Za'Ha'Dum

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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This was the end of a lot of things, and the beginning of many more. Oh, what am I saying, I'm starting to sound like G'Kar or something. Let's just say it was a good episode and go from there, shall we?
We start off where we ended (this episode and "Shadow Dancing" are practically a two-parter), with the shocked Delenn shattering the snow-globe on the floor while Anna Sheridan walks in most likely wondering who IS this little alien floozy John's taken up with! (No, just kidding, after all she DID know Delenn's name. Hmmn...) The VERY shocked John Sheridan walks in, confused as hell, and demands to know what's going on.
"You mean she didn't TELL you?" Anna asks in that squeaky voice of hers. She then offers to subject herself to all the medical tests John can think of, if that's what it takes to prove that she's the REAL Anna Sheridan, and not just "something made up to look like me".
Strangely enough, the tests come out positive. But NOBODY survives Za'Ha'Dum without being changed...
She's come back, and she's come to bring HIM back with her. Back where? "Why, to Za'Ha'Dum, of course!" Oh, yeah, SURE, the best vacation spot in the galaxy, EVERYBODY goes there--HUH? Not being a total idiot, John tells her that the only way he'll go is if she'll explain what REALLY happened to the Icarus when it first landed there. She is upset but agrees to tell him if that's what it takes.
Meanwhile, G'Kar shows Ivanova some new weapons B5 just recieved from the Gaim--nukes. Big ones. And they can't be picked up on normal sensors unless you know what you're looking for. A tiny, seemingly throwaway scene that will be important later...
Sheridan confronts Delenn about Anna, obviously very very hurt. I must take a moment here to say that this is probably the very best acting job--the entire episode, but ESPECIALLY this scene--I have EVER seen Bruce Boxleitner do. He was absolutely stunning here. Anyone who thinks of him as purely a chintzy daytime T.V. pretty-boy "actor" with no real talent should check out this scene; it would knock your socks off. And yet again, no Emmys for anyone on this show other than technical ones, after all, it's "ONLY science-fiction"...sigh. Anyway, this was a very touching scene indeed. Delenn swears to him that she did not KNOW that Anna was still alive; they just ASSUMED that she was dead. "Anyone who was not killed by the Shadows must serve. We always assumed she would NOT serve. Perhaps we were wrong..."
Oooh...
"Anna would NEVER serve those things!" yells Sheridan. Delenn goes on to explain how she and Kosh could not let him know even the possibility that she could still be alive, because then he would go to Za'Ha'Dum after her--and he's far too important to the war. "So you would have robbed me of that choice?" Sheridan thunders. "If you lie to me about this, Delenn, how can I ever trust you again?"
Breaking to a different part of the station, we see Londo, getting drunk as skunk but not enjoying it terribly much; he seems very depressed. Vir wants to know what's wrong, and Londo answers: "I've been promoted."
And that's....bad?
He explains further--he has been given a position in the Royal Court itself, as an adviser to Emperor Cartagia (bwahaha). Why does this make him mad? Because he should have gotten a position like this 20 years ago, when he could have EARNED it. Because it's NOT a reward--it's a leash. They're getting afraid of him back home, and have decided to reel him in, keep an eye on him. (The Human saying "Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer" seems to apply here.) While they are sitting there talking, a creepy-looking young man with the same type of ultra-conservative, plain, neutral-coloured clothes and slicked-back hair of Mr. Morden shows up and tells Londo that he has a message from their mutual...associates: If Londo does not leave the station RIGHT NOW, he will be in great danger. And he can't tell him any more.
Hmmn...
In Medlab, Dr. Franklin finds something unusual on Anna Sheridan's examinations. She has these weird scars on the back of her neck...and there seems to be something behind them...he gives the results to Captain Sheridan.
Back in (John) Sheridan's quarters, Anna finally explains the story of the Icarus. Here, as in with practically all of this episode, mysteries and hints from earlier parts of the arc are wrapped up and explained by the dozen. But as it turns out later...how can we be sure she's telling the whole truth, considering what she is...but I'm getting ahead of myself again.
The Icarus, led by Dr. Chang, had been sent out by Interstellar Expeditions (I.E.--we bring good things BACK to life--sorry, couldn't resist) to investigate the ruins of a very advanced alien society no-one had ever heard of before at a planet out on the Rim. So far, so good, we already knew this part of the story was true. What we DIDN'T know is HOW Chang got the information--because of that alien (Shadow--Anna always calls the Shadows "the aliens" because she thinks "Shadows" is too dramatic and sinister a name for such "friendly" people...) ship that had been found on Mars a few years ago. (Remember THAT episode? "Messages From Earth", and Dr. Mary Kirkish's traumatised account?) IPX had broken off pieces for study and put a homing beacon on it, BEFORE the other ship showed up to dig it out the rest of the way. They tracked the first ship out to that planet on the Rim--Za'Ha'Dum. (Although they didn't have a name for it at the time.) Then, after an "accident" killed off everyone else on the Icarus, (yeah right), Anna and Morden met "the aliens", who's real name is 10,000 letters long and unpronouncable by Humans, and who were very "approachable". (DOUBLE yeah, right.) Supposedly, ever since then, she's been living happily in peace on Za'Ha'Dum for FIVE entire years, but didn't notice it had been that long because supposedly time works somewhat differently there, doing "important things", which of course she won't tell Sheridan. He has to come and SEE. All she's asking him is to let "the aliens" tell their side of the story, she says, smiling oh-so-sweetly up at him...
Sheridan then agrees to go to Za'Ha'Dum with her, and at this point you're starting to think--did someone just take the Captain's brain out of his skull and replace it with green Jell-O or something? No, they didn't...keep watching...
He hands Garibaldi a padd and tells him to do what it says, without asking ANY questions or even making guesses, "and if all this works out, we'll talk about the weather".
?
He then packs TWO guns--not an idiot after all, you see--one openly and the other one hidden, and records a time-delay message for Delenn.
Then--he actually DOES set off for Za'Ha'Dum.
Even though he KNOWS he will die.
They take the White Star, and Anna has a strange but telling reaction to the Vorlon technology in it--she CLAIMS that she's acting this way because she's worried about "the aliens"--they think that if anything even REMOTELY Vorlon touches their planet it will be destroyed. Now THAT'S an interesting weakness should it turn out to be true! However, you can tell, from her shivering, her revulsion, and pallor that SHE doesn't like the Vorlon technology, PERSONALLY. She reacts to it the way a Vampire does to a cross or something....
Back on the station, Delenn recieves the time-delay message and at first is horrified--the man she loves has run off with his former wife, whom he really loved very much. But she soon finds out that what he's doing is trying to be a martyr in order to keep that horrible flash-forward he saw in "Babylon Squared" from happening. He says that while he was in the future, on the ruined, burning Centauri Prime (sniff), the older Delenn BEGGED him not to go to Za'Ha'Dum. Well, he figures, maybe it was following her advice that caused all this. Maybe, just MAYBE, if he DOES go to Za'Ha'Dum he can help them win the war AND save Centauri Prime. (HE CARES ABOUT THE CENTAURI! SOMEONE CARES ABOUT SAVING THEM!! From this point forward, you will not hear one nasty word about Sheridan pass my...um..fingers. Although I must admit that only someone like ME would react that strongly to that line...). So he's leaving, even though he's almost totally certain it's a trap. Just before he signs off, he tells her he truly loves her. And Delenn puts her fingers gently against his mouth in the picture and turns away, wracked with sobs...oh, geez. If you don't get teary-eyed yourself at this scene, you have NO heart.
They get to Za'Ha'Dum, and once they get there, Anna leads him into an underground building and into a nice, seemingly normal room where a grandfatherly, sweet-seeming old guy named Justin pours them all some tea--John, Anna, himself and...Mr. Morden. (eek!) Looking as creepy as ever. Then, in his kind, sweet, cracked-voice old way, Justin explains to Sheridan what the Shadows are really about. They're not EVIL; they're just trying to help the races EVOLVE. Which sounds okay on the surface, but it's the WAY they're doing it which is creepy. They make the different races fight each other, and whoever wins will be stronger, faster, and "better". Morden points out all the wonderful scientific advances that would not have been possible if not for conflict urging people on. And if a few races get wiped out entirely, well, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs...
At the beginning of this conversation, Morden took his gun--the one they could SEE. Sheridan then starts slowly, ever so carefully, going for the one hidden in his pant-leg. Also sometime during this conversation we find out that Anna had been place in one of their ships, but hadn't taken to it so they got her out, quickly. That's what those scars were...an implant in her brain stem, to help link her into the ship.
Then the oh-so-friendly Justin threatens Sheridan, but quietly and kindly as always--if he doesn't stop trying to keep all the League races together in harmony, they will--not kill HIM, as you might suspect, because that's the problem with creating martyrs; there's always another to take their place. So instead, if he doesn't start doing what THEY want, they will...remove his support mechanism...
"You're not Anna!" Sheridan yells, hurt to the core, and frightened to death. "Sure, it's the same memories, the same DNA, but it's not her. The personality...MY Anna would never go along with something like this!" And then he pulls out his second gun and tries to run for it. When they realise what he's doing, a couple of Shadows appear in the doorway to block him...
"Remove his support mechanism", eh? Shadow ships suddenly appear around B5! RIGHT around it! We now realise that that's why the guy wanted Londo, one of their most valuable allies, to leave the station RIGHT NOW. Oh, and G'Kar comes in to tell Ivanova that two of the nukes seem to be MISSING!
The next scene shows Sheridan, bruised and bloody, trying desperately to escape. He goes through another door, looking for a way out, and he finds himself on a balcony. Which affords a perfect view of the ruined alien city below--
--and a bottomless pit.
Yikes.
He taps his comlink several times and on the White Star, which is in orbit, a computer voice comes on saying that thermonuclear systems are now armed, and it starts heading for the planet. WHOAH boy.
"There's nowhere to go, John," says Anna, walking slowly towards him with two Shadows perfectly visible behind her. "Yes, I am no longer your wife but I am what was born in her, and I can still love you anyway..." she pleads, holding her hands out to him. "Come to us, John..."
BRRRR!! SHUDDER! Now she REALLY reminds me of a vampire. I must say, Melissa Gilbert ALSO did a creditable acting job--she freaked the living beejeebers out of me in this scene! Who ever would have thought that "Laura" from "Little House on the Prairie" could do such a good villian?
Sheridan stands there on the balcony. Anna and the Shadows come closer. Everything goes into slow-motion, giving it all a dream-like quality--but unlike other shows, who would never even THINK of doing something like this to their main character--this is NO dream! Sheridan peers over the edge, down, down, down, down, into the pit. He looks up through the glass dome ceiling and sees the White Star heading RIGHT for them. He's going to die now no matter what!
Suddenly, he hears Kosh's voice in his mind: "JUMP! JUMP NOW!!"
And so...he DOES.
Yep, you heard me. The STAR character just leapt right into a bottomless pit! Anna watches him on his way down, down, down, down...and then SHE looks up to see the White Star, red-hot from barreling through the planet's atmosphere, heading STRAIGHT TOWARDS HER!
She screams, also in slow motion, as crashes into her and its two nuclear warheads go off--
and then everything snaps back into normal speed again.
But the Captain is dead.
Or certainly SEEMS to be, anyway...
The episode, and the season, ends with a montage of images of people around the station all grieving for Sheridan in their own way--oh, and Mr. Garibaldi seems to be missing, too, while G'Kar makes a speech about "moments of transition" and how the only thing they know about how new ages are born is that they are always born...in pain...

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