Story: Rising Star
Written By: J. Michael Straczynski
Season: 4
Sheridan and his forces have won. Earth is finally free from the tyranny of President Clark. But it’s time to face the music for Sheridan. He must go under inquiry for his actions. Soon it is explained to him by the new President that half of the people think he is a hero, the other half want him dead. The best course of action is for him to resign, because he may have been right to do what he did, but politically it is kind of a mess. So Sheridan will resign in exchange for amnesty for everyone who served him.
On Babylon 5, Marcus has given his life to save Susan, and when Franklin gets there she is on the floor of MedLab in tears, crying over how Marcus gave his life for hers, and feeling remorse for how she treated him over the course of their relationship, knowing full well he felt the way he did...but afraid to risk herself to a relationship only to get hurt again. The performance in this scene from Claudia Christian was excellent, probably her best work on the series, which is great because she goes out on a high, not returning for the final season (her character is stated in this to having been promoted as the new Captain of Babylon 5, but choosing to instead request a transfer to a Destroyer, citing personal reasons). I know she makes at least a couple more appearances, but this was a fine scene for her character to end on.
Delenn brings in Londo and G’Kar to ask them to join in with a new idea, she then asks all races from the non-aligned worlds to read her proposal. Everyone agrees, and at a Press Conference, after Sheridan resigns, they unveil their new plan for Peace. They will start a new Interstellar Alliance between all these worlds, with the Rangers as their main force for Peace. Offering members of all races to join the Rangers to ensure that it remain fair and balanced amongst all worlds, and to help prevent any world from trying to start war with another.
The new Earth President finds it may be in Earth’s best interest to join up, as they can offer new technologies that could help trade and boost their economy. She then finds out who she’d be dealing with, a newly elected President...John Sheridan. Sheridan has already made the amnesty deal for his people public, so the President can’t take it away now that she feels he has been worked over a little by Sheridan. He has a new job, and a new alliance is ready to bloom.
Sheridan is reunited with his father and marries Delenn, and a voiceover explains there are more hardships to follow, but this alliance will endure. It is a fine end to an great episode that really wrapped up many threads of this season. Hell if the show had ended here (as it almost did), I would have been pretty satisfied with this exit.
NEXT TIME: Future of Interstellar Alliance
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