1.15
Grail
I want a walking stick like Aldous carries, that would be sweet! What kind of name is Jinxo, he reminds me of a G.I. Joe washout or something. I have no qualms at all about laughing in the face of anyone that tells me they have dedicated their life to searching for the holy grail. Why not dedicate your life to something far more worthwhile and fulfilling like writing entertainment reviews or sports journalism? Oh, wait…
Written By: Christy Marx
Directed By: Richard Compton
Bare Essentials:
A Plot - Aldous Gajic is on B5 searching the galaxy over for the holy grail of legend. He befriends a pick pocket nicknamed Jinxo and is killed while trying to save him.
B Plot - A crime boss on B5, Deuce, has procured a fake Vorlon encounter suit and a Na’ka’leen Feeder. He uses the Feeder to wipe the mind of a woman that is going to testify against him, and is going top use it against Aldous Gajic and Ombuds Wellington. Jinxo gets Commander Sinclair and station security to intervene and Deuce’s plans are foiled and his Feeder is killed.
C Plot - Jinxo was a construction worker on every Babylon station. He left all four previous stations and they were subsequently destroyed. Because of that he refuses to leave B5. He befriends Aldous Gajic and after Aldous dies and bequeaths his life work to Jinxo he finally finds the courage to leave the station.
More Arc, Less Arch:
Delenn’s point about Sinclair being a seeker was seen before in Infection. It will stay a theme of his character until he finally finds what he is seeking in War Without End, Part 2.
Who Are You? What Do Yo… Hey, I’m Asking The Questions Here!:
What the heck is a cycle equivalent to?
Why does Deuce abduct Ombuds Wellington? It makes no sense at all for him, or within the story, to bring that much attention to himself especially when Ombuds Wellington had cleared him of all his criminal charges.
Idiosyncratic Musings:
The idea of a true seeker and the Minbari’s need to respect him versus our inclination to not care is an interesting one. On the one hand the Minbari seem to value everything that is religious whether it be right or wrong. But, from the human perspective there are a lot of factors that go into whether or not we would respect someone like Aldous. Whether or not you view him as a holy man to begin with all depends on if you share his belief that the holy grail is actually a holy item. The Minbari view his search for the grail as the search for perfection and salvation of his race. Perfection is all relative, and comes down to the individual person. I don’t believe that anyone can ever be perfect, and that no holy relic can ever change the fact that we are all imperfect beings. The salvation of the human race depends on whether or not you believe the race needs salvation. I believe our race is fine the way that it is. It could use some more enlightenment and some more open mindedness, but in no way do I feel that as the whole we are in need of salvation. A very interesting idea indeed with a myriad of different answers, none of which are wrong in the slightest.
Another interesting idea is the idea of seeking purpose in ones life. Delenn contends that Aldous found his purpose in life simply by living and searching for the grail. She also contends that Sinclair is still searching for his purpose in life. In a way Delenn is right about Sinclair and at the same time right about every single one of us. I don’t believe that a single person can ever claim to have found their purpose in life, all the way up until death. In that way I think Delenn is wrong, because I don’t believe you ever find that purpose, but rather life is the constant search for that purpose and the journey that entails. Sinclair may believe that becoming Valen is his purpose and finally gives him something to live for, but by becoming Valen he opens up an entire new avenue of searching. That is what makes life one giant journey that never ends. Life is one avenue after another and the journey through those avenues and for your purpose in those avenues never ends.
Garibaldi’s speech in medlab about Lurkers brings an interesting irony to his character. Garibaldi views himself as the everyman, no different or better than any man that works for a living and trudges through life. But, at the same time he views himself as much better than the Lurkers. By doing that he takes on the same characteristics of the social elite that he so abhors. It’s a very ironic addition to his character that makes him nowhere near such a black and white archetype.
The relationship between Aldous and Jinxo is a neat contrast between the eternal optimist and the eternal pessimist. Aldous truly believes in those around him and believes that the best will happen in the end. Whereas Jinxo believes that the worst is always going to be the outcome. The two of them play off of each other well as they let this dynamic play out. Personally I’m more of a middle ground man. I’m not as pessimistic as Jinxo, but I do believe that there are plenty of instances where people ensure that the worst possible outcome is the one that we get. But, while I’m not as optimistic as Aldous I do share his belief that there are good people out there and that good outcomes do happen. It’s an interesting dynamic, and really either way you go you can’t go wrong.
I See What You Did There:
Deuce, real name Desmond Muchenko, is a new crime boss on B5.
It’s Not Kosher If It’s Not Kosh:
His response to the fact that some people are a little nervous about him because they don’t know what he looks like, “Good.”
Say It Again Mac:
Ivanova, “No boom today, boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow.”
Yes, I Am A Fleet Junkie:
Babylon 1 was sabotaged, it is not known by whom, and destroyed when its infrastructure collapsed.
Babylon 2 was also sabotaged, although it was not revealed how it was destroyed or whom was responsible for the sabotage.
Babylon 3 blew up, but no other details were given.
Babylon 4’s construction was completed but it disappeared from space.
It’s Your Cultural Imperative:
The Na’ka’leen Feeder appears to be sentient, it talks to Deuce at one point. They originate from a Centauri sector of space that is usually quarantined because of how dangerous they are. They have four prehensile limbs, and they walk on three of them, and have a bulbous head. At least one of their limbs has a feeding appendage that attaches to a beings head and erases their memories and life experiences. Those memories and life experiences are the Na’ka’leen Feeder’s form of sustenance. That doesn’t work at all for me since a flesh and bone creature can not be sustained by immaterial life experiences and memories. Sure, it’s science fiction and anything can usually fly, but that idea completely fails in my book.
The alien being accused in the opening court room scene of abducting people is a Vree. We have seen at least one of their capital ships before but this is the first time we see them physically. They have enlarged hairless heads with big black oval eyes and otherwise humanoid bodies.
The Ombuds are one person who serves as both judge and jury in the EA legal system.
I Think This Might Be Based On Something:
The holy grail is supposedly the cup that Jesus Christ drank out of at the last supper. It is rumored to contain the powers of regeneration and eternal life.
The transport that Jinxo leaves on at the end of the episode is the Marie Celeste. The Marie Celeste was a sailing ship found adrift at seas in 1872. The crew that found them were eventually tried for murder but were cleared of their charges when not enough evidence was presented against them.
The character of Aldous Gajic is named after Mira Furlan’s husband, Goran Gajic.
You Look Mighty Familiar:
William Sanderson, Deuce, played the awesome E.B. Farnum on Deadwood. He voiced Dr. Karl Rossum in assorted episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. He also played Skeets, one of the lounge abouts in the diner, in The Rocketeer. Most sci-fi fans will know him as J.F. Sebastian in Blade Runner.
Jim Norton, Ombuds Wellington, portrayed Mr. Mason in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He appeared in a few Father Ted episodes as Bishop Len Brennan. He was in a pair of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes as Albert Einstein.
Jim Booker, Jinxo, only has one other role that I feel like mentioning since I’m a huge fan of the show. He played the limo driver in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm entitled The Massage.
David Warner, Aldous Gajic, voiced Ra’s Al Ghul in Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond and Superman: The Animated Series. He voiced Herbert Landon in a series of episodes for Spider-Man: The Animated Series as well as the voice of The Lobe in a bunch of episodes of Freakazoid!. He played Jor-El in the episode Foundling of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. He was Gul Madred for Chain Of Command Parts One & Two on Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and John Talbot in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Big fans of pizza may remember him as Professor Jordan Perry in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze. He played Thomas Eckhardt for a trio of Twin Peaks episodes. And the list goes on and on and on. Seriously, IMDB this guy and check out all the genre stuff he’s appeared in or voiced because there’s a ton of it.
Casting Ahead:
The person complaining about his grandfather being abducted in opening court scene is actually Babylon 5’s director of photography, John C. Flinn III.
That Wasn’t Supposed To Happen:
Garibaldi’s decision to immediately take Jinxo to the Ombuds is a bit of an inconsistency. We have been shown before, and will be shown after Grail, that all the people on B5 have the right to due process. They are always arrested, brought back to the station house for booking, etc.. Yet in Grail Garibaldi arrests Jinxo and on the spot takes him before the judge for a trial, this clearly does not jive with the rest of the series.
The above situation also has Garibaldi erroneously telling Aldous that he has to testify against Jinxo because he’s a material witness. This doesn’t fit with continuity at all because it’s always been shown, and is shown with the character of Miriam Runningdear in this very episode, that the characters have the right to choose to testify or to even file charges. In this situation Garibaldi doesn’t even give Aldous that choice.
This isn’t exactly an accident or an error, but it is perplexing. Deuce keeps going on and on about cycles as a unit of time. The problem with that is that in all of Babylon 5 before and after Grail time is always refereed to in the standard hours and minutes. It’s a bit of a character oddity and a show oddity.
Lennier goes into a big spiel about the two castes of Minbari, Warrior and Religious. Well, there are three castes of Minbari as Lennier completely left out the Worker caste. That’s a very big flub.
The entire angle of Aldous saving Jinxo is wrong. He sees Deuce sneaking up to shoot Jinxo so he jumps out to save him. The problem is he’s facing the wrong direction, looking away from Deuce and he gets shot in the arm instead of head on.
My biggest problem with the above scene is Aldous dying from a PPG wound to the shoulder. PPG’s are designed to cauterize so as to minimize the blood loss. The shot hit him in the shoulder so no major organs were hit. How did he die exactly?
The Ombuds Have Decided:
Grail is an episode that produces a lot of interesting discussion and philosophical leanings. It really is amazing how much discussion can be gleaned from this episode. The Sinclair thread line about purpose in life is particularly neat to get into. However, it takes all of that interesting philosophical debate to help Grail rise above its inconsistencies, continuity errors, and plot holes. There are just too many holes and mistakes in Grail for it to be considered good. Enjoy the debate that this episode will inspire and hopefully the fact that the actual content of the episode is pretty bad won’t bother you all that much.
Deuce’s line of “Won’t you, Ambassador Kosh?” that takes place before the opening credits is delivered very awkwardly and with bad timing. For those who couldn’t figure it out by the start this is a dead giveaway that the encounter suit isn’t actually Kosh. This feeds into the whole storyline of “Kosh is evil, he is wiping peoples minds for Deuce.” That never works, and it’s obvious from the start that Deuce’s Kosh isn’t the real Kosh. There’s no mystery, suspense, horror, or intrigue in the plotline. Every time the fake Kosh appears it brings the entire episode crashing to a halt.
I hope you’re all ready for a lot of Feeder bashing. The voice of the Na’ka’leen Feeder is really bad and electronic sounding. The idea of the Feeder being talked down by Aldous is a bit over the top. It adds an almost mystic nature to his character that really wasn’t needed. The Feeder makes a loud reverberating sound as it jumps to the ground behind one of the security officers. Despite the loud noise the SO stands there like an idiot and acts surprised when the Feeder sneaks up behind him.
There wasn’t a lot of CGI in Grail, but what little there was didn’t look good. The whole scene where everyone is shooting the Feeder and blood spurts out the back of the Feeder’s head looks incredibly fake. The charred remains of the real prop Feeder look nothing at all like the CGI Feeder. All in all the entire Feeder was a failed concept, both in execution and theory.
The music in the scene in Londo’s quarters where Aldous is searching for the grail is a bit overbearing. It was a funny scene on its own, but the music overshadows the scene and drowns out most of the humor. This same music unfortunately rears its ugly head later in the scene with Garibaldi, Londo, and Vir. That is another instance where the scene was funny enough on its own but then the music kicked in and completely overshadowed the scene and killed the humor.
Rating:
59/100
D+
That’s it for the search for the holy grail. Next time we will look deeply into each other to see the truth in our Eyes.
Cheers,
Bill