Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Larry DiTillio
Directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño

Series creator and writer J. Michael Straczynski had plans in case any of the actors decided to leave. This was a good thing, as after the first season, Michael O’Hare had to leave due to the mental toll the television series was taking on him. More than halfway through the second season, he had to cope with another actor who decided to leave.

On Mars Colony, a dying man warns of danger and hands a data crystal to another man and says to get it to Babylon 5 and warn them.

Meanwhile, on Babylon 5, Commander Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) and Security Chief Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) meet. Garibaldi wants to bring commercial telepath Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson) into their inner circle. Sheridan agrees that she could be a valuable asset.

Talia is having dinner with Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian). The two have buried the hatchet and become friends. Ivanova offers her a place to stay while repairs are being done on Talia’s quarters.

A transport comes through the Jumpgate with only one life sign on board. Dr. Franklin (Richard Biggs) arrives and finds an unconscious woman on the ship. Garibaldi immediately recognizes her: Lyta Alexander (Patricia Tallman). Garibaldi recounts the events from the last time Lyta was on the Station to Sheridan. When Lyta awakens, she demands to see Captain Sheridan. She tells them that Psi Corps held her, demanding to know what she saw when she scanned Ambassador Kosh.

Six months earlier, she escaped from Psi Corps to the Mars Colony. She learned about a program Psi Corps is operating where they have a spy among the top echelon of various places, including Babylon 5. That spy has been programmed psychically to not even know they are a spy but to gather information and report back when a password is given. Lyta says the person doesn’t even know they have been programmed. Lyta can send the password psychically and reveal who it is.

Ivanova, of course, objects vociferously, even though Lyta states she will not scan anyone. Garibaldi believes Talia, but Sheridan is reluctant. He thinks the mole Talia is talking about could be the man who shot Garibaldi just prior to Sheridan’s arrival on Babylon 5.

Ivanova asks Talia Winters what she knows about Lyta. Talia tells her that Lyta was a year behind her at the Academy. They were close at one time. Lyta was with the Psi-Cops before becoming a commercial telepath. Talia tells Susan that she’s the only person on the Station she trusts implicitly.

There’s an assassination attempt on Lyta as she’s being moved. This spurs Sheridan to allow the mind probe Lyta offered. Ivanova is acting strangely, and it seems to indicate she could be the mole. Ivanova lets herself into Sheridan’s quarters where she tells him about why she can’t allow a telepath in her mind. It’s something she’s been hiding her entire life.

Sheridan gathers them all in Delenn’s quarters to meet with Lyta. He volunteers to go first. All of them are clean, and he holds off on scanning Ivanova for the time being. They go through the Command staff and find no one who responds to the password. Ivanova finally allows the scan and comes out clean. Talia walks into the room and Lyta sends her the password almost as a reflex, exposing Talia as the mole.

Sheridan, Garibaldi, and Dr. Franklin try to figure out how much they are compromised. Susan goes to see Talia, who responds that the Talia that Susan knew no longer exists.

It’s implied in this episode that Susan and Talia become lovers. It seems like they almost kiss, and then later on when Talia wakes up, she reaches over to find the bed empty beside her. This was the 1990s and that was still a taboo subject to address at the time. Straczynski has stated that was his intent with the relationship between the two. If Andrea Thompson hadn’t chosen to leave, it’s intriguing to imagine where he might have gone with this.

Was this a good choice for Thompson? The role of the commercial telepath hadn’t been much up until this point and she’s stated that’s why she left. Following this, she spent three seasons on NYPD Blue, so there’s that. Patricia Tallman slipped back into the role of the commercial telepath on Babylon 5 and had some pretty intense moments in the role. Thompson might have made a mistake leaving when she did, but Straczynski did a great job writing her out in an impactful way.

This also paints the Psi Corps as a much bigger issue than was known before. They always had a Gestapo-like quality, but the extent to which they have their fingers in things was not known. To be honest, it still isn’t shown at this point, either, but this is another of the significant clues that they are not to be trifled with. It’s a little bit here and a little bit there and you don’t realize how much control they have until it’s too late.

The acting is great. I loved seeing Susan and Talia together. Both actresses do a lot with the roles here. Thompson is depicting Talia with a bit more feeling than we’ve seen from her up until now. Susan also comes off as a bit lonely and vulnerable which is different from the stoic, in-control persona we’re used to.

If the change had to come, this handles it very well and also adds to the overall story in a great way. Sheridan and Garibaldi congratulate themselves in the end for dodging that bullet, but this serves as a reminder that they are in dangerous territory, and not just from The Shadows.

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