s3e1: Matters of Honor

We'd better get ready

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Season 3 gets off to a flying start, laying its cards on the table for all to see. Rather than trying to piece together scraps of information, Sheridan and his crew can now take direct action, which means getting away from Babylon 5 itself. That makes for a dynamically different feel to the show.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that I’d forgotten until this rewatch how much seasons 1 and 2 are bound to the space station itself. With the threat of the Shadows rising, it seems inevitable that the show would have to reach beyond the bounds of the station, and the introduction of the White Star is how it’s done.

We have a spaceship! It’s hard to overstate how big of a deal that is. Sure, we’ve had excursions in starfuries and shuttles in previous episodes. We’ve had very rare glimpses of Centauri Prime and Mars. Lots of action in the immediate vicinity of Babylon 5. But generally, the stories have come to B5, and everything has been filtered through that lens.

At some point, given the story direction, that was going to stretch credibility. The setting of the show on a space station was a clever budgetary move, negating the need to create new planets and locations every single episode. But by season 3, that’s not going to work anymore, unless we only ever hear news reports of distant conflagrations.

In retrospect, a lot of the production design and visual effects work for the Narn-Centauri war in the latter half of season 2 was setting us up for the moment. The VFX team is now ready to do full-on, dynamic space battles — the battle of Gorash VII was light years ahead of the slow strafing runs against the raiders in season 1. The set designers have been expanding the palette of the show, and presumably reconfiguring the soundstages to accommodate what’s coming up.

‘Matters of Honour’ is a statement of intent. We are whisked to the White Star and taken into direct combat with a Shadow vessel. That first moment of the Shadow emerging from hyperspace, punctuated by the individual terror of each character, is brilliantly effective. Even more so is Sheridan snapping out of it and taking command: this is the Sheridan that didn’t even hesitate to jump from the core shuttle in the season 2 finale. We’ve yet to see his strategic chops, but his moment-to-moment survive-and-win tactics are impeccable.

Quick shout-out to that shot. You know the one. When the Shadow vessel fires for the first time and the White Star dodges it. Sure, the Shadow vessel is supposedly taking it easy while trying to identify them, but even so: that 90 degree pivot and immediate change of direction is astoundingly cool. It’s something that would kill the entire crew of an Earth Force heavy cruiser, but a Minbari-Vorlon ship can do it without splatting everyone. It’s a cool shot by any standards, but I like that it simultaneously demonstrates the White Star’s capabilities in comparison to Earth ships. We’re dealing with something very new and different, which is going to shake up the action. The Narn-Centauri war could have gone very differently if Sheridan had a fleet of White Stars at his command.

What else? We get Kosh being Kosh — but with a twist. It’s not the same aloof, cold personality from season 1. This Kosh is playful, mischievous, enjoying the conversation with Sheridan. That’s something new, perhaps as a result of the connection formed in season 2, and the big reveal in ‘Fall of Night’. Intriguing.

And, of course, we meet Marcus. Again, hopefully not a spoiler to say we’ll be seeing more of him. I remember on first viewing being very unsure of Marcus: he’s the first major new character¹ since ‘Midnight on the Firing Line’, and his Overt Britishness I found quite off-putting. As a British person, seeing someone so precisely British suddenly pop up in an American show felt affected and on the nose. Why did he have to be so posh? Why did he have to look and sound like he’d just fallen out of a 1980s fantasy romp?

Anyway, the character and the actor grew on me, and he’s now a firm favourite. Much like the introduction of the White Star, Marcus’ arrival signals a new injection of energy, and a different tone of storytelling. It feels a little jarring at times here, but on repeat viewing it’s all good.

We also get a clever b-plot with David Endawi touring the station and reintroducing us to the ambassadors. This is something they did a lot in season 1: have a story that involves a character going around asking the same question to each ambassador. It provides a neat and efficient way to get the points and counterpoints, and get a good grasp on the ambassadors’ various personalities and motivations.

It also leads to the abrupt and slightly remarkable realisation that Londo still does not realise who he is dealing with. By this point it’s easy to forget that he’s still never seen a Shadow vessel, doesn’t know who Morden works with, or how he does what he does. All the way through, Londo has been too afraid to ask questions: initially, because he didn’t want to jinx it and lose the help, and later because he knew he’d got in over his head. He’s starting to put the pieces together, but has yet to fully grasp the horrors he has unleashed. Perhaps more pressing is his concern over Refa taking over — even if Londo extricates himself from Morden, he now realises that the Centauri government will still be linked. As a patriot, that’s got to cut Londo to the core.

And finally, the end reveal that Morden is already on Earth pulling strings, and that the Psi Corps are working right alongside him. How high does it go? Do the Psi Corps realise who Morden works for, or are they being as manipulated as Londo?

Needless to say, there’s a lot in this episode, but it rarely feels dense. It’s all told through fun action, and there’s a lightness to the whole thing. It’s a strong start to the season.

OH! And that new intro sequence is my absolute favourite of the entire show. Great music, ominous voiceover, superb selection of montage shots, and that beautiful, huge sweeping shot over the entire station during the cast roll call. Love it.

Next up is ‘Convictions’.

‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️

There’s a lot going on here. The White Star has finally arrived! It’s such an iconic part of the show, I sometimes forget that it doesn’t show up until season 3. I suspect that’s because season 3 was the absolute height of my enjoyment of the show, back in the 90s: I’d dabbled with season 1, started watching semi-regularly with season 2, but from season 3 onwards was enraptured.

Kosh’s slightly softened personality is interesting. There’s definitely a rapport there with Sheridan, which will come into play sooner rather than later. It serves to endear us more to Kosh, who until now has been an ambiguous background character, and also sets up that he’s a bit of a weirdo in Vorlon society. Whether that’s always been the case, or whether the link with Sheridan has been having an affect, I don’t recall.

Earth’s links with the Shadows will run deep in all sorts of ways, some of which won’t play out until the civil war gets red hot in season 4. Just as the Rangers have merged Minbari and Vorlon tech, we’ll get Earth-Shadow tech later on. Shadows dislike telepaths, so it’s surprising to see them so tight with the Psi Corps — I’m hazy on some details here, so am looking forward to finding out how it all slots together.

Marcus is here! And we all know where his story arc is going.

Refa only gets a mention here, but the political scheming on Centauri Prime will come to a head later in the season, which will also see his demise.

There really is an absurd amount of good stuff packed into this episode.

1. Zack Allen doesn’t count because I still think he’s more of a guest character than a series regular, despite making quite an impact by the end of season 2. Keffer doesn’t count, because obviously.