lurkers-guide/guide/080

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<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>

<blockquote><cite>
The warrior caste demands Delenn's surrender.  Bester makes an offer to an
increasingly desperate Lyta.  Sheridan is compelled to act after receiving
horrible news from Ivanova.
</cite>

<a href="#NO.adams">Scott Adams</a> as Mr. Adams.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+McCarthy,+Bart">Bart McCarthy</a> as Shakiri.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Koenig,+Walter">Walter Koenig</a> as Bester.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Vickery,+John">John Vickery</a> as Neroon.
</blockquote>

<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/080">8.73</a>

Production number: 414
Original air week: May 19, 1997
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DGBEY/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: January 6, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@864065604 Delenn has formed a new Grey Council, with the worker
	caste holding 5 of the 9 positions.  The position of leader is
	reserved for "The One who is to come."

   <li>@@@864065604 In the days before Valen, when caste wars erupted, the
	warring leaders would gather in the temple of Varenni, which is
	equipped with planetwide broadcast facilities and a device called
	the Starfire Wheel.  The Starfire Wheel would consume the opposing
	leaders in fire.  Whichever one willing was to die for the rightness
	of their side would remain in the fire until death; that caste would
	lead.

   <li>@@@864065604 Unable to find work, Lyta has rejoined the Psi Corps in
	name only, striking a deal with Bester to give him custody over her
	body when she dies so he can try to understand what the Vorlons
	did to her.  In exchange, the Corps will list her as a member
	when potential clients try to do a background check on her.

   <li>@@@864065604 Bester is directly involved in whatever was done to
	Garibaldi.  Among other things, Bester's plan is to pull Garibaldi
	further and further from his former associates, though the ultimate
	purpose is still unclear.

   <li>@@@864065604 William Edgars, Garibaldi's employer, is extremely
	secretive; though he's one of the wealthiest men in the Earth Alliance,
	no pictures of him have ever been published.  He also claims to have an
	intense distrust of telepaths and refuses to let any of his high-level
	employees work with them.

</ul>

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@864065604 Who is The One who is to come?  (See
	<a href="#AN.one">Analysis</a>)

   <li>@@@864065604 What will happen to Shakiri?  Does he still lead the
	warrior caste?

   <li>@@@864067304 What were Delenn's instructions to Lennier?

   <li>@@@864065604 What is Bester's plan for Garibaldi?

   <li>@@@866938177 What happened between Zack and Bester after Bester
	provoked Garibaldi?

</ul>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@864542424 <a name="AN.one">The One who is to come may be Sheridan;</a>
	in
	<a href="061.html">"War Without End,"</a>
	Zathras referred to him as "The One who will be."  The main thing
	arguing against it being Sheridan is the generally xenophobic
	attitude expressed by many Minbari in the past (e.g. Callenn in
	<a href="075.html">"Atonement."</a>)
	On the other hand, perhaps such xenophobia is only a disease of the
	warrior and religious castes; the worker caste might have less
	trouble accepting a human as their leader.

	<p>
	Another candidate is David, Sheridan and Delenn's future child
	(<a href="061.html">"War Without End, Part Two."</a>)
	As a direct descendant of all three of The One, and a partial Minbari
	genetically, he might be more palatable.

	<p>
	She might even have meant Sinclair: in
	<a href="075.html">"Atonement,"</a>
	she mentioned Valen's body was never found, and at least one Minbari
	ritual, the extra placesetting seen in
	<a href="040.html">"Confessions and Lamentations,"</a>
	indicates a belief in Valen's eventual return.

	<p>
	It's also possible Delenn didn't intend her comment in any sort of
	prophetic way.  She may simply have been referring to the next head of
	the Grey Council.  The Minbari went ten years between leaders after
	Dukhat's death; perhaps there will be a similar period of mourning
	for Neroon, and the new leader won't be chosen for a while.

<p>
   <li>@@@864544191 Both Sheridan and Delenn have accepted death (Sheridan
	with Lorien in
	<a href="068.html">"Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"</a>)
	Will the experience change Delenn as it changed Sheridan?  Arguably,
	this isn't the first time for Delenn -- she accepted at least the
	possibility of death in
	<a href="040.html">"Confessions and Lamentations"</a>
	and gave herself in exchange for Sheridan in
	<a href="043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor."</a>

<p>
   <li>@@@864067551 Despite Delenn's denial, the religious caste members on
	her ship in
	<a href="079.html">"Rumors, Bargains and Lies"</a>
	were at least partially right: her plan <em>did</em> involve
	surrendering to the warrior caste, if only temporarily.  If Lennier's
	reaction was at all typical, that must have come as a horrible blow
	to her caste when they heard about it.

<p>
   <li>@@@867903582 Delenn's line to Shakiri, "The warrior caste started this
	war.  Now the religious caste has ended it," echoes the lesson Sheridan
	learned from his father
	(<a href="054.html">"Severed Dreams"</a>)
	-- "Never start a fight, but always finish it."

<p>
   <li>@@@864067551 Neroon's loyalties at the beginning of the episode were
	unclear.  Shakiri's contempt for life clearly convinced Neroon that
	Delenn's plan was the right way to go.  But would he have carried out
	her plan if Shakiri hadn't been so fanatical and had been able to
	provide some valid justification for the war?

<p>
   <li>@@@864541332 Neroon's sacrifice will probably play much better in the
	long run than Delenn's death would have. Shakiri's fear and 
	actions brought dishonor to the Warrior caste; had they
	simply lost to the religious caste the resentment and stain 
	of dishonor would have remained.

	<p>
	By sacrificing himself for Delenn, Neroon gave honor back
	to the warriors, since one of their own
	remained and died in the Starwheel. His conversion to religious
	caste assured that the honor would be shared with them as well.

	<p>
	Neroon's last-minute conversion meant both a religious and a warrior
	caste member perished on the wheel. Thus, technically, neither caste
	won, just as Delenn wanted.

<p>
   <li>@@@865710832 Neroon wasn't the first Minbari to switch castes.  His
	former commander, Branmer, was originally religious caste but switched
	to warrior caste during the Earth-Minbari War
	(<a href="017.html">"Legacies."</a>)

<p>
   <li>@@@865179896 Neroon's interaction with Delenn revolves around
	sacrifice.  In
	<a href="063.html">"Grey 17 Is Missing,"</a>
	he was ready to attack or possibly kill her, but yielded when he saw
	that Marcus was ready to sacrifice his life for her sake.  Here, he
	himself made that sacrifice.  At the end of "Grey 17," Marcus asked
	Neroon, "Next time you want a revelation, could you possibly find a way
	that's not quite so uncomfortable?"  Apparently not.

<p>
   <li>@@@864588681 While Delenn was bringing peace to her people, Sheridan
	was preparing to go to war with his.  What will Delenn think of his
	decision when she returns?

<p>
   <li>@@@864067304 Ivanova's broadcast mentioned a Starfury squadron defecting
	to Proxima 3.  How many Earth ships have gone over to the resistance?
	Presumably the Alexander is still at large
	(<a href="054.html">"Severed Dreams."</a>)
	Are there other ships of that caliber, and if so, will they take
	orders from Sheridan?

<p>
   <li>@@@864670730 Bester implied he'd seen the Voice of the Resistance
	broadcasts.  Does that mean the broadcasts are in fact reaching Earth
	and/or Mars, or has he simply seen them because he travels a lot in
	the course of his job?

<p>
   <li>@@@864588681 Bester's contract says he gets Lyta's body if she dies
	of natural causes.  Would the telepath disease in
	<a href="078.html">"Conflicts of Interest"</a>
	count as natural causes?  If so, Bester and the Corps may have a
	specific reason to want to gain control of the cure.  Perhaps Bester
	was the one responsible for sending the telepaths to try to procure it.

<p>
   <li>@@@864067304 Lyta is slowly lifting the veil of secrecy she's
	maintained about the Vorlons and their changes to her.  In
	<a href="073.html">"Epiphanies,"</a>
	she was only willing to obliquely acknowledge the possibility that
	something might have happened.  Here, she tacitly admitted it to 
	Bester, and told Garibaldi in no uncertain terms that she wasn't a
	mere P5 any more.

<p>
   <li>@@@864067304 Will Lyta be more willing to scan Garibaldi now that he
	has, from her point of view, turned against her?  If she were to
	discover evidence of Bester's involvement in whatever was done to
	Garibaldi, she'd presumably want to investigate and find out what
	Bester was up to.  Of course, she might still consider Garibaldi's
	privacy a more compelling concern, and presumably whatever programming
	he received would prevent him from agreeing to be scanned.

<p>
   <li>@@@864845195 Sheridan's insistence that Lyta move to smaller quarters
	to help the station stay financially afloat is somewhat hypocritical,
	given his refusal to do the same in
	<a href="030.html">"A Race Through Dark Places."</a>
	Lyta made the same argument Sheridan did against being forcibly moved:
	her value to the station entitles her to special treatment.

	<p>
	It's worth noting that Zack said the order came from Station Resources,
	not from Sheridan himself, but presumably if there were a reasonable
	chance Sheridan would overturn the order, Zack would have asked him
	before burdening Lyta with the news.

	<p>
	And given Bester's presence on the station, was Zack even relaying a
	real order?  Bester might have planted the belief in such an order
	in Zack's mind without Zack being any the wiser.

<p>
   <li>@@@864542058 This is the second time Zack has been asked to relay
	bad news to someone close: first Garibaldi in
	<a href="078.html">"Conflicts of Interest,"</a>
	and now Lyta, who appears to have warmed up considerably to Zack
	since he brought her pizza in
	<a href="073.html">"Epiphanies."</a>
	Though Zack is clearly loyal to Sheridan, bearing bad news to
	friends probably won't have any positive effect on his attitude.

<p>
   <li>@@@864542058 Zack no longer calls Garibaldi "chief."  Likely he's given
	up hope of Garibaldi's return.  Any respect Zack had for Garibaldi
	was probably destroyed by Garibaldi's use of a duplicate identicard
	to get past customs
	(<a href="078.html">"Conflicts of Interest."</a>)

</ul>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<ul>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/080/adams.gif" alt="">
   <li>@@@862819784 
	<a name="NO.adams">Cartoonist Scott Adams,</a>
	creator of the
	<a href="http://www.dilbert.com/">"Dilbert"</a>
	comic strip, has a cameo appearance in this episode.  A
	<a href="/lurk/misc/adams-release">press release</a>
	about his appearance is available.

	<p>
	Mr. Adams' lost dog and cat are no doubt a reference to the characters
	of Dogbert and Catbert from the comic strip.  Dogbert is constantly
	scheming to take over the world.

<p>
   <li>@@@885536282 The new Grey Council (spellings approximate): Dalidi and Burli of
	the religious caste, Mazik and Shaka of the warrior caste, and
	Dulann, Katz, Zaca, Nur, and Barenn of the worker caste.

<p>
   <li>@@@864542729 The title of this episode echoes G'Kar's closing
	monologue in
	<a href="066.html">"Z'ha'dum"</a>:
	"The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of
	transition, to be born in moments of revelation.  No one knows the
	shape of that future or where it will take us.  We know only that it is
	always born in pain."

<p>
   <li>@@@870242784 The security guard may have been stumped by Bester's
	Dickens quote because it wasn't quite right.  In "A Christmas Carol,"
	Marley's Ghost said, "Mankind was my business," not "Humanity is my
	business."

<p>
   <li>@@@870027128 Edgars claimed to be available 24 hours a day.
	The Martian day is closer to 25 Earth hours long.  But even now,
	scientists divide the Martian day into 24 Martian hours, each slightly
	longer than a terrestrial hour.  It's reasonable to assume that that
	practice continues into the 23rd century.
	(<a href="http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/mars.htm">More on
	Mars</a>)

<p>
   <li>@@@866394205 This episode takes place around August 3, 2261.  August 3
	is a recurring date in the series: August 3, 2258 was the date of
	the initial mayday from the raiders in
	<a href="013.html">"Signs and Portents;"</a>
	August 3, 2260 was the date the Shadows began attacking openly
	(<a href="059.html">"Interludes and Examinations;"</a>)
	and August 3, 2261 was the date in Bester's log entry in this
	episode.

<p>
	<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt=""
	src="/lurk/gif/080/agamemnon-closeup.gif">
   <li>@@@869851585 In the original US broadcast, the cruiser firing on the
	commercial transports was shown as the Agamemnon, Sheridan's old ship.
	That was a production slipup (see
	<a href="#JS.agamemnon">JMS Speaks</a>)
	and in later airings, the cruiser was labeled the Pollux.

</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
<ul>

<p>
   <li>@@@865613058 <a name="JS.agamemnon"><em>In response to an earlier JMS
	message saying the cruiser wasn't the Agamemnon</em></a><br>
	I have to recant my correction.

	<p>
	The image as shown in the monitor was supposed to be shown
	*only* on the monitor, not blown up.  The animators figured,
	it'll be too small to read the name on it, so we may as well
	grab a ship out of the library rather than building a new one
	(a sensible choice)...but when John and I got into editing, we
	grabbed the original video and did that close-up...and neither
	of us, NObody, ever even noticed the Aggy name until after it
	was mentioned here...and I then checked, and to my chagrin, it
	was there.

	<p>
	But in true Soviet Revisionist fashion, you can be assured that
	down the road, this will mysteriously be replaced by another
	shot....

<p>
   <li>@@@865288720 <em>If you had been 100% sure there'd be a season 5,
	would this have been the season 4 finale?</em><br>
	No, this could never have been the finale for 4.

<p>
   <li>@@@864666022 <em>Will John Vickery return, perhaps as Mr. Welles from
	<a href="044.html">"The Fall of Night?"</a></em><br>
	No, not as that role, but we're definitely open to using him in
	other roles, as with Wayne Alexander.

<p>
   <li>@@@867911142 We'll keep our eyes out for a way to bring him around again,
	same as with Wayne.

<p>
   <li>@@@864542729 <em>How does this story relate to G'Kar's speech?</em><br>
	In a way, it was the second half of G'Kar's sentence...that life
	can be broken down into moments of transition and moments of
	revelation...and there with Neroon at the end we had both.

<p>
   <li>@@@864580628 <em>Did he really realize he belonged in the religious
	caste, or did he just do it for Delenn's sake?</em><br>
	Whether it was true or not, he knew his actions would bring the
	castes back together...so out of respect for the dead, best to leave
	the issue unresolved, and accept his gesture for what it was.

<p>
   <li>@@@864500122 <em>What was wrong with Walter Koenig's hand?</em><br>
	As for Walter...he made the decision to play Bester
	with a deformed or useless hand, which he's compensating for as a teep.

<p>
   <li>@@@864580628 <em>Then how does he put his gloves on?</em><br>
	Ask Walter.

<p>
   <li>@@@865362300 What's been great about B5 has been the chance to give many
	talented actors like Walter and others a chance to show the many other
	hues and colors they are capable of delivering, but which were rarely
	seen because the material didn't allow them the opportunity.  I know
	Walter's loved it, and it's been great for us as well.

<p>
   <li>@@@864580988 <em>Were Delenn and Neroon secretly in contact, or was
	the whole plan worked out in advance?</em><br>
	They were worked out in advance, and the instructions were
	for posthumous use.

<p>
   <li>@@@864500323 <em>Did Delenn's instructions include a message for
	Sheridan?</em><br>
	Almost certainly.

<p>
   <li>@@@864236121 <em>Are any members of the old Grey Council on the new
	one?</em><br>
	Yeah, some of the new council would've been on the old one.

	<p>
	And Bester was named for a well-known SF writer, now gone.

<p>
   <li>@@@864666022 The Grey Council stucture, visually, is designed to bring
	the Starfire wheel to mind.  Valen, being something of a smart cookie,
	figured it would be wise to tie in whatever he was doing to the
	traditions that preceded him.  So they're arranged in a circle, with a
	series of lights above them, and the one central light (for Dukhat, for
	instance) reserved for the one who had endured and grown to leadership,
	but through a somewhat less violent means.

	<p>
	"Finally, the diversity of cultures on Babylon 5 must be a
	satisfaction for you as a writer to have so many different voices to
	express. "MoT" for me was almost like seguing between playwrights --
	Damon Runyan (Garibaldi) to Oscar Wilde (Bester) to Aeschylus (Minbar).
	One of the things I have found most appealing about Babylon 5 as a
	whole is that the language is similar to the language of the stage. 
	That seems rare in a television milieu defined for the most part by
	diseases-of-the-week, talk-show spew and courtroom maneuverings."

	<p>
	Yeah, I like that part a lot, being able to write in lots of
	different voices, lots of different styles.  You have to remember that
	I cut my teeth writing dialogue back when I was writing plays and
	getting them produced.  I love theater, love plays, and love really
	well done or rich dialogue.  So it echoes that now...which as you say
	isn't necessarily the style of dialogue seen on most television (which
	is why a few react weirdly to it), but I like it, and it's my show....

<p>
   <li>@@@874513609 <em>Lyta refused to scan Garibaldi, but was willing to
	scan the Centauri in
	<a href="048.html">"Passing Through Gethsemane."</a></em><br>
	Yes, it's an inconsistency; because humans are inconsistent. 
	But it's only an inconsistency subject to Lyta's
	rationalizations...which are quite reasonable.

	<p>
	She didn't know the Centauri; she knew Garibaldi...they knew
	beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brother Edward's *life* was in
	jeapordy, and that this person may hold the key to saving his life and
	every instant they waited meant he could be dying, whereas there is no
	such crisis in the Garibaldi situation...they were able to hide her
	identity from the Centauri whereas they would not be able to do so with
	her and Garibaldi....

	<p>
	The decision to scan or not to scan is essentially a moral or
	ethical decision.  When someone's life is on the line, that raises one
	ethical concern, as opposed to Zack just having a vague suspicion about
	Garibaldi's character and asking her to engage in a fishing expedition.
	There is a quantum difference between the two of them.

	<p>
	Would a physician give someone the tools necessary to end his
	life? No. Would he do so if the person were chronically ill and in
	constant, terrible pain?  Very possibly.  It's the *context*.  You
	can't expect people to act the same in every situation regardless of
	context, context is everything.

	<p>
	People are not robots, they rationalize, they are inconsistent,
	but they generally have *reasons* for it that they can justify.  As
	somebody once said, rationalizations are more important than sex,
	because you can *go* a day without sex....  <em>[Ed. note: this is
	a quote from "The Big Chill."]</em>

<p>
   <li>@@@864666022 <em>Why didn't Lyta go to Sheridan for help?</em><br>
	I think Lyta had just emotionally gotten to the place where she
	had to do something on her own rather than continuing to rely on the
	kindness of strangers.

<p>
   <li>@@@864500122 <em>Did Bester tell Edgars that Garibaldi had hired
	Lyta?</em><br>
	Nope.

<p>
   <li>@@@864542729 <em>Is Edgars really Bester?</em><br>
	Not a chance.

	<p>
	Edgars is played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr., which by itself
	precludes that.

<p>
   <li>@@@864636708 Bear in mind that Edgars also has Wade working for him
	right there on the station, and he is more or less Garibaldi's liaison
	with Edgars, so logically that would be his source of information.

</ul>