[Episode Written By: JMS] (7/07/99)

The crew discovers an alien trapped inside an artifact.  The alien probes the crews thoughts, making them deal with past situations which they have yet to resolve.  Gideon is abandoned by his former crew and rescued by Galen.  Matheson escapes from a Corps bombing. 

In the best episode yet (and a must see I might add) of the first four, JMS gives us a detailed look at some of the main characters pasts.  An interesting episode that can not be missed, if you like to follow the story line.  For the first time we deal with a very large issue, God, and it would seem Galen has a lot of issues that need to be resolved in that direction.  The Gideon and Galen flashbacks were extremely well written, but I must say the luck of Matheson's escape was a bit of a stretch to take.

Look for a new shadow ship (at least I assume it is a shadow ship) with two horns and a double deck of finger fins.  Look for a friendly face from the science fiction show Alien Nation.

On a side note, the Lockley addition in the opening credits is now officially laughable.  I couldn't imagine her melding into this cast at this point, and certainly not into the evolving story line.  The Excalibur will be going further and further away from Babylon-5 as the series progresses, leaving her and her command far behind.  She must have been added either (1) to make some of the older TNT fans join the new series, or (2) because it was part of her contract for season 5 of B5.
 
MUSIC:  (4 STARS)

When you write a story like this the talents of this composure show themselves.  It was a dark, mysterious episode and the music does well here.  Unfortunately, not all the episodes are like this.  A highlight is the melody played whenever the alien is shown...perfectly shy and yet all powerful...

ACTING / CHARACTERS: (4 STARS)

This was not an easy episode for Woodward (Galen) to pull off but he did it.  More and more he demonstrates his range.  This guy truly does not miss a step.  The character is apparently unhinged and no one (not even JMS I think) knows what he is going to do next.  The first time I heard a technomage was a main character I was not sure how the concept would go in the long term, but this is no ordinary technomage.  He is as angry as Garibaldi and as powerful as a Vorlon, what could be better?

Matheson is a little too quiet for my liking right now.  Seems almost too nice at this point.  No one's that nice, especially when they are a first officer.

PLOT: (4 STARS)

I have never been disappointed by a JMS flashback or flash forward episode.  This one was no exception.  Character development is key to this series and we see the start of it here.  The question is, can he keep the questions coming.  I sure hope so.

CGI: (4 STARS)

A superb job was done in the Gideon flashback scene.  Its amazing to see how far they have come with the EVA scenes.  It used to look truly horrible but they have refined it to an artform.  The Cerberus was also very well done and the engines firing was a great effect.  I could actually feel them firing.  We also saw much more detail in the technomage ships than we have ever seen before.

PLOT BOO-BOO'S:

1. I have to mention this because a fellow fan made issue of this.  The fan stated that production made a mistake because the jump vortex from the Gideon flashback was done (CGI wise) in the new style instead of the old style imaging.  Here's my answer to this one:  Production is trying to give Crusade a 100% new style.  This includes the music, CGI, everything.

The jump vortexes themselves haven't changed, just the way we are viewing them.  Its kind of like looking at the same scene through two different pairs of glasses.  We will probably see more examples of this kind of thing occurring since JMS does love to do flashbacks.  Because of this explanation I can't call this occurrence a boo-boo myself, although I will invite you to decide for yourself.
2. Look for a speech slip-up in the first scene by MAX that should have been refilmed or edited out.  No excuse for not doing it.

1. arc: Gideon never leaves anyone behind.  This partially helps explain why Gideon was so quick to allow anyone and everyone to join his crew in War Zone, although does not rectify the anti-trust statement that was scene in The Long Road.  The two philosophies can be in direct conflict with one another.
2. arc: Gideon was abandoned by the EA ship Cerberus while he was in EVA.  The Cerberus was destroyed by a shadow-like vessel while trying to flee.
3. Hundreds of technomages ignored Gideon's plea for help.
4. arc: Gideon received an apocalypse box in a card wager.  Apparently one has to "accept" it freely.
5. arc: Galen blames God (or the equivalent) for the death of his mate.  He believes there is no design or plan to life.
6. Galen will sacrifice the others if it will serve the greater good (in reference to his argument with Dureena in the opening scene).
7. Galen has only admitted he has been wrong once, when his mate died.

1. Just what does the apocalypse box do?  And more importantly can you get rid of it without getting killed?
2. Does Gideon still have the box?
3. Did the Cerberus leave Gideon stranded on purpose or by accident?  Even though it was destroyed, it was more than apparent that it was going to flee anyway.
4. Did anyone else from the Cerberus survive the incident?  The jump vortex was active when the ship was destroyed and a pod could have escaped without being seen.
5. Was the ship that attacked the Cerberus truly a shadow vessel?  It does look and act like one and the time period does supports this assumption.
6. Did the message Galen received truly come from his mate or was it produced in some way by the alien?
7. Is there a plan to our lives (I know this is a big one in more ways than one but its obvious that Galen is going to address this issue in the future).
8. Is Matheson's role in the Corps bombing the same secret uncovered in Well of Forever?