"Our world is changing, Delenn. I'm not sure when it began. Perhaps the war, perhaps the death of Dukhat. Perhaps the darkness was always there and we refused to see. . . . There is a sense that we are lost, drifting. In the streets, in the temples, you can hear it in their voices. An anger beneath the surface, a dissatisfaction, a self-involvement above the needs of others. It is not the same world I was born in, Delenn." - Draal

This is a bit of an odd episode because most of what it does is set up for the things that will happen in part 2 and beyond, and move on pieces of plot that have been set up earlier in the series.

The main plot is that seismic disturbances on Epsilon 3 suggest it isn't as dead as everyone thought. There appears to be some sort of automated defence system deep within the planet that was triggered by the quake, which disables the ship of the science team sent down to investigate. Although Babylon 5 orbits it so far Epsilon 3's been little more than space furniture, so everyone's excited about the prospect of exploring an potentially inhabited world. Shortly after Sinclair sees an alien begging for help, which disappears before his eyes. Londo later sees the same figure, although he's drunk at the time.

Sinclair and Ivanova go down in a shuttle after fooling the defense system to target the fighter's they've brought along as a decoy. Once past the missiles they find a clearly artificial opening, which leads to a landing pad and an advanced installation with "machines as big as buildings". The alien appears again, this time to both of them, and warns that if they don't help a lot of people will die. They find him plugged into the machine at the centre, and extract him to take back to Babylon 5.

Back on the station Delenn is visited by Draal, an old friend and teacher, who teases her to answer what is the third principle of sentient life (the answer being "the capacity for self-sacrifice. The ability to override evolution and self-preservation for a cause, a friend, a loved one"). I love how this relationship is depicted, as one of mutual respect and warmth, in the same was as her friendship with Shaal Maya in "The War Prayer". They tease each other, but in a very Minbari way. And now that I think about it, I don't remember that we ever see any of the other ambassadors having this kind of relationship with another of their people.

It turns out Draal has come to say goodbye. Minbar has changed too much, and he sees discontent everywhere (see above quotation). He tells Delenn he's going "to the sea", which at first sounds like a euphemism for some sort of Dignitas arrangement, until he tells her it's because he wants to find somewhere to be of service before the end. It's not made clear what this means exactly, except that Delenn will never see him again.

The discontent that Draal sees on Minbar is mirrored in the news of what's happening on Mars. The agitation mentioned in previous episodes has blown up into full rebellion against the Earth government. Mars has been cut off - no communication can get in or out amid reports of fighting in the streets and casualties in the hundreds. Garibaldi's trying to get through the blackout to find out the fate of ex-girlfriend Lise Hampton, with whom he parted on bad terms over going to Babylon 5. Even his high level clearances aren't enough to get through, so in desperation he turns to Talia Winters to use her connections in Psi Corps. Talia's less than pleased to see him, since he's apparently been stalking her. It's played for laughs, which is frankly creepy, although it may be an in joke as the actors were married at the time. Talia isn't able to get him access to Psi Corps' communications, but she does find out that Lise isn't listed among the known survivors.

There are also a couple of appearances from Ambassador Mollari in the episode, as usual doing double duty as both a comic and tragic figure. When Delenn takes Draal to meet him, he's busy trying to decode one of the many variations of the Hokey Cokey. Earlier in the episode he has a diplomatic meeting with Sinclair and Delenn to negotiate a trade agreement. He mentions how much easier these meetings are without Ambassador G'Kar present, and the topic of the hatred the Narn and Centauri hold for each other comes up. "they will do anything to destroy us until the universe itself decays and collapses," he tells Delenn. "If the Narns stood in one place, and hated, all at the same time that hatred could fly across light years and reduce Centauri Prime to ash." She points out that the Centauri don't have to respond in kind (a vain hope since they started it) and he blames physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. While it doesn't impact the plot in this double episode, it's a reminder of the wider politics and that there are other, quieter conflicts still going on.

And that's it for this episode. Lots of loose ends, to be tied up in the next.

"I fought on the Line against Branmer. I saw his valor and leadership firsthand. Because his body disappeared here I feel some responsibility toward the Minbari people. There is no higher testimony to a warrior's courage and skill than praise from his enemy. I'd like to send that message to your world in a personal message, a testimony to the Shai Alyt." - Jeffrey Sinclair

This episode is aptly named because it not only deals with the legacy left by the Earth-Minbari war, but also that left by Psi Corp in the life of Susan Ivanova.

It opens with a Minbari war cruiser arriving at Babylon 5, as part of a tour to bring the body of the military leader Shai Alyt Branmer to be viewed by all Minbari - which includes rites to be conducted on the station. To the human crew of the station, mostly veterans of the war who fought against Branmer's forces, it seems like posturing so they're a little twitchy when the ship approaches with gun ports open. Commander Sinclair asks the captain of the ship to explain and is bluntly told no. At this point Delenn arrives at a run, to apologise for the misunderstanding. It is, she explains, merely a show of respect for the body they carry, and no different to Earth traditions for military funerals. Sinclair is barely mollified by this, and Delenn's assurance that the gun ports will be closed which the ship is parked alongside. It's not until the TV movie In the Beginning, which aired between seasons 4 and 5, it will become apparent that this is the exact misunderstanding which sparked the war.

Branmer's executive officer Neroon is in charge of the cortege, and feels much the same way about the human crew as they do about him. He refuses to let station security guard the body as it lays in state, and hands Sinclair a list of requirements. It takes Delenn's intervention again - "It's been my experience that discussions of old battles only interest historians" - to talk them down from their posturing, and it's interesting that she chooses Sinclair to ask what he thinks. It not only avoids the appearance of siding with her own people, it also puts Neroon in his place. And of course it's been seen throughout that Sinclair is a diplomat at his core. He takes the olive branch.

Neroon's lack of faith in thee human security crew makes it all the more galling for him when during the ceremony the following day it's revealed Bramner's body has gone missing.

Garibaldi investigates, searching the public areas and even pumping the stomachs of the resident Pak'ma'ra, a race of carrion eaters, before starting to look in the hidden places such as between the hulls. None of it is good enough for Neroon, who threatens to take the station apart with his warship. He even searches Sinclair's quarters without permission, leading to a fight before they're separated and Neroon informed that the quarters have already been searched with Delenn as a witness.

The answer as to where Branmer's body is, is answered by an unexpected source: the B plot.

At the beginning of the episode, as Neroon's ship arrives, a teenaged girl collapses while trying to steal food. Resident telepath Talia Winters recognises the signs of a mind burst, where a latent telepath's talents suddenly manifest at puberty. The girl, Alisa, is living homeless on the station after the death of her father. Station records reveal he died in an accident the previous year, which raises some questions about the quality of their civil infrastructure if no one went looking for his orphaned daughter at the time.

Talia wants to ship Alisa to Earth to be with Psi Corps, but Ivanova will do whatever she can to stop it happening. She tells Alisa the story of her mother - the bits that Alisa doesn't inadvertently read - and how as a telepath she was given the choice to join Psi Corp and abandon her family, go to prison, or take injections to suppress the ability. She chose the latter, and the injections slowly killed her. Ivanova wants Alisa to understand what Psi Corps is before she joins them.

She's not the only one with an interest in finding another place for Alisa. Talia and Ivanova interrupt Na'Toth trying to negotiate for her to come to the Narn Homeworld where she'll be paid handsomely for "a small sample of blood and tissue twice a month" so the Narn can create their own telepaths. During the discussion Alisa accidentally peeks into Na'Toth's thoughts and doesn't like what she finds there. This gives Ivanova another idea, and she takes Alisa to see Delenn to discuss becoming a telepath among the Minbari. Alisa is unimpressed by what they offer - instead of the riches promised by Na'Toth, Minbari telepaths aren't rewarded except by the work. They're deeply respected, and as such clothed and fed by wider society, and otherwise left to get on with their calling. It's not this that scares Alisa off though, it's the accidental peek she has that Delenn knows something about a missing dead body.

Just as Sinclair and Neroon are being dragged apart, Alisa's taken to see Garibaldi and Sinclair to explain what she knows. They find Delenn in the act of handing over Branmer's cremated remains to be quietly taken home to Minbar and scattered in space. This was his last wish, which Neroon and his clan the Star Riders ignored. Branmer was originally Religious Caste, and was called to the Warrior Caste during the war but was always a priest at heart. Delenn agrees to tell Neroon the truth to diffuse the difficult situation her subterfuge has left the station in, but she will do it her way to avoid furthering the rift between the Religious and Warrior Castes that was cause by the Religious Caste's order to surrender in the Earth-Minbari War.

Delenn's way involves castigating Neroon for his clan's action and, when he refuses to back down, bringing down the weight of the Grey Council. He will do as he's told or the dishonor of ignoring Branmer's wishes will cause the Star Riders to be destroyed. Given the rift she spoke of earlier, it's unlikely she does actually speak for the whole of the Grey Council, but Neroon is in no position to argue. He agrees to support her story of the body being transformed in a religious mystery, and to her demand to apologise to Commander Sinclair.

The apology is as awkward as you'd expect between two men who dislike each other a great deal, but Sinclair is at least gracious. He offers to send a message to Minbar in testimony of the Shai Alyt's prowess as a warrior. Neroon is both surprised and grateful, and tells Sinclair "you talk like a Minbari" and quips "perhaps there was some small wisdom in letting your species survive." Sinclair replies "we like to think so", sharing the joke and surprising Neroon again. In the end they part with mutual respect and a desire to move beyond the war.

Also looking to the future is Alisa. Although it's not shown on screen, Delenn has apparently spoken to her again as she's scheduled to head to Minbar on Neroon's cruiser. Sinclair takes the opportunity to ask if she saw anything else strange in Delenn's mind, presumably hoping to find something to explain his abduction during the war. All Alisa can tell him is a word, chrysalis. Talia and Ivanova arrive to see her off, and agree to have coffee to make up for how heated their discussions got.

We never hear from Alisa again, although Minbari being Minbari it can be assumed they keep her busy with training. This episode leaves its own legacy, however, in the threads involving Neroon, Talia's and Ivanova's relationship, and the "chrysalis", which will all be picked up in later episodes.

"I'm grateful Psi Corps has given you a purpose in life. But when that includes scanning my mind it's an invasion of my privacy and my honor. If you enter my mind for any reason I will twist your head off and use it for a chamber pot!" - Susan Ivanova

I love this episode, because while it's full of callbacks to previous episodes it also does a pretty good job of standing alone. It also lays in some foreshadowing for the future.

I'll start with the B plot, which is slight but amusing: Garibaldi's building a motorbike. It's an Earth antique (although roughly contemporary with when the show aired). He's sourced parts here and there, but his main problem is the handbook's in Japanese.

Enter Lennier. Always adorably eager to please, and passionate about history, he offers to study the handbook. Garibaldi gives it to him, allows access to his quarters, and leaves Lennier to it as he gets sidetracked by the main plot. Lennier is book smart but not people smart, so most of the humour comes from him failing to read Garibaldi's social cues when he's over-stepping.

This plot now only works if you imagine the internet was never invented. Otherwise Garibaldi would have access to the 24th century equivalent of YouTube tutorials and hobby-related social media. Someone, somewhere, would have translated the handbook already. Or you can imagine he's the kind of bloody-minded enthusiast who wants to do things the old-fashioned way, which would be in character for him.

The reason Garibaldi's distracted is because there are a couple of shady characters poking around claiming to be military contractors. They're asking questions about Commander Sinclair, and last time shady characters took an interest in him he was abducted, so Garibaldi wastes no time in tracking them down. They're actually Colonel Ari Ben Zayn from Earth Internal Affairs (the Eyes of the episode title) and his assistant Harriman Gray of Psi Corps, on the station to investigate the command officers.

As soon as they're rumbled (and they weren't exactly being subtle) Zayn starts throwing his weight around. He tells Sinclair he's going to have Gray telepathically scan all of the command staff under new regulations, and commandeers Garibaldi to his staff. Ivanova, who's been previously seen to have issues with telepaths, is not happy but Sinclair talks her down by insisting on checking the regulations for himself. Garibaldi is also not happy, and tells Zayn as much. When ordered to personally compile the file of the command staff, including classified data, he also investigates Zayn and Harriman asking the computer to include "the usual sources" suggesting not only that he's looking at more than their Wikipedia page but also that this sort of check is routine.

While Garibaldi's compiling, Harriman Gray is - apparently having no sense of self-preservation - trying to make friends with Ivanova. He visits the observation deck on the pretence of looking at the stars and tells her that he's no different that she is - a late bloomer, his boyhood dream of being a combat pilot was shattered when his telepathic abilities manifested when he was 16. As such he respects Earthforce and the people who serve in it. He tries to reassure her that his scan will only look at her thoughts relating to her duty, but she's having none of it.

The reasons for her refusal to be scanned comes at the episode's low point, a heavy-handed dream sequence in which she sees her mother being restrained by characters in theatre masks and given a telepathy-supressing injection. "Only one way out" Sofie says, alluding to her suicide. She looks up at Ivanova wearing her face and repeats herself, and Ivanova wakes up screaming. She later ties to resign, but Sinclair refuses to let her.

Gray seeks her out again to chat, and inadvertently picks up her surface thoughts about the station's resident telepath Talia Winters. Ivanova berates him for the breach of privacy and he apologises, noting his surprise she was able to tell he'd done it. When he posits it must be because of her mother's contact prior to being discovered Ivanova lashes out again. In tandem with the dream it suggests Ivanova is protecting more than just her honour in her refusal to be scanned.

Zayn calls Sinclair up to be scanned, who uses interpretation of the rules to point out to Zayn why it's not allowed. Given Sinclair's previously shown himself to be a formidable opponent where politics and regulations are involved, it's amazing no one saw this coming. The new regulations Zayn's relying on don't allow for blanket scanning for loyalty checks, only to investigate specific charges. However when Sinclair reaches the end of his patience at Zayn's interference in the running of the station and tries to end the interview, Zayn relieves him of command and charges him with insubordination. Now, he has to submit to a scan.

Garibaldi's investigation reveals that Zayn and Psi Cop Bester are friends, and that Zayn was much further up the list - top ten - of candidates to run Babylon 5 than Sinclair was. Bester, previously seen in "Mind War", had implied he'd seek revenge on Sinclair for his previous lack of co-operation. Sinclair uses this information to plant doubt in Harriman Gray prior to the scan, which feeds doubts Gray has shown himself earlier in the episode. Primed to pick up stray thoughts from Zayn during the Sinclair's questioning, Gray can't help but do so when Sinclair rattles Zayn enough to lose control. Between them, they knock Zayn out and normality is restored.

Garibaldi returns to his quarters to find Lennier's finished the bike. Garibaldi's gutted, and Lennier mortified at not realising Garibaldi wanted to build it himself. All is forgiven when Lennier reveals he's equipped it with a Minbari power source and it's rideable.

There are some great character and worldbuilding touches in the episode, that help to create the feeling that it exists as part of a wider story - in contrast to Star Trek's story-of-the-week method which often felt like each episode hit the reset button. Throughout there are hints as to the growing problems on Mars, and Lennier only visits Garibaldi as Delenn wants to request additional security for her friend Shaal Mayan, who will be visiting again after being attacked in "The War Prayer". When Garibaldi tracks down Zayn and Gray, Gray's alone and we see him pull on gloves before he allows access, showing us he's a telepath. There are calls back to Ivanova's backstory, and Sinclair's, as well as the more obvious moments where Zayn questions Sinclair's command decisions.

However all of these moments are given context, so it doesn't matter if previous episodes have been missed. In this way I think it's one of the more successful episodes, that can stand alone while still working as part of a larger whole.

"He is a holy man. A true seeker. Among my people, a true seeker is treated with utmost reverence. It doesn't matter if his Grail exists. What matters is, he strives for the perfection of his soul and the salvation of his race. That he has never wavered or lost faith." - Delenn

This is one of those weird episodes that doesn't seem to do a lot on the surface, being a monster of the week, but does actually fill in some of the backstory that will be needed later. It also tops up the mysticism.

The episode opens with Commander Sinclair at dinner, being interrupted by Delenn who wants to know why he isn't also on his way to greet a visiting dignitary. Sinclair is flustered by the lack of warning, as he wasn't told anyone was visiting, but he and Garibaldi put on their dress uniforms and join her. The visitor turns out to be Aldous Gajic, the last surviving member of an order dedicated to seeking the Holy Grail. He's run out of places to look on Earth, so is asking the ambassadors of the various alien worlds for assistance.

Garibaldi is not impressed with dressing up for this, and Sinclair takes it in his stride although is less than enthusiastic. The encounter works wonderfully to highlight the differences between human and Minbari thinking. Where Aldous would be ridiculed on Earth, the Minbari honour him. The Minbari revere what they call True Seekers for their dedication, even if the cause of it is only a myth.

The other plotline deals with someone else dedicated to a cause, although a very different one. Former construction worker Jinxo is being threatened by Deuce, an underworld thug he owes money, who wants repayment in credits or information. Since he can't afford the former and refuses the latter Deuce shows him what appears to be Ambassador Kosh sucking out someone's mind.

The safest thing to do would be to run, but he can't. As soon as Jinxo leaves Babylon 5 it will be destroyed.

During a bodged attempt to steal credits, Jinxo is arrested and remitted to the custody of his victim - Aldous Gajic - who was intrigued by Jinxo's courtroom plea not to be evicted from the station. It turns out he worked on the construction of all of the Babylon stations. The first two were sabotaged and destroyed while he was on leave. The third exploded sometime after he left, earning him the nickname Jinxo, and as he was leaving Babylon 4 "the station sort of wrinkled. Twisted like putty, then just disappeared." Jinxo thinks he's cursed; Aldous thinks he's lucky for getting out each time, and brave for risking his life to stop Babylon 5 suffering the same fate.

In the meantime, Doctor Franklin's been analysing the lurker who had their mind wiped. He works out the creature Deuce is keeping in a fake Vorlon encounter suit is a Na'ka'leen Feeder, which comes from a quarantined planet under Centauri jurisdiction. Deuce has smuggled one on board, and is using it to dispose of his enemies. Sinclair approaches Ambassador Mollari for information which he's happy to give - from the safety of his quarters.

Aldous takes Jinxo with him on his appointments to meet the ambassadors. Delenn is sorry to give Aldous the news that the Minbari have no record of the Grail, but promises that any news of it will be relayed to him. She doesn't specify how he'll be found, or why the Minbari have such a wide reach, and it's the first hint we get of the Rangers who will appear in Season 2. Jinxo is surprised at her helpfulness, given the relatively recent war between Human and Minbari. She tells him that the two castes of Minbari, Warrior and Religious, rarely agree and so they simply won't tell the Warrior caste to avoid confusing them. It later becomes apparent there are actually three castes, and it's not clear why the Worker caste was left out here.

The Centauri response is very different. Ambassador Mollari is irritated at being interrupted in shouting some harried administrator into reinstating the quarantine around the Na'ka'leen Feeder's home planet, and even more irritated when he alludes to fees for the time and difficulty in searching the records, only to find his aide Vir has already done it. It's a sharp contrast to his response to Sinclair's request for information, and a reminder of Mollari's self-interest. Next stop in the Vorlon ambassador, and when Jinxo sees Kosh in his encounter suit, he flees. Aldous follows him, only to be kidnapped by Deuce's thugs, in an effort to blackmail Jinxo into giving Deuce the construction information he wants.

Instead, Jinxo goes to Commander Sinclair. They arrive with a security team just in time to see Aldous sacrifice himself to save Deuce's other victim, Ombuds Wellington, the judge who was due to try Deuce. His dying lament is that he's failed in his quest, but Jinxo promises to carry on. With Sinclair as witness, Aldous names Jinxo his heir before he dies.

The episode comes full circle as Sinclair and Delenn meet at the docking bay to see Aldous depart. The coffin is escorted by Garibaldi's security team, and we see his change of opinion towards Aldous in his attitude towards the coffin - "Treat it gently, boys." His opinion of Jinxo hasn't changed, though, and when Sinclair wonders at Jinxo's absence he replies "Jinxo's not the type to keep promises". However Jinxo arrives dressed in the robes of his order, having decided to keep seeking the Grail. He reclaims his true name, Thomas, and Delenn hands him a crystal with the instruction to crush it on the ground where Aldous is buried: "It will glow each night for 100 years. It is our way with all true seekers."

There isn't much in the way of main plot arc here, only breadcrumbs, and the only new information is Jinxo's potted history of the first four Babylon stations. As with many of the monster of the week episodes, this one could be taken out without leaving much of a hole. However it does at least tie in with some of the show's main themes in how it looks at the nature of faith, and how the different races perceive things, which is more than some of the other standalone episodes do. It also ties together its two plots, with Jinxo as the lynchpin, in a way that makes sense. In that respect it's a successful episode, even if it's not one that's essential to watch.

So I'm back from Swanwick Writers' Summer School, and it's already fading into the mist like it never happened. It's weird how the seams of real life, and of Swanwick week, seem to meet up with each other.

As always there were good courses, excellent courses, and courses where I wished I'd taken something else. Paul Dodgson's Writing for Radio was interesting even though I don't do it myself, and I picked up some useful plotting techniques in Bettina von Cossel's Crime Plotting course. The standout course for me was the information-packed Writing Non-Fiction by Tarja Moles. It got me thinking about a couple of non-fiction projects I've been putting off for years, and how I can work on them.

This year I got up early to do the meditation sessions, and also did the Unwind Your Mind sessions in the evenings. They were a great help in enabling me to manage the sometimes hectic pace of the week, and several late night finishes. For once I took Tuesday as a proper day off, and spent the two course sessions either in the lounge relaxing or walking around the lake. It was probably one of the best years I've had.

"Into the Sands of Blood comes Walker Smith of Earth, the bravest of his race. And now comes the Sho-Rin. Master of the Mutai. Bravest of the brave." - The Muta-Do.

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.

No Babylon 5 post this weekend, as I'm away at Swanwick Writers' Summer School and thought I'd post about what's on offer this year. As always there's a lot to choose from.

For fiction writers there a range of courses covering both novel writing and short stories. They might like to take either of the week-long specialist courses on How to Write Your First Novel, or Character Psychology, and there are short (2 hour) course covering Short Stories, and Setting on Thursday. The one hour slots include sessions on Writing For Competitions (this afternoon), Getting Readers in a Twist (twist endings, Monday), The Four Ps of Storytelling and NaNoWriMo (both Tuesday). If they have a particular genre interest there are specialist and short courses on crime writing, and short courses on fairy tales, and erotica. There's an open mike event later in the week for short pieces and extracts.

Poets aren't left out, with a specialist course running all week, and a short course on writing haiku. This evening there's a poetry open mike.

There are lot of more esoteric offerings. The specialist course Succeed Happier on Purpose covers psychology and how the brain works, to create a positive mindset. There's a short course for writers who want to get into Writing for Wellbeing, and hour sessions on Inspired Writing and The Natural Storyteller on Tuesday, and Yoga for Writers on Wednesday. Outside of courses, there are also meditation sessions in the morning and Unwind Your Mind today, Monday, and Wednesday in the afternoon. 

For those with an interest in scripts and acting, the specialist course on offer is Screenwriting, and in the short sessions there's a four-part course on Acting for Writers. Later today there's a session for casting actors and directors for the short plays of Page to Stage, with rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday before performances Wednesday evening. 

There are also career-building courses: Promoting Your Work, Dream Author (on how to be your own dream author), Publishing Demystified, using Professional Development techniques to build your career, and Time Management are all short course options. In the one hour sessions there are courses on Social Media, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing, Blogging, and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).

Also on offer: courses on Writing for Radio, Gender Awareness, Photography, Writing Fillers, Creating Audio Books, and more.

In short, it's possible to put together a syllabus or, as I'm doing, cobble it together depending how you feel. The only problem is how to choose between the inevitable clashes...

"You really want to know what I want? You really want to know the truth? I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want to see the Centauri stretch their hand and command the stars. I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power. I want to stop running like a man late for an appointment afraid to look back, or to look forward. I want us to be what we used to be. I want I want it all back the way that it was." - Londo Mollari

And now, thirteen episodes in, the main plot gets rolling. Commander Sinclair tells Garibaldi about the things he remembered during And the Sky Full of Stars, about being abducted by the Minbari, and asks him to look into it.

On the surface, the A plot is the recovery of the Eye, the oldest symbol of Centauri nobility that's been lost for 100 years. Ambassador Mollari collects it from the shady Mr Reno and the Centauri government, having paid "enough to buy a small planet", send Lord Kiro and his aunt Lady Ladira to collect it.

Of course things are never that simple. On arriving at Babylon 5 Ladira, a seer, has a vision of the station being destroyed. Kiro shrugs off her concern - she once declared he'd be killed by "shadows" and he's still around, after all. He visits Mollari to view the Eye, aggrieved at being the messenger when the Eye rightfully belongs to his family. Things are changing at home, the emperor hasn't been seen in public for a while and the people are restless. He could take the Eye for himself and claim the throne. Mollari points out that doing so would invariably be fatal without support: "these are no longer the good old days".

The B plot involves an increase in attacks by raiders on ships visiting the station. Sinclair is doing his best to combat them, but they disappear too fast. Small ships rely on jump gates to travel long distances, but the raiders disappear faster than Babylon 5's fighters can get to them making it hard to track them down. When Babylon 5 receives a mayday from the nearby transport Achilles, they send out Starfuries to deal with it. It's only on reviewing the transport's cargo manifest that Sinclair realises it's a trap, to divert fighters away from the station.

The C plot is not so much a plot as a cryptic diversion at this point, in much the same way as the one with Talia, Kosh, and Abbut in Deathwalker. A man called Morden arrives on the station. The officer who checks him in comments his ID hasn't been updated in a while, and Morden tells him he's been exploring. His mission is to visit each of the ambassadors in turn and ask them one very specific question: "What do you want?" It will turn out to be an important one.

Ambassador G'Kar is irritated by Morden's vagueness and tells him he wants to be left alone in peace and quiet, but as Morden makes to leave he amends it to the destruction of the Centauri: "To tear down their cities blacken their sky, sow their ground with salt. To completely, utterly erase them." Beyond that he has no ambition, as long as his people are safe. Ambassador Mollari's reaction is initially much the same: irritation, followed by the desire to be left alone. Like G'Kar he amends his wish as Morden leaves. He wants the good old days back and the Centauri to have an empire again. Ambassador Delenn asks Morden what the point of the question is, and if he's asking each of the ambassadors. Then she's overcome by a momentary pain. She sees him surrounded by shadows, a triangle appears on her forehead which she covers, and she tells Morden to leave. When he's gone she comments to herself "They're here" in horror.

Morden is not, in fact, visiting all of the ambassadors. When he sees Kosh coming, he hides.

The plot threads link together when the raiders take Mollari, Kiro, and Ladira hostage as they attempt to quietly get the Eye off the station. When Sinclair intercepts them, having figured out Kiro's ship could be a target, they take Kiro and the Eye onto the ship and leave the station. Sinclair locks them out of the jump gate, but a larger ship appears through its own gate - the reason the raiders always managed to escape. The diverted Starfuries make it back in time to defend against the raider fighters, but Kiro's ship is swallowed by the larger ship and disappears into a new jump point. During the battle, Mr Morden encounters Kosh again, and this time doesn't back down. Afterwards we hear the Vorlon's encounter suit was damaged.

Back on the raider ship, Kiro congratulates the raiders on a successful heist, only to find they've betrayed him. Instead of returning him as head of the Centauri government, they're returning both him and the Eye in return for a substantial ransom. Before they get far a black ship shimmers into view and destroys them.

Later, Ambassador Mollari is visited by Mr Morden, who gives him a gift from "friends you don't know you have". It's the Eye, and the promise they will find him again.

Wrapping up the episode, Garibaldi tells Sinclair he hasn't found out much about Sinclair's missing day, but what he has found out is that Sinclair was pretty far down the list of potential commanders for Babylon 5. Every name above his was rejected by the Minbari government, who had approval over who would run Babylon 5 in return for their involvement. He wasn't able to find out why. Lady Ladira also sees Sinclair on her departure from the station. She shares with him her vision of fire and death, which hasn't changed despite averting the raider attack. It's a possible future, and one that may be avoided.

As with The War Prayer, the episode manages to link together its seemingly unrelated plot strands, apart from the business of Garibaldi's investigation which largely serves as bookends. It seems out of place, until later when it becomes apparent that it's actually very relevant indeed. The Shadows are introduced for the first time, although not named as such by anyone other than Ladira who doesn't know what they are. It's clear Delenn does know, and has been warned, and equally obvious the other ambassadors don't - apart from Kosh. During his encounter with Mr Morden he says to leave the station, "they are not for you", and it's clear he's addressing the creatures Delenn saw surrounding Morden rather than Morden himself.

The episode asks more questions than it answers, but it does so with a promise that loose ends have been left for a reason, and answers will come with time.

In the wonderful Good Omens, there's a scene that muses on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The answer being one, because angels don't dance except for that one time Aziraphale learned the gavotte only to be disappointed when it went out of fashion.

Which then got me thinking about how writing is exactly like an angel learning to gavotte.

While it appears a throwaway reference in the book, the scene in the series has around thirty seconds of Aziraphale dancing. Not only did they have to find someone who knew how to gavotte to teach Michael Sheen and the dancers how to gavotte, they had to source appropriate music and costumes for the scene. They had to rehearse to make it look effortless. All for thirty seconds of film.

None of that research or practice is visible on the screen, and if writing is done well none of it's visible on the page either.

It's also not a throwaway reference at all. It refers to an argument first recorded as early as the seventeenth century and probably even older which is still in modern usage. The narrator (God in the TV adaptation) tells us that "Aziraphale had learned to gavotte in a discreet gentlemen’s club in Portland Place in the late 1880’s". That discreet club was probably The Hundred Guineas Club, and exclusive gay club, given the other gentlemen's club in Portland Place at the time was a gambling club and probably not the sort of place an angel would learn to dance. It also ties nicely in with other references in the text to people assuming Aziraphale's gay.

Which is to say, good writing has layers.

And finally, fashions come and go. If you spend all your time writing to market (or learning to gavotte) you're likely to be disappointed when the trends change. Write what you love, and enjoy yourself as much as Aziraphale clearly does in this (slightly edited) video of him dancing the gavotte.

"Never hand someone a gun unless you're sure where they'll point it." - Commander Jeffrey Sinclair

As promised last week, this episode sees Commander Sinclair once again creatively interpreting rules and regulations to get the outcome he wants - in not one but both of the plot strands.

The plots are linked in that the same disaster causes both, that disaster happening only because of the plots' background happening in the same place at the same time in the first place. Confused yet? Fortunately it's pretty simple after it all kicks off. Faulty equipment leads to an accident in the docking bay which kills two dock workers, and a Narn ship is destroyed in the accident because the captain panics. Plot A is the dock workers going on strike because of the poor conditions that caused the accident, and the Narn ship is only there to deliver a sacred plant to Ambassador G'Kar for Plot B. Remove the poor working conditions or the Narn ship and there's no inciting incident. It's a clever piece of writing, that makes the threads feel unified even though they each go their separate ways from here.

Under the terms of their contract striking is illegal, and Sinclair tries to talk the dockers out of it before word can get back to Earth. However the government's new budget for Babylon 5 is leaked - and the dockers get nothing. They go on unofficial strike, all calling in sick, and Earth sends their best negotiator Orin Zento to step in. Sentator Hidoshi tells Sinclair "He has stopped this kind of thing before in other stations", succinctly letting the audience know that this is a widespread problem.

Unfortunately, Zento's skill as a negotiator appears to have nothing to do with negotiating and everything to do with talking loudly at people and threatening to invoke the Rush Act and have them arrested. Sinclair tries to persuade him to take a softer approach but then, not convinced they'll get the people and funding they need, the workers make the strike official. Zento invokes the Rush Act which has lead to arrests, rioting, and deaths on Europa and Matewan. As Garibaldi takes his security forces in, Sinclair tries and fails to get the senate to revoke their order. As a last resort he pulls a copy of the full text to find out exactly what it empowers him to do.

While this is going on, G'Kar's dealing with the repercussions of the destruction of the Narn ship, which was carrying a sacred G'Quan Eth plant which he needs for a religious observance. The only other plant on the ship is owned by Ambassador Mollari. Knowing full well Mollari won't give him the plant G'Kar breaks into his quarters and, knowing full well G'Kar will break in, Londo's hidden the plant elsewhere. He offers to sell it for an extortionate price although he'll be sad to lose it. In a nice touch of background (and putting a gun firmly in a drawer for later use) he states: "When you drop the seeds into a proper mixture of alcohol whole new universes open up. It's a shame you Narns waste them, burning them as incense!"

Of course when the time comes, having humiliated G'Kar, he refuses to sell.

Although he hates to do it G'Kar takes his grievance to Commander Sinclair, who's somewhat distracted by the strike and says he can't do anything as Mollari owns the plant. It's only at this point G'Kar dispatches Na'Toth to steal a statue of a Centauri deity (it's not specified which one) from the Centauri Cultural Centre. It's an interesting insight into his moral character that despite hating the Centauri an affront to their religious beliefs is his weapon of last resort and that, proud as he is, he's willing to humble himself by asking for help first. This episode, and the events of Mind War, show him to be much more spiritual than he generally lets on, and lays the groundwork for things that happen much, much later.

Things have got violent between Garibaldi's men and the dockers, and Sinclair withdraws the security forces to meet the dockers face to face, with Orin Zento at his side. He asks Zento for confirmation that the Rush Act means he's empowered to end the strike by any means necessary, which Zento confirms. But the thing is, while those means are generally interpreted to mean military action and arrests, that's not what it actually says. Sinclair can do what he likes, so what he does is reallocate some of the increased military budget to repair the equipment and hire new workers. Zento isn't happy with it, but the dockers are and the strike ends.

Next stop is to see Ambassadors Mollari and G'Kar, who are about ready to kill each other. Once again using rules and regulations to solve his troubles, he tells Mollari that he's discovered the G'Quan Eth is a controlled substance which can only be owned for medical or religious purposes. This may or may not be true, since Mollari protests it's no worse than whiskey and Sinclair tells him to file a protest, but it allows him to confiscate the plant and give it to G'Kar on the condition the Centauri statue is returned.

The only problem is, it's too late to perform the ceremony. It must be carried out in the first rays of the sun to shine past the Q'Guan mountain on a particular day, those not on Narn must do it at the same time which has already passed. Sinclair has an answer for this too: "The sunlight that touched the mountain 10 years ago will reach this station in 12 hours. It's been on a long journey, but it's still the same sunlight". G'Kar agrees that this is enough, "You are a far more spiritual man than I gave you credit for", and the episode ends with him performing the ritual for a group of his people.

The docker plot doesn't end quite so peacefully. Senator Hidoshi calls Sinclair with a warning: his creative interpretation of the Rush Act has made him new enemies. His response? "So, what else is new?" He's already made an enemy of Bester in Mind War, within the senate in Deathwalker, and there's also the shadowy group behind the events of And the Sky Full of Stars. He does what he does to protect the station and its people, and in that respect his politicking is no different that ramming a Minbari cruiser. Garibaldi complains in Infection that Sinclair's always putting himself "on the line". He's just not always doing it by chasing monsters with a gun.