s2e13: Hunter, Prey

The future should be labelled 'some assembly required'

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.

A solid episode that deepens the Earth conspiracy plot and sets up strands for the future, without ever quite becoming its own entity.

After the stagey and phoned-in feel of ‘Acts of Sacrifice’, this is a far more competent episode. It does have a whiff of season one about it, perhaps because it spends a lot of time in Downbelow, or due to the command crew having to sneak around visiting Earth Gov officials. It even has Garibaldi going undercover, which was a thing that happened a fair bit in season one — remember Sinclair’s odd cagoule? Oh! And it has slightly cheesy, 1980s-style bad guys.

I like that the ‘information’ that Dr Jacobs holds is as simple as ‘the President was not ill’, especially given that Cranston tries to paint the main as a dangerous extremist who has stolen top secret data. Throwing an entirely ordinary, middle class, privileged character into an awful life-or-death situation works well: Jacobs is very bad at being on the run, but is never presented as being helpless or feeble. He’s afraid, and can’t see a way out, but he knows what he has to do, even if it means giving up what was presumably a very nice life. He doesn’t get to go back to his life at the end of this, and may never well. ‘Mary’ may never see him again.

There are some clever nods to earlier episodes here, including the ability to scan within the station’s structure. It’s quite satisfying to have those ideas not be one-offs in particular episodes, but be ongoing and returning concepts. It makes B5 feel cohesive and real.

‘Hunter, Prey’ features a lot of Kosh and his ship, which I had entirely forgotten. I do enjoy Sheridan poking his nose in everywhere like a kid at a toy store. The CG in the hangar sequence works quite nicely, especially the mixing of the gantry with the practical set on the reverse shots: it helps to make it feel like a real space. They could do pretty amazing things with modern VFX and B5’s visual design.

I’ve been surprised at how little Kosh there has been in the show to date: I remember him (?) being a major presence in season 1 and 2, but it’s been very restrained. He popped up a couple of key moments in season 1, but you could otherwise blink and miss him. Season 2 he’s mostly been present in weird dreams. This time we get proper dialogue scenes, including his excellent response to “What do you want?”

I can’t help but wonder whether the title ‘Hunter, Prey’ refers to Kosh and Sheridan as well as Jacobs’ predicament.

Next up is ‘There all the honour lies’.

‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️

All sorts of bits and bobs in here, relating to the Earth situation and to Kosh and the Shadows.

This is the point at which Kosh takes a personal interest in Sheridan (and humans). Well, I suppose that moment was when he interfered in Sheridan’s mind while he was captured a few weeks back, but this is where it becomes overt. It’s the first time in the series that a Vorlon has willingly engaged with a character, rather than saying a one liner and waltzing off dramatically.

It’s a cool an unexpected flip. We don’t know it yet, but it also sends Kosh on a path that will put him slightly at odds with his own government and people. Kosh turns out to be a rebel, and this might be when he first begins rebelling. I wonder whether the Vorlon government sanctioned his training of Sheridan?

Meanwhile, the Earth stuff doesn’t really tell us anything new, and instead just confirms what we all suspected. It does at least confirm that Clark is a direct participant in Santiago’s death. That it doesn’t introduce any new elements might be why this episode never quite takes off, despite it being a decent entry.