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Babylon 5 Rewatch: Points of Departure/ Revelations
Points of Departure: My reaction back in the days of first broadcast: Where is Sinclair? I don't want this sunnyboy! Ugh! Whyyyyy? My reaction now, at the sight of s2 cheerful, orange-loving John Sheridan: Aw, John, you're still so young and golden retriever like. Enjoy it while it lasts.
More seriously, I watched B5 before I ever saw Blake's 7, so the fact that a show could change its leading man was completley new to me, and of course none of us early fans knew anything about the rl circumstances (i.e. poor Michael O'Hare's illness). It did take me a while to get used to Sheridan. (The exact episode where I started to become interested in him as a character - not as much as in my favourites, but interested - was somewhat later this season, In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum.) Looking back, whle rl circumstances forced the change, it worked out remarkably well, not least because Bruce Boxleitner and Michael O'Hare have different strengths as actors. I don't think Boxleitner could have sold the one part of Sinclair's storyline which could not be transfered to Sheridan, and which we'll see playing out in s3, because you need to project a certain type of spiritual gravitas in order to do that. Otoh, he's far better at the action hero stuff (which I don't mean denigratingly; the very early B5 scenes where Sinclair has to do that kind of thing have a cringe factor to it), at projecting optimism, and he can sell friendliness without it ever feeling swarmy. (He also can do the darker aspects of Sheridan's personality, hence my getting interested several episodes later.) And Points of Departure is a good introduction episode for him. I always thought that it was clever JMS dealt with the change of lead by also changing the dynamics among the station personnel instead of trying to replicate them. Sinclair and Garibaldi were friends first, and while both befriended Ivanova and bulid up a good rapport with her, they were closer to each other than to her. Whereas now Sheridan and Ivanova are the ones who know each other from back in the day and can build on that comradery into a new friendship, while Garibaldi is going to have to deal with the double blow of Sinclair gone and his aide having shot him, and the way he relates to Sheridan is inevitably going to be colored by that experience.
We also see that while Sheridan has the war hero reputation, he's not a hothead of the "attack first, ask questions later" type, on the contrary; he figures out that the rogue Minbari want a glorious sucide-by-humans (if possible to trigger another war) and the way to deal with this is not not fight. Given Sheridan is Clark's choice to replace Sinclair and a first time watcher has gotten several hints about Clark by now, this is important to make it clear our new Captain is no one's tool. His introduction speech is one of those meta moments where I think JMS is aware of his own tendency re: speeches and pokes a bit of fun at himself (hence Sheridan getting interrupted), but it's also entirely ic and, with the Abraham Lincoln quote, very American. (Not to mention foreshadowing, given the Lincoln/Civil War association.)
Of course, Sheridan isn't the only new character introduced in Points of Depature. I am always sceptical whenever fans complain that creator X (or writer team Y) hate character Z, but in this particular case, we know this to be the case because JMS said so - Warren Keefer, hot shot pilot, owes his entire existence to the network insisting JMS should include a pilot among the cast (to draw in the Top Gun audience, one presumes). And boy, does it ever show. As opposed to Sheridan's careful introduction, there is no attempt to endear Warren K. to the audience, and/or to make him interesting in any way, and there won't be until JMS is allowed to write him out. I wouold say I feel sorry for the actor but hey, at least it was a paying job for a while?
(Otoh, I noticed yet unnamed Corwin at Ops! And Zack is about to come now that Creepy Aide is about to leave. Both characters showing JMS developing bit players among the staff into characters.)
This is the first episode with Mary Kay Adams instead of Jiulie Caitlin Brown as Na'Toth. Alas, for all that I like to root for the fannish underdog, even with all that Narn make-up, the change is noticalbe. Caitlin Brown had a way to carry herself that Adams in this role just does not have. The first time I watched, I blamed the actress, but then I saw her as Grilka (Quark's temporary Klingon wife) on DS9. The Klingon make-up is hardly lesser, and there she has no problem projecting a fierce, energetic personality. Maybe it's because Grilka was never played by someone else? The other element which Na'Toth 2 is lacking is the sense of humor Na'Toth 1 has; as we'll see later when Julie Caitlin Brown comes back on the show in human shape, she's just good at doing "sardonic". Anyway, this was the one time JMS when losing an actor/actress went for a recast instead of a change of character, and I wonder whether the relative lack of suiccess of said recast is why he didn't do this with other characters?
Re: Lennier providing the info dump about the Minbari reason to surrender despite being about to win the war: he still doesn't tell the whole story, but I think he tells all he knows at this point. I have a question for long time viewers beneath spoiler space re: that. For now: the Minbari visiting him in Delenn's quarters points out she was explicitly told NOT to do this and let the prophecy attend to itself when meeting with the rest of the Grey Council. Which is not something I really took in the first time around, so I didn't notice the contradiction when Delenn says in the very next episode she did this explicitly with the permission of the Grey Council. Which is vey Delenn. Also,
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cahn, this is why I wanted you to watch Soul Hunter in s1 - the Minbari belief in reincarnation is kind of essential for their reason to surrender, and it's good world building JMS established that belief early on. New watchers, onto the next episode review.Will you
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inito
Darkness?
Okay, Lennier in his infodump says here that after the Minbari MacGuffin discovered a Minbari soul in Sinclair, the Council did not want to believe it, so they dragged in more humans to test that theory and discovered it was indeed true. On the one hand, if they did this, it would make sense. Otoh, this doesn't exactly fit with how the Battle of the Line and the key moment of discovery is presented in both Atonement and In the Beginning, nor with the investigations into Sinclair's missing 24 hours that go on in s1 (both by the Knights and by Garibaldi - you'd think that if humans other than Sinclair had been kidnapped and subsequently mindwiped by the Minbari, someone would have noticed.) Now, it's been decades since I watched In the Beginning, but the way I recall it that once Sinclair is identified as having a Minbari soul, and not just any but that soul, Delenn immediatley uses that shock to call for an end to the war and sways the council, as opposed to the order being given to check out more humans for Minbari souls. Now, there's a reason why the triangle macguffin recognizes Sinclair as Minbari that has nothing to do with reincarnation, but this would not apply to any other human being. So if what Lennier here says is the truth, than not only do the Minbari have a working soul detector but the reincarnation belief is actually objectively true. Which is somewhat against not privileging one faith over another on this show. On the other hand, if Lennier simpoly hasn't been told the full story because the complete truth about Sinclair is still way too incindiary to be known outside the Grey Council, that would work. Also, I assume "we tested that theory" will sell better to the Warrior Caste (at least the Religious Caste thinks so) than "we realized who he was, and immediately stopped the war), and they knew they would have to explain at some point. Thoughts?
In
Valen's
name!
Revelations: The birth of G'Kar, heroic Cassandra figure. I had forgotten G'Kar is actually fighting with some Shadow critters before anyone else on the station does. This episode packs a lot - it resolves several lingering cliffhangers from last season's finale - Garibaldli's state, Delenn's transformation, G'Kar having left to investigate what happened to the Narn outpost - while continuing to flesh out new leading man Sheridan, this time with a (seemingly) familiar trope: the dead wife he's still grieving for, and the sister who shows up to help him deal. Is Liz the sole person on this show to call Sheridan "Johnny"? I don't recall anyone else doing it, including his father when we finally get to "meet" him. And neither Spoiler nor Spoiler does it. Beth Toussaint and her very 80s hair (in a 90s show) as Anna on that recording is weird to watch for out of universe reasons. Young me, still disgruntled about Sinclair leaving, scorned this (seemingly) cheap attempt at giving Sheridan some depth. Knowing-the-entire-show me thinks it's remarkable how early JMS managed to work in that in retrospect rather crucial information about Anna Sheridan, likes Liz and regrets she wasn't more of a presence on this show, although of course there were plot reasons for that. Come to think of it, sibling relations are rare in JMS written stories, with the obvious exception of his part in the Kenneth Branagh Thor script.
Garibaldi being saved by last season's machine (and both Sheridan and Franklin donating life force) was something I had plain forgotten: I had misremembered we don't see the wretched thing again until Spoiler in s4, and that Garibaldi wakes up from his coma on his own. Otoh, I did remember the treacherous aide getting disappeared, which back in the day when I was far less familiar with media in which the government is Up To No Good was yet another shock/frustration. In-universe, I think it's also an additional blow to Garibaldi. Not only did he wake up to find his bff gone and his aide having tried to kill him, he also can't tell himself at least there was a reckoning. Otoh, we see his inner investigator continuing to work as he makes the connection to Psi Corps. (Btw, during last season's rewatch I did spot the "Psi Corps endores VP" headline when Garibaldi was reading the newspaper in question mid s1. That was really neat worldbuilding, JMS.)
"Z''ha'dum" gets named out loud for the first time - by G'Kar, no less - and I don't think any Tolkien reader was missing the similarity to Khazadum back in the day. There is of course a connection to one other subplot of this episode that's only apparant once we get to "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" , and it only hit me on this rewatch. G'Kar's willingness to consider the Ancient Race he's sure to be back as a threat to everyone, including the Centauri, further hints at his heroic development (not without setbacks, but still), while Londo's willingness to provide Morden with the information Morden wanted hints at his downward path this season. (Again, this is is why you should never start this show with s2.) Mind you, back in the day I remember a friend of mine - who was an original Lost in Space fan, a show I was then not familiar with - who after watching this episode assumed Londo's role on this show would be somwhat like Dr. Smith's in the original Lost in Space, somewhere between cowardly traitor and comic relief, which is not what happens. Yours truly hoped he'd see the light soon (also not what happens). I think at this point he's realilzed that Morden's "Associates" are dangerous, but he's not really buying G''Kar's claim they are a danger to all and hubristic enough to gamble on the idea he can control the "help" they're offering to him. And while's a part of him is shocked when Morden says stuff like "one thing at a time, ambassador", another part really does make the Narns = enemies = therefore, their lives don't matter in the way other lives do" equation.
Delenn's transformation: younger me was suitably creeped out by the crocodile skin before we get to the complete version of human hybrid Delenn. Who looks good, but younger me partly regretted the transformation because I thought the design for the Minbari was so elegant and alien. As mentioned in the earlier review, younger me completely missed Delenn is, shall we say, being economical with the truth when telling everyone her transformation was endorsed and approved by the Grey Council near the end of this episode. Then again, if she said "I did this against everyone else's advice because I think I'm meant to fulfill the prophecy!", it would hardly be trust inspiring in visibly wowed by her Sheridan (or the rest of the council). More about Delenn's transformation and its implications when we get to "And now for a word..." Much younger me was also mightily impressed with G'Kar reciting Yeats' poem, because it was the first time I ever heard it. Decades and lots of uses of The Second Coming later, I think it's a bit forced, especially the montage matching "what rough beast is slouching towards Bethlehem" with newly transformed Delenn. But Andreas Katsulas reads it beautifully.
Now: fandom knows that JMS originally intended the Minbari to be non-binary and Delenn only becoming definitely female once she transformed into a human/Minbari hybrid, an idea the network nixed after the pilot (which was still shot on that assumption). Would you have preferred that or not, assuming Delenn's entire story remains otherwise unaffected?
The other days
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So, first, my response to the credits at the time: a) who is this guy narrating?? That's not Sinclair! b) This was the year the Great War started???? Also, A+ fakeout, I thought for sure at one point in this episode that it was going to be the story of how the war between the Minbari and the humans got re-ignited.
First scene with Sheridan: who the heck is THIS dude?? Must say I was suspicious of him at first (as Garibaldi was in 2x02, lol) but the fact that Ivanova already knew and liked him counted for a lot :) These episodes really showed him in a good light, though -- you can see pretty well the kind of quick-thinking captain he must have been.
(Sheridan is actually super distracting to me because he looks and acts and sounds (or at least his voice is cadenced similarly, it's much deeper in pitch) like the younger version of a guy at church I knew whom everyone really liked and respected and who died of a very sudden heart attack last year, only in his early 60's. It's not a bad thing, it's just... a thing. (Sinclair also looked a lot like a (different, living) guy I know at church, though they acted differently -- probably something to do with the large intersection of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints membership with the All-American good looks types.) But it also probably contributed to my warming up to him a lot faster than I might have otherwise, especially the dead wife subplot, much as I usually hate fridging, because of course in my universe, the Sheridan-lookalike is the one who died and his wife is the one who lived.)
And THEN 2x01 the secret turns out to be that the Minbari believe that the humans have Minbari souls!! As I had obliquely mentioned before, I was thinking maybe Sinclair was their avatar/religious figure (similar to Sisko as the Emissary) and thinking that if so this would be kind of annoyingly like DS9 (even if it was not JMS's fault, I remembered reading in his autobio that Paramount may well have ripped him off). But this is way better. HUMANS in general are their avatar! (I also like this better than DS9 because it kind of highlights the difference between the Federation/Bajorans and Earth/Minbari -- in the latter case they're much more equals, it's a much more interesting dynamic.)
But the military caste doesn't know this! (I think this is actually a) kind of dumb of the Grey Council b) consistent with what I know about them, so whatever)
Also NOW I get that weird religious ceremony Delenn did at the beginning! Where she was like... eat, drink, this is your body and blood, or whatever it was she said. She was talking to Sinclair specifically but also to any humans who were there as well (though not everyone decided to partake) (and, of course, not all humans would be Minbari souls, I guess).
2x02: Okay, the Delenn reveal was pretty great, although I must confess my reaction was something along the lines of "uh where did all that hair come from?? Hair is dead cells! She hasn't been in the cocoon long enough to grow so much hair!" I'd have understood it much better if she had very short hair, like a baby's, but I guess that wouldn't have elicited quite the same reaction :) Oh, maybe metamorphosed Minbari grow hair at a really fast rate (that would be hilarious). But also, that's a super good point Sheridan's sister brought up about the DNA and now I'm very curious, and it's the sort of thing that with Any Other Show would be a throwaway line but JMS actually cares about that kind of thing... so...
I am a sucker for resolution beyond the grave, so although I knew pretty well where the Anna Sheridan storyline was going with letting Sheridan off the hook, I DON'T CARE, I loved it anyway. (But also her hair! So 80's-90's!)
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OK, and I was going to stop there but I couldn't resist saying a couple more things after reading your post:
Given Sheridan is Clark's choice to replace Sinclair and a first time watcher has gotten several hints about Clark by now, this is important to make it clear our new Captain is no one's tool.
Yesssss this was one of the reasons I was suspicious of Sheridan in the very beginning but by now I have relaxed about him, especially at the very end of 2x02, that troubled look he gives, when he and we are both "...wtf just happened there??"
there is no attempt to endear Warren K. to the audience, and/or to make him interesting in any way
Haha, I don't even remember this guy!
Which is not something I really took in the first time around, so I didn't notice the contradiction when Delenn says in the very next episode she did this explicitly with the permission of the Grey Council. Which is vey Delenn.
Oh whoops! I missed that too. But I agree it's very Delenn. I also missed the Tolkien referent to Z'ha'dum.
(Btw, during last season's rewatch I did spot the "Psi Corps endores VP" headline when Garibaldi was reading the newspaper in question mid s1. That was really neat worldbuilding, JMS.)
I did notice that at the time! Mostly because I love it when shows go to the trouble of doing things like making up headlines (iirc the other ones were more tabloid-y). I hadn't expected it to come back, though!
Would you have preferred that or not, assuming Delenn's entire story remains otherwise unaffected?
In the 90's I would have absolutely preferred the non-binary solution. Now, I still do, but I agree with
no subject
So say we all.:) This was long before I was online, otherwise I might have heard before the show was broadcast in Germany that there was a change of lead, but as it was, I was stunned. This had never happened to me before as a viewer.
But the military caste doesn't know this! (I think this is actually a) kind of dumb of the Grey Council b) consistent with what I know about them, so whatever)
Quite. Now granted, the Minbari pre Earth/Minbari war were pretty isolationist and there was consequently a lot of xenophobia undercover which became rampant through the war, and the belief that "we share souls with these guys, forget about winning the war, surrender at once!" would be a controversial argument wasn't unfounded. But the alternative - asking the military which had been on the front lines, had fought and died in the war and knew they were about to win to surrender without any explanation whatsoever was really bad, too, and here I'll quote what Lennier, in a way more light hearted context, tells Delenn when he first arrives on the station and she orders him not to address her as Satai, asking him whether he understands: "Understanding is not required, just obedience." If you have a hierarchical society like that, it's bound to bite at some point.
Hair: LOL, you're right, of course. Also, there's an upcoming episode where Delenn discovers the dubious joys of human hair. Though it's nice of the Chrysalis to not just fast grow it for her but perfectly coiffur it on that occasion. :)
BTW, have you watched Lost, and/or have you seen Mira Furlan (who played Danielle Rousseau on Lost) in something else before, now that Delenn looks more recognizably like her human self? She was - sob! she was the latest cast member to be hit by the B5 cast curse and died one and a half years ago! - a wonderful actress, and about a decade ago I watched her at the Munich Film Festival in a Serbian movie called Turneja/The Tour, see my review here, and was impressed all over again. (It was also the first time I heard her speak in her own language - Mira Furlan was Yugoslavian when she left for the US, and then Yugoslavia ceased to exist while she was there.)
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