s3e17: War Without End, part 2
Never use this.
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 Babylon 5’s Back to the Future Part 2, with the story interweaving with season 1’s ‘Babylon Squared’ in ways both clever and slightly awkward.
There’s a lot of scampering about in this one, characters entering and exiting scenes in order to shuffle the pieces about and somehow maintain continuity with ‘Babylon Squared’. Some moments feel forced and goofy, such as Zathras being captured, or needlessly convoluted, such as Delenn being in the suit, but it just about works.
In large part, it’s because the thing keeps barrelling along without giving us time to think. As Marcus says to Sinclair, they’ve been going so fast they haven’t had time to consider what’s really going on, and ‘War Without End: Part 2’ pulls the same trick, right up to its big finale twist.
Watching it the first time, back in the 90s, I didn’t see the twist coming. Sinclair becoming Valen is such an ambitious idea, such a giant leap of logic and long-term storytelling, that it rather takes your breath away. The dawning realisation on board the White Star, then the epic ‘One Thousands Years Ago’ caption, and seeing Michael O’Hare with the Minbari bone — it builds and builds beautifully. I love that there are two Vorlon ships parked next to B4: they didn’t miss a trick to claim ownership over history and the destiny of both humans and Minbari.
Bringing back Major Krantz is a lot of fun, and it’s fun to see snippets from season 1. I’m curious about how both Delenn and Sinclair try to change the past/future by warning Garibaldi and Sheridan, even though they both know the stakes and the destiny they’re working towards. Seems like a big risk!
It’s all great fun, and the ending is worth the at times painful continuity wrangling, but I’m glad they capped the time travel story here. Keeping it contained to ‘Babylon Squared’ and ‘War Without End, and binding it to Sinclair’s story, makes it an intriguing part of the overall Babylon 5 tapestry, without derailing the entire story with too much wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
Also, Zathras gets all the best lines. Choate is so, so good.
Next up is ’Walkabout’.
‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️
All the spoiler stuff is right there in the episode. By definition, most of the big stuff here relates to the past, and Sinclair’s destiny.
That said, we get all sorts of other snippets: that Delenn and Sheridan definitely get together and have a son. That something bad is going to go down at Z’ha’dum. That there is a terrible price to pay for the victory against the Shadows (presumably Sheridan’s shortened lifespan). We get our first hints of the Interstellar Alliance.
Plus we have the Keepers, which are associated with the Drakh and season 5. The fall of Centauri Prime is coming. Delenn talks of the names of the enemy changing, but that the fight is never really over. There’s a surprising amount of thematic setup here for what becomes season 5.
