Bester arrives to try to retrieve the refugee telepaths. Garibaldi confronts
Lochley. Delenn chooses a bodyguard for Londo.
Robin Atkin Downes as
Byron.
Walter Koenig as Bester.
P5 Rating: 7.84
Production number: 507
Original air date: February 25, 1998
DVD release date: April 13, 2004
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John C. Flinn III
- @@@888480810 Lochley and Sheridan were married for a brief time many
years ago. The relationship ended quickly because both of them wanted
to be in control all the time. But it's thanks to their time together
that Sheridan knows he can trust her even though she was on the other
side in the civil war.
- @@@888480810 Lochley was stationed on an outpost on which a rogue
telepath murdered two crewmen. Bester and his people arrived and
tracked down the rogue, saving the lives of additional people under
Lochley's command.
- @@@888480810 Many of Byron's people have been the subjects of Psi Corps
medical experiments, and don't trust doctors.
- @@@888481016 Lyta appears to have genuinely joined Byron's cause. The
two of them appear to be developing either a close friendship or
romantic attraction.
- @@@888480810 G'Kar is now working as Londo's bodyguard. He accepted
the assignment largely to see the looks on the faces of the Centauri
royal court when a Narn is present at important state functions and
the like.
- @@@888480810 Londo is the second Mollari to become Emperor. Londo
says his ancestor's life ended badly.
- @@@888480810 The Centauri Regent's health is failing; Londo will soon
spend much of his time shuttling back and forth between B5 and Centauri
Prime.
- @@@888480810 Franklin has been given a new assignment, to thoroughly
catalog any diseases of various races which might be able to cross
species. His new duties will take him away from Babylon 5 to visit
the homeworlds of Alliance member races.
- @@@888480810 Who tried to assassinate Londo?
- @@@888480810 Do the Regent's health problems have anything to do
with the Keeper on his neck
("Epiphanies?")
- @@@888480810 Is there actually a quarantine regulation as Lochley
claimed? If not, how did she get her lie past Bester? If so, did
Franklin invent it on her behalf, implying that he has the authority to
issue medical regulations on his own?
- @@@888480810 Lyta's power has limits, though even she doesn't know
exactly what they are. Could she have held off all of
Bester's men? Is she telekinetic, or was she simply activating
nerve endings as Bester speculated?
- @@@889635224 What's the significance of Lyta removing her Psi Corps
badge as she joined Byron's song? Is she officially resigning her
fake Corps membership
("Moments of Transition?")
If so, does that mean that the entire contract with Bester is canceled,
or just that she's giving up the benefits of supposed Corps membership?
Will she be considered a rogue when Bester returns in sixty days? Or
did she just remove it to be polite and avoid offending the others?
- @@@890010985 Lyta has all the makings of a cult member:
she feels abandoned by the world, she appears to have a need to follow
someone (be it Kosh or Sheridan or Byron,) and she's used to complying
with others' demands without question (as Byron pointed out in
"The Paragon of Animals.")
Byron's group appears very much like a cult: a small group of
people who feel they're different than everyone else (in this
case, of course, they are) and a charismatic leader who's
willing to sacrifice himself for his cause and to give personal
attention to each of his people. He's even holding out the hope
of a promised land in the form of B5 (and eventually a homeworld.)
- @@@888480810 Byron's people have a sixty-day reprieve, at least until
Bester either decides Lochley was lying or that he's waited long
enough. If Byron's people aren't allowed to leave the station
before then, what will they do when the sixty days are up? That
deadline may be what sparks the hostage situation shown in
"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars,"
if indeed Byron's people (or some non-pacifist faction of his
group) were the ones holding Garibaldi hostage.
Zack described Byron as a martyr. If that's literally true -- if he
is indeed fated to die for his cause (and he does appear to be willing
to do so) -- then his death might also incite his followers to
violence. Of course, his death and the expiration of the sixty-day
grace period aren't necessarily separate events; Bester's people
are willing to injure him at the very least.
- @@@888480810 What medical experiments did Byron's people undergo? Lyta
said many of them don't trust doctors as a result, but as telepaths
who don't block out normals' thoughts, wouldn't they be able to
sense Franklin's good intentions?
- @@@889502663 What did Bester mean when he commented that Byron knew
all about turning against someone? What history do Bester and
Byron share? Perhaps Byron was once a Psi Cop, which would be
consistent with the level of psi ability he's displayed in the
past (appearing in front of Lochley in
"No Compromises,"
putting Bo in the Starfury pilot's mind in
"A View from the Gallery.")
- @@@888522924 Psi Corps' hold on the colonist telepaths, according to
Lochley, is due to their status as Earth Alliance citizens. Can they
switch citizenships? Does Mars fall under Corps jurisdiction, for
example? If not, there must be other races willing to grant
citizenship to telepaths, either for free or for the right price.
The Narn, for instance, would probably welcome them with open arms.
Presumably Sheridan, in his position as President, could ask one of
the Alliance member races to take the telepaths in as asylum-seekers.
- @@@888507739 Now that G'Kar is Londo's bodyguard, who will represent
the Narn on the Alliance advisory council? Does G'Kar retain his
position as ambassador? If not, isn't appointment as Londo's
bodyguard a rather substantial demotion?
For that matter, who will
represent the Centauri while Londo is away and after he's crowned?
Vir?
- @@@890011912 Franklin has experience with at least one cross-species
disease: the Drafa plague that wiped out the Markab
("Confessions and Lamentations")
crossed over to the Pak'ma'ra.
- @@@890012383 How have Lochley and Sheridan kept their past marriage
a secret? Are marriage records not public information? It seems
odd that, for example, ISN wouldn't have turned up anything in even
a cursory investigation of Lochley's background (they would presumably
have reported on her appointment, given B5's high profile.) Maybe
divorce under Earth Alliance law can result in all official records of
the marriage being erased -- which would still leave unofficial ones,
of course.
- @@@890012169 As Lochley mentioned to Garibaldi, Sheridan has had three
wives (Londo is still one up on him.) Sheridan's wives mirror the
Minbari caste system: Lochley was a warrior, Anna a worker, and
Delenn a religious caste member.
- @@@888480810 Corwin reported Ms. Connoly's estimate for clearing the
cargo backlog. Connoly appeared in
"By Any Means Necessary"
and is the head of the dockworkers' guild on the station.
- @@@888480810 Lochley has a phoenix on her flight helmet.
- @@@888480810 The Descartes joke Bester was telling Lochley is an old
one, a play on "I think, therefore I am" -- I think not, therefore
I'm not. The joke was told by Neal Barrett, Jr. when he was toastmaster
at the 1997 Hugo Awards Ceremony, at which JMS received a Hugo award for
"Severed Dreams."
(It predates that ceremony, though.)
- @@@884632658 The astute will notice a slight change in the main
title music starting with 507. I was down sick when they had to do the
main title mix, and couldn't get into it. When we had to modify some
voice stuff for 507, I went in and pulled out all the music stems and
rebalanced stuff to bring out the themes more, which kind of got buried
a little in places. All the same individual pieces are there, but in
different perspectives.
- @@@888605187 Was the song at the end a traditional tune?
No, I came up with that song for the episode, and designed it to sound
like any of a zillion other such songs out there, so it'd sound
familiar.