Babylon 5: Falling Toward Apotheosis
March 10, 2019 1:20 PM - Season 4, Episode 4 - Subscribe

The Vorlons march. Sheridan, his newest ally, and his oldest ally, hatch a plan. Londo suggests a trial. "Sometimes I don't know which scares me more, winning or losing." "God, I thought I was depressing."

-The Vorlons are marching on, and obliterating, planets. Ivanova is broadcasting their path and which planets are accepting refugees.
-Sheridan continues to be treated with reverence. After he helps a woman who has fallen, Lorien tells him that he cannot save them all.
-Garibaldi wants to return to duty; he is bored. He is tracking Lorien's movements out of distrust. He tells Zach that he is annoyed that everyone keeps asking if he is ok; Sheridan just came back from the dead and isn't being mollycoddled like that. He's also worried that he isn't friends with Sheridan anymore, that a rift if forming.
-On Centauri Prime, Cartagia knows about the Vorlon's warpath--and is deliberately not telling anyone. Londo finds out and begs him to remove the Shadow ships from Centauri Prime; he refuses, because why would they attack a major world? But it turns out that's a ploy for when they are in public; Cartagia takes Londo to meet his "Shadow Cabinet" (his collection of the decapitated heads of his 'enemies') and tells Londo the true. He wants Centauri Prime destroyed to mark his ascension to godhood. Londo is understandably freaked out by every part of this conversation, but says nothing to avoid become a member of the Shadow Cabinet.
-Londo contacts Sheridan and finds out that the estimated ETA for the Vorlon fleet to the Centauri homeworld is 7 to 8 days. Tick tock, Mr. Mollari.
-Londo's gambit: if Centauri Prime is to be a beacon marking Cartagia's apotheosis, why, he'll have no worshipers left! Clearly they must try G'Kar on the Narn Homeworld, execute him, and broadcast it so his greatness may be known publicly and he may be worshipped throughout the galaxy. Carthagia agrees -- it's a splendid idea!
-As G'kar is moved to transport for the trial, Cartagia decides he does not like the way G'kar looks at him. So he has one of G'kar's eyes plucked out at random -- fulfilling Londo's vision that G'kar will have an eyepatch when G'kar chokes Londo to death.
-Sheridan forgives Delenn for not telling her that Anna might yet be alive; she was afraid of losing him. He admits that the image of Delenn's face was what he kept in his mind at Z'ha'dum -- he can't be without her.
-The station is getting overcrowded, with more refugees arriving; since Epsilon 3 (where Draal is) has never been touched by the Shadows, they begin moving refugees there.
-There's also the matter of Kosh2. He is clearly no longer on their side, and is a powerful telepath. Sheridan wants him off B5 before he can leak information to Vorlon HQ. He tells Garibaldi to take a small squad and ask politely. And then force him.
-He also admits that he's not telling Garibaldi the whole plan because of the whole "powerful mind-reader" thing that Kosh2 has. Garibaldi leaves; Lorien and Lyta enter. They're part of the Plan.
-The attempt to make Kosh2 leave does not go well; he refuses, and when they attempt to force him, he throws them around like ragdolls and cracks their breathing apparatuses, forcing a retreat.
-Kosh2 meets Lyta in a hallway. She warns him of an attack; he says he's dealt with it already. She says she thinks she knows where the missing piece of Kosh1 is, finally: a human. Kosh2 finds this intolerable and goes to free Kosh1. As Lyta leads Kosh2 to the location, Kosh2 senses something is wrong and tries to interrogate her. She manages to parry until she leads him into an electrical trap, while security shoot him -- a lot -- with PPGs.
-Kosh2's encounter suit splits and a being of pure energy emerges. Kosh2 starts lashing out at the station, and his ship starts bucking in Bay 13 and starts leaving. Kosh 2 sees Delenn, and goes to strike her -- but Sheridan takes the lethal blow. While Sheridan still lives, Lorien helps him free the bit of Kosh1 inside of him -- which immediately starts battling Kosh2. They leave the station and enter the Vorlon ship, which explodes outside of B5.
-Lorien heals Sheridan. Sheridan later admits to Delenn that he did, in fact, die on Z'ha'dum, and while Lorien healed him, he did not fully restore Sheridan; he cannot. He just gave Sheridan another 20-ish years. This horrifies Delenn; the human lifespan is 120 years, she thought she'd have longer! Sheridan points out it's 20 years more than they'd have otherwise, and there's no guarantee they'll survive the next few weeks anyways... so he proposes to Delenn. She says yes!
I totally love the title of this episode. Always have.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:02 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Seconded, jenfullmoon.
posted by Alterscape at 7:48 AM on March 11

I mean “proposes” is a stretch. He’s basically like “you’re going to do this thing with me” and only tells her it means marriage once the engagement ring is on her finger. Not cool, Sheridan, even if you do know she’s going to have your kid in the future!
posted by corb at 10:30 PM on March 31

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