I liked this episode a lot. Lots of humour with the drazi conflict, the technomage was cool (hope we'll see him again), more evidence to show the growing corruption of Londo, and yay, Garibaldi's back in business. :thumbsup:

The music is growing on me, but I still prefer the S1 theme. :)

Keeping the review short and sweet today, cos I want to get onto the next episode. :)

The Technomages have a whole trilogy of novels dedicated to them Michelle, but do NOT, repeat do NOT read them. Not yet at any rate. To say that they're spoilerish at this point would be a gross understatement ;)

I found the technomages both interesting and annoyingly pompous - the light shows were a bit all piss and wind but the message was serious. Interesting that Londo is obsessed with his future.

I liked the Drazi stuff - you could apply the "we are purple/they are green" stupidity to so many pointless conflicts on earth (apart from proper ones lie Newcastle/S*nderland of course :))

A good question here is where do the Technomages get their skills/abilities from ?? And, why are they really running ?? ;)

An odd one this one.

On one level, there appears to be plenty of politics and foreboding going on, but the episode itself only scratches upon the surface. The Technomage trilogy of novels (which according to Joe ARE canon) add much much more to this episode than at first might seem. Crusade also adds another dimension to the Technomage's plight, both in why they're running and where to.

To the episode itself however;

The first appearance of Lord Refa, providing another ally for Mollari now that his star's in the ascendency at the Royal Court back home. William Forward plays him quite subtly here. With the talk of undermining the current administration back home, Londo looks like he may be getting himself entangled in yet another web of intruige. Londo for much of the first season was portrayed as a washed-up, out to pasture diplomat, who dreamed of glory both for himself and for the Republic. Now that the opportunity seems to be close at hand, he wants to grasp it with little thought for anything else. You wonder if he'll come to regret that zeal, much as Vir suspects he may.

I also particularly liked Londo's not so subtle attempts at gaining an audience and recommendation from Elric, and when the recommendation was finally given at the end of the episode it was particularly disturbing, least of all for us, the viewer, but more so for Londo;

Coupled with the ominous warning by Elric to Londo that Londo would indeed spend the rest of his life paying for his mistakes. You wonder, what with his association with Morden and now his alliance with Refa, have those mistakes already been made ?? Is there any chance for salvation ??

The Technomages themselves are enigmatic. Full of mystery. In fact, they're a mass of questions. We learn that there used to be Technomages on Centauri Prime, but no longer. That's quite interesting. According to Elric, the Technomages know secrets, deep and dark secrets, and they're leaving to preserve that knowledge. So, where are they running to, and why are they really running ?? Other than to avoid the terrible coming storm ??

Other than that, there was the B-story of Ivanova painfully learning the art of diplomacy. The Drazi story in itself providing a straight forward metaphor for the absurdity of many conflicts. The part where Ivanova breaks her leg was specifically written into the script after Claudia Christian herself broke her ankle.

On a final note, nice to see Michael Ansara, who for my money played the part particularly well, bringing a touch of class to the role.

And a final question, will we see the Technomages again ??

Interesting episode, I think. Who are the Technomages and will they appear again
As James says, good to see Michael Ansara (familiar to all Trekkers as Kang, the Klingon) providing a touch of class.


Londo, who is fast becoming the most important character on the station, shows that there isn't much he won't do to further his ambititions.

As for the Drazi storyline, yes obviously a none-to-subtle metaphor for all our pointless conflicts. Though I did think we could run our government that way. Just get all MPs to pull a badge out of a box and then try to kill the other lot :lol:

Enjoyed this one. Very funny the conflict between the factions of the Drazi and a reminder that conflicts here sometimes are over something just as pointless.

Nice hints to what is yet to come with the dealings of the TECHNO-MAGE and Londo as well.

Congratulations to Ivanova for her promotion.

Overall an excellent episode.

Love this one, mainly for the Drazi conflict (how the hell JMS managed to take that thread from comic to tragic and back to comic again is beyond me - a masterful piece of writing). I think the Drazi make-up is my favourite on the show, and it's shown off to great effect here, especially with the leading green Drazi. I'm sure I'm not the only one who watched the scene in the Council chamber saying to Ivanova "No! No, don't do that!" when she takes the purple sash off one and puts it on the other. They even say it on the commentary :lmao:

But then I like the Techno-mages, too. Or Michael Ansara, at least (he's a very imposing presence). I love the way he sees through Londo, and his final words to him, about Londo's victims, are chilling.

I also like the way the aftermath of Garibaldi's shooting is dealt with. No getting back to normal just like that here, it does have an effect on him. I like the bit on the commentary where Jerry Doyle explains what he was thinking about when he was loading and unloading the PPG :lol: :lol:

So, congrats to Ivanova on her promotion, big hello to Lord Refa. And a slight chuckle because, when we first see Garibaldi sitting up, I thought to myself "His hair's grown. How come we never see them getting their hair cut" and next scene, there's Vir cutting Londo's hair :lol: Loved Stephen Furst's expression when Londo tells Refa that Vir can be trusted, too, not to mention the Techno-mage's punishment for Londo :lol: :lol: :thumbsup: