The good: we get some interesting backstory on Garibaldi, including his alcoholism. The bad: everything else, from the tiresome plot to the horrendous guest acting. The Babylon 5 Rewatch suffers through an episode inexplicably titled “Survivors.”

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B5’s hit-and-miss casting has two misses this time, as Elaine Thomas is spectacularly wooden as Kemmer. She only has one bland facial expression, and she has none of the bitterness or ruthlessness that the script insists she has. Her fatal interrogation of Nolan has no bite to it due to Thomas’ shortcomings. And in the end, they have to change her hair to show that she’s softened because the actor herself doing it has proven to be beyond her means.

As for Tom Donaldson as Cutter, he’s practically wearing a sign on his forehead that says “I’m the secret bad guy.” Indeed, Cutter’s status as the real saboteur is one hundred percent inevitable, as he’s the only character with a speaking part who it could be, thus draining all suspense from the storyline.

It’s David Gerrold’s episode! Franklin faces a brutal medical dilemma, one in which absolutely nobody wins.The Babylon 5 Rewatch encounters some “Believers.”

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Sinclair, at least, realizes this, and Gerrold’s script serves the commander well, as it feels like he’s the only one behaving rationally. Certainly more than his medical officers are, as I spent the entire episode wanting to smack both Franklin and Hernandez. Yes, they have a fervent desire to save the child’s life, and that’s important, but it’s mainly important because a) they come from a culture that values the life of a child even more than that of an adult and b) they are dedicated to healing. But that doesn’t give Franklin the right to play god—even though he himself thinks that. Franklin says that every patient who comes through Medlab’s door wants him to play god, and if he has that responsibility, then he wants the power, too. Except for one thing: this patient very explicitly did not ask him to do that.

Sarah Douglas is perfectly cast as an evil scientist of evil, ditto Robin Curtis as a pissed-off ambassador. But in general, the episode fails to live up to its potential. The Babylon 5 Rewatch meets “Deathwalker.”

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The B-plot is a whole not of nothing. For starters, the script was very obviously written for Gilbert Gottfried and just as obviously not adjusted for the much less manic Cosie Costa, who sounded completely wrong reading the lines he was given. On top of that, one thing that this being a rewatch reminds one of is that this particular subplot is never to be seen again, aside from one quick mention later. And hoo-hah has the notion of someone referred to as a “VCR” aged badly. Okay, that one’s not really anybody’s fault, but man, I can see someone under the age of thirty watching this now and wondering what the heck a VCR is, since Garibaldi uses the term as if it’s common knowledge…

One of the first things we learned about Jeffrey Sinclair is that he has 24 hours missing in his memory from the end of the Earth-Minbari War. Now we fill that hole in his mind, when a couple of bad guys ENTER SINCLAIR’S BRAIN! The Babylon 5 Rewatch looks at “And the Sky Full of Stars.”

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For starters, it’s easily [Michael] O’Hare’s best work to date, showing the character’s anger, confusion, and especially frustration. The missing time in his memory is something that’s gnawed at him for a decade, and this interrogation brings all those questions and annoyances to the fore. It’s a beautifully done set of sequences, culminating in some genuine revelations about Sinclair’s missing time. Of course, those revelations just prompt more questions, but it’s progress. I kind of wish Sinclair had confronted Delenn about it right away instead of holding off for a future episode, but we’ll find out soon enough.

Bigoted humans are attacking non-humans on the station, and both Delenn and G’Kar are pissed. Mollari might be pissed, too, but he’s too busy dealing with lovestruck teenagers. And Ivanova is reunited with an old flame. The Babylon 5 Rewatch utters “The War Prayer.”

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For the second week in a row, the A-plot sees a good script sabotaged by a weak guest actor. The damage is much less this time, mostly because the guest actor in question is a small part of a larger problem, one that will continue to plague our heroes through the show. Indeed, bigoted humans will continue to be seen throughout the show, which is the main difference between B5 and Star Trek—the latter is utopian fiction, the former is realistic fiction. Trek is about humanity at its best; B5 is about humanity as it is.

We meet the Psi Cops in general and Walter Koenig’s Bester in particular. Alas, the other guest casting is less good, which does a lot to sink the episode. The Babylon 5 Rewatch fights a “Mind War.”

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[Bester] creates quite a strong impression here, though a big part of it is seeing a very familiar actor in a most unfamiliar role, as Bester is absolutely nothing like Chekov. Which is fabulous, as he’s a very effective villain.

Certainly more so than his sidekick, as Felicity Waterman is dreadful as Kelsey. In that, she’s matched by the episode’s primary focus, which is Jason Ironheart—a dopey name for an awful character. William Allen Young plays him with all the charisma of a dead fish, utterly failing to convey the anguish and torment the script calls for, which takes the episode out at the knees, sadly. Not that the script helps overmuch, trying to make Ironheart out to be a tragic figure and a victim, hoping we won’t notice that (a) he slept with one of his students, and (b) he committed several murders, only one of which he was able to even remotely justify. Indeed, the glossing over of the death of the Starfury group at the top of the episode is galling. And having Bester imitate the denizens of the Village in The Prisoner was a little too cutesy.

Lennier and Na’Toth finally show up, we get to see Minbari and Centauri religious rituals, and someone’s trying to kill G’Kar. The Babylon 5 Rewatch covers “The Parliament of Dreams.”

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Seeing the different religious ceremonies was fun. It’s a little to Planet of Hats-ish to see only one Centauri ceremony and one Minbari ceremony but then have Earth show off how many religions there are. Having said that, the ceremonies are definitely appropriate: the Centauri eat, drink, and are merry because they’re not dead yet, and the Minbari are all ritualized and sedate and ceremonial and stuff. Each is very fitting. For that matter, the Narn not participating is also very fitting, as even at this early stage it’s obvious that the Narn play things close to the vest and don’t reveal much to outsiders. (Indeed, G’Kar’s reluctance to let any non-Narn in on his crisis is a plot point.)

It’s an utter waste of David McCallum, which is but one of many sins committed by this, one of the absolute low points of the entire franchise. The Babylon 5 Rewatch gets an “Infection.”

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It’s never a good sign when an episode of B5 doesn’t have any of the three most interesting characters in it. Delenn, G’Kar, and Mollari are the heart and soul of this show, and that none of them appear in this episode is but one of a billion problems with it, the biggest of them being that it’s awful.

A rather hoary Mata Hari plot is elevated by the performances of (as usual) Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas — and also guest Fabiana Udenio. The Babylon 5 Rewatch is “Born to the Purple.”

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The B-plot is of more interest, mostly because it provides useful exposition on Ivanova and also illuminates character, both Ivanova’s and Garibaldi’s. It’s also a big honkin’ cliché, but, again, the performances elevate it, especially the pained stoicism of Claudia Christian. Her dismissal of Garibaldi’s concerns plays up as her usual I’m-too-busy-to-deal-with-your-bullshit attitude, and it modulates effectively into sad resignation, with pain eking out through the cracks when she’s talking to her father.

A Soul Hunter shows up at B5 and Delenn goes nuts. It’s an episode without G’Kar or Londo Mollari, which is a bad sign — and an accurate one, as this one is pretty dreadful. The Babylon 5 Rewatch doesn’t think much of the “Soul Hunter.”

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But this episode presents the swiping and storing of souls as a real thing that Rufus does. Now, you can argue that it isn’t really what he’s doing—but he’s doing something. His soul-sucking vacuum cleaner enables him to see something in Delenn, so it obviously functions on some level. (Also, does he really need to carry that big-ass soul-sucking vacuum cleaner around every time he does this? Is that really practical?) Heck, the whole idea of “sensing death” is pretty much nonsense, too.