Babylon 5: Walkabout
December 29, 2018 9:16 AM - Season 3, Episode 18 - Subscribe

Kosh arrives at Babylon 5. Lyta returns. Sheridan tests a plan for taking on the Shadows. Franklin, now a civilian, meets a lounge singer on his "walkabout." "The theory is: if you are separated from yourself, you start walking... and you keep walking until you meet yourself. Then you sit down and have a long talk. You talk about everything that you've learned, everything that you... felt. And you talk until you run out of words. Now, that's vital, because the real important things can't be said. And then, if you are lucky, you look up and there's just you, and you can go home."

-Garibaldi checks up on Franklin, who hasn't even been in his quarters for days. Franklin, as part of his Foundationist beliefs, is on a walkabout in Downbelow to find himself (see pullquote). He meets a lounge singer; they hit it off, but she asks Franklin to get her some addictive drugs. He refuses to get her drugs using his credentials, but they sleep together; she steals his credentials, gets the drugs, but doesn't take them. It turns out she has a terminal disease and the drugs just lessen her pain. Franklin gets her the treatment she needs.
-A replacement for Kosh arrives on B5. He insists he is also Kosh: "We are all Kosh."[1] Lyta returns, seeking answers about Kosh1's death (but no one can provide answers). Kosh2 is harsh with her (telling her she failed), and demands to know if she has a piece of Kosh1 inside of her. She doesn't.
-Lyta notes that this is the first Vorlon death in a long time. Combine that with a tendency to be unforgiving towards mistakes, and the Vorlon are having a rough time.
-Sheridan has a theory that telepaths are the Shadows' weakness. He wants to use Lyta and the White Star to test it, but needs backup...
-A Narn cruiser has arrived outside of B5, incensing Londo. He insists B5 adhere to the treaty and give the cruiser to the Centauri; Sheridan counters that that is an Earth-Centauri treaty, and they have seceded from EarthGov. So, what treaty?
-G'Kar hosts the cruiser's captain, Na'Kal. He refuses to join Sheridan on his mission to test the telepath theory, saying the tiny remnant of the Narn fleet must preserve its fighting power for Centauri ships.
-Sheridan et al. go into hyperspace and await news of a Shadow attack so they can intervene. Lyta asks about Kosh1's death, and Sheridan says he learned of it from a dream...
-...while Garibaldi rips G'Kar a new one about duty and obligation because Na'Kal refused to help Sheridan. He leaves G'Kar's book of G'Quann as he leaves.
-They detect a single-ship Shadow attack and intervene. Lyta initially can't block the Shadow ship, but then Sheridan touches her and she sees into his mind: Kosh's death at the hands of the Shadows. After this, she is able to disable the Shadow ship telepathically. The conventional weapons onboard aren't enough to destroy it, and Lennier has to take the jumpdrives offline to blow it up. It managed to get a distress signal out, and four more ships jump in. The Minbari escorts, with their own telepaths, disable 3 of the 4, but the fourth beelines towards the White Star and the tapped-out (and nosebleeding, as telepaths are wont to do in movie and TV) Lyta. Just then, Na'Kal and G'Kar, leading a fleet of Non-Aligned worlds, jumps in and they take out ship 4.
-Lyta tells Kosh2 that she suspects she knows who has a piece of Kosh1 in them... Sheridan.
[1]: Kosh2 is named in expanded material, but in the TV show he is only ever Kosh.
posted by flibbertigibbet (5 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I always remember this episode for the original songs Cailyn (Erica Gimpel, who was also in the 80's tv series, Fame) sings.

Babylon 5: Walkabout – What song is that?


Babylon 5: Walkabout – What’s That Song?
posted by Pryde at 10:45 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


[1]: Kosh2 is named in expanded material, but in the TV show he is only ever Kosh.

They are all Kosh; I think the convention at the time was to refer to them NewKosh and KoshClassic.
posted by nubs at 7:52 AM on January 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


So uh it is possible that I skipped Grey 17 is Missing on my first watch, so I need to actually, y'know, watch it before recapping it.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 6:43 AM on January 6, 2019


I'm sorry, flibbertigibbet
posted by nubs at 6:59 AM on January 6, 2019


Damn, Erica Gimpel is luxury casting. What a voice. I think this was meant to be a Stephen-centred episode, but it ended up being more her episode than his.

That said: the "walkabout" speech was up to Biggs's usual high standard. I liked the visual metaphor of Stephen's fractionalised soul, and the freefalling, dreamlike pace he and Gimpel found for their dialogue.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:22 PM on April 29, 2021


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