Contents: Overview - Backplot - Questions - Analysis - Notes - JMS

Overview

Garibaldi is captured by the Mars Resistance. Ivanova's fleet clashes with Clark's forces. A plan to free Sheridan is launched. Marjorie Monaghan as Number One.

P5 Rating: 8.84

Production number: 419
Original air week: October 6, 1997
DVD release date: January 6, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by David Eagle

Plot Points

• With the help of a deep scan by Lyta, who is able to break past blocks put in place by P12 telepaths, Garibaldi has convinced Franklin and the others that Bester manipulated him into betraying his fellow officers.
• Garibaldi, Franklin, and Lyta have freed Sheridan.
• Londo and G'Kar have convinced the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to join the fight against Clark and help Sheridan, who came to their aid against the Shadows. Sheridan's fleet now contains Narn and Centauri warships, among others.
• Not all the so-called defectors to the rebel fleet have really betrayed Earth; there are some spies who have been feeding information about fleet movement back to Earth.
• Earth has been adapting Shadow technology for use in its own ships. The resulting vessels are capable of putting up a strong fight against White Star-class ships.
• Ivanova was mortally injured during a clash with a fleet of Shadow-enhanced Earth ships. Minbari physicians estimate she has no more than a week left.
• At Ivanova's request, Sheridan has assumed command of the Agamemnon once again.

Unanswered Questions

• What other Shadow technology has Earth adapted?
• What impact has Sheridan's interrogation had on his psyche?
• How badly was the White Star fleet damaged by the battle?
• Did Garibaldi and the others leave Mars with Sheridan?

Analysis

• G'Kar's feeling of debt to Sheridan is obvious: Sheridan gave him sanctuary ("The Long, Twilight Struggle") and aided the Narn during their war with the Centauri ("Acts of Sacrifice" and "The Fall of Night," among others.) It's less clear why Londo would be willing to put his people on the line to the same extent. Londo, at least from his perspective, took care of the Centauri Republic's Shadow "problem" on his own, without Sheridan's intervention ("Into the Fire.") While he may since have learned of Sheridan's role in sparing Centauri Prime from destruction by the Vorlon planet-killer, he never worked closely with Sheridan as G'Kar did.

  One possibility is that Londo feels he has to repay Sheridan for telling him of the approach of the Vorlons ("Falling Toward Apotheosis.") Londo did tell Sheridan he owed him a favor in return.

  Or it may be a simple matter of redemption: Londo certainly realizes that he helped the Shadows, and he may feel he needs to make up for his past misdeeds. In "No Surrender, No Retreat," Londo told G'Kar that he wanted to help the humans because they'd been friends, and he'd been ignoring his friends too long.

• G'Kar praised humanity as a bridge that has allowed the other races to work together. That's the same argument Londo made to him in "No Surrender, No Retreat." Delenn has expressed the same sentiment as well, e.g. in "And Now For a Word" with her closing remark about humans building communities.

• The League's unanimous vote ran counter to Sheridan's request that they stay out of Earth's civil war ("No Surrender, No Retreat.") Upon his return, however, he didn't seem to object to the presence of the alien vessels; has he changed his mind about the need to credibly deny that his campaign is due to alien influence?

• Just how powerful is Lyta? She has set off planetary defense systems from light-years away ("Epiphanies,") is able to easily slide past defenses put in place by the Psi Corps' most talented members, and can project detailed memories into the minds of others. There must be limits to her ability; Kosh was able to block her out ("Falling Toward Apotheosis.") But she appears to be light-years ahead of any other human telepath since Jason Ironheart ("Mind War.")

• Lyta appeared startled when Garibaldi mentioned the conspiracy against the Psi Corps. Did she pull the details out of his mind, and if so, is the knowledge useful to her in any way?

• Why did Number One believe the images Lyta sent to her? Given Number One's distrust of telepaths, wouldn't she suspect that Lyta was feeding her fictitious images? Of course, it's possible she believed it because Lyta also transmitted the belief that the images were legitimate.

  On the other hand, it's strange that Number One's people were also convinced immediately; given the resistance's innate distrust of telepaths, why weren't they suspicious of her immediate reversal of attitude after Lyta apparently did something to her mind?

• How much does Ivanova know about Marcus' feelings for her? When he walked into the sleeping chamber, he didn't think she suspected -- hence his "You will never know" comment -- but clearly she suspects something now that she knows what he said to her earlier ("Shadow Dancing.")

• How was Earth able to adapt Shadow technology so quickly, given that it's millions of years more advanced and apparently has a completely dissimilar basis (living matter as opposed to steel and wires?) Did Clark's people, or maybe the Psi Corps, receive technical assistance from the Shadows at some point?

  Earth's weapons researchers weren't completely new to the concept of living weapons; the confiscated Ikarran artifact in "Infection" was in their hands for nearly four years. It's possible that studying that artifact, which presumably was a less advanced form of organic technology than that used by the Shadows, gave them the context they needed to begin to understand Shadow artifacts. The ships on Mars and Ganymede ("Messages from Earth") would have provided chances for experimentation, if brief ones.

• Was Sheridan's father freed too, or is he still being held? The interrogator implied that Clark's forces still had him. Even without Garibaldi's help, Sheridan's father can presumably still be used as leverage against Sheridan.

• Sheridan was in a rather confused mental state when he was rescued. Will his interrogation have any lasting effect on his psyche? Many people would be scarred for life from such an experience. On the other hand, Sheridan has already been through a rough time -- death -- and after that, the rest may seem minor in comparison.

• Why did Ivanova ask Sheridan to lead the final battle from the bridge of the Agamemnon? Symbolism, most likely, since she expressed concern about it earlier. But clearly, he'd be safer on the bridge of one of the White Star ships, Ivanova's injury notwithstanding. She must be aware that her request puts the integrity of the fleet -- which depends on Sheridan himself as a symbol, every bit as much as it depends on the participation of Earth ships -- in greater jeopardy.

  The symbolism aspect is the most likely explanation; a fleet led by an Earth warship will be harder for Clark to explain away as mere alien interference.

  It's also possible, given the discovery that not all the defecting ships are loyal to Sheridan, that Ivanova wanted Sheridan on the bridge of the Agamemnon to ensure that its captain couldn't betray the rebel cause.

• Sheridan's use of the Agamemnon after Ivanova's fall has symbolic meaning on another level: Agamemnon was the commander of the Greek forces during the Trojan War, and he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to ensure fair wind for his ships. Ivanova, while obviously not Sheridan's daughter, sacrificed herself to ensure that the fleet would make it to Mars.

  In Euripides' version of the Greek myth, Iphigenia was switched with a hind (a deer) at the last minute by Artemis, who among other things was the goddess of virgins. Iphigenia lived thereafter in a distant country as the high priestess in one of Artemis' temples. The "Endgame" page has more on that.

• Garibaldi doesn't have very good luck with his back, between the knifing in this episode and the gunshot in "Chrysalis." An additional irony is that he was stabbed in the back while helping rescue Sheridan, who he stabbed in the back in a metaphorical sense.

Notes

• Earthforce is expanding the underground Mars tunnel system, leading to instability in the existing tunnels.
• Ivanova has eidetic memory (photographic memory or perfect recall, as it's more commonly known.)
• The VR machine used to interrogate Sheridan is similar to the machine used to interrogate Sinclair in "And the Sky Full of Stars."
• After Franklin finishes sewing up Garibaldi's wound, the team proceeds down the tunnel. Part of a discarded newspaper is visible in the background, including the headline "TIAGO" and "TED" on the next line. The headline is probably "Santiago Elected," the same newspaper headline visible in "Grey 17 Is Missing."
• The Damocles, which Ivanova's fleet fought at the beginning of the episode, is named after a figure in Greek mythology. As told by Cicero, Damocles was a courtier under Dionysius of Syracuse, who had risen to power by violence. He envied what he imagined to be his ruler's pampered and carefree life, so Dionysius decided to let Damocles experience what his life was really like. In the midst of a sumptuous banquet, Damocles discovered that a sword was suspended by a horsehair over his head, ready to drop at any moment. Dionysius said he felt the same anxiety every day, surrounded by enemies waiting to take his life at the first sign of weakness.
• The title most likely refers to the mantra recited by Delenn and others upon entering the Grey Council: "I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light." ("Babylon Squared," among others.) It may also refer to a transition from darkness to light; Sheridan's return certainly qualifies.

jms speaks

• It's a nice, quiet little episode.

  Well, at least, in comparison to what's coming....

• Was this episode filmed after Claudia Christian decided to leave?
  Negative. We'd finished all S4 shooting at the time this occured.

  Were new scenes shot and edited in?
  Negative.

• Was there a scene missing between Sheridan shooting the guard and his arrival on the Minbari ship?
  Yes, there was a small scene that got cut for time.

  Good catch.

• The Garibaldi material through the map sequence with Number One was originally in "Intersections." It got shunted over to 419 when 418 ran 7-8 minutes long, and 419 ran 8 minutes short.

• During the interrogation, the female interrogator said, "Put a bullet in his head." But Earth uses PPGs now, not bullets.
  Nope. We've established (in Grey 17 is Missing, for instance) that guns are still used on Earth and elsewhere; but in a space station, you don't want a slug-thrower because it tends to a) ricochet a lot off metal walls, or b) cut through something vital that would breach the hull potentially.

• About Ivanova's eidetic memory
  She's a latent telepath. About a P1. As has been established on the show in the past. That gives her a slight edge in many areas. Also, an eidetic memory does not equal facility with language. I have a somewhat eidetic memory. I can usually remember visuals and things said to me with extreme clarity. (Unless I'm in convention mode at the time, at which point all bets are off.) But I have a real problem with learning languages, which involves not just memorization, but *translation,* which is a skill, a knack that some others have and some don't. (Spanish rolled off me, but for some reason I have a knack for German, though my vocabulary's gone all to hell.)

• "These new EA ships with Shadow tech...Are they susceptible to telepaths like the shadow vessels were?"

  Negative...they don't have living beings as CPUs, they're still working at adapting the basic tech, the other stuff is still a bit advanced.

  "By the way, the EA adaptation to the shadow tech is accurately done. Keep the basic Omega design and modify where needed."

  Got it in one.

• The Advanced destroyer group was still somewhat in the works when they hauled it out to go after the fleet. They'd been expecting mainly to go after other Earth ships (as was noted in the episode), and didn't count on exclusively being confronted by Whitestars. Still, there were a lot of them here, and they did a lot of damage by sheer force of numbers.

  Corwin would be running the station in everyone's absence.

• About Ivanova's speech
  Yeah, it was a bit over the top, deliberately so.

  I put it in the category of a boxer who's going up against an opponent who may be well matched...and wants to psych the other person out.

  If you look at "Give me liberty or give me death!" or similar statements, made to rally support or make a point, they're generally bigger than life, a bit over the top. That's so we can know where the top is so we can climb up there ourselves.

• "If we want to be logical here, it really seems improbable that a White Star could run into a piece of debris. Ok, the pilot (Marcus) wasn't paying attention, they were at high speeds and visability was poor."

  Well, if you want to go back and listen to what's being said in the episode, Marcus calls out that the navigational system was damaged, and they were trying to repair when the big chunk of debris hit them. They couldn't get out of the way for that reason.

• Some have complained about the rescue, arguing that they wanted to see a big battle. (To which answer #1 is wait 7 days.) They wanted to see the fleet smack Mars and free him in a big battle.

  Well, if you do that, you can kiss goodbye any chance of the fleet then doing what it's SUPPOSED to be doing, which is the liberation of Earth. While they're tied up and planetbound (on one side) at Mars, Earth swoops in and knocks them out. You also lose any possible aspect of surprise.

  It *had* to be done quickly, through the back door, rather than the fleet that some might have been expecting, so it'd look like a Resistance job, not a Fleet job.

• "Why were there no cameras monitoring Sheridan?"

  Torturers rarely videotape their work, thus assuring that it can never be used against them should things not go their way all the time. This is kinda pro forma in South America, for instance.

Last update: May 27, 2024