Babylon 5 Rewatch: Z’ha’dum
Jun. 19th, 2022 04:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWith the exception of the overall series finale, this was probably the most famous and highly regarded season finale of Babylon 5.
You know, I had plain forgotten about the initial black and white opening sequence summarizing what was known about Anna Sheridan's fate to Sheridan and the audience (complete with the bit of Anna's message to Sheridan's sister Liz re-filmed with Melissa Gilbert as Anna); in my memory, the episode started with the last episode's cliffhanger of Anna's arrival.
So, Anna Sheridan. Here my opinions changed through the decades. What I thought in the 1990s, upon first watching the episode and not knowing how the rest of the show would unfold, was that it would have been more interesting if Anna had become an actual convert (like Morden), because I'm a fan of former friends and lovers now on opposite sides for reasons they both believe in, yet also having feelings for each other, whereas being doomed to bad guyness by forces beyond your control (which also rob you of your personality) is way less interesting. (Yes, this was after TNG and Picard's stint as Locutus, and I think contemporary with Voyager (though I don't know whether Seven of Nine had already shown up, but what makes the Borg experience dramatically interesting in terms of Picard and Seven is that they are still alive after and have to deal with it.)
What I think now is that Anna having been subjected to Carolyn Sanderson's fate (only more so, because Carolyn and the other frozen telepaths hadn't yet been implanted into the Shadow vessels, "only" been prepared for it, and that was bad enough for them) does work and is important to show because it blows a whole into the "we're all about evolution, conflict and free will, the Vorlons are all about order and obedience and blindly doing what you're told" rethoric of the Shadows. Note that what Justin, Morden and Anna tell Sheridan is isn't a lie (the Vorlons did create telepaths as canon fodder, they did genetically condition all the younger races to respond favourably to them, to see them as divine etc.)... but they leave out this one big thing, and it is the key to everything.
(When I did my first rewatch, back when the dvds were released in 2004, I remember a commenter pointing out that Anna in this episode is in a way a pov reversal of the s1 episode Believers, because to Sheridan, she was what the child was to the parents in that episode - a walking, talking corpse whose soul/personality has gone. Only in this case, we're in Sheridan's pov. Around that time, I was busy roleplaying in![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
theatrical_muse, and there was an Anna Sheridan there who had an AU storyline in which she survives Z'Ha'dum and is restored by the technomages to someone who is both original Anna and Shadow!Anna fused; she was an interesting character to interact it, but I understand why JMS didn't go that way in the show. Also, let's hear it for Catheirne Sakai, who escaped this fate due to the change of leading man, because I'm pretty sure that if Michael O'Hare hadn't been ill, part of the Chrysalis cliffhanger would have been Catherine disappearing on another planet surveying mission, with s2 revealing her presumed death on Z'ha'dum, and then the s3 finale revealing what truly became of her. Your fate might never be revealed in on screen canon, Catherine, but you had a lucky escape there!)
Another thing I recall was that during original broadcast of this episode, there was some grumbling in the fandom that the Shadows being characterized as essentially space Social Darwinists (instead of being bent on turning the galaxy into Mordor) was letting the side down and making them less than terrifying. I don't think so. Starting wars because hey, progress, and who cares about those who don't make it out alive, and also, if you don't agree, you're still good for canon fodder is absolutely terrifying to me. More about the Shadows vs Vorlons conflict in s4 reviews.
What makes the episode isn't the reveal about the Shadows' goals, though. (In fact, I would say the big explanation scene has a weakness, to wit, Justin, aka "the man in between", a character never seen before or since, so it's hard to accept him as Sheridan's counterpart. Justin contributes exactly nothing to the story, other than showing Shadow minions are uncomfortable with the Vorlon "Who are you?" question. Why the exposition can't just be delivered by Morden and Anna, I don't know.) This is Bruce Boxleitner's episode as much as In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum was in s2, and while in the overall show, I'd rank him in the solid middle of the show's actors, he's truly excellent in these two episodes. The Sheridan/Delenn argument scene is devastatingly good - also in terms of the writing, because Delenn's retort to why she didn't tell him there was at least the possibility of Anna's survival - because then he'd have gone to Z'ha'dum " - is both true (and thus was probably the correct call) and presumptous, and the narrative treats it as both.
Sheridan becoming a suicide bomber to save Centauri Prime (as per his final message to Delenn) is something else, though. More in the spoilery section just below, in addition to an observation of Sheridan and Garibaldi, because their scene made me melancholy for spoilery reasons, given how it demonstrates that while they're not as close as Sinclair and Garibaldi were, they did develop a trusting and mutually respectful work relationship. As for Londo in his one scene of the episode (aka the one where relations between hm and Vir are back to normal, aka the reason why I had to write the story where they reconcile) being warned to leave the station, it shows the Shadows did expect Sheridan to most likely say no. (And, ominously, that they still have an interest in Londo.) Morevover, it sets up my favourite s4 arc on Centauri Prime, but ravings about that storyline will have two wait until next weekend.)
"Jump! Jump now!" is on par with "run, you fools!" as far as lines from mentor/wizard figures go in these situations, and Kosh the White is dead before he says it. I can't remember anymore whether I thought Sheridan would somehow survive this, but I'd guess so, because surely the show wouldn't change its lead twice? Also I was fretting for Garibaldli.
Trivia: the photos from Sheridan's wedding are from Bruce Boxleitner's wedding to Melissa Gilbert back in the day. Of course, twenty years later the fact Sheridan still has printed photographs ties with printed newspapers as one of those things makng the B5 future look it's having 20th century nostalgia.
A question for Crusade watchers: if Max Eilerson had been part of Anna's team on the Icarus, would he have a) gone the Morden road, b) refused to serve and be turned into a Shadow vessel operating system, or c) found a third way to remain both alive and his own person?
Now, on to some spoiler stuff. See you next week, new viewers?
When
You
Go
To
Z'ha'dum
It's my old deceased equine again: if Sheridan was willing to die in order to prevent the future he saw in War Without End in terms of saving Centauri Prime, it beggars belief he has no clue in s5 of what's actually going on there. Especially once he hears about the Drakh, and Captain Jack's Keeper. I mean, there are possible fanwanks - he's so invested in the idea that he has changed the future by his sacrifice it doesn't occur to him due to wilfull blindness, and/or Lorien when resurrecting him/keeping him alive could not restore all his memories - but only on this rewatch it occurred to me to wonder why JMS has him tell Delenn this as his motive in the first place. I mean, it's not necessary. He could have said "I'm going because while this is almost certainly a trap, it will give me the opportunity to take out part of the enemy's head quarters". And then I thought: but that would be a destructive motive, and wanting to save a planet and people he's not even on particular good terms with at this point is both a constructive one, and shows Sheridan's optimism and hope in addition to the self sacrificial streak.
The reason why the conversation with Garibaldi made me feel melancholy is of course that we will never see them with that good a relationship again. In fact, all of Garibaldi's relationships established so far (with Ivanova, with Franklin) - with the exception of that to G'kar - will never be this good again in terms of what we see on screen. Poor Michael. I'm steeling myself for the next two seasons.
You
willl
die
And that's a s3 wrap! See you next week with season 4.
The other season 3 episodes
You know, I had plain forgotten about the initial black and white opening sequence summarizing what was known about Anna Sheridan's fate to Sheridan and the audience (complete with the bit of Anna's message to Sheridan's sister Liz re-filmed with Melissa Gilbert as Anna); in my memory, the episode started with the last episode's cliffhanger of Anna's arrival.
So, Anna Sheridan. Here my opinions changed through the decades. What I thought in the 1990s, upon first watching the episode and not knowing how the rest of the show would unfold, was that it would have been more interesting if Anna had become an actual convert (like Morden), because I'm a fan of former friends and lovers now on opposite sides for reasons they both believe in, yet also having feelings for each other, whereas being doomed to bad guyness by forces beyond your control (which also rob you of your personality) is way less interesting. (Yes, this was after TNG and Picard's stint as Locutus, and I think contemporary with Voyager (though I don't know whether Seven of Nine had already shown up, but what makes the Borg experience dramatically interesting in terms of Picard and Seven is that they are still alive after and have to deal with it.)
What I think now is that Anna having been subjected to Carolyn Sanderson's fate (only more so, because Carolyn and the other frozen telepaths hadn't yet been implanted into the Shadow vessels, "only" been prepared for it, and that was bad enough for them) does work and is important to show because it blows a whole into the "we're all about evolution, conflict and free will, the Vorlons are all about order and obedience and blindly doing what you're told" rethoric of the Shadows. Note that what Justin, Morden and Anna tell Sheridan is isn't a lie (the Vorlons did create telepaths as canon fodder, they did genetically condition all the younger races to respond favourably to them, to see them as divine etc.)... but they leave out this one big thing, and it is the key to everything.
(When I did my first rewatch, back when the dvds were released in 2004, I remember a commenter pointing out that Anna in this episode is in a way a pov reversal of the s1 episode Believers, because to Sheridan, she was what the child was to the parents in that episode - a walking, talking corpse whose soul/personality has gone. Only in this case, we're in Sheridan's pov. Around that time, I was busy roleplaying in
theatrical_muse, and there was an Anna Sheridan there who had an AU storyline in which she survives Z'Ha'dum and is restored by the technomages to someone who is both original Anna and Shadow!Anna fused; she was an interesting character to interact it, but I understand why JMS didn't go that way in the show. Also, let's hear it for Catheirne Sakai, who escaped this fate due to the change of leading man, because I'm pretty sure that if Michael O'Hare hadn't been ill, part of the Chrysalis cliffhanger would have been Catherine disappearing on another planet surveying mission, with s2 revealing her presumed death on Z'ha'dum, and then the s3 finale revealing what truly became of her. Your fate might never be revealed in on screen canon, Catherine, but you had a lucky escape there!)Another thing I recall was that during original broadcast of this episode, there was some grumbling in the fandom that the Shadows being characterized as essentially space Social Darwinists (instead of being bent on turning the galaxy into Mordor) was letting the side down and making them less than terrifying. I don't think so. Starting wars because hey, progress, and who cares about those who don't make it out alive, and also, if you don't agree, you're still good for canon fodder is absolutely terrifying to me. More about the Shadows vs Vorlons conflict in s4 reviews.
What makes the episode isn't the reveal about the Shadows' goals, though. (In fact, I would say the big explanation scene has a weakness, to wit, Justin, aka "the man in between", a character never seen before or since, so it's hard to accept him as Sheridan's counterpart. Justin contributes exactly nothing to the story, other than showing Shadow minions are uncomfortable with the Vorlon "Who are you?" question. Why the exposition can't just be delivered by Morden and Anna, I don't know.) This is Bruce Boxleitner's episode as much as In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum was in s2, and while in the overall show, I'd rank him in the solid middle of the show's actors, he's truly excellent in these two episodes. The Sheridan/Delenn argument scene is devastatingly good - also in terms of the writing, because Delenn's retort to why she didn't tell him there was at least the possibility of Anna's survival - because then he'd have gone to Z'ha'dum " - is both true (and thus was probably the correct call) and presumptous, and the narrative treats it as both.
Sheridan becoming a suicide bomber to save Centauri Prime (as per his final message to Delenn) is something else, though. More in the spoilery section just below, in addition to an observation of Sheridan and Garibaldi, because their scene made me melancholy for spoilery reasons, given how it demonstrates that while they're not as close as Sinclair and Garibaldi were, they did develop a trusting and mutually respectful work relationship. As for Londo in his one scene of the episode (aka the one where relations between hm and Vir are back to normal, aka the reason why I had to write the story where they reconcile) being warned to leave the station, it shows the Shadows did expect Sheridan to most likely say no. (And, ominously, that they still have an interest in Londo.) Morevover, it sets up my favourite s4 arc on Centauri Prime, but ravings about that storyline will have two wait until next weekend.)
"Jump! Jump now!" is on par with "run, you fools!" as far as lines from mentor/wizard figures go in these situations, and Kosh the White is dead before he says it. I can't remember anymore whether I thought Sheridan would somehow survive this, but I'd guess so, because surely the show wouldn't change its lead twice? Also I was fretting for Garibaldli.
Trivia: the photos from Sheridan's wedding are from Bruce Boxleitner's wedding to Melissa Gilbert back in the day. Of course, twenty years later the fact Sheridan still has printed photographs ties with printed newspapers as one of those things makng the B5 future look it's having 20th century nostalgia.
A question for Crusade watchers: if Max Eilerson had been part of Anna's team on the Icarus, would he have a) gone the Morden road, b) refused to serve and be turned into a Shadow vessel operating system, or c) found a third way to remain both alive and his own person?
Now, on to some spoiler stuff. See you next week, new viewers?
When
You
Go
To
Z'ha'dum
It's my old deceased equine again: if Sheridan was willing to die in order to prevent the future he saw in War Without End in terms of saving Centauri Prime, it beggars belief he has no clue in s5 of what's actually going on there. Especially once he hears about the Drakh, and Captain Jack's Keeper. I mean, there are possible fanwanks - he's so invested in the idea that he has changed the future by his sacrifice it doesn't occur to him due to wilfull blindness, and/or Lorien when resurrecting him/keeping him alive could not restore all his memories - but only on this rewatch it occurred to me to wonder why JMS has him tell Delenn this as his motive in the first place. I mean, it's not necessary. He could have said "I'm going because while this is almost certainly a trap, it will give me the opportunity to take out part of the enemy's head quarters". And then I thought: but that would be a destructive motive, and wanting to save a planet and people he's not even on particular good terms with at this point is both a constructive one, and shows Sheridan's optimism and hope in addition to the self sacrificial streak.
The reason why the conversation with Garibaldi made me feel melancholy is of course that we will never see them with that good a relationship again. In fact, all of Garibaldi's relationships established so far (with Ivanova, with Franklin) - with the exception of that to G'kar - will never be this good again in terms of what we see on screen. Poor Michael. I'm steeling myself for the next two seasons.
You
willl
die
And that's a s3 wrap! See you next week with season 4.
The other season 3 episodes
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 08:46 am (UTC)Of JMS' post show short stories originally published in "Amazing Stories", I loved and adored the Londo story (which, btw, in a few pages does a way better job than the entire Centauri trilogy), was fine with the Lyta & G'Kar one, and the Marcus Cole story, well, let's not go there.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 05:36 am (UTC)WHAT WAS THAT
WHAT EVEN HAPPENED
Anna!! Delenn!! Sheridan!!!! He went to Z'ha'dum?! He just nuked the Shadows?! Is he dead?! He can't be dead!! But how could you survive those nukes?! AHHHHHHHHH
(this would probably have a lot have more capital letters only I think I used up my capital letters for WWE! Two and a third seasons too soon, I imagine!!)
A couple of other sometimes random reactions:
-I spent the first part of this episode having a lot of feelings about Delenn, because I've been so annoyed by her tendency not to Ever Tell Sheridan Anything. What kind of relationship IS this, anyway? And there was something satisfying in her finally experiencing some consequences from that, even though it was also wrenching, of course.
-super shallowly, and really a last week's comment only I forgot to say it last week, I noticed that Anna nixed the 80's hair. (I know it's a different actress from your post last week, though I didn't know it when I watched last week, and just noticed that the hair wasn't so blatantly 80's anymore!)
-I gotta say, Franklin's face when Sheridan was like, "yeah, Delenn was in my quarters when Anna showed up" was priceless. I honestly laughed pretty hard.
-Sheridan, I mean, I know your heart is in the right place, and I mean, yay for fulfilling Shadow prophecy about Vorlon ships and nuking their city, but it seems to me... that "so, Delenn! Future!you told me NOT to go to Z'ha'dum so I'm going to try to do the exact opposite, cause maybe I'll change history that way" is... maybe... not the smartest thing you've ever done?! Like, what if she told you not to go to Z'ha'dum because you DID go to Z'ha'dum in that future and she saw what happened?? I mean, maybe that's not the case, and you can hardly ask future!Delenn, but how do you know?!
-On the other hand, I guess if he DID die in this episode then that pretty well blows up that future, so maybe he had a point
-Also, Kosh DID tell him he would DIE if he went to Z'ha'dum! So if he doesn't die then what does that mean about that prophecy??!! So he must have died! But how could he have died?! Is he going to, like, come back as white!Sheridan or something?? Because I don't think I'd like that either??
-Not an actual reaction to the episode, but I did start watching S4 and I see his name is still on the credits?! So maybe he didn't actually die?! But how could he NOT have died?!
-yes, I am kind of obsessed with this. but how could one not be??
So, Anna Sheridan. Here my opinions changed through the decades. What I thought in the 1990s, upon first watching the episode and not knowing how the rest of the show would unfold, was that it would have been more interesting if Anna had become an actual convert
Oh, while "lovers on opposite sides" is often a trope I enjoy, in this case, I was SO relieved she wasn't an actual Shadow convert. Mostly in terms of character development -- I really didn't want Sheridan (who strikes me as generally quite good at sizing up people) to find out that the person he had been married to and built a life with all this time had actually been so fundamentally different from him without him knowing.
the Shadows being characterized as essentially space Social Darwinists (instead of being bent on turning the galaxy into Mordor) was letting the side down and making them less than terrifying.
Oh wow. I thought that made them more terrifying, that they could get people on their side by sometimes sounding superficially reasonable. (Also, I find "eeeeeevil for the sake of kicking puppies" kind of unbelievable, and had actually thought the Shadows were a little too much on that side until this episode.)
ETA: I just thought of something! What if the prophecy "if you go to Z'ha'dum you will die" didn't mean "die immediately," kind of in the vein of "if you eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil..." which would be JUST LIKE JMS. So, what if it means that maybe he gets sick and doesn't have long to live, or something like that? But can at least finish out the next two seasons? UGH. I don't like that either, but at least it would be consistent with the prophecy!
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 05:57 am (UTC)Yeah. That's ... yeah.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 08:36 am (UTC)*nods* Both things are very true. Honestly, I think Delenn would subscribe to Bester's "That's on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know" newsletter, in general. She has a variety of reasons for this, of course, but it's a thing, and here it really comes to bite her.
I noticed that Anna nixed the 80's hair
LOL, yes. I mean, I can understand why Beth Toussaint, who played Anna in episode 2.02., didn't want to change her hair style for a five minutes appearance, but luckily this was not an issue with Melissa Gilbert.
Sheridan, I mean, I know your heart is in the right place, and I mean, yay for fulfilling Shadow prophecy about Vorlon ships and nuking their city, but it seems to me... that "so, Delenn! Future!you told me NOT to go to Z'ha'dum so I'm going to try to do the exact opposite, cause maybe I'll change history that way" is... maybe... not the smartest thing you've ever done?! Like, what if she told you not to go to Z'ha'dum because you DID go to Z'ha'dum in that future and she saw what happened?? I mean, maybe that's not the case, and you can hardly ask future!Delenn, but how do you know?!
Indeed. :) To play Sheridan's advocate: he knows two things for sure: Future!Delenn expected him to be alive (since she clearly thought he was Future!Sheridan at first), and in that future, Future!Sheridan told her about that time travel experience and what happened during it at some point. (Delenn says to Present!Sheridan that he did.) And Kosh did tell him that if he went to Z'ha'dum, he would die. So Sheridan assuming that in this timeline, he listened to Delenn, did not go to Z'ha'dum, and as a result the future where the Shadows get defeated but Centauri Prime is devastated in the fallout happens isn't entirely without justification. What he doesn't seem to consider is that Future!Delenn might want to change history, too, in Sheridan's favor, i.e. change the timeline where he goes to Z'ha'dum into one where he doesn't, which tells you something about how Sheridan sees Delenn. (As always looking out for the greater good, I mean. I don't think he considers she'd be capable of putting his welfare above the greatear good's.)
Sheridan's fate being a big s4 plot point, I can't possibly comment on any of your guesses. *g*
I really didn't want Sheridan (who strikes me as generally quite good at sizing up people) to find out that the person he had been married to and built a life with all this time had actually been so fundamentally different from him without him knowing.
I get that, and as I said, I've changed my mind since the 90s on this point as well.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 06:06 am (UTC)I definitely vote for Option C! I can't see Max becoming a Shadow true believer, but I do believe in his ability to talk his way into working for them while frantically looking for a way out. Which would have been interesting if he saw B5 and its crew as that way ...
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 08:42 am (UTC)*nods* Yep, same here. It might be an interesting AU where he in addition to Morden gets sent on the original salesman of Faustian bargains' mission. Now, given Morden is never alone, I assume Max would not be, either, so he would have to find a way to signal to someone they need to get rid of the invisible superbeings next to him. I could see him trying this one on Delenn, on the rationale that she's a Minbari and thus most likely knows what the Shadows are...but Delenn thinks is a trick in order to make her reveal her knowledge, which she does not want to do so the Shadows don't strike too early. So Max gets frustrated by her resolutely ignoring all his frantic signalling and being 100% unhelplful....
no subject
Date: 2022-06-21 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 01:07 pm (UTC)*
*
*
*SPOILERS*
(I always think Sheridan in S5, especially in "Wheel of Fire," is having some kind of *spoilers*-induced endorphin amnesia, because it makes less than sense that he wouldn't put some of this together, especially by then...but he is an optimist at heart, which is one of my favorite things about him. It still boggles the mind.)
no subject
Date: 2022-06-19 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-25 03:54 pm (UTC)I know exactly what I thought at the time. I was totally certain, and I was right for the correct reason :)
Bit like when Anna turned out to be alive. My brain went 'Sheridan and Grant were both famous American civil war generals. She'll betray him.' When you know a man's inspirations, you know his mind.'
no subject
Date: 2022-09-26 07:29 am (UTC)