####Overview
As the Centauri war escalates, a Narn warcruiser seeks help from Babylon 5. Earth takes a position in the war. Keffer makes a terrifying discovery. Kosh takes a drastic step to save a life.
####Guest Stars
Roy Dotrice as Frederick Lantze. John Vickery as Mr. Welles. Rick Hamilton as Mitch. Robin Sachs as Na’Kal.
####Lurk
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/044.html
####Backplot
The Ministry of Peace has been recruiting other high-level B5 staff members for its Nightwatch program.
Vorlons appear as angelic, winged beings of light, whose appearance is different to each observer. They can fly. (But see jms speaks)
####Unanswered Questions
Is Keffer mercifully dead, or might he reappear as “worse than dead” — a tool of the Shadows a la Morden?
What will be the ramifications of Zack’s turning the shopkeeper in to the Nightwatch?
How far will the Centauri expansion push?
Why did Londo see nothing when he looked at Kosh? (see Analysis)
Who was behind the bombing of Sheridan’s tram? Who were the young Centauri taking orders from, if anyone?
What ramifications will there be to Kosh’s appearance, since it was such a closely kept secret before?
What will happen to the Narn cruiser?
What other forces do the Narn have that were not caught by the Centauri?
Where did the cruiser go?
Have the Centauri made any arrangements with the Minbari, or are they relying on their non-interference in the affairs of other races?
Will Sheridan’s planned apology be enough to satisfy his superiors at Earthdome, or is he in danger of losing his position?
What effect will the open transmission by ISN of Keffer’s recorder log have on the Shadows’ plans? Will it force them to show their hand?
####Analysis
Night has indeed fallen. As the Centauri government continues to expand by attacking other races like the Drazi and the Pak’ma’ra, the Earth government has entered into an appeasement pact with them. Meanwhile, the inward-turning Earth government is using their “Nightwatch” as a means to silence dissent. However, Keffer’s last flight has made the presence of the Shadows in hyperspace known to all of Earth, relayed to them via ISN.
It’s interesting that Kosh risks revealing himself to save one life – the same criterion for saintliness/being the Chosen that the Inquisitor established (cf. [[Comes the Inquisitor]].)
Vir and Lennier are both feeling the pressures of knowing a great deal about what is going on but not being involved in the planning and decision making stages. That they have found each other to talk to is somewhat ironic, since each is working for masters who have taken opposing sides – Light and Dark – in the coming battle.
“We will, at last, know peace in our time.” This phrase, given by Lantze when he announces the Earth-Centauri non-aggression pact, is very similar to a phrase used by Neville Chamberlain after signing an appeasement agreement with Hitler in 1938 just prior to the invasion of Czechoslovakia, an agreement that failed to stop Hitler’s expansionist policy. The choice of words is probably intended to highlight the futility of such a pact with an aggressive party and a foreshadow of future events. There are other parallels with Nazi actions (divided between the actions of both signatories,) but the motivations of the Earth government are not race related nor moving towards the domination/submission of other groups.
NightWatch openly tries to recruit highly placed individuals, not appearing too concerned if they refuse. This suggests that they feel confident about circumnavigating these people with a strong sense of loyalty at a later date, replacing them with a more easily manipulated individual.
Had Sheridan refused to apologize publicly and been replaced, it would have been with Ivanova had she accepted Welles offer to work with the NightWatch. Otherwise they would have brought in an easily manipulated person to command Babylon 5, as Welles indicated.
This episode shows the new defense grid (cf. [[GROPOS]]) in action for the first time. As promised it is an even match for a heavy battle cruiser. The battle doctrine for the B5 universe is one of fighters engage fighters, heavy ships engage heavy ships. During this combat sequence we see what happens when a heavy ship ignores the fighters and fails (for whatever reason) to deploy its own fighters. While not capable of inducing complete destruction of a heavy vessel in the short term, the fighters can strip a heavy vessel of its offensive/defensive armament since such weaponry is small compared to the ship and necessarily exposed in order to be effective.
Lantze is a dreamer and idealist, taking any steps to ensure peace for Earth. He is someone who feels that the ends justify the means so long as it does not involve Earth. This is a direct expression of the anti-alien feelings present at the moment on Earth. That Lantze is not directly involved in the NightWatch suggests that, while he understands the aims of the NightWatch, his concience is not capable of handling the individual betrayals involved. Perhaps the ideal politician.
Welles, on the other hand, is very much caught up in the management of the NightWatch. He has no conscience pangs about the betrayal of individals. While he is a co-director of The Ministry of Peace, he probably has more real power than Lantze because of what he is managing. He is also gifted with the art of manipulating people as shown with both Zack and Sheridan (although the latter is more aware of the manipulation and capable of defending against it.)
The Narn cruiser will probably use other races threatened by the Centauri for assistance, perhaps acting as a mercenary. Or it may find somewhere quiet to lie low until it can be called into the service of homeworld. The Minbari cruiser Trigati managed to avoid capture for over ten years (cf. [[Points of Departure]].) The Shadows did not destroy the recorder marker dropped by Keffer. Either they failed to detect it (they aren’t omnipotent,) or they chose to ignore it (they are confident it would make no difference, or were unaware of the contents.)
Keffer’s recording log has been transmitted by ISN. This is exactly what Delenn and Sheridan wanted to avoid. Will it force the Shadows’ hand now that they have been seen? Or will it push the forces of Light into even greater efforts?
The commentary by ISN at the end of the episode suggests that the events on Earth are not being manipulated by the Shadows. Of course this could just be a politically expedient newscast.
Kosh’s rescue of Sheridan is like a blessing from the heavens. This will no doubt be taken as a sign of Sheridan’s worthiness to lead the forces of Light, as it has already been taken to indicate that Babylon 5 is blessed.
When Kosh left his encounter suit only Delenn was present. She has already seen Kosh. The other ambassadors only saw a being of light rise up and rescue Sheridan. Kosh also landed in an empty part of the Zen garden before returning to his encounter suit. The conversation in the Zocalo between the Narn and the Drazi suggests they are not aware it is Kosh. What would the reaction be if these races were to find out that the Vorlons had been interfering (apparently benevolently) in the development of their race? Would religions collapse under the revelation that their supernatural beings were simply ancient aliens?
Does each Vorlon appear as a particular entity to each type of observer, an entity that remains the same over time? If so, could Kosh be the original G’Lan, and thus be at least a thousand years old?
Londo failed to see Kosh when he revealed himself. Does this extend to all Centauri, or is it peculiar to Londo? If it is the former then it suggests that either the Vorlons have not openly visited the Centauri (why?) or that their worship of their deceased Emperors as gods has diminished the effect of exposure to Vorlons. If it is the latter then it must be because of Londo’s association with the Shadows. If this is the case then what would be the response of other Centauri on seeing a Vorlon? (see jms speaks)
Carrying the above a step further, are Vorlons invisible to Centauri and/or to anyone of a race they haven’t dealt with before? That suggests the possibility that the Shadows might be the same way, visible to some people and not to others.
Perhaps the Vorlons did visit the Centauri homeworld in the past, but manipulated the Xon ([[The Parliament of Dreams]]) instead of the Centauri.
Delenn seemed somewhat taken aback by Sheridan’s unflattering appraisal of the Vorlons’ motives; she seems willing to regard them as, if not completely good, at least altruistic, and is clearly awed by them. It’s plausible she has perceived Kosh as a Minbari religious figure from the start, which has colored her perceptions of him in exactly the way Sheridan describes.
Might Sheridan’s less starry-eyed view of the Vorlons be due in part to the training he’s been getting from Kosh, the point of which (for a while, anyway) was to help Sheridan and Kosh understand each other? Put another way, has Sheridan learned to fight the legends he believes Kosh’s appearance is intended to evoke?
Why do the Vorlons appear as the particular religious figures they do? Each of the figures we saw was an idealized version of the race in question. Perhaps this is to make themselves seem less alien, more familiar and therefore less threatening. The fact that they feel the need to do this suggests that their true appearance may be very alien indeed.
When Sheridan mentioned to Delenn that everyone saw something different in Kosh, Delenn replied that each person saw something “according to his or her type.” That choice of words can be interpreted in a disturbing way, to suggest that the Vorlons have organized other sentients into categories.
Might the Shadows’ appearance also be subjective? What do they look like to Morden, for instance? It may be that the Shadows feel no need to deceive others about their appearance, as it might not advance their goals (whatever those goals might be.) Clearly the Shadows prefer not to be seen, to work through others, but that might be the result of small numbers or caution as much as anything else.
Kosh’s true form is probably smaller than what everyone saw; for one thing, his encounter suit is shorter than he appeared to be. When he was behind the screen in [[Midnight on the Firing Line]] he appeared to be much smaller as well. But he probably does have a physical form of some kind, since he was able to touch Sheridan (if it were just telekinesis, presumably he wouldn’t have needed to leave his suit.)
Zack is having second thoughts about the NightWatch. Up until now he has been happily accepting their money in return for just wearing the armband and giving in few reports. He misunderstood their intentions and now realizes that should he try to leave he will be branded in the same way as the shopkeeper in the Zocalo. The fear of being taken out of society and branded as a traitor is greater than the urge to stand up for what he believes to be right. Zack’s dissatisfaction with the NightWatch might be useful at a later date.
The signal for the Centauri weapons lock on to Babylon 5 sounded like that of a submarine sonar. It represents an active weapons lock (ship sending out signals to locate its target) rather than a passive lock (ship detecting emmissions from its target.) It brings a tension to the situation inherited from the submarine warfare genre of films.
How compatible is an Earth Alliance career and raising children? Ivanova’s conversation with Lantze suggests that women do bear children while actively continuing with their careers. Another hint from JMS that the military at least are an equal oppourtunities employer.
The celebration of Winter Solstice described by Lantze is a pagan festival. The celebration of Christ’s birth, though important in Christian teaching, was not begun until the 4th century. The time of year was chosen to counter the celebration of the Winter Solstice. Presumably the reference to the public celebration of the solstice indicate a more open tolerance of religion on Earth in the 22nd century, and that there are other religious groups that celebrate the same period for different reasons.
It’s Keffer’s obsession with the shadow ship he saw in hyperspace in [[A Distant Star]] that leads to his demise.
Kosh has now offered his hand to Babylon 5’s commander twice, both times with potentially disastrous results.
The exchange between Lennier and Vir might have been more than mere comic relief. Perhaps they were actually passing information back and forth using a code of some kind — Vir now appears strongly motivated to do something like that.
Ivanova’s lighting of candles at the end of the episode had a deeper meaning than may initially be obvious. In Orthodox Jewish tradition, Chanukah (the Festival of Lights) celebrates both the victory over the conquerors of Jerusalem and the victory of those who wanted to uphold traditional values over those who wanted to assimilate with the enemy, an internal struggle which is also arguably the main theme of the episode. (See jms speaks, here and in [[The Long, Twilight Struggle]])
####Notes
The character “Corwin” is no doubt named after Norman Corwin, JMS’ friend and mentor.
Ivanova’s comment about Sheridan being weightless depends on one’s point of view. In a strict, pedantic sense, everyone on Babylon 5 is close to weightless, since weight is defined as the force with which a mass is gravitationally attracted to another mass, and B5 achieves the illusion of weight by rotation, not by gravity. (Leaving aside, of course, the gravity of the planet below the station.)
Sheridan’s movement away from the station’s axis is due to three factors. First, the tram wasn’t exactly at the axis, so it was revolving at some speed. Just as a rock flies in a straight line if you swing it on a piece of string then let go, Sheridan would have moved toward the ground even if he’d just stepped gingerly out the door.
Of course, he didn’t; he leapt. Depending on whether the door was facing into or against the station’s spin, this might have either accelerated his descent or slowed it. The fact that he appeared to not leap very hard suggests that the door was facing spinward and he wanted to stay in the air as long as possible.
The final factor is the atmosphere, which rotates in the Garden along with the ground and everything else. As Sheridan fell, he would be pushed along by air revolving at speeds closer and closer to the speed of the ground; this would tend to accelerate his fall, since it would cause him to revolve more quickly. So the longer he fell, the faster he would be going. That effect would probably be fairly weak for most of the fall, so it might not have accelerated him to high enough speed to cause serious harm when he hit the ground.
Unfortunately, his inertia would keep him from achieving ground speed even with the push of the wind, so as Ivanova said, he would have hit the ground as if he’d fallen out of a car on the freeway, even if his rate of descent alone wouldn’t have been enough to hurt him seriously.
In any case, Sheridan is probably quite glad Kosh chose that moment to make an appearance.
CarneyWeb 