Plot Synopsis:
A week after the death of President Santiago, we find the station without a leader. Sinclair, it seems, has been recalled to Earth so that he may take a new post: Ambassador to Minbar. His replacement, as we quickly learn, is John Sheridan, captain of the Agamemnon and a well known hero of the Earth-Minbari War. During the war, Sheridan earned the nickname "Starkiller" by successfully destroying the Minbari's flag ship, the Black Star. When Ivanova is informed of the command change, she observes, correctly, that Sheridan is a controversial choice.
Sheridan certainly doesn't look controversial, however. He arrives on Babylon 5 fresh faced, smiling, and enthusing about the oranges he enjoyed on the transport. Ivanova quickly brings him up to speed on what has happened in the past few weeks - G'Kar's disappearance, Delenn's chrysalis, etc. - and Sheridan remarks, "Interesting place you have here." He asks about the crew's reaction to Santiago's death, and Ivanova admits that she felt completely helpless watching Earthforce One fall apart. Ivanova is happy to see Sheridan again, though; apparently they served together at the transfer point on Io. Sheridan tells Ivanova he will deliver a "good luck speech" to the crew in the C&C after a quick shower.
Sheridan fails to get through his speech when the time comes, however, as Hedronn, a member of the Grey Council (though he doesn't reveal his true rank at first), calls in and demands to speak with Sheridan at once. Hedronn, you see, has spotted the captain of a renegade Minbari war cruiser, the Trigati, on board the station, and believes this warrior, Kalain, is here to cause trouble. Hedronn explains that when the Minbari government surrendered at the Battle of the Line, the original captain of the Trigati committed suicide to avoid the dishonor, and the Trigati's crew, lead by Kalain, went into self-imposed exile. Hedronn says that Kalain and the others on board the Trigati feel they have been betrayed by their own government. Incidentally, Hedronn also displays his strong displeasure with Sheridan's assignment to Babylon 5. Before he leaves the meeting room, Hedronn says that if Babylon 5 is doomed, it is because of Sheridan's presence.
After Hedronn's departure, Sheridan concludes that Kalain may try to go after Delenn, and he and Ivanova take a security team down to Delenn's quarters, where they do indeed find Kalain pointing a gun at Lennier. Kalain is arrested. Sheridan thinks it is rather fishy that Kalain did not kill Lennier and Delenn even though he had ample opportunity and demands to know the whereabouts of the Trigati, but Kalain is less than cooperative.
Then Lennier approaches Sheridan and tells him they have something to discuss. In the office, Lennier tells the full story of the Minbari's surrender at the Battle of the Line: that Sinclair was brought aboard the Grey Council's ship for questioning and, after being tortured, was discovered through an examination to have a Minbari soul. The Council then examined others and discovered that many humans carried Minbari souls. The Minbari surrendered, in short, to avoid killing their own. Lennier declares portentously that he has revealed this information to prepare Sheridan for the changes that are coming, but he doesn't reveal what those changes might be. Later, in Delenn's quarters, Lennier privately expresses regret that he could not tell Sheridan about the return of a great enemy and the coming battle against the "darkness."
Meanwhile, the Trigati finally makes an appearance, and it arrives ready to attack. Sheridan sends out a Starfury squadron to meet it, but is instantly suspicious when he notices that the Trigati's fighters can be tracked. During the war, he points out, Earth ships always had trouble seeing through Minbari stealth technology. To everyone's shock, Sheridan orders his pilots to standby and sends out a signal into the jump gate. The Trigati fighters continue to advance towards Babylon 5's ships -- but then fly right past them and circle back to the Trigati. As it turns out, the Trigati's mission was a suicide mission, as further demonstrated by the fact that Kalain has poisoned himself in the brig. Then another Minbari war cruiser arrives. The new arrival orders the Trigati to stand down and, when the Trigati doesn't comply, destroys the renegade ship's jump engines. The crew of the Trigati activates the self destruct sequence, and the Trigati is destroyed.
After the events of his first day, Sheridan now doubts that he is the right man to command Babylon 5, but Ivanova urges him not to take on too much guilt. The last time we see Sheridan, he is delivering his good luck speech to an empty C&C.
Overall: 6.5
Sheridan's debut is a bit of a let-down after Chrysalis, but it is not altogether a bad episode.
Writing: 6.5
Holy info dump, Batman!
While Lennier's scene with Sheridan and Ivanova doesn't quite approach the clumsiness of some of Delenn's most famous expository speeches (i.e., "A thousand years ago, something happened that will take me several teleplay pages to explain..."), it does commit the same sin of telling rather than showing. It is also quite unclear why the Minbari choose this particular moment to reveal the truth about the end of the Earth-Minbari War. After all, it's not as if Sheridan uses this information to resolve the central conflict of this episode; indeed, Lennier urges Sheridan to keep the reason for the Minbari surrender secret. All in all, the whole scene just lies there as an afterthought - almost as if Strazcynski feared his audience would lynch him if he wrote Sinclair out without explaining what happened to him at the Battle of the Line. (He may have been justified in that fear. We sci-fi fans hate dropped threads.)
This episode does, however, accomplish the twin tasks of further developing the incipient conflicts among the Minbari and of introducing a brand new lead in a manner that is at least serviceable. And you know, while I must admit that Sheridan is far from my favorite character ever, when I watched this episode again this morning, I found myself appreciating anew how endearing he is at the start. It's too bad coming events knock the "Captain Smiley" right out of him.
Acting: 7.0
Again, Bruce Boxleitner is not my favorite cast member, but his debut is not bad - not bad at all. Boxleitner has a certain amiable quality that Michael O'Hare lacked, and his presence does seem to lift up the rest of the production. I wouldn't say there are any groundbreaking performances in this very standard story, but this episode is certainly not plagued by the tremendous unevenness that characterized the first season.
Message: 6.0
There isn't much in the way of a theme or a message to be found here. I suppose if you stretch a bit, you could point to the fate of the Trigati as yet another caution against harboring grudges. But mostly, this is just a straight portrayal of a new character undergoing Babylon 5's trial by fire.
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