Episode 2.16: In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum

I suppose it’s inevitable in a show about people talking to each other that sooner or later we’re going to get to a big important episode where a bunch of mysteries come to a head and instead of seeing it all happen in front of us we’re just going to watch people talk about it. It was a bizarre mix of cool and disappointing. And I think what it all comes down to is, outside of a good performance by Bruce Boxleitner, there’s really no actual story taking place. Nobody’s in danger, nobody’s doing anything, nothing is currently happening. This is a 45 minute info-dump, and it honestly made me question how much I really like this show, because the way it’s telling its story lately has kind of turned me off, for maybe four or five episodes in a row. This is supposed to be high-gear now, right? This is Babylon 5 with all cylinders pumping? Because it’s not working for me at all anymore, and that makes me sad.

So the actual “story” story, by which I mean the traditional “this is how you tell a story on television” kind of plot/character beat, is that Sheridan is confronted with the possibility that someone might know something about his wife’s death, and he has to decide how he’s going to react to this and which of his morals he’s willing to compromise to learn the truth. And I really liked that part: it was a great acting showcase for Boxleitner; it gave us a handful of awesome scenes between Sheridan and Garibaldi, and between Sheridan and Ivanova; and it forced Sheridan to make a painful decision at the end. That’s all great stuff. So why did it feel so hollow? Why did it feel like the whole episode was just treading water instead of surging forward? Mostly, I think, because this episode was very clearly intended to maintain, rather than disrupt, the status quo. We start with an amazing moment—Garibaldi recognizes one of the people who died with Sheridan’s wife and says he’s on the station all the time, and it turns out to be Morden! Holy crap! Boy howdy, I can’t wait to see the fallout of this shocking revelation. And then...Morden doesn’t tell us anything, and Vir doesn’t tell us anything (which I have mixed feelings about, but we’ll get to that), and finally Kosh and Delenn DO tell us something but it’s a somehow more-boring version of what we already knew, and then it ends. Morden goes free. There’s no big showdown, there’s no terrifying ultimatum, there’s no painful reckoning. Morden leaves, and the mytharc is in the same place it was when we started. Even Sheridan’s ultimate decision—to let Morden go and thus not find new truths about his wife—just feels kind of meh at the end. I wasn’t thrilled or saddened or ennobled by his decision or by his loss; it just happened, and then it was over, and the arc still tracks or whatever but I don’t really care anymore. Babylon 5 is more interested in its plot than in its character right now, and that’s completely backward, even for a long-form serial.

The episode does this kind of thing a lot, actually: it promises us something cool and then just holds to that status quo as tightly as it can. When Sheridan is screaming about Morden, and about learning the truth no matter what, and then someone tells him Vir wants to talk to him? I was READY FOR SOME AWESOMENESS, especially considering that fantastic conversation we got with Vir and Morden at the beginning of the show. (Side note: When Vir, about to leave, says “Oh, and Morden?” and Morden asks "What?" and then Vir just leaves without saying anything? That was the single most badass thing anyone has ever done on this show. Bar none.) We know that Morden is bad news, we know that Vir knows copious details about his badness, and we know that Vir absolutely friggin’ hates Morden with a burning passion. Sheridan wants to know the truth, and now someone’s finally going to give it to him, and it’s going to be Vir, and it’s going to be great. Right? Wrong. That would require changing the status quo, and this episode is very much not interested in changing the status quo, thank you very much, so Vir just shows up, demands Morden’s release, and none of the fireworks we wanted to see are ever set off. And like I said earlier, I’m kind of okay with Vir’s decision here, because I know he’s trying to be faithful to his job as Londo’s aide, and that’s a good thing. But that’s me extrapolating something the show never showed us. Without a scene from Vir’s point of view lamenting his decision—even just ten seconds of him being sad in the hallway—we don’t get any of the pain and drama this decision must have cost him. Can you imagine how great that would have been? Vir hates this dude, and he desperately wants a way out of this situation, and now an escape is staring him straight in the face: he can tell Sheridan everything, and Sheridan will drop the hammer, and the devil that Londo is selling his soul to will be out of the picture for good. Vir can have everything he wants, but...he can only get it by betraying the closest thing he has to a friend in the entire galaxy, and in the end he chooses loyalty over salvation, possibly hoping that he can still convince Londo to do the right thing down the line. THAT IS AN AWESOME STORY. That's the kind of deep, painful character stuff we want to see in this show. But this show doesn't have time or interest in giving it to us, because the mechanics of the plot are more important for some reason, so: Vir comes on stage, demands Morden's release, and exits stage left. Get out of here, and take your awesome character arc with you, you sap.

And then of course, there is the ostensible highlight of the episode, which is when Kosh and Delenn take Sheridan aside and dump a bunch of information down his brain-hole--at one point literally. They get tired of talking to him, so they form a psychic link and just download stuff straight into his head. And I think we're maybe supposed to be shocked or excited by this, except...I can't actually think of anything we learned here that we didn't already know, or at least strongly suspect. Anna Sheridan's ship was destroyed by the Shadows? I mean, just tell us the ship was lost at Z'ha'dum and we've got it, guys; we've known what Z'ha'dum is all season. Morden is secretly working for the Shadows? Yep, we knew that one from his first appearance in season 1. Morden is being literally accompanied by Shadows? You've telegraphed that one pretty hard in the past as well. Honestly, the one truly new thing we learned here is that Morden was a regular human recruited into the cause--like, they literally just met him on the planet and talked it out and pitched him a job opportunity--which is, I have to say, one of the less interesting ways they could have gone with this. All this time I've been assuming that Morden was a Shadow in human form, or that he was possessed by them or something, but nope, he's just a dude with a summer job as the Mouth of Sauron. And yes, Talia tries to read his mind and saw an image of him as a funky hollow shell or something, so obviously he's been modified or corrupted in some way, but: Delenn already saw that same thing. I think she even saw the same "filled with darkness" special effect. So that's not really new, either. And as for all the Vorlon stuff? I mean: we already knew they were an ancient, powerful race. Why is Sheridan so shocked by this? "The Vorlons are ancient and powerful" is basically THE ONLY THING ANYONE KNOWS ABOUT THEM. And yet Delenn tells Sheridan the Vorlons are the last of the ancient ones, and Sheridan practically poops his pants in shock. Catch up, Sheridan; that hasn't been new information since the pilot episode.

(To be fair: when Kosh says he has to keep the suit on because then he'd be recognized by "everybody," that's pretty awesome. He's either a literal angel, or some other Earth culture's non-Christian equivalent, or there's something about his appearance that makes him appear to everyone who sees him as their own religious-or-otherwise-special figure of choice. If my theory about Kosh just being a drone controlled by the ship has to be wrong, this is certainly a good replacement, with a lot of potential down the line. But that's one line in an otherwise tedious conversation, and it didn't--again--actually provide us with an answer to anything, so whatever.)

Meanwhile, of course, there are other B-plots going on in the background, though they don't actually go anywhere so they are obviously intended to be important in the future rather than right now. Earth and it's newly-fascist government sends a pitch-man to talk about their awesome new "Big Brother is Watching" program, making it easier than ever to report on your neighbors, and it's so hilariously thinly-veiled that if I'd actually seen it on its first run 25 years ago I think I would have laughed at it. It's not funny today, though, now that we're living in a society that is observably stupid enough to fall for something exactly like this. Remember, kids: if you see something, say something.

I am going to stick with this, hoping that it gets better. I am not yet ready to give up. But the next time they just sit around and talk about awesome stuff instead of actually doing awesome stuff, I WILL be ready to give up, and it's going to take a lot of cajoling to keep me here.