I am a huge fan of Babylon 5; from the get-go it grabbed me and cemented itself as one of my favorite television shows (aside from Star Trek Next Generation and Dr. Who.) I was, in particular, a fan of this season; it was filled to the brim with action and intrigue, each episode fast paced. The last couple of episodes of this season were, simply put, the most emotionally stirring and amazing episodes of television history, period. I feel like "Rising Star," the penultimate episode, was a stunningly profound episode and would have been a great conclusion. The end scene was good enough to wrap the season up. However, we got this episode instead as a season closer. I question why this was the choice for the final episode; I will say, the premise was good, but it would have been better placed somewhere else in the show, or not at all. It was bizarrely presented, taking place mostly on ISN, portraying debates between people as to wether John Sheridan was a good person or not. This was just strange, and hardly material for a finale. We jump 100 years into the future, where some more people are discussing whether Sheridan was good, when a 140-something-year-old Delenn just walks up to them and says he was and then goes into this speech and leaves. Again, very odd. We then go to my personal favorite segment of this episode, 2762, where a manipulative EarthForce officer is reconstructing different scenes from Babylon 5 via holography, and Garibaldi the hologram outsmarts him by transmitting data to the enemy earthers and blowing up the station on which the officer is located. This was pretty interesting, and probably the best part of the episode. In it, there is mention of Captain Lochley, who will come onto the show in Season 5, and of the station blowing up, but this foreshadowing is nothing like the subtlety Straczynski put on display for us in season 1-3, which was pure genius. This just felt odd and forced, and not at all like the foreshadowing of previous episodes/seasons. We then go to a millennium in the future of 2262, in which Earth has seemingly undergone a societal collapse as a result of things relating to the events which have taken place in the previous segment. We meet a monk guy who is played by the landlord from the Seinfeld episode "The Nose Job," who consults another monk who is having a crisis of faith, saying that the scriptures are wrong, that the Rangers will not return, when in fact the other guy is in secret a Ranger himself. This was pretty neat, I guess. The last segment, though, was a million years into the future; a man, who was behind all of these broadcasts, turns into some encounter-suited being, which was pretty awesome, but hardly a fitting ending to the season. This just felt like an anthology episode of things to come, which was very odd presentation-wise but, as a concept, worked, for the most part. Considering that JMS wasn't sure if the show would be canceled after season 4 and filmed "Sleeping in the Light" just in case, it is not his fault for this season outro; he had to rush to create an ending for the season. Overall, good episode, bad placement.
