And the Sky Full of Stars

As this episode opens we see that two men have travelled to Babylon 5 and they are targeting Commander Sinclair. We also see a security guard, who has been suspended for running up gambling debts give a power unit to the two men. The next night Sinclair wakes from a dream about the 'Battle of the Line'; the final battle in the Earth-Minbari war to find the station apparently abandoned... Actually he is the prisoner of the two strangers and everything going on is within his head. They are determined to find out what happened in the commander's missing twenty four hour during which the war ended with the shock surrender of the Minbari. They clearly believe that Sinclair is part of a Minbari plot to undermine Earth from within. While this is going on Sinclair's colleagues are searching for him.

This was a really impressive episode even though most of it took place in Sinclair's mind. We see further evidence of people on Earth being paranoid about the motives of aliens; what makes it interesting is that there are hints that they may be right to be concerned. The Minbari surrender still remains unexplained and it is stated again that if Sinclair discovers what happened to him the Minbari will have him killed... this is almost certainly a subject that will take centre stage in future episode. The episode provides a fair amount of action; both during flashbacks to the battle and a shootout towards the end of the episode. Michael O'Hare is on good form as the commander and guest stars Christopher Neame and Judson Scott are solid as his captors. Overall this was a really impressive episode; not just because of the questions it answers but also for those it raises.