This episode, in terms of the writing, is just plain weird. It has two very different plot strands, neither of which interact in any way or move along the main story. Despite being thematically linked (both are about not letting go) they're a chalk and cheese pairing (or as Eddie Izzard puts it, they go together like a toboggan and broccoli). It's like two B plots got together and failed to have a baby.
Plot 1 is about Ivanova. Her rabbi turns up on her doorstep, bearing the family samovar and wondering why she missed her father's funeral. She blames work: she was too busy to travel to Earth and too busy to sit shiva. Rabbi Koslov responds by going to see Commander Sinclair, to ask for time off on her behalf. Remember how Ivanova didn't ask permission to use the gold communications channel to speak to her dying father? She didn't mention his death to Sinclair, either. It becomes clear, through Sinclair's conversations with Koslov and Ivanova, that if she had he'd have packed her off home for the funeral - and that's the last thing Ivanova wants.
Plot 2, nominally the A plot, is about Garibaldi's friend Walker Smith, a boxer from Earth, arriving on the station to fight in the Mutai, an alien fighting arena. Robbed of his chance to compete on Earth by a conspiracy to frame him for doping, he wants to use a win here to boost his profile back home. The problem is, humans don't fight in the Mutai.
It's fair to say I don't like this plotline at all, and the reason is that it's all too easy. Smith turns up full of pride and swagger, expecting to just be let in. He turns up at the Mutai training gym, calls the first alien he sees ET, and when rebuffed grabs the alien's shoulder demanding to see the Muta-Do. "ET", predictably, turns out to be the Muta-Do himself and knocks him on his ass. Later, Smith is approached by the oddly-named Caliban who tells him there's another way into the Mutai, one that must be done in the proper way, that requires respect and courage.
It really doesn't. Smith gets tickets to that evening's Mutai. When the reigning champion wins his bout and the Muta-Do asks if there are any challengers, Smith steps up. Literally the only thing he has to do is position himself as "the bravest of his race" to have his challenge accepted. The problem is, he doesn't work for his shot - it's handed to him by Caliban. It would have been more narratively satisfying to see Smith work it out for himself: turn up at the Mutai and realise he can challenge, challenge and be rejected because he gets the form wrong, work out what he needs to do and challenge again at the risk of humiliation.
The Mutai itself is also disappointing. Garibaldi describes it as a meatgrinder, "no rounds, rules, or gloves", and the name itself means Trial by Blood. In reality it turns out to be little more than bareknuckle fighting in a ropeless neon boxing ring. Smith and his opponent thump each other until they fall over and the Muta-Do declares it a draw. There's never any real sense Smith can lose anything but his pride. The most danger he faces is from a spectator with a weapon, upset a human's in the ring, who's taken out by Garibaldi.
While there aren't any try-fail cycles in the Walker Smith plotline, there are several in Ivanova's. Koslov tries and fails to convince her to sit shiva, tries again at dinner which fails spectacularly when she finds out he's spoken to Sinclair, who speaks to Ivanova himself and also fails to talk her round. Koslov tries one more time before he leaves. She rebuffs every attempt until finally, as Koslov's leaving, she changes her mind.
There isn't an articulated moment of change in either plotline, although change has clearly happened. This is another failing in the Mutai story. I think we're supposed to accept Smith's changed because he accepts a draw rather than a win at any cost, and because at the end he respects and has earned the respect of the aliens in the Mutai. But he doesn't earn it so it feels flat. The switch in Ivanova's attitude is handled better and shown in how she interacts with Koslov. When he first arrives she greets him formally as Rabbi Koslov, and he asks what happened to the informal nickname, Uncle Yossel, she called him as a child. As he prepares to leave, she remembers her father's final wish for her to forgive him, calls out "Uncle Yossel" in a slightly panicky little girl voice. and asks him to stay and sit shiva with her.
Overall this episode is a disappointment, both in the plot and the writing. It doesn't offer anything to move the main story forward, or offer much insight into character. We hear about Garibaldi's drinking from Smith, but already know about it from earlier in the series. While it throws a little more insight into Ivanova's background, that she's a Russian Jew and estranged from her father isn't new information. At the end of the episode, very little has changed. It could be removed entirely and not leave a hole, and in that respect it's a failure.
The only thing it does offer is that Walker Smith, the only friend Garibaldi appears to have apart from Sinclair, feels the need to tell him to watch his back not once but twice. Not heeding the warning is something Garibaldi will come to regret later.