Text 146, 182 rader
Skriven 2006-05-24 12:00:00 av Robert E Starr JR (592.babylon5)
Ärende: War Without End, Part Two
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The second part evens out the roles of the two leads a bit more, with
some memorable scenes for Sheridan and an aged Londo, and the final
revelation of Sinclair's much-vaunted "destiny."


THE PLOT

Sheridan is still unstuck in time, having been propelled forward 17
years to the future of Centauri Prime. It is not a happy future. In
this future, Sheridan and Delenn are married with a son... but they are
also prisoners of the Centauri Emperor: an aged, drunken, embittered
Londo Mollari, who is determined to execute them.

It seems that Sheridan and Delenn won their war against the Shadows
but, in Londo's words, "neglected to clean up (their) mess!"
Allies of the Shadows infiltrated Centauri Prime and left the planet in
chaos. The cities outside the palace burn, and Londo bitterly implies
that the fault lies with Sheridan.

Meanwhile, in the story's present, Sinclair, Delenn, Ivanova, and
Marcus have infiltrated Babylon 4. They successfully stabilize the
station and bring it forward to the year 2258, to allow 2258's
Sinclair and Garibaldi to evacuate the station. But there appears to be
an unexpected side effect to this time travel on Sinclair.

Due to his past, unprotected exposure to the temporal rift, any
additional time travel ages Sinclair. The hop to 2258 has made him an
old man. Another trip, to 2260, seems likely to be fatal...


THE GOOD

If Part 1 was centered entirely around Sinclair, leading to an odd
feeling of an "arc" episode that revolved entirely around a guest
character (albeit a guest character who was formerly the series'
lead), then Part 2 balances the scale with a lot more focus on
Sheridan. Sheridan's subplot, in which he is unstuck in time and shot
17 years into the future to witness the fate of Centauri Prime, is not
actually tremendously relevant to the main story of the 2-parter. But
it has huge ramifications for the arc, as we glimpse the consequences
of the current war on the future.

The scenes on Centauri Prime, with an aged Emperor Londo Mollari
holding Sheridan and Delenn as condemned prisoners, are easily the best
of the episode. There are wonderful dramatic riches here. We finally
see the payoff to Londo's vision of his fate, reported all the way
back in Midnight on the Firing Line. We see the moment in which Vir
becomes Emperor, in a scene more than a little reminiscent of "I,
Claudius" (and why not? Vir was obviously heavily modeled after
Claudius to begin with).  And we get to see a wonderful scene between
Sheridan and Delenn, the first on-screen kiss between the two
characters... as frequently noted by other reviewers, all the more
perfect because it is their first kiss for Sheridan, but not at all for
Delenn. I also loved Delenn's observation, looking into Sheridan's
eyes, of his innocence... an innocence that will be gradually lost in
the future. Terrific stuff.

Much of the main plot is also very strong. Given that this entire
2-parter basically amounts to iodine and bandages on the big, gaping
chest wound left in the arc by Sinclair's premature departure, it's
rather surprising how well J. Michael Straczynski has managed to make
it all work. The "aging effect" that time travel has on Sinclair is
a clear plot device to explain away "old Sinclair" from the end of
"Babylon Squared."  Nevertheless, as presented in the plot, it is not
difficult to accept. After all, we saw the potential effects of time
distortion way back in "Babylon Squared," when the ill-fated redshirt
pilot was aged to death. Given that, and Sinclair's stated reason for
leaving Garibaldi out of this mission, it is an entirely reasonable
side effect, even if it is really just a plot device.

Sinclair's ultimate fate, of course, is one that was set up from the
series' beginning. One suspects that the only major difference
regarding Sinclair's fate and the text of the very last scene of the
episode is that it now falls in the middle of the arc, instead of at
the end. The use of quick flashbacks to Season One episodes such as
"Soul Hunter," "Legacies," and "Chrysalis" to tie it all together is
also extremely effective.

I enjoy a good paradox, as well, and this episode offers two. The first
is the Chrysalis machine itself. Delenn transformed herself using the
device, which was recovered from Valen when Babylon 4 arrived in the
past. Sinclair transformed himself to Valen using the device, which he
got from Delenn... meaning, since each was only able to use it because
the other had used it first, that the device was never apparently
invented by anyone!

The second potential paradox is Sinclair's letter. The letter from
the past, written by Sinclair and addressed to Sinclair, tells him what
he must do and brings him to Babylon 5 at the right time to do it. He
still has that letter at the end of this episode, and apparently takes
it to the past with him... meaning he never actually has to write the
letter; all he needs to do when he arrives in the past is have it
sealed back up in a vault, for himself to discover in another 1,000
years. (admittedly, here I'm probably overthinking... still, it's
kind of fun).

Finally, this is the episode where Zathras really gets to shine as a
character. Straczynski has written some wonderful lines for Zathras. I
loved his scene with Ivanova, where he starts expounding on the
infinite nature of time while rummaging through a toolbox. "Time is
infinite. You are finite, Zathras is finite, this is wrong tool, never
use these." All delivered by Tim Choate in exactly the same tone, so
that Zathras gives just as much weight to the tool being wrong as to
the nature of the universe. Perfection.

Even better, albeit less amusing, is Zathras' reconciliation of
various dropped plot threads and bits of confusion over who is "The
One," by drawing on the Minbari society the show has created. I
can't really say it any better, so I'll just transcribe the speech
itself:


        "All Minbari believe is a round three. Three castes: worker,
        warrior, religious. Three languages: Light, Dark, Grey. The Nine
        of the Grey Council: Three times three. All is three... as you are
        three. As you are one.  As you are 'The One.' You are the one
        who was, you are the one who is, and you are the one who will
        be. You are the beginning of the story, and the middle of the
        story, and the end of the story that creates the next, great story."



Beautiful stuff. Some of his detractors have faulted J. Michael
Straczynski's love of monologues. For myself? I think if you can
regularly write monologues that reverberate like that, then you're
just as well advised to stick with them. After all, Shakespeare was
wordy too.


THE BAD

No matter how well-executed this 2-parter is - and it is very
well-executed - there's no escaping the sense that it really does
amount to iodine and bandages on a big, gaping chest wound. Comparing
this 2-parter with "Babylon Squared," the episode it acts as "the
flip side" to, reveals many discontinuities. Some of these are quite
minor; certainly, it is easy to observe that Zathras is discovered by
the Babylon 4 staff in a manner different than that described in
"Babylon Squared," but this isn't something that seriously harms my
enjoyment of the episode.

But there's one discontinuity which just irritates me. At the end of
"Babylon Squared," the reveal of the aged Sinclair provided the first
season with one of its most memorable moments. As Sinclair sighed, with
the heavy weariness of a man crushed by the weight of the universe
itself, that he had "tried to warn them, but it all happened, exactly
as I remembered it," I could feel the goosebumps rise on my arms. It
felt clear that the warning Sinclair had attempted to make was huge,
dire, as epic as the story of the series itself.

This episode would have me believe that the crushing weariness was felt
because Sinclair was unable to warn Garibaldi to "watch (his)
back." I don't buy it; I don't buy it for a second. And that
particular discontinuity briefly - just briefly - cheapens the memory
of a truly great scene from the earlier episode (the staging of the
scene also doesn't match up with the staging of the "Babylon Squared"
scene, though that is also a relatively minor matter that likely has
much to do with the changed nature of the Sinclair/Delenn relationship
from the original plan).

On a more minor note, as with "Babylon Squared," the Babylon 4 staff
really aren't very good actors. I do think the Major Krantz actor is
better here than he was in that episode, but he's still far from
good. And the rest of the B4 staff is even worse. Fortunately, they
have less screen time here than they did in "Babylon Squared," and so
the damage they do is minimal.


So not quite as strong as Part One, but still a fine episode despite
the discontinuities, with a climax that "Babylon 5" fans are guaranteed
to remember forever.


My Final Rating: 8/10
                           
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