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This feels like something of a first draft episode. All the pieces are there, but it never quite coalesces into a satisfying whole.
The ingredients are enticing: an exciting terrorist bomber plot, an excuse to trap Londo and G’Kar in a confined space together, Garibaldi doing proper investigating, a race against time to defuse/remove the bomb. It all lands slightly off-target.
Let’s take the actual investigation, and the attempt to figure out who is planting the bombs. This should be a Garibaldi-focused episode, of the sort we’d have in season 1, with him using his investigative skills to figure out what’s going on. Instead, a lot of that is passed to Sheridan, who then uses Garibaldi as something of an assistant. It might have worked better if Sheridan had focused on keeping the station calm, while Garibaldi got on with his job.
The investigation itself feels basic: it begins and ends by identifying the guy from CCTV footage, yet even then it takes them a long time to even think to check the cameras. The b-plot with the monks is peculiar and feels rather shoehorned in, especially given that we already have highly automated facial recognition that would likely have done a faster job than manual checks.
When we finally meet the bomber, his motivation is contained to a couple of lines, and none of it really registers. It’s last minute character backstory for a character we don’t care about, and won’t see again. Combined with the SHOUTY-then-quiet performance and he ends up being neither threatening nor interesting.
There’s a brief montage of station personnel clearing public spaces, searching bags and so on, but we never get a strong sense of how the station has been impacted. We don’t get a real sense of fear, of people scared to go out and buy groceries. There are no lingering shots of deserted hallways and markets.
Perhaps the episode would have been more compelling if it had focused more on either the bomber or the impact on the station. Instead, there’s never really any doubt that they’ll stop the guy, so the threat never quite feels real.
Director Mike Vejar does his best with flimsy material, coming up with some cool shots as always. Although I’d question his scene opener with a close-up on…a chair. At time the visual flair is distracting, possibly because it’s doing all the heavy lifting.
The best parts of the episode involve Londo. His genuine shock at Lennier’s sacrifice, and his determination to try to help, or at least sit with him, are a glimpse of season 1 Londo. The interplay between Londo and G’Kar in the damaged turbolift is superb, of course, but feels like it could have been longer: indeed, I’d have happily watched an entire episode of those two actors trapped in a single scene together. There’s a particular moment when G’Kar reminds Londo of the harsh punishment for a Narn attacking a Centauri — something Londo himself announced only a few episodes back — and you can see a glimmer of shame on Londo’s face.
After the stellar run of episodes in the tail end of season 2, ‘Convictions’ falls flat. Next!
Next up is ‘A Day in the Strife’.
‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️
Most of this is quite standalone. We get Lennier wondering at the consequences of having saved Londo. There are mentions of Free Mars and Home Guard, reminding us of how precarious the situation is back home.
Otherwise, unless I zoned out, this is about as one-off an episode as it gets, especially in season 3. It won’t be long until we’re diving heavily into arc territory.
Non Spoilers:
I have thoughts about the bomber plot, but, believe it or not, most of them need to go into the SPOILERS section. Here we'll just say Mike Vejar dropped the ball on having the guy alternate between quiet and SHOUTY. Even BRIAN BLESSED is saying, "Too over the top, man."
Last week I got into long, petty nitpicks (I assume they went unread as there was no response, or even a "Like"), because we had a mostly solid episode with a few bits of sloppy writing which were distracting. This week we have a sloppy episode with a few excellent bits.
Lennier's scene with the obnoxious man is a nice bit - and Lennier does his penance.
Londo in Medlab with Lennier is a nice scene. To keep the audience having ANY empathy for Londo at all we need to see those few shreds of decency every once in awhile. On first airing my friend, Barbara, was quite excited at the end of the scene when Mike Vejar pulls the camera back across Medlab. At a certain distance the far wall of the patient lab framed by the round window forms a "Peace Symbol." Whether a deliberate choice from John Iacovelli in set design, or a happy accident with Mike Vejar and John C Flynn III's framing, it's a nice touch.
Yeah, all the Londo/G'Kar stuff in the transport tube is gold. Andreas Katsulas, especially, makes the most of what he's been given.
Second week in a row a relatively well known guest star - Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa - is saddled with a nothing part. Still, his complaints about his vacation being ruined is exactly one more character moment than Tucker Smallwood had.
Look, Draal is back! OK, Louis Turenne is back. Turenne suffered cardiac arrest the prior year and was unable to return as Draal. Hence John Shuck as Draal, while JMS wanted to throw more work to Louis Turenne. Hence, Brother Theo. We'll talk more about him in SPOILERS.
Let's talk tech and behind the scenes for a bit:
Other than not reining in the Evil Mad Bomber, What Bombs at Midnight (That's a "The Tick" joke, people), Vejar does well with this episode. As always, he places and moves his camera with flair (how about pedestaling up from behind a chair, or having G'Kar break off in the wrong direction during his walk-and-talk with Garibaldi and having to jog to catch up?), and keeps the episode moving along at such a clip that it's not until the bomber starts being SHOUTY that the audience goes, "Oh is THAT where this episode is going?"
The CG and practical EFX teams, and set designers really earned their pay this week. The on-set explosions are big enough to sell the destruction, there's a two-level composite shot of where one explosion has collapsed the deck to the level below which is stunning. The animation work on the EVA teams in their vac suits is on point, and the hallway explosion with Londo... A 30-foot hallway miniature was built, camera attached vertically, and pyro set off. A high-speed camera was used, and the footage speed ramped so the fireball gets faster as it rises through the miniature. Of course Londo was blue-screened into the sequence, while the transport tube doors were digital elements composited in. Here, again, we give it up to the CG team at Foundation. It's pretty obvious Peter Jurasik was comped in, but the blend of the hall miniature and digital wall/door is seamless.
The "obnoxious man" with Lennier is a cameo from B5 DP John C Flynn III. "Netter's Syndrome" is a joke at the expense of Executive Producer Doug Netter.
The scene with Franklin, Lennier and Delenn in Medlab was shot. Then Bill Mumy was released. Lennier in the scene with Londo in Medlab is a dummy built from Mumy's life cast and master sculpt. Peter Jurasik had no idea it was the dummy, and complimented Mumy on his stellar focus in lying still and silent.
The Centauri light bulb joke had been floating around various BBS's and message boards in the 90's. It's use in the episode was a shout out to the online fan community.
Moving on.
My favorite bit of this episode was Londo yelling "CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?" from the lift and G'Kar giggling on the ground going "I can hear you!"
I too could've watched a whole episode with just those two in the lift.
I feel like there's a Minbari lightbulb joke too, but I don't remember if it's in the show or not. It's something like,
"How many Minbari does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Ten, but they give up and leave halfway through, and they never tell you why."