brennen
/
lurkers-guide


								<!-- 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>