lurkers-guide/guide/504

<!-- TITLE The Path of Sorrows -->

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

<blockquote><cite>
The discovery of a mysterious alien causes the crew to reflect on significant
events in their lives.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Production number: 109
Original air date: June 30, 1999
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00061QJSK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: December 7, 2004

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

<p>
<hr size=3>

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

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 Gideon was an ensign on the Cerberus ten years earlier
	when it was attacked by an alien ship, possibly a Shadow vessel.
	The ship was destroyed while he was in the middle of a spacewalk to
	survey some hull damage.  Shortly after the Shadow ship withdrew,
	the technomage fleet arrived and he was rescued by Galen.
	After he returned to Earth, his story was met with skepticism by
	his superiors.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 At one point, Gideon won a device called an "apocalypse
	box" in a poker game.  The box's previous owner killed himself
	immediately after losing it, though apparently more to escape
	the box's influence than because he was upset about losing it.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 Galen and Isabelle
	(<a href="503.html">"The Well of Forever"</a>)
	were injured and stranded on a planet after being betrayed by
	three other technomages.  She died as he comforted her.  Thereafter,
	Galen refused to believe in any kind of higher purpose or design in
	the universe, since it would imply that someone decided that Isabelle
	deserved to die.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 Matheson was working at a secret Psi Corps base during
	the Telepath War.  He was asked to administer sleeper drugs to a
	captured rogue telepath.  The rogue convinced him to look at the
	Corps in a less forgiving light; he ended up betraying his masters
	and unwittingly helping the rogues destroy the Psi Corps base.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@931198143 Who did Galen apologize to, and for what?

   <li>@@@931198143 What were the circumstances of Dureena's previous
	failure, and who died as a result?

   <li>@@@931198143 Who and what was the alien in the orb?

   <li>@@@931198143 Who attacked the Cerberus?  The Shadows?  Given that
	Earth was allied with them during the Shadow War, why would they
	attack an Earth Alliance ship?

   <li>@@@931198143 Was it just a coincidence that the technomage fleet
	appeared in precisely the same location as the attack on the Cerberus?

   <li>@@@931198143 What was the apocalypse box?  Where did it come from?
	What happened to it?

   <li>@@@931198143 Who betrayed Galen and Isabelle?  Why?  What precisely did
	they do?

   <li>@@@931198143 Was the message to Galen genuine, or did the alien cause
	it to be sent?

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@931198143 Since Matheson has been deep-scanned on at least one
	occasion
	(<a href="503.html">"The Well of Forever"</a>)
	it's possible that his role in the Corps base's destruction is known
	to at least a few other people.  Have there been any repercussions,
	or does the fact that it was wartime (and, more to the point, that
	the Corps was apparently on the losing side of the war) mean he
	wasn't officially held accountable?

   <li>@@@936001489 The word "apocalypse" has two meanings.  The commonly-used
	one is a cataclysm, generally involving the destruction of life on
	a large scale.  But the word also means "a prophetic revelation."
	Which sense applies to the box remains to be seen.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@931198143 Matheson's psi ability is stronger than P2, though
	how much higher isn't clear.

   <li>@@@931457216 Galen's reason for refusing to believe in a larger
	design echoes a comment by Marcus.  He told Dr. Franklin that
	he preferred to think that things didn't happen for a reason, since
	otherwise it would mean that people deserved it when bad things
	happened to them.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@931198143 This one is a favorite of mine as well.  It was one of
	the scripts written while we were still shooting the first 5, before
	TNT got into the process.  When that happened, they made it clear that
	they *hated* this story, felt that nobody would be interested in all
	this backstory...and asked for it all to be taken out, let them run
	into this alien and make him an evil character, an emotional vampire
	who drives them insane.

	<p>
	This was one of the first scripts where I dug in my heels
	bigtime and refused to do what they asked.  I knew it would be
	powerful; they thought it would be utterly uninteresting.  They were
	wrong.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 <em>What was the ship that attacked the Cerberus?</em><br>
	That remains to be revealed.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 <em>Was Lyta supposed to be in this episode?</em><br>
	Yeah, Lyta would've been in that ep but Pat was on a movie at
	the time.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 Re: the Matheson scene...that one was cut back by about 40%
	because the episode ran long.  (That sometimes happens on dialogue-
	intensive episodes.) The original version had it go over a longer
	period of time, and showed him coming over gradually.  It is a bit
	abrupt as it is now, though I still think it plays.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198143 <em>Why didn't the rogue have a beacon that sent out a
	continuous signal?</em><br>
	A device that small would run out of power if it were on all the
	time, and might be detected.  My feeling was that it was switched off
	and had to be removed to power it up, then the telepathic signal would
	activate the beacon and bring in the troops.  You'd have a two-stage
	process to a) avoid detection, and b) ensure that if it *were* found it
	couldn't be used by anyone else to stage a trap.

<p>
   <li>@@@931198449 "I'm very curious where Joe's going with Galen's
	character."

	<p>
	Actually, Galen has quite a secret he's carrying around with
	him.  It formed the basis of scripts 114 ("To the Ends of the Earth")
	and 116 ("End of the Line," which would've been the cliffhanger).  It's
	also a major element of the coming technomage novels.  There's a very
	small reference to it in the episode airing this week, when Galen
	mentions that he and someone else have been "betrayed by our own kind."

	<p>
	It also ties into why they were in such a rush to get the hell
	out of known space during the shadow war.

</ul>