Episode 4.4: Falling Toward Apotheosis
Emperor Cartagia is saving this show for me. And that makes it sound like I'm hating everything else, which is not true--virtually everything in this episode was great, even when some specific mechanisms didn't work as well as others. Garibaldi, for example, was fantastic in this episode, showing exactly the right amount of surly paranoia that has always defined his character. The Ulkesh business was cool, check-your-phone fight scene notwithstanding. Plus Sheridan gave me the chance to witness the worst marriage proposal in history, which I'll always be grateful for. So no, it's not that the episode was bad or that the show is slipping; last week was boring, but this one was back on track again. But the problem for me is that most of these plotlines are chopping wood and carrying water. They are not emotionally compelling or artistically exciting. I'm glad I saw them, but only because they're setting me up for the next episode. Cartagia, on the other hand, is riveting. I feel emotionally involved in his story, or more correctly in the story of Londo trying desperately to not only stay alive but get what he wants in the face of this dangerous psychopath. Watching Londo convince Cartagia of his plan to move everyone offworld for a trial for G'Kar was watching a master con artist at work, never stepping wrong. I've said it before, but: Cartagia is more than just a new villain, he's a different kind of villain, far removed from the scheming political monsters we get in every other plot thread in the series. He's connected to Krang and Shredder, but he's not just mouthpiece for them, and his feeling and flavor are completely distinct. I'm so glad he's in the show.
We begin with Morden warning Cartagia about the Vorlon fleet: it's destroying every planet tainted by the Shadows, and Centauri Prime is pretty well and truly tainted by the Shadows, so they estimate they've got three days before the Vorlons toast it. Londo tries to convince them to move the Shadow ships away to help save the planet, but neither will hear of it--Morden because he wants the Centauri to protect the Shadows, and Cartagia because he's going to use this doom to his advantage and make Centauri Prime (and all 3 billion inhabitants) a sacrifice to his own glory, to commemorate his transformation into a god. Londo manages to convince Cartagia to take Londo and G'Kar far away from this whole mess, and he does so by approaching the issue from a completely different direction, and Cartagia doesn't know how bad he's been snowed because every trick he thinks Londo is pulling is actually something totally different. It was great and it was clever, but the heart of it all is Cartagia. He's a fantastic villain and I love him--though I honestly don't expect him to live more than a few more episodes. Londo's got to become the emperor this season, right?
In other news, Garibaldi is super upset about the fact that people are worried about him, which is stupid but in-character. I like Garibaldi, and I like the texture his frustration brings to the team dynamic. Also, he's the only one (for now) who's talking about how weird Sheridan is acting, and the only one who's questioning Lorien's constant presence and undue influence on Sheridan.
Garibaldi's biggest freakout comes when the Secret Ranger Club gets together and decides its time to take out Ulkesh. First of all: Marcus would 100% be in that meeting, based on past history, but he's not in this episode so he's not in the room. Same with Lennier. But that's okay, because for some reason Zack IS in the room? What? Zack is a mid-level security guy at best; he's a beat cop we only even know about because he was in the Nightwatch story. And the show hasn't known what to do with him since the Nightwatch thing ended, so he's still just hanging around, and now he's...on the command staff? Does this show just throw all their named characters into the important meetings? Was he taking over as Vice-Garibaldi during the time Garibaldi was gone, and the show just forgot to tell us? The best I can come up with is that Zack must have been filling in as head of security (which might makes sense, since the exact heirarchy of security personnel was never established), and now he's still in the meetings for a bit to ease the transition back into full-time Garibaldi-ing. That doesn't make a ton of sense, but it makes a little. What I really want to know, though, is why Zack is still on the show: he's not an interesting character, he doesn't have a personality beyond "well I guess I'd better do this thing," and there are no stories that center him or even require him. Is it literally just momentum? "He was on the show last season, and we didn't kill him, so I guess that means he's still on the show." No it doesn't: you can just let him go. Stop paying the actor and move on. But he's even in the opening credits now, so they clearly think he's an important character, which can only be because they're planning something big for him in the future; he's certainly not an important character as it is.
Anyway. Sheridan wants to gank Ulkesh, and that requires misdirecting him a little, and that requires sending a decoy team to rough him up as ineffectively as possible. Congratulations, Garibaldi, you're the fall guy on this one; he's super pissed about this in the meeting, but somehow understands perfectly what Sheridan was going for a couple of scenes later, after Ulkesh has beaten up his entire team. Garibaldi says something about "now he thinks we can't beat him, so Sheridan can surprise him and beat him," which is of course the plan but they specifically didn't tell Garibaldi about it so I assume he just figured it out on his own. Which: okay, I'm good with that. He totally would. The actual plan is to use Lyta to lure Ulkesh into some kind of electrical-discharge kill-zone and shoot him with a ton of guns; this destroys his suit, releasing the "Star Trek energy entity" version of Ulkesh, which is the first time we've ever seen an actual Vorlon. Then it's more guns, and eventually the Kosh piece that's been hiding in Sheridan pops out and does enough psychic damage to scare Ulkesh off the station and into his own ship, which is promptly destroyed by Ivanova. Yay, she got to do something! And what I can't understand is this: was using Kosh part of the plan all along? Because that's kind of implied, but it's also heavily implied that Kosh only came out because Sheridan was being psychically attacked, and Sheridan was only being psychically attacked because he tried to defend Delenn. And there's literally NO OTHER REASON for Delenn to be in the scene than for Sheridan to have to rush out from behind cover to defend her, so clearly the show was trying to force a particular situation, which implies that Kosh wouldn't have come out in any other way, but then does that mean that using Kosh WASN'T their plan? Because they talk like it was? I have NO IDEA what's going on in that scene, but at least they spent a ton of time and money on a big boring CGI fight. Look: it's not this show, I hate almost all fight scenes. It's just that this is the only show I'm reviewing, so it looks like I'm picking on its fight scenes in particular. I bet that 25 years ago, with nothing but Star Trek to compare it to, the fact that B5 had fight scenes at all felt pretty revolutionary, boring or otherwise.
With Ulkesh properly asploded, Sheridan goes to visit Delenn somehow manages to propose to her. It's like watching a monkey wash a cat--he has no idea what he's doing, or how to do it, or maybe even why--but it's not played that way, so it feels weird. And the dialogue is written like a first-draft stream of consciousness, where he literally starts by saying "I wanted to give you something," and then backtracks to explain what an engagement ring is, and then he kind of realizes he's just proposed to her, and...that's it. And I can see how this could be done on purpose, as like a charming, flustered kind of thing, but again: it's not played that way, it's played completely straight. So it feels bizarre, and Delenn's reaction isn't any more normal than what she was reacting to, so I guess they belong together. And sure, I'm glad it wasn't a cliche "Yes! A thousand times yes!" kind of thing, but wow.
Oh, and also in this scene, right before the proposal, Lorien reveals that Sheridan only has about twenty years to live. Which is so weird? Like, as tragedies go, that's a very strange one to focus on? Why did they even bring it up, if not to tell us that A Price Had To Be Paid for being at ground zero to a nuclear blast and then falling two miles down a hole? Which makes sense, but seriously, folks: "You will live for twenty more years and then die in your sleep" is not really a price with a lot of emotional weight behind it. I assume they were trying to justify Lorien's life-restoring powers, to explain how resurrection was possible without removing all potential drama from the concept of death, but at the same time squaring that idea with the many visions of the future that show Sheridan as an aging man. "Yes, this process is dangerous and he's totally going to die, just not for twenty years." Whatever you say, show.
This episode wasn't as good as the first two of the season, but it was good, and I liked it a lot. But I'm starting to grow concerned that we had two "just get the job done with nothing fancy" episodes in a row. Is that where the season is heading? Are we compressing so much to get the story told that we end up focusing entirely on plot and not on character? Will the other plotlines start to hold their own against Cartagia again? Find out next time, on Discovering Babylon 5! [dramatic music]
We begin with Morden warning Cartagia about the Vorlon fleet: it's destroying every planet tainted by the Shadows, and Centauri Prime is pretty well and truly tainted by the Shadows, so they estimate they've got three days before the Vorlons toast it. Londo tries to convince them to move the Shadow ships away to help save the planet, but neither will hear of it--Morden because he wants the Centauri to protect the Shadows, and Cartagia because he's going to use this doom to his advantage and make Centauri Prime (and all 3 billion inhabitants) a sacrifice to his own glory, to commemorate his transformation into a god. Londo manages to convince Cartagia to take Londo and G'Kar far away from this whole mess, and he does so by approaching the issue from a completely different direction, and Cartagia doesn't know how bad he's been snowed because every trick he thinks Londo is pulling is actually something totally different. It was great and it was clever, but the heart of it all is Cartagia. He's a fantastic villain and I love him--though I honestly don't expect him to live more than a few more episodes. Londo's got to become the emperor this season, right?
In other news, Garibaldi is super upset about the fact that people are worried about him, which is stupid but in-character. I like Garibaldi, and I like the texture his frustration brings to the team dynamic. Also, he's the only one (for now) who's talking about how weird Sheridan is acting, and the only one who's questioning Lorien's constant presence and undue influence on Sheridan.
Garibaldi's biggest freakout comes when the Secret Ranger Club gets together and decides its time to take out Ulkesh. First of all: Marcus would 100% be in that meeting, based on past history, but he's not in this episode so he's not in the room. Same with Lennier. But that's okay, because for some reason Zack IS in the room? What? Zack is a mid-level security guy at best; he's a beat cop we only even know about because he was in the Nightwatch story. And the show hasn't known what to do with him since the Nightwatch thing ended, so he's still just hanging around, and now he's...on the command staff? Does this show just throw all their named characters into the important meetings? Was he taking over as Vice-Garibaldi during the time Garibaldi was gone, and the show just forgot to tell us? The best I can come up with is that Zack must have been filling in as head of security (which might makes sense, since the exact heirarchy of security personnel was never established), and now he's still in the meetings for a bit to ease the transition back into full-time Garibaldi-ing. That doesn't make a ton of sense, but it makes a little. What I really want to know, though, is why Zack is still on the show: he's not an interesting character, he doesn't have a personality beyond "well I guess I'd better do this thing," and there are no stories that center him or even require him. Is it literally just momentum? "He was on the show last season, and we didn't kill him, so I guess that means he's still on the show." No it doesn't: you can just let him go. Stop paying the actor and move on. But he's even in the opening credits now, so they clearly think he's an important character, which can only be because they're planning something big for him in the future; he's certainly not an important character as it is.
Anyway. Sheridan wants to gank Ulkesh, and that requires misdirecting him a little, and that requires sending a decoy team to rough him up as ineffectively as possible. Congratulations, Garibaldi, you're the fall guy on this one; he's super pissed about this in the meeting, but somehow understands perfectly what Sheridan was going for a couple of scenes later, after Ulkesh has beaten up his entire team. Garibaldi says something about "now he thinks we can't beat him, so Sheridan can surprise him and beat him," which is of course the plan but they specifically didn't tell Garibaldi about it so I assume he just figured it out on his own. Which: okay, I'm good with that. He totally would. The actual plan is to use Lyta to lure Ulkesh into some kind of electrical-discharge kill-zone and shoot him with a ton of guns; this destroys his suit, releasing the "Star Trek energy entity" version of Ulkesh, which is the first time we've ever seen an actual Vorlon. Then it's more guns, and eventually the Kosh piece that's been hiding in Sheridan pops out and does enough psychic damage to scare Ulkesh off the station and into his own ship, which is promptly destroyed by Ivanova. Yay, she got to do something! And what I can't understand is this: was using Kosh part of the plan all along? Because that's kind of implied, but it's also heavily implied that Kosh only came out because Sheridan was being psychically attacked, and Sheridan was only being psychically attacked because he tried to defend Delenn. And there's literally NO OTHER REASON for Delenn to be in the scene than for Sheridan to have to rush out from behind cover to defend her, so clearly the show was trying to force a particular situation, which implies that Kosh wouldn't have come out in any other way, but then does that mean that using Kosh WASN'T their plan? Because they talk like it was? I have NO IDEA what's going on in that scene, but at least they spent a ton of time and money on a big boring CGI fight. Look: it's not this show, I hate almost all fight scenes. It's just that this is the only show I'm reviewing, so it looks like I'm picking on its fight scenes in particular. I bet that 25 years ago, with nothing but Star Trek to compare it to, the fact that B5 had fight scenes at all felt pretty revolutionary, boring or otherwise.
With Ulkesh properly asploded, Sheridan goes to visit Delenn somehow manages to propose to her. It's like watching a monkey wash a cat--he has no idea what he's doing, or how to do it, or maybe even why--but it's not played that way, so it feels weird. And the dialogue is written like a first-draft stream of consciousness, where he literally starts by saying "I wanted to give you something," and then backtracks to explain what an engagement ring is, and then he kind of realizes he's just proposed to her, and...that's it. And I can see how this could be done on purpose, as like a charming, flustered kind of thing, but again: it's not played that way, it's played completely straight. So it feels bizarre, and Delenn's reaction isn't any more normal than what she was reacting to, so I guess they belong together. And sure, I'm glad it wasn't a cliche "Yes! A thousand times yes!" kind of thing, but wow.
Oh, and also in this scene, right before the proposal, Lorien reveals that Sheridan only has about twenty years to live. Which is so weird? Like, as tragedies go, that's a very strange one to focus on? Why did they even bring it up, if not to tell us that A Price Had To Be Paid for being at ground zero to a nuclear blast and then falling two miles down a hole? Which makes sense, but seriously, folks: "You will live for twenty more years and then die in your sleep" is not really a price with a lot of emotional weight behind it. I assume they were trying to justify Lorien's life-restoring powers, to explain how resurrection was possible without removing all potential drama from the concept of death, but at the same time squaring that idea with the many visions of the future that show Sheridan as an aging man. "Yes, this process is dangerous and he's totally going to die, just not for twenty years." Whatever you say, show.
This episode wasn't as good as the first two of the season, but it was good, and I liked it a lot. But I'm starting to grow concerned that we had two "just get the job done with nothing fancy" episodes in a row. Is that where the season is heading? Are we compressing so much to get the story told that we end up focusing entirely on plot and not on character? Will the other plotlines start to hold their own against Cartagia again? Find out next time, on Discovering Babylon 5! [dramatic music]
I don't think it's been explicitly stated (yet) on the show but yes Zach is Garibaldi's second in command. So in Garibaldi's absence he is head of security.
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