01. Midnight on the Firing Line midwinter.com
Sinclair: Got caught by Londo's indignation, suggests collective intervention against Narn attack on Centauri colony - in violation of Earth instructions. Investigates the attack and forces Narns to withdraw.Londo: Bluffs others knowing that his government wants to play down the attack. His relative is involved. Tries to kill G'Kar, but stopped by Garibaldi.
G'Kar: To avoid sanctions, Narns invent Centauri "call for help" by Londo's relative. Also, Narns sails of weapons to terrorists is revealed.
Ivanova: Tells Winters the sad story of her mother who committed suicide after telepath suppression treatment.
Winters: Proudly presents herself as P-5 licensed telepath. Occasionally scans Londo, reveals his intention to kill G'Kar.
Garibaldi: Using info from Winters, stops Londo, plays God who knows everything with him.
Delenn: Officially condemns Narns for aggression. Unofficially, visits Garibaldi tries to understand why he finds old comics funny. Politely rejects popcorn.
02. Soul Hunter midwinter.com
First real test of Earth-Minabari cooperation. Rogue Soul Hunter attempts to kill Delenn who is saved by Sinclair.Sinclair: Does not see anything particularly special or evil about SH, but listens to Delenn who takes SHs as evil.
SH: fully equipped with rhetoric about soul saving and preserving. From one side, he believes Minbari are unworthy children, from another side, they posses something extremely valuable for him - their souls. That is, he pursues unlimited control over them.
Delenn: Her high rank is unveiled.
Proves vulnerable for SH who sucks her blood out. Relieves captive souls.
Dr. Franklin: His 1st appearance. Takes SHing as "prejudice".
03. Born to the Purple midwinter.com
Sinclair: Helps Londo and succeeds as peacemaker between Narns and Centauri.Re telepaths: It appears that each time telepath is involved, PC rules always need exceptions. There is something deeply wrong about such rules: pilots and doctors are heavily regulated, but they produce results without discussing rules with their clients.
Sinclair starts from using Winters in negotiations - which does not bring much success: most of intelligence needs to be collected before and outside of actual meeting.
Londo: Mostly concerned about his affair with slave girl:
- this is Centauri custom
- he really loves her
- needs to relax from stress
- strong feelings help to jam Winters, Londo already knows or suspects he is under telepathic monitoring from his failed attempt to kill G'Kar. His request of help from Sinclair is a gamble. However, without cooperation with Sinclair his B5 mission is doomed.
04. Infection midwinter.com
Pretty close to conventional Sci-Fi, but with a significant twist.Sinclair: Risks his life again to fight an alien monster.
Scientist: Generic Sci-Fi type who discovers ancient control device in belief it is useful, but in the end it appears to be dangerous.
Alien monster: Produced from a human by mysterious organic control unit. Fanatic obsessed by destructing everybody who is not compliant with its notion of "purity".
Garibaldi: Notes that Sinclair does not need to risk his life on such occasions, this is obsession again. Actually, this is true: fighting pretty mundane monster inflates favors he already did for Delenn and Londo. From the other side, they can figure out that manipulating Sinclair is not likely to work.
Earth News: First attempt to cover B5. It appears that news coverage has not overwhelmed investigation here, Earth is not news-drive.
05. The Parliament of Dreams midwinter.com
Religious festival at B5.Londo: Demonstrates Centauri religious ritual which is pretty Bacchaic. In the end, he falls asleep drunk on the holiday table. All this is celebration of the success of an ancient Centauri genocide.
Delenn: Demonstrates solemn Minbari ritual.
Lennier: 1st arrival, does not dare to look at Delenn at first.
G'Kar: Faces assassination attempt. Avoids death without Sinclair, helped by his new aid.
Sinclair: Leaves Londo's celebration, meets his former girlfriend. Demonstrates all major Earth religions: long line of priests. This is likely to make major PR problems. Usually, faith differences are not demonstrated openly.
06. Mind War midwinter.com
Jason Ironheart: Strong telepath who as a result of re-engineering gradually becomes a super-being. Former lover of Winters, comes to B5 to say good-bye to her. Reveals a hint of dirty PC insides to Sinclair: PC must not be allowed to produce others like me, we are not ready for that power!Bester: His 1st arrival. Treats Winters as trash alienating B5 crew.
Winters: Helps Sinclair to establish contact with JI. Allowed to scan major political figures during negotiations. From the other side, she herself is treated as nobody by P10/P12-s who can easily get any info from her.
Earth radicals may take her connection with aliens more as a liability than a benefit.
Ivanova: Shows hatred for PC and compassion for Winters.
G'Kar: Helps Sinclair's officer Catherine to avoid death while exploring forbidden planet supposedly inhabited by super-beings who take humans as ants.
07. The War Prayer midwinter.com
Earth radicals launch a terrorist assault against aliens on B5. They plan assassination of all major ambassadors: Delenn, Londo, G'Kar, Kosh.Sinclair: Passes the Rubicon, by hitting terrorists with full strength he lets EarthGov know there will be no compromises with alien-haters. Disappearance of doctor and Lyta explained: they have some info on Kosh that is needed on Earth.
Now it is clear that Bester's visit was a message to Sinclair: he is too independent, cares too much about aliens. EarthGov obviously expects Sinclair to contact Earth and negotiate a better deal in return for more obedience. Instead he uses a counter-provocation: pretends he shares the views of terrorists to catch them.
Ivanova: Her old friend appears on B5 and turns out to be a major anti-Alien conspirator. She eagerly helps Sinclair to arrest him.
Londo: Finds a way to help young Centauri lovers who are ready to abandon traditional pre-arranged marriage: my shoes are too tight to dance.
08. And the Sky Full of Stars midwinter.com
Sinclair: Another confrontation with Earth radicals. He is kidnapped and interrogated by mind scanning. By the moment when investigation comes to suppressed Minbari hostage memories, Sinclair throws investigator out of his mind and fries his memory. Then he shoots down another terrorist. He remembers Delenn as a member of Grey Council. He is close to remembering what happened with him during his Minbari abduction. Now Sinclair is in sharp conflict with EarthGov and knows too much about Minbari secrets.Delenn: Alerts B5 security that Sinclair is missing. She is the first to welcome him back.
09. Deathwalker midwinter.com
Minbari: Appear to have radical warrior faction that protected and took advantage of Deathwalker.Earth, Narns: Eager to get hands on deathwalker.
Vorlons: Destroy Deathwalker to prevent her from being used.
Deathwalker: War criminal from a dead race - surprise - brilliant scientist.
10. Believers midwinter.com
Discussion of soul saving - pretty artificial. Strength of Delenn's faith demonstrated.Poor Aliens: Bring their sick child to Dr. Franklin who can save him only by surgery. However, according to their beliefs, surgery will destroy the boy's soul. When Dr. Franklin insists, they go through all ambassadors asking them to use their authority to cancel the surgery. When Dr. Franklin performs the surgery against their will and Sinclair's direct order, they sacrifice the boy.
Sinclair: Does his best to avoid intervention, when Dr. Franklin insists, refuses to sanction the surgery for political reasons. Putting Earth beliefs first before that of aliens would compromise B5 mission.
Delenn: Does not intervene because this is against Minbari beliefs. For her this is relatively simple case. She takes this as mutual Soul Hunt on behalf of Dr.Franklin and Poor Aliens. This dilemma is solvable only by force. Only force can deter Soul Hunters.
JMS: I view Delenn's comment about "suffering the interference of others" in regards to matters of the soul in "Believers" to be a reference to the Soul Hunter.
Londo: How much justice can you afford?
G'Kar: Not in the interests of Narns.
Kosh: The avalanche has already begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote. His answer is the most clear and straightforward.
Dr. Franklin: Defiantly rejects moral accounting in any form: any patient's life is as important as everything. Strangely, he does not remember and nobody cares to remind him that in battlefield medicine it is usual to sacrifice quality of treatment of individual patients to save more lives. Absence of this argument greatly weakens the whole discussion.
JMS: There is a wonderful short story, which we adapted for Twilight Zone, called "The Cold Equations," where a small shuttle is going from point A to point B. There is enough fuel for the shuttle, and one pilot, and no more. The ship is bringing medicine to save 500 colonists. A young girl has stowed away on the ship to see her brother. She's discovered. If the pilot does nothing, the ship won't arrive, and he and the girl will die, and the colonists will die. If he sacrifices himself, she won't be able/won't know how to guide the ship to its destination. The only way out is to ask her to enter the airlock so he can space her and continue the mission. And that's what happens. You can't argue with math.
Actually, math works against the story here.
11. Survivors midwinter.com
Sinclair: Prepares for President's visit to B5. Relieves Garibaldi from duty when he is accused of sabotage, but refuses to arrest him and instructs Ivanova correspondingly. Gladly reinstates Garibaldi when he is cleaned.Garibaldi: Framed by a terrorist who blew himself in sabotage. Prosecuted by Earth security officer who appears to be his old enemy. Escapes and sinks to drinking. Finally cleaned.
Londo: Helps Garibaldi.
G'Kar: Refuses any help, but suggests working for Narns.
12. By Any Means Necessary midwinter.com
Sinclair: Takes care of a docking accident with a Narn ship and a resulting strike. Workers demands need money which Earth refuses to provide. Instead labor negotiator arrives who is eager to set a rush action. Workers are excited and ready for a fight. There is a clash, but in the last moment Sinclair re-allocates money from military budget to accommodate workers. Workers are excited, negotiator is frustrated. Senator from Earth says that now Sinclair has more enemies.Brokers a deal between G'Kar and Londo, forces Londo to sell G'Kar a flower needed for his religious ceremony.
G'Kar: Needs a flower for Narn religious ceremony, but it is lost in a docking ceremony. Asks Londo to sell a flower, when he refuses, orders to steel a sacred Centauri statue. Finally, gets his flower.
Londo: First agrees to sell G'Kar Narn sacred flower, for a great cost, but then breaks the deal. Asks Sinclair for help with Londo, when this fails, orders to steel the Centauri religious statue. Finally agrees with Sinclair to sell the statue to G'Kar.
13. Signs and Portents midwinter.com
Sinclair: Directs B5 defense against Raiders. Finds out from Garibaldi that he was approved by Minbari for his position. Told by Centauri prophetess that B5 (or Earth Prez ship) can be destroyed in the future.Londo: Finds an Eye, important Centauri artifact and offers it to Centauri official who is pseudo-kidnapped, but the this kidnapping becomes real and artifact is lost. Visited by Morden and ironically declares he wants the Centauri return to older power. Gets artifact back from Morden.
Delenn: Visited by Morden, sends him away.
Kosh: Meets Morden.
Morden: This is his first arrival at B5. He visits major Ambassadors, asks "What they want" and helps Londo.
14. TKO midwinter.com
Ivanova: Comes back to her Russian Jewish roots. Rabbi comes to B5 to honor her father's death according to Jewish custom. After certain hesitation, the ceremony is arranged. Importantly, she cries, that is, takes Jewish ritual seriously.Garibaldi: Helps Earth fighter to get admitted to alien wrestling.
15. Grail midwinter.com
Sinclair: Feels slightly sympathetic for Earth Grail seeker, especially after Delenn's endorsement. Acts as a witness when dying Grail seeker appoints his successor - former petty criminal from Downbelow.Garibaldi: Investigates local crime lord who uses dangerous Centauri animals. Earth Grail seeker gets involved with this crime lord and gets killed in occasional fire exchange.
Londo: Gives Garibaldi important info on dangerous Centauri animals used by Earth criminals. Refuses to cooperate with Earth Grail seeker.
Vir: Provides Earth Grail seeker with info he requests in spite Londo's directions.
Delenn: Encourages Earth Grail seeker, but she does not have much to say to him.
Kosh: Earth criminals use pseudo-Kosh to cover up dangerous Centari animals. They say they feed their victims to a Vorlon.
16. Eyes midwinter.com
Sinclair: Investigated by Earth Representative assisted by Honest Telepath. First, tries legalistic manipulation. Then rebels in open. He still has some support back on Earth and support of his crew. With the help of Honest telepath situation is resolved.Ivanova: Bluntly rejects the scan. Has a nightmare about her mother tortured by masked beings associated with PC - best scene. After that offers her resignation to Sinclair who rejects it and makes a drunk fight. Characteristically, she did let Rabbi in her mind for a while, but not telepath!
Important detail: In desperation she says she'd better serve Minbari because they have sense of honor.
Telepath: Strongest telepath personality we saw except for Bester. He realizes that something is wrong about the investigation and supports Sinclair - basically, betrays PC. Deus aux machina.
Lennier: Learns Earth bike repair. Finds from Garibaldi that bikes were an important path of Earth pop culture, symbol of masculinity. He decrypts the Japanese bike manual Garibaldi cannot read and builds the bike from scratch replacing gas engine by clean Minbari equivalent.
Garibaldi: Tries to impress Lennier by bike tech specs. Then feels jealous that Lennier is successful. However, he suppresses mean feelings and takes a ride about B5 with Lennier. - Comic, but important step in Earth-Minbari cooperation.
17. Legacies midwinter.com
Delenn: Sets up the secret burial of a Minbari warrior leader. This is discovered by Sinclair with the help of an Earth telepath girl. Discloses to Sinclair internal Minbari tensions between warriors and the religious cast. Uses her Grey Council authority to order Minbari warriors to accept her diplomatic version of the body disappearance. Accepts the girl to Minbar.Sinclair: Accepts the delegation of Minbari warriors to perform the burial ceremony for their leader. Investigates his body theft - to find out it was set up by Delenn. Also finds out about Delenn 's intention to use Chrysalis from telepath girl - but he has no idea what this means.
Ivanova: Discovers the Earth telepath girl in Down Below, confronts Winters who wants her to join PC, suggests her to choose for herself between PC, Narns and Minbari.
18, 19. A Voice In The Wilderness 1, 2 midwinter.com
Sinclair: Receives telepathic call for help from an alien controlling the planet below. Goes there with Delenn and Londo. Confronts Earth Force and an alien ship who want to control the planet. He understands that their intervention would be a disaster.Londo: Gets call as well. Bravely goes to the planet piloting the shuttle.
Delenn: Meets her old teacher. Also gets the call and realizes what is to done. Her teacher stays on the planet to control it.
Garibaldi: Facing the Mars rebellion, desperately tries to contact his ex-girlfriend Lise there: first, through PC, when this fails - through Sinclair. Finally, contacts her and finds out she is safe and married.
midwinter.com
20. Babylon Squared midwinter.com
Time travel ep: Present events cannot be explained based on immediate past. Only combination of ancient times, far past, present and future makes sense.Sinclair: Participates in rescuing the crew of B4 that mysteriously re-appears near B5. Sinclair-2 is seen helping to stabilize B4 for a while.
Delenn: Chosen to lead the Grey Council, but refuses because she is to fulfill the prophecy. Returns to B5.
21. The Quality Of Mercy midwinter.com
Almost relaxed ep, nothing global happens. Variation on death sentence theme.Dr.Franklin: Discovers a healer who uses some alien device to help patients. First, he takes this as scam, then finds out that device actually works. It appears to be an ancient execution tool used in reverse to heal. Allows the lady to continue under his supervision. Actually he gets an early warning: "Do not hurt" principle" is not always applicable. Apparently, he discards this warning as some technical peculiarity.
Healer: Nice lady whose doctor license was revoked for a medical mistake. She is terminally ill, so she uses the device to help people by giving them some of her life energy. Confronted with Assassin who demands to be healed under the threat of a gun, uses the device to heal herself by transferring her illness to Assassin. This kills the criminal. Acquitted by the court, she still feels unhappy by hurting someone instead of helping. Actually, this is Dr. Zhivago theme.
Assassin: Serial killer sentenced to death of personality, escapes in the last moment. Gets wounded and tries the healer's help. This does not help.
22. Crhysalis midwinter.com
Season 1 finale, major turning point, moderate Earth President dies, Shadows get into the game. All this happens during New Year celebration...Sinclair: Presides over unsuccessful Centauri-Narn talks. Almost meets his happiness, meets his old love, they are ready to marry, but then news of president Santiago death come. Because of the events he comes to Delenn too late to listen to a story she has for him.
Delenn: Arranges her conversion, talks to Kosh who confirms her guess that something is coming. Wants to tell Sinclair about "the hole" in his memory, but he is late, her conversion has started.
Londo: Frustrated by the talks with Narns accepts Mordred's help. This help appears to be complete destruction of the Narn outpost by Shadows. He is disgusted by bloodshed, but this is very good for his court career.
This is first Londo's major turning point.
Garibaldi: Finds out about Santiago's assassination, but Earth agents seriously wound him. So, he cannot get the proof in time.