Review: Revisiting Babylon 5 Season 5, Episode 19: “The Wheel of Fire”

Written by J. Michael Straczynski Directed by Janet Greek

With the Centauri arc now effectively concluded, attention now turns towards the final episodes of the series and the resolution of the remaining plot and character arcs. The way is being paved for familiar faces to leave the station.

First, a point of frustration. I understand that much of the remaining time for the season/series needed to cover the process of everyone leaving Babylon 5. And for the most part, it works for me. But I do think that time should have been spent on the fallout from the Narn/Drazi attack on Centauri Prime and what Sheridan and the others had to do in response. As it stands, it feels like the issues within the Interstellar Alliance are completely ignored. It’s another way that the Alliance elements of the season just didn’t get the depth of exploration that I would have preferred.

That aside, I like how the various pieces start to fit together in this episode. It begins with G’Kar’s discovery that he is becoming a religious icon despite himself. We’ve seen this develop over the course of the season, and it makes sense that the movement surrounding him would just continue to grow. These things tend to find a life of their own. We’ve seen that his “followers” are starting to project their own needs and wants onto him, getting frustrated and upset when he doesn’t tell them what they want to hear. So he knows that the escalation of his fame (and the intensity of those worshipping him) is a Problem.

The solution is essentially already on the table. G’Kar wanted to get away from all of this hoopla right from the start. T’Lon convinced him to give it some time and attempt to shape his message. It’s not working. He doesn’t want to lead his people, directly or indirectly, and so the best solution (for him) is to go exploring.

As we’re reminded in this episode, G’Kar already had a deal with the Narn. That deal (and other income sources) gave Lyta the chance to fund terrorist activities against the Psi Corps. However, she isn’t so good at covering her tracks. The campaign against the Psi Corps requires better funding, better planning, and better management overall. She can still be a leader, but best to do so out of the limelight. (That she seems to be telling everyone to “Remember Byron” while utterly violating Byron’s stated ethics is an interesting point that doesn’t get explored.)

Lyta is too powerful to be allowed to remain on the station. G’Kar wants to leave. They are already allies, so why not leave the station together? It feels a little too convenient, but there has been enough exploration of the threads leading to this point to make it work. I thought Lyta would be content to be able to work with G’Kar on future deals to help the rogue telepaths, but she had more up her sleeve.

Incidentally, I think it’s interesting that Sheridan and others are so surprised about the changes in Lyta’s behavior. I’ve been critical of Sheridan’s treatment of Lyta overall, and it says a lot that he wouldn’t have seen this coming. Lyta was clearly radicalized by her experience with Byron. She’s simply been escalating her activities ever since his death, as she realizes just how powerful she can be.

Is that power corrupting, to a certain point? She seems to think she is untouchable because of her power levels, and that arrogance could be feeding into her decision to fund violent opposition to the Psi Corps. It’s an interesting arc for her character to take, because her reasons for opposing the Corps are valid and understandable. We’ve seen plenty of evidence for why they should be reformed, at the very least.

It’s also raises the question: when is a situation like the oppression of telepaths become the kind of moral imperative that other causes have been? Making the Telepath War something done more in the shadows, at least in preparation, is an intriguing proposition. On the other hand, we also know that the Psi Corps is assembling military assets in preparation for a potential conflict. Granted, the characters don’t know this, but Lyta is fomenting terrorism in part because she’s not getting support from any of the existing powers for her cause. One might say that the Alliance’s stance with the telepath colony proved that they don’t see this as enough of a humanitarian cause to rally arms.

Which brings us to the other source of support that Lyta does find. Garibaldi’s drinking problem comes to a head in a surprising fashion. Sheridan puts him on suspension, but after talking with Delenn, also shoulders some of the blame for not seeing Garibaldi’s struggles. (That self-assessment is awfully interesting in contrast to his comments about Lyta.) But that grace only delivers so much, so far as Garibaldi is concerned. In his eyes, the suspension is as good as being fired.

Enter Lochley. We know she has a troubled past with addiction, thanks to “Day of the Dead”. We get a lot more exploration of her past in this episode, via a lot of exposition as she explains (in detail) why she wants to help him now. It’s too bad that Lochley was only in a handful of episodes, because her turn from being contentious with Garibaldi to helping him here could have used a little more meat on the bone.

While I understand the reason for having Lochley step in, in terms of paying off what little characterization she was given, I do think it’s a shame that there isn’t some kind of scene between Garibaldi and Franklin. Their friendship was a huge part of earlier seasons, and it just faded away in this season. Lochley’s long stretches of exposition could have been condensed to make a little time for a conversation between old friends, if only to clear the air.

But as it stands, I really like Lochley’s solution to giving Garibaldi a path forward. I’m not the biggest fan of Lise, but it makes total sense to get her involved. And framing it as Garibaldi asking for help is, while mildly problematic, a bit inspired. Lise doesn’t approach Garibaldi with conflict, but rather, understanding and compassion. Giving him the opportunity with Edgars Industries is exactly what she wanted anyway, but it gains more meaning in this context.

It’s perhaps a little too easy in terms of addressing the alcoholism, so I’m glad things got more complicated with Garibaldi’s deal with Lyta. Lyta knows exactly how to leverage the opportunity, and Garibaldi’s not exactly in a position to tell her no. The revelations about Lyta aren’t the most organic moments of the episode, but they do finally pay off some long-standing plot elements around Lyta and the Vorlons.

At this stage of the game, the plans for Crusade were well underway. It’s fairly clear that the plan was to explore the fallout of the Telepath War during the course of the spinoff. It’s well known that the producers fumbled the chance to bring Lyta back in a key flashback to show her role in the end of the Telepath War. The quick and messy death of Crusade means we never got the full measure of what was conceived. And of course, the story of the Telepath War was never told, despite all the foreshadowing that it would be. (It’s understandable that it wasn’t covered in Babylon 5, given when it took place, but it really should have been handled in some official release.)

That aside, I really like how all the pieces fit together in this episode. I can see how it’s a bit of a dropoff from the heights of the fall of Centauri Prime, but it covers a lot of important ground. I find these last few episodes very emotional, and this episode sets the stage for those episodes very well.