Ivanova gives an update of the campaign on the Voice of the Resistance, how the liberation fleet is advancing and of defections from Earth Force bringing stories of atrocities ordered by President Clark. Meanwhile, Garibaldi is recording his thoughts on the war and how Sheridan has been different ever since he came back from Z'Ha'Dum, how before he never would have taken direct action against Earth. Garibaldi intends to take some action himself and so he's come back to one particular place.
- Garibaldi: Mars. I can't believe I'm back on Mars. Three times before this place almost killed me. I swore I'd never give it another chance to finish the job. Humans got no business being here. No business at all.
As he and Wade ride the Martian tube transport, Wade tells him to put on a blindfold. Garibaldi is reluctant, but he wants to meet Edgars, and Wade insists, so he eventually relents. No one will notice, since Edgars has a private dock. Wade goes to musing on Mars.
- Wade: Did you know this place was named after the god of war? Its rising foretold the death of kings, the collapse of empires; it's a bad sign. Now there are two million people living here.
Garibaldi: Still a bad sign. (voiceover) Mars. I can't believe I'm back on Mars. I gotta be outta my mind.
Franklin is in Medlab working on one of the Shadow-modified telepaths, but as he probes the implants the man's vitals fall perilously low. When he stops they return to normal. He's getting frustrated, as there seems to be no way to even examine it without threatening the patient's life. Adding to his frustration is Sheridan constantly bugging him about it for some reason. He spends a minute venting to Zack, who's waiting for Lyta to talk to a witness. When she arrives she glances at the patient and the cry of a Shadow ship echoes through her mind. The scream goes away and the man suddenly wakes up. Franklin is stunned to see him on his feet. When he calls to her, she loses concentration and the man collapses again.
On Mars, Garibaldi is checking out Edgars's suite when Lise comes in. She's surprised to see him there, but doesn't think it's a good time. Edgars disagrees, and takes the opportunity to formally introduce himself. He shoos Lise away so they can get down to business. He offers Garibaldi a drink, but he declines, even the non-alcoholic ones. Edgars asks why Garibaldi insisted on coming right now. Garibaldi got tired of an employer with no face, he wants to know what Edgars has been shipping, and he wants to stop Sheridan. Edgars says he's just a business man, but Garibaldi knows all about his political connections. He wants Clark gone (who doesn't?) but he doesn't want Sheridan to succeed either. But he's not going to turn him over to Clark's forces. He thinks Edgars can intervene long enough to get him the proper treatment.
Edgars wants to know what the upshot is for him. Whoever's next in office would owe him big time. He might even have a shot at it himself. Edgars is willing to consider it, but wants to make sure he can absolutely trust Garibaldi first.
Wade shows him to a room that's much too big, but it'll do. Wade leaves him alone for the night, telling him to try not to touch anything. As soon as he leaves, Garibaldi puts his hands on everything in the room.
Franklin finds Lyta to ask her what she did. She tries to apologize, but he's more interested in how she did it. In thirty seconds she's made more progress than he has in weeks. She explains that she heard the sound of a Shadow ship and just made it go away. That's when he woke up. Franklin wants to try that again, and she reluctantly agrees.
In his oh-so-spacious cell...bedroom, Garibaldi is rudely awakened by a group of thugs who drag him out of bed and throw him in a room with a single telepath. Edgars's disembodied voice explains that it's time for a little chat. The telepath, Miss Constance, is there to verify the truth of his answers, which is also the reason for the roughing up, to stir his mind and make it easier to read.
Edgars's first question is about telepaths, how does Garibaldi feel about them. And don't worry about Constance, she isn't there to be offended. Garibaldi says he doesn't trust them; he doesn't like the idea of someone who can get into your head. They can lie to you, but you can't lie to them. He thinks it's going to get ugly at some point.
- Edgars: Then you believe they're a menace to society?
Garibaldi: They're the biggest one we've got.
Edgars then asks if Garibaldi does have a guaranteed means of locating someone, and he says he does.
Constance nods affirmative.
Edgars asks why the reason he gave for the secrecy and covert transporting isn't good enough? Garibaldi thinks he could just pay off someone in the government to get it through, which means he's trying to hide something from the government.
Now, does he remember anything from when he disappeared from Babylon 5 back in January? No, Garibaldi doesn't remember a thing.
Constance nods affirmative.
Edgars thanks Garibaldi and dismisses him...wait, one more question: Is he still in love with Lise? Garibaldi says, "No".
Garibaldi leaves, and Constance shakes her head. Edgars thanks her for her service and informs her that Wade will see to her payment. Edgars meets up with Lise and tells her that Garibaldi will be a fine addition.
As Constance gets ready to leave, Wade comes in and shoots her.
Franklin is in Medlab getting ready for their experiment. He wants Lyta to do what she did before, but slow enough for him to monitor it. If he can figure it out, he might be able to find a way to trick the implants into not reacting. He starts recorders and Lyta begins. Brain activity begins to climb, and Franklin notices some add brain chemistry, which would make it work faster. Makes sense if they're meant to be the processing units for highly-advanced ships. Lyta begins hearing the screams again and the man begins waking up. He looks up and sees Franklin, then flashes back to strange aliens operating a drill and freaks out.
Franklin, with they guy's hand around his throat, tries to calm him down. He asks if the machines are gone, and Franklin says they are. The man begins asking, "What am I? Why am I?" he throws Franklin down and turns to Lyta, saying he can't live like this, and grabs some kind of blade to kill himself, but she puts him back to sleep before he can.
Morning on Mars, and Garibaldi meets with Edgars again to find out what's going on. Edgars begins in a somewhat philosophical manner, alluding to the Greek definition of happiness.
- Edgars: Happiness, they said, was the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope. Humans have always struggled to find the outer edge of what's possible and that's our strength.
He then begins describing a society dominated by telepaths. A society where thoughts are controlled and privacy isn't even a dream. A world, he says, that is coming. Garibaldi is skeptical, they don't have anywhere near that kind of power. Edgars argues that telepaths change the game. They have an advantage, and the only way to tell them apart is a badge that can be easily removed. Garibaldi says that they'd need an army to take over like that, but Edgars reminds him that there only need to be a few. There will be many willing to fight for them, or simply be too afraid to do anything to stop them, and lists a number of historical examples to prove his point. Nazis, Communists and others all came to power because their people gave it to them. Now people have been giving Clark the power, and he's been giving power to Psi Corps.
Clark wants complete loyalty, to the point that as vice president, he brought telepaths to test his people for loyalty. Santiago opposed it, but underestimated the lengths Clark would go to, a mistake he paid for with his life. Edgars feels this was a reckless move, more so since he did it with alien help. They promised him untold power, and they were interested in the Psi Corps, which made him interested in the Corps as well, and he began giving them unprecedented amounts of power, guard against his alien allies and anyone else who might be a threat to him. Sooner or later, one way or another, Clark will be gone, but the Corps, and their new power, will remain.
Garibaldi asks what this has to do with Sheridan. Edgars worries that a military conflict will make Clark cut the last leashes on Psi Corps, creating a thought police force answerable only to him, but they'll never let go of that.
Edgars says there's an alternative. Clark is an amateur who thinks he runs the show. Edgars claims the Mega Corps have been running things for years. They let Clark have his way because they Didn't See That Coming. But when it becomes a threat to business, they take care of it, their way. But Sheridan could ruin everything. He's jacking up Clark's paranoia, which is making him give the Corps more power.
Just then Lise comes in. She and Edgars go to breakfast, while Garibaldi stays behind to do some thinking. Before he leaves, Garibaldi asks if that was the whole truth, but Edgars wants to know he's truly in before telling him the rest.
In the fleet, Sheridan is getting a status report from Ivanova. Clark sent some ships... who defected as soon as they arrived. At this rate the entire fleet might be on their side by the time they get to Earth. Sheridan starts to worry that it's going too well. Before he signs off, he wants to talk to Franklin.
Franklin is irritated at being disturbed, but this time he does have some progress to report. Sheridan wants to know when he can have them up, and Franklin demands to know what the rush it. Sheridan encodes his transmission and has him dismiss the rest of the Medlab staff. He then begins to explain what his plan is.
A short time later, Franklin, looking crushed, trudges out of Medlab. Lyta finds him there and asks what's wrong.
- Franklin: Y'know when Sheridan came back from Z'ha'dum everyone talked about how different he was. Harder, more determined. I really didn't see it. I mean aside from some...physiological changes, it was Sheridan, same as ever. The Sheridan i know, he never would have told me what this one just did. (sigh) He's right, he's right, it's the only way, I just wish the hell that he was wrong.
He then asks if she's available for a long-term job. She says she is and he tells her to start packing, they'll leave in a few days, for Mars. Lyta looks surprised, then resigned.
Garibaldi is reading in his spacious quarters when Lise comes with some dinner. He begins asking her what Edgars has that he doesn't...besides the obvious. She says she loves him, but thinks he's putting himself at risk, and doesn't want Garibaldi getting mixed up in it. Garibaldi still wants to know why she didn't come to him, but she just tells him that people like him never marry other people, they marry the job. Anyone else is just extra.
She goes to leave but starts unloading on him, talking about the mess she was before. She asks if he would have left Babylon 5 if she had asked.
- Garibaldi: I don't know.
Lise: That's the problem, Michael. I'm getting too old for "I don't know".
He tries to apologize for hurting her. She says she's sorry too, then leaves.
Edgars comes down to a room with several people lying in hospital beds. They are apparently dying of some skin-eating disease, and have been off their medications for several days. Edgars sits with one for a while, then gets up and tells Wade to put them all down.
Late that evening, Garibaldi finds him in his sitting room and says he's in. Edgars says that's nice, but still isn't willing to let him in without a gesture of good faith. He wants Sheridan. Turn him over to Clark and the president will think he's secure for the time being. That will buy Edgars and his colleagues time to move. Garibaldi thinks Sheridan would be killed instantly, but Clark will at least go through the motions of a trial. Garibaldi finally tells him, through Sheridan's father. Clark's people haven't found him, but Garibaldi knows how. He requires a Centauri drug for a blood disease. Edgars deals in the stuff and should be able to track it.
But they still need someone to set Sheridan up, and Garibaldi agrees to do it.
- Garibaldi: Mars. Three times before this place nearly killed me, and now I've finally finished the job. I can't feel anything anymore. I don't know what I care about anymore, except Lise. I screwed up both our lives pretty good. Now I get to make up for it, assuming any of us can ever make up for anything we've done in the past. Maybe we can't. Maybe we just have to live with it and get on with it and do what we have to do, never what we want to. It has to be done. I hope he can see that someday.
This episode contains examples of:
- Blindfolded Trip: Garibaldi can't meet Edgars unless he puts on the blindfold. He doesn't want to wear the blindfold because he's got well-founded trust issues. He and Wade end up discussing this trope at length.
- Book Ends: Garibaldi's monologues; in the first he says three times Mars nearly killed him, and at the end he says it's finally finished the job.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Shadow-modified telepaths feature prominently in the B-Plot of this episode. Chekhov's Gun is now loaded..
- Call-Back:
- Edgars asks Garibaldi if he remembers what happened when he disappeared at the start of the year.
- Garibaldi wants to know what Edgars has been smuggling into Earth space.
- Dramatic Drop: One of the Medlab staff drops a clipboard in shock when she sees that Lyta has successfully woken the telepath.
- Dramatic Irony: When Garibaldi says he's gotta be out of his mind, we know, or at least have a pretty strong impression, that he is.
- Famous, Famous, Fictional: "How many people actually belonged to the Nazi party? The Communist party? The Jihad party?" He later references "The Germans in 1939. The Russians in 1917 and 2013 [which at the time was several years in the future]. The Iraqis in 2025. The French in 2112."
- For Your Own Good: How Garibaldi begins to justify betraying Sheridan.
- Foreshadowing: Considering how protective Psi Corps is of their telepaths, anyone who kills one can expect a vicious retaliation, so why would Edgars do it? Unless the Corps would not be a problem in short order.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Sherridan is taking to Marcus in the opening scenes, as Sherridan looks outside, the damaged wall of the Whitestar repairs itself.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Edgars has some goons violently grab Garibaldi out of bed so he'll be agitated and less able to throw off a telepathic scan.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Mars wouldn't normally be an example, but one character points out that Mars is named for the God of War, and it used to be considered a very ominous place.
- The Man Behind the Man: Edgards claims MegaCorps such as his are the actual rulers of the Earth Alliance by supporting Clark and allowing him remain in power.
- Married to the Job: Lise accuses Michael of this, that other people are just excess baggage to him.
- Metaphorgotten: Wade needs Garibaldi to wear a blindfold before he is taken to meet William Edgars. Garibaldi refuses. Wade spins off into a lengthy monologue about his masters degree in literature, and how he learned that everything is an illusion... except for the blindfold.
- Noir Episode: Garibaldi's plotline shifts into this, complete with Garibaldi giving a Private Eye Monologue.
- Opening Monologue: Garibaldi gives one, as well as a closing one.
- They're arguably both homages to the Private Eye Monologue, too.
- Sarcasm Mode: Garibaldi's room is much too big, but he'll make do.
- Secret Police: Edgars is worried that Clark will turn the Psi Corps into this.
- Shout-Out: Garibaldi's opening monologue has some very distinct and notable similarities to the opening monologue of Apocalypse Now.
- Spanner in the Works:
- Edgars sees telepaths and the Psi Corps as potential threats to the Megacorps' hold over power.
- He also sees Sheridan as one, causing Clark to move faster than he'd like and giving more and more power to the Psi Corps.
- Title Drop: Dropped in Edgars's quoting of the Greek definition for happiness.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Michael and Lise, now in close proximity, are finding their bottled up feelings coming out into the open more.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Garibaldi has come to see Sheridan this way.
- Window Love: Non-romantic example. When Lyta connects with the Shadow-modified telepath, he stands up and comes over to the observation window, and they press their hands to either side of the glass.
