Overall:7.3
This is a wonderful episode for Delenn. It becomes less wonderful, though, when Straczynski's views on the HIV/AIDS epidemic come to the fore.
Plot Synopsis:
The Lurker's Guide chronicles the depressing events of this episode here.
The Skinny:
I like what this episode does for Delenn. As I note in the Highlights section below, I think her requesting to be locked in the isolation zone with the dying Markabs may be the most noble and self-sacrificing thing she ever does in the series. Given Straczynski's Catholic upbringing, I'm betting that a few of our saints served as his source of inspiration. We have, for example, the recently canonized Father Damien, who ministered to the lepers on the island of Molokai until he too contracted the disease and died.
When their conversations avoid preaching, I also like the relationship between Dr. Franklin and Lazarenn. Lazarenn too does a very noble thing when he willingly exposes himself to the Drafa plague so that Franklin can study the progress of the disease. And Lazarenn's warning to Franklin that he might have to face the possibility that he can't save the world is both touching and eerily prescient.
And, for the most part, I like how this episode ends. At the time this aired, it was generally expected that the heroic doctor would eventually find the sought-after cure and ride in to save the day. That Straczynski doesn't allow Franklin to do this - that, in fact, Franklin takes too long and misses the opportunity to rescue an entire civilization from annihilation - is very bold. When Franklin and the others discover Delenn and Lennier sitting alone in a room full of dead bodies, the moment is genuinely haunting.
So there is much that is good - even brilliant - in this episode. Unfortunately, when Straczynski stresses that this is an AIDS metaphor, I get pulled out of the story. The Drafa plaque, you see, is viewed by the Markabs as a punishment for immoral behavior, and that contributes to the slow pace of the research into discovering a treatment. To a certain extent, that lines up with what happened to people with AIDS in the 1980's. It is true, unfortunately, that AIDS patients were treated with suspicion by an ignorant public in the early days. There's just one problem: Straczynski's Drafa plague has no real connection with risky behavior. Straczynski thus seems to suggest that AIDS has nothing to do with a person's behavior either -- and that is a dangerously false idea to spread. Two virgins who marry and have sex with each other only will never get HIV -- unless they should decide to start shooting heroin. This is something gay journalist Randy Shilts understood, and for calling for the closure of the gay bathhouses in San Francisco, he was spat on. How does this kind of activism help gays to survive the epidemic? Ignoring the behavioral component in the spread of HIV/AIDS will lead to more deaths, not fewer.
Writing: 8.0
Independent of Straczynski's message, this story is gutsy and, in parts, very moving.
Acting: 8.0
Mira Furlan is the standout here. When Delenn sees the little Markab girl stumble, the look on her face is heartbreaking.
Message: 6.0
A pernicious message about a modern day plague distracts from Delenn's powerful - and Catholic - display of compassion. That is a real shame.
Highlights:
SHERIDAN: I haven't eaten all day, so I'm really looking forward to this --
DELENN: Oh, I - (She reaches out a hand to stop Sheridan.)
SHERIDAN: What? What's wrong?
DELENN: As there are rituals in preparing a meal of this nature, there are other rituals we must observe in eating the meal.
SHERIDAN: Oh.
DELENN: Otherwise the meal is no longer sanctified and... Lennier must begin all over again.
SHERIDAN: Well, we certainly wouldn't want that, would we? Um... what do I do?
DELENN: Well, you hand me your bowl, and I hand you mine as a gesture of welcoming.
LENNIER: Yes.
(Sheridan trades bowls with Delenn, then gets ready to start eating. He is stopped again by Delenn.)
DELENN: And then we offer a portion of our meal to the one who prepared it as a gesture of thankfulness.
(Sheridan does this too.)
SHERIDAN: Well, that's -- (He clears his throat and prepares to tuck in. For the third time, he's stopped by Delenn.)
DELENN: It is then tradition for the guest to set aside one piece of flarn in the memory of Valen in the place that's set aside for his return.
SHERIDAN: Uh, and the flarn would be...?
LENNIER: The green.
SHERIDAN: Oh. (He stabs a piece of flarn.)
LENNIER: Yes. Yes.
(Sheridan then places the piece of flarn in Valen's bowl.)
SHERIDAN: Well?
DELENN: We may eat now.
SHERIDAN: Oh, good. (He stabs a piece of food with his left hand.)
DELENN: With the right hand.
(Embarrassed, Sheridan switches hands. Then, finally, he is able to take his first bite.)
SHERIDAN: (chewing) Hmm.
(He moves to take another bite, but Delenn stops him for the fourth time.)
DELENN: We must now wait for a few moments before eating again. In between, we meditate upon food. (LOL! This meal is torture. Poor Sheridan.)
SHERIDAN: Zzzzzzzzzz.
DELENN: Captain Sheridan?
SHERIDAN: (startling awake) In the memory of the Nine and the One... what?
DELENN: You were - you were asleep.
SHERIDAN: No! No, I wasn't. I-I was meditating.
LENNIER: The sound you were making is part of human meditation? (ROTFL!)
DELENN: Captain, I'm sorry to disturb you at this time.
SHERIDAN: No, no, no. It's all right. I doubt I'd be able to sleep anyway. What can I do for you?
DELENN: I have been monitoring the situation and... I would like to make a request.
SHERIDAN: Ambassador, we can't allow anyone off this station --
DELENN: (interrupting) I would like to be allowed into the isolation zone. I've spoken with Ambassador Fashar, and he's willing to allow us entry.
SHERIDAN: Why?
DELENN: They're in pain. Frightened. Dying. The Minbari are taught that at such a time, the people should ministered to - comforted.
SHERIDAN: They are not your own people, Delenn.
DELENN: I didn't know that similarity was required for the exercise of compassion. (Sheridan looks properly chastened.) They are afraid. We wish to do what little we can.
SHERIDAN: We?
DELENN: Lennier has asked to accompany me.
SHERIDAN: Delenn, I cannot allow this --
DELENN: I understand the risk, Captain! If the disease is limited only to the Markab, we should do all we can. But if it's not, then we must give comfort because very soon we will be requiring it ourselves.
SHERIDAN: You will be exposing yourself to massive contamination! If I let you into that isolation zone, I-I can't let you out again!
DELENN: (quietly) I know. (This is one of the bravest and most noble things Delenn does in this canon. Wow.)
LAZARENN: You know, Stephen, I was trying to remember how we first met. It seems like ages ago. (A beat.) Ah, yes. It was back home, and you were on layover. You were hitchhiking on starships then. You were very funny. Everything to you is a problem to be solved - a test to be passed. But you know, Stephen, sometimes the test is not to find the answer. It's to see how you react when you realize there is no answer. (Unfortunately, in this episode, this line turns out to be very relevant.)
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