B5 Rewatch: Legacies

Well, once more Monday has come around to find us. But don't despair! Monday also means a new installment of the Babylon 5 rewatch, yay!

Join me for the seventeenth episode of the first season, "Legacies," won't you?

Spoilers ahead, of course.

Let Me Sum Up

A great military leader of the Minbari, Branmer, died while on a diplomatic tour of the galaxy. While the Minbari are transporting his body home, they stop at Babylon 5. There is much ceremony about the visit, and the presence of a Minbari war cruiser is bringing up all kinds of unpleasant memories of the war for Sinclair.

Elsewhere on the station, Ivanova and Talia work to stop a young shoplifter in the Zocalo. Talia uses a telepathic mind burst to halt the girl and it knocks her unconscious. She realizes belatedly that the girl must be a telepath, likely one newly come into her abilities. She wants to send the girl, Alisa, to Earth to join the Psi Corps but Ivanova is against this plan of action. She claims jurisdiction over the girl, since she was apprehended in the middle of a crime.

Branmer's assistant, Neroon, has taken over his clan (the Star Riders) and is in charge of the parade of his body. When he arrives on the station, he is very hostile to Sinclair, clearly feeling just as uncomfortable in the presence of one of their decorated soldiers as Sinclair is. He demands specific security steps be taken while the body is on the station, even denying the presence of any human security forces to guard the body. Instead, he has brought a group of Minbari warriors to fill that task. Still, somehow, when they go to view the body the next day, it turns out to be missing.

Sinclair agrees to let Ivanova have a little time before Alisa is sent to join Psi Corps in order to explore all of the options available to the girl. Talia grudgingly lets Ivanova tell Alisa about what happened to her mother but also stresses the good telepaths can do when properly trained. Na'Toth makes an offer to Alisa to come live royally among the Narn. They have no telepaths and would like to take regular blood and tissue samples from her so that they can develop the ability in their species. Delenn also extends the offer to Alisa to live and train among the Minbari telepaths. They honor psi abilities, but reward them with respect, food, and housing rather than money.

While speaking with Delenn, Alisa touches her mind and sees that Delenn knows what happened to Branmer's body. She tells Ivanova and Ivanova has her speak to Garibaldi and then Sinclair. Sinclair goes to confront Delenn and learns that she had Branmer's body cremated, according to his actual wishes. He was of the religious caste until the war and only reluctantly took a position as a warrior. Delenn had planned to explain the disappearance of the body as a true religious mystery, which her people would have accepted. With Sinclair and Garibaldi's discovery of the ruse, however, she must rethink that.

She decides that she still wishes the transformation to be officially explained as a mystery, but also that she must tell Neroon the truth so that he ceases causing trouble with the humans. She speaks to Neroon privately and lectures him about going against Branmer's wishes for his own selfish desires. She tells him that he will keep the truth of the transformation secret and makes it an order of the Grey Council. Neroon isn't happy but accepts the decree. She also tells him to apologize to Sinclair for his treatment of him.

Sinclair offers to make a bit of peace by sending a personal message to the Minbari homeworld stating what a good warrior Branmer was. No higher praise than that of your enemy, he reasons. Neroon gratefully accepts this offer, touched. Sinclair hopes to see this as an opportunity to further cement the bridge between their two races.

Furthering that idea, Alisa decides to go to the Minbari homeworld for her telepath training. She thinks that it will be the best option for her personally, and agrees to help serve as a sort of liaison between humans and the Minbari. Everyone sees her off and afterword even Ivanova and Talia try to make peace with one another.

Commentary

A tour of the body of the Minbari's greatest war hero? Eeps. Uh oh, this is bringing up flashbacks for Sinclair. Oh, this will be a lovely visit for him, won't it? Sigh.

Ivanova's all dolled up today. Ooh, actually being civil with Talia?

Dude, Talia.  I don't know if your mind-blast was awesome or horrifying, but that is one hell of a way to stop a shoplifter.

Hmm. Weapons armed, huh? Isn't that a Minbari symbol of respect? Sinclair should know that, right? That's why they accidentally got into their war in the first place, isn't it?

He doesn't know? They don't feel like explaining their art to you, Warren. Apparently. Sigh. Thank goodness  for Delenn. Yeesh. Apparently I am getting ahead of myself on the whole reason for the war, but I swear it's got something to do with those open ports. Ah well, I guess we'll find out eventually.

Oh dear, pissing match between Ivanova and Talia. Sigh. It was looking okay earlier. But, bring in a telepath, and it all goes to hell. Heh. Good call Franklin. Also, hey, what say we wait for the girl to wake up and then ask her what she wants?

Poor Sinclair. It really is kind of cruel to ask him to attend ceremonies for this Minbari. I like that he is so staunchly gonna do it though. He is all about doing his duty, and more importantly, cementing an alliance between Earth and the Minbari. He knows that the Minbari could destroy Earth if they decided to.

Oh ho. Delenn isn't happy about the displaying of the body. Interesting.

Oh, poor Ivanova. Man, everyone's bad feels are being called to the forefront in this episode, huh? Though, yeah, it is creepy when someone doesn't know/understand not to just go reading other people's minds.

I would dearly love to see Delenn pull her Grey Council rank on this Neroon guy. She is seriously not happy about what's going on.

Ruhroh. Missing body. Seriously, who steals a body?

Okay, on the other hand. Can you really bitch at Sinclair for the body going missing when you refused to let him provide proper security in the first place?

"There's nothing more annoying than Mr. Garibaldi when he's right." (Ivanova)

Ooh, Sinclair talking it out with Delenn. I love this. Oh, he used to be a priest? No wonder Delenn is so upset. Hmm. Warriors still resent the surrender, Neroon among them. I smell a setup.

There...there are carrion eaters on the station? I mean, I guess it makes sense, a variety of species, after all. But, wow. Shudder. Uh oh, and a piece of Branmer's robe was found outside their quarters? Not good.

Na'Toth, are you trying to recruit Alisa? Oh dear. Well...might beat being in the Psi Corps. Hmm. The Narn are the only species without telepaths. Sarcasm, it is lost on Na'Toth.

Oh good, Alisa finally actually standing up for herself. So, Narn, Psi Corps, drugs...and Minbari.

"We do not all think the same way." (Delenn)

Thank you, Delenn. Seriously, why would you be surprised that an alien's mind seems alien? That seems like an oversight. I know, I know, it's probably meant to highlight that Alisa is young an inexperienced and untrained. Honestly, I feel like her character is just written extremely unevenly so far. She goes back and forth between sweet and inexperienced and manipulative and greedy. I get that she has been living hard for the last few years but, like I said, unevenly written.

Hmm. What is this she sees in Delenn's mind? What really happened to Branmer? What is this, freeze ray tech?

Oh no! Intruder in Sinclair's quarters! Neroon? My money's on Neroon. Yup.

Heh. I just realized that Alit sounds like "elite." Why do I doubt that's a coincidence?

"I wanted to make sure everything was on the up and up and nobody was sneaking around trying to pull a fast one. You might want to try it sometime." (Garibaldi)

Oh man. Delenn's keeping more secrets. She is deceptively sneaky. Why the Grey Council chose her for the station, no doubt. Hmm. I get why she would want to give Branmer the funeral he wanted, but did she not realize the trouble she was stirring up for Earth/Minbari relations? Oh. She wanted to explain it as a true religious mystery. Of course she did.

Oh, oh! Delenn smackdown! Dude. You know she can destroy your clan. Oh, he is not happy. But...yeah. Let's not incite a Minbari civil war please. That won't work out well for anyone in the galaxy, I am sure.

Hmm. Ooh, very nice diplomatic maneuver from Sinclair there. Especially since I am pretty sure he actually means it. As much as he distrusts them, I really do think he has come to respect the Minbari since the war ended. Course, that could be his soul talking, but hey, it's still impressive. I like also that Neroon is so appreciative of the gesture. That's good that he gets a little bit of mollification. He was just doing what he thought his people needed, I guess. Even if he was kind of being an asshat.

"We've fought long enough. Maybe it's time we started talking with one another." (Sinclair)

"You talk like a Minbari, Commander. Perhaps there was some small wisdom in letting your species survive." (Neroon)
"We like to think so." (Sinclair)

Heh. Heheheheheheheh.

Well, it seems like Alisa has caught Delenn's attention. She doesn't seem to mind being ratted out that much. Oh, I like that, Alisa goes with them and not only gets her training but also gets to help work things out between the humans and Minbari. Hmm. She would probably make a great Ranger one day. I wonder if we ever end up seeing her again or if the writers forget about her by the time we get to that...

"The future in exchange for the past. I think that's very workable." (Sinclair)

Ivanova is pleased. Hell, even Talia is being generous in defeat. Aw...I just want those two to hug. Oh, hey, Talia, asking to buy her a drink. Excellent. I approve of this.

"Chrysalis," huh? Foreshadowing. Dun dun dun. More of a mystery for Sinclair to parse out, yay!

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Well, thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you again on Wednesday for the next episode, "A Voice in the Wilderness Part I."