an update on Sheridan, who's tired and rarely leaves the War Room, and Franklin, who's still on his walkabout.

Hey, Brother Theo's finally back after like 16 episodes! We haven't really seen him or the monks since Passing Through Gethsemane, and we won't be seeing them much after this either I'm afraid, as this is Theo's final episode. It seems likely that they just faded out of relevance as the story progressed, but there's always the possibility that they'll all die off-screen in a horrible fire caused by a precariously placed candlestick toppling off the table. Which would be ironic, considering that Ivanova calls them a 'wonderful stabilising force'.

Ivanova feels like the monks are helping to calm people down and comfort them, despite how annoying Theo himself can be at times. She then segues into talking about someone else that annoys her...

It's giant G'Kar!

G'Kar wants to send Narns along with the telepaths, to act as their bodyguards, and apparently Ivanova isn't okay with this? She doesn't put up any arguments against it, the scene is just G'Kar trying to persuade her, and he's doing it for the most sensible of reasons.

The Narns protect the telepaths, the telepaths help the other races defeat the Shadows, the Shadows are no longer around to threaten the Narns. He thinks the symmetry is almost perfect enough to drive someone to tears, I think it's just an intelligent use of their resources. Meanwhile Londo thinks that it's time that he did something about G'Kar.

Sure G'Kar's only a small concern at the moment, but Londo feels that you take a small concern, water it with tears and fertilise it with unconcern it'll grow into something much bigger. With all that colourful space fruit on the table I'm not surprised that's where his metaphor went.

G'Kar has sanctuary on the station, so they can't touch him while he's here. But that's not a problem as they can just lure him away to be executed! Man, Morden killing Adira and pinning it on Lord Refa really has pushed Londo further into darkness. G'Kar's the nicest he's ever been right now, while Londo's at his meanest.

The episode pauses the horror for a moment of light comedy as the two of them realise they've got the wrong food and swap bowls, then Londo goes right back to sharing his horrible scheme with a horrified Vir.

ACT ONE

The teaser started with shuttles heading out, now a shuttle's just arrived and it I'm spotting a bit of a religious theme to its occupants. They haven't gone full Parliament of Dreams this time and sent over a hundred people, these are just a few friends of Brother Theo. Or maybe arch rivals. 20 seconds after they walk through the door and Theo's already criticising Reverend Will Dexter's singing. (I thought he was called Will Decker for a moment, but that's a Star Trek character.)

I don't recognise Reverend Dexter's actor, but Rabbi Meyer next to him is played by Erick Avari, who's been in everything. I last saw him the elder Kasuf in Stargate, and he looks considerably less bewildered here.

They all walk off, but the camera hangs around for a while as it knows something they don't. It pans over to reveal another visitor to the station: Lord Refa!

Down in the War Room, Delenn's trying to cheer Sheridan up using her old trick of appearing to be confused by English words. She tells him that Ivanova described Sheridan as 'cranky', and she didn't know the word so she looked it up. But she apparently checked a thesaurus instead of a dictionary, as she got caught in a chain of words like grouchy and crotchety, and never found a definition.

Playful Delenn is the best Delenn, but Sheridan's too focused on his problem to pay attention. The Shadows show no logic with their choice of targets on a large strategic scale, but in combat, tactically, they're very logical, and he's been trying to work out a larger goal that makes sense of it all for so long that he's got TV stubble. In fact he's starting to turn into Bill Pullman in Spaceballs, and that isn't the space hero we need right now.

The few hours he spends outside the war room haven't been much fun for him lately either, as since Kosh died he's been having nightmares. Probably weird black and white ones dripping with metaphor and foreshadowing, though we're spared from seeing them for a change.

I like how when Sheridan's moody Delenn's the one that's joking around, though she explains that the promise she made off-screen to have dinner with those visitors we saw earlier is deadly serious. If he doesn't come and eat with them she'll be made a liar and dishonoured, so he has no choice but to take a break and have some food. Checkmate.

Nice mirror shot.

Vir comes into Londo's quarters to tell him that Lord Refa and Minister Virini are on the station (though it's not the same Minister Virini that we saw in Sic Transit Vir). But Londo knows already and he wants Vir to do a job for him: he wants him to go to G'Kar and tell him that Na'Toth is alive.

Na'Toth was G'Kar's aide from season one and two, by the way. You might have forgotten her because she only turned up for two episodes last season, despite being in the opening titles for all of them. 

We learn here that the reason she's not been around this season is because the new actress was playing the role too quietly and they couldn't recast her twice she went missing after the bombing of Narn.

Londo's plan requires Vir to tell G'Kar that Na'Toth's being held in a cell under what used to be their government headquarters. G'Kar's the last of the Kha'ri, the Narn ruling council, so he's the only one who knows his way around. He'll have to leave the sanctuary of the station, go to Narn and lead the rescue personally, and then they've got him.

Vir tries to get out of this job by saying G'Kar will never believe him, but the events of Sic Transit Vir come back to haunt him, as he saved so many Narns back then that he's surely earned some trust with them. And when Vir straight up refuses to do it, Londo threatens to reveal what he did, which will ruin his family and house. Bankrupt them even! In fact Londo will have them stripped naked, thrown out into the street and whipped!

Holy shit Londo! This took a real turn very quickly. Also what a beautiful glimpse of Centauri society. Seems like a wonderful planet.

Meanwhile Refa and Virini are busy mocking the best accommodations Babylon 5 could give them. The Centauri are mean.

We learn that House Mollari is currently in competition with House Refa (after that little incident where Londo poisoned and threatened him), and it seems they're also competing to impress Virini. Refa points out all the awesome things team Refa has done, like organising the attack on Narn, and murdering Prime Minister Malachi to allow Emperor Cartagia to rise to the throne, things the Emperor certainly has reason to appreciate. But Virini will decide for himself which house is more deserving of his support.

And act one ends with a tormented Vir going to see G'Kar to tell him Londo's lies.

ACT TWO

I'm sure there must have been a way to light these rooms to make them appear more cinematic. Maybe they could've filmed with a different lens? The episode generally looks pretty good for B5, so it's a shame to see it slip back into looking like a sitcom in shots like this.

It's Londo's turn to pay Virini a visit to discuss the rivalry between House Mollari and House Refa, only he plans to prove his worth with actions, by removing an embarrassment that's been bothering the Royal Court for a while. Though he's going to be really vague about what that is until the time is right.

Vir arrives just in time to catch the end of the conversation and once they're both outside he makes it clear that he's furious about everything. He's really not okay with Londo killing G'Kar just to put his house in better standing than Refa's. Unfortunately one of Virini's guards overhears their argument and sneaks away.

Whoa, it's a new set! Though I recognise the wooden part of the wall from the government office in Matters of Honor.

By the look of the table I assume that we've missed the 'eating' part of of the dinner, though we've arrived just in time for Sheridan to thank Brother Theo's frenemies for coming over and giving them reliable news about what's happening on Earth. Better than that in fact, as they've intercepted and recorded transmissions from both the government and the resistance! This was actually all arranged by Theo and they smuggled the data crystals past EarthGov inside a hollowed out Bible. Now I'm imagining what G'Kar's reaction would be if someone suggested hollowing out his holy book.
I'm glad that Rabbi Meyer finally got a couple of lines here by the way, even if they weren't much. At least he got invited to dinner at all, unlike Mr Chong and Rashid Abdul.

Ivanova points out that the four of them had no way of knowing that the propaganda about Babylon 5 wasn't true but they came anyway, and Reverend Dexter explains that he'd rather do something and make a mistake than be scared into doing nothing. People have been conned into thinking they can't change the world, but the world is changing every day. Nice conversation, I liked it.

I guess Garibaldi wasn't invited to dinner either, as he's working in his security office when G'Kar comes in asking for a favour. He needs Garibaldi to smuggle something onto the Narn homeworld, and uses hand motions to indicate that the dimensions of the package... which just happen to be identical to his own height and width. G'Kar's unusually subdued and deadpan this episode, but it works... I think.

Garibaldi tries to talk him out of it, as he's not keen on his friend being shot. Doesn't work though, he's dead set on going. Immediately.

Oh no, people are being mean to Vir again! Though I like how someone apparently hired four humans in addition to the Centauri guard just in case Vir's strong enough to fight off two or three of them (he's not).

They throw him into a dark room with Lord Refa, who explains that he's going to tell him what Londo's planning, or he's going to die. Man, Vir's always caught between a rock and a hard place this episode; we're really seeing what it take to get him to betray someone. Let's see if Refa can do better than 'your family will be thrown out naked into the streets and whipped'.

ACT THREE

Man, how did they get this room so dark? That's an inky black void of absolute nothingness right there.

Act three begins with Vir refusing to tell them a damn thing, even after Refa points out that Londo has been a bit of a dick to him. Refa switches from giving him a death threat to offering him a place on the Royal Court, money, a title etc., but Vir still doesn't break!

Refa's probably not used to dealing with Centauri with principles (he's had them all ruined or murdered already), but he did come prepared for this eventuality: he's brought a telepath to take the secrets right out of Vir's head. Makes me wonder why he didn't just start with that instead of offering him things he might have to give.

The telepath reads Vir's mind and pulls out a black and white clip of Londo telling him to talk to G'Kar, so now they know exactly where G'Kar's going. But they're going to hold Vir captive until they've found and killed him, to keep that information contained.

They really should've had some light coming in from that window. Not just now, always.

Reverend Dexter couldn't sleep so he decided to do a little walking, and somehow ended up walking from his quarters all the way into Sheridan's office, even though it's presumably in an entirely different part of the station, inside a building. I'm a little surprised this stranger from Earth is getting free rein to go wandering like this, as he could be Psi Corps for all they know. They must have some security guards and locked doors in this part of the station, even if they're just to keep the lurkers from running off with Sheridan's medals.

I'm also surprised to learn that Sheridan's busy studying daily station reports, as I thought he must have offloaded his station commander duties onto Ivanova while he handled the galactic war. He tells Dexter that he does split some of the work with others, but Dexter feels he needs to split some of the worry as well, as he's getting pretty stressed and that tends to make you a bad commander.

At first Sheridan assumes he must be asking him to turn things over to God, but Dexter's thinking more along the lines of Adam and Eve. Sheridan needs someone to talk to (Delenn).

Now Sheridan's even more keen to end the conversation, as Delenn's got her own problems and he doesn't want to add to them (even though he was actually sharing his problems with her at the start of the episode). So Dexter tells him a story, about housework! To cut to the chase: helping someone else with their problems takes your mind off your own, makes you feel better for helping them, and gives you both some company.

Man, I really like this guy. He's been here half an episode and he's already smuggled in secret information, given good advice and pissed off Brother Theo. Plus that was a really nice scene.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Way to ruin the mood, foreboding countdown text!

Then the episode cuts to the Narn Homeworld, for arguably the second or third time in the series so far. Though the first time we only saw it from orbit and the second time was a dream sequence, so this is actually our first proper glimpse of Narn:

It looks like someone dropped a lot of rocks on it from space.

The wind apparently never stops blowing now and it'll take years for all the dust to settle back to the ground, at least that's what they tell G'Kar. Though hang on, it only took him a day to get here? It's two days to Earth on the Minbari's fastest ship, so I guess Narn must be much closer to the station than our planet. In hyperspace anyway.

This G'Kar's first time back after the bombing and it's not much fun for him to see the place like this. In fact I think this is the first time he's stepped foot on any planet on screen during this entire series. He's still very calm and collected though, and mostly focused on his plan.

The guy there asks him if his information is accurate and he's 100% absolutely sure that it is! It came from Vir, how could it not be?

Oh no, they've reconstructed Babylon 5's cheapest looking set on Narn to save money. All those purple curtains and pillars. It's worse for the Narns though, as they're the ones who have to do the redecorating, under the watchful eye of Centauri guards. Speaking of guards, Refa needs to borrow seven of them to capture the last of the Kha'ri, because I guess he didn't bring enough of his own from Centauri Prime. Oh of course he didn't; he had to hire four humans on Babylon 5 to capture Vir earlier.

Refa explains to whoever this other guy is that he plans to return to Centauri Prime with two gifts for Emperor Cartagia: G'Kar in chains and Londo's head on a silver plate. Hang on, does the loser get killed by Virini, is this how this competition works? Unfortunately, poor Refa has no idea that G'Kar and Londo will both live another 17 years, so his plan will inevitably fail. Either that or they'll find a way to get Londo's head glued back on.

ACT FOUR

Back in the War Room, Sheridan and Delenn are looking at the pattern of attacks together now, but they're still getting nowhere.

It's nice to actually see places marked on the map though, giving some kind of scale to the Babylon 5 universe. Each red dot marks a Shadow attack, so they've really been all over the place, hitting targets 20,000 light years apart. That's apparently half the distance between Tatooine and Alderaan in the Star Wars universe. Meanwhile, in the Star Trek universe, the USS Voyager would take a year just to reach the other side of a single red dot.

They switch to an animated 3D map which adds a dot for every attack over time, and together come to the realisation that the Shadows are deliberately avoiding an area. Not that this is entirely new information; Delenn tells him the Rangers already know it hasn't been attacked and that's why they've been moving refugees there.

Sheridan suspects they might be corralling the refugees into one place so they can hit them all at once in a single utterly demoralising attack. In fact maybe this whole thing has been more about terror than it has been about territory! Just like when San Diego was nuked back on Earth!

The good news is that they're finally starting to be able to think like the Shadows. The bad news is that Sheridan thinking like the Shadows is freaking Delenn the hell out and now she's dragging him out of the War Room for the sake of his sanity. Everyone else in there does a good job of not staring.

This does hint at a difference between the humans and the Minbari though: humans seem to be more comfortable thinking like the enemy, imagining what they'd do in their shoes, and using this to predict their next move. Either that or Delenn's just terrified of Sheridan thinking like the Shadows specifically.

Meanwhile G'Kar is walking into the underground cave network on Narn looking for Na'Toth's cell, and Vir has a visitor in his cell on Babylon 5.

It's Londo! He lured the guard out, took his gun, and knocked him out with one punch! The guy's a lot more capable when he's off-screen.

This is Vir's cue to call him an asshole for putting him in this situation, or maybe even thank him for his legitimately heroic rescue, but instead he just tells him about their problem. That's because the episode needs to cut back to G'Kar just in time for Londo's plan to fall apart.

Refa's already in the caves and he's ambushed G'Kar!

You get caves all the time in 90s Trek, they had a set built for it that was used from The Next Generation onwards, but I don't remember ever seeing them in Babylon 5 before. Which means they must have actually built a new set! It looks pretty great as well, much better than the Royal Palace.

This seems like it should be an act break cliffhanger, seeing as G'Kar's just been captured by Londo's nemesis (Refa's even doing an evil laugh), but the episode just keeps going.

This shocking event coincides with Reverend Dexter's open church meeting at Brother Theo's bleak grey chapel. Theo's shown up, despite them being arch-rivals, and Delenn and Sheridan are there too. Which makes a lot of sense now that I think about, seeing how religious ceremonies are Delenn's favourite thing ever.

Dexter's sermon is about 'the enemy', and who that really is. Turns out that it's fear, ignorance, and people who tell you to hate those who are different. Though in G'Kar's case the enemy is definitely Lord Refa at this moment... and G'Kar already knew that.

He pulls out a hologram projector, like the one from Ceremonies of Light and Dark that projected a tiny Morden, only this one contains a pre-recorded message by Londo!

Thankfully the projection is more or less life-size this time, so Refa doesn't have look down at mini Londo walking around in the dirt.

Londo explains to Refa that in a few minutes he'll be dead, because he already made sure the guards assigned to him are loyal to House Mollari. Refa should've seen that coming already really, seeing as Londo would have had to have loyal guards on Narn in order to catch G'Kar. Not that Londo ever had any intention of doing that.

Sheridan has just started to get into the mindset of the Shadows, but Londo's already running a damn masterclass here in putting yourself in your enemy's head and predicting their every move. Refa wasn't even in the game, he was played at every step.

I love what they've done with the hologram by the way, as holo Londo continually points the wrong direction, waves his hand through Refa's face and walks through G'Kar. It's exactly what you'd expect from a recorded message and it somehow doesn't ruin the tone of the scene at all.

There's not much point in Refa protesting his innocence to a hologram, so he's got nothing to say when Londo accuses him of 'taking away that which I loved', even though that's the one crime he's actually innocent of. It wouldn't matter anyway, as Londo also blames him for killing Prime Minister Malachi and being a bit of an annoying dick in general. There's no mention of Refa forcing him to kill his friend Urza Jaddo, but he had to stop somewhere or else they'd be here all night.

Though Londo does mention that if Refa's killed on Narn it will somehow discredit his house, and judging by what he said to Vir earlier that's not going to lead to good things for his family. Man, Londo has really gone nuclear over the death of Adira.

Of course G'Kar and the Narns don't give a damn about anything Londo's saying, but they do give a damn about Refa being the one who pushed for war, and then flew over and flattened their planet with mass drivers. Refa is Space Hitler, Londo's given them documents to prove it (plus he's freed thousands of Narns to sweeten the deal), and now he's all theirs.

G'Kar's not really into violent retribution these days, he's turned a corner, become a better man. So he tells his friends to leave the head and face intact for identification and leaves them to it.

Refa bolts like a rabbit, just in time for the gospel music to start!

It's an actual gospel tune called "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" and we get about a minute and a half of it.

I've complained in the past about writers like jms and Seth MacFarlane (mostly Seth MacFarlane) putting their episodes on hold so Franklin can sit and listen to an entire song from the singer he's falling for, or so the crew of the Orville can listen to a full orchestra play Singing in the Rain. This is because I'm a miserable git who hates music and fun.

Actually music can be really effective in a scene if there's something else going on in it, and here everyone's singing a joyful song about a sinner finding no hiding place among the rocks...

... while Narns chase Refa down through rock tunnels to murder him.

It's an interesting juxtaposition because the lyrics are almost too on the nose, but the tone is entirely opposite. Though then again I'm sure the Narns are feeling pretty joyful right about now. Londo too! And me!

Screw you Refa, you killed 6 million Narns just to seize power, you're utterly heartless and unrepentant and you're getting what you deserve. Not that I endorse mob justice against Space Hitlers, or the death penalty, or beating people to death in a cave, but Refa's been a real nasty villain up to this point and it's nice to see steps being taken to limit his villainy in the future.

Refa is soon caught and feels the weight of many angry boots upon his fragile bones. This is intercut with a cute scene of Delenn getting the hang of when to sing along!

I like how these intercut scenes can make Refa's death come across to different viewers as either horrifying, satisfying, or funny, and either way it still works.

One thing I've learned from this and War Without End, is that Londo and G'Kar have both had their successes as bitter rivals, but when they team up together they can destroy tyrants.

G'Kar takes some satisfaction in taking down the man who dropped asteroids on his home and everyone he cares about, but he doesn't join the others in kicking him to death. Instead he walks away and leaves them to it. I suppose it's not as much fun when you can't hear the gospel music.

Plus he's probably mindful of the fact that the law says for every Centauri that's killed they'll kill 500 Narns, and his friend Na'Toth's still missing, so it's not all sunshine and rainbows for the last of the Kha'ri. I just hope he made sure that the others can find their way back out of this maze without him.

ACT FIVE

Act five begins with, uh... sorry my eyes keep going straight to the Centauri guard in the background with the wonky helmet.

It begins with an explanation of why Refa's house is going to be brought to disgrace by his death on Narn, as the Centauri have found a data crystal on his body containing information he was going to sell to the Narn resistance (that was planted on him by the Narn resistance). This is a rare example of a red data crystal, as they're usually entirely colourless. Oh wait that's blood isn't it? Eww.

Londo spins a story to Virini, claiming that Refa was plotting to use the Narns to gain more power, and was eventually going to kill Virini himself as the icing on the cake. It's extremely believable, because like I said, Londo knows exactly how Refa thinks. Thought.

Once they're outside Vir has another argument with Londo, but it's hard to really argue against 'I couldn't tell you the truth because Refa had a telepath', so Vir just ends up walking away miserable. Londo's finally pissed his friend off just a little too much.

Meanwhile Delenn's dragged Sheridan off on another unexplained trip on the White Star, seeing as they've figured out the Shadows' plan. The last time this happened she took him on a mission to hijack a spacestation that led to him visiting the future, learning he'll have a son, and kissing her for the first time.

This time Delenn's brought him out to show them that they've got a lot more than just one White Star now. And then she gets to kiss him for the first time!

It's absolutely insane that Delenn would hide a fleet of state of the art ships from the man planning their strategy and leading their forces, and yet entirely in character for her. She did the exact same thing when she surprised him with the original White Star, which I guess can't be the White Star anymore.

Sheridan had no clue this was coming, but we were given a tiny hint last episode. In Grey 17 is Missing, Neroon mentioned that the Religious caste were building their own secret warships, plural. Also over and over again for two or more seasons Delenn has kept mentioning that they needed a chance to prepare, they weren't ready to take on the Shadows, they needed more time. Well, this is what they were preparing!

Now they are ready to take on the Shadows.

And Z's still on its way.

Then after that portentous note it goes back to playing gospel music over the end credits!


CONCLUSION

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Can't finish review, have to immediately watch next episode...

Though first I need to mention that the title made perfect sense in the end! It's a line from a song in the B plot that was extremely relevant to a scene in the A plot. That's much more of a connection than the two plots had in Grey 17 is Missing, but then everything about this story makes that episode seem weaker.

There's two plots here: Sheridan being stressed out and needing to go to church and Londo manipulating everyone around him to achieve his vengeance, and man that first plot is a lot better than it sounds on paper. Especially considering that part of it is just him getting advice from a nosey guest star whose character only exists to be wise and useful.

Even Sheridan thinks the guy's come over to make a sales pitch at one point, but nope he's just wandering around high security administration areas in the middle of the night to give helpful advice to the station's governor. I'm not sure that scene should work, and it probably doesn't if you don't think much of the advice he's giving, but it all clicked with me. When Sheridan's not hanging around with the spymaster reverend he's in the War Room with Delenn, and it's always nice to see the two of them together because she's like a different person when she's with him. Some relationships on TV are all about the drama, but their relationship has given us Playful Delenn and she's much more fun to be around.

Speaking of people who are fun to be around, this is also Londo's episode, and he is bloody scary this time. When Adira died in Interludes and Examinations, his despair and rage led him to make a stupid emotional decision and team up with Morden again to get revenge. The last thing he said was that the rest of the galaxy could burn, he didn't care anymore, and his arc's been leading to him making a terrible choice out of grief that will screw over everyone. So when he made the smart choice and worked with G'Kar to take down Refa it was a genuine surprise to me the first time I watched this. Unfortunately that means the most interesting scene in the episode is the one that was never filmed, as we don't get to see him convincing G'Kar to go along with the plan.

Londo's been on a real journey these past three seasons, as he's sobered up, become focused, and learned/remembered how to play the game. In season one he was a drunk that no one took seriously. In season two he'd become Refa's co-conspirator and had allies who got things done, but he was still out of the loop and clueless. But after his friend's death in Knives and Morden allying with Refa in Matters of Honor, he's had to step up and become as ruthless and manipulative as they are, and they've created a monster. Refa was an open book to Londo as he never changed, but Refa could have never expected Londo to ally with G'Kar, because up to this point he never would have. Delenn is terrified that thinking like the enemy will make you become the enemy, but it's yet to be seen where Londo goes next, and whether Sheridan will need to do something similarly insightful and manipulative to defeat his opponent.

If there's a moral to both plotlines, it's that people say you can't change the world, but someone's changing it, and if you want it to be you then you need to step up and take action. Also gospel music makes kicking a Space Hitler to death more fun.

Overall this is one of my favourite episodes in season three, and the series overall, as it works on every level and has a satisfying twist. Though I'm subtracting points because it was mean to Vir.

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NEXT TIME

Babylon 5 will return with Shadow Dancing, but next on Sci-Fi Adventures it's my Star Trek: Picard Season One review! Will I think that it's the best Trek's been since All Good Things, or will I ultimately despise it?

Actually, don't answer that. Instead you should tell me what you think about And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place! The title and the episode.