Franklin and Marcus arrive on Mars to begin their undercover mission. Sheridan confronts Garibaldi about his behavior.
####Overview

####Guest Stars

Mark Schneider as Wade. Donovan Scott as Captain Jack. Clayton Landey as Number Two. Marjorie Monaghan as Number One.
####Lurk

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/076.html
####Plot Points

Mars has been subjected to a news blackout and an embargo for at least as long as Babylon 5 has, likely as far back as their refusal to submit to martial law in [[Severed Dreams]]. People on Mars have heard little more than vague rumors about the Shadow War. They also appear to know nothing about the Rangers.

Someone has begun planting Keepers ([[War Without End part 2]]) on members of the Earth resistance movement with the apparent intent of wiping it out.

A Keeper can be partially removed, but portions remain embedded in the victim, and the rest of the organism grows back, sometimes within hours.

Garibaldi has pledged to support a group that claims to feel the Army of Light has become a cult of personality centered on Sheridan, and that this will ultimately damage the cause. Garibaldi feels the same way, he says, and that’s why he said what he did during the ISN interview.

Ivanova has begun setting up amnesty deals with smugglers to keep the station supplied with food and spare parts.
####Unanswered Questions

Who planted the Keeper on Captain Jack?

How did they know about his involvement with the resistance?

Who are the people Garibaldi promised to help?

What was the large ship being escorted toward Mars by a group of Starfuries?

“Woo hoo?”
####Analysis

The head of the group that recruited Garibaldi may have betrayed his true intentions with a slip of the tongue. When he first spoke to Garibaldi, he said Sheridan’s actions weren’t good for Earth, weren’t good for business, and weren’t good for the President — not something likely to come from the mouth of someone opposed to Clark.

The second time Garibaldi met with the mysterious group, the leader made a point of saying, “Are you with us?” several times. Could that be some kind of key phrase related to whatever was done to Garibaldi while he was captured ([[Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?]])

That phrase, or one like it, was used by someone else: Sheridan, who shouted, “Are you with me?” to the assembled crowd in [[The Summoning]]. If “Are you with us?” was indeed a key phrase, Sheridan inadvertently foreshadowed it earlier in the episode, when he told Delenn that he could make Garibaldi come around “if I could just find the right words.”

Since Garibaldi knows the group is planning to move against Sheridan at some point (they told him as much,) perhaps his acceptance of their offer is, instead of a rejection of Sheridan, actually part of a plan to root out possible threats to Babylon 5’s security. If so, a natural question is, does Sheridan know about that plan, or is it Garibaldi’s doing? Was the confrontation between Sheridan and Garibaldi just a premeditated ploy to help Garibaldi gain the trust of the new group? Sheridan’s conversation with Delenn after the first confrontation argues against that idea, but it’s still plausible.

It’s also possible the Brakiri woman was a setup, sent by the group to fawn over Sheridan at just the right time and push Garibaldi over the edge.

Garibaldi’s rejection of Sheridan parallels Judas’ rejection of Jesus. Both were part of their leader’s inner circle. Sheridan’s warning to Garibaldi to stop undermining him can be read as analogous to Jesus’ warning to Judas at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:24: “woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”) John 13:2 says the Devil caused Judas to betray Jesus; Garibaldi has also been influenced in some way, in his case by Psi Corps ([[Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?]])

Many scholarly analyses ascribe motives similar to Garibaldi’s to Judas. Tim Rice’s lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar,” while perhaps not scholarly, put it succinctly:

My mind is clearer now.

At last all too well I can see where we all soon will be.

If you strip away the myth from the man,

You will see where we all soon will be.

Jesus!

You’ve started to believe

The things they say of you.

You really do believe

This talk of God is true.

And all the good you’ve done

Will soon get swept away.

You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say.

When Marcus discovered Jack aboard the transport ship, he had his arm around Jack’s neck. Why didn’t he feel the Keeper? Does it have some way of hiding itself, or was it simply that Jack was wearing heavy clothing to cover his lower neck, and Marcus couldn’t feel anything through the fabric?
####Notes

Marcus’ comment about hating parasites is probably a reference to [[Exogenesis]], in which his friend Duncan was taken over by an alien parasite.

Minbari have 52 rituals related to relationships. Sheridan and Delenn have now completed the first three. One is the female watching the male for three nights, and the third (according to Delenn, who called it the Third Movement of Love and Mutual Understanding) is the mutual exploration of pleasure centers.

Garibaldi’s hair loss is due to something a smuggler brought aboard the station.

The Pope is a woman in 2261, according to Garibaldi. During his second confrontation with Sheridan, he said, “He’s not the Pope. He doesn’t look anything like her.”

The subcommander and head of the resistance cell called themselves “Number Two” and “Number One,” a nod to the cult classic “The Prisoner.” Another reference to “Number One” can be found in [[Signs and Portents]].

The name “Captain Jack” is a nod to the Billy Joel song of the same name.

A slight glitch: When Captain Jack ripped open the insta-heat pack, Franklin said, “That’s beef and potatoes.” But his lips don’t match those words; apparently the original line was something different.

Marcus and Franklin were playing “I Spy” when they discovered a spy.