Anna Sheridan shows up while Sheridan and Delenn are in his quarters. He’s absolutely stunned to see his supposedly dead wife standing there like nothing’s happened. Delenn makes a hasty exit. Anna keeps him from going after her, apologizing for not being able to tell him anything, and tries to convince him to come with her to Z’Ha’Dum, where they will explain everything.
G’Kar shows Ivanova some new toys, a batch of 500 megaton nuclear devices that will not show up on the usual scans. Perfect for ambushing the Shadows the next time they attack.
Anna is in Medlab being examined. Franklin can’t find anything out of the ordinary, everything says it really is her. Sheridan is still not quite ready to believe it, and Franklin decides to run some tests on an area of scarring on her neck and Sheridan tells him to do it.
- Sheridan: If this is a trick, I’m going to take it out of someone’s hide, but if it’s not, and that really is Anna…I have to know Stephen.
He then goes to talk to Delenn. She isn’t able to say if it is Anna or not; all she can say is that those who would not serve were killed and she assumed Anna would not serve. Otherwise she has no explanation. Sheridan nearly blows up, especially when she says that if he’d thought she was alive, he would have gone to Z’Ha’Dum after her. Delenn assures him she didn’t know Anna was alive, but even then she admits she might not have told him. Sheridan demands to know how he can trust her after that. As he gets up to leave, Delenn pleads with him to believe that she does love him. Sheridan leaves without another word.
Londo is getting drunk when Vir finds him. He’s been promoted. He’s been offered a position as advisor to the emperor on planetary security, but Londo doesn’t think it’s because he’s actually earned it. He’s gotten to be too dangerous, so they’re bringing him back home where he’ll be easier to watch. He’s about to get another drink when a strange man comes up and tells him to get off the station immediately, if he values his life.
Meanwhile, Franklin compares Anna’s scarring to the Shadow implants on the telepaths they found and they match.
In Sheridan’s quarters Anna tries again to convince Sheridan to come with her. She insists she can’t explain here, and he has to come to Z’Ha’Dum. Sheridan insists on knowing what happened to the Icarus before he goes anywhere, if she tells him he’ll go. Anna begins telling a little about the Icarus’ mission, how they had gotten the coordinates from a tracking device placed on the Shadow ship found on Mars. The mission lead, Dr. Chang was under orders to keep this information top secret. Soon after landing, they detected an energy source, which led them to the Shadows. Shortly after she says there was an accident which destroyed the Icarus and stranded them there. The Shadows were kind enough to take them in. She again insists Sheridan come with her so he can learn the truth, and he finally agrees, glancing at Franklin’s report as he does.
Later Garibaldi comes to meet him in his office, where he asks for a few favors, get the White Star’s crew onto the station so they can process them for identicards, and something else which he puts on a datapad and stops Garibaldi in his tracks when he reads it. Sheridan asks him to just do it without question, and if he has, they’ll talk about the weather.
As the White Star crew are ferried off, Sheridan prepares himself, checking the charge on his PPG, and then strapping a spare to his leg. As he pauses in front of the mirror, he suddenly sees and hears Kosh, “If you go to Z’Ha’Dum you will die.” He whips around but the room is empty. Before leaving, he records a message to Delenn. As he and Anna head out, Garibaldi meets him and tells him it’s snowing in New York. They bid each other farewell and then he and Anna continue on. “Next stop, Z’Ha’Dum.”
As they fly through hyperspace, Anna examines the White Star, not looking happy. It’s partially Vorlon technology, and they Shadows think they’ll die if anything Vorlon touches their world. Sheridan says he’ll leave it in orbit and they’ll take the shuttle down.
Once there, they land and make their way to an underground facility which Anna says was built for them. Before they continue, she asks for his gun, and he obliges. She leads him to a room where the “others” are waiting, Morden, who looks simply thrilled to see Sheridan again, and an older man who introduces himself as Justin.
Back on the station, Sheridan’s message starts playing in Delenn’s quarters, telling her that he’s gone to Z’Ha’Dum with Anna, much to her horror. He also tells her about his experience in the future where he saw a devastated Centauri Prime, and wondered if it was because he hadn’t gone. So he’s there, knowing full well it’s probably a trap.
Justin and the others begin telling Sheridan what’s going on from their side, how they come out every now and then and “kick over all the anthills”, starting wars and conflict to force the younger races to change and develop. They are at odds with the Vorlons, who believe in order and structure, on how to do this.On Babylon 5 a series of disturbances herald the arrival of the Shadows who surround the station on all sides but don’t attack. Ivanova launches all fighters, while Justin, Morden and Anna continue working on Sheridan, telling him the Vorlons have been manipulating all the races, even modifying them, which is why telepaths suddenly appeared a hundred years ago. Justin urges Sheridan to side with them, or they’ll remove his support mechanism.
Said support is wondering why the Shadows haven’t attacked yet as Garibaldi launches in a Starfury and C&C tries to get through to Draal.
Justin finally gets to the ultimatum. Sheridan is a hindrance to their plans but they don’t want to kill him just yet, they still hope to bring him over. Sheridan, on the other hand, has had about enough. He’s known what really happened to Anna the whole time; she was put into one of the Shadow ships as its central core, which destroyed her real personality. Justin admits he’s right, and that she made the wrong choice. One of the Shadows comes in and creeps up behind Sheridan, who turns and fires.
G’Kar comes up to C&C and Ivanova asks if they can get the nukes outside, but he came to tell her that two of the devices are missing.
Sheridan, wounded and bloodied, makes his way to an overlook above a deep chasm. Overhead, is a large glass dome, and he sends a signal to the White Star. Anna appears behind him, and tries to appeal to him one more time.
Sheridan’s message to Delenn finishes with him telling her he loves her. As it closes she collapses in tears.
Moments before the White Star hits, Sheridan hears Kosh’s voice, “Jump, jump, now!” He jumps down the chasm, just as the White Star crashes through the dome and the devices detonate. Back at Babylon 5, the Shadows suddenly leave without destroying the station which can only mean…they’re no longer a threat.
- Ivanova: He’s gone!
As Delenn stares forlornly at a candle, Corwin give Ivanova the news that there’s been no word from the White Star, which has probably been destroyed, and that Garibaldi’s fighter is missing, and on Z’Ha’Dum the Shadows survey the damage to their world.
- G’Kar: It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectedly. All around us, it was as if the Universe were holding its breath, waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition, or moments of revelation. This had the feeling of both. G’Quon wrote, “There is a greater darkness than the one we fight, it is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way." The war we fight is not against powers or principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.
This episode contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The novel The Shadow Within reveals more details about Anna's fateful trip to Z'ha'dum and the fate of the Icarus crew.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Delenn to Sheridan:"John, I do love you. If you believe nothing else I ever say, please, please believe that.".
- Arc Words: Sheridan asks Justin "Who are you?" Justin avoids the question as if it were subject to a powerful taboo.
- Batman Gambit: Sheridan carries two PPGs down to the planet, one at his side, and a second concealed up his pant leg. He (correctly) assumes they'll expect—and ask for—the first one, but fail to notice the second.
- Bittersweet Ending: Captain Sheridan deals a devastating blow to the Shadows, in exchange for his own life. The Shadows withdraw and leave Babylon 5 unharmed, but Garibaldi goes missing.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Though one Ivanova hadn't used much in over two years: While G'Kar and Ivanova discuss the large supply of thermonuclear warheads the Gaim have provided, G'Kar lampshades Ivanvoa's inclination to say "Boom."
- Call-Back:
- Anna's fate was first mentioned in "Revelations" and expanded upon in "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum".
- Sheridan refers to the future he witnessed in "War Without End" in his last message to Delenn.
- Sheridan's dream mentioned "The man in between" searching for him. Delenn believed the man in between to be Sheridan's equal and opposite. Justin introduces himself as a "middle-man" for the Shadows, and he's clearly the one in charge here.
- Franklin realizes what's wrong with Anna when he compares the scarring on her neck to Shadow implants.
- Came Back Wrong: Anna was put into one of the Shadow ships and her actual personality was destroyed.
- Casting Gag: Anna Sheridan is played by Bruce Boxleitner's then-wife, Melissa Gilbert. In fact, the wedding photos seen in this episode are copies of their actual wedding photos (slightly retouched to update the fashions to the 23rd century).
- Chekhov's Gun: Some fairly obvious setups: The nuclear warheads (introduced conveniently near the beginning of the episode) and the door to the room adjacent to the one where Sheridan meets Justin.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Dr. Franklin finds scarring on Anna's neck that matches the implants of the telepaths they rescued, leading him to conclude that she has had the same implants and cannot be trusted.
- Defiant to the End:
- John Sheridan refuses to join the Shadows voluntarily, and sees to it that they can't force him to join like they did to Anna.
- The "Passing of the Techno-Mages" novels reveal that this is also the case for Anna. After being brainwashed by being plugged into a Shadow ship, she couldn't stand being separated from it for her role here, and her scream as the bombs come down is actually one of triumph that what she sees as a miserable half-life is over.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- The appearance of Anna Sheridan.
- Sheridan hiding bombs on the White Star and launching them at Z'ha'dum.
- Don't Create a Martyr: Invoked to explain why the Shadows haven't killed Sheridan yet. They've been down this road before in the previous Cycles and they know better from past experience. That doesn't mean there aren't alternate, non-lethal ways of taking John off the board...
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: When the Shadow flotilla swarms Babylon 5, they deploy jamming technology which prevents Ivanova from contacting Draal and getting help from Epsilon III.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Literally on Justin and Anna, along with the engines, the weapons, the hull...
- Empty Quiver: G'Kar alerts Ivanova that two of their newly acquired arsenal of nuclear warheads have gone missing. Unbeknownst to them, Sheridan has taken them for his mission.
- Evil Counterpart: Justin is apparently this for Sheridan.
- Foreshadowing: The Shadows believe that if anything Vorlon touches their homeworld, it would be deadly. Sheridan later drops the White Star into one of their biggest cities and sets off a one gigaton thermonuclear explosion.
- It gets better...an even more complete destruction occurs when Touched by Vorlons Lyta purposely activates a self-destruct a few episodes later.
- Sheridan says he will "skin someone's hide" if this is a trick. It is a trick. He blows up Za'Ha'Dum's biggest city.
- When G'Kar briefs Ivanova on the Gaim thermonuclear weapons, he states that they're impervious to sensors; they're only detectable if you know what you're looking for. This sets up and explains how the Shadows at Z'ha'dum Failed a Spot Check and didn't realize the White Star was secretly packing nuclear heat until it was too late.
- History Repeats Itself: Justin says that every time the Shadow War cycle repeat itself, there's always somebody like Sheridan — somebody who inevitably steps up to try and rally the Younger Races. The Shadows have had enough experience at this point in the Cycle to know how to defuse this recurrence.
- Meaningful Background Event: As Anna and Sheridan leave on the White Star, he cheerfully announces, "Next stop, Z'ha'dum!" Anna looks forwards toward their destination with a smile, but as soon as she looks away from him, Sheridan is NOT smiling anymore.
- Meaningful Name: Sheridan is nicknamed "Starkiller" by the Minbari for destroying their flagship, the Black Star. Now, he has destroyed the White Star.
- Mordor: Z'Ha'Dum. Although the name itself sounds more like (and is inspired by) Khazad-dum.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Once it is established that Anna Sheridan is no longer the woman John fell in love with and married years ago, Sheridan sets off a nuclear bomb that vaporizes her along with most of the surrounding city. Unusually for this trope, this knocks out two of the three pegs of the Love Triangle temporarily.
- No Escape but Down: "Jump...jump, now!"
- Nuclear Option: Two 500 megaton devices, plus one medium-sized starship equals one big boom.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Sheridan escaping from the Shadows with only a PPG. He's in a lot worse shape the next time we see him.
Even JMS, in the DVD commentary, admits it was a cop-out. - O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Throughout their budding relationship, Sheridan has been enamored at Delenn, concerned for her safety, amused by her humor. When confronting her about just the possibility of Anna being alive the entire time, this is the first he's pissed and yelling at her.
- Kosh's "Jump. Jump, now" is far more direct than his usual enigmatic style of speech.
- Revealing Hug: When Anna hugs Sheridan, his smile fades as he glances across to Dr. Franklin's medical reports on her that he'd been looking at moments before.
- Screaming Woman: Anna Sheridan meets the incoming White Star with a particularly undignified slow-motion shriek, Retconned by the Technomage trilogy into a "battle scream". Given that the White Star was about to unleash a gigaton of nuclear explosion on her and the city she was in, it's not like she could have done more than that.
- Social Darwinist: The Shadows' philosophy is to promote war among the other races to promote evolution and regard the Vorlons as authoritarians. Of course, they come across as hypocrites when it is revealed that those who do not serve them willing are instead forced into servitude.
- Spirit Advisor: Kosh, who "appears" to Sheridan in a scene that's part flashback, part The Mirror Shows Your True Self (given that a part of Kosh exists in Sheridan, just as Kosh said when he died). Then, Sheridan "hears" Kosh telling him to jump into the abyss as the White Star crashes down on Z'ha'dum.
- Spy Speak: Sheridan instructs Garibaldi to talk about the weather if he's loaded the nukes onto the White Star.
- Stepford Smiler: Anna Sheridan, thanks to the Death of Personality she suffered after being plugged into a Shadow vessel.
- Taken During the Ending - Garabaldi is in a fighter trying to defend the station in this season finale. His fighter gets swallowed by a Shadow ship and he is taken to be brainwashed.
- Trap Is the Only Option: Sheridan realizes that the visit to Z'ha'dum is probably a trap, but he still feels he has to make the attempt. He also comes prepared for the trap, at least twice over (see both Batman Gambit and Nuclear Option).
- Underground City: The Shadows have moved all their cities underground for security. For some reason, though, they still have large dome windows on the surface, just large enough for a medium-sized starship to come crashing through.
- JMS explains it. Basically, they need the large domes for shipping.
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- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: We know that Sheridan's up to something the whole episode, but his goal doesn't become crystal clear until Sheridan uses his link to send the White Star toward the planet.
- Wham Episode: Boy howdy. At the end of the episode, Sheridan has brought destruction to the Shadow homeworld at the cost of what seems to be his own life, Garibaldi is captured, and Anna Sheridan has turned out to be no more than a Shadow puppet. The episode ends with a very unsettled air.
- Wham Line: The moment we finally learn just how prepared Sheridan was for the trap... is a single line by G'Kar regarding the nuclear devices that he'd shown Ivanova in the beginning of the episode:G'Kar: That's just it; two of them are missing!
- What the Hell, Hero?: This is the most we've seen Sheridan pissed at Delenn for keeping quiet even the possibility of his wife being alive, denying him the choice of whether to go to Z'Ha'Dum with Anna.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Sheridan asks why the Shadows wouldn't just kill him; Justin replies that Sheridan would just become a martyr that way, and someone would just take his place. This is Foreshadowing to the fourth season, where Sheridan is captured by the Earth Alliance, and Ivanova does indeed take his place. It's also all but stated that the Shadows would resort to brainwashing if Sheridan failed to comply willingly, which also foreshadows his predicament in the fourth season.
- Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": When Sheridan accuses the Shadows of wiping out entire races, Justin goes so far to admit that some have been "lost". He finds it "unfortunate", and feels that it can't be easy for the Shadows.
