Babylon 5 5-16: And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder

Episode:

104

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

Goran Gajić

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Air Date:

10-Jun-1998

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder. Now there's a proper Babylon 5 title for you. In fact it's so Babylon 5 that JMS basically used it once already for season three's Severed Dreams. This is just a more poetic and less pithy way of phrasing it.

It's really rare to see an episode begin with the word 'And' like this. In fact outside of Babylon 5, the only other episode I can think of that does is Star Trek's And the Children Shall Lead. Babylon 5 was written by one guy for the most part though, so he had plenty of opportunities to express his idiosyncrasies. Which means we got And the Sky Full of Stars in season 1, And Now For a Word in season 2, plus And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place in season 3. Season 4 missed out unfortunately.

The episode was directed by Goran Gajić, who was Delenn actress Mira Furlan's husband. It's the first and only episode he ever did for the series, which was apparently Warner Bros' fault more than anyone else, as creator J. Michael Straczynski had wanted to hire him for a while. The episode also had a different director of photography than usual, with Fred V. Murphy II taking over from John C. Flinn III for the 8th and final time. I'll be curious to see if it looks any different with all these new people behind the camera.

Okay I'll be rewatching, recapping, reacting and dropping massive SPOILERS for this entire episode, and some earlier episodes as well. I'll not be spoiling anything that comes next however.

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The episode begins with a shot of the station in darkness and the sun rising behind it, though it's still the middle of the night. Sheridan wakes up to find that his wife's sneaked out of bed again, but she hasn't gone far this time. She's next door watching a candle, which in this series generally means that something bad is happening. The music definitely seems to think so.

Sheridan suggests that she goes back to bed and then takes his own advice, but she's still there by the time he comes out of the shower in the morning. There's a lot of people taking showers this season I've noticed. Often in Garibaldi's quarters.

I can tell when we're looking at Sheridan's quarters by the oranges and I can tell when it's Delenn's quarters by the triangles. The slopy bed's a bit of a giveaway too.

Sheridan picks up a shoe and then stops, perhaps realising that he hasn't put his pants on yet. He just sits there in silence for a moment, before letting it drop with a thud. The camera watches as the shoe lands and we see he's already wearing one, which means that this was the other shoe dropping.

Also it turns out that the thud was actually the sound of Sheridan using his gavel in the Council Chambers a little later on. It's a common technique in editing when you're switching to a new scene to start playing the first few seconds of audio early to make the transition less jarring. It seems like that's what's happening here, but then they just don't switch to the next scene. The camera stays with Delenn and Sheridan in their quarters as we hear future Sheridan begin his speech to the assembled ambassadors. I wonder if that was scripted, a choice by the director, or a decision made during editing. Either way it works.

Oh okay, now it's cut to somewhere new. This is the corridor outside the Council Chambers and it's looking unusually scruffy for some reason. I mean the footage itself is scruffy in this scene, with obvious scratches. It's like I'm watching a worn out print of some movie from the 70s. Well, maybe not that bad. Babylon 5's got such a distinctive look to it that I sometimes forget it was shot on regular 35mm film like most US TV series were at the time.

Anyway, Londo's trying to attend the Council meeting that's been called, but it turns out that he hasn't been invited. Zack tells him that when they're ready they'll send for him, but until then he's not getting in. Londo's kind of angry that they're selling out his people without giving them a chance to defend themselves and I can kind of see his point. Zack tells Londo not to push any further as he'll only make things worse and it's actually Vir who speaks up, saying "Worse than what?" He's got a point too!

Fortunately we do have an invite to the Council Chambers, so we get to go inside and see what Londo's missing out on. I love shots like this, they make really good looking screencaps.

Delenn reveals that this 'mysterious attacks on shipping' plotline has been going on for six months now, but they finally have the evidence that they've been waiting for... and it's the Centauri Republic who's been carrying out the attacks! The Alliance worlds were already pretty sure about this last episode, the heroes have suspected it since The Ragged Edge, and we've known about since In the Kingdom of the Blind, about a third of the season ago, but now someone can finally do something about it!

Sheridan reminds the assembled Alliance ambassadors (and us) that he promised to let the member worlds decide on what to do when they figured out the perpetrator, and that decision is weighing heavily on him at the moment. I suppose he's wishing that they'd set up some kind of restrictions on what actions they can vote for, because handing a White Star fleet to an angry mob might not go well. The fact that they're an angry mob of ambassadors only makes it worse!

Then it cuts back to Delenn's quarters, and we're just in time to see the her candle go out. Just imagine how many feet of 35mm film the production crew must have wasted sitting there waiting to capture the right moment. Actually the candle goes out at the end of a panning shot, right on cue, so I'm sure they must have had it all figured out and timed.

And that's the end of the teaser. It makes it seem like the rest of the episode will take place in the Council Chambers with people presenting evidence. Though the only evidence I'm aware of is Lennier's recording of an attack and the button that Garibaldi found.

ACT ONE

Act one begins with Franklin marching up to Londo's door and handing him a folder.

Then it cuts back to the Council Chambers to show Franklin giving a speech to the ambassadors, with Londo reading the same information in his quarters. This is really well directed so far... though the camera's wobbling a bit sometimes.

Franklin explains that each race's ships are typically constructed on their homeworlds using local materials, and this affects the colour of their energy beams. We're actually getting an explanation for why they all shoot different colour rays and it's being used as evidence! It's a bit weird that Franklin's been called here as an expert on starship weapons, seeing as he's a doctor, but it turns out that he's been doing autopsies on some of the victims to determine the colour of the light they were exposed to. Not only were they hit by Centauri looking weapons, but the damage was consistent with how the Centauri use their weapons.

Okay, they've got a lot more evidence than I expected.

Next it's Garibaldi who has to hand them a folder. Man, I feel so bad for everyone in this scene. Garibaldi doesn't want to have to do this, and Londo and Vir certainly don't want to have to read what he's brought them.

Back in the Council Chambers, Garibaldi confirms that the tactics used are consistent with the Centauri, though that's subjective. So he shows off the Centauri palace guard button he took from a mysterious hooded assailant in The Ragged Edge, and mentions how information kept getting leaked to the enemy until Londo was left out of the loop.

Also here's a bit of a giveaway: in the last three months only one Centauri ship has been hit and it wasn't even carrying anything! Man, they've been sitting on a lot of clues all this time. Though hang on, n In the Kingdom of the Blind they said that all the Alliance worlds' shipping had been attacked equally.

Now it's G'Kar at Londo's door.

Londo's not all that happy to see all his friends testifying against him, especially the friend who's been spending a lot of time in the Royal Palace observing what was going on while pretending to be his bodyguard. Man, I don't like it when the series threatens to tear Londo and G'Kar's friendship apart! It took so many assassinations for them to become as close as they have been lately.

But it turns out that G'Kar's not actually going to tell the ambassadors a damn thing about what he saw in the Royal Palace! He assures Londo he really did come with him to Centauri Prime as a protector, and now he's come to his quarters to tell him that it's his turn to go to the Council Chambers. Though he does remind him of the stuff that happened in those episodes they spent on Centauri Prime. Londo was concerned with the level of military spending and the secrecy around the deployment of their ships, and he knew that something was up.

So Londo goes to the Council Chambers with all the sheets of evidence he's been handed by the main characters...

... and he declares them to be bullshit!

Then we get a proper old school Londo performance as he takes the stage and points out that they've been supplying weapons to many of their planets and they also left a bunch of them on Narn when they left. The colour of the energy beam proves nothing!

It's hard to tell what Londo's really feeling when he goes into ambassador mode, but he seems genuinely hurt that everyone turned on his government over such flimsy evidence. So I guess this is why they waited for Lennier to succeed with his mission before bringing this evidence forward. In fact they've been holding off from showing the footage to the council, until now.

Londo watches the Centauri ships lay waste to the Brakiri fleet with a look on his face like he's seeing the bombing of Narn all over again.

Excluding Londo while the rest of the evidence was being presented to the council was strange enough, but bringing him back in time to show him a whole bunch of Brakiri being murdered is just weird. It's like Sheridan knows this is a TV series and he's doing it for dramatic effect. Whatever his motives, it's still a crappy thing to do to a friend, especially when they've got reason to think that he's entirely clueless about what's going on.

This time Londo doesn't have anything to say, until he speaks to his government. Sheridan gives him a message to take back to them: they're going to establish a blockade between the Centauri and the rest of the Alliance worlds until they get reparations and an apology. The Centauri Republic stands alone. Okay that's not as bad as I was expecting! Last episode Garibaldi seemed convinced that this would lead to war.

ACT TWO

Hey it's the Centauri minister again! The guy's such a cheerful asshole. He's great at being perfectly proper and polite yet also aggravatingly arrogant and condescending. He doesn't say anything sarcastic he just lacks an ounce of sincerity or concern. We don't know how involved he is in the Drakh conspiracy back home but he comes across as guilty as fuck to me.

Londo doesn't actually believe the evidence he saw in the Council Chambers because a: the Centauri would never attack civilian transports outside of a war and b: if they did he would've heard about it. Even after everything that's happened he can't imagine his people being the bad guys. Vir, on the other hand, isn't so sure.

The minister feels that either the material has been forged or the incident was a staged attack with fake Centauri vessels designed for Lennier's benefit. Either way the Regent has come up with a response for him to deliver when he returns to the Council Chamber.

Londo starts by saying the Centauri Republic is the victim of a hoax and doesn't appreciate being threatened by its friends, so they're quitting the Alliance! Plus Centauri freighters will be escorted by warships from now on and any attempt to fire at them will lead to war, so that blockade's not happening.

Then he tells them he's got to run, as he's catching a flight back to Centauri Prime. Sheridan warns him if that if he leaves now he might not ever be allowed back, which seems like a needless escalation of drama to me. I guess Babylon 5's not a place for humans and aliens to work out their differences peacefully anymore.

I feel like there has to have been a better way for Sheridan to have handled this. Back in the day he was always coming up with a clever scheme, but becoming a politician has apparently drained him of his ability to think outside of the box.

Londo and Vir discuss the situation in the corridor outside, with Londo still convinced that the Centauri are not to blame. He reckons that they just need to show the others that they're not responsible and they'll back down, but he can't do that here. Vir will have to stay behind though, as he'll need him here to deliver the proof of their innocence when he gets it.

So it turns out that what G'Kar told the others back in The Ragged Edge was absolutely correct: when Londo found out about their suspicions he did immediately rush back home to see what was actually going on.

Okay I thought I knew what happened in this story, but there's still half the episode left and I honestly have no recollection of what the rest of it is about. Are we following Londo back to Centauri Prime?

Now that the Council meeting is over, Delenn and G'Kar can have a chat. It turns out that he's going with Londo to Centauri Prime as his bodyguard again. The next part of G'Kar's prediction was that the people involved in the plot would assassinate Londo if he started to get too close to the truth, which means he's going to need someone watching over him. He thinks that Londo might be their only chance of ending this crisis. So really they should've kept him in the loop from the start really! But whatever, too late to change that now. 

G'Kar can at least change that unfinished book of his however (the one that got stolen and published without his consent the last time he was on Centauri Prime), and he leaves Delenn with some rewritten pages to replace the chapters he wrote when he was an angrier man. Hopefully he's changed that page that Garibaldi left a coffee stain on as well. But they're only to be delivered to Narn if things actually go badly for him this time. I don't know why even the book's revisions are only supposed to be released after his death; maybe it's a Narn thing. All I know is that the scene's making it seem like he won't ever be coming back to the station again either.

Delenn's been giving people a lot of hugs lately, even Lennier, but there's no hug for G'Kar. Instead she gives him a proper Minbari hand gesture (a respectful one). She tells him it's been an honour, and he tells her than in her eyes he's found all the thanks he'll need. Aww.

ACT THREE

Meanwhile Sheridan sends Zack to find Garibaldi, as he hasn't been answering his link. It turns out he's asleep, and if you look carefully there's a subtle clue in this screencap to explain why.

I'm really liking the way this one been filmed. It's such a small episode so far, confined to just the Council Chambers and a few people's quarters, but it feels really dramatic rather than claustrophobic. And it also feels different somehow, in a way I can't quite pin down. All I know is that I'm starting to get the impression that Goran Gajić could've been one of the series' better directors if he'd been able to do more episodes.

Anyway, Garibaldi's being very cranky right now, which isn't a good sign. Last time he was this grumpy he'd been reprogramed by the Psi Corps to be their undercover agent. 

Wait, are those oranges there on the table? Damn, how am I supposed to tell Sheridan's and Garibaldi's quarters apart now if they both have a bowl of oranges?

Zack tries throwing Garibaldi an orange, then another, but he doesn't manage to catch either of them. It's clear that Zack's caught onto him though: the guy's drunk. See, there's a reason he's the station's chief investigator! Well aside from the fact that Garibaldi quit the job during one of his grumpy moods.

Garibaldi points out that Zack also had problems before he came here, and a few afterwards too, and this whole conversation is starting to get depressingly meta. Especially considering that both actors died as a result of their own addictions just after their 60th birthdays.

Then the scene gets dark, as Zack draws his gun and puts it on the table. He tells Garibaldi that if he wants to hurt him like this there's a quicker way, though he might want to consider using it on himself because it'll hurt fewer people in the long run. Damn Zack!

Garibaldi manages to convince him to give him more time to sort himself out before he turns him in and they go get him some oxy pills to sober him up. Hey I remember them from way back in Eyes during the first season!

So Garibaldi still has his job as head of covert intelligence for the Alliance, and Sheridan has a task for him. The Alliance worlds have ships at their jump points waiting to shoot at any Centauri vessel that tries to run the blockade, and the Centauri aren't going to back down because they'll think that they can handle them. They'll be less eager to take on a White Star however, so the Rangers are going to keep an eye on the Centauri and notify Garibaldi of any impending incident in time for Sheridan to send ships to intercept. If they can get White Stars between the two sides it'll discourage any shooting, and without shooting there won't be a war.

Sheridan's putting an incredible amount of responsibility on Garibaldi right now, who will apparently be handling this task entirely on his own for no good reason. Garibaldi assures him that he can rely on him!

Over on Centauri Prime, Londo and G'Kar have arrived just in time to see Centauri warships flying over the Royal Palace. This is just what Londo wants: a remix of his terrifying prophetic vision of Shadow vessels flying overhead. It's not a particularly desirable sight for G'Kar either.

I like it when they throw in a shot of the characters looking up for a change. Plus the ships are actually casting shadows on the actors too which is a nice touch, even if it’s not done all that well.

Hey it's the minister in the flesh! And he's just as bad/awesome in person.

Getting to see the regent is going to be a little more difficult however as he's being just as elusive as he was the last time they paid the Royal Palace a visit. It's never a good sign when the planet's leader is hiding and even the prime minister is unable to meet with him. Though the minister assures Londo that it'll happen once the time is right.

Back on the station Garibaldi's getting a call from White Star 43, which is a problem because he's fallen asleep again.. Damn, I knew he'd screw up at some point but I didn't expect it to happen so soon.

In fact he's asleep behind a glass again.

C'mon White Star 43, use your initiative, try contacting someone else! I'm sure the Rangers have other people around who can get a message to Sheridan. Doesn't Garibaldi have any staff working for him? Or did he stop hiring after those telepaths he got didn't work out?

The heroic crew of White Star 43 ultimately decide to go in alone.

Damn, that's a lot of Centauri warships watching over one tiny little shuttle. In fact the episode's been drawing so much attention to this particular ship that I've been starting to wonder if there's something special about it in some way. Like maybe someone important is on board.

White Star 43 races to get between the Centauri the Drazi to avert disaster, and it arrives just in the nick of time! Well, it's in time to watch the shooting start anyway. The Centauri warships are able to take a pummelling, but the mysterious shuttle is blown to pieces so quickly that I had to go frame by frame to see what exploded. I guess the shuttle wasn't anything special after all then! Well, except for being the spark that's going to ignite another war.

ACT FOUR

Man, it's this guy again! He's probably the thing I remember most about this episode, even though I didn't remember it was this episode exactly that he was in.

Right now he's being a dick to Vir, telling him that he can't put him in touch with Londo. Vir's pretty sure that Centauri ships firing on other vessels is something he'll want to know about, but the minister puts on a huge grin and tells him that there's no need for overreaction!

Vir's so angry he picks up one of Londo's jugs and is about to smash it against something when the doorbell goes.

Hang on, is that the gun jug from Midnight on the Firing Line? I mean the one containing concealed components that Londo assembled his secret pistol from.

1-01: Midnight on the Firing Line

Wow I think it actually is. Also damn, look at that season 1 cinematography! Both of these shots were filmed in the same set.

Anyway, Vir's interrupted by someone at the door, and it turns out that it's Franklin! Sheridan's sent him to get Vir moved somewhere safer, alone, without any security backing him up. The idea is that security will draw attention, but no one will be paying any attention to Franklin so they'll be able to slip away unseen.

Unfortunately it doesn't work, and the two of them are cornered by three Brakiri out for revenge. That's what they tell Franklin anyway, and they're very calm and reasonable about it. They just want him to walk away so they can beat Vir to a pulp, that's all.

Franklin walks in close to offer them a better deal and then offers the guy his fist instead. In fact he takes out all three in rapid succession (with a bit of an assist from Vir).

Stephen Furst is doing a conspicuously weird walk in this scene and I'm hope that it's part of his performance as Vir and not anything to do with his health problems. I've read that he had to lose a lot of weight between seasons 3 and 4 or risk his foot being amputated due to diabetes complications.

Over in the Council Chambers, Sheridan asks Garibaldi what went wrong, but he claims he doesn't know. Man, Garibaldi's really starting to wear out my sympathy now, and Zack hasn't spoken up either even though he has to suspect that he slept through the important call.

Then things get very shakycam as the furious ambassadors storm into the room, with the camera whipping from character to character.

The ambassadors are a bit frustrated that the White Star fleet is just sitting there and not being any help, and Lennier has to step in to keep a angry Drazi from invading Delenn's personal space. It gets to the point where Sheridan absolutely loses his rag and starts yelling at them!

In fact he's so pissed off that we get his rant from three different angles as he yells at them about how he tried to give them peace and cooperation but they wanted war, so now they've got war.

"Now we gave you a promise. And we are bound by that promise! And damn you for asking for it! And damn me for agreeing to it! And damn all of us to hell because that is exactly where we're going!"

Man, Bruce Boxleitner really delivered the hell out of that speech. I can really believe that this is a guy who is absolutely sick of dealing with these bloody ambassadors. It doesn't actually achieve anything aside from shutting everyone else up, but I suppose that's a small victory.

ACT FIVE

Act five begins with the minister visiting Londo's quarters to give him the news: they're officially at war with the Interstellar Alliance.

Londo wants to try to communicate with the station, get this stopped, but the minister has to report that communication with B5 has been cut. Also G'Kar has to be arrested now and placed in one of their better cells. Poor Londo's put up with a lot so far, considering he's their prime minister, but he's not letting them have this one. He tells them he's not leaving G'Kar's side, so the minister's just going to have to imprison them both. Or neither of them.

So the smug minister chooses to imprison his own prime minister. Poor Londo, man. This hasn't been a good episode for him.

Londo tells G'Kar to shut up, despite his protestations that he's not even saying anything. I guess this scene is pretty much the one joke of the episode then. One brief moment of comedy right at the end to offset all the depression.

There's a great shot here by the way which starts off looking in through the dungeon window at Londo and then pulls back and tilts up to the sky to reveal Centauri warships flying overhead. It zooms in to the planet's moon and continues zooming in until it fills the screen. The shot then transitions to a flame.

It turns out that Delenn's gone back to staring at a candle again in order to bookend the episode, though this time Sheridan decides to join her.

She explains the candle represents everyone's life, which definitely fits with how the series has been using them. I'm thinking of times like when G'Kar filled his quarters with lit candles, which had all gone out by the time the Shadows had wiped out the Narn fleet. We also get a variation of her 'star stuff' speech from A Distant Star, as she talks about how they're all made of molecules born in the hearts of a billion stars and now those foolish molecules are fighting and pretending their light is better.

By the way, I have to mention again how good the cinematography in this episode is, because this scene looks fantastic. I love the colours.

And the episode ends with this beautiful final shot, which is kind of spoiled by whatever's going on on the right side of the frame. There's a fuzzy black line down the side that stays put as the camera pulls back, and this isn't the only scene I've noticed it in. I'm guessing it might be part of the camera itself.


CONCLUSION

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And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder is the kind of title that deserves a good episode I reckon. It certainly implies that things are about to go down and I think the episode delivers on that.

The first half takes place in corridors, quarters and the Council Chambers, so it's kind of limited in scale, but they've managed to fill those claustrophobic spaces with characters and drama. In fact it felt like everyone had turned up for this one... mostly because I'd forgotten about Lochley. It's been months since I last wrote about an episode with her in, and she'd been missing for months during the original run on US TV as well. This season hasn't been as Sheridan heavy as earlier seasons either, but this is definitely one of his stories. It's Londo's story too, and it's really sad to see them on opposite sides again despite everything. It doesn't feel like an inevitable tragedy to me, something could've averted this, but Sheridan's not as skilled with politics as he is with warfare and they chose to leave Londo in the dark as his planet was being stolen from under him by the Drakh.

The human characters in the series have been the greatest and noblest of heroes 90% of the time, but when they screw up they screw up hard. Like Franklin suffering from stim addiction and getting himself stabbed, and Sheridan holding someone prisoner without charge while obsessing over his dead wife. This time Garibaldi's hit by his trauma and his addiction at once and his failure is the spark that ignites an interstellar war. I can forgive him for falling apart after what was done to him by Bester, the dude needed treatment and instead got more responsibility, but lying about being up to the job when he didn't even need the job is pretty shitty. He became the head of covert intelligence to make up for betraying them while brainwashed and he's just ended up betraying them all over again by hiding his addiction. Zack has to share some of the blame for that as well though, because he knew and chose to do nothing. He tried to be a good friend and didn't snitch, and now everyone has to face the consequences. I get that he wanted to save Garibaldi's career, but the guy has a billionaire girlfriend, he's not going to need the cash.

I was very happy to see G'Kar somehow hang on to his friendship with Londo though. Poor Londo goes through so much in this episode, feels so betrayed, but G'Kar risks everything to protect him and Londo repays that friendship and loyalty back to him in the end. It's the second best thing about the Londo plot, next to that minister being the smuggest son of a bitch in space. The Centauri make the best villains in the series.

By the end of the episode it's revealed that this is one of those game-changing 'someone else's spaceships exploded somewhere else and now everything's gone wrong' Babylon 5 stories, like season 2's The Coming of Shadows and The Long, Twilight Struggle, and I think it might actually be on their level. It's definitely my favourite of the season 5 episodes I've seen so far. It's strange though, how it makes me feel like I'm back in season 2, watching things fall apart to set up bigger arcs yet to come, as there are no bigger arcs after this. This is it, there are just six episodes left after this and one's of them is an epilogue, so this is how Babylon 5's going to end.

Anyway, the episode feels more important than most, and slicker too somehow. Like they knew that this one was special and they took just a little more time to make sure they got it right. You can tell just from the screencaps that it looks great. It's a shame that this is the only episode Goran Gajić directed, but he did well here.

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NEXT EPISODE

Babylon 5 will return with Movements of Fire and Shadow. But next on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm going start reviewing Star Trek: Picard's second season! Because someone has to tell the internet whether it's any good or not.

Oh speaking of that, you should tell the internet what you think about And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder.