| Episode: | 107 | | | Writer: | J. Michael Straczynski | | | Director: | Janet Greek | | | Air Date: | 04-Nov-1998 |
This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5, episode 19: The Wheel of Fire! I'm getting really close to the end of the series now so I'm almost out of pictures of an episode title over a shot of the station. This is one of the better ones though I reckon, the lighting on it looks great.
Each of Babylon 5's seasons was named after one of the most important episodes that year, and this is the one that season 5 took its title from. That puts it in the company of Signs and Portents, The Coming of Shadows, Point of No Return and No Surrender, No Retreat, so if it doesn't immediately make it onto my top 10 list it's going to be a massive let down.
Here's some trivia for you: 60% of these monumental season title episodes were directed by the same director, Janet Greek, and she came back for this one. I've read that showrunner J. Michael Straczynski considered her and Mike Vejar to be his two favourite directors on the show and I can see why. This was her final episode, but she did return for the movie River of Souls and two episodes of the spin-off series Crusade.
I'm going to be recapping and reviewing the episode one scene at a time, so there will be massive SPOILERS here, for this and earlier stories. I'll not be spoiling anything that happens next however, so if you're watching the series for the first time this will all be safe to read.
Though you think this is bad for G'Kar? Just think of how much extra work the poor makeup team had to go through to create so many Narns! I've mentioned before that the makeup work on this series is pretty amazing for a weekly series with a low budget and they've kept the quality up right to the end.
Meanwhile Garibaldi's busy contemplating another glass of Afterburner Whiskey when he's called to a meeting with Sheridan, Delenn and the senior staff.
Sheridan immediately figures out that he's drunk and that puts an end to the meeting pretty fast. For a moment I wondered if this was a deliberate trap to catch him out and I thought it was a bit cruel to invite everyone in to watch Garibaldi screw up. But it seems like it probably was a genuine meeting and most of them had no idea the guy had a drinking problem until he gave himself away. Zack definitely knew though.
Actor Jerry Doyle does a pretty good job of appearing to be drunk here without overdoing it I reckon. I remember reading somewhere that he spun himself around a few times to make himself dizzy before entering the room and if that's true then it worked.
Anyway that's it, Garibaldi's been busted, and we're still only in the teaser.
ACT ONE
Garibaldi wants Sheridan to just fire him and get it over with, but the guy's got this whole scene of dialogue to get through first. It turns out that Sheridan actually suspected that he'd started drinking a few months ago and still piled all that responsibility onto him! To be fair he'd dismissed the warning signs as being due to all the strain and pressure he'd put him under... though that doesn't actually sound much better.
Delenn's managed to talk Sheridan down from being angry with him, but Garibaldi's not any happier to hear he's disappointed with him. Even if Sheridan's mostly disappointed that Garibaldi didn't come and talk to him about it. Sheridan talks about feeling guilty that he didn't offer help to Franklin back in season 3 and now the same thing's happened here! Wait, that's not true, Sheridan had no idea about Franklin's stim addiction until he'd already decided to quit and go walkabout.
Anyway, Sheridan's not going to fire Garibaldi. He's just going to suspend him from the job until he's sorted this out. That's how you know your boss is a true friend: when your day drinking's so bad that you fail to prevent an interstellar war and he basically just lets it slide.
G'Kar does let Franklin in, who's brought him a tiny G'Kar statue, forced onto him by one of the followers lining up outside. It's likely the exact opposite of what G'Kar wants to see right now (Andreas Katsulas probably loved the things though).
Turns out that the Kha'ri called Franklin to pass a message along to G'Kar, because he's not answering any of his calls, not even the ones from his own government. They want him to either take over the planet or give them his blessing to lead, because he's just that popular right now. It seems like the fact that he keeps turning down power only makes him a more ideal candidate to give power to. Now he can't stay on the station or it'll be flooded with Narns and he can't leave or else he'll be turned into an idol.
G'Kar's baffled by the puzzle he's facing and Franklin suggests that people are God's way of creating a riddle so complex that even he can't solve it.
This is someone from Earth security HQ and she's letting them know that they're having a bit of problem with Psi Corps buildings getting bombed recently. Every time they find the words "Remember Byron" at the scene and their investigation points towards the terrorists being funded by someone on Babylon 5. Basically they want Lochley to detain or arrest Lyta Alexander and get her sent back to Earth.
Aww, c'mon, the senior staff had only just started inviting her to meetings again! They were just about starting to repair whatever friendship they had and now Lyta's the enemy. This sucks.
ACT TWO
She starts to describe what he's going through and he really doesn't appreciate the analysis, even if it is right. (He probably doesn't appreciate her putting her foot on his sofa either, but he doesn't mention that.) So she admits the source of her insight: her dad was an alcoholic. Suddenly Day of the Dead has become very relevant to the story and we've finally got the explanation for why she ran away from him with Zoe when she was a kid.
He throws his glass at the wall, just like Londo used to do when he was pissed off in the good old days of season, and tells her to get out. She says no. I can't even tell if this scene is cliché or not, but the writing and the actors are making it work. Garibaldi's tried fighting her with words and failed so now he switches to flight instead, leaving his quarters and walking off down the corridor. But the scene won't let him go that easily!
Turns out that despite his detective skills he completely missed the obvious possibility that she doesn't drink because she's an alcoholic too. So that's shamed him a bit. In fact she was on all kinds of drugs, which we already knew from Day of the Dead. It was Zoe's death that got her to join Earthforce and sort her life out. Joining the military drove her dad to drink but it's what pulled her away from it. There's not a lot of plot in this story but man it's nailing the character scenes.
Unfortunately Jerry Doyle died from alcohol-related health issues a couple of decades later, so Lochley's dialogue in the episode didn't help the actor much. Though I've read that Lochley's actress, Tracy Scoggins, actually gave up drinking after reading the script, so it apparently helped at least one person in real life.
Alright, stopping to chat with Garibaldi has made Lochley late for her next job: arresting Lyta. Sheridan running even later though, so they're going to have to do it without him.
They've found Lyta sitting in the Zocalo, just chatting to a known arms dealer in public, like she's not even concerned about Babylon 5 security. You know, it's just occurred to me that Earth called them up because of terrorist attacks against Psi Corps property and then asked them to arrest a powerful telepath, but they didn't send any Psi Cops to help. Do they just think Bester's lying when he keeps saying that regular security officers are no match for a rogue?
Lochley's going to give it a try anyway. She surrounds her table with officers and tells her to come with them as they'd like to ask her some questions. But Lyta just wants to tap her fingers on the table.
In fact everyone's tapping their fingers on tables right now, even the ones with giant hands.
Lyta's controlling everyone in the Zocalo except Lochley and she doesn't give a damn about how terrifying and immoral it is. She done with being pushed around and now she's just a few steps below Bad Kosh in how difficult it's going to be to remove her from the station. Well, unless they wait for her to go to sleep. Or pump in some gas. It's possible she's getting a bit too arrogant here.
In fact she makes the mistake of saying "You cannot stop someone who's been touched by Vorlons," which gives Sheridan a good line to make his entrance on. Though it's his PPG that enters the frame first, aimed right at her head.
Surprise, Sheridan's now immune to mind control! Maybe telepathy in general, at least as much as a Vorlon can be.
Sheridan says it's because he was touched by the Vorlons as well (perhaps by having Kosh in his head for a while), but it could also be his Lorien-powered cells. I guess he wouldn't really know... unless he does. He did seem pretty sure he'd be able to do this.
It's nice that we're getting once last bit of action hero Sheridan, though it's also a bit harsh. In fact this is the second meanest thing he's done to her since that time she blew up Z'ha'dum and he threatened to hand her over to the Psi Corps afterwards. Assuming this doesn't actually end with her being shipped over to them.
Lochley's going to give it a try anyway. She surrounds her table with officers and tells her to come with them as they'd like to ask her some questions. But Lyta just wants to tap her fingers on the table.
Lyta's controlling everyone in the Zocalo except Lochley and she doesn't give a damn about how terrifying and immoral it is. She done with being pushed around and now she's just a few steps below Bad Kosh in how difficult it's going to be to remove her from the station. Well, unless they wait for her to go to sleep. Or pump in some gas. It's possible she's getting a bit too arrogant here.
In fact she makes the mistake of saying "You cannot stop someone who's been touched by Vorlons," which gives Sheridan a good line to make his entrance on. Though it's his PPG that enters the frame first, aimed right at her head.
Sheridan says it's because he was touched by the Vorlons as well (perhaps by having Kosh in his head for a while), but it could also be his Lorien-powered cells. I guess he wouldn't really know... unless he does. He did seem pretty sure he'd be able to do this.
It's nice that we're getting once last bit of action hero Sheridan, though it's also a bit harsh. In fact this is the second meanest thing he's done to her since that time she blew up Z'ha'dum and he threatened to hand her over to the Psi Corps afterwards. Assuming this doesn't actually end with her being shipped over to them.
Lyta points out that Sheridan can't be everywhere to protect them from her, and Lochley concedes her point.
Lochley wonders afterwards if they should've killed Lyta while they had the chance, before she goes full Gary Mitchell (she doesn't actually say Gary Mitchell though, this isn't Lower Decks).
ACT THREE
Garibaldi was already thankful to Lochley for what she said earlier, so nothing more needs to be said here, and she walks off to go bring joy to someone else's day.
Meanwhile Sheridan's in his office, chatting to Franklin. He's wondering about what could've caused Lyta to snap like this.
- Adjusted by the Vorlons.
- Abandoned by the Vorlons.
- Used as a weapon.
- Quit the Psi Corps.
- Lost the man she loved.
- Has a mission to continue his work.
The funny thing is, Lyta's basically doing what Sheridan did in season 4 when he fought against a fascist system on his own world by illegal means, and they all agree with her that the Psi Corps is bad and needs to be stopped. This could be the point where they finally do something to help her... but instead they set up a joke, with Sheridan telling Franklin "the next person who acts irrationally I swear I'm going to shoot myself in the head."
Hang on, this reminds me of something G'Kar said when he explained to Franklin why he wasn't answering his calls. "It seemed a simpler way of achieving a little peace than hanging myself." What is it with all the characters quipping to Franklin that they're going to kill themselves this episode?
She continues by ranting about how the Narn government is boycotting their ships until G'Kar comes home, and then passes out. Another falling stunt by one of the actors! Writer jms did a nice job of subtly establishing how out of character this earlier in the episode with that mention of her talking Sheridan out of being mad. The passing out part is definitely out of character, so they call in a trauma team.
Plus she wants to marry him! And give him co-ownership of one of the biggest corporations on Mars! Damn, that means that he'll be moving into William Edgar's house.
We're right at the end of the series now and characters have been facing the consequences of their actions during the series, with Londo becoming a powerless emperor, G'Kar being tormented by his celebrity, Lyta getting arrested etc. It would've been logical for Garibaldi to be facing some serious consequences for screwing up on the Drazi homeworld and missing that call that may have prevented the war, but the guy's been punishing himself all season so we may as well just skip to a happy ending.
Though he's just had an idea of something else he can do, and goes off to "kill two teeps with one stone." Oh no, don't throw stones at Lyta, she's having a bad enough day as it is!
Down in Medlab, Franklin manages to take forever to reach the part in their conversation where he tells Sheridan what's actually wrong with Delenn. She's pregnant! The episode Soul Mates hinted that she had a human reproductive system now and we already knew they were going to have a son in War Without End, but now the dots have been connected together.
I could've done without the little bit of comedy music when Sheridan reacts though.
Franklin tells him that the pregnancy's putting a strain on her system, as she's a Minbari-Human hybrid, and he can't be sure she'll survive to bring the baby to full term. He asks him if he wants the baby, and he says that if he has to choose, he'll save her, otherwise he wants both. Because he knows that she'd want it.
It's kind of weird that Delenn's not been invited to take part in this conversation, even though her life is the subject of it. It's like they both assume that she'll remain unconscious for a while and they have to make a decision without her. But then she wakes up at the end of the scene.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi goes to visit Lyta in her cell.
Hey they still have that new cell set from earlier in the season! Have I mentioned yet how much I like that door?
For some reason they've decided to put Lyta in a straight jacket, even though her weapon is her mind. It just seems really cruel when the toilet is right there in the shot to make us think about how awkward that's going to be. Hang on, that toilet wasn't even there the last time this set showed up, they've only just added it. Next time they should add some toilet roll to go with it.
Garibaldi's very cautious around her as he walks over to sit down. He definitely doesn't want to provoke the angry super villain, but he's got something he wants to discuss.
So Lyta blows up the camera with her mind to allow them to talk privately. I guess this means she has telekinesis then, a power that was introduced way back in season 1's Mind War like it was going to be a big deal going forward, and then really wasn't. In fact telekinesis has probably shown up fewer times during the series than ceilings have.
Garibaldi knows that Lyta has been funnelling money through to terrorists fighting the Psi Corps and he's totally cool with that because they have a common enemy. In fact he can have his corporation get the charges against her dropped... if he does something for her. She explains that she can't get rid of an addiction (it takes more than a Vorlon-enhanced telepath to do that), but she can take out Bester's neural block and give Garibaldi his freedom back. His freedom to put a gun to Bester's head and pull the trigger.
Seems like a good deal to me! Though Lyta will also have leave the station for some reason.
G'Kar walks by Lochley's office and overhears Garibaldi talking to her about the arrangement he's made with Lyta. All the money she's getting from the Narn in exchange for telepath DNA will be moved into an account that's strictly for helping telepaths and not blowing up Psi Corps, with every penny accounted for. He's arranged for Edgars Industries to pay off a senator to get her freed.
I really like how these two are firmly on the same side now, even though they're having a tiny bit of an disagreement about what to do. Also he's putting his foot on her chair now.
Now we get to see what G'Kar does with this secret information he's overheard...
Oh, he just walks into the room and tells them he overheard their conversation. Also he's brought Mini G'Kar with him!
For the last year all he wanted to teach people was that we're all one regardless of race, but the Narns have basically decided that he's a religious figure and now if he returns to them they'll turn him into what they want him to be. He figures that he and Lyta have the same dilemma, they can't go home and they can't stay here, so they should go off travelling together and have adventures! He learned a lot about the Centauri from visiting their world and he wants to learn more by visiting other worlds. He also wants to help Lyta deal with her anger like he dealt with his own (and like how Lochley helped Garibaldi this episode).
Lyta's anger is very justified but so was G'Kar's and it wasn't rage that freed his homeworld, so I get why he's helping her deal with it. I just hope she gets some say in this and she's not being forced to travel with him as part of the conditions of her release.
I could've done without the little bit of comedy music when Sheridan reacts though.
ACT FOUR
It's kind of weird that Delenn's not been invited to take part in this conversation, even though her life is the subject of it. It's like they both assume that she'll remain unconscious for a while and they have to make a decision without her. But then she wakes up at the end of the scene.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi goes to visit Lyta in her cell.
For some reason they've decided to put Lyta in a straight jacket, even though her weapon is her mind. It just seems really cruel when the toilet is right there in the shot to make us think about how awkward that's going to be. Hang on, that toilet wasn't even there the last time this set showed up, they've only just added it. Next time they should add some toilet roll to go with it.
Garibaldi's very cautious around her as he walks over to sit down. He definitely doesn't want to provoke the angry super villain, but he's got something he wants to discuss.
Garibaldi knows that Lyta has been funnelling money through to terrorists fighting the Psi Corps and he's totally cool with that because they have a common enemy. In fact he can have his corporation get the charges against her dropped... if he does something for her. She explains that she can't get rid of an addiction (it takes more than a Vorlon-enhanced telepath to do that), but she can take out Bester's neural block and give Garibaldi his freedom back. His freedom to put a gun to Bester's head and pull the trigger.
Seems like a good deal to me! Though Lyta will also have leave the station for some reason.
I really like how these two are firmly on the same side now, even though they're having a tiny bit of an disagreement about what to do. Also he's putting his foot on her chair now.
Now we get to see what G'Kar does with this secret information he's overheard...
For the last year all he wanted to teach people was that we're all one regardless of race, but the Narns have basically decided that he's a religious figure and now if he returns to them they'll turn him into what they want him to be. He figures that he and Lyta have the same dilemma, they can't go home and they can't stay here, so they should go off travelling together and have adventures! He learned a lot about the Centauri from visiting their world and he wants to learn more by visiting other worlds. He also wants to help Lyta deal with her anger like he dealt with his own (and like how Lochley helped Garibaldi this episode).
Lyta's anger is very justified but so was G'Kar's and it wasn't rage that freed his homeworld, so I get why he's helping her deal with it. I just hope she gets some say in this and she's not being forced to travel with him as part of the conditions of her release.
ACT FIVE
Garibaldi talks with her about how it seems like everyone's leaving Babylon 5 lately. Him, G'Kar, Lyta, Franklin, Londo, Sheridan, Delenn, but how that's not necessarily a bad thing. Life is change.
Speaking of change, I didn't think Lise's actor was all that great in previous episodes, but she's been really growing on me this season. It might be the material she's been given; anyone's going to seem more likeable when they're being nice to someone instead of breaking their heart over and over.
Then we get a flashback to the other half of Garibaldi's conversation with Lyta, the half we didn't see. I guess that's why it's in colour, and not black and white like reused footage usually is.
Lyta tells Garibaldi her proposal: they'll set up two accounts, one for show and one for real. Together they'll destroy the Psi Corps and get revenge on Bester. And she'll leave the neural block in his head as a motivator. In two years if he's lived up to his side of the bargain, she'll remove it and he can go shoot Bester. Attack the cause of his addiction at its source.
That 'two years' is a bigger line that it seems. Up to this point there was still time for a telepath war arc. There's still three whole episodes left! But now it's officially off the table. All the foreshadowing throughout the series of a war between telepaths and humans wasn't leading to an epic conflict, it was leading to this scene. A telepath and a human working together to stop the fascist telepaths who've done so much to hurt them.
But first Garibaldi wants to know what the Vorlons did to her. Turns out that she's a telepathic doomsday weapon, a psychic nuke. A weapon of last resort and terrible consequences. Though she describes nukes as being "the kind of weapons you drop when you're out of the small weapons and the medium weapons and you've got nothing left to use" so I'm not sure she understands what nuclear weapons are actually for. Sheridan would be able to tell her.
Anyway, they haven't heard a word from Londo and they're wondering what he's up to. Sheridan says he's probably been partying all night, celebrating, and I hope he's just trying to make Delenn feel better as otherwise he really hasn't been paying attention. When was the last time Londo had a party? Season 2 maybe? Did he look like he was in the mood to have a party when he gave that speech about how terrible the Alliance was?
But it turns out that they're only having this conversation to set up the last shot, where it turns out that Londo is not partying.
C'mon Londo, even the regent found time to go out and have fun from time to time. He used to love lurking on other people's sofas in the dark waiting for them to come home.
 |
| 5-18: The Fall of Centauri Prime |
CONCLUSION
When I saw the title The Wheel of Fire I pictured something more dramatic to be honest. And that's before I looked the phrase up and discovered that in literature the 'wheel of fire' refers to a series of terrible consequences resulting from a character's single action.
We do get a lot of consequences in this episode though. In fact it feels like it's all B plots and no A plot, with the drama coming from the characters deciding what to do next rather than from a story tying it all together. It makes it seem like Babylon 5's epic story is over and all that's left is for everyone to grab their stuff and go home. We're kind of in the epilogue zone now.
One plot is about Garibaldi facing the terrible consequences of coming into work drunk, which are that he gets a lot of support from Lochley, the love of his life comes to visit and offers him half of the biggest company on Mars, and he makes a deal to get revenge on Bester and clear out his neural block. He doesn't even get fired! The thing I like about this story is that Garibaldi's drinking problem isn't solved overnight, in fact it isn't even solved at all, but between him and his friends they figure out how to get him moving in the right direction. There was lots of solid acting during the confrontation with his demons, but it was great to see him cheer up a bit and be less defensive at the end of it.
G'Kar's consequences of surviving all his trips to Centauri Prime and writing a book are that he's incredibly famous and presumably immensely wealthy. Unfortunately Babylon 5 isn't a sanctuary for him anymore and Londo doesn't need a bodyguard, so he has to go. Maybe not the worst ending for him as he was always looking for something else to do on the station anyway. It's definitely better than Londo's ending.
Lyta faces the consequences of blatantly funding terrorism against the Psi Corps, which is that she gets punched in the face and put in a straight jacket for some reason. Though she ultimately ends up with even more support against the Psi Corps and gets to travel the galaxy with G'Kar, which seems like a win. Especially as this will give her a chance to go look for a new telepath homeworld. The two of them haven't left the station just yet however.
And Sheridan and Delenn are having a kid! I should've remembered this was coming when I saw Londo's future coming true but I didn't, so it was a nice surprise for me. It's weird how it's an entirely Sheridan-focused plot though as you'd think Delenn would be fairly involved in her own pregnancy.
Overall I thought it was a pretty decent episode with no bad moments, but it was a strange choice to name the season after as it's not all that dramatic or game-changing. It's more of a quiet slice-of-life story that continues the process of wrapping the series up. Then again maybe that's what this season is really all about.
Hey now that I've seen all five episodes that gave their name to a season title I can finally rank them!
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The Wheel of Fire - It's alright.
- Signs and Portents - Hints at the greatness to come, but spoiled a bit by the Raider agent's acting.
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No Surrender, No Retreat - Great story that kicks off the Earth Civil War arc.
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The Coming of Shadows - It's a Hugo Award-winning story and I can see why.
- Point of No Return - Coming of Shadows is great but this is as close as you get to Severed Dreams.
NEXT EPISODE
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to leave a comment then you're in luck as there's a message box down there for you.
Do they just think Bester's lying when he keeps saying that regular security officers are no match for a rogue?
ReplyDeleteThey probably think she's still a P5 like their records say, and that's a pretty low rating (says the wiki). A P5 might sense you coming, but they can't do much against a whole squad of security officers.
I mentioned last episode how the show is is wind-down mode now, but I forgot that Garibaldi essentially points it out himself here.
ReplyDeleteI felt unreasonably sad seeing the title "Objects in Motion" coming up. I guess I'm more emotionally invested in this series* than I thought.
ReplyDelete* Either Babylon 5 or Ray Hardgrit's Recap and Review of Babylon 5.