EpDis: Comes The Inquisitor

Refresher Links:
Lurker's Guide Main Page for Comes The Inquisitor
Lurker's Guide Extended Synopsis for Comes The Inquisitor

On first viewing I was pleased with this ep: it made me wonder about the history between Vorlon and Human. And at the fanaticism of "the cause", and who was "Right".

on further viewings I see the implications of the ep. The "foreshadowing" so to speak.


Part of me absolutely Hated this ep because of its dark tone: I wanted "entertainment". I got thought.

An Absolute A+.

Magnificent! Even though the Jack the Ripper motif has been used in other series, it still works quite well here.

And it also highlights the moral ambiguity that lies at the heart of the Vorlon philosophy.

I dunno... I'm kind of torn on this one. On the one hand, good acting and that classic off-Broadway play style of B5 I love, on the other the whole Sheridan will save the day and how they're gonna sacrifice for each other is kind of expected on shows like these (though at least here they made it plot relevant).

The idea of making him Jack the Ripper never sat well with me. Of all people... ??? And yeah I'm sure Vorlons were in 19th century London, OK.

Another thread talks about whether Vorlons are/were "good guys" or not, and this is where we first answer that issue: they're out of their fucking minds. If anyone ever asks you to risk your life proving obedience, run. This is the kind of behavior we have words like "fanatcism" and "extremism" for, and shame on Sheridan and Delenn for not questioning what they were doing after that episode.

I think this is one of the excellent episodes of the series, but, it's one of the few that is so dark and painful to watch, and makes me consider leaving them out of the arc. So, it's an A, but, I have a difficult time watching it, so I'm giving it a B

The idea of making him Jack the Ripper never sat well with me. Of all people... ??? And yeah I'm sure Vorlons were in 19th century London, OK.

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Well, the Vorlons have been to thousands of worlds and are millions of years old. It's not so hard to believe that they were around London in the 19th century. If they'd abducted Sebastian (Jack) in the middle of the night, either before or after he'd killed, they could easily have made themselves appear as whatever they wanted (or even invisible, like Kosh Naranek was to Londo) to the few people who would be on the street at the time. It wouldn't have been nearly as great a strain as it was in The Fall of Night.

To me, this isn't one of the "must see" B5 eps. But it is pretty good, nonetheless. Wayne Alexander does a PERFECT Sebastian.

Well I'm not saying that it's logistically unbelievable, just dramatically.

This is my first time commenting in this thread so here goes. This ep is one of my most favorite. Because it shows what Delenn is willing to go through to prove herself to Kosh. Sure the knight riding a white horse comes to the rescure is a given but isn't that part of their growing relationship which is relevent to future ep's. I also think that using "Jack the Ripper" as a character made the ep especially with Wayne playing him. All in all it is an A+ episode in my eyes.

On 1st viewing I did not care for this episode very much. Not sure why, but I also had the same reaction to Intesections in Real Time. Maybe the dark tone...not sure. After further viewing both have grown on me. Can't include them in my favs list, but a solid "B" ep for me.

I personally loved the use of Jack the Ripper in this episode. It really illustrated how ones view of what is "Right" and "the cause" truly is. We all know the monster Jack was, yet he saw himself as a person doing the right thing. And that truly illustrated of how one can be so wrong in their believe of their cause.

It wasn't a gimic to include him, more of a illustration of understanding the whole point of the episode.

S.

Excellant this is the episode that got me hooked on b5 to begin with and Mira Furlan's acting is emmy winning.

This was the hook for me as well. Every time I rewatch it, it seems to get more intense.

And every time I get delusions of grandeur, Sebastian's lines about false hope drag me back to earth.

I'm with snockit on this one. With the benefit of hindsight, I think the use of the JtR character is perfect, because it beautifully foreshadows what the shadow war is really all about.

Sebastian/Jack killed because, from his point of view, he was doing a good thing ... the right thing.

The Vorlons sought to bring the younger races into order and obedience because, from their point of view, they were doing a good thing ... the right thing.

The Shadows sought to create tension and war between the younger races because, from their point of view, they were doing a good thing ... the right thing.

Jack was a good character for this because history just views him as a monster, which of course was how we viewed the shadows at this point in the story, whereas JMS showed him as far more complex than that and acting on his point of view rather than a monster who simply killed for the sake of killing.

And as far as Sheridan and Delenn were concerned, I think they didn't question the Vorlons' tactics because they still viewed them as the key to everything ... don't forget Sheridan had only just been let in on the shadows presence and what they were up to. As far as they were concerned, without the Vorlons they didn't stand a chance.

All just MHO of course.

I personally... perceive this episode as a failure. Acting can be fine, but when the scenario is implausible... it won't help.

It seems utterly implausible that even a person/persons desperate for an ally... would not reject, and indeed take a very long distance from an "ally", should mentioned "ally" demonstrate their spectrum of accepted methods towards a potential supporter (not to speak of neutrals or enemies)... with this kind of striking clarity.

While the rest of the series depicts Delenn and Sheridan as fairly intelligent persons... this episode, in rather steep contrast, paints them as simpletons, unable to connect two dots, or conclude that a corrupt ally is worthless.

Fully aware that characters are *not* supposed to think even slightly like a viewer... this part of story leaves me confused as to how provocations, actions and conflicts have consequences during most other times, but not during this episode.

I watched the episode alright. (There never was an epsisode of Babylon 5 which I'd have skipped of disinterest.) But how the story proceeded before, and proceeds after this episode... seems notably disconnected from the conflicts and fissures depicted during this episode.

It's almost like someone had pressed a "Reset" button immediately after the ending credits.

Sorry Sleepy, but gotta disagree on this. As far as Sheridan and (esp) Delenn knew, this was a war against Life itself Remember, the Vorlon were involved with the Mimbari during the "last great war" as allies and so had a history and to Humans they were a mystery, though known to be very powerful and the Shadow were a complete unknown at this point. It was during this episode that Sheridan and Delenn became "closer" which definitely affected the rest of the series IMHO.

Yeah, this ep kinda signifies the closeness that Sheridan and Delenn had and kinda "sets the tone" so to speak for their future relationship.

kinda "sets the tone" so to speak for their future relationship.

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Hmm... then I wonder if Sheridan's "woo-hoo" was a reaction to S&M.
I never figured the Minbari to be into that stuff...

kinda "sets the tone" so to speak for their future relationship.

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Hmm... then I wonder if Sheridan's "woo-hoo" was a reaction to S&M.
I never figured the Minbari to be into that stuff...

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Projecting are we?

Nah, not into that stuff, but I'm make an exception for Delenn.

I bet S&M with a Minbari would be the most painful, because they take so damn long to do everything.