“Acts of Sacrifice”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jim Johnston
Season 2, Episode 12
Production episode 212
Original air date: February 22, 1995
It was the dawn of the third age… We open on a battle between the Narn and the Centauri. A Narn heavy cruiser opens a jump gate to retreat, as the Centauri are kicking their asses, but then they detect a civilian ship being attacked by the Centauri. The cruiser runs interference to allow the civilians to escape through the gate, sacrificing themselves in the bargain.
Cut to B5, where G’Kar is showing the footage of the battle to Sheridan and his senior staff by way of asking for Earth’s support. The Centauri promised not to target civilians, and this is a very straightforward breaking of that promise. Mollari was supposed to be in this meeting, but refused to attend, saying only that the transport ships they fired on had weapons, not civilians. As lies go, it’s pretty transparent, and nobody in the room believes it. Sheridan can’t promise anything, but he’ll talk to his superiors on Earth. G’Kar says that’s all he asks. If Earth Alliance supports the Narn, he’s sure the other powers will fall into line.
A Lumati ship is arriving at B5, with an emissary who will be exploring the possibility of the Lumati becoming allies with Earth, maybe even joining the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Because Sheridan is too busy dealing with Narn-Centauri issues, he delegates the task of playing diplomat with the Lumati to Ivanova. Sheridan tells Ivanova to do whatever it takes to get the Lumati on board, an order that you just know will bite everyone on the ass before the episode’s over…
G’Kar makes the same appeal to Delenn that he made to Sheridan: requesting support. However, Delenn is less optimistic about her government’s willingness to help than Sheridan is. The Minbari nearly committed genocide in their last war, and it will take a lot for them to go to war again. Also, G’Kar has often plotted and schemed against the Centauri and sworn to wipe them out. In a few years, will Mollari or some other Centauri be asking for Minbari support against Narn aggression?
Allan has to break up a fight in the casino between a group of dudebro Centauri boasting about Centauri victories against the Narn and a group of Narn who don’t appreciate that.
Two Lumati arrive and are greeted by Ivanova. One is Correlimurzon, the actual diplomat. The other is Taq, his aide. The pair have a telepathic link, and Taq speaks for Correlimurzon, as it would be a loss of face if the diplomat spoke directly to an inferior race. So that’s going well.
Mollari has a meeting with a Centauri merchant, who wants a favor and is willing to do Mollari any number of favors in return. He is obviously the latest in a series, and after Mollari dismisses him, he tells Vir to keep the rest away until tomorrow. He is disgusted with the fact that the same people who barely acknowledged his existence a year ago now are sucking up to him, like he’s a wishing well with legs.
Another fight breaks out between the Centauri dudebros and the pissed-off Narn, this time in a corridor. Again, Allan has to break it up, but one Narn refuses to drop his weapon when Allan orders him to, and Allan is forced to shoot him. G’Kar is livid, but so is Sheridan. B5 is neutral territory, and crap like this makes it that much harder to convince EarthDome to support the Narn.
Ivanova’s tour of B5 takes the Lumati to medlab, where Correlimurzon is appalled to see that they treat inferior species, as that interferes with evolution. Franklin is equally appalled by the Lumati’s callous attitude.
In the casino, Mollari sees Garibaldi and invites him over, handing him a bag of money. It’s repayment for all the times Garibaldi loaned him money when he was running short. Garibaldi is less than enthusiastic about that or, indeed, about even talking to Mollari. For his part, Mollari is enjoying good fortune for the first time in a long time, and the only real friend he has to share it with is Garibaldi, to whom he offers a “chemically inoffensive” drink. Relenting only slightly, Garibaldi makes a half-hearted promise to come back and share that drink with him when he’s off-duty. Spoiler alert: he never makes it.
G’Kar appeals to the Narn on the station to avoid violence, as that only makes it harder to recruit allies. The Narn agree, but it’s a rectal infusion of smoke, as the moment he leaves, they drag the Centauri dudebro out, tied and gagged, and stab him to death, leaving his body where it will be found.
Later, we see Franklin doing the autopsy on the Centauri dudebro. While there’s no definitive proof of who stabbed him to death, it’s pretty obvious that it was a pissed-off Narn. Sheridan tells Garibaldi to hold off on telling Mollari. He’ll need to know eventually, but right now, it’ll just make matters worse.
The Lumati show up unannounced to Ivanova’s quarters, with Ivanova trying and failing to explain the concept of privacy to them. While Correlimurzon shows an unhealthy interest in Ivanova’s clothing, he also states that Ivanova has only shown him the good parts of the station. They want to see everything. Ivanova demands that he stop pawing her things and offers to take him anywhere he wants. Naturally, he wants to go to downbelow.
Sheridan is disappointed to learn from Liaison Officer Franke that EarthDome will not be providing support for the Narn. They’re staying out of the conflict. Sheridan then contacts Delenn, and the pair of them work out a plan to surreptitiously rescue Narn civilians from the war zone, and also to get food and medical supplies to them—mostly leftovers that would be disposed of or otherwise not missed. Delenn agrees.
Na’Toth sees the Narn gang buying Drazi blades and figures out what’s up, which she reports to G’Kar. For his part, G’Kar immediately goes to confront the Narn, Na’Toth backing him up. G’Kar challenges the leader of the Narn gang to combat, because that always seems to work for some stupid reason, and G’Kar beats him handily. (Na’Toth at one point has to stop another Narn from shooting G’Kar in the back.) The Narn agree to stand down, though the ringleader manages to stab G’Kar with a poisoned blade. G’Kar knocks him out, then walks out under his own power, not letting Na’Toth help him until they’re out of sight.
Ivanova explains about the lurkers to Correlimurzon: that they’re people who came to the station hoping for work and/or a better life, they failed to get either, and didn’t have the money to buy passage elsewhere, so they eke out their lives down here. Correlimurzon is impressed with the humans’ good sense to isolate their undesirables down here, away from everyone else, so they can’t pollute the gene pool. Ivanova tries to explain that that’s not the case, but it’s enough so that Correlimurzon is finally willing to speak to Ivanova directly, saying that there will be an alliance. She later meets with them in the captain’s office to sign the alliance agreement, but Ivanova is gobsmacked to learn that the Lumati seal such alliances with sex. Correlimurzon starts to take his robes off right there in the captain’s office, making it clear that they really really don’t get privacy. Ivanova makes an excuse to leave and promises to seal the deal later.
Na’Toth turns the Narn ringleader over to Garibaldi, promising that he’ll confess to killing the Centauri dudebro. Garibaldi arrests him, but is worried about how Mollari will react.
Ivanova discusses her dilemma with Franklin. She really doesn’t want to have sex with Correlimurzon, obviously, but she already told Sheridan that it was a done deal, and she has no idea what to do—at least until Franklin offhandedly mentions that the Lumati don’t know anything about human anatomy, which gives her an idea.
G’Kar, barely recovered from being stabbed, goes to meet with Sheridan and Delenn. Hopeful that they will tell him that their governments will support the Narn Regime, he is instead devastated to learn that they won’t. At first, Sheridan and Delenn’s alternate plan to provide covert aid to the civilian victims of the war is met with dismissive annoyance by G’Kar, but he puts a brave face on and thanks the captain and the ambassador. Once he leaves the meeting, he breaks down with both laughter and tears.
Ivanova invites the Lumati to her quarters. She says she wants to have sex the human way, but then demurs, figuring that Correlimurzon wouldn’t be able to handle it. As expected, the Lumati claims he can handle anything the humans can, and says he’ll do it her way.
So Ivanova does an interpretive dance all around Correlimurzon, while scatting and uttering various 1990s relationship clichés. Correlimurzon is nonplussed, but agrees to sign the treaty. He leaves. Taq stays behind a moment to shake Ivanova’s hand and give her a smile that makes it clear that he knows exactly what she did, even if his boss doesn’t, and also leaves.
Sheridan and Garibaldi go to Mollari, who surprises them by not making a public fuss. He says that the Centauri dudebro is a known pain in the ass, and has no family, and no one will miss him. If the Narn is extradited to the Centauri, his possessions and assets seized and auctioned to support the Centauri war effort, that will be enough.
Sheridan congratulates Ivanova on a successful negotiation. He also passes on a gift to Ivanova that Correlimurzon left for her. It includes a card that says, “Next time, my way.”
Garibaldi heads to the casino, and finally joins Mollari for the drink. Garibaldi is both surprised and grateful that Mollari did what he could not to escalate the situation with the Narn and the dead Centauri dudebro. Mollari says he’s happy to help his friend, even if he is that for only a little while.
Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is, to his credit, unhesitating in his support of the Narn, and the nanosecond EarthDome turns him down, he goes to Delenn to find an alternative method of supporting them.
Ivanova is God. Ivanova comports herself well on her diplomatic mission, succeeding in completing it successfully despite the apparent requirement for non-consenting sex…
The household god of frustration. Garibaldi finally gets paid back by Mollari for all the times he staked him when he was on a losing streak. It takes a bit for him to be genuinely grateful, with good reason.
If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn, notably, does not mention to G’Kar another reason why the Minbari might not help the Narn: Delenn herself has seen her influence reduced considerably. Once she might have been able to command the resources to help the Narn all on her own, but those days are now gone.
In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari’s days apparently now include an endless stream of people asking for favors from the newly influential ambassador.
Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar is trying desperately to help his people, but the road is made considerably more difficult by politics and his own people’s unwillingness to play nice. This includes G’Kar himself, as his past behavior is cited as a reason why Delenn isin’t sure the Minbari can provide aid…
Welcome aboard. The two Lumati are played by the great character actor Ian Abercrombie and the great singer/songwriter/actor Paul Williams. Christopher Darga plays the Narn troublemaker while Paul Ainsley plays the Centauri dudebro. Glenn Morshower plays Franke, and the ill-fated Narn military officers are played by Sandey Grinn and Jennifer Anglin, who are among the regular gaggle of background actors the show used a lot.
Finally, we have recurring regulars Jeff Conaway, back from “The Coming of Shadows” as Allan, and Joshua Cox, back from “All Alone in the Night” as Corwin; both will be back in “Hunter, Prey” next time.
Trivial matters. This is Mary Kay Adams’ second and final appearance as Na’Toth, and the character’s penultimate appearance. Na’Toth will next be seen in season five’s “A Tragedy of Telepaths,” played by her original actor, Caitlin Brown. Adams will, however, continue to be listed in the opening credits for the rest of the second season.
Garibaldi was seen loaning money to Mollari to pay off his gambling habit all the way back in “The Gathering.”
The echoes of all of our conversations.
“Mr. Garibaldi, in my time very few people on this station have listened to me or taken me seriously—until recently. Now I have friends I never knew were there. But you—you always listen to me, you are always kind to me, even when you had nothing to gain. And now that things are changing, and I look around for someone to share my good fortune with, there is no one. Except you. My good, close friend Garibaldi.”
—Mollari baring his soul to Garibaldi.
The name of the place is Babylon 5. “When you have been crushed beneath the wheel for as long as we have, revenge occupies your every waking thought.” All right, let’s get the pink elephant in the room out of the way: I was dreading rewatching this episode because the final scene between Ivanova and the Lumati made me laugh in 1995, but the memory of it three decades later made me shudder.
And then I watched the episode, and I did laugh again, but this time the laughter caught in my throat. While Ivanova’s solution was a clever one to get her out of being forced to have sex against her will—pretty damn close to the textbook definition of a rape—that doesn’t change the fact that she was being forced to have sex against her will. Brava to her for the solution, which has the added benefit of being hilarious (and Claudia Christian played it beautifully), but the entire notion as written is problematic as hell.
J. Michael Straczynski pointed out online back in the day that the notion of using sex to close a deal is something that has been seen throughout human history in places like ancient Egypt and parts of the Middle East, and even in parts of medieval Europe. The problem is that in those places, both parties knew going in that that was the endgame, as it were, and that’s not remotely the case here.
There’s also a very oogy component to all this, that the prize Correlimurzon gets is to have sex with the hot chick. (A component that is borne out by Correlimurzon pawing over Ivanova’s clothing in her quarters, setting us up for frat-boy behavior rather than the behavior of a diplomat doing what he’s culturally obligated to do.) Straczynski also said that if Sheridan was the one negotiating, the same demand would’ve been made, and sorry, that doesn’t wash. I don’t buy for a nanosecond that he would’ve ever even considered writing that, and also saying it on an online forum is easy. I didn’t buy it when J.K. Rowling tried to convince us that no, really, Dumbledore is gay, and I don’t buy it here, either.
As for the rest of the episode, it’s truly excellent. I love that Mollari is finding out that being influential and powerful isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (kind of the same lesson the emperor learned too late in “The Coming of Shadows”), and his scenes with Garibaldi are superb, full of pathos and sorrow, as he realizes that it really is lonely at the top.
Of course, if we feel sorry for him for too long, we can always cut back to the opening scene of the Centauri firing on civilians and G’Kar’s righteous indignation at the way the war is progressing. While this episode is full of excellent performances, Andreas Katsulas is the one who owns it. G’Kar is trying so desperately to do right by his people, and it’s a constant struggle, not aided by his own people complicating matters. Katsulas beautifully plays G’Kar’s anger, his sorrow, his desperation, and especially the complex series of emotions he goes through when Sheridan and Delenn give him the news of the aid they can provide. On the one hand, he went to this meeting so sure that the Minbari Federation and Earth Alliance were going to provide aid, and he’s so disappointed that they’re not. What Sheridan and Delenn are offering is a pittance by comparison, and you can see that it takes him several seconds to realize that both the captain and ambassador are taking a huge risk by acting against their government’s wishes to still help the Narn people. But it’s not nearly enough, either…
Also the Lumati plotline is generally pretty good, too. I love and heartily approve of the shot taken at the Star Trek spinoffs’ appallingly brutal application of the Prime Directive (see my rants on the subject in the rewatches of The Next Generation’s “Homeward” and Enterprise’s “Dear Doctor” in particular) by having the Lumati act the same way Trek protagonists do when dealing with “inferior” species. And for all that the “sex” scene is yucky, I love that Taq very obviously figured out what Ivanova was doing and gave her that knowing smile and handshake at the end.
Next week: “Hunter, Prey.”
