And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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(I thought it only fitting to have a picture up in tribute to the character that goes BYE-BYE in this episode...)
WOW!!
What an episode!!
Of course, I'm partial to ANY episode that features the Centauri this heavily, but this one is probably about the most "I, Claudius" they've been to date! (They'll surpass it in the early 4th season, BWAHAHA.) The death scene was...interesting...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
This episode has two seperate sub-plots, neither of which ties DIRECTLY into the other, except for in the matter of--the soundtrack...
I'll explain that in a bit, but first, let's move right along and get into the review proper. (Well, actually I've never written an IMPROPER review--OKAY, okay, I'll stop joking around already, sheesh.) Let's start off with the simpler--but still quite good--subplot, and leave the wonderful Centauri power-plays for last.
The introduction has Ivanova doing a voice-over to explain the current status (why does SHE always seem to end up with that job?)--they're still hiring telepaths, Franklin is still on Walkabout, G'Kar is acting weird, etc. Then on with the show.
Captain Sheridan has been spending too much time in the War Room lately, all stressed out about the seeming randomness of the Shadow attacks. Delenn comes in to try to cheer him up. "Ivanova said you were 'carrying on cranky'. I did not know what that word meant, so I looked it up. It said it meant 'grouchy'. So I looked up grouchy, and IT said it meant 'crotchety.'"
"It just doesn't make sense" Sheridan mutters under his breath, totally not hearing a WORD she's just said.
"I know, that is what I thought when I found the word 'crotchety', I said to myself, 'How can this be a real word?' No wonder you Humans have such an eccentric culture! None of your words have their own meaning; you have to look up one to understand another. It never ends."
Sheridan turns to face her finally. "I haven't had a good night's sleep since Kosh died. I've been having nightmares--the kind of nightmares that make your hair stand on end."
"Well, that would certainly explain the Centauri!"
I was ON THE FRAGGING FLOOR laughing! At LAST! One of the things that the FANS joke about incessantly, and a CHARACTER, on the ACTUAL SHOW, actually came out and SAID it! Who woulda thunkit? I ADORE that scene...
Okay, okay, enough of that...A bunch of clergymen and women of all different types arrive on the station in the hopes that they will be able to uplift people and raise morale during these very trying times. This results in a lot of GREAT dialogue, especially from Brother Theo, who is always fun. "I can only assume someone has been spray-painting the word 'idiot' on my back again?" and too many others to name here. Anyway, they decide to hold a Gospel prayer meeting later on, and invite the aliens so they can get an up-close look at some Earth beliefs.
We then have a touching scene where the Baptist preacher dude comes to Sheridan in his quarters and talks to him about how no one man should shoulder ALL the burden himself; it makes you distant, makes people afraid to talk to you for fear of adding to your troubles. He suggest that Sheridan should talk to "Eve"--meaning, obviously, Delenn--and then says that she LOVES Sheridan, that he could see it in her eyes. This embarrasses Sheridan to no end but he eventually agrees to go talk to her in hopes it will help.
The next scene (of THIS plotline; its scenes are intercut with the Centauri one) has Sheridan talking to Delenn in the War Room, like the guy said to. They keep going over the Shadow attacks, trying to find a pattern--and they finally find one: The Shadows have all been deliberately AVOIDING one area of space--in hopes to herd all the refugees in there and then hit them hard, to be as devastating as possible. "Maybe it's about terror as much as territory" muses Sheridan. Good boy, Johnny, you're starting to figure it out. "I mean, it's what I would do..."
Delenn stares at him in absolute SHOCK, taking the figure of speech literally. "I mean, if I were the bad guys..." he trails off under her withering glare. "The only way were'r going to beat them is to think like them."
"THINK like them?" she demands, shocked to the core. "That's it. You need a break from all this. RIGHT NOW." and she starts dragging him out of the room.
"But Delenn", he whines, "I have all this stuff to do, and they need me here..." as she steadily pulls him towards the door.
"Yes, John, of COURSE, John, whatever you SAY, John..."
Then we have the Gospel service itself, with Humans and aliens in attendance. When the song starts (and it was amusing to see both Delenn and Lennier trying to get into it) THAT'S when things get BIZARRE.
But to explain WHY, we must now cut over to the Centauri plotline.
It starts off with Londo telling Vir to go do something rather dastardly, over dinner (spoo!). He wants him to tell G'Kar that his former aide, Na'Toth ("Remember her?" "REMEMBER? I still have the CLAW-marks!") is actually still alive, but in captivity on Narn, in the catacombs beneath the building that formerly housed the Kha'Ri, their ruling council. As the last remaining member of the Kha'Ri, G'Kar will be the only one who knows the layout of those tunnels so if he wants to rescue her (and he was reportedly very fond of her) he will have to do it himself. Then, once he is down there, Londo will spring his trap and capture him, thus winning glory for House Mollari while getting rid of an old enemy.
Vir is absolutely horrified. "I WON'T do it, Londo, I WON'T." But Londo eventually forces him to with steadily escalating threats, ending with having Vir's family whipped naked through the streets of the capitol at mid-day "and then I'll get MEAN." No, what he really said is that then, he would destroy them. So poor little Vir is forced to do it out of fear for his family.
(Note: It never IS explained whether Na'toth is alive or dead, not in this episode, not EVER as far as I can tell. Too bad, I LIKED her--"claw-marks" and all.)
Meanwhile, Lord Refa and a member of the Royal Court itself, Minister Virini (note: the guy playing him did a very good job talking in a mannered, "courtly" way, and was one of the few actors who can look DIGNIFIED in a Centauri wig...) arrive on the station. Refa talks with the Minister while he is unpacking his stuff (and complaining about the decor--ah, the Centauri are SUCH fun...) "This in-fighting between House Refa and House Mollari must STOP," he tells Refa. "It is threatening to destabilise the Royal Court. You say he attempted to poison him, he says something much the same, and it goes on..."
"What if I could PROVE to you that Londo is a traitor?" Refa says eagerly. The Minister considers it and dismisses Refa--who bumps into LONDO, just coming IN.
Londo says much the same thing, that Refa is a traitor and that he can prove it, and "remove a menace to the Royal Court." "Would that get me Emperor Cartagia's favour?"
"Perhaps", says Virini with a wry expression.
"Done."
You think this is complicated NOW, just WAIT...
Then, Vir tells G'Kar the lie, hanging his head low in shame the entire time. Poor baby. I really FELT for him the first time I saw this; being just as duped as he was. It really hurts him to have to do something so horrible, but he thinks he has no choice. Oh, geez...
Shortly after this, as if his life isn't enough of a mess ALREADY, he is grabbed and kidnapped by Lord Refa's people and thrown into a small, dark room, lit only by two bright spotlights--one on him, and one on Refa, making him look even CREEPIER than he normally does. Refa first tries to bribe him with all kinds of goodies. When that doesn't work, as he knew it wouldn't, he sics his personal trained telepath (one of the SCARIEST-looking individuals I have EVER seen) on him to RIP the information directly out of Vir's mind. Which he does. Quickly. Efficiently. Painfully.
Meanwhile, G'Kar comes to Mr. Garibaldi, who once helped him smuggle something OUT of Narn space; now he wants Garibaldi to help him smuggle something IN--"about this high, and this wide", he says, gesturing to himself. Garibaldi says it will be difficult, but G'Kar has faith in his abilities. Oh, gods, you're thinking at this point, he's playing RIGHT into Londo's evil schemes.
BWAHAHA. Juuuuuust keep watching...
Vir, trapped in a small dark room, sees light as the door cracks open and a loud THUMP as the guard hits the floor. "Finally", says Londo, walking into the room and shaking his hand as if it hurts. "I am beginning to think they hire guards based strictly on the amount of bone content in their heads. You might as well hire Minbari."
(GREAT MAKER! Now BOTH races' ambassadors have made jokes--good ones, too--about each other in the SAME episode, and neither one of them has any idea about the other one! I was on the FLOOR laughing at this line, not just at the line itself but at the circumstances. Gotta love it...)
Meanwhile, the gospel prayer meeting is just starting in another portion of the station...
And at the same time, G'Kar arrives on Narn, where he is met by an old friend (played by Wayne Alexander, AGAIN, that guy's everywhere!) and talks about how the temperature is always colder now on their world, after the Centauri bombed it; the clouds of particulate matter block out the sun. (Can we say "nuclear winter", boys, girls, and hermaphrodites?) G'Kar then starts heading down into the catacombs.
ALSO at the same time, Lord Refa, a bunch of guards, and one of HIS cronies, a Lord Drigo, are strolling through those same catacombs. They have been done up to resemble the Royal Palace on Centauri Prime, to please Emperor Cartagia when he comes to visit Narn. (And yes, he will. Later.) Then Refa asks Drigo for six...no, seven of his best guards, to help him capture G'Kar. "I will bring the last of the Kha'Ri back home in chains--as a gift, for Emperor Cartagia", he fantasises (FORESHADOWING...but it doesn't happen for the reason you think!), "and one more thing--a sliver plate--with the HEAD of Londo Mollari!"
WHOAH, these people don't kid around, do they?
(No, indeed, they don't...)
G'Kar and his Narn buddies come walking around the corner from the opposite direction as Lord Refa and his guards, and the two groups bump into each other. "That's far enough", smirks Refa, so SURE that HE has control of the situation. "You have just taken your last step as a free Narn." He motions to his guards. "I want G'Kar alive. The rest--do as you wish."
Back on the station, the preacher is winding up his sermon and motions "All rise" to sing a hymn.
Back on Narn: "You can't harm me", says G'Kar to Refa, calmly.
"Oh, yes? And what's going to stop me?"
"This". He takes out a small device from his pocket and activates it. It is a hologram of Londo. The hologram then proceeds to explain what's REALLY been going on. First, he explains why he's doing this to Refa--not only because of the competition between their two Houses, but because "you have taken from me that which I truly loved" (sniff. Oh, GEEZ. Of course he's talking about Adira, but tragically, as we know--he's making a mistake! It was MORDEN who killed her, not Refa! But Refa has become such a great danger to both him and the Empire, he has to die before it's too late, regardless.) and because of his unwise advice to the Emperor that caused the Centauri army to weaken their own defenses.
G'Kar was in on this scheme of Londo's the entire time, and was actually helping him trap Refa, not the other way around, in return for Londo's freeing of 2,000 Narns. (That's EXACTLY the same number that "Abrahamo Lincolni" freed, does this mean something?) The guards Refa has with him are all actually loyal to House Mollari, "they will not obey you from this moment on." (at this point, the guards all lower their guns.) Why such an elaborate scheme to kill him, when he could do it much more easily? Because by having him killed on Narn, his entire FAMILY will also be discredited. Londo then goes on--in front of the waiting Narns--about how it was Lord Refa who decided to attack the Narn homeworld, against Londo's advisement (true) and how Refa was also responsible for the creation of death camps, "genetic cleansing programs", and was PERSONALLY responsible for the deaths of 5 or 6 MILLION Narns. "And now", says Londo, evilly, "they would like to THANK you."
"This datacrystal will be found on his body", says G'Kar, physically putting it inside the completely stunned Refa's jacket. "Leave the head and face alone; they will be needed for identification later", he tells the other Narns, then, in a deliberate parody of what Refa just said, "The rest--do as you wish."
EEEK!
Refa tries to weasel out of his impending doom as the angry Narns converge on him. "You don't BELIEVE all that, do you?" he squeaks. Yes, they DO, and the chase is on, as Lord Refa starts FLINGING himself down the corridors.
Meanwhile, back on the station, they've started singing the hymmn. And this leads to one of the most BIZARRE death scenes I have EVER seen. You see, the soundtrack from the gospel song is layered ON TOP OF Lord Refa's death scene. And the words FIT! Deliberately, of course. "The sinner won't find any hiding place when it comes his time to DIE", "I looked to the rock to hide my face, but the rock cried out, no hiding place, no hiding place down here." (and he's UNDERGROUND, remember? It TOTALLY fits.) The scenes of him running desperately, in slow motion to make it even more horrific, down the dark, dank catacombs and being caught and stopped by angry Narns at every turn, TRAPPED, no way out, is juxtaposed with scenes of the people back on the station all singing the song, happy and cheerful and having a great old time, to make a whole that is both funny AND scary as all Hell at the exact same time!
Oh, and notice that they show G'Kar RIGHT when the gospel singer lady says the word "Jesus"...
Remember when I said stuff in earlier reviews about Straczynski's ability to make you laugh AND be frightened to death or repulsed, simultaneously, and also hinted that as strong as these earlier examples were, they weren't THE example? Well, Lord Refa's death scene is IT. Unless you want to count the character of Emperor Cartagia, who we will meet shortly in the early fourth season, himself. If he isn't funny--in a very, very dark-humour way (but humour IS such a SUBJECTIVE thing...) and SCARY at the same time, I don't know who is...
The fans have mixed views on this death scene. Some totally love it for its difference. Some totally hate it and say it's too silly. I say its...WEIRD. I would have liked Lord Refa, one of the best villians the show ever had, to get a DIGNIFIED exit, but at the same time, the plotting and scheming that led up to that scene was so delicious I sorta have to forgive it...so with me, I guess you could kinda say the jury is out.
And here's a thought...since Refa has already been half-poisoned, does this mean that Londo has just "killed the one who is not already dead", thereby giving up one of his last three chances for redemption? YIKES.
There are only a couple more short scenes and then the episode is over. (Thank the gods, I'm sure you're saying by now.)
Londo meets with Minister Virini and gives him the data-crystal--completely covered with Refa's BLOOD (ewww...) that was "found" on his body, only instead of containing proof that he HURT the Narns, as G'Kar had said earlier, it REALLY has "proof" that he was secretly HELPING them. "Do you think this will win me the favour of Emperor Cartagia?" Londo asks Virini.
Turning away so that Londo cannot see the sad/sarcastic expression that suddenly crosses his face, Virini answers that it probably will. Why that expression? The good Minister seems to know something about Cartagia that we don't--YET...
Out in the hallway, a very angry Vir not only confronts Londo, but YELLS in his face. This is a far cry from the timid, bumbling attaché we met back in the beginning. "You USED me!" he cries. Londo explains how he knew that Refa had brought a telepath along, so he HAD to tell Vir the wrong information, so that Refa would know only what he wanted to know. "But he could have killed me!" "Ah, you are not IMPORTANT enough to KILL," Londo dismisses it.
"I used to think I knew you, Londo", says Vir, obviously very hurt and for good reasons. "But I never knew you at all." Geez...
For the very last scene, Delenn gives Sheridan a nice little surprise--an entire FLEET of White Star ships! As the fleet flies by the viewscreen, they grab each other AND WE FINALLY SEE THEM KISS! (Not counting time-travel, that is.) YAY!!
And what the HECK was up with all that "Z-Minus 10 Days" stuff?
Wait and see...

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