Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño

Sic Transit Vir is one of those episodes that doesn’t seem to be much on the surface. It’s the simple story of someone with a conscience caught up in something of a nightmare, trying to do what little he can to help the situation. In reality, it shows that life on Centauri Prime is a lot more complicated than anyone realizes. The culture has been depicted so far as one where it’s quite easy to fall out of favor with whoever is the current ruler. Fortunes rise and fall based on that alone, and the Centauri will resort to just about anything to boost their standing. Vir (Stephen Furst) is the antithesis of this, which is why the prophecy foretold in Point of No Return made him laugh.

The episode opens with Commander Ivanova (Claudia Christian) having a recurring nightmare in which she shows up to work in the Command Center naked. Meanwhile, Vir is meeting with officials back on Centauri Prime. They are praising his reports and sending him back to Babylon 5. He then enters a room filled with Narn after the Centauri official told an off-color joke about them.

Upon his return to Babylon 5, Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) presents Vir with a wife, Lyndisty (Carmen Thomas), arranged through Vir’s Uncle. Vir isn’t so sure about it, but Lyndisty seems to be enamored of him. She assures him that in the eyes of the Centauri they are already married based on agreements with their respective families. Londo is also being vexed by some creature infesting his quarters.

Back on the Station, Commander Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) asks Minbari Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan) to have dinner with him. Zak (Jeff Conaway) visits Ivanova with some irregularities in the paperwork that has been accompanying some of the Narn fleeing their Homeworld. She confronts Vir about the paperwork having come through his office. He assures Ivanova he’s trying to help the Narn.

Sheridan has learned how to cook flarn for Delenn. She is impressed until she tastes it. Meanwhile, Vir is walking with Lyndisty when they are attacked by a Narn. Sheridan arrives on the scene first and tries to thwart the attack. Zak arrives and shoots the Narn, killing him. The Narn was swearing a blood oath when he attacked Vir.

As Ivanova digs deeper, she believes Vir was attacked because he has been enabling the killing of the Narn that he helped get away from the Narn Homeworld. In front of Londo, he’s forced to confess the truth: that he faked their death in order to get them out and stop the Centauri from looking for them. Londo knows that if it comes out, the scandal will take down both of them. Vir is trying to gather his thoughts when Lyndisty finds him. Lyndisty has a negative impression of the Narn.

Vir learns Lyndisty is the daughter of a man who committed genocide against the Narn after the war. She describes what she saw in beautiful terms, rather than seeing it for the horror it is. She asks Vir to kill a Narn who was trying to kill her and confesses she has killed hundreds herself.

Londo blames the influence of the Minbari for Vir’s actions and buries the records of it. He states Vir is no longer the envoy to the Minbari. Lyndisty leaves as well, although she refuses to renounce their wedding.

Ivanova uses the alias Vir created, Abrahamo Lincolni, to keep the possibility of getting travel papers to the Narn going. She creates a whole profile for him using a photo of Sheridan she has retouched to look like a Centauri.

Through three seasons, Vir has become the Jiminy Cricket to Londo’s Pinocchio, sounding the warning when Londo’s plans to gain power within Centauri society go too far. In that regard, he’s been pretty one-dimensional until now. Yes, he was given a great storyline of becoming the envoy to the Minbari, which seemed to suit his character all too well. Vir has the conscience that the rest of the Centauri we meet seem to lack. If there’s one, there’s likely more, but all we get is Vir.

Marriages are apparently more of a business transaction than love in Centauri society. Vir still would like to marry for love, but the family has brokered the agreement with Lyndisty’s family that means they are married. Lyndisty is appealing to Vir, who didn’t think much about who he would marry up until now. How the marriage holds up remains to be seen, even with Lyndisty’s pledge to him.

The actress who portrays Lyndisty isn’t all that great. She comes off as stilted and vapid. Perhaps that would be fine, but the audience is supposed to buy into her being part of the genocide of The Narn. She seems too simple to be a part of the intrigue that would be required for what she’s done, particularly since Vir hasn’t even heard anything about it or her father’s reputation until she tells him. I think a better actress might have made something more of the role.

Stephen Furst really shows his range here as Vir is all over the place. He must act like everything is fine when he’s with the Centauri official before returning to Babylon 5. Even then, the official’s off-color joke bothers him, but he strives to cover it up. We don’t see him interact with the Narn he is helping, but it’s apparent that he has become comfortable around them. The question I have is whether the former Narn Ambassador, G’Kar (Andreas Katsulas), is aware of what Vir is doing. I feel he must be, with so many Narn arriving on the station who would likely tell him the truth about how they managed to arrive there. Furst is so good portraying the very different facets of Vir. He is disgusted by Lyndisty but also intrigued by her. Under the Centauri societal structure, she really is too good for him, except that his star is on the rise along with Londo. It wouldn’t take much for him to lose that status. Centauri men can also be won over by sex, it seems, as Vir muses that every marriage has its ups and downs when she leaves.

Ivanova is dealing with her own psychological issues after all they have been through so far, breaking away from Earth Government. All of the command staff are having issues, and each are unique. Sheridan and Delenn are growing closer, although they haven’t really moved from friendship into romance. It’s starting to look like it will be more, but they are not quite there yet. The audience has known since the early days that the command staff of Babylon 5 are helping the Narn escape Centauri oppression, and adding what Vir has done into the mix puts everyone at risk. Still, he is now seen in a different light by them.

For me, Sic Transit Vir has been one of the most memorable episodes of the show. It shows the horrors of what is happening to the Narn, as well as how Centauri society dehumanizes them, for lack of a better term. It’s much the same as we saw in Germany a century ago with Jewish citizens and what we are seeing in the United States currently with migrants. When you don’t see your enemy as just another person like you, it makes it easier to accept their deaths.

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