| Episode: | 102 | | | Writer: | J. Michael Straczynski | | | Director: | Mike Vejar | | | Air Date: | 27-Mar-1998 |
This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 14: Meditations on the Abyss. I'm not sure about that title as meditation isn't typically all that thrilling. Though abysses can be dramatic sometimes I suppose, especially when there's a risk of all your hopes and dreams falling in. James Cameron even made a film about one once.
The episode was written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski, though that goes without saying really. There are just eight episodes left after this and they're all by him. This was the final episode to be directed by Mike Vejar however, which is a shame because he's a contender to be the greatest director B5 ever had. He did come back for the movies and the Crusade spin-off though.
SPOILER WARNING: this is episode 102, which means there are 101 other episodes that I could spoil at any time, and I'm definitely going to spoil this one. The particulars of subsequent episodes will remain undisclosed however.
Inside we discover that it's actually night! Hang on I thought the station's exterior lights came on at night... never mind, not important. Delenn and Sheridan are lying in bed but it turns out that Sheridan's the only one asleep.
Sheridan wonders what's up and the camera stays on him during their whole conversation while Delenn disappears off-screen. I figured she must be getting dressed, but next time we see her she's in the same clothes she left the bedroom in. Delenn claims that she's just heading to her quarters to pick up some papers for the next council meeting, which is interesting as it's a total lie. Minbari aren't allowed to do that! Plus I thought she'd learned her lesson about keeping secrets from him already.
Instead she goes down to a bar and suddenly there's 90s club music playing. It's exactly as jarring as it's probably meant to be.
So Delenn changes her approach, brushing her hand down the back of his. Until it's in position to snap his finger. Seems like she's been taught the Minbari art of breaking digits.
She makes a quip and leaves, he gets up and follows...
Mike Vejar was the one who directed Sheridan's one-sided beat down in a bar back in Face of the Enemy as well now that I think about it. This is pretty much the opposite in tone though as the hooded hero kicks ass and makes sure he won't be bothering Delenn again this episode. Then they reveal the face of her friend.
He tells Delenn that he'll always be around when she needs him most and he's do whatever she needs doing, whatever the cost. Part of him's probably hoping the cost will be her marriage, but I'm assuming that's not the reason she lied to her husband and crept out in the middle of the night.
The trouble with this scene is if you watch the episodes in their originally intended airing order like I have, Lennier leaves to joins the Rangers in episode 2, returns 10 episodes later in Day of the Dead, then leaves again for just one episode. And that was the Bester episode so pretty much everyone was missing in that one! So his shocking return works much better with the episodes in the wrong order, weirdly.
Oh, also there was a six week gap between this and the previous episode when they aired in the US, so that probably helped.
ACT ONE
Now that the opening titles are out of the way Delenn can explain the reason for all the secrecy: no one must know about this, especially not Sheridan... because he'd be too reluctant to send a close friend of hers on an incredibly dangerous mission. He'd want to protect her from the pain of losing him. Delenn's totally willing to send Lennier into all kinds of danger however.
Lennier replies that Sheridan doesn't know her as well as he should, but she defends he husband, saying that he knows her, but he also loves her, and that complicates it. He replies that he can imagine how loving her would complicate things. Probably in much the same way that someone eating a giant cake can vividly picture the taste of cake. Except with a secret obsession instead of delicious dessert.
Though what the hell is Lennier talking about, that Sheridan doesn't know how well Delenn would cope with losing a loved one? Doesn't he remember bringing her plates of food she wouldn't touch after Sheridan went missing on Z'ha'dum? She'd be devastated if she lost Lennier.
She gives Lennier the story so far in the 'Mysterious Attacks on Shipping' plotline, explaining that they suspect the Centauri are responsible, but they need proof. She's decided that he's the best person to find that proof, as no other Rangers have experience with how the Centauri think and fight like the two of them do. Okay, I'm confused, when has Lennier ever had any experience with how the Centauri fight? He's fought plenty of Shadow vessels, but no Centauri.
Lennier will be stationed aboard White Star 27 and all the captain will be told is that he's there to be trained in space combat near the Centauri border. I have no idea how they expect him to stumble across Centauri ships attacking shipping lines when he's not even the one commanding the ship but maybe I just don't have all the information yet.
Before Lennier goes, he admits to Delenn that Morden visited him during Day of the Dead and told him he'd betray the Rangers. It's nice that he's not keeping that a secret but he sure picked a strange time to bring it up, seeing as he's on his way out. Not much they can say about it right now.
Anyway it turns out that he's restocking Londo's kitchen now that he's back from Centauri Prime (even though he came back two episodes ago). Londo wonders what he's been eating while he's been gone and Vir admits that he's been going to the new McBari's in brown sector.
Okay first, brown sector is where the waste reclamation facilities are, it is exactly as bad as you'd imagine a 'brown sector' to be, so why the hell would they open up a fast food restaurant there? Second, McBari's? Seriously? They even talk about the golden headbone arches on the logo! Was it opened by an entrepreneurial Minbari or is someone trying to start a second Earth-Minbari War?
Anyway Londo gets his bug detector (the kind that searches for listening devices not insect infestations), and discovers a bug planted in one of the bags Vir just bought from a Drazi at the Zocalo.
Londo uses the bug to feed the Drazi false intelligence... about the Gaim ambassador sleeping with the Drazi ambassador's wife. Man, the guy just can't help but start interstellar conflicts.
Anyway Londo has decided to appoint his eventual replacement as ambassador to Babylon 5 (because he can't be the ambassador, the prime minister and the emperor all at the same time), and it's going to be Vir! When Londo was given the job of ambassador he took it to mean that Emperor Turhan considered him a joke, so he drunk and gambled until he was a joke, but it seems like Vir's going to take this offer as the honour it's meant to be. Though the composer goes and ruins the moment by using comedy music!
ACT TWO
Man, it's been ages since we've gotten to visit a White Star. I think the last time they used the set was in Endgame at the end of season 4.
Lennier introduces himself to Captain Enrique Montoya, and the captain explains that he has to treat him the same as everyone else, as he's officially still a trainee. Also his ship's officially called White Star 27, but he's decided he doesn't have to call it that, so he's named her the Maria instead.
I'm not sure why the White Stars don't have actual names, as the Minbari and humans both usually name their ships. Maybe it's because Sinclair was a fighter pilot so he was used to his ships having numbers instead, I dunno.
It turns out that the Maria is named after Montoya's sister, though Lennier feels like he's put his foot in his mouth when he asks where she is and gets told she's "With God". Another trainee called Findell assures him it's fine, as the captain's into his people asking impertinent questions. Lennier's happy to learn this, saying that he may have finally found a home. Uh, does he mean that Babylon 5 wasn't a home to him, or that he's finally found a home after leaving the station?
Anyway they fly through the jumpgate and they're off to the Centauri border.
Not everyone's happy though, because the Drazi shipping lanes have been attacked again and they've got reason to think it might be the Centauri. They've also got reason to believe that Sheridan has been hiding this information to keep the Alliance together. I guess the Drazi learned more from that survivor during The Ragged Edge than we were aware of.
I suppose this must be the reason that they tried to bug Londo's quarters.
Man, the series is really tormenting me here, giving me the best version of Londo while the others are forced to exclude him and investigate the Centauri in secret. The Drazi ambassador even reminds Sheridan of his promise to support any action the Alliance worlds decide upon. So the heroes are trying really hard to catch the Centauri in the act but at the same time they really don't want it to be them.
Lennier and Findell have a bit of a conversation about how humans often leave out important information, like the reason that the two of them have been ordered to take a pair of fighters out and scout the area. Findell prefers the Minbari way of doing things and doesn't think they should change, but Lennier points out that everything changes and they need to adapt.
We've had a few scenes of Marcus talking about all the things he learned from the Minbari during his time with the Rangers, so it's nice that we're getting the opposite now. Even if Findell doesn't really want to get it.
Then the episode cuts to Medlab, where Franklin's taking G'Kar's eye out.
GROSS EYEBALL SHOT BELOW
Franklin gets his new red eye out of the eye box, but before plugging it in he decides to test it out by using it as a camera and watching the output on his monitors.
Franklin reveals that he's been reading G'Kar's book, who's kind of embarrassed that anyone's reading it, as it was supposed to come out after his death. He definitely doesn't appreciate this cult forming around him. It turns out that Franklin's reading the book because of his own religion, Foundationism, which is based around the idea of examining different belief systems and seeing what they have in common. Writer jms has mentioned that he's written a bit about this religion and what it's about, but he was hesitant to release it in case what's happened to G'Kar also happened to him.
We already learned that Garibaldi read his book back in No Compromises and that G'Kar was annoyed that it had come back with coffee stains. That was before it had been published however and it turns out that every copy of a holy book is an exact duplicate of the original, so now Garibaldi's coffee stain is on page 83 of all of them.
Franklin wants one thing in return for installing G'Kar's new eye: to sit in on one of his weekly talks. G'Kar's happy to share some of his confusion with him.
They're really showing off with this shot, as the camera pulls right up close to the cockpit to show Lennier sitting behind the window.
The two trainees had already done their system checks before leaving the Maria, but Lennier runs another check and his atmosphere system's now at 15% somehow. What's even weirder is that Findell's system is exactly the same. Seems like Minbari fighters are supposed to have about 6 hours and 40 minutes of air, as right now the two of them have just over an hour. Then 30 seconds later they have just under an hour!
Fortunately their oxygen shortage isn't as much of a problem as it could've been, as the Maria is right there and they can just fly back... oh wait, nope it's disappeared through a jump point. Lennier theorises that they received a distress call or learned about an attack on a shipping lane. Either way they apparently can't call them and the nearest habitable planet is 3 days away, so if the Maria doesn't come back on her own they're screwed.
Now I'm wondering how far these fighters can go in 3 days. It's taken us just 3 days to reach the Moon, but I expect our spaceship's engines are slightly slower than theirs. (We can carry more air though).
ACT THREE
Lennier mentions Turval from Learning Curve (the smart ass Religious Caste teacher) and suggests they use his instructions on meditation to conserve their limited air supply. They might be able to make it stretch as far as two hours. Findell doesn't know if he can, but Lennier demonstrates how Minbari philosophy is very different to Jedi philosophy, saying that he doesn't have to know, he just has to try.
Hey they're actually meditating on the abyss! The title turned out to be very literal this time.
This week G'Kar's teaching his followers to be less serious and learn to laugh at themselves, but one of them would rather know what truth and God is. I think the guy might be confused, as this talk is about the Book of G'Kar, not about the dictionary,
G'Kar gives a whole speech here about a metaphorical lamp shining on a metaphorical wall. The brighter the search for understanding, the more is revealed on the wall, but if they put themselves in the way of the light they'll either see themselves as the centre of the universe, or they'll see the darkness of their shadow. The guy's doing his best to come up with something off the top of his head and he admitted to Franklin earlier that he's sharing his confusion as much as he is his wisdom.
I think G'Kar's problem is that he's fallen into the same trap that Byron did, where he conflated poetry with profundity and ended up burying his message within the metaphor.
The episode cuts back to Lennier and Findell suffocating in their cockpits, and Findell's freaking out a bit now. He decides to fly off because he needs to get out of there, even though they know there's nowhere to go. Fortunately the Maria returns and retrieves them in the nick of time!
Montoya explains that Lennier's decision was correct: they were supposed to meditate and stay put. To be a Ranger means giving up their fear of death and not seeing it as an enemy, because death simply is. Interesting speech coming from a guy who named his ship after his dead sister.
But the Drazi isn't even slightly intimidated, because Vir's been on the station for five years now and everyone knows what he's like. In fact he pokes him so far he stumbles backwards into another stall. So Vir walks away without saying another word.
Londo watches as Vir returns to the Drazi's stall and then demolishes it with his sword. And it is a real sword he's using, I can tell by the way he just bisected a watermelon.
Security finally comes to grab him as Londo watches like a proud dad. Now he's ready to be the ambassador for the Centauri!
I think this scene would've worked better if we'd seen Vir on the council in Londo's absence, gaining more confidence. This should've been like Vir's final exam, but instead it's the conclusion to a story that didn't happen. I'm happy for the guy though!
ACT FOUR
Findell's a bit depressed about this because he feels that Montoya already knows he'll fail. It turns out that he joined the Rangers for kind of the same reason that Marcus did: he lost family to the Shadows and they were Rangers so he felt that he should join in their place.
Lennier tells him that he should want to be a Ranger, not feel like he has to be a Ranger, and the episode carries right on to the next scene without giving him a moment to reflect on his hypocrisy.
Lennier takes an early lead, which makes sense considering he's had so much more experience than the others, and Findell's trailing at the back. In fact he hasn't hit a single target. It turns out that Montoya's speech about how 'death simply is' has driven him to be suicidal and he's planning to drive into an asteroid to avoid returning home in shame!
So Lennier switches weapons to manual and takes out his fighter's engines.
It's also not clear that Lennier's wing actually clips through Findell's fighter! The 3D models actually pass through each other. On the plus side this draws attention to the fact that it's never happened before in Babylon 5, or at least I don't remember seeing it before.
The shot of Lennier's fighter swooping away before hitting the asteroid doesn't look too great either to be honest. He struggles to pull up like a plane fighting gravity. Still, at least the asteroids themselves are pretty well modelled.
Lennier lies to help Findell save face and Montoya won't let Findell get a word in to set the record straight. So Lennier has failed and Findell will get his Ranger assignment: working in the recruitment office making sure that everyone who joins does so for the right reasons. C'mon, Findell's got to suspect what Montoya's really up to after that! How could he not know what they were both up to?
Anyway Montoya privately tells Lennier he knows what he did and he thinks they handled that as best as they could. Man, when's this guy getting a series? Babylon 5: Legend of Montoya.
Zack tells them the story of how Vir smashed up the Drazi's stall, with Londo looking on "like a proud father". Hey that's what I said! They kind of wish they could've listened in on Londo's quarters though, to get some idea of what the Centauri are up to. Because the other worlds aren't going to wait much longer before taking action and if they do that they'll have to oppose them, meaning the end of the Alliance and probably a war.
Oh it turns out that Garibaldi was invited to dinner, but he didn't turn up.
CONCLUSION
With a title like Meditations on the Abyss you might not expect this episode to push the plot forward a great deal, and it didn't actually. I was going to write that there's three stories going on here, then I thought there might be four of them, but now I'm leaning towards saying that there's only one.
There's a couple of scenes about the attacks on shipping and where it's leading them, but there's not really a story there. They're just keeping the arc warm. G'Kar gets his eye replaced and makes a long speech to his followers, but that's not really a story either. Plus it feels a bit like a retread of the lesson he gave in The Ragged Edge. Vir smashing up the Drazi stall is like the end of a story, but there's no middle to it. He's just grown to the point where he's not going to get pushed around by a Drazi.
The Lennier plot is definitely a story though, even though it's not the story it seems like we'll be getting. Delenn sends him on a mission to find evidence of the Centauri attacks, but what he really does is help another trainee realise that he's on the wrong path and then give him a nudge in the right direction with his space fighter. It's nice to finally see Lennier in training and it was great to be on a White Star again, but I think it's a bit of a shame that we didn't get one more scene of Vir and Lennier together before he left, especially as this episode focuses on the two aides/protégés being tested after their long absence.
Delenn intended Lennier to succeed her in the Grey Council, but their lives have gone off in weird directions since then. Meanwhile the nervous comic relief who used to play on his Game Boy during diplomatic negotiations will be succeeding Londo as ambassador! Sheridan, Delenn, Franklin and Londo are all leaving, and Lennier's already left, but now we know that Vir will be one of the ones staying behind. He's still portrayed as being a bit of an idiot and a joke, but then so was Londo in The Gathering and in season 1 so I'm sure it'll work out fine. He just has to remember to not give away the homeworld and not make a deal with an ancient and powerful race who believe in encouraging growth through chaos.
I'll give the episode bonus points for including basically all the regular cast (aside from Lochley and Lyta), plus it had good direction and plenty of style, but it's a fairly unimpressive chapter made of very separate moments that don't really add up to anything. In my opinion. Better than Learning Curve though.
NEXT EPISODE
If you'd like to leave your own thoughts about Meditations on the Abyss
I always figured they turn on the station's lights when they're in Epsilon III's shadow, so they're turning on and off all day and night, depending on how fast B5 orbits the planet. I don't think they ever established how long a B5 day was: Earth day or E3 day.
ReplyDeleteThat does make me wonder how they stay close to the jumpgate, which appears to orbit further out and, therefore, more slowly.
Everything I know about God I learned from Star Trek 5.
ReplyDeleteStar Trek 5 has much to teach those who are willing to endure it.
DeleteI think the main lesson is "don't let Shatner set the terms of a contract negotiation" but I'm not sure that's applicable to a religious context.
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