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lurkers-guide


								<!-- TITLE Point of No Return -->


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


								<blockquote><cite>

								As the Earth Alliance plunges toward civil war, internal strife threatens to

								shatter the command structure of B5.  Zack's loyalties are put to the test

								when the Nightwatch is ordered to take over station security.  Londo receives

								another glimpse of his destiny.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Barrett,+Majel">Majel Barrett</a> as Lady Morella.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Teague,+Marshall">Marshall Teague</a> as Ta'Lon.

								</blockquote>


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/053">9.31</a>


								Production number: 309

								Original air week: February 26, 1996

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009OOFK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: August 12, 2003


								Written by J. Michael Straczynski

								Directed by Jim Johnston

								</pre>


								<strong>Note: this episode is more momentous than most.  Think twice before

								proceeding to the spoilers; it's worth seeing unawares.</strong>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


								<h2><a name="BP">Backplot</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> After the death of a Centauri emperor, custom states that his spirit

									lives on in the body of his consort, who speaks both for herself and

									her late husband.


								   <li> Londo is destined to become emperor.  That part of his future cannot

									be avoided, according to Lady Morella.  Vir is also destined to

									become emperor.  One will become emperor after the other dies, but

									it's not clear which.


								   <li> Londo has already passed up two chances to avoid the destiny he fears

									awaits him.  There will be three more.  He must save the eye that does

									not see.  He must not kill the one who is already dead.  And failing

									those, at the last, he must surrender himself to his greatest fear,

									knowing that it will destroy him.


								   <li> One result of G'Kar's Kosh-inspired revelation in

									<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust"</a>

									is the belief that humans are the key to the salvation of the Narn

									race.  He also believes, as Kosh suggested, that the Narn must give

									up their pride and their vengeance or risk being completely destroyed,

									and that his people must sacrifice themselves by the hundreds or

									even the millions if all are to benefit in the end.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li> Is General Hague on his way to the station?


								   <li> What impact will Sheridan's new security forces have?  Will they

									immediately turn Earth against him?


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li> One of Londo's two squandered chances was undoubtedly his action in

									<a href="031.html">"The Coming of Shadows,"</a>

									which sparked the Narn-Centauri War.  The other is less clear.

									Perhaps it was his initial meeting with Morden, or the attack on the

									outpost in

									<a href="022.html">"Chrysalis."</a>

									It may also have been his decision to ask the Shadows to defend Gorash 7

									(<a href="042.html">"The Long, Twilight Struggle,"</a>)

									without which the Centauri wouldn't have been able to crush the Narn

									as thoroughly as they did.


								<p>

								   <li> "The eye that does not see" might refer to the Eye, the

									symbol of Centauri nobility that marked the start of Londo's association

									with Morden

									(<a href="013.html">"Signs and Portents."</a>)

									It may also refer to G'Kar's eye, which appears to be injured or missing

									in Londo's dream

									(<a href="031.html">"The Coming of Shadows."</a>)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@832090870 The one who is already dead might be Morden, who's officially dead

									according to Earth Alliance records

									(<a href="038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum"</a>)

									or perhaps G'Kar,

									whose old life is certainly gone.  It's also possible that it refers

									to the memory of someone who is to die; Londo may be presented with

									an opportunity to discredit someone who would otherwise serve as a

									martyr.  Along similar lines, it may refer to the wishes of someone

									already dead; for instance, destroying the chance for peace that

									Emperor Turhan sought before his death, something that would have

									been the Emperor's legacy.


									<p>

									Another possibility is a connection to the transfer of

									Minbari souls to humans; the owner of a particular previously-deceased

									Minbari soul (perhaps Sinclair) may prove troublesome to Londo in the

									future.


								<p>

								   <li> Londo's greatest fear might be the downfall of the Republic,

									or perhaps his own death.


								<p>

								   <li> It's likely Londo will squander at least the first two of his remaining

									chances, given the fact that there will be a third -- assuming Morella

									is correct.


								<p>

								   <li> What did Sheridan and the others say to convince Zack to go along with

									their ruse?  It may have been as simple as convincing him that the

									order from the Political Office was illegal, just like Sheridan told

									the trapped Nightwatch members.  Using that to convince him would

									have been the safest course of action, since as a loyal officer

									he'd be inclined to go along with the plan even if his sympathies had

									shifted toward Nightwatch.


								<p>

								   <li> What were all the non-security Nightwatch members doing during the

									crisis?  Were they unaffected by the takeover order in the first place,

									and thus largely unconcerned with what was going on?


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								<li>

								An official

								<a href="/lurk/misc/barrett-release">press release</a>

								about Majel Barrett's appearance is available.


								<li>

								Many of the Nightwatch members in this episode are production staff

								members, including the production secretary and an assistant director.


								<li>@@@834426130

								Lady Morella is said to be returning from a visit to Ragesh 9.  The Ragesh

								system is the same one attacked by the Narn in

								<a href="001.html">"Midnight on the Firing Line."</a>


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								<li>

								<em>Posted to the CompuServe Star Trek forum</em><br>

								Before you hit the *kill* button...a thought or two in your general

								direction.  First, if you're eager for the actual news part of this message

								-- and it is kinda important -- it appears at the end of this message.  If

								you've got a second, stick around.


								<p>

								In every interview he's given on the subject, Walter Koenig has spoken

								glowingly of BABYLON 5, as a show he feels is fighting for genuine quality

								SF in television, with serious, mature stories for fans who grew up on STAR

								TREK and are looking for more of that quality...none other than Majel

								Barrett Roddenberry has gone on record at conventions, including Toronto

								Trek and the recent Wolf 359 convention, as saying that BABYLON 5 was "the

								only other intelligent science fiction series out there" besides the ST

								shows, and urged ST fans to support it.


								<p>

								If you've tried the show, and it wasn't to your tastes...fair enough.

								No one should be expected to like everything.  If you'd like to give it

								another shot, that's fine, but there is no need to defend your opinion; we

								respect it.  Not every show works for every viewer.


								<p>

								If you *haven't* tried the show...if you liked the original ST and the

								work of Majel and Walter and Harlan and others involved in it...if you like

								the work of Peter David, who has written for B5 and supports it...you may

								want to give it a shot in October/November.


								<p>

								The final four episodes from year two will be broadcast starting the

								week of October 11th, with the new year three episodes beginning the second

								week of November.  These nine episodes in a row contain some of the best

								work we have ever done.  Acting, writing, directing, effects...we stand

								behind all of them.  (The year two Final Four were held back from earlier

								broadcast to lead into the debut, so these are new to the US, although they

								have already aired to substantial praise in the UK.)


								<p>

								If perhaps you have been turned off by some of the more vigorous

								messages from B5 viewers, I'd only ask that you consider those comments in

								light of the fact that Paramount (NOT the people doing ST, but the studio

								itself) has done everything possible to hinder the progress of B5, which

								engenders certain reactions from everyone; and that to a man or woman,

								virtually all of the more vigorous posts have come from those who have long

								considered themselves fans of STAR TREK, voicing many of the concerns which

								are stated right here in this forum by current viewers...which they had long

								before there was a B5...  as well as some of the praises found here.


								<p>

								The ironic thing is that there is no problem between those who make B5,

								and those who make ST..Jeri Taylor is a friend, Majel supports the show,

								when ST does an episode with great EFX we call them, when we do a good one

								they call us...it's almost entirely a matter of perception.


								<p>

								So for what it's worth, direct from those of us who make BABYLON 5, if

								you haven't checked out the show before, or if you're curious to see where

								we stand now...I would like to personally invite you to check out the new

								batch of episodes starting around October 11th.  If you want to give us all

								nine episodes, that's great; if less, that's fine too.  If not at all,

								that's also fine.


								<p>

								Over a late dinner with Majel, I observed that after the original STAR

								TREK, which for the first time presented truly *human* characters, with all

								their flaws and frailties and bravery and nobility, in a science fiction

								series, the ball was dropped, and no one picked it up again for years.  She

								agreed with this...and it is my hope that you will find this coming season

								of BABYLON 5 to be that show.


								<p>

								Because it isn't an either/or, sum/zero game...one can watch, and

								enjoy, BABYLON 5 and STAR TREK equally, for different reasons, since their

								approaches are very different.  And this is the perfect time to come into

								B5, since these episodes encapsulize a lot of background, and will take you

								quickly into the background, the universe and the characters.


								<p>

								Which is why, I'm pleased to announce, Majel Barrett will be appearing

								as a guest star on BABYLON 5 this coming season...a gesture of support from

								her, and a gesture of respect from all of us at B5.  The deal has been

								signed, it's a done deal...she'll be appearing in episode #9, "Point of No

								Return," as Emperor Turhan's third wife, Lady Morella.  We're very much

								looking forward to her appearance in the B5 universe.


								<p>

								For all these and other reasons, I hope you'll give BABYLON 5 a try.


								<p>

								<li>

								She'll be playing a Centauri female, the Lady Morella, Emperor Turhan's

								third wife; also a prophetess and seer.


								<p>

								<li>

								When we first announced casting Walter Koenig on B5, lots of people

								moaned, "Oh, no, not Chekov on B5."  What you got was Bester, who has

								become one of our most noted and discussed characters.  It's unfortunate,

								but some people confuse the role with the person.  "...the worst character

								ever in the entire ST universe" has nothing to do with the person, or the

								role she will be portraying: the Lady Morella, Emperor Turhan's third

								wife, a prophetess and seer.  It's a *very* serious, significant role,

								absolutely unlike anything she's done before.


								<p>

								This, btw, is called "typecasting," which is one of the primary

								reasons why so many talented actors who helped to create Star Trek and

								other series couldn't get work for so many years...they did so good a

								job that they forever *became* that character.  Let's not be guilty of

								that crime here.  Majel's character will no more be Troi than Bester is

								Chekov.


								<p>

								<li>

								Ellen: thanks.  As for the episode in question, it's entitled "Point of

								No Return," and the role of Lady Morella was written specifically for Majel.

								I hustled to get it finished prior to the Wolf 359 convention, where I gave

								her a copy of the script.  She read it overnight, and fell in love with the

								story, the character, and what it was going to do with and to the BABYLON 5

								universe (to wit: start turning it upside down).  Next morning, she said

								"I'm in." And she is.


								<p>

								Yes, it's a jms script, and is one of the most pivotal of this season,

								episode #9, which with the one before it, "Messages from Earth," builds to a

								major turning point in #10, so it should be a very popular, intense and

								memorable episode in every respect.


								<p>

								<li>

								I'd just like to say that Majel did a great job for us

								on B5, and we are hoping  we can come up with other opportunities

								for the character to return.  I know that  Majel is

								interested in pursuing other acting gigs outside ST, and I

								wish her all the  best.  I think other shows would do well to

								utilize her abilities; everyone had a  great time working with

								her, and she should be recognized for work other than  ST.


								<p>

								<li> <em>Was Morella's speech about greatness intended as a tribute to

								Gene Roddenberry?</em><br>

								There's probably a fair amount there that could apply to Gene, yes...


								<p>

								<li>

								If a word comes out of a character's mouth, it's usually mine.

								The bit about greatness was one of them; had a number of different

								subtexts going on behind it.


								<p>

								<li>

								Of course, there are many who don't see such people in a Good

								Light; even Washington had people out smearing his name every day

								(which, among more altruistic reasons, was why he didn't want to stay

								in charge forever). We are never so greatly appreciated as when we're

								safely and conveniently deceased.


								<p>

								<li>

								Btw, on the topic of titles...it's important for the season title to

								accurately reflect the events of the season.  And as I've watched more and

								more of season 3 being filmed, it becomes increasingly clear that "I am become

								Death, the destroyer of worlds" isn't as apt, emotionally, for what's going

								on.  (I've actually felt this for a while, which is why I've been hesitating

								on locking down the title publicly.)  The single most emblematic title, and

								single episode, for the whole season, really, is "Point of No Return," because

								on every level, that's what happens this season.


								<p>

								<li>

								Thanks...it ratchets things up a bit more, certainly.  The big

								stuff's just around the corner.


								<p>

								<li>

								Most of the Omega class of destroyers are given Greek names,

								such as Achilles, Alexander, Agamemnon and others.


								<p>

								<li>

								Correct, the Alexander would've come off the assembly line a

								bit after the Aggy.


								<p>

								<li>

								We could've easily played the EFX full-screen, as WB used them in the promos,

								after all.  But it's a slow tease, a reveal.  You do it big in Messages, hold

								it back just a bit, at arm's length, in PoNR, then bring it all REAL close

								again in the next episode.  By putting it at some remove in PoNR, it makes

								the viewer almost like one of those in the Zocalo, fighting for a better

								look, stranded out far away, trying to figure out what's going on.


								<p>

								<li>@@@846737924 <em>Did someone call out "Furillo, Francis" during the roll

								call of security guards?  Furillo was a "Hill Street Blues" character.</em><br>

								No, actually, the name was Pirello, Francis...hadn't realized it was a

								sound-alike for Furillo until dailies came in.


								<p>

								<li>

								I think Zack was mainly nervous in that last bit,

								which may account for his twitchiness.  And yes, Morella often

								prophesied for Turhan.


								<p>

								<li>@@@843260322 <em>About Morella's prophecy</em><br>

								There's another way to look at this, which occured to me as I was writing

								it, so I structured it accordingly.


								<p>

								Morella: "You must save the eye that does not see."


								<p>

								Londo:  "I...do not understand."


								<p>

								I.


								<p>

								Eye.


								<p>

								We never actually saw how she spelled or meant this.


								<p>

								Given Londo's background, one could almost make the case that the

								discussion was about him.  Not saying that's it, but it's a possibility

								and a subtext.


								<p>

								<li> <em>Which side is Dr. Franklin's father on?</em><br>

								Stephen's father is a by-the-book guy; he doesn't think his job

								is to set policy, only to implement policy.


								<p>

								<li> <em>Aren't those Nightwatch posters a bit too much?  Wouldn't people

								object?</em><br>

								It's not always as simple as that.  You also take a uniquely

								Western perspective.  Look around at Russia, Cuba, 1930s Germany and

								the beer hall putsch, Iraq, Iran...a leader can survive all kinds of

								opposition if he has sufficient control of the armed forces.  After the

								Gulf War, it was generally assumed that Saddam would be gone within a

								few months; now his position is stronger than ever.


								<p>

								Also, Clark didn't (ostensibly) declare martial law to protect

								himself, he did it because of an imminent alien threat which was

								detected long before these allegations came out, we just had Ganymede

								attacked and that's spitting distance from the primary Earth jump gate

								at Io...there is indication of collaboration and conspiracy among some

								in the Joint Chiefs (and in fact that's correct, from his point of

								view, given Hague's activities)...there's enough ammo there to justify

								martial law.  Dissolve the Senate?  Just happened a couple years ago in

								Russia, when we had tanks firing on the Senate building. Some might say

								that Yeltsin was in the same position as Clark in that his motives

								might be saving himself.


								<p>

								(The majority of our posters, btw, are taken from genuine WW II

								propaganda and war-support posters that were actually in use.  We make

								some slight modifications, but the gist is there.  Yes, we do fall for

								these things, we do go for these things.  We always have.)


								<p>

								As for the USA-western perspective...during WW II we saw

								Japanese civilians interned in camps along the West Coast...afterward

								we saw people prosecuted for being Reds, saw careers and lives

								destroyed by even the hint of "commie" influence.  If you look at

								newsreels and documentary footage from the time, you see a populace,

								fresh out of a war, who survived by focusing on the Enemy, given a new

								enemy.  Might they have gone along with some kind fo martial law if

								they thought that if they *didn't* cooperate, the nation might be

								vulnerable to Russian nukes or invasion?  I think the climate was

								perfect for it.


								<p>

								Could it happen right here, right now?  No, because the

								surrounding climate isn't right.  Could it happen if the conditions

								*were* right?  Of course it could.  We're not genetically or

								evolutionarily different from the Germans or the Russians or the Cubans

								or the Iraquis.  If we think we'd never fall for that, we place

								ourselves in *exactly* the position of guaranteeing that we *will* fall

								for it.  Because we won't recognize it when it happens. We can justify

								and rationalize it as something else.


								<p>

								Yeah, people back on Earth still have guns.  What of it?  Right

								now, with martial law, the streets are quiet, the news is more positive

								than usual for a change, the quarrelsome jerks in the senate have been

								given a good kick in the butt, the president's getting things *done*,

								we've all still got our jobs, the muggers are hiding out, life goes on

								except for the lawbreakers. You gonna go out on your own and start

								shooting at Earthforce troops armed to the teeth with *vastly* more

								advanced weaponry?  On whose behalf?  The aliens? The troublemakers?

								What're we rallying for?  Or against?  This'll blow over soon, it

								always does.  It never lasts.  Right now, just ride it out, wait and

								see what happens.  Who knows...maybe Clark's right?  Who wants to be

								perceived as a traitor?


								<p>

								Those are the thoughts of any populace in this situation.  Just

								as when Yeltsin declared martial law in Moscow, as when Mayor Daly sent

								in the shock troops in Chicago, on and on.


								<p>

								Here's the number one rule: a population will always stay

								passive for as long as they perceive that they stand to lose more by

								opposing the government than by staying quiet.  It's when they have

								little or nothing left to lose that they rise up; the politicos first,

								then, more reluctantly, the general population.


								<p>

								<li>

								Here's something to consider in this.


								<p>

								It's easy -- safe and reassuring -- to dismiss Nightwatch and the whole

								political climate on Earth at this time as referring to Nazi germany...SS,

								Stormtroopers, informers...but if we know our history, it shows that this is

								not so isolated as we might think.  If we say it was just the Nazis, then

								it's a non-repeatable phenomenon, we needn't worry about it again.


								<p>

								But, of course, it does happen again...it did, and it will, to varying

								degrees.  Go back to the Inquisition, and forward to Joe McCarthy and the

								House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) which destroyed lives and

								reputations based on association, past history, social contacts and party

								affiliations (the items specified by Musante to the EA folks in Nightwatch).

								Stalin and to a lesser extent Lenin would have been right at home in

								Nightwatch.  Several of the leaders speaking for parties in the ruins of what

								was once Yugoslavia would also fit.


								<p>

								It's easy, and safe, for us to say, "Oh, we would never do that, only THEY

								did that."  But the "they" in this ARE the we on the other side...and "we"

								have done it, are doing it now, and will continue to do it.  Only when we

								*know* the history of such things, when we recognize the rhetoric of control,

								when we oppose blacklisting and scapegoating and dead-catting do we help to

								assure that they *won't* arise again.  Remember the quote: "Those who do not

								remember history are condemned to repeat it."


								<p>

								There's a great deal of generalized historical and political metaphor in the

								show, never one-to-one because that's too easy, but disguised in one form or

								another, transumted.  The Centauri Republic isn't a real republic by any

								stretch of the imagination...any more than the Roman Republic from which it

								draws some of its political structure, particularly the Centarum, the ruling

								body.  There's a great deal of Japanese political and social structure to the

								Minbari, in their culture and art and some of their philosophy.  You can find

								parallels to the story in World War II, and the bible, among a few dozen

								others.


								<p>

								Too little of TV these days is *about* anything...it's all context, no

								subtext.  This show is about a lot of things...but never in the mode of

								telling you what to think.  We'll ask *that* you think, that you consider the

								world around you, and your place in it...but defining that is your business,

								not ours.


								<p>

								<li>

								"I don't believe a conservative nightwatch would be tolerated

								either."


								<p>

								Senator Joseph McCarthy.  The House Un-American Activities

								Committee. You can look it up.


								<p>

								Also, there was a PBS documentary this past week on the

								blacklist; I suggest that ANYone who thinks we would never fall for

								something like the Nightwatch should take a look at it.  It makes the

								Nightwatch look pale by comparison.


								<p>

								<li> <em>The House Un-American Activities Committee wasn't that powerful.</em>

								<br>

								I disagree.  When even Truman was loathe to take on HUAC and

								McCarthy, you've got a real problem.  You make the impact sound

								minimal; but people committed suicide when their careers were ruined by

								HUAC and Tailgunner Joe. I personally know writers who were at the top

								of their form and their careers who never worked again because they

								were blacklisted or greylisted.


								<p>

								It was also the climate created by HUAC that threatened much

								more widely than the actions of the committee itself.  Take Red

								Channels, a sleazy little rag published by the owner of a *SUPERMARKET

								CHAIN* in which he listed those he considered -- based on whim or

								divine revelation -- reds or sympathetic to reds.  Even a publication

								like that had tremendous destructive power.  I know one of the writers

								listed in Red Channels; the networks grey-listed him instantly.  It was

								*years* before he could work again.


								<p>

								The whole red-baiting hysteria of the 50s came as close to

								destroying the American dream as any threatened invasion.  If it had

								been led by someone a little less self-destructive than McCarthy, I

								hate to think what would've happened.


								<p>

								<li>

								"Even in the USSR the military would not support an attempt of

								martial law."


								<p>

								You mean like when Yeltsin called up the military, dissolved

								the Senate, and had tanks open fire on the Senate building to keep from

								being ousted in a coup...you mean like that?


								<p>

								<li>

								Yes, right to assemble, free speech rights, they're all open to abridgement.

								Travel can also be restricted.


								<p>

								<li>

								Thanks.  No, I understand the point, I'm just getting into the

								details a bit.  One last point I forgot to mention was that even for

								the US, there has never yet been a situation where we as an entire

								*species* stood on the brink of extinction by an alien race.  That'll

								definitely affect your mindset a bit....


								<p>

								<li>

								"Zack is the key figure here.  He's the one questioning if he's on the right

								side and just what his allies are up to.  I've heard some good analogies to

								present days situations kicked around on these boards, but It seems mostly

								Republicans want to accuse democrats and vice versa.  What we need is more

								Republicans willing to criticise fellow republicans and democrats willing to

								criticise fellow democrats."


								<p>

								A very good point.  Zack is, to all intents and purposes, the Everyman

								character in this; he wants, desperately, to do what's right.  But he doesn't

								exactly *know* what's right, because he's getting conflicting

								information...or rather, a lack of *real* information and a plethora of

								agendas.  Who is he to believe?  Which way does he jump when he's not sure

								which pit holds the lion?


								<p>

								When a culture become factionalized, when it becomes us vs. them, everyone

								starts setting up consistently smaller camps...first it's democrats vs.

								republicans...then it's mainstream republicans vs. conservative

								republicans...then it's conservative republicans vs. religious right

								republicans (with the democrats having equal problems on their side).  As

								soon as we forget that we're *all* US, it begins to fall apart.


								<p>

								<li>

								Corwin's question is really one that hits a lot; you see things

								starting to fly apart, but you keep thinking it's gonna work out..then it all

								goes to hell, and you're standing there trying to figure out how it all

								slipped away.  It's a very innocent, yet universal question.


								<p>

								<li>

								"...I wanted Sheridan &Co. to cut themselves free of Earthgov,

								and they didn't."


								<p>

								'Course, if you were to do anything that monumental, you'd

								spike right smack in the middle of your three-part story.


								<p>

								One of the things about these three episodes that's again worth

								stressing is that they're really one story, linked carefully.  Each of

								the three begins *one frame* after the other.  After they've aired, if

								you sit down with a VCR and edit them together, you'll find that they

								flow absolutely SEAMLESSLY from one to the other.  So PoNR is at the

								dead center of the piece that propels you toward the last third, like

								the second act in a three-act play (which was my structure for this).


								<p>

								That may help.


								<p>

								<li>

								We knew that at some juncture they'd be split, so numbering

								them as parts 1, 2 and 3 would be awkward.  And distribution hates

								having to market multi-parters, for reasons of their own.  So...three

								episodes.


								<p>

								<li>

								Glad you enjoyed "Point."  It sets everything up, so we can

								knock it all down in "Severed Dreams."  Now everyhing I need is right

								where I need it to be....


								<p>

								<li>

								Certainly G'Kar has had...a revelation, I suppose is the best way of putting

								it, and that tends to transform you.  What form emerges from this remains to

								be seen.


								<p>

								<li> <em>Ta'Lon's line about answers and replies</em><br>

								No, I don't think that's a quote from anywhere but the show, at

								least insofar as I know.


								<p>

								<li> <em>Was bringing Ta'Lon back something you wanted to do from the

								start?</em><br>

								I liked Ta'Lon, and definitely wanted to bring him back.


								<p>

								<li>

								We've already established in the episode that the bodyguard is the same as in

								"All Alone."  We did that when the two had a drink in the zocalo.  It was in

								dialogue.


								<p>

								<li> <em>I liked Londo's line about politics.</em><br>

								Thanks, and I agree with those scenes.  (For me, the Vir/Londo

								scene in the tag is just hysterical.)  Re: "politics has nothing to do

								with intelligence," yeah, I kinda liked that one.  I have fun....


								<p>

								<li>

								Centauri are always suspicious, and if you knew you might be

								emperor after the other is dead, you might be encourage to...help that

								process along, however you might like someone.  It's just good

								business.


								<p>

								<li>

								When we come back, the very next episode has a very funny scene

								re: Londo and Narn security.  And yes, that was the Schwartzkopf.


								<p>

								<li> <em>Is the fact that Hague was on the Alexander a reference to Alexander

								Haig?</em><br>

								Y'know, I think this was one of those subconscious things the

								brain does sometimes...I hadn't put it together when I put him on that

								ship.  It's a sad thing when you can't even trust your own brain

								anymore.


								<p>

								<li> "Ok, at the end of this ep. Susan explains that 4 of the 5 cruisers with

								Gen. Hague where distroyed. So did Earthforce get them or did Clark have the

								shadows do it?"


								<p>

								It was an ambush by Earthforce ships.  (Actually, only 3 were destroyed,

								the other two took off separately, trying to throw off a united pursuit.

								But you know how ISN's been lately....)


								<p>

								<li>

								Delenn was taking care of some business on Minbar.


								<p>

								<li>

								There's not a lower house in the EA, in the sense that each

								nation/state has its own various houses, and its own leader, but that

								leader is also part of the EA senate.  One per nation/state.  Each

								nation/state has its own constitution, but must not contravene the

								larger principles of the EA constitution.


								</ul>