Babylon 5 3-05: Voices of Authority

Episode:

49

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Air Date:

29-Jan-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Voices of Authority, the 49th episode of Babylon 5. Or maybe it's the 48th. It was originally planned to to be the fourth episode of the season, but they needed extra time to get the CGI finished so Passing Through Gethsemane was moved up to take its place.

In the US the first four episodes of the season were originally aired in a block together with the last four episodes of season two, followed by a break. So pushing this down the episode list actually delayed it by two months... making it the first episode of 1996!

That means we're in the year of Independence Day, Star Trek: First Contact, 12 Monkeys, Mars Attacks, Space Jam and that Doctor Who TV Movie. Well I liked two of those things at least... maybe two and a half. Plus Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was in season 4 at this point (Crossfire aired the same day), Star Trek: Voyager in season 2 (the legendary Threshold aired the same day), and The X-Files was in season 3. It was also the year we finally lost TekWar, Space: Above and Beyond and seaQuest DSV, three of the most successful sci-fi series of the mid-90s (two of them even lasted more than one season, sort of).

Sometimes I'll mention that I'm watching a B5 episode out of order, but the Lurker's Guide Master List says it actually works better to watch Voices of Authority and Passing Through Gethsemane in the order they aired, so there'll be no confusion about what stories I'll be spoiling this time. There are huge SPOILERS below for this episode and anything that aired before it is also fair game.

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The episode begins with Zack complaining about things, like their weekly meetings and his jacket. It's the same uniform he always wears but he's taken it to five tailors and none of them can adjust it properly for him. I can see the problem from here: they've forgotten to put the leather strip on the front.

Fortunately he's talking to Garibaldi's Fashion Express, or at least that's how his boss introduces himself on the link when he gets a call during their chat. They've apparently got a 'code 7-R' for him... which Zack is curious about because he hasn't heard that one. I'm starting to suspect that he's becoming suspicious.

Turns out that it was the war council calling and the code was a signal that they wanted him to come to a meeting in their slightly upgraded meeting room. That wall on the left is new and they've tinted their awesome glass table black!

Delenn's already in the middle of explaining that they'll need the right allies if they want to win this war, and she can think of a few candidates they haven't approached yet. There are beings in the universe billions of years older than any of our races. They walked among the stars like giants, vast and timeless, then they kicked the Shadow's ass in the last war before crossing the galactic rim and presumably finding some other stars to walk among elsewhere. But if the Vorlons stuck around to help out, then maybe some of the other ancient aliens can be found and contacted.

It's nice to see Delenn as part of the team this season, getting to sit at the table and come up with suggestions to solve problems. Marcus is sitting there as well, as he's finally decided to make a second appearance in the series, though his only contribution to the scene to repeat what we already heard from G'Kar in season one's Mind War: the First Ones are way beyond us, they don't think like we do, and it's not wise to go bother them. But Delenn's decided they're doing it anyway and has called in some help... it's hologram Draal!

ACT ONE

It's still John Schuck in the role, and he's still consuming every line he's been given like he's a starving man.

Turns out that Draal's used the great machine down that planet they're orbiting to do a bit of research and every possible location of a First One is marked "Do not approach." He says it's giving him "the screaming willies," which is good because if anyone else in the room had said that line it would've sounded weird. But well-justified terror's no reason to quit now and he invites Sheridan to come down to Epsilon 3 so they can go over the data and choose the destination most likely to get them a friendly First One.

Funny how the Great Machine was introduced in Voice in the Wilderness and now they're finally getting around to using it in a story called Voices of Authority.

I don't know what's up with the picture quality of this episode. It's been even grainier than usual in the last few scenes.

Anyway, this is Julie Musante, she's here from the Ministry of Peace, and she'll be here for a while. Zack tries to show her to the captain's office, but she's studied the map already and knows the way. No one's ever done that before! This is a troubling level of initiative and competence, though the expression on Zack's face makes it seem like he's already in love.

Here's a fact for you: Julie Musante got her name from two fans, Julie Helmer and Mark Musante. I nicked that fact from the Lurker's Guide. Here's another fact: the actress played Michael Caine's evil secretary in Steven Seagal movie On Deadly Ground.

Meanwhile G'Kar is bothering Delenn while she's shopping in the Zocalo, though I bet those spot lights are bothering her more. Can't say it doesn't look good though, and all the extras wandering around adds a lot of production value as well. There's even a couple of monks walking by... followed by a security officer. Damn, they're on to them!

The scene reminds me of when G'Kar revealed to Catherine Sakai that he's surprisingly knowledgable about the First Ones, from a few seasons ago when they seemed like a throwaway concept that would never come up again. This time though he's being surprisingly knowledgeable about more mundane things, like the secret meetings Delenn's been going to, and the word "Rangers." Man, first Ivanova figures them out and now G'Kar? They really need to plug this leak before Nightwatch catches wind of what's going on as well.

She actually lies and claims to have heard nothing about them, so you can tell how seriously she's taking this. Though in earlier seasons keeping secrets was her super power, so it's a shame how unconvincing she is here.

I really wish they’d replace that cheap looking wall behind Zack already.

Musante has made it up to Sheridan's office by this point and the first thing she does is play with his stuff! That means that this is the first episode with both the meeting room and Sheridan's office in it at the same time! Sorry that was a rubbish fact, I'll try harder.

She's been assigned by Nightwatch to be his political officer, as some of his recent actions haven't been all that popular back home. He's turning into a bit of a Sinclair, and that kind of behaviour will get you exiled to Minbar.

Sheridan tells Zack to take a walk so he can get properly angry with her, but she counters all of his arguments like an expert and then invites him to dinner at the Fresh Air restaurant! I don't think we've seen that place since early season two, back when a commanding officer could sneak down to a meeting with Draal without a political officer on his back checking his schedule and spying on everything he does. Fortunately no one's bothering Ivanova right now so she can go to Epsilon 3 in his place.

Musante's a really good antagonist! It's a pleasure to hate her.

Huh, it's another Zack scene. I'm surprised to see him sticking around, usually he just shows up once and then he's gone for the rest of the episode.

She actually invites him into her quarters, though not for the reasons he'd like. Well, maybe for the reasons he'd like, there's just enough ambiguity. But it seems that he's become Musante's sidekick, as she wants him to fill her in on everything Sheridan's keeping from her. He's a member of Nightwatch so snitching is part of the job.

And act one ends with Ivanova's shuttle leaving the station and heading down to the planet. The way their luck's been going I half expected it to pan over to show Musante or G'Kar watching it from a window.

ACT TWO

The Fresh Air restaurant returns, looking more like its season two incarnation than it did back in season one. I wish they'd stop reusing that blue wall for other sets as every time it appears I think "Oh, they've put some tables in the zen garden again."

This is like the opposite of Sheridan and Delenn's date in A Race Through Dark Places though, as Musante explains how things work on Earth these days, and they're working pretty well! They've solved the problem of poverty and homelessness by saying it's not a problem; those people chose to put themselves in that situation. Plus crime is being fixed by filtering out the mentally unstable at an early age.

At first it actually sounds like she believes this propaganda, or at least expects him to believe it, but then she nonchalantly admits that they're making issues go away by rewriting the dictionary. I believe the term for that is 'Orwellian'. Sheridan's clearly an insightful guy in a position of considerable power, so she respects him enough to bring him up to the next tier of bullshit, talking about how there's no need to embarrass their leaders with flaws they're already aware of and are dealing with.

The important thing is that no one mistakes him for a troublemaker who enjoys finding fault with the government, and it's her job to help him avoid that. It's not clear whether it's also her job to flatter and seduce him, but she's going to be doing a bit of that as well. Everything this woman does and says is a red flag with smaller red flags hanging off it.

Meanwhile on Epsilon 3, Draal gets mock angry that Ivanova's here instead of Sheridan, but she starts rambling on about surprises and paper cuts and he admits that he likes her... she's trouble.

He tells her to plug herself into the matrix, forgetting that he's already in there himself. I wonder if 'matrix' is a Doctor Who reference.

I was also wondering if Real Draal's missing belt was a mistake, but when he switches off the hologram and climbs out of the machine that's how he's dressed. Though the fact he can climb out of the machine any time he feels like raises new questions, like "Why was taking over the machine considered to be a huge sacrifice, when he apparently could've just taken shifts with someone?"

Ivanova climbs in, sticks her hands in amongst the cables, and the camera zooms into her eye.

Draal gave her explicit instructions to not stray from the path, though he never mentioned anything about what to do when there's ten of them, and they all look like rushed mid-90s CGI.

Turns out that from the perspective of the Great Machine, reality is a series of tubes. Actually they're  a visual representation of the power that binds us across the darkness of space, allegedly. Personally this is getting a bit too 'mycelium network' for me, but that's a spoiler for a completely different series.

She floats down one of the tubes and ends up at a planet she recognises from their star charts. It's Sigma 957! The place Catherine Sakai visited in Mind War! The planet she nearly died at when her ship got too close to a mysterious ancient vessel and lost all power.

Ivanova's just enjoying hanging out by the planet for a bit, but then the Shadow Eyes of Sauron spot her and start pulling her in. We've only gotten a good look at how the Shadows have 14 glowing yellow eyes the one time, but they put the clip in the opening titles so there's no mystery of what these lights represent.

She tries to get back to the path, but it knows her name! It's times like this I wish I'd actually read Lord of the Rings, because I feel like I could be a lot snarkier about this series right now.

This scene's really showing off Claudia Christian's acting though because she is selling how scary these lens flares are to her, and how trapped she feels. Fortunately Draal's there to tell her to make a run for it, and she flies into another unmarked pipe... which leaves her at the transfer point off Io looking at Earthforce One just before it exploded! It's not time travel though, it's just a glimpse of the past.

Then she gets a glimpse of a VHS recording of President Clark, who's sitting in front of a pile of crates for some reason. This is his third appearance in the series, after Chrysalis and Revelations, in case you're wondering.

He's not quite the president yet though, as she's spying on a video chat he had while he was still vice president. We get to see what kind of mastermind he really is, as he confesses on video that he wanted President Santiago dead and mentions he wasn't sure they could pull it off.

This is a pretty handy bit of footage for our heroes to have, seeing as it'll allow them to skip the whole Conspiracy of Light arc before they ever actually did anything. Though it also includes one other revelation, hardly worth mentioning: Morden's the one he's talking to. So the Shadows were responsible for the death of President Santiago, and Clark is just another Londo.

I did not see that coming, and I've seen this several times already!

Speaking of things I've seen before, we get to relive the shocking twist at the end of Chrysalis as Earthforce One explodes into particles again. No composited flame here.

At first I wondered if they'd rendered a brand new shot, but when I looked back I saw that the effect was identical. So I think this episode just got a better transfer. Sad thing is, Babylon 5 may have looked better when it was first aired than it does on these discs of mine, and I've heard the version on Amazon's pretty terrible too.

Draal's a bit confused by what just happened, as a human mind shouldn't have been able to go on that little evidence gathering adventure. We just got the first demonstration of Ivanova's telepath powers and she used them to find one of the First Ones and proof of Clark's treachery simultaneously! You can get a lot done when you've got super powers and a giant deus ex machina in the basement, just ask Professor X.

ACT TWO

Meanwhile Sheridan is still stuck with Musante as she's followed him home. The lock to her door is jammed, so they're going to have to spend some more time together. Maybe even the whole night!

First thing she notices is that his quarters are bigger than they should be, so he starts pouring a drink while telling her about the rent subplot in A Race Through Dark Places, and when he turns around she's standing there naked.

The actress was apparently really naked in this scene as well, due to repeated wardrobe malfunctions. She decided to just get on with it.

Her blatant seduction is an interesting turn of events... because it implies that Nightwatch are entirely unaware of how close Sheridan and Delenn have gotten. Either that or she thinks she can take her.

Just then holographic Ivanova appears in the room, showing us that the Great Machine may be able to tap into video broadcasts from the past, but it doesn't let you know what someone's doing their quarters before you holographically barge in. Ivanova's just lucky that she appeared behind Musante, giving Sheridan a chance to demonstrate his ability to problem-solve during a crisis.

Ivanova's expression was amazing to begin with but it only gets better as Sheridan grabs Musante and kisses her.

He meets Ivanova in next room afterwards and demonstrates how surprisingly soundproof those doors are by having a whole conversation in there. This is an important scene because it establishes that the Star Trek franchise exists in the B5 universe, as Ivanova mentions that he's "about to go where everyone has gone before". Star Trek also exists in Stargate, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who, so now we're set up for an ambitious crossover episode where characters from each series meet to watch Gamesters of Triskelion together.

Sheridan's got to spend the next few hours finding ways to politely avoid being seduced by the completely naked woman in his quarters, so Ivanova will have to go off to Sigma 957 herself. They haven't quite wrung all the humour out of the situation yet though, as Sheridan looks at Musante, says "it must be colder in here than I thought" and goes to play with the thermostat. Musante's expression is gold, the comedy music less so.

Huh, is that a bit of filming equipment poking out on the left side of the frame?

Anyway, G'Kar had no luck getting answers about their secret schemes out of Delenn so now he's trying someone else. Garibaldi's usually a pro at bullshitting people, but his heart doesn't seem to be in it this episode and G'Kar finally just gets sick of it. The Centauri have taken everything from him but his self-respect. He figured that they'd at least left him with the respect he'd earned from others over the years, but he's starting to feel like he's lost that as well. Funny, I'm not sure I remember G'Kar ever earning any respect.

G'Kar's fairly sure that there's a gathering of forces going on, forces that could help his people. Garibaldi tells him if there they had a way to help his people he would've told him and G'Kar... accepts that. But then he says he should think of ways that he can help them.

Meanwhile, just around the corner in the Zocalo, Zack and Musante are having a chat. But we also got a good look of the painting of Babylon 5 behind the bar, so I took a screencap of that instead. You already know what Zack and Musante look like! Plus I would've probably wasted time talking about the monks I'd spotted in the background or something.

Musante expresses her frustration that Sheridan spent the night coming up with ways to say 'no', and Zack's replies by saying how fond he is of 'yes'. Probably came off as less creepy in his head. She replies by telling him his jacket doesn't fit, and I can imagine him thinking 'finally someone else notices!'

Incidentally the script apparently had the wardrobe designer a bit concerned, until showrunner jms came over to reassure her that all the lines about Zack's jacket were just a joke. He only drops hints in the script like that when he wants someone to lose weight.

The White Star returns! This light isn't very flattering and I've noticed a bit of polygon weirdness going on where the top wing meets the main hull, but it's always a pleasure to see Babylon 5's tough little ship make an appearance.

Here's another similarity to Deep Space Nine for you: their ship is a prototype and they'll be making tweaks to the bridge set over time.

They've gotten rid of the gross looking organic bits stuck to the consoles and added a captain's chair surrounded by gadgets for Ivanova to turn on! It's a step closer to a generic Star Trek template, but there's no point making something worse just to be different, as long as you're not going to be sued, so I'm glad they've improved it.

Also this means that Ivanova is the first captain to sit in the captain's chair! And it's her first time commanding a ship as well! I wish her first command had been to shut that door to the lift or hallway or whatever because it's distracting.

Lennier couldn't make this time as he's only got so many episodes each season in his contract, but that's fine as Marcus is here to translate for her. Every captain needs a smart-ass first officer to bounce off, so he's acting as Ivanova's Ivanova. We learn here in a throwaway line that he spent almost a year living on Minbar, which I suppose tells us how long it takes to become an elite stick-fighting Minbari-speaking secret agent.

Hey Musante's got a full Night Watch presentation going on! You can tell they've gotten stronger since In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum as they've got more posters up this time, and they've raised the stage up a step.

Musante's announcing some super awesome abridgements in traditionally protected areas of speech and association, which has a few people in the audience looking concerned. Zack's squirming in his seat and playing with his collar so much that she calls him out on it, and one of the extras is so alarmed that he says a line.

She actually agrees with them that what they're doing is extreme, but informs them that they've been betrayed at nearly every level, and people are about to be kicked out of government positions on charges such as sedition, immortal conduct, and spying for other governments. Once they've gotten this crisis sorted out they can all relax a bit. Honest. Until then, it's time to censor publications and investigate people's family and friends! Suspect everyone, arrest people who suspect the government.

I remember the first time I watched this I was rolling my eyes at her lines because of how exaggerated and obviously evil she was, to the point where only TV characters could ever fall for it. In my defence I was pretty young at the time. Apparently a lot of her dialogue was borrowed from folks like Goerring, Hitler, and Josephs Goebbels, McCarthy and Stalin, and I'm sure jms could add to that list if he was writing the script now.

Meanwhile on the White Star, Ivanova is bored and Marcus won't shut up. She can't get him to shut up either because unlike everyone else she knows, he's not an Earthforce officer under her command. Then the First Ones finally show up!

ACT FOUR

It's the guys from Mind War! Foundation Imaging nicknamed it 'the footbone ship' because it was built out of human foot bones. Well I suppose if you want your spaceship to look weird, that's a way to do it! It's like there's four skeletons standing back to back at a disco and we're looking at them from underneath the dance floor.

If they'd invited G'Kar into their group he could've told them that the ship would drain their energy and leave them hurtling helpless to the planet below. Fortunately the White Star has a bit more power at its disposal than Catherine Sakai's tiny survey vessel, so they're able to back away a bit. He would've also told them that they've got about as much chance of communicating with them as ants have communicating with us, so hopefully he was wrong about that part.

Then a strange floating head appears on the bridge, looking more like a statue than an alien. Makes you wonder if they've been on Earth disguised as deities like the Vorlons.

Ivanova's already faced Draal in full theatrical bombast this episode, so this doesn't even faze her.

She lets them know the score: the Shadows have returned, they're going to fight them, they need allies. Unfortunately she inadvertently pisses them off by mentioning the Vorlons. Marcus speculates that they must owe them money, but my theory is that they tried speaking to one of them once.

At least they know now that they understand their language... which is a good point I hadn't even considered. That berserker probe a couple of episodes back sent over language codes first, but here Ivanova just started speaking to the head on their deck like it would know what she's saying. Then she carries on having a private conversation with Marcus right in front of it, with Marcus accusing them of being French.

By the way, Ardwight Chamberlain, who voices Kosh's translator device, also provided the voice for the First One. Though he's clearly not speaking through a translator, as they can't understand a word he says. They get the impression that he's thinking it over though, as the head disappears but the ship remains.

Back on the station, Sheridan's got the data crystal containing Clark's VHS tape confession in his hand. Making this public could bring his whole fascist dystopia-in-progress crashing down to the ground. But it contains a clip of Morden's voice, so if they do get it onto the news, that son of a bitch will be on television! They can't let him have even that small amount of fame, because he's a dick and we don't like him. So the two of them agree, the crystal must be destroyed.

Actually they're going to give the crystal to General Hague so he can get it where it needs to be, and it's absurd that they're even discussing it like there's a choice to be made. It's exactly what they need to take down Clark, it even has an identifier code on a subchannel designed to prevent false orders being given so they can prove it's not a deepfake. So cheer the fuck up already Garibaldi and stop being so negative! He's been a real downer all episode and even this seems like another frustration for him somehow.

Speaking of frustration, over on the White Star, Ivanova has been pacing and Marcus has been talking. Funny, I don't remember seeing that glass window on the right back in Matters of Honor. I guess the director just didn't like it and kept pointing the camera somewhere else.

Finally the First One returns, says "Zog" and disappears again. They don't know what it means, but the ship flying off isn't a good sign.

Marcus comes up with the idea to put a bucket on his head and pretend to be an ancient Vorlon god, which seems kind of counterproductive seeing as they don't seem to like the Vorlons much. But it gives Ivanova an idea! She stops him from getting a bucket and calls the First One again.

You can definitely see those foot bones from this angle.

Ivanova gets in touch with the impossibly ancient, incredibly powerful beings that could crush Babylon 5 station without even meaning to, and lets them know that she fully understands their decision to sit this one out. The Vorlons said they weren't much use in the last Shadow War even when they turned up, and really with the Vorlons on their side, who even needs a creepy foot bone spaceship?

Simple, obvious manipulation. Just like Musante and the Night Watch have been using. And it works.

One foot bone mushroom recruited, countless other First Ones left to go.

I can see why people would be disappointed with how this episode takes one of G'Kar's wonders of the universe, a race billions of years older than us that can't be understood or communicated with, that isn't even aware of us, and has them tricked by basic reverse psychology. But I've never had a problem with it myself.

Ivanova isn't someone who's just stumbled onto them in a primitive Earthforce ship. She knows about the last Shadow War, she's working with Kosh, she tracked them down with the ancient Great Machine, and she turned up in a ship made with First One technology. We're clearly not on their level, but we've taken a step higher, and seeing as the Shadows are First Ones too we're going to have keep climbing to have any hope of fighting them.

Plus they were probably just playing along with the funny little human because they like her. She's trouble.

ACT FIVE

Act five begins in a crowded security office, with everyone watching the ISN report on the confession they handed over. Fortunately they don't broadcast the video, so Morden doesn't get his five minutes of voice fame after all. I'm surprised they were even allowed to acknowledge its existence, given how abridged freedom of speech has gotten lately.

Senate committees in Earthdome are holding closed hearings to discuss it, which I think is good news. Garibaldi turns the news off and announces that Julie Musante has been recalled to help deal with the crisis in morale, which I'm sure is good news. Though I feel her talents would be better appreciated if she was relocated to whatever star Orin Zento was thrown into after By Any Means Necessary. I mean I'm just assuming that he was thrown into a star, because... it makes me happy.

Once everyone else has gone, Garibaldi reveals he's actually a little pissed with Zack for being so friendly with Musante. Funny, I figured this would end with a conversation with one of them accusing the other of having private meetings, but I expected it would be the other way around.

Though Zack does point out that he looked up a 'code 7-R' and it doesn't exist. He's so pissed off that Garibaldi is keeping secrets that he doesn't want him to talk to him again today. This sucks. Zack was Garibaldi's third favourite friend in the universe! Or top four at least.

I like the lighting in this shot. Though I wish they'd put signs up all over the place telling me where we're supposed to be, because I can't tell if this is supposed to be the Zocalo at night or some other corridor.

Ivanova reports that making first contact with the First One was no problem at all, though there may be several thousand more of them left to find.

Sadly Zack has to say goodbye to Musante. I guess it was never meant to be.

Interestingly she seems genuinely convinced that the confession is a fraud, though absolutely nothing about her can be trusted, so who knows? She tells Zack that this only proves her point, as it shows that someone is clearly working against their government.

Then he asks her what a 'code 7-R' is, which is weird. He doesn't give away that he heard it from Garibaldi, but he was definitely hoping it really was a security code he wasn't aware of. Man, all that Garibaldi had to do was come up with some bullshit about how code 7-R means his fresh pasta ingredients had been smuggled in, or that Ivanova's got a poker game going, or that he needed to tow a Minbari shuttle full of diplomatic documents. But his non-answer has gotten a Night Watch member angry and suspicious.

And then Musante leaves on the passenger liner Loki, because she is a trickster god.

The episode's not over yet though, as G'Kar wakes Garibaldi up in the middle of the night to give him the Book of G'Quan, along with a few moments of pain (he tripped on something on the way to the door).

Garibaldi reminds him that he can't read Narn, so G'Kar yells back "Learn!" from halfway down the hallway. Like he has that kind of free time. But Garibaldi is able to make it back to his bed without further incident and I'm sure I noticed the door automatically closing behind him, so happy ending!

Also good is that the producers finally remembered to change the ending theme to match the new season three opening theme, so it's all suitably dramatic now.


CONCLUSION

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Babylon 5's second season was really starting to get a bit bleak, with the Markabs dying out, the Narns getting asteroid'd, and Night Watch spreading across Earth and the station. Voices of Authority continues the story of Earth's fall to fascism, but it feels a lot brighter. Partly because the heroes are finally on the counter attack, partly because it's actually funny. In fact it's practically a comedy episode at times, and most of the jokes landed for me.

The last episode, Passing Through Gethsemane, gave us a break from the complex web of threads that have been weaving through this season so far, but this is right back at it. It follows Sheridan, Garibaldi, Ivanova, G'Kar and Zack as their stories cross over each other.

G'Kar and Zack both know that the others are involved with something, but they're not sure what. Though G'Kar seems to be on the right track, as he gives Garibaldi a book full of clues about the Shadows. It's not hard to guess why he's being so helpful, seeing as he's been warning people about the Shadows for over a year now.

Zack, on the other hand, spends half the episode helping Musante and the other half getting pissed off with Garibaldi's secrecy, but he's clearly not comfortable with what Night Watch are selling. Either that or his collar doesn't fit right either.

Sheridan got a taste of what's going on back home with the devious and cunning Musante coming over to tempt, threaten, spy, seduce and anything else she needed to do to bend him to her will, and it's really fortunate that she got sent back home quickly as she wasn't leaving him much room to operate. I mean really fortunate, to the point it pushed my suspension of disbelief. The completely unearned, chance discovery of the proof kind of diminishes the political officer plot and the conspiracy against Clark in general, so it seems a bit of a shame that jms couldn't have found a more satisfying way to get the evidence that makes the characters seem smart and proactive. The episode just about got away with it though because a: they haven't won yet, and b: it paid off hints going all the way back to season one about Ivanova's telepathic ability. We have to take Draal's word that it's her superpower that got them the confession, and he's not just covering for not thinking of doing it himself, but I'm just happy she got something positive from it for once in her life.

There's no doubt that Ivanova was the clear hero of this story. She was trapped on the station for almost all of season two and the galaxy fell to chaos and darkness. In season three they've let her out twice so far, first time she helped get the first victory against the Shadows, second time she got proof of President Clark's plot and recruited an ally as ancient and powerful as the Vorlons all by herself! Well, with some guidance from Draal. It was lucky she was the one who went instead of Sheridan really, as he may be a tactical genius and a lateral thinker, but he's not a telepath and it likely wouldn't have occurred to him to deliberately piss off the most powerful beings known to humanity because it serves his purposes. No one can get people to do what she wants like Ivanova can. Except for when she wants Marcus to shut up.

And Garibaldi hurt his leg and got a book he can't read.

Overall I thought this was a pretty typical episode of a season that's been consistently decent so far. But it's more monumental than most, and fairly unskippable. It's definitely better than Star Trek: Voyager's Threshold.

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COMING SOON

Babylon 5 will return with Dust to Dust. But next on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's The Orville Season 2 Review! The season was only 14 episodes long so I figured why not just write a little bit about every story and get the whole season out of the way in one post. That way I can get right back to the Babylon 5 again.

Please leave a comment if you feel like it!