Season 2, Episode 18:
Confessions and Lamentations
It's a bad time for the Markab, one of their ships is overdue and missing and four of them have died in three days. Franklin is examining one with a Markab colleague of his while Ivanova sends Zeta Squad to find the ship.
In the meantime, Delenn has invited Sheridan to a Minbari meal. He's appreciative, until he finds out how ritualistic the dinner is, eventually falling asleep.
As Zeta Squadron locates the ship, they find that there are lifeforms aboard, but no life signs. Everyone on it is dead. They bring the ship back, and Franklin readies a full medical team to go over the ship but the doctor from before, Lazarenn, tries to stop them. He doesn't want non-Markab aboard, but Franklin realizes that the people on the ship, and the four dead Markab on the station all died from the same thing: a plague. Lazarenn explains that it is one hundred percent terminal and one hundred percent contagious.
The entire Markab population is in danger and Franklin demands to know why they were trying to keep it a secret. They call it the Drafa, and it supposedly only strikes the immoral, something that is a great stigma among the Markab. When it broke out nearly a year ago, they were hesitant to talk about it, and have been unwittingly spreading it among themselves.
Somewhere on the station, a little Markab girl finds her father, and is horrified when he falls over dead.
Franklin briefs the command staff on what they know, but what they don't know is more worrying, how far has it spread, and, more importantly, can it cross species? Sheridan wants answers and orders the station quarantined until this is solved.
The quarantine causes a panic and frightened people begin venting their frustrations on the easiest targets, the Markab. As the Markab are brought in and tested, the Markab ambassador protests to Sheridan that his people are moral, and when Sheridan refuses to give in, he decides they will withdraw from the rest of the population. Franklin then calls with more bad news; the plague is airborne and a dead pak'ma'ra has just been found.
As the ambassador herds his people into a sealed area, Franklin tries to find someone to perform an autopsy on one of the dead pak'ma'ra. He's about to go in himself when Lazarenn offers to do it. He will perform the autopsy and then stay in the hermetically-sealed isolab, where, if he becomes infected, they will be able to monitor the disease's progress from the start.
Delenn approaches Sheridan and asks permission to enter the quarantine area. There are people in need there, and she wants to help. Sheridan is reluctant, but eventually agrees when she points out that if they can't fix this, then before much longer they will be in the same position. As she leaves he asks that when she comes out she call him John. She smiles then walks out.
As she and Lennier are admitted with a group of Markab, Franklin and Lazarenn are talking in Medlab, Franklin telling him about the Black Plague and comparing the means of trying to deal with it to the Markab isolating themselves, saying "Nothing changes," when the Markab suddenly collapses. He's contracted the plague. In the quarantine zone, Delenn encounters the girl from earlier, who is looking for her mother. She asks Lennier to go and find her. In Medlab Franklin is running every test he can think of while Lazarenn describes the symptoms he's experiencing when the results of the pak'ma'ra autopsy come in: it was the plague, it's jumped species.
Delenn is trying to comfort the girl and tells her a story from her own childhood, of when she was separated from her own parents and found solace in a Minbari temple until they found her. As she finishes her story, Lennier comes up with the girl's mother. She runs over and embraces her, then nearly collapses.
Franklin is desperately trying to find a connection between the Markab and pak'ma'ra when Lazarenn succumbs to the plague. Moments later a match is found in the specialized nerve cells that both species possess. He quickly creates a cure and rushes it to the quarantine zone, but it's too late. Delenn and Lennier sit a midst a room of Markab bodies and slowly stand and walk out. Sheridan asks if there are any survivors and Lennier says there are not. He leaves, but Delenn turns to Sheridan and begins crying into his shoulder.
Later Delenn congratulates Sheridan for finding a cure, but he credits Franklin. Franklin is currently in the Zocalo watching a news report that the Markab as a race have, for all intents and purposes, been wiped out. A bartender makes a cruel joke before speculating that the Vorlons are behind all of this. Franklin walks off in disgust, muttering, "Nothing changes."
This episode contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: About a thousand of the Markab living on Babylon 5 don't show up to quarantine themselves with the others. The crew speculates that they're all simply sick or too afraid of the racist rioters they'd encounter on the trip over, but it is also possible (and supported by statements JMS made on a fan site) that many of those Markab stayed away because they were progressive Markab smart enough to realize the dangers of being in an enclosed space where the virus would spread. Either way, none of them seem to have survived, though.
- Apocalypse Anarchy: Referenced. In the newscast, it’s mentioned that multiple out-of-control fires have broken out on the Markab homeworld due to rioting that took place during the final days.
- Arc Words: "Faith Manages," as Delenn points out, the worst thing they can do is allow themselves to succumb to hopelessness. It's not enough to save the Markab, but it does save the pak'ma'ra.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Markab Ambassador Fashar is completely uncooperative with Sheridan once they begin quarantining the station. He accuses him of trying to slander the Markab community and spread hysteria, even though Sheridan is merely trying to see who's infected. Afterwards, he leads his people to an isolation zone and ends up dying with the rest of his species.
- Big Damn Heroes: A small fear-driven mob is beating an innocent Markab, and Garibaldi charges in screaming at them to get away from him before kicking one of the attackers to the ground.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: The Markabs believe that the Drafa plague could only affect the sinful, even as it's affecting non-sinful en masse, with tragic results.
- But What About the Astronauts?: It's mentioned at one point that due to the cover-up and general denial among the Markab there's been no attempt to restrict travel, so the plague's already spread to their colonies and other off-world population centers. There's also a brief mention by the ISN newscaster at the end that there are probably a few Markab who survived the plague on ships or more remote colonies; however their numbers are almost certainly too limited to form a sustainable population, leaving the species functionally extinct.
- Call-Back:
- Delenn's inviting Sheridan to dinner is in response to him previously treating her to dinner.
- Keffer has been making excursions into hyperspace looking for the thing he saw.
- Sheridan (via Ivanova) orders Keffer to stop these hyperspace excursions on the grounds that they're a waste of time and resources. In reality, Sheridan is following Delenn and Kosh's warnings to avoid exposing the Shadows too soon.
- Continuity Nod:
- Sheridan does not snore!
- Franklin is seen using a stim.
- Franklin and Lazarenn met while Franklin was hitchhiking around the galaxy.
- Cry into Chest: All Delenn can do is cling to Sheridan and cry.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The social stigma around drafa recalls the AIDS epidemic. Franklin even name drops it at one point.
- Downer Ending: For virtually everyone involved. Only the pak'ma'ra benefit, as there is now a cure to a deadly disease they're vulnerable to. And lunch.
- Dude, Not Funny!: The bartender's joke at the end: "What do you call two billion dead Markabs? Planetary redecorating." Franklin is not amused.
- Dying Candle: In the teaser, after Franklin heads off to figure out what's going on with the rash of Markab deaths, Lazarenn blows out the last two candles lit on a nearby candelabra. The last days of the Markab race are at hand.
- Face Death with Dignity: When Franklin's Markab friend Lazarenn catches the plague, his only reaction is to quip to Stephen that now he has a chance to study the early symptoms of drafa.
- Famous, Famous, Fictional: The Black Death, AIDS, and Chalmers Syndrome.
- Fancy Dinner: Sheridan is a little put off by the highly ritualistic meal Delenn and Lennier prepare for him.
- Find the Cure!: And Franklin does...too late to save the Markab. The only silver lining is that it could be used to prevent the plague from spreading to the pak'ma'ra.
- First-Name Basis: Sheridan is so moved by Delenn's kindness to the Markab that he asks her to call him "John" in this episode. Heartbreakingly, she does the next time she sees him - as she walks toward him, devastated, after the loss of the entire Markab species.
- Foreshadowing:
- A subtle hint is dropped that the Drafa virus might be artificial. A plot point that will gain prominence as far down the road as Crusade.
- The racist bartender who suggests that the Vorlons spread the disease to wipe out the Markab is actually right about the Vorlons being willing to wipe out other entire races, as shown during the Shadow War. JMS also implies that either the Vorlons or the Shadows engineered the extinction of the Markab.
- We see an example of a crazed Franklin, possibly from both the stress of beating the plague and lack of sleep (caused by taking stims). It is given more prominence next season as it causes more problems for him.
- Funny Background Event: Even with the focus not on him, Bill Mumy spends the whole dinner scene playing up Lennier's apprehension at Sheridan eating his painstakingly prepared meal that he might have to do all over again.
- Ghost Ship: A Markab transport is overdue and cannot be contacted, and when Zeta Squadron finds it there are no lifesigns. Subverted when Keffer says there's no one on board and his computer tells him it is detecting lifeforms, just no lifesigns. They're all dead.
- Held Gaze: After Sheridan unsuccessfully and angrily tries to dissuade Delenn from entering the quarantined area, they each share a held gaze of worry.
- Heroic BSoD: Both Delenn and Lennier as a result of witnessing all of the Markab in the isolation area dying from the Drafa...one by one. Sheridan and Franklin experienced only the aftermath. As Lennier & Delenn emerge from the isolation zone and greet the latter three, Lennier lets out a polite and forced smile with tears running out of his eyes, while Delenn hold out for a few more seconds before losing it in Sheridan's arms.
- Holier Than Thou: This is pretty much what dooms the Markab. Their leaders repeat until the end that only those who are impure will be cut down by Drafa. The Markab ambassador to Babylon 5 even accuses the humans of poisoning the Markab population in order to make them look sinful.
- Hope Spot:
- Delenn shares a story from her childhood in order to cheer up a Markab child. Lennier finds the child's mother and they are joyfully reunited...just as the child begins to succumb to the plague.
- Franklin finds a possible treatment to the plague and brings Sheridan & Ivanova to the isolation zone to administer the 500 doses they've prepared....only to discover that they're too late.
- Irony: The Markab believed only the morally pure were immune to Drafa. However, it was their sin of pride that prevented them from seeking outside help in combating the disease until it was too late.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: Inverted and even subverted; at first all of the victims of the Drafa plague are adults, including older ones (so it's easier for the Markab government to hide it, ordering their doctors to claim all the deaths were of natural causes), and the only child character appears to evoke sympathy in her losing her father (and later, being separated from her mother). It's only at the end that she becomes this trope, and even then it is somewhat downplayed since the audience only gets to see her become dizzy before dying with the rest of her people offscreen; that said, the heartfelt talk she has with Delenn beforehand does play into the emotional underpinnings of the trope.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Lazarenn was about to instruct Franklin to give his last words to someone when he dies.
- Oh, Crap!: The look on Delenn's face when the Markab girl she helped in the isolation area feels dizzy — an early stage of Drafa.
- Paranoia Fuel: In-universe. The station is put into quarantine when the plague is discovered, and much of the plot centers on not understanding how the plague spreads or who it can infect, with many people acting out of fear rather than reason. Doctor Franklin's own medical staff becomes more and more hesitant to risk exposing themselves to the plague, and has to be verbally browbeaten into getting to work. At one point, Garibaldi saves a Markab who was being attacked, and hesitates for a long moment before taking his hand to help him up.
- The Plague: The Drafa. It is named after an island on the Markab homeworld that was known for being extremely immoral. When the population was wiped out, the Markab believed it was a punishment by the gods for lacking morality.
- Redemption Equals Death: Lazarenn chooses to perform the autopsy on one of the dead pak'ma'ra in a sealed lab in order to atone for his role in keeping the Drafa plague secret. Once he gets infected, Franklin is able to monitor the disease in progress to provide valuable information for a cure. Unfortunately, Lazarenn dies before the cure is developed.
- Restricted Rescue Operation: A 100% contagious and 100% lethal disease was spreading through the Markab population. After racing against the clock, Franklin found a cure and prepared 500 doses. There were thousands of Markab on the station. Ultimately subverted, as all the Markab died before the cure was finished. There's also the Markab forbidding their doctors from talking about the disease.
- Running Gag: Sheridan's snoring is brought up again. He of course, denies it, particularly when Lennier asked innocently about the "sound" he's making.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After going the whole episode struggling to find a cure for the plague, which includes having to deal with the Markab ambassador fighting his attempts out of an arrogant belief in purity, constantly using stims to stay awake, and eventually losing his Markab friend, Franklin finally succeeds...only to learn that all the Markab on the station have succumbed. And the ending news report reveals the same thing has happened to the vast majority of the population, essentially wiping them out as a species. The only good to come of it is that the cure can still be used to protect others who are susceptible (such as the pak'ma'ra), preventing it from spreading to other species and possibly mutating, and Sheridan and Delenn becoming a little closer in the aftermath of the tragedy.
- Shout-Out: Delenn comforts Sheridan with the words "all life is transitory, and a dream". This statement refers to several seventeenth century plays, among them some written by William Shakespeare, but also the known play Life Is A Dream by Spanish playwright Calderon.
- Take My Hand!: A variant. After Garibaldi drove off a mob for beating up a Markab, the injured Markab reached out to Garibaldi. Garibaldi hesitated before taking his hand to help. At that point, it was not established whether the disease can spread to other species.
- That's an Order!: Ivanova tells Keffer to cease his excursions into hyperspace or be suspended from duty.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Garibaldi is a pragmatic realist during the staff briefing on the Drafa outbreak. He correctly asserts that once news becomes public, the general population will view the Markab as scapegoats and advocates quarantine because it will be easier for his security force to protect them. Afterwards, Sheridan orders him to cancel leave for security personnel, as they both realize they're gonna need them.
- Too Dumb to Live: The entire species of Markab. Against all evidence they insist that the disease only takes the 'sinful', they hid it from other species for over a year, and actively tried to prevent Stephen from even realizing it was a disease. He still finds a cure in less than a week, but by that time, the Markab have become at best functionally extinct.
- Vertigo Effect: A Hitchcock zoom focused on Franklin, with Lazarenn in the background, as they discuss his ongoing use of Stims to cope with his job's life-or-death demands. This also has the visual effect of having Lazarenn begin blurring and seeming to move further away from Franklin, soon before revealing he has contracted the plague.
