The Name of the Place is Babylon 5: Z'ha'dum


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	Babylon 5 - 'Z'ha'dum' By Scott O'Callaghan Armchair Academic posted: 05:45 pm ET 08 January 2001

Babylon 5 - ‘Deathwalker’

While the Shadows lay siege to the station, Anna convinces John to go to Z’ha’dum to hear their side of the story.

(Originally aired on October 28, 1996)

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Adam Nimoy

Pure Poetry

It was the end of the Earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectantly. All around us it was as if the universe were holding its breath, waiting. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments of revelation. This had the feeling of both.

G'Quan wrote, 'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; its is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.'

The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition to be born in moments of revelation. No one know the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.

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GUEST STARS

Jeff Corey- Justin
Ed Wasser- Morden
Melissa Gilbert- Anna Sheridan

WATCH OUT FOR

* A reinserted flashback. The first flashback scene from "Revelations" has been adjusted to put Melissa Gilbert in Beth Toussaint's place. The opening sequence tells us what we should remember of Anna and the Icarus up until this point.

* A real wedding photo. Anna looks at the photo from her own wedding to John. This photo is actually from the wedding of actors Bruce Boxleitner and Melissa Gilbert, a real-life married couple (with no Shadow implants, thank you very much).

ANALYSIS

Kosh warned him not to do it. Even though we hear the old advice "If you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die" yet again in this very episode, John Sheridan goes anyway to hear what the Shadows have to say for themselves.

They want his cooperation because he’s what they call "a nexus," someone the universe tends to follow. Needless to say, a sympathetic nexus would strengthen the Shadows' cause.

And what cause would that be? According to Justin, the Shadows are looking out for the younger races; they’re just using different means than the Vorlons. The Shadows believe in helping evolution along by fostering conflict -- the strong survive and get better, the weak perish.

What we see here is the first real indication that the conflict between the two elder races may be more than a simplistic Good vs. Evil struggle. The Vorlons aren't perfect, nor are they pure good, having done their own share of manipulating the younger races.

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But Sheridan rejects the Shadows. Part of the reason is that, as demonstrated early in this episode, when he shows Delenn what he thinks of her withholding information from him, he doesn't take kindly to manipulation.

This stubbornness is what makes him a nexus. His nature is to act according to his own lights.

Ultimately, Sheridan rejects the Shadows’ plan and causes the White Star to crash, causing untold damage.

The third season ends with an explosion and a real cliffhanger.