Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Larry DiTillio, and Peter David
Directed by Michael Vejar

At first glance, All The Honor Lies seems to just be a bit of humorous filler in the ongoing story. In actuality, it is one of those episodes that stands alone well while also managing to be humorous and give us a bit more background into some of the alien species we see on Babylon 5.

Commander Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) is with Lt. Commander Ivanova (Claudia Christian), breaking the news to her that the Senate Oversight Committee has decided to merchandise the station in an attempt to add money to the operating budget of Babylon 5. There will be a gift shop on the station promenade, and Sheridan puts Ivanova in charge of it. As he’s leaving to meet with Ambassador Kosh, he is attacked and his commlink is stolen. He chases after the thief and gets into a fight with a Minbari. He’s forced to kill him.

Delenn (Mira Furlan), who is the Minbari Ambassador, meets with Security Chief Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) and Sheridan. Delenn tells him the slain man, Lavell, is from a highly respected family. The Minbari must investigate it separately from station security.

Mr. Garibaldi tries to question the Minbari, but Delenn’s aide, Lennier (Bill Mumy) is on top of him at every turn. Garibaldi thinks perhaps the whole thing was a set-up.

Lennier finds the Minbari witness, Ashan (Sean Sullivan). When Delenn tries to question him, he calls her a freak and refuses to answer her questions. He will answer Lennier. He tells Lennier that Lavell was deferring to Sheridan when he was shot in cold blood. Even though the Minbari do not lie, Delenn finds Ashan’s statement to be dubious as what he’s saying is too out of character for Sheridan.

Earth Dome has sent a lawyer (Julie Caitlin Brown) to defend Sheridan. Earth Dome thinks it should go to trial, however, whether he’s found guilty or innocent he will have to step down as Commander of Babylon 5.

Lennier is following Ashan. He stops Security Officer Zak (Jeff Conaway) from discovering that Ashan is meeting with the human who stole Sheridan’s commlink.

Meanwhile, the Centauri Vir (Stephen Furst) receives a transmission from Centauri Prime meant for the Centauri Ambassador, Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik). He learns he is being replaced, now that Londo is a more important figure. He’s trapped between Londo’s secrets and the contempt he’s treated with at home. Londo spots one of the dolls from the gift shop and is offended. When he confronts Sheridan, Londo informs him that Minbari will lie to protect another Minbari’s honor.

The humor of the gift shop and merchandising of the station – along with Londo’s offense at how he’s depicted – give great balance to the murder investigation. I often joke about how every ride at Disney empties into a gift shop, and it would seem like they are still trying to do the same in 2259. Ivanova is depicted as the straight person here with chaos all around her which makes it all the more humorous.

In a way, the murder is a cliche, but it also serves to reveal more about the Minbari. The audience learns about their dedication to the truth, except when it would preserve a person’s honor. They value honor above all else, even the truth. This reveals a frightening side to them, in a sense. Even with Lennier striving to fix things, it seems to indicate that Minbari can’t quite be trusted.

The acting here is great. Boxleitner vacillates between humor over the gift shop issue and the gravity of the situation with the dead Minbari. It gives him more depth as being the head of the station is quite different than what he’s experienced in his military career. Sheridan is learning how to adapt to not knowing who his enemy really is from a place where everything is black and white. This is critical growth for the character, and it’s done in a very subtle way.

Lennier also reveals more about himself and the Minbari. Although Delenn is the Ambassador, it falls to Lennier to handle the situation due to the rejection of her as a true Minbari. Lennier is striving for both justice and honor but stumbles a bit along the way. The dynamic here works well, although it seems like a bit of a trope to have Lennier running interference with Garibaldi’s investigation and to stretch it out for the whole episode.

This is what was so revolutionary about this series. It was one of the first that had an overall story told over five seasons. Episodes that seemed to stand on their own would drop bits of information like this that built the story and the characters. In future episodes, we know more about the Minbari thanks to bits of information like this.

It also applies to the Centauri, although not quite the same. Londo goes to great lengths to protect Vir. Vir comes off as a bumbling nincompoop, but he is the “good” voice on Londo’s shoulder. He’s the Jiminy Cricket questioning the morality of what Londo is doing. Londo knows he needs that. There’s no misplaced loyalty here on Londo’s part. He’s not protecting Vir out of friendship. He knows he needs the voice Vir provides.

All The Honor Lies is a solid bit of character development couched in some good humor. It takes a break from all of the conflict and war to advance the characters without being overbearing about it.

Previous episode of the series:

Next episode of the series: