s1e15: Eyes
Za ba ga bee
We’re watching the pioneering 90s TV show Babylon 5. If you want to join us, hit subscribe then go to your account and turn on the Let’s Watch notifications.
This is an interesting one in terms of continuity and serial storytelling, in that it’s designed to call back to everything that has come before. It’s the writers showing off a little: Look, it does all matter!
Continuity demonstration or not, it works. It’s not a clip show full of flashbacks (thank god — that would have been very 90s) and it doesn’t come out of nowhere. This isn’t simply an excuse to remind viewers of what’s happened so far, or to bring late arrivals up to speed: ‘Eyes’ is a direct result of Sinclair’s actions. I love that it raises questions that I’ve been thinking about, such as the seeming inability to sanction the Vorlons no matter what they do. It reinforces that Sinclair’s solution to some episodes, such as the docker’s strike, might have been satisfying in a ‘TV episode conclusion’ context, but were less neat in terms of the show’s longer arcs.
Television likes a semi-rebellious character who bends the rules but doesn’t break them. It’s a sort of centrist fantasy, of being able to do the right thing and manipulate the system but without ever breaking the law, or getting into actual trouble. Coming up with solutions that make your superiors both annoyed and quietly impressed. It’s the fantasy of people who don’t have real power, and so seek it around the edges and through the cracks and the loopholes. In TV land, these people are heroes, doing the right thing. In real life, these people tend to have off-shore bank accounts and figure out ways to avoid paying tax.
A big reason ‘Eyes’ works is that it takes that TV trope, of the underdog rule-breaker (but who does it in a way that benefits society) and interrogates it — quite literally. It’s the universe saying to Sinclair “actually, it’s not that simple.” That you can’t just shove a military budget into the dock worker budget without ramifications and pissing off a lot of people. ‘Eyes’ is also a statement that even the mostly standalone episodes, like ‘Deathwalker’, still have consequences beyond their core plots.
All of that is perhaps slightly undermined by Ben Zayn going completely off the deep end in the finale and pulling a gun on Sinclair. That moment feels unnecessary and rather juvenile — no matter Ben Zayn’s mental state, he’s wily enough to know that he wouldn’t be coming back from that move. That said, Gregory Martin goes all-in on a very broad character and mostly gets away with it: the constant tug-of-war between him and Sinclair works really well and I fully believed the colonel’s obsession with rank.
We also get Jeffrey Combs as the telepath, which is a real treat. Combs is always brilliant and he does a lot here with fairly slight material. Harriman Gray is a bit weird and unrelatable, but Combs makes him sympathetic nevertheless. Little moments underscore that he’s not aligned with Ben Zayn, yet doesn’t feel able to push back. There’s a lot of interesting Psi Corps tension, with Bester’s involvement actually being distasteful to Gray: clearly there are factions within the Psi Corps.
Meanwhile, even while the episode is calling back to what’s come before it also finds time to seed unrest on the Mars colony, and arms sales, and furthers Ivanova’s backstory. We’ve heard her tell the story of her mother, but here we see the trauma made manifest. The notion of a child telepathically receiving their mother’s love fascinated me, and slightly terrifies me. There’s clearly more we don’t yet know about Ivanova and her relationship with the Psi Corps.
It’s a solid, down-to-earth episode that doesn’t lean on effects or action, but feels taut and precise throughout. It also makes a definitive statement that the promise of long term storytelling within the series is real — something we perhaps take for granted in the streaming era, but in the 90s there was still a lot of scepticism among audiences about whether Straczynski’s claims were genuine.
Oh, and everything with Lennier is perfect.
Next episode, according to the Master Episode List, is ‘A Voice in the Wilderness: part 1’. Oh yes.
‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️
Two things here stand out: firstly, the growing dissatisfaction with Sinclair back at home. Significant factions in Earth Central and the Psi Corps want him gone. Ben Zayn would have been a puppet they could control, while Sinclair is a loose cannon.
All of this feels really impactful due to O’Hare’s departure from the show. Essentially, those gunning for Sinclair are going to win at the end of the series, putting Garibaldi in a coma, assassinating the president and recalling Sinclair to Earth. It’s going to be a disaster, and all the fun hijinks of season 1 get re-appraised in that light. Every time we punched the air or chuckled at Sinclair coming up with a creative and cheeky solution to a problem now feels like another step towards defeat.
Longer term that’s not the case: it’s all necessary to end up with him positioned as ambassador to Minbar, which then leads to him becoming Ranger One and, of course, Valen. It all flows rather nicely.
The intriguing thing as that at this point, while season 1 was being written and produced, that wasn’t the plan. Sinclair was going to stay as the lead, and O’Hare’s departure occurred between seasons. It’s fascinating how that real-world production situation impacted not only the story going forwards but also the story already told.
We also get Ivanova’s fear of being scanned. I don’t believe we know why yet, so ‘Eyes’ introduces extra mystery into her backstory and that of her mother. At some point (I can’t remember when…) we discover that Ivanova is a latent telepath, and would have been compromised by a scan from Gray. Here we also get mention of Talia Winters being front of Ivanova’s thoughts — which is more than can be said for viewers, as we’ve barely seen Talia this season. Despite being a major player in the Ironheart incident, she’s not had a prominent part in an episode for ages. In fact, it’s highly peculiar that she doesn’t show up in ‘Eyes’, given Gray’s presence and all the callbacks to ‘Mind War’.
Non Spoiler Stuff.
Production order - "Eyes" is the final episode of the season (whereas the season finale was produced 12th in the season). It's definitely a "cheap" episode, and also one which suffers from varied characters who had already fulfilled their contracted number of episodes for the season. It shows in places - surely Doctor Franklin, CHIEF OF MEDLAB, who absolutely is in the Earthforce Chain of Command would be among those considered "Command Staff." There are a couple of other cast oddities, but those will be discussed in the Spoiler Section.
Still, exterior shots of the station are all stock, and there are only two new VFX shots in the episode. One during Ivanova's dream, and, of course, Garibaldi and Lennier riding the motorcycle all the way up the false-perspective set and painted backdrop at the end of the Central Corridor.
It's a good episode for briefly touching on what viewers who joined late may have missed, and a nice reminder that Sinclair's "renegade" actions have consequences.
Overall, it's a quite effective episode, only let down by Ben-Zayn being such a sneering villain, and utterly snapping so quickly at the climax of the episode. Also, sorry, Michael O' Hare, but the way Sinclair grabs Ben-Zayn's PPG and slugs him in the face is so awkwardly executed I did snort with laughter. You needed to step forward off that back leg and look like you put your body behind it. Here we'll blame director Jim Johnston. I assume he kept your feet planted, so you wouldn't end the motion with your back to the camera, but, damn, that was poor staging.
To Johnston's credit, he shot that scene in C&C with Grey and Ivanova really well with the steadicam tracking and nice use of the tech pit to break up some angles - and the shot where Grey enters the casino looking for Ivanova makes wonderful use of that transparent plate with the air bubbles rising through water is gorgeous.
The expansion of Ivanova's backstory is quite nice, and there's some foreshadowing for season 2, as well.
Speaking of foreshadowing - Simon already listed it.
A daring episode for the time when most shows are still having to return to the status quo at the end of the episode. As an example, although from a decade-to-two before B5, I'm rewatching M*A*S*H* right now, and, for the most part, if a character has growth in an episode, that growth will reset in the next.
Lennier is awesome, and, overall, is my favorite character on the show. If anyone reading this is a first time viewer, Lennier of season 1 is the "new kid," who is still walking around smiling at everything he learns. As the show develops, you'll see him become much more.
Bill Mumy, on the other hand... Simon chose the "Za ba ga bee" chant as the representative quote... Mumy, besides "Lost in Space," and "Babylon 5" (and a lot of other TV/film work as actor, writer and producer), is also a talented musician. One of his bands was "Barnes and Barnes," (of the legendary song "Fish Heads"), and the chant in this episode was unscripted. "Za ba ga bee" is the title of a Barnes and Barnes album.
When he found out J. Michael Straczynski was NOT amused. At all. Not even a little.
Jeffery Combs is always awesome, and wrings every possible nuance from the role.
Side note: a bit over a year ago, I created a meme image which was a parody of the poster for "Being John Malkovich," which was, of course "Being Jeffery Combs." The top of the parody poster listed several of Combs roles, including Harriman Grey.
Minor thought: I love the fact that Grey says "Yes?" when Garibaldi buzzes his door; I think when I watched this the first time I even made a note on Facebook about it. To my knowledge this is the first time in B5 and one of a very few if any times in Star Trek: TNG, DS9, or Voyager that anyone has exhibited the slightest degree of caution before opening the door. Nearly always it's the door-beep and then "Enter!" or "Come!" or whatnot. Basic door security: good points!
As a lawyer (I work in conflicts, but still), I love the fact that a major element of this episode is Earthforce law, regulations, and the interpretations therein. The best thing since Odo moved for a change of venue over on DS9.
I'd forgotten Ivanova was a latent telepath; I just figured it was like she explained; she didn't want that memory intruded upon. Which honestly I wouldn't either, and I can only imagine what that must feel like. I can see that being scary as well.