Review: Revisiting Babylon 5 Season 5, Episode 17: “Movements of Fire and Shadow”

Written by J. Michael Straczynski Directed by John C. Flinn III

I love it when a plan comes together.

For all the stumbles along the way earlier in the season, this is when all of the pieces start to come together. Just about every plot and character arc feeds into the events of this episode. And since this is really the first part of a two-parter, along with “The Fall of Centauri Prime”, one really gets to see the scope unfold.

The Alliance and the Centauri are in a full blown war, and with Sheridan calling on the White Star fleet to enter the fray, it’s only a matter of time before Babylon 5 is in the crosshairs. It’s been long enough since we’ve seen Captain Lochley that we have to wonder what she’s been doing in the meantime. But even so, I’d say that she slips back into the mix well enough.

The weakest part of the story comes pretty early. Sheridan is brokering a deal between the Earth Alliance and the Minbari to develop a destroyer-class version of the White Star. We’re reminded, of course, that the White Stars, while very capable, are still smaller vessels that often struggle against bigger ships. (I wonder if that will come up at all in this episode.) To seal the deal, Sheridan needs to send Delenn to Minbar in secret to convince the Grey Council to back the proposal.

Sending Delenn (and Lennier) in a single White Star makes little to no sense. After all, they are in the middle of a war, and the Centauri have shown that they will fire upon anyone and everyone. No effort is made to avoid routes that might take them into a confrontation. No escorts are assigned to ensure that Delenn arrives safely. It’s just a little too obvious in the construction of the situation.

Meanwhile, Vir calls on Franklin and Lyta for assistance. While the Centauri are returning the bodies of those killed in action, the same is not being done by the Drazi and others. (This serves to highlight that something strange is going on with the Centauri forces. The offensive Centauri forces are killing without mercy; the defensive Centauri forces are adhering to the Alliance declaration of principles, despite having left the Alliance.) Vir asks Franklin and Lyta to go to the Drazi homeworld and uncover why the Centauri bodies are not being returned.

When it comes to Franklin, I’m not sure why Vir is going to him directly. He still falls within some kind of chain of command, doesn't he? Shouldn’t Vir ask Sheridan and/or Lochley first, rather than expect Franklin to ask for permission to go? Of course, it’s necessary to do things this way to highlight the fact that both Vir and Franklin expect Lyta to just agree.

Lyta, however, does not simply agree to go. She demands a hefty sum to do the job. I actually quite like this aspect of the story. As much as the telepath arc had its struggles, I like how it led to these changes for Lyta. One could argue that she took all the wrong lessons from her time with Byron, since she has no problem exerting her power and fostering and committing violence.

Lyta turns out to be the more important of the two when they get to the Drazi homeworld. It turns out that the offensive Centauri ships are being controlled remotely via Shadow technology. This is why there is such a stark difference between the offensive and defensive Centauri activities. It’s also why the majority of Centauri have no idea what’s going on. It’s a clever plot point, as it shows how well the Drakh have planned out their revenge.

Ironically, while the Alliance worlds are not particularly great at working together in mutual defense, they are more than happy to combine forces for an offensive against Centauri Prime. Sheridan is completely against it, so of course, they decide to act without him. This is very bad for Centauri Prime and its civilian population, of course. One would also think that this would be a major issue within the Alliance as well, beyond Sheridan wanting to stop the attack altogether. (But more on that in the future.)

Speaking of the human side of the equation, it’s a good thing that Lochley is involved in the strategy discussions, because it somewhat addresses the jurisdictional questions between the Earth Alliance and the Interstellar Alliance. Lochley appears to act on behalf of the Earth Alliance in the discussions, even if Sheridan still seems to speak for anyone he wants to throughout the episode. And it’s Lochley’s actions that the other powers refer to when they decide the humans aren’t ready for the kind of fight they intend.

It does seem a little odd that Garibaldi is doing his job relatively well in this episode. It’s not like things are any less or more crucial than the task he fumbled in the previous episode. But then again, there really isn’t time to tackle his drinking problem in this stage of the story. There’s just simply too much else going on. It does stick out as a bit of a glaring omission as a result, though.

The best material is, as usual, the subplot on Centauri Prime. There is a growing sense of dread as it becomes clear that Londo is too late to change anything that is happening, and his own fate is effectively sealed. It all culminates in a powerful set of scenes with the Regent. It’s worth noting that the Regent has had an interesting character arc of his own, going from a foppish joke to a tragic figure during his time on the show, not unlike Londo himself.

Even though some of the seams show and there are some relevant questions left unanswered, I really like this episode. It begins paying off the threads that have been emerging since at least “In the Kingdom of the Blind”, if not earlier. And the best of the season is yet to come.