Babylon 5, "Passing Through Gesthemene", S03E04, OAD 11/27/95 *spoilers*

[gchance]

Guide page: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/048.html

"Faith manages."

- Brad Dourif!
- Kosh has brought Lyta Alexander back to B5, not asleep, but fully conscious so she's seen everything, unlike Franklin's friend. She's not to discuss what she's seen with anyone.
- Lyta works for Kosh and will be based on Babylon 5, although be away most of the time. How convenient.
- Directed by Adam Nimoy!
- We're seeing yet another mind wipe. JMS seems intrigued by them apparently.
- Lyta has gills, just like G'Kar.
- Was that KOSH coming out of her? It certainly looked that way.

Another non-arc episode, these ones are becoming less and less frequent if you notice. Eventually all the episodes will be heavy duty arc mindblowers, so be prepared, hehe.

Greg

[Craigbob]

Once again Joe treats religion with a lot of respect.

This is an ep. I've been waiting for us to get to. It was originally supposed to be done back in Season 2, but Joe ran into a snag. Someone on-line suggested a storyline that had a mind wiped serial killer remembering who he was and what he had done. The previous mind wipe episodes were set ups to allow Joe to do this one.

That derailed this one for about a year before Joe was able to get the clearances necessary to go forward with this. It almost forced JMS to stay away from the on-line forums completely.

I don't think there was ever a doubt that it was Kosh that Lyta was carrying.

Overall a very solid episode with an interesting premise. The ending was a bit obvious, but hey it's allowed. We need a breather with what is coming up.

[Hunter Green]

Brad Dourif does have his lock on the crazy role, but it was nice that he was also given a chance to be a nice, sane, calm, agreeable person.

The ending may have been obvious to the audience, but it sure hit Sheridan hard. That was a great example of confronting someone with their own professed beliefs to test if it's as easy when it's in your face as it is when you're just talking. I think it was set up well to let the audience feel a little of that uncertainty. Some of the audience might start out agreeing with Garibaldi and some with Franklin, but the latter might have found it harder to agree when faced with what it means, just like Sheridan did. Most shows would spare you the conflict by ensuring the killer ends up dead somehow anyway.

[BitbyBlit]

By the way, for anyone watching the DVDs or any other widescreen version, when Sheridan is looking angrily at the killer at the end, he clenches his fist as if he is about to punch him just before shaking his hand.

The widescreen version cuts out the bottom part, so you don't see that, and you only see him looking angry. It's too bad, because I think it added a lot to Sheridan's emotions, and more strongly emphasized what Brother Edward was talking about when wondering if he could have had the courage to stay in the garden at Gethesemane. Like Brother Edward, Sheridan was confronted with a situation that put his ideals to the test.

[Rob Helmerichs]

The widescreen version cuts out the bottom part, so you don't see that, and you only see him looking angry. It's too bad, because I think it added a lot to Sheridan's emotions...
Yeah, that's a problem throughout the series. JMS was definitely more forward-looking than a lot of his directors. The plan was to shoot open-matte with a safe zone around the edges, so it could be cropped to 4:3 for broadcast, and cropped to 16:9 when the world went that way. Unfortunately, a lot of directors just framed it conventionally, which means cropped chins all over the place.

[doom1701]

I've been waiting for this one to come around; this is probably in my top 3 favorite episodes of the series. As Craigbob said, JMS always treats religion with a lot of respect in this series, and this episode most likely takes the cake.

I'm going to try watching this one tonight so I can comment on it.

[aintnosin]

I've been waiting for this one to come around; this is probably in my top 3 favorite episodes of the series. As Craigbob said, JMS always treats religion with a lot of respect in this series, and this episode most likely takes the cake.

This is easily one of my favorite episodes and one of the best "stand-alone" stories of the series. As someone who went to Catholic School, I can attest that this episode was just pitch perfect in its treatment of Brother Theo and Brother Edward.

Bravo.

[rorrim]

I liked this one a lot too. I imagine it might have been a little tough for people who were watching this as it aired to have to miss out on any advancement of the primary storyline. However, those of us watching the DVDs can just move on to the next one without having to wait another week :)

With that said, this is one of my favorite episodes of the whole series. The ending was very well done and thought provoking.

[JYoung]

This is also one my favorite episodes and one of the best stand alones.

The storyline is a little predictable but the characters are outstanding here.
Dourif is outstanding in this role and so is Turenne.
Boxleitner is no slouch either, especially in the end scene, which I just love.

Excellent work, all around here.

[Mars Rocket]

- Lyta has gills, just like G'Kar.

Where was that? I missed it.

Why did Kosh or whoever/whatever only come out of her mouth and eyes at the end? Why not the nose as well? Do Vorlons smell bad?

Oh yeah - one more thing: I was rather surprised at Lyta's willingness to help Sheridan. She may be *able* to do that kind of thing now that she's out of Psicorp, but it seemed like a rather mundane case for a representative of the Vorlons (or a Vorlon) to get involved with. She seemed almost vindictive about it.

[gchance]

G'Kar's gills from The Gathering
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2894446740_98a0c16b5a.jpg

Lyta's gills from Passing Through Gesthemene
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2893595391_bab023f6c7_o.jpg

[busyba]

Oh yeah - one more thing: I was rather surprised at Lyta's willingness to help Sheridan. She may be *able* to do that kind of thing now that she's out of Psicorp, but it seemed like a rather mundane case for a representative of the Vorlons (or a Vorlon) to get involved with. She seemed almost vindictive about it.

Well, it was a Centauri teep she was probing, so her encounter with Londo earlier in the episode was probably a factor.