WHOA. What a mind-blowing episode.
As you might have guessed, there was no way that we could watch Part 1 of “War Without End” without diving into Part 2 right away, hence this combined episode report.
And it’s a long one, just to warn you.
First off, it was great to finally see Minbar! Gorgeous place, just as I had imagined it from Delenn’s description.
And then…Sinclair’s back! I had been wondering when we’d see him again.
A 900-year-old mysterious letter sends him to B5. I’m curious about where Sinclair got his scar, though I don’t suppose we ever find out now that Sinclair’s gone.
Interesting to see that the Vorlons are on Minbar. Though not Kosh. 
And then we hear the scary distress transmission in Ivanova’s voice from Sector 14, where Babylon 4 disappeared. Now I feel like re-watching the episode where Garibaldi and Sinclair went to investigate B4…but I’ll wait until I’ve finished the series.
Delenn: He’s my friend, Lennier.
Lennier: I know. But it must be done, or the dream will die and countless others will die with him.
Delenn: I wish I had more time but now, dying is all we have.
When I went back to go through the episode again to grab screenshots, I teared up during this scene. Because Delenn KNOWS. And she’s known through the whole series that this would happen, even when she first meets Sinclair.
She knows that he’s going to sacrifice himself to save them all, and is going back far back into the past, never to return.
But then…she knows that he’s Valen, doesn’t she? If she does, she obviously doesn’t tell Lennier since he seems unaware of where Valen came from, or at least he gives that impression when talking about Valen to other people.
But wait. In the scene above, Lennier seems to indicate that he knows what’s going to happen.
And OH HEY!!!!!!!! This means that when Delenn meets Sheridan, then she KNOWS that eventually they’re destined to end up together and have a son!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I feel like going back and re-watching that episode where they met.
Marcus: Back on Minbar there was a saying among the other Rangers. Anyone to get a straight reply from Range One was to look in a mirror while hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Sheridan: Did it work?
Marcus: Oddly enough, yes. Either that or you passed out and had a vision. Either way, the result was pretty much the same.
The scene where Ivanova gives her last transmission before dying is truly disturbing.
Y’know, now I also feel like going back and watching the episode with B4 so I can see what Delenn’s reaction was during that episode, if she was even in that episode. Don’t tell me.
As Delenn describes what happened in the past to the others, I was BLOWN AWAY when the White Star suddenly appeared on the screen to save B4.
Sheridan: So believe this?
Sinclair: I believe it.
Marcus: If (some name everyone calls Sinclair but I didn’t quite get) believes it, I believe it.
Ivanova: I’ll be in the car.
I like Sinclair’s strange smile when he turns around and sees Sheridan and Delenn holding each other’s hands, but I’m a bit confused about what it means. At that point, he didn’t know what was going to happen between them, did he? Or did he?
Or maybe he had a thing for Delenn back when he was the captain of B5, and this was a bittersweet acknowledgement of what could not be and what had to be.
Zathras is back! Ah, so HE’s one of Draal’s helpers. That’s what one of your comments meant when you said that I had already seen one of his helpers.
Zathras has the best lines in these episodes. 
Sheridan: Well, as my great-grandfather used to say…COOL.
By the way, I love hearing Marcus speak Minbari. *swoon*
I’m glad that Sinclair leaves Garibaldi a message explaining why he didn’t let him know what was going on.
Zathras (looking a Sheridan’s broken stabilizer): Very damaged. Zathras cannot have anything nice.
And WHOA! Then we’ve leapt ahead into the future with Sheridan, who got unstuck in time…and Londo’s the emperor. I was totally convinced by Londo’s act in Part 1, bitter and cruel and saying that he was going to kill Sheridan.
I can’t imagine having to wait a week between Part 1 and Part 2 when these two episodes aired.
Delenn and Sheridan have a son named David! Or they will, eventually. Is this going to happen before the end of the series? I hope so. Don’t tell me.
My head was really exploding during Part 2, and so was Jeff’s. Holy cow. So am I correct in assuming that these scenes in the future — that WILL happen, no matter what? That Londo would willingly die at the hands of a one-eyed G’Kar? It seems that way, since the future-seeing Centauri that Londo consulted said that he WOULD be emperor, that there was no changing that fact.
But she did say that he still had a chance to avoid the dark path, so how he gets to be emperor is still in flux, right? Depending on whether he recognizes the third sign and does not pass it up? (embracing what he knows will ultimately destroy him)
Don’t tell me.
Londo: We have unfinished between us, G’Kar. Let us make an end of it quickly, before it stops me. I am as tired of my life as you are.
OR WAIT!!! Maybe -this- is what the seer meant, that Londo would have to willingly embrace death at the hands of his lifelong enemy, G’Kar, in order to save his people (and thus letting Sheridan and Delenn escape so his Keeper has no chance to warn the others).
And then Vir becomes Emperor. Who is Vir, in the future? Still Londo’s friend and advisor? Is he glad when Vir dies? I would like to think that he is saddened; he doesn’t smile when he discovers that Londo is dead, after all. But don’t tell me.
Did Londo know that G’Kar was hiding behind the curtains in the throne room?
Don’t tell me.
*SPLAT*
(sound of Debbie’s head exploding)
So many of the scenes that Londo dreamed about (the falling cup, the strangling) came true in this version of the future. That means, of course, that it doesn’t necessarily mean that this future will happen…I’ve been assuming all along that at least I knew how the series would end but now, who knows?
And I still haven’t figured out what Sheridan’s dream about the black bird on Ivanova’s shoulder means. Hmmm.
Delenn is caught up in the tachyon flash and finds herself in a bedroom where Sheridan lies asleep in bed. She appears to be wearing a bathrobe, so I was assuming that she’s supposed to be there. But then…another woman appears and says hello.
WHO IS THIS WOMAN? The hair doesn’t look like Delenn’s. The voice definitely isn’t. IS THIS THE PAST OR THE FUTURE? If the past, then perhaps the woman is Sheridan’s wife before she got killed on that expedition. It doesn’t SOUND like her, though. But then WHO IS SHE?!?
Don’t tell me.
Meanwhile, Sinclair is getting older.
SO COOL to see bits of what happened in that B4 episode, but from the perspective of the characters in the present.
So let me get this straight…
Zathras gives the repaired stabilizer to DELENN just before she disappears again, not Sheridan or Sinclair.
Delenn put her own stabilizer on Sheridan.
Why does Sinclair try telling Garibaldi to watch his back? If he was warning Garibaldi about Nightwatch, wouldn’t he be trying to change the future?
A shiver went up my spine as Zathras talks about Minbari philosophy and explains “The One” to Sheridan, Delenn and Sinclair.
Zathras (to Sinclair): You are the one who was. (to Delenn) You are the one who is. (to Sheridan) You are the one who will be.
I’m glad Zathras chooses to go back with Sinclair. I guess Draal must have known this was going to happen?
Then Sinclair goes through the whole cocoon thing and becomes Minbari!!!
And the Vorlons are with him! So this means that Kosh likely knew all along what was going to happen to Sinclair. I’m going to SO have to re-watch those early episodes again.
Sinclair makes a good Minbari, doesn’t he? In fact, I like him more as a Minbari than a human. Great make-up job — I don’t think I would have recognized him if he appeared on an episode as a regular Minbari.
I notice that he’s still wearing his Ranger pin. And of course the pin has even more significance with Sinclair. So now I’m curious…who first invented this pin? The pin was probably fashioned from Valen’s time, but Valen/Sinclair got it from the future. It must have started somewhere…
I’d better stop before my head explodes again.
“Do not go to Z’ha’Dum,” Delenn begs Sheridan just before he is pulled back to his own time.
Sheridan is SO going to Z’ha’dum, isn’t he?
Don’t tell me.
Next episode: Walkabout.
[For those who comment below: As the title of my blog indicates, I'm watching B5 for the very first time so PLEASE refrain from posting plot/character spoilers/hints about upcoming episodes, or including links to pages with spoilers (unless you warn readers that they contain spoilers). More info about spoilers here. Thanks so much! - Debbie]
17 comments ↓
Zathras is back!
{Zathras on}
Nt, nt, nt, nt, nt. No, Zathras not back. This were Zathras start.
{Zathras off}
IIRC, clarification from JMS, the triluminari and the chrysalis machine came from Epison 3 with the supplies Zathras brought aboard The White Star to be used on B4.
However, Sinclair/Valen did keep the letter to himself at the end of the episode, so is Valen into recycleing and he no longer needs to write the letter, but can just put it into the box.
Delenn also got a letter delivered at nearly the same time as Sinclair/Entil’Zha got his letter from Valen. The beginning of this episode may have been the first time she knew that not only did Sinclair have a Minbari soul, but he had *THE* Minbari soul of Valen.
Hee - now I can say it! Vir for Emperor!!
Way, way back, long before this episode and finding out it actually was going to happen Janet Waite and I started saying VIR for Emperor!, so I had baseball caps made for the both of us with this on. I wore mine so much it eventually died, but I recall laughing myself silly at the appropriate point of this episode.
Notice the spin, or rather, subversion these news about Sinclair puts on prophecies and the Minbari reincarnation belief
There are some continuity problems with “Babylon Squared”, but that’s inevitable given the complexity of trying to write two stories three years apart. For example, here we see Zathras being captured and brought in for questioning by the B4 crew, but in the original episode the Major said that Zathras “just appeared” in the conference room.
Sinclair was quite aware of the danger of changing history, but when a friend is concerned, you can understand having a moment of weakness - he was trying to warn Garibaldi about not being shot in the back by whasisname, of course.
Sinclair’s name as Ranger One is “Entil’zha”.
Now to the nagging question I have about the Ranger brooch. Apparently the Rangers were formed by Valen way back when, but was the Ranger brooch always with a human and a Minbari, even before the Minbari first encountered humans? If so, didn’t people wonder who the odd non-Minbari humanoid on the design was? If not, was there another design pre-human contact? These things bug me sometimes…
A_Tim: Actually, Delenn was aware that Sinclair had Valen’s soul - or at least a part of it - from his examination at the Battle of the Line. The thing was that the Minbari assumed he was Valen reincarnated instead of Valen himself.
The ending by the way, also puts a whole new spin on Neroon’s remark when he meets Sinclair: “You talk like a Minbari.”
Delenn knew Sinclair had a part of Valen’s soul (Minbari believe in reincarnation), but not that he actually WAS Valen, until she got her letter from the past. As for all those prophecies she’s talked about so far? Remember, those came from Valen. Whom we now know was Sinclair gone back in time–he knew what was going to happen up to a certain point, because he’d lived it. But he doesn’t know anything past the time he went back, so things are going to be different from now on.
But even with prophecy, Delenn has been figuring things out as she goes along just like the rest of them. She’s had a bit of a head start, but remember that things like those records from the archives she showed them in this episode were sealed–no Minbari knew that Valen had been a human, no Minbari knew that the space station that appeared for them in the hour of their need was a human station, nobody knew that it came from the future. This is what the Minbari knew about Valen prior to this episode: that Valen was “a Minbari not born of Minbari” (with no real idea what that meant), and that he could unite the castes because he’d spent time among all three castes (military, religious, worker) at some point before he appeared to them.
I haven’t watched the episode in a while, but Marcus either called Sinclair Entil’Zha or Anla’shok Na. Anla’shok Na means “Ranger One” and is the title for the military commander of the Rangers (Anla’shok, in Minbari). It’s like a call sign. Entil’Zha is the full ceremonial title of the head of the rangers–it carries a lot more weight of meaning in it.
I would suggest, now that you’ve seen this episode, finding yourself a copy of the book “To Dream in the City of Sorrows” by Kathryn M. Drennan. It was written with full consultation of JMS and it’s basically “what happened to Sinclair after he left the show and before he reappears in World Without End.” It’s a very good book, and it picks up and addresses a lot of things the series just let drop, without covering ground the series has already covered and without spoiling much that’s coming up. You get backstory for Sinclair, Marcus, and the Rangers that’s interesting and well written. JMS considers it “canonical in every small detail” and says it should “be considered as authentic as any episode in the regular series.” Actually, it does make a brief reference in the epilogue to the episode “Grey 17 is missing,” so watch that first, but that’s only two episodes down the line from this one so by the time you get your hands on a copy of the book you’ll probably have watched that one, also.
The discontinuity with Zathras’ first appearance was due to a shortage of screentime. In other words, 43 minutes. JMS was aware of it, but had a lot of trouble fitting all the stuff in as it is, and fixing Zathras’ first appearance would’ve cost another 3 minutes, which he simply didn’t have.
As for the brooch, Valen was known as a “Minbari not born of Minbari”, and the prophecy was that the two halves of their souls must unite. So I take it whoever saw the brooch (and that probably wouldn’t be anyone besides the Rangers and the Grey Council) knew that the humanoid was “the other half of their soul”.
Marcus called Sinclair Entil’Zha, which means “the one who creates the future”. Not every head of the Rangers carries this title, only “The One”. The others are called Anla’Shok’Na.
Love, love, love this two-parter, probably my favorite episode in the entire series (yeah, I know I said that about “Coming of Shadows”, too- love ‘em both). So many amazing revelations, so many things come ’round circle in such satisfying ways, while leaving breath-taking questions still to be answered.
I’ve always wanted to cross-stitch that stained-glass window in your Minbar scene above.
And, yup, it was just about this point that I -knew- I’d be going back to re-watch the entire series very shortly after I finished my first run-through. Like re-reading LOTR, B5 richly rewards re-watching.
Best line, delivered while rummaging: “Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. This…is wrong tool.”
Breaks me up every time.
Terence: I think the Ranger pin was mentioned in one of the spinoff media to only have the Minbari figure until Sinclair came to head the Rangers. Though I suppose the other figure could just have been taken to represent the mysterious “other half of our souls” that Lennier mentioned a few times, whether or not the pin went through a redesign between Sinclair/Valen and being used by the Anla’shok.
And idly, Debbie, I believe the Delenn quote early in part 1 ends “But now, time is all we have” and not “dying”.
Mili’s comment about #60 Interludes and Examinations:
Not so much spoilers as fair warning, but since you mention Z’Ha’Dum: back when the series was originally airing, there was a guide to preparing for watching Z’Ha’Dum. It involved getting plastic sheeting and covering up your living room furniture so you didn’t make a mess when your brain exploded.
My response:
Mili, I think the prepartion you mention belongs to the next two episodes! Even after several viewings my head still aches…
Debbie’s comments about War Without End:
…My head was really exploding during Part 2, and so was Jeff’s. Holy cow.
…Did Londo know that G’Kar was hiding behind the curtains in the throne room? Don’t tell me. *SPLAT* (sound of Debbie’s head exploding)
…Then Sinclair goes through the whole cocoon thing and becomes Minbari!!! … who first invented this pin? The pin was probably fashioned from Valen’s time, but Valen/Sinclair got it from the future. It must have started somewhere… I’d better stop before my head explodes again.
squee! I tried to warn you! I hope you had the plastic tarp ready!
If any episodes ever deserved the title of mind-benders, it was these.
Oh, yes! Zathras had some of the best B-5 lines ever in these episodes.
As a direct result, I had a conversion experience and promptly joined the following religious order.
Go to: http://www.loyd.net/osz/index.html
I leave you with the following blessing:
All is three. As you are three. As you are one. As you are The One. You are the one who was. You are the one who is. You are the one who will be. You are the beginning of the story, and the middle of the story, and the end of the story. That creates the next great story. Ah, in your heart, you know what Zathras says is true. Go now.
In memory of the one Zathras,
who passed beyond the time rift,
and in honor of the the nine,
zAthras,
zaThras,
zatHras,
zathRas,
zathrAs,
zathraS,
ZAthras,
zathrAS,
and
ZathraS
who aid us in our work.
May we be protected from Shadows,
From the wrath of Vorlons,
From the aftermath of war,
And from spoilers.
Two of my all time favorite episodes. Of anything really.
I totally gasped out loud when the White Star appeared in the video to save B4. It’s one of many stunning moments in these episodes.
Interesting note: the snow globe falling at the end of Delenn’s time-flash is reminiscent of the beginning/end of “Citizen Kane”. (But you probably shouldn’t read too much into that.)
This episode really did in the heads of all the John/Delenn shippers at the time. First JMS teased us with an almost kiss in “Sic Transit Vir” and then this: Sheridan’s first kiss with Delenn is not Delenn’s first kiss with Sheridan. …Yeah. o_O JMS is such a bastard.
For some reason the scene where Delenn and John are brought before the drunken Londo and he points out at them from behind his drapery telling them they are his last hope, that scene always reminds me of The Lorax. It’s a weird association.
I love how they used these episodes to wrap up Sinclaire’s character and really give his role meaning and a satisfying conclusion.
Oh forgot to add an interesting tidbit: David is also Sheridan’s father’s name.
A minor nit - you have the numbering wrong. Instead of “61 & 62″ it should be “60 & 61″.
There’s all sorts of areas to explore, and more “head-explody” things will happen as the show goes on. I’ll just mention a minor thing or two.
There is foreshadowing of some things from this episode as far back as the pilot. When Lyta did the telepathic scan of Kosh you got to see the encounter between Kosh and the Minbari who was disguised as Sinclair. Kosh said something, which at the time appeared to be meaningless syllables. If you rewatch that scene you find he is greeting the person disguised as Sinclair as “Entil’Zha Valen”. He recognized and trusted “Valen” - which was why the Minbari in disguise was able to get close enough to slap that poison onto Kosh’s “hand”.
From George Johnson, co-producer, regarding the tool that Zathras had:
The Zathras tool is not a speed loader, but a wrench of some sort. There is this wonderful electronic surplus store down the street from the stage, and the place is swarming with art directors from all over the basin. Our folks also frequent this place, and came back one day with a box marked “interesting shapes $10″. At any other place in the world, this would be a box of recyclables at best or a box of garbage at worst. In Hollywood, however…….. it is a box of tools for Zathras!
The good news about this show is that 99% of all questions are answered so many of the questions you are asking about you will only have to wait a little bit longer.
However, your question: “Who is Vir, in the future? ” is answered in the B5 novels more so than the show.
Poor Zathras, no one every listens to him…..
You might be interpreting too much into what Delenn knows when. Particularly about having a son with Sheridan.
My take on where did the brooch originate from is that, much like Valen himself, it’s paradox.
Sinclair tells Garibaldi to watch his back because at the end of Season 1 Garibaldi got shot in the back.