Matters of Honor
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Well, now THIS is more like what a Season-opener SHOULD be like! (Unlike "Points of Departure", which managed to be action-packed and yet somehow dull at the same time.). True, it can't compare with "The Hour of the Wolf"--but then again, what can? Still, a great episode full of EVERYTHING. Not only did they manage to both intrduce a new character and an important new object, AND sort of sum-up and remind us of everything that was going on at the end of Season Two, BUT they ALSO found time for some character development, politicking, and intrigue. My kind of stuff.
Let's get my usual switching-to-new-season analysis out of the way. The theme song--there is a new intro, said by Ivanova, (the SHORTEST of any of the season intros by far!), there are two new faces here, Marcus Cole and Zack Allen, who is only new to being a REGULAR but not NEW, and THREE old faces missing--Talia Winters--mindwiped. Warren Keffer--Shadow-bait. Na'Toth--the only Narn character I actually LIKED--missing, presumed dead in the Centauri attack on Narn, which is where she was when it happened. Sad. Also, the new music is from "The Long Twilight Struggle", at least partially.
There were, of course, several plots going on at once, and unlike some other episodes, in this one the three plots were HEAVILY interwoven.
Let's discuss the main plot first. This is our first view of Marcus Cole, the Ranger liason assigned to Babylon 5. He is many people's favourite character, and most of the women DROOL over him. Now, while he is fairly good-looking, I'M more inclined to like him for his personality--his dry, dark sense of humour and his sarcastic wit. Does this sound like anybody ELSE we know...? No WONDER the female fans are always trying to match him up with Ivanova (besides the obvious reason), their personalities are so similar! Like Ivanova also, he has no family and a tragic past, and for similar reasons. And he has more personality in his little FINGER than Keffer EVER did. Keffer had only ONE value--and not much of one--he was pretty. Marcus is pretty with a BRAIN, and feelings, and acting ability. And a LARGE significance to the plot. Much better. Anyway, Marcus comes to us while escaping--barely--from a planet called Zagros VII on the edge of Drazi territory which has been taken over by the Centauri and blockaded. (I rather liked the Drazi captain who helped him escape; cool guy. This made me want to know more about the Drazi's government and such, since you don't see them being actively involved in the Side of Light and being heroic very often.) When he gets to B5, sacrificing all his life-support to do it, Franklin is about to treat him when YOINK he's not there anymore! Therein follows his meeting with Delenn and Lennier and a GREAT fight scene afterwards in which we see the famous Minbari fighting-pike for the first time, and DELENN, of all people, gets to KICK BUTT with it! I was VERY impressed and surprised! She seemed to be having a lot of fun, too!
And now on to the White Star. This new ship, a mixture of Minbari and Vorlon (?!) technology, is given specially to B5 by the Rangers to help fight the Shadows. The Earth people's obvious wonder at it is amusing, and we learn some interesting stuff about jump GATES vs. jump POINTS in this episode (always a confusing part of the B5 reality, at least for me anyway.) But the REALLY interesting part is in what HAPPENS when they take the White Star for its first joy ride...and, more importantly, why...
For that, we have to turn our attention to plot #2--Londo and Morden.
Londo has decided to dump Morden. ("You didn't call, you didn't write! I think you did it just for SPITE!" Sorry, couldn't resist.) No, not like THAT, I mean, break off their alliance. "We have danced ourr last leetle dance, Mr. Morden", says Londo with a gleeful, fangy grin on his face (I would say a TOOTHY grin, but...). "Now it is time for you to go AWAY."
Well, the "'What do you want?' guy" as my brother so hilariously called him, says, "Okay", and agrees that Londo owes him nothing (except his soul...). After conferring with his "associates"--who are evidently with him RIGHT THERE in the crowded bar!--he gets Londo to agree to just one more meeting to clear up some "bookkeeping".
Hmmmn...knowing the Shadows, that was an awfully EASY time Londo had getting out of their clutches...what is Morden hiding...?
What follows is a calm yet very chilling scene in which, in the privacy of Londo's quarters, they "carve up the galaxy" together. Morden just GIVES the Centauri about HALF the galaxy, so long as they stay away from the other half, which is Shadow territory. Londo asks Morden what guarantee do they have that Morden's associates won't turn around and attack THEM?
Morden: "You don't."
Gulp...
As he's leaving, just in passing, Morden mentions that there is ONE planet, a small, nothing one, on the borders of Centauri space that the Shadows want. In fact, LORD REFA (eek!)has already secured it for them, from the Drazi, and then cleared out. The name of the planet is--Zagros VII!
Yep, the same place our heroes are going on the White Star. OH, boy...
And now we find why Morden is seemingly letting Londo go so easily. He already has made ANOTHER connection in the Centauri government and doesn't NEED him anymore...
Meanwhile, back with the "Army of Light", they are taking their new hot set o' wheels out to Zagros VII to rescue the Rangers at a hidden base there. When they get there, even though they know the planet has been taken over by the Centauri, they don't see any Centauri ships. Even after the Rangers have been rescued--STILL no Centauri ships! Why is that, they wonder...
And WHAM a SHADOW ship shows up and starts firing at them! Not wanting the Shadows to know about how much their new ship can do, Sheridan comes up with an insane idea--go into a nearby jumpgate, and then, WHILE in it, use the ship's engines to open a jumppoint! (Something that most ships their size CAN'T do on their own.) Ivanova points out that this is, to put it mildly, not exactly wise, and that when it was tried during the Earth/Minbari war it was called "The Boneheaded Manouever" and blew everyone to Kingdom Come!
But Sheridan is convinced that with how FAST the White Star is, they'll be able to outrun the shockwave--and kill the Shadow ship in the explosion so it can't report back. PLUS this particular jumpgate leads to the Markab system, which has been hit by all kinds of graverobbers ever since the poor Markab went extinct (great continuity). So it's a GOOD thing to blow up this particular gate.
Well, we then get a great "BOOM" scene as the jumpgate blows itself to bits and the Shadow ship as well, and after getting badly shaken around, everyone on the White Star is all right. Especially Lennier, who LOVED the experience! ("Can we do that again?")
On to the third plot. This concerns a VIP from Earth named David Endawi (who seemed actually rather likeable for an Earth VIP) asking the different Ambassadors if the ship in Keffer's log that was broadcast on ISN--the Shadow ship, of course--looks familiar to them. Their answers are all rather interesting:
Delenn--says NO, she has NOT seen it. Which is true, but just BARELY. While she had never SEEN a Shadow ship, she had READ about them in ancient texts and recognised it instantly from the descriptions.
Londo--tells us more about that cryptic dream that we first saw in "The Coming of Shadows". How he was on CENTAURI PRIME when he sees the ships go overhead, and how there were so many of them they "blocked out the sun". Clearly disturbed by this weird guy who starts telling a total stranger about his dreams for no reason, Endawi excuses himself and leaves. He should have listened...
G'Kar--while not really an Ambassador anymore, still turns out to be the most informative one. He shows Endawi a picture from the Book of G'Quan that looks EXACTLY like a Shadow ship.
Endawi then returns to Earth and gives his report to a snotty lady Senator. She thanks him and then is met by two other people--a Psi Cop!--and MR. MORDEN!!
AAACCCKKKK!!! This scene is meant to WHAP you upside the head, and believe me, it DOES! EARTH IS WORKING WITH THE SHADOWS, TOO! OH, NO!!
And what exactly does the Psi Corps have to do with all of this...?
The episode ends with the forming of the B5 War Council and Delenn explaining to an understandably confused Franklin about the Shadows. "There are races in the universe, billions of years older than any of ours," she says. "They used to walk like giants among the stars..."
And as her voice gradually fades out, the camera pulls back farther and farther until the characters are being looked at from a great height...as if, perhaps, these "giants" she mentioned are WATCHING them?
Shadows and symbols...what B5 does best.
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