An old Earth ship appears, carrying a "soldier of darkness" stowaway. This dark creature sees B5 as a big buffet, so the gang had better stop it. But not before we get more ominous words.

Written by Scott Frost
Directed by Mario DiLeo

If I Could Turn Back . . .

G'KAR: Take my advice and go back to the time you came from. The future isn't what it used to be.

MARKAB AMBASSADOR: The forces of darkness do not move openly. They work through others, use others. When the darkness was defeated long ago, they scattered, hid themselves away in secret places and waited. Now the dark hand is reaching out and recalling them from their sleep.

AMIS: I found that life is, in general, much easier if I forget most of the things that happen to me.    More Stories The Name of the Place: SPACE.com's Babylon 5 Nexus Babylon 5 - 'A Distant Star' Babylon 5 - 'Geometry of Shadows' Babylon 5 - 'Revelations'    Related Links SPACE.com's television coverage Babylon 5 The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 GARIBALDI: You were about to accuse the Centauri ambassador of being in league with the devil, which might not be too far from the truth.

Anne-Marie Johnson - Mariah Cirrus
Dwight Schultz- Amis

* A way to kill gods. The soldier of darkness is caught in PPG cross-fire in much the same way that the second Vorlon ambassador is killed in "Falling Toward Apotheosis". Energy bursts like these can kill even the less corporeal of aliens.

Harvey Dent would love this episode because it's all about dualities. The number two keeps reappearing.

Two people were aboard the Copernicus, one alive and one dead. The episode features two guest appearances, both by characters who have been hurt by this soldier of darkness. Two members of the senior staff want to help these victims of the soldier. Two ambassadors from the Advisory Council appear, one who believes and one who does not.

The imagery of darkness is also being established, slowly but certainly. Recall that this imagery, too, is all a matter of duality: where there is shadow, there is light.

Garibaldi and Franklin -- often paired in stories that develop their individual characters -- each offer help for different reasons.

Franklin helps Mariah out of a sense of duty. Franklin is the Noble Doctor, so involved he cannot leave his work. He is also motivated by personal interest, however.

More than any other character, Franklin is looking for love. He wants to find somebody to share his life outside of work. Franklin places himself into situations where his commitments clash.

Garibaldi helps Amis because of experiences which they share -- his own nightmares about the War are what propels him to trust Amis.

Where Franklin begins with duty and moves to the personal, Garibaldi reverses the direction and starts at the personal, only then moving out to duty.

For Garibaldi, the notion of duty is more elusive. It is less ideal and somehow more personal. Duty to Garibaldi is gritty and requires getting right into tricky situations.

In the course of the series, each looks to something to ease the pains of being human. Franklin gets lost in stims; Garibaldi, alcohol. Here, though, both try to help the victims of the Shadows' soldier.

Conspiracy buff
Can't prevent what must occur:
"Spider in the Web"