Plot Synopsis:
Just before President Santiago is scheduled to visit the station, there is an explosion in the Cobra Bay. A presidential security detail is sent in advance of the president himself to investigate the matter - a detail headed by Major Lianna Kremmer, a young woman who has never forgiven Garibaldi for what happened to her father on Europa seventeen years ago. As Garibaldi explains to Sinclair, the late Kremmer was killed by some of Garibaldi's underworld enemies, and Garibaldi himself was blamed.
The chilly Lianna immediately makes her presence felt on the station. She demands that she be given complete control over the investigation into the Cobra Bay incident - control that Sinclair reluctantly grants - and then barges into Med Lab and, over Franklin's objections, medically revives the one survivor of the explosion. Before the crewman dies from the stress of the revival, he reveals that the explosion was caused by a bomb -- and he implicates Garibaldi.
Garibaldi is suspended, and his quarters are searched by Lianna's men. One, Cutter, then reports to Lianna that schematics of the Cobra Bay and a tidy sum of Centauri ducats have been found among Garibaldi's belongings. Garibaldi insists he is being framed, but Lianna will have none of it: she orders Cutter to take Garibaldi into custody, and Garibaldi flees. Lianna puts out the station's equivalent of an APB, but Sinclair orders Ivanova to cancel the alert. Lianna threatens to call her superiors, but Sinclair is not moved, as he figures the delay will buy him some time to find Garibaldi first.
Now a fugitive, Garibaldi approaches several of the aliens for help. Down in the casino, Garibaldi talks to Londo, who suggests G'Kar may be involved in the frame somehow. G'Kar, naturally, denies this. He then offers to book Garibaldi passage off the station -- provided, of course, that Garibaldi agree to work for the Narn government. Garibaldi, of course, declines. Instead, he goes down to the alien sector to talk to N'Grath about getting a security clearance card, but N'Grath refuses to assist Garibaldi because he is "police."
Once he is forcibly escorted out of N'Grath's, Garibaldi is nearly captured by Lianna's forces, but he ducks into an airlock and gets away. Back in the human sector, he is attacked by a group of aliens who have it in for him, and Sinclair has to jump in and intervene. Sinclair tells Garibaldi to go to Med Lab, but Garibaldi refuses to do so until he figures out who framed him. When Sinclair receives a call from General Netter, Lianna's superior, Garibaldi gives him the slip. Garibaldi eventually ends up in an out-of-the-way bar in Downbelow, where he falls off the wagon and gets very drunk. After finishing almost an entire bottle of booze, he stumbles out of the bar and is captured.
Lianna tries to get Garibaldi to confess to the bombing of the Cobra Bay; Garibaldi, for his part, tries to reach Lianna personally, telling her that he would've gone in her father's place if given the opportunity. Just then, Sinclair arrives with evidence that the crewman who died in the Med Lab at Lianna's hand was a member of Homeguard and likely planted the bomb himself. Lianna points out that this still does not explain how the schematics and ducats were planted in Garibaldi's quarters. Here, Garibaldi suggests that Cutter might be involved, as he was there when both were found. He suggests that Lianna check the other bays herself before the president delivers the new fighter wing. Down in the bays, a struggle with Cutter ensues, a struggle in which Garibaldi finally gets the upper hand. Just before the new fighters dock, Garibaldi calls Ivanova to abort the docking procedure -- and it's a good thing, as bombs are discovered on all the bay doors. If the fighter wing had docked, it and half the station would've been destroyed.
In the end, Lianna and Garibaldi manage to mend their relationship. But Garibaldi is still left with the lingering fear that he might once again slip into his alcoholism the next time he is under stress.
Overall: 5.3 - A few nice moments with my favorite ambassadors aside, this is a pretty meh episode with a pretty meh script and a definitely boring primary guest star. The little winter weather event going on outside my window is more interesting by far.
Writing: 6
I'll give this script credit for three things. First of all, it establishes Garibaldi's alcoholism, which is a critical bit of set up for a plot in fifth season. Secondly, it picks up the background plot thread regarding the political machinations on Earth and continues to wind it out. And lastly, it uses the ambassadors to good effect. For example, we have highlighted below another astonishingly poignant moment for Londo - and G'Kar gets handed yet one more of his eminently quotable bon mots. Despite these positives, however, I don't find much here that is very memorable. As a matter of fact, when I sat down to watch this episode this evening, I couldn't even recall its plot. That to me is a bad sign.
Acting: 5
Elaine Thomas makes Michael O'Hare look downright lively in comparison. It's possible she was trying to portray someone who had forcibly repressed her emotions, but even so, you should still expect to see some flickers of her expression - some changes in her eyes. Instead, what Thomas delivers is a very dull, flat performance. I just do not feel her personal connection to Garibaldi at all. On the other hand, Jerry Doyle does a pretty good drunk scene, and Peter J. and Andreas K. are, as usual, genuine delights.
Message: 5
I don't think there really is a message to speak of here -- unless of course you want to reach and say the episode is promoting forgiveness over the nursing of personal vendettas.
Highlights:
GARIBALDI: Someone's trying to frame me for the explosion in the Cobra Bay. They planted a schematic of the bay and a pouch of Centauri ducats in my quarters.
LONDO: Centauri? Mr. Garibaldi -- do you really think that I would do such a thing to you, my good and dear friend?
GARIBALDI: In a minute.
LONDO: (smiling ruefully) You're right. But I didn't.
LONDO: Who would've thought it? You borrowing money from me. Luckily for you, Ilaros has smiled on me recently.
GARIBALID: Ilaros?
LONDO: Goddess of luck. Patron of gamblers. She and I have had a rather long and dubious relationship. (He hands Garibaldi a bag.) Five hundred Centauri ducats. That should buy you whatever you need.
GARIBALDI: You're being awfully generous. Any particular reason?
LONDO: You're a very suspicious man, Garibaldi. But yes, there is a reason. We are alike, you and I. We are both, as you say, the odd man out. I have been in your place. I can feel how you are pinned. And it would give me some small pleasure to know that things can work out, even for us.
G'KAR: You look as if you could use a drink. This taree is most potent.
GARIBALDI: No thanks. But you can tell me how you knew I was coming.
G'KAR: You've been talking to Mollari. It was inevitable he would send you to me.
GARIBALDI: How --?
G'KAR: Oh, my people watch him, his people watch me -- we all watch one another here, Mr. Garibaldi.
G'KAR: The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest. Unless you comprehend that fact - and soon - you will be cornered and caged. They will destroy you.
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