Contents: Overview - Backplot - Questions - Analysis - Notes - JMS

Overview

Lennier uncovers hard evidence about the source of the cargo ship attacks. Lise arrives to see Garibaldi. Lyta attempts to strike a deal on behalf of the rogue telepaths. Denise Gentile as Lise. Richard Ynigues as Montoya.

P5 Rating: 8.74

Production number: 516
Original air date: June 3, 1998

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Janet Greek

Plot Points

• Lennier has observed firsthand an attack on civilian Brakiri ships by a Centauri attack force. He has brought a recording of the attack back to Sheridan and Delenn, who have called a closed meeting of all the Alliance worlds except the Centauri.
• The Centauri royal court has learned that Sheridan and other Alliance representatives believe the Centauri responsible for the attacks on Alliance ships. They've asked Londo to do whatever he can to keep the Centauri from being blamed, and have suggested to him that the real culprits are Narns making use of ships and weapons left behind when the occupation of Narn ended.
• Lyta has made a deal with G'Kar: in exchange for a few deep-space-capable ships and a considerable sum of money, she will give the Narn access to the genetic codes of hundreds of rogue telepaths, enough to allow the Narn to isolate the genetic basis of telepathy and start to engineer it back into their race. She intends to send telepathic scouting parties into deep space in search of a world suitable for habitation by a telepath colony.
• Garibaldi has started having nightmares about failing to be around to help the Alliance when he's needed. In one dream, he saw a vision of Lyta, who said she'd decided to stop hiding what the Vorlons did to her and was testing the limits of her powers.
• Lise has discovered Garibaldi's drinking, though for the moment he seems to have convinced her that he has it under control. He doesn't, though: despite promising to her that he wouldn't drink while she was visiting, he hasn't been able to resist the urge.

Unanswered Questions

• What was happening in Garibaldi's dream? Was Lyta really involved at all?
• What unpleasant secrets has Lise discovered about her newly-inherited company?
• Did Lise take Garibaldi's advice and flee the station?
• Was Lise fooled by Garibaldi's attempt to convince her he could stop drinking?

Analysis

• Is Lennier's solo mission what Morden was referring to as "betraying the Anla'shok" in "Day of the Dead?" He did indirectly disobey the chain of command by disregarding Sheridan's order to return to Babylon 5, but on the other hand he was arguably still well within the bounds of loyalty since he was acting on behalf of the head of the Rangers.

• Delenn strongly implied that Sheridan had considered sending Lennier to the Centauri border, but had decided against it. Is that the case, or was she just assuming that he would do so if presented with the choice? If he did consciously decide not to send Lennier at some point, why didn't Delenn attempt to argue the case with him then?

• Delenn apparently thinks the situation with the Centauri is going to end badly. Londo was obviously surprised when she hugged him, a departure from her normal reserve. What did she think was going to happen to Londo such that this was her last chance to embrace him?

• Does Garibaldi actually intend to return to Mars? That doesn't square with accepting the job of director of covert intelligence for the Alliance. Though it's possible he could perform many of his job duties from an office on Mars, he'd be far away from one of the most convenient sources of intelligence information: Babylon 5.

• Garibaldi's dream was ambiguous. It may have been completely metaphorical, his own mind warning him about his alcoholism. His vision of Lyta may have been a manifestation of his distrust of telepaths and his knowledge that they're still affecting his mind.

  On the other hand, much of it could be literal. Kosh had the ability to visit people in dreams ("All Alone in the Night," "Interludes and Examinations") so the Vorlons might have given Lyta the same power. Glimpses of possible futures have been seen, e.g. Ladira's vision of the destruction of Babylon 5 ("Signs and Portents") or Londo's dream of the arrival of the Shadows on Centauri Prime and his eventual coronation and death ("The Coming of Shadows.") If such visions are an extension of telepathic power, it's possible that contact with Lyta was allowing Garibaldi to incorporate elements of precognition into his dream.

  Depending on how much of Garibaldi's dream was based in reality, it raises some questions: What was happening in the Zocalo? Why were Lyta's eyes glowing white, instead of going black as they generally do while she's exercising her enhanced powers? (They glow white when she's possessed by a Vorlon, e.g. in "Into the Fire," but are otherwise black even when she's doing something Vorlon-related, e.g. remembering her time on the Vorlon homeworld in "Secrets of the Soul.") What exactly was she doing to Garibaldi, and why did she choose him?

• The rough time the waiter at Fresh Air gave Garibaldi may have been due to knowledge of Garibaldi's heavy drinking, since he has had food from the restaurant delivered to his quarters while drunk ("Meditations on the Abyss.")

• G'Kar's test of Lyta wasn't as useful as he seems to think: if she was scrupulous in the use of her powers, she'd have little choice but to answer "no" to his request. But if she was willing to go to any lengths to get what she wanted, she would almost certainly have been scanning him and would have easily discovered why he was really asking her to spy on the ambassadors. Armed with that knowledge, she would also have said "no." So her answer doesn't actually say much about how far she's willing to compromise her principles on behalf of the rogues.

Notes

• Lyta's conversation with G'Kar took place in "The Gathering." The Narn interest in acquiring telepaths was also a factor in "Legacies."
• Garibaldi mentioned that Catherine Sakai disappeared over a year ago. Her disappearance is covered in more detail in the novel "To Dream In the City of Sorrows." One possible chronological discrepancy is that according to the book, Sakai disappeared before Sinclair returned to the station in "War Without End," which would make it at least two years, not one. Of course, Garibaldi may not have found out about her disappearance until some time after it happened.
• In "Meditations on the Abyss," a Minbari fighter with 15% of its oxygen remaining only had an hour's worth of air, implying a six-hour air supply. But in this episode, Montoya mentioned that fighters normally have over thirty hours of air. It's possible that the oxygen supply isn't a reserve of oxygen per se, but rather the capacity remaining in an air recycling system, and that the system recycles more efficiently when it's at full capacity.

jms speaks

• "OK, so is anyone going to try to pass *this* one off as non-arc 'filler'?"

  Exactly. See, that's where I get nuts about some of the other comments. A number of folks said last week's was just filler...but last week we saw the process by which Lennier was sent to White Star 27, what he was looking for, and why...we were introduced to the captain, the mission...and now this week it pays off. It seems like the *result* is considered arc, and the set-up is considered "filler."

  Similarly, Lyta's actions in this episode (and those that are going to follow) are a direct result of the whole Byron thread, which is going to spiral further in some interesting directions. Some said the Byron stuff was just filler...but it was there to move Lyta into a whole new direction that will have a substantial effect on the show and her character (and at least one other).

  It seems to me that repeatedly, people dismiss something new in the mix as filler or non-arc...when in fact it's ABSOLUTE arc stuff once you've seen the whole thing. (Except for those who only seem to feel that results are arc, not setups, which is as nutty a view as I've ever heard.)

• Was Lyta flirting with G'Kar?
  I wouldn't say she has any sexual interest in G'Kar...she had her pleasure threshold expanded with Byron just recently, and as for her parting comment, I think it came more under the category of "you ain't getting it, but since you were still wondering..." A friendly plink.

• How would a human and Narn mate, anyway?
  Well, as G'Kar said in the pilot, there would have to be rather substantial genetic manipulation and adjustment to allow for the different DNA structures to mix.

  After that, it would require the usual: dinner, flowers, and being willing to sit through a chick-flick....

• Delenn didn't take any guff from Sheridan.
  That's one of my favorite scenes from that episode...she basically yanks his pants up over his head and ties them in a knot. Someone trained in the religious caste can argue her way around just about anything and anyone.

  Minbari religious caste make Jesuits look like intellectual softies by comparison.

• But she made a big assumption about why he didn't want to send Lennier.
  She's right because she's married to the guy and knows him inside and out, including how he thinks and why he does things.

  When you live with somebody like that, you can go out and buy a pair of shoes, and in the morning, complain that they're too tight...and never mention it again for the rest of the day...then in the evening you sigh, as you're taking them off, and he or she says, "Don't worry, we can always have them stretched."

• Wouldn't the Centauri have noticed air escaping?
  The amount of oxygen taken would have been very minimal, given the size of Lennier's ship (little more than coffin-sized), and the volume would be replaced by the carbon dioxide from Lennier's ship. The hole would have been self-sealed by the Minbari fighter, which was designed to do this sort of thing in order to sneak past enemy lines.

Last update: June 22, 1998