Classics: B5 3:8 - Messages from Earth

Overall: 8.7

There we go! This is how we get things moving again.

Be forewarned: when you get to the end of this episode, you will feel a strong hankering to watch the next two in quick succession.

Plot Synopsis:

The Lurker's Guide, as always, has a summary here.

The Skinny:

Messages from Earth genuinely suprised me on re-watch. It wasn't originally on my radar as a particularly noteworthy episode, but in actuality, it is quite good. Shame on me.

Why is this episode good? Number one, Bruce Boxleitner puts in his best performance since In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum, I think - particularly in that scene in the White Star's bedchamber. I was honestly moved by Sheridan's retelling of the night before his big Academy final.

Number two, the dialogue is also far, far less hackneyed than usual. There is some exposition and a dash of schmoopiness, but overall, JMS really dials his purple down to a pleasant violet. The comic bits prompt genuine laughs, and the romance, while sweet, is not excessively so. Heck, I even found myself liking Ivanova/Marcus, and I generally don't.

Lastly - and perhaps most importantly of all - interesting things happen here. This episode is not on the same level as, say, The Coming of Shadows or the big third season features coming up presently, but you can definitely feel the noose tightening around the necks of our main characters.

Earth's attempt to take control of a grounded Shadow vessel is alarming in its hubris, and Sheridan's response is critical to highlight because it is the first time he takes definitive action against his own government. Oh, and because JMS is a dirty rat bastard, the Earth Alliance ship that shows up to battle Sheridan near Jupiter is, of course, his former command, the Agamemnon. That's the stuff that good drama is made of. Granted, Sheridan manages to avoid shooting at his colleagues in this particular instance, but this episode makes clear that such restraint will not be feasible forever.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch station, Zack realizes he's gotten himself into some deep doo-doo when the Nightwatch finally crosses his personal line and asks him to spy on Garibaldi. Ouch. Guess you should've stayed awake in history class, eh?

What we're looking at here is a fine example of how one should pen rising action. Things gradually become more threatening - more complicated. We begin to see major changes on the horizon. And then, at the very end, JMS finally lowers the boom with President Clark's declaration of martial law. The civil war will now begin in earnest.

Writing: 9.0

There are other scripts in the series that are better than this one, but Messages from Earth is pretty damned outstanding.

Acting: 9.0

Bruce Boxleitner wins the day here. Not bad for a utility actor.

Message: 8.0

Liberty cannot survive complacency. Zack got caught in the Nightwatch's web because he failed to take his freedom seriously. Let that be a lesson to the rest of us.

Highlights:

GARIBALDI: Where in my contract does it say that I have to eat the same food for breakfast every day for three years?
SHERIDAN: Paragraph 47, sub-section 19, clause 9A. You can find it in the index under S-U-A-E-I.
GARIBALDI: S-U... A-E-I?
SHERIDAN & IVANOVA TOGETHER: Shut up and eat it. (Heh. That's actually pretty clever.)

GARIBALDI: Thought I'd stop in and see how you're doing.
G'KAR: Fine, fine! Two weeks down and six to go before I repay my debt to society for attacking Mollari. I've taken the opportunity provided by my incarceration to meditate - to think. Sometimes I even sing.
GARIBALDI: I know. We got a petition.
G'KAR: For or against?
GARIBALDI: Based on the sound, they think we're torturing you in here. (ROTFL!)

GARIBALDI: You know what's odd? You seem - I don't know - happier in here than you were out there.
G'KAR: In here, Mr. Garibaldi, you cannot hide from yourself. Everything out there has only one purpose: to distract us from ourselves - from what is truly important. But there are no distractions in here. You can learn much from silence.

SHERIDAN: You know what I miss most about home? The sound of rain hitting the roof at night. It always used to help me fall asleep. Back when I was a kid preparing for the Academy, I'd be up till four or five o'clock in the morning studying. I'd have maybe two hours to sleep after that, but... I was so wound up, I'd just lie there. Same thing happened the night before my final test. I just knew if I didn't get some sleep, I'd never pass.
DELENN: And? Did it begin to rain?
SHERIDAN: No. But Dad... my dad heard me walking around. He knew I couldn't sleep. So he went outside, and he got the garden hose and sprayed it so it came down on the roof. Just like rain. And he stood there making it rain until I fell asleep. I sometimes think he would've stood there for days if he had to. (There is a long pause.) I miss him. (He lays back down.) Right now, more than anything else in the world, I wish it would rain. (To be fair, it's actually pretty sweet when Delenn turns on the rain sound here.)

MARCUS: And according to one of our units on the border of Centauri space, they've continued amassing their fleet. We don't know why. Maybe they expect a counter-attack. It's hard to say. (Then Marcus notices that Ivanova is not listening.) And they have much to be concerned about. There's always the threat of an attack by, say, a giant space dragon. The kind that eats the sun once every thirty days. It's a nuisance, but what can you expect from reptiles. Did I mention that my nose is on fire? And that I have fifteen wild badgers living in my trousers? (Ivanova finally graces him with a withering stare.) I'm sorry. Would you prefer ferrets? (ROTFLMAO! Damn it, Marcus. Stop making me laugh.)