ETA: By the way, while we were away over the Memorial Day weekend, another Babylon 5 cast member fell victim to his poor lifestyle (apparently). Rest in peace, Jeff Conaway. I'm sorry it had to end like that for you.
Overall: 8.0
This is another basic plot mover, but the writing is just strong enough to push the entire episode into "very good" territory.
Also? Delenn is a badass.
Plot Synopsis:
The Lurker's Guide has a summary here.
The Skinny:
Here I go again, preferring the alien plot over the human plot.
Not that there's anything terribly wrong with the plot on Mars. While I think Number One and Franklin have all the romantic chemisty of two siblings (ew), what we hear of the Mars viewpoint in this episode includes some nice throwbacks to earlier seasons, when the Mars Resistance was considered an illegitimate - and violent - insurgency. Oh, how times have changed, eh? Fortunately, Franklin realizes that Sheridan can't have unreconstructed terrorists in his alliance and acts to prevent the deliberate targeting of civilians. Good on him.
Still, when all is said and done, I find I am much more drawn to what happens in Delenn's half of the episode. For one thing, Delenn decides to chase down a Drakh mothership and destroy it because it pisses her off, which, as I said above, proves that Delenn is a total badass. But perhaps more importantly, we discover that everything has gone to hell on Minbar. It's interesting that the Warrior Caste has finally elected to take the "murder by the elements" approach. It's even more interesting that some members of the Religious Caste have become desperate enough to reach out to shadowy outside forces for support.
Oh, Forrell. Poor, foolish Forrell. You are a great character because you serve to amplify one of the series' Big Themes: the fact that evil works by taking our better impulses and twisting them into something unrecognizable. It is right and proper for Forrell to seek to defend his fellow Minbari from the predations of the unrestrained Warrior Caste. Unfortunately, that also makes him ripe pickings for the Drakh, who are certainly following in their masters' footsteps when it comes to self-serving manipulations of their neighbors. (Of course, the Drakh aren't really interested in advancing the philosophy of Social Darwinism. They just want revenge for the destruction of Z'ha'dum. But that's neither here nor there.)
Do I like this episode when all is said and done? Yes -- very much so, in fact. I love the Centauri most of all (as you all should've noticed by now), but this comprehensive re-watch does serve to remind me that Babylon 5 has other strengths.
Writing: 8.5
Aside from the Franklin/Number One pairing, much of what happens here is pretty fascinating. Is this a feature-level script? No, but it is strong.
Acting: 7.5
The acting is not especially jaw-dropping, but it's a definite improvement over what we saw in the last episode.
Message: 8.0
Terrorism is portrayed as a big no-no here, and that's a definite plus. Moreover, with Forrell, JMS once again explores the seductive power of temptation and how it can lead us astray.
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