EpDis: Revelations

Episode 2.02

Refresher Links:
Lurker's Guide Main Page for Revelations
Lurker's Guide Extended Synopsis for Revelations

I voted good, but only because there are eps that are even better. For any other show, it would have been excellent.

I think it's excellent -- not as excellent as other excellent episodes, but still really up there. I really love all of G'Kar's stuff in this episode. His flying a fighter craft at Z'ha'dum, the other Narn's sacrificing themselves so he can get away, G'Kar's trying to warn Sheridan and the Council, but their not seeing it as important as G'Kar (and Morden) sees the information. How would Delenn have reacted had she been actively sitting on the Council then instead of being indisposed when G'Kar presented the information, I wonder. And the scene of the Shadow ship blowing up the Narn cruiser just as it comes out of the jumppoint was great!

It's a good episode I suppose, although really its only purpose is to tie up all the loose threads left over from Chrysalis and impose the new status quo.

I find the character of Lizzy a little cringe-making, partly because she's completely dropped from the story after this. Her sole purpose seems to be to introduce the audience to the concept of Anna, but it still seems odd that Sheridan only mentions her again only once in 'There All the Honor Lies' (although perhaps not that surprising, given they hadn't spoken for 2 years prior to this).

We see the inside of hyperspace for the very first time in the series in this episode!! And it's also the first of Mary Kay Adams' 2 appearances as Na'Toth..

The bit I like most is G'Kar pleading to be taken seriously by the council.. If only they'd listened to him then, perhaps the shadow war would have started prematurely, and billions more people would have died. Poor G'Kar.

I totally can't remember it. I'm going to go watch it now again before I vote.

C average for me the big downer here is Delenn coming out of her chrysalis and the beginning of her being a human with a partial bone on her head.Sad really she loses almost everything about her minbariness and alieness and it is the beginning here.

Solid ep. I, too, am an immense fan of G'Kar's actions in this one -- when he talks to Londo about it you can see just how much seeing the Shadows has matured him. But then that maturity was always there, just a little buried underneath jingoistic bluster.

she loses almost everything about her minbariness

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Other Minbari make the same claim. She proves them wrong with her actions in their civil war and by fighting the Shadows when they wouldn't.


I love this episode. To regurgitate JMS' own analogy, it's the beginning of G'Kar as Cassandra, warning everyone of the danger to come and being ignored. It's the perfect set-up to the most wrenching, heart-breaking moment of the series to me: Delenn revealing her foreknowledge of the Shadows to G'Kar.

I remember JMS also saying he included literary quotes to inspire people to read it. In that spirit, quoted from the Lurker's Guide page vacantlook linked, is W.B. Yeats' The Second Coming:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of "Spiritus Mundi"
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indigant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Now THIS is the ep that I can vote a C for because I don't like Sheridan's sister. I thought she was in Points of Departure.

I agree that she's the weak point of the ep, especially since sh's never mentioned again, especially when Clark threatens his parents.

But I do like him and Franklin saving Garibaldi's life with the alien device.

Also, I love the plot structure of this episode in relation to the series. The episode is called Revelations because we learn important background stuff. One is a big plot thing: the Shadows are out and about, causing trouble. The other is a small character thing: new guy's wife died on some far away place.

But of course we later learn that both revelations are completely related, and so, as the best of B5 does, it works on two levels: as a basic A/B plot setup episode and, for repeat viewers, as the first big snapshot of how everything is related.

But I do like him and Franklin saving Garibaldi's life with the alien device.

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Yeah, me too.

That damn alien healing device. It killed Marcus!

Lots of good stuff here. Man, Katsulas sure can act, can't he?! Yeah, Sheridan's sister Lizzy is very anoying and a bad actress. I find their relationship to be forced and not believable. It was not one of Bruce's better acting days either. I also have to say that I liked the first Anna a lot better. She was a hottie and I'll never get past the Laura Engles thing. Too bad they couldn't keep her. It's a very important episode with respect to the arc but I can't see giving it better than a B.

I like this episode. There was a real sense of impending doom during the first half of season 2 that I really liked, and this episode really epitomises that. I love watching the teaser, with G'Kar fleeing Z'Ha'Dum. You get the sense that something really bad is going on there.

And a heck of a lot happens in this episode. Londo's getting deeper into his deal with the devil without really realising what he is doing. Morden comes off as really creepy (like usual) "One thing at a time Ambassador... one thing at a time." Very chilling, especially watching Londo's reaction.

But yeah, Sheridan's sister really does spoil it. She is such a plot device, I remember the director Joe Johnston saying he wanted to cut out that scene with Sheridan and his sister at the restaurant, but JMS wouldn't let him. I can understand why he wanted to cut it out too, it slows the pace, and the important stuff that is said is repeated in Sheridan's quarters later anyway.

And then Delenn comes out of her cocoon. I'm still not sure if her transformation benefitted her character or not. It took away some of her alien qualities but on the other hand she became more interesting in other ways.

The main problem with this episode is that there is so much going on, there's no singular 'A' plot running through the episode for everything else to branch off and give things some structure, and that prevents it from becoming a memorable episode. Instead, its just a very good episode.

New review is up,

http://worldsoforos.com/secondviews/2008/11/09/review-babylon-5-202/

Gave it a B mainly because it's a transition episode, but it does involve G'Kar a lot, which makes me happy.

This episode does have some important build-up for future developments, though I must agree with those who are annoyed with Sheridan's sister. C'mon, he tells us that B5 is "all alone in the night", then everyone and his dog comes to visit?!

The biggest revelation about Londo is seeing him betraying the Narn investigative ships. He acted shocked over Morden's callousness in destroying so many Narns, but he does make an active decision here. He must know that its consequences will be terrible.

We are kept in some suspense as to the result of Delenn's transformation - the crusty skin structure at first, her fearfulness. However, the result is stunning! You can just see Sheridan falling in love at first sight, though he doesn't yet realize it and wouldn't be ready for it if he did. I must say, I like her hairstyle here more than some of the attempts that are made in the coming episodes and seasons. There's something very attractive about the asymmetrical 'do.

Estelyn said:

This episode does have some important build-up for future developments, though I must agree with those who are annoyed with Sheridan's sister. C'mon, he tells us that B5 is "all alone in the night", then everyone and his dog comes to visit?!

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A common complaint about B5, leading to Bester's classic comment in Season 5 -- "Contrary to the opinions of some, not everything revolves around Babylon 5."

I think "all alone in the night" refers to the station being in an unihabited (for the most part) section of the galaxy; not that nobody goes there. It is the central location where all the major governments send their ambassadors to discuss/plan/scheme/etc. after all. Sheridan's sister is much more likely to visit him here at his new command in a station that never moves then to have tried to meet him on his patrols on the Agamemnon.