lurkers-guide/guide/102

<!-- TITLE Meditations on the Abyss -->

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

<blockquote><cite>
Without Sheridan's knowledge, Delenn sends Lennier on a mission to try to
figure out the source of the raids.
</cite>

Martin Cast as Findell.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Yniguez,+Richard">Richard Ynigues</a> as Montoya.
</blockquote>

<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/102">8.21</a>

Production number: 515
Original air date: May 27, 1998
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00019071C/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: April 13, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Vejar
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

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

   <li>@@@896325834 Delenn has sent Lennier to train on a White Star.
	Unbeknownst to its captain, he's secretly on the lookout for evidence
	of Centauri involvement with the raids on Alliance ships.

   <li>@@@896325834 Franklin, like many Narns on the station, is reading
	G'Kar's book and finds it impressive.

   <li>@@@896325834 Londo has selected Vir to be the next Centauri Ambassador
	to Babylon 5 (and thus presumably to the Alliance.)

   <li>@@@896325834 The Drazi suspect that the Centauri are involved in the
	attacks on the cargo ships.  They've attempted to bug Londo's
	quarters at least once.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@896325834 Did Sheridan notice Delenn's extended absence during
	the night, or did he go back to sleep until she returned?

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@896325834 How did the Drazi find out about the Centauri
	involvement?  Or are they just lucky guessers?  Since Londo isn't aware
	of what's going on, they couldn't have found out from him, even if they
	had successfully bugged his quarters at some point.

<p>
   <li>@@@896389261 Londo was correct about Vir not being ready to be the
	ambassador: Vir is thought of as weak and ineffectual by the other
	races, as demonstrated by the Drazi merchant.  Though Londo's comment
	to Zack was probably at least partially in jest, a little confrontation
	may well be necessary before people will take Vir seriously enough
	to make him an effective ambassador.

<p>
   <li>@@@896325834 G'Kar used an analogy of a light shining on a wall
	to describe how people perceive God.  Lennier used a similar analogy in
	<a href="048.html">"Passing Through Gethsemane"</a>
	when he described the Minbari conception of the soul to Brother Edward.

<p>
   <li>@@@896374316 Lennier cautioned Findell about joining the Anla'shok for
	the wrong reasons -- but it's arguable that that's exactly what
	Lennier himself has done, since one of his goals is to impress
	Delenn (he said as much in
	<a href="090.html">"The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari."</a>)
	That may hold the key to his eventual betrayal of the Rangers as
	predicted by Morden
	(<a href="096.html">"Day of the Dead."</a>)
	If faced with a choice of serving Delenn directly or serving the
	Anla'shok, he might well choose the former, especially if the
	choice involved a significant threat to Delenn.  Such an eventuality
	appears to be foreshadowed here in the conversation between Delenn
	and Lennier.

	<p>
	Findell's reasons for joining are very close to Marcus': the death
	of a family member and the desire to carry on that person's work.

<p>
   <li>@@@896326426 Garibaldi's drunkenness won't remain a secret for long
	if he's as careless as he was in ordering the pizza; the staff of
	Fresh Air now potentially knows about his return to the bottle.
	Whether that information will make it to anyone who knows Garibaldi
	personally, of course, remains to be seen.  It's possible that the
	Fresh Air staff doesn't consider it out of the ordinary to deliver
	food to a drunk off-duty crewmember.

<p>
   <li>@@@896373347 Eavesdropping figured in both storylines: the Drazi bug
	in Londo's quarters and Captain Montoya listening in on Lennier's
	communications.

	<p>
	Franklin's installation of G'Kar's eye suggests another possible
	instance of eavesdropping.  The eye has a long range, so it's
	possible someone might pick up its signals from a distance.  Perhaps
	that's how the Drazi found out about the Centauri -- if G'Kar read
	a document on the subject they might have picked up the image from
	his eye.

	<p>
	If that's indeed happening, G'Kar may discover it and decide the eye
	isn't worth the risk.  That could explain why he's missing it in the
	future
	(<a href="061.html">"War Without End part 2."</a>)

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@896325834 G'Kar's old artificial eye has been replaced with one
	of his natural color.

   <li>@@@896389261 G'Kar intended his book to be published after his death.

   <li>@@@896389261 The coffee stain in the book was first mentioned in
	<a href="089.html">"No Compromises."</a>

   <li>@@@896325834 <b>Narn:</b> What is truth?  And what is God?<br>
	<b>G'Kar:</b> Truth is... a river.<br>
	<b>Narn:</b> And what is God?<br>
	<b>G'Kar:</b> God is the mouth of the river.

   <li>@@@896389261 White Stars carry Minbari fighters.

   <li>@@@896454631 Minbari fighters carry about 6 hours and 40 minutes of
	air (Lennier and Findell had an hour of air at 15% capacity.)

   <li>@@@896325834 The Fresh Air restaurant delivers pizza.

   <li>@@@896326426 While Londo is away, Vir eats at McBari's, a fast-food
	restaurant in Brown Sector (symbol: golden headbones.)  As he puts it,
	"It tastes so good going down.  Coming back up, it's not so good."

</ul>

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