It would've been nice to see Evil Talia back again. Also in the wrap-up at the end you'd think they would've discussed the possibility of Evil Talia blowing Susan's cover on being a latent telepath. Garibaldi doesn't know but Sheridan does, and after Lyta said "She's blocking me!" I figured it was out in the open, at least staff-wise. Hm.
Ah, well. I have to admit, though, Delenn's line about learning things "before I'm told "what I need to know and no more" was hilarious. I wonder if she started taking that particular section before or after she got kicked off the Grey Council.
Ivanova's latent telepathy only comes up once more in the series - when she is plugged into the Great Machine on Epsilon 3. Ivanova - to the amazement of Drall - will be able to use the machine to get hard evidence of contact between President Clarke and Morden. Had Ivanova been in season 5 she would have been part of Byron's group - Byron would help her come to terms with being a telepath, and maybe even trained her a bit.
A bit of foreshadowing about Talia I neglected to mention before - "death of personality" as judicial punishment. Being able to overwrite a personality was already established. The trick for "Divided Loyalties" is in having the new personality dormant behind the original, but able to take over. Also, Talia's line about "terrible things live inside all of us..."
This episode also tells us the Psi-Corp/Shadows conspiracy (conspiracies!) aren't unified, and compartmentalized. There are interesting observations here. Bester was NOT aware of Talia's sleeper - else he'd not have threatened her. Bureau 13 doesn't seem to know Talia's sleeper was "Control," else B13 wouldn't have ordered Talia eliminated. The show will make explicit in s3 that IPX, EarthGov, and Psi-Corp all have connections to Shadow agents. A B5 comic, published in summer of 1995 (intended to come out after the US premiere of "Divided Loyalties" before PTEN inexplicably decided to hold episodes back) featured an adventure Garibaldi and Sheridan had on Mars (an adventure hinted at in s1 "Infection" when Garibaldi is shown telling an ISN reporter, "...and so we walked 40 miles out of the desert," and again in s3 when Garibaldi tells a longer version of the story). When Garibaldi says in "Divided Loyalties," Psi-Corp has a facility in Syria Planum, well... Garibaldi has seen the facility with his own eyes. That same comic shows Talia at that facility.
Point being, there are at LEAST three sub-factions within the Psi-Corp/EarthGov/IPX/Shadows conspiracy, and the different sub-factions don't know what the others are doing. I wonder how much that helped our heroes? After all, in "Spider in the Web," Bureau 13 came close to destroying their own asset... We can assume there were other errors.
Hell, William Edgars - season 4 - obviously has access to IPX data, yet is ready to kill all telepaths. Again, an example of one arm of the conspiracy unaware of the actions of another arm - and one arm ready to cut off the other!
Oh, we have to add MINBARI to the conspiracy. Yup, Psi-Corp collaborated with dissident Warrior caste Minbari to assassinate Kosh... With Sinclair as scapegoat to appease some of the EarthGov arm. Again, this comes from the comic, but those comics were scripted or outlined by JMS.
Author Harlan Ellison - a friend to JMS, a "Conceptual Consultant" on B5 (a freelance idea/detail man), and amazing author used to do a "party trick," where he'd go into a bookstore, sit, start typing, and tape the pages to the front window of the store as they were done. He'd complete a 15-20 page short story in this fashion. This would, of course, be decades before the Internet - many of you writers, including Simon, are effectively doing the same thing: publishing a first draft in near-real time.
JMS would compare Babylon 5 to the same thing. Here we had a five-year "TV Novel" planned out, airing one chapter at a time. Once an episode airs, it's "canon."
But, with a five year production process, the reality is one may lose actors - major characters - from the show and story. What do do?
JMS planned out a "trap door" for every major character. We've already seen trap doors used twice. First, by introducing Talia in the first place, by having Garibaldi's aide, Jack, shoot him in the s1 finale (we'll come back to Jack, later), and by replacing Sinclair with Sheridan... By bringing Lyta back, the trapdoor has swung both ways.
And, in each case, it has to be done in such a way as to preserve the plot function of the character.
Here's the two vague spoilers - 1) Lyta will return, 2) The plot requires an uncommonly powerful telepath down the line.
Lyta's powers come from her contact with the Vorlons, Talia's from Ironheart.
Now we have to look at the production realities. Lyta was always intended to be the station telepath. The role was specifically written for Patricia Tallman after JMS saw her incredible work in the 1990 "Night of the Living Dead" remake. (Side note: I've had a mad crush on Patricia Tallman since seeing that movie. Tallman is an amazing stunt performer, a solid actress, a lovely human - I've met her a couple of times - and dead sexy.) However, the STUDIO didn't like Tallman and didn't want to pick her up for series during the long gap in production between the pilot and season 1.
So we get Talia. Talia needs to be powered up, thus, s1 "Mind War."
Here's a great example for a writer of getting two characters to the same plot function with totally different characterization. Lyta scans Kosh - which has lasting effects. Talia is empowered by someone undergoing accelerated evolution. Yet with Lyta/Kosh there is no personal connection - Lyta is doing a job which has to be done, and there are consequences. Talia/Ironheart have a strong personal connection as student/teacher and (ick - because of the student/teacher dynamic) lovers. Both characters are brought to where they need to be to fulfill the plot function of super-telepath, but in different ways, one more obviously forced by the plot, one more elegantly woven into the narrative with backstory.
Smart planning. Simon, there may be a Monday newsletter you could build off this.
Now,, JMS wanted Lyta, had to create Talia. Was Tania underused?
There are 11 opening-title characters in s1, 12 in s2. There are 22 episodes per season, and note many of these front title characters are NOT contracted for every episode. Andrea Thompson was contracted for 9 episodes in s1 and 13 in s2 (She doesn't appear in 13 s2 episodes, but is paid for them).
Talia is - to be blunt - a B-or-C tier character. She's not a lead, she's supporting. Yet, in s1 there are 2 (of 8) heavily Talia tilted episodes, one with Ironheart, one with the "Vicar," and she's also important in "The Quality of Mercy" (scanning the killer), and "Midnight on the Firing Line" has her establish lots of Psi-Corp backstory and her relationship with Ivanova. In short, half of her s1 appearances are "meaty" episodes. With s2 Talia is stalked by Abel Horn, and involved in the Underground Railroad. Sure, only two really "meaty" roles, but she's also there for a lot of other episodes. Was Talia in the forefront?
No.
Should she have been?
No. She's a support character. Using Simon's "Tales from the Triverse" as an example, Lola is a lead. Daryla is support. Would readers like to see more of Daryla? Maybe. But our "viewpoint" characters are the SDC crowd. There are good odds Simon will finish Triverse without ever doing a segment from Daryla's viewpoint.
Talia would have been more prominent later - specific spoilers will not be discussed here. Those who already know they show can figure out where she's have been.
Lyta will fulfill largely the same PLOT functions Talia wound have (as Talia was there to take over Lyta's plots), but their PERSONAL arcs - the personality, the interactions with other characters, the relationships - wouldn't be the same.
Character vs plot function.
I said we'd come back to Garibaldi's aide, Jack. Since I've been known to exceed the maximum length of a Substack comment I'll split that to a comment under this post. Shouldn't be more spoilers - we return to the past.
B5's pilot had a different XO - Laurel Takashima, played by Tamlyn Tomita. Again, the studio requested she be replaced (after seeing dailies the studio execs said she wasn't military enough. After Tomita re-dubbed all her lines the same execs said she was too stilted - because execs suck).
In the pilot the assassin is using Takashima's access codes. This is verified on-screen by seeing "Access Granted: Cmr. Takashima" on door panels when the assassin enters areas. Takashima would have been the one to shoot Garibaldi in "Chrysalis," and would have been revealed as the Psi-Corp sleeper. Tomita had a film career and was only intended to stick around until mid-season 2. At that point Takashima's aide, a dour Russian, would have been promoted to XO. Yes, initially Ivanova would have had Lt. Corwin's job. When Takashima was written out one of her CHARACTER traits - her hidden coffee plants in hydroponics - was given to Ivanova. Her PLOT FUNCTIONS were mostly split between Jack and, ultimately, Talia (Takashima also would have been "Control" as mentioned by Bureau 13 in "Spider in the Web")...Hey, when you have a good idea, you keep it, just in case.
Talia's sleeper personality IS hinted at. She's said variations of "sometimes I don't know who I am," a few times, and Talia is often shot with mirrors in frame - her "dark reflection" listening...
Behinds the scenes - Andrea Thompson felt she was underused and asked to be let out of her contract. I assume JMS wasn't TOO broken up by this as it let him bring back his first telepath, Lyta.
Now, of course "Divided Loyalties" hints at a return for Talia - especially with the flashback footage of the "Vicar's" data crystal with "fear, pain, and terror... For the future." JMS was willing to bring Andrea Thompson back as a guest star to follow up with "Evil Talia." That said, Thompson married Garibaldi actor Jerry Doyle. Shortly after she left the show that marriage fell apart. After THAT she took a job with CNN and moved to the east coast of the US. With a daily job across the continent from Los Angeles it was never possible to bring her back. Never following up on "Evil Talia" is less of a "missed opportunity" and more of a production impossibility. A shame, because I, too, would have loved to see Evil Talia return.
I've been waiting for this episode for awhile, largely because Lyta's backstory is in the pilot. Which, of course, this newsletter skipped.
I'd forgotten how succinctly this episode recaps the pilot - assassin tries to kill Kosh and frame Sinclair, Lyta scans Kosh. That's about what you need to know.
There's also a scene in the pilot with Lyta and G'Kar which discusses how the Narn have no telepaths, so G'Kar offers to buy Lyta's DNA, and offers "direct mating," which is a funny scene, and sets up G'Kar's demonstrated kink for human women (remember the three strippers in his quarters in s1).
Anyways, yes, outside the shock of Talia dying, this episode feels like it should matter more. The script does a reasonable job of trying an "it's Ivanova" fake out. Problem is, much of this episode comes from production realities. If there IS a first time viewer reading this I'll actually suggest you read the "Talia and Lyta, character vs plot (Spoilers)" comment I haven't written yet. The spoilers will be vague, but, for a writer - especially if one has the goal of serialized audio/TV drama - it's gonna be pretty interesting.
Otherwise, the most low-key same-sex relationship in 90's TV comes to a quick end. Yes, the writer's intent was that Talia and Ivanova had, in fact, made love. Yet, it was the 90's, so it's so subtle on screen at time of first airing it was a "did they, didn't they?" debate.
Talia still gets more respect than Keffer.
All that said, otherwise this episode is actually similar to S1 "EYES," which did nothing to move the story forward, but was a great recap of Earth-Centric plots for the season. Like "EYES," "Divided Loyalties" is full of callbacks and recap. Which is fine, really. As an example, the "Underground Railroad" is from "A Race Through Dark Places," which aired mid January, 1995. "Divided Loyalties" aired in early June, 1995. The audience is allowed to have a reminder six months later - so, while this episode doesn't move things along as much as one might think, it's got a hell of a shocking rug pull (it's very effective the first time), and some reminders which make sense in the context of when the show aired.
This time through I CONSCIOUSLY noted Lyta saying, "Two men died..." So now I'm reasonably certain Lyta got the crystal from that Ranger in the teaser as the Ranger, too, bled out.
Petty note - my LEAST favorite prop/set dressing in all of B5 sits in Ivanova's quarters (among other places) being ugly and distracting (to me). It's a light - looks like a hidden ERS - with a terrible cutout. The cutout is vaguely * shaped, but the damn thing is cut unevenly, and is obviously a poorly cut gel glued to the frame. Every time it's in frame I cringe. I don't cringe at visible brush marks on set walls (transport tube cars), but this cutout... Should have been scrapped. There's another one in C&C near the main door. Don't look for it. If you spot it you CAN'T unsee it.
Correction to above... Divided Loyalties aired in June in the UK. In the US, for some unknown reason, the syndicate decided to withhold the final four episodes of the season until the fall - meaning the s3 premiere aired a week after the s2 finale... Thus destroying the joys of several months to mull over a cliffhanger.
Anyways, "Divided Loyalties" aired in October in the US. Meaning the "recap" element of the episode was very useful for US audiences.
Above I stated the romance between Talia and Ivanova was so low-key it was debated in fandom. Here's an excerpt from the "Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5" entry for this episode - an analysis originally posted the same week the episode first aired in the US:
"When Talia wakes up in Ivanova's bed, finding her missing, it is tempting to jump to the 'obvious' conclusion. However we know that Ivanova's quarters only has one cot (indicated in "The Long Dark" by Dr. Franklin.) Of course, Ivanova probably has a sofa/couch that might have been used."
Well JMS has flat out stated their relationship was, in fact, sexual. Again, it was the 1990's, where a "same sex" kiss on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was controversial, Riker's affair with a "hermaphroditic" species on Star Trek: The Next Generation was met with snark like (this is a direct quote from "The Nitpicker's Guide to Next Generation"), "Who would have thought Riker was attracted to, effectively, small-breasted boys?", and Ellen DeGeneres's career was almost ended by coming out of the closet. We'll give JMS credit for trying to be progressive and inclusive, even if he also tried to avoid controversy by making it almost invisible.
Look, if you really need to watch a JMS-scripted show embracing very explicit polygender relationships, go watch Sense 8, which is the only JMS project which (IMHO) may be BETTER than Babylon 5.
It would've been nice to see Evil Talia back again. Also in the wrap-up at the end you'd think they would've discussed the possibility of Evil Talia blowing Susan's cover on being a latent telepath. Garibaldi doesn't know but Sheridan does, and after Lyta said "She's blocking me!" I figured it was out in the open, at least staff-wise. Hm.
Ah, well. I have to admit, though, Delenn's line about learning things "before I'm told "what I need to know and no more" was hilarious. I wonder if she started taking that particular section before or after she got kicked off the Grey Council.
SPOILERS
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Ivanova's latent telepathy only comes up once more in the series - when she is plugged into the Great Machine on Epsilon 3. Ivanova - to the amazement of Drall - will be able to use the machine to get hard evidence of contact between President Clarke and Morden. Had Ivanova been in season 5 she would have been part of Byron's group - Byron would help her come to terms with being a telepath, and maybe even trained her a bit.
A bit of foreshadowing about Talia I neglected to mention before - "death of personality" as judicial punishment. Being able to overwrite a personality was already established. The trick for "Divided Loyalties" is in having the new personality dormant behind the original, but able to take over. Also, Talia's line about "terrible things live inside all of us..."
This episode also tells us the Psi-Corp/Shadows conspiracy (conspiracies!) aren't unified, and compartmentalized. There are interesting observations here. Bester was NOT aware of Talia's sleeper - else he'd not have threatened her. Bureau 13 doesn't seem to know Talia's sleeper was "Control," else B13 wouldn't have ordered Talia eliminated. The show will make explicit in s3 that IPX, EarthGov, and Psi-Corp all have connections to Shadow agents. A B5 comic, published in summer of 1995 (intended to come out after the US premiere of "Divided Loyalties" before PTEN inexplicably decided to hold episodes back) featured an adventure Garibaldi and Sheridan had on Mars (an adventure hinted at in s1 "Infection" when Garibaldi is shown telling an ISN reporter, "...and so we walked 40 miles out of the desert," and again in s3 when Garibaldi tells a longer version of the story). When Garibaldi says in "Divided Loyalties," Psi-Corp has a facility in Syria Planum, well... Garibaldi has seen the facility with his own eyes. That same comic shows Talia at that facility.
Point being, there are at LEAST three sub-factions within the Psi-Corp/EarthGov/IPX/Shadows conspiracy, and the different sub-factions don't know what the others are doing. I wonder how much that helped our heroes? After all, in "Spider in the Web," Bureau 13 came close to destroying their own asset... We can assume there were other errors.
Hell, William Edgars - season 4 - obviously has access to IPX data, yet is ready to kill all telepaths. Again, an example of one arm of the conspiracy unaware of the actions of another arm - and one arm ready to cut off the other!
Oh, we have to add MINBARI to the conspiracy. Yup, Psi-Corp collaborated with dissident Warrior caste Minbari to assassinate Kosh... With Sinclair as scapegoat to appease some of the EarthGov arm. Again, this comes from the comic, but those comics were scripted or outlined by JMS.
Lyta and Talia - Character vs Plot (SPOILERS)
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Author Harlan Ellison - a friend to JMS, a "Conceptual Consultant" on B5 (a freelance idea/detail man), and amazing author used to do a "party trick," where he'd go into a bookstore, sit, start typing, and tape the pages to the front window of the store as they were done. He'd complete a 15-20 page short story in this fashion. This would, of course, be decades before the Internet - many of you writers, including Simon, are effectively doing the same thing: publishing a first draft in near-real time.
JMS would compare Babylon 5 to the same thing. Here we had a five-year "TV Novel" planned out, airing one chapter at a time. Once an episode airs, it's "canon."
But, with a five year production process, the reality is one may lose actors - major characters - from the show and story. What do do?
JMS planned out a "trap door" for every major character. We've already seen trap doors used twice. First, by introducing Talia in the first place, by having Garibaldi's aide, Jack, shoot him in the s1 finale (we'll come back to Jack, later), and by replacing Sinclair with Sheridan... By bringing Lyta back, the trapdoor has swung both ways.
And, in each case, it has to be done in such a way as to preserve the plot function of the character.
Here's the two vague spoilers - 1) Lyta will return, 2) The plot requires an uncommonly powerful telepath down the line.
Lyta's powers come from her contact with the Vorlons, Talia's from Ironheart.
Now we have to look at the production realities. Lyta was always intended to be the station telepath. The role was specifically written for Patricia Tallman after JMS saw her incredible work in the 1990 "Night of the Living Dead" remake. (Side note: I've had a mad crush on Patricia Tallman since seeing that movie. Tallman is an amazing stunt performer, a solid actress, a lovely human - I've met her a couple of times - and dead sexy.) However, the STUDIO didn't like Tallman and didn't want to pick her up for series during the long gap in production between the pilot and season 1.
So we get Talia. Talia needs to be powered up, thus, s1 "Mind War."
Here's a great example for a writer of getting two characters to the same plot function with totally different characterization. Lyta scans Kosh - which has lasting effects. Talia is empowered by someone undergoing accelerated evolution. Yet with Lyta/Kosh there is no personal connection - Lyta is doing a job which has to be done, and there are consequences. Talia/Ironheart have a strong personal connection as student/teacher and (ick - because of the student/teacher dynamic) lovers. Both characters are brought to where they need to be to fulfill the plot function of super-telepath, but in different ways, one more obviously forced by the plot, one more elegantly woven into the narrative with backstory.
Smart planning. Simon, there may be a Monday newsletter you could build off this.
Now,, JMS wanted Lyta, had to create Talia. Was Tania underused?
There are 11 opening-title characters in s1, 12 in s2. There are 22 episodes per season, and note many of these front title characters are NOT contracted for every episode. Andrea Thompson was contracted for 9 episodes in s1 and 13 in s2 (She doesn't appear in 13 s2 episodes, but is paid for them).
Talia is - to be blunt - a B-or-C tier character. She's not a lead, she's supporting. Yet, in s1 there are 2 (of 8) heavily Talia tilted episodes, one with Ironheart, one with the "Vicar," and she's also important in "The Quality of Mercy" (scanning the killer), and "Midnight on the Firing Line" has her establish lots of Psi-Corp backstory and her relationship with Ivanova. In short, half of her s1 appearances are "meaty" episodes. With s2 Talia is stalked by Abel Horn, and involved in the Underground Railroad. Sure, only two really "meaty" roles, but she's also there for a lot of other episodes. Was Talia in the forefront?
No.
Should she have been?
No. She's a support character. Using Simon's "Tales from the Triverse" as an example, Lola is a lead. Daryla is support. Would readers like to see more of Daryla? Maybe. But our "viewpoint" characters are the SDC crowd. There are good odds Simon will finish Triverse without ever doing a segment from Daryla's viewpoint.
Talia would have been more prominent later - specific spoilers will not be discussed here. Those who already know they show can figure out where she's have been.
Lyta will fulfill largely the same PLOT functions Talia wound have (as Talia was there to take over Lyta's plots), but their PERSONAL arcs - the personality, the interactions with other characters, the relationships - wouldn't be the same.
Character vs plot function.
I said we'd come back to Garibaldi's aide, Jack. Since I've been known to exceed the maximum length of a Substack comment I'll split that to a comment under this post. Shouldn't be more spoilers - we return to the past.
B5's pilot had a different XO - Laurel Takashima, played by Tamlyn Tomita. Again, the studio requested she be replaced (after seeing dailies the studio execs said she wasn't military enough. After Tomita re-dubbed all her lines the same execs said she was too stilted - because execs suck).
In the pilot the assassin is using Takashima's access codes. This is verified on-screen by seeing "Access Granted: Cmr. Takashima" on door panels when the assassin enters areas. Takashima would have been the one to shoot Garibaldi in "Chrysalis," and would have been revealed as the Psi-Corp sleeper. Tomita had a film career and was only intended to stick around until mid-season 2. At that point Takashima's aide, a dour Russian, would have been promoted to XO. Yes, initially Ivanova would have had Lt. Corwin's job. When Takashima was written out one of her CHARACTER traits - her hidden coffee plants in hydroponics - was given to Ivanova. Her PLOT FUNCTIONS were mostly split between Jack and, ultimately, Talia (Takashima also would have been "Control" as mentioned by Bureau 13 in "Spider in the Web")...Hey, when you have a good idea, you keep it, just in case.
Talia's sleeper personality IS hinted at. She's said variations of "sometimes I don't know who I am," a few times, and Talia is often shot with mirrors in frame - her "dark reflection" listening...
Behinds the scenes - Andrea Thompson felt she was underused and asked to be let out of her contract. I assume JMS wasn't TOO broken up by this as it let him bring back his first telepath, Lyta.
Now, of course "Divided Loyalties" hints at a return for Talia - especially with the flashback footage of the "Vicar's" data crystal with "fear, pain, and terror... For the future." JMS was willing to bring Andrea Thompson back as a guest star to follow up with "Evil Talia." That said, Thompson married Garibaldi actor Jerry Doyle. Shortly after she left the show that marriage fell apart. After THAT she took a job with CNN and moved to the east coast of the US. With a daily job across the continent from Los Angeles it was never possible to bring her back. Never following up on "Evil Talia" is less of a "missed opportunity" and more of a production impossibility. A shame, because I, too, would have loved to see Evil Talia return.
Non-Spoiler
I've been waiting for this episode for awhile, largely because Lyta's backstory is in the pilot. Which, of course, this newsletter skipped.
I'd forgotten how succinctly this episode recaps the pilot - assassin tries to kill Kosh and frame Sinclair, Lyta scans Kosh. That's about what you need to know.
There's also a scene in the pilot with Lyta and G'Kar which discusses how the Narn have no telepaths, so G'Kar offers to buy Lyta's DNA, and offers "direct mating," which is a funny scene, and sets up G'Kar's demonstrated kink for human women (remember the three strippers in his quarters in s1).
Anyways, yes, outside the shock of Talia dying, this episode feels like it should matter more. The script does a reasonable job of trying an "it's Ivanova" fake out. Problem is, much of this episode comes from production realities. If there IS a first time viewer reading this I'll actually suggest you read the "Talia and Lyta, character vs plot (Spoilers)" comment I haven't written yet. The spoilers will be vague, but, for a writer - especially if one has the goal of serialized audio/TV drama - it's gonna be pretty interesting.
Otherwise, the most low-key same-sex relationship in 90's TV comes to a quick end. Yes, the writer's intent was that Talia and Ivanova had, in fact, made love. Yet, it was the 90's, so it's so subtle on screen at time of first airing it was a "did they, didn't they?" debate.
Talia still gets more respect than Keffer.
All that said, otherwise this episode is actually similar to S1 "EYES," which did nothing to move the story forward, but was a great recap of Earth-Centric plots for the season. Like "EYES," "Divided Loyalties" is full of callbacks and recap. Which is fine, really. As an example, the "Underground Railroad" is from "A Race Through Dark Places," which aired mid January, 1995. "Divided Loyalties" aired in early June, 1995. The audience is allowed to have a reminder six months later - so, while this episode doesn't move things along as much as one might think, it's got a hell of a shocking rug pull (it's very effective the first time), and some reminders which make sense in the context of when the show aired.
This time through I CONSCIOUSLY noted Lyta saying, "Two men died..." So now I'm reasonably certain Lyta got the crystal from that Ranger in the teaser as the Ranger, too, bled out.
Petty note - my LEAST favorite prop/set dressing in all of B5 sits in Ivanova's quarters (among other places) being ugly and distracting (to me). It's a light - looks like a hidden ERS - with a terrible cutout. The cutout is vaguely * shaped, but the damn thing is cut unevenly, and is obviously a poorly cut gel glued to the frame. Every time it's in frame I cringe. I don't cringe at visible brush marks on set walls (transport tube cars), but this cutout... Should have been scrapped. There's another one in C&C near the main door. Don't look for it. If you spot it you CAN'T unsee it.
Correction to above... Divided Loyalties aired in June in the UK. In the US, for some unknown reason, the syndicate decided to withhold the final four episodes of the season until the fall - meaning the s3 premiere aired a week after the s2 finale... Thus destroying the joys of several months to mull over a cliffhanger.
Anyways, "Divided Loyalties" aired in October in the US. Meaning the "recap" element of the episode was very useful for US audiences.
Above I stated the romance between Talia and Ivanova was so low-key it was debated in fandom. Here's an excerpt from the "Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5" entry for this episode - an analysis originally posted the same week the episode first aired in the US:
"When Talia wakes up in Ivanova's bed, finding her missing, it is tempting to jump to the 'obvious' conclusion. However we know that Ivanova's quarters only has one cot (indicated in "The Long Dark" by Dr. Franklin.) Of course, Ivanova probably has a sofa/couch that might have been used."
Well JMS has flat out stated their relationship was, in fact, sexual. Again, it was the 1990's, where a "same sex" kiss on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was controversial, Riker's affair with a "hermaphroditic" species on Star Trek: The Next Generation was met with snark like (this is a direct quote from "The Nitpicker's Guide to Next Generation"), "Who would have thought Riker was attracted to, effectively, small-breasted boys?", and Ellen DeGeneres's career was almost ended by coming out of the closet. We'll give JMS credit for trying to be progressive and inclusive, even if he also tried to avoid controversy by making it almost invisible.
Look, if you really need to watch a JMS-scripted show embracing very explicit polygender relationships, go watch Sense 8, which is the only JMS project which (IMHO) may be BETTER than Babylon 5.