Overall: 8.3
This one's really good, actually. Both of the plots are solid.
Plot Synopsis:
The Lurker's Guide has a summary here.
The Skinny:
Granted, Sheridan's use of trickery here is a bit suspect, and the ambassadors of the League come off looking dumber than they should, but I can't help myself: I enjoy watching Sheridan play everyone - and I mean everyone - like cheap fiddles. Even the reactions elicited from Sheridan's crew are priceless. "Let me get this straight," thinks Marcus. "You want me to shoot up a bunch of harmless space rocks for no reason at all?" "You want me to report that all is quiet in sector 83 by 9 by 12 just because?" thinks Ivanova. "Has Captain Sheridan finally gone off his cracker?" thinks just about everyone (including Londo). But, of course, as we all know, there is a method to Sheridan's madness, and his shout of triumph after he finally gets the agreement he wants from the League is worth a genuine belly laugh.
Meanwhile, more interesting things are afoot among the Minbari. It should be said, first of all, that Mira Furlan puts in a terrific performance. I hear tell that she drew upon her own experiences in the former Yugoslavia in the first scene highlighted below, and that kind of personal connection really shows. I also believe that John Vickery - one of the show's better guest stars - nails Neroon's multifaceted personality. Speaking of which, regardless of what Neroon appears to do in the episode's final scene, I believe, based on what happens later, that the respect he shows for Delenn here is genuine. As you no doubt have noticed already, one of JMS' greatest strengths is his ability to craft characters who may be misguided on many of the particulars but are clearly patriotic to the very core. Londo is one example of such a character; Neroon is another. And, interestingly enough, both characters will have a shot at redemption before the end.
As you'll notice when I run through the score breakdown, though, I do have to ding this episode's message slightly based on Lennier's final decision not to tell Delenn that the other Religious aboard the ship were prepared to gas everyone to stop what they mistakenly believed was a surrender to the Warrior Caste. Rather than preserving Delenn's supposed idealism, I think Lennier's silence on the matter serves to encourage a parochialism that assumes that only the Warrior Caste would attempt something so foolish. Moreover, idealism is great, but I feel that it needs to be properly balanced with a knowledge of the world as it really is. An idealism that is unmoored from such knowledge is an idealism that is dangerous, as recent history has shown all too clearly.
Writing: 8.5
I can't give this script a feature rating because of the aforementioned "making the League look dumb" issue, but as I said, I did enjoy both of the storylines in this episode.
Acting: 9.0
I know we've used the phrase before, but Mira Furlan and John Vickery in particular are en fuego.
Message: 7.5
See the discussion above.
Highlights:
DELENN: When I was a child, my father used to carry me through the city on his shoulders. I'd never seen such beauty. The city is eternal. It's beauty is eternal. We heard of the Grey Council, but the name was always spoken with awe and reverence. They held our world together. They were the peace promised by Valen. A thousand years of peace among the three castes. I think of my beautiful city in flames, Lennier - the streets where I walked - the temples - the great crystal spires that sighed music whenever the wind touched them - I think of it, and I cry, Lennier. And I wonder, did I do this when I broke the Grey Council?
LENNIER: Valen always said the Council would be broken in the Great Shadow War.
DELENN: Lennier - you know the truth as well as I do. Valen only knew what Sinclair knew. He could not see beyond that. Once he left us, the future became fluid. I had assumed that things would continue on like some great clockwork mechanism. As long as the war was won, we'd be all right. I was wrong. (GREAT performance from Mira F. here.)
LONDO: Captain, I'm not sure I understand. When you asked me to allow your ships to operate on the border of Centauri space, you said you were going to use it to inspire the rest of the League to do the same, hm?
SHERIDAN: That's right.
LONDO: And now you don't - you don't want me to even talk about it?
SHERIDAN: That's right, and if anyone brings it up, I want you to deny it.
LONDO: Deny it?
SHERIDAN: That's right.
LONDO: But you - you want to keep the patrols in place, yes?
SHERIDAN: Absolutely. And I have told G'Kar the same thing.
LONDO: Well, Captain, you will forgive me if I appear a bit slow. I have studied your race quite a bit, but there are several aspects of your psychology that I don't understand. A place called Winchester Mansion, with stairs that go nowhere? Something called Country and Western? And the less said about the comedy team of Reebo and Zooty, the better. However --
SHERIDAN: (interrupting) You don't like Reebo and Zooty? They're hysterical!
LONDO: I'm sorry. I apparently mistook you for a human of some taste and sensibility. (LOL! The fact that Londo doesn't like Reebo and Zooty is definitely a point in his favor, as we'll discuss when we get to the fifth season.)
SHERIDAN: Marcus - you're in position?
MARCUS: (on the viewscreen) Got here a little while ago. We scanned the area, but there's nothing here. Just a bunch of asteroids.
SHERIDAN: Good! I want you to target several of the asteroids and destroy them.
MARCUS: I see. And then?
SHERIDAN: Then come back.
MARCUS: That's it?
SHERIDAN: Yes.
MARCUS: Shoot a bunch of rocks and then leave?
SHERIDAN: That's correct.
MARCUS: Hmm. Captain, may I ask --
SHERIDAN: You may not. (Heh. I love watching everyone boggle at Sheridan's behavior in this episode.)
LONDO: I told you, I have no idea what your are talking about!
DRAZI AMBASSADOR: These White Star ships were seen on your borders, Ambassador! Our pilots --
LONDO: Your pilots should have their eyes examined. I don't know how they see out of those things anyway. Tiny, squinty little things, aren't they?
DRAZI AMBASSADOR: Ambassador --
LONDO: No, the Maker has not been kind to you. Must be terrible trying to fly around at night without running into entire planets.
DRAZI AMBASSADOR: Are you saying the Centauri do not know what ships are patrolling their borders?
LONDO: No, of course we know. The Maker has gifted us with great big eyes and great big scanners and great big -- well, that's no concern of yours. (LOL! Londo definitely gets most of the funny lines in these later seasons.)
IVANOVA: Um - are you, uh, going to stay?
SHERIDAN: No. Nononono, I, uh, I just stopped by to ask you to plant a story for me.
IVANOVA: Excuse me?
SHERIDAN: Plant a story for me. Something I just want you to drop into the broadcast.
IVANOVA: Captain, with all due respect, we can't just start planting stories now. We've made a big deal out of the fact that, unlike ISN, we're putting out the truth. If we become a propaganda machine --
SHERIDAN: That's the last thing I want. I just want you to mention that nothing happened today in sector 83 by 9 by 12.
IVANOVA: 8-3-9-1-2?
SHERIDAN: That's the one.
TECH: Thirty seconds!
IVANOVA: But sir, I just got a status report from C&C a little while ago, and that sector has been absolutely quiet.
SHERIDAN: Exactly. So just relax, because what you're saying is absolutely true.
IVANOVA: That nothing happened there today?
SHERIDAN: Yes.
IVANOVA: Just - casually mention that nothing's going on?
SHERIDAN: That's right. (Heh.)
DELENN: How is he?
NEROON: Not well. I have asked my personal physician to tend to Lennier. They are both in isolation to protect Lennier from contamination until the doctor is finished.
DELENN: Do you know what happened?
NEROON: He appears to have been exposed to some residue from the fuel system. How he came upon it, I do not know. Only he can tell us -- should he survive. He means a great deal to you, doesn't he?
DELENN: I have been training him as Dukhat trained me. He has been the light for my footsteps. Never asking. Only giving. Without him, I would stumble and fall - and never get up again. (A beat.) Thank you for looking after him, Neroon.
NEROON: I fear that we are healing him only to see him and the rest of us killed before we are finished. But it was the least I could do in return for you gracious hospitality. I know the others are not happy with my presence here.
DELENN: They will understand, eventually.
NEROON: But only because you will teach them. In the time that we have known each other, Delenn, I have not always spoken well of you. I assumed that your behavior was prompted by a sense of your own superiority, your ego - the usual fanaticism we've come to expect from the Religious Caste. In the last year, I have begun to realize that I was wrong. Dukhat chose you above all to follow him. Slowly - dimly - I begin to see why. I do not know what lies ahead of us, Delenn. But I do know that it is right that we are here together.
DELENN: Is that a compliment, Neroon?
NEROON: (chuckling) After a fashion. (Again, I think Neroon is being at least partially honest here.)
BRAKIRI AMBASSADOR: Captain, we insist you must put as many of the White Star fleet as you can around our borders.
SHERIDAN: Just hold on a minute!
DRAZI AMBASSADOR: We speak for the entire League!
SHERIDAN: Doesn't matter. I can't put those ships on your borders without the proper authorization to intercept Raiders and any other ships entering or leaving the area. And since you're not likely to give me that authorization, that - as they say, gentlemen - is that.
BRAKIRI AMBASSADOR: Incorrect. We will provide them with full authority. You cannot hide behind that, Captain.
SHERIDAN: I see. But what if I need them for a larger mission?
BRAKIRI AMBASSADOR: Then we will accompany them so that we may show our own support for whatever it is you wish to do.
DRAZI AMBASSADOR: You have no choice in this, Sheridan. You will bring the White Star fleet into the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. In return, the League will support any action taken by the fleet.
SHERIDAN: And I can't possibly talk you out of this?
BRAKIRI: We're afraid not.
SHERIDAN: (with a sigh) All right. I guess you're right. I don't have a whole lot of choice in this. I'll have the diplomatic treaties and papers drawn up this afternoon and delivered to each of you by the end of the day.
BRAKIRI AMBASSADOR: Good. Thank you. You may go now.
(And with that, Sheridan exits the chamber. The camera follows him to a nearby transport tube. Then, as the doors to the tube start to close...)
SHERIDAN: YES! (ROTFL!)
RELIGIOUS #1: Why?
LENNIER: I should sleep now. I'm very tired.
RELIGIOUS #1: Please, we need to know. You could've told her the whole truth. No one here would've blamed you. But you didn't. Why?
LENNIER: If I had told her the whole truth, it would've destroyed her belief in the strength and the wisdom of our caste. Delenn does not walk in the same world that you and I walk in. She does not see the same world that you and I see. In her world, we are better than we are. We care more than we care. We act towards each other with compassion. I much prefer her world to that of my own, and I will not allow anything to threaten that.
RELIGIOUS #1: I understand. Thank you, Lennier.
LENNIER: Do not thank me. I did it for her. I did not do it for you. I would suggest that you try to see the world through her eyes sometime. It might lead you to make fewer fatal mistakes.
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