SUMMARY: To help promote intergalactic peace, the Earth Alliance hosts a religious festival aboard Babylon 5.
Representatives from every alien race arrive to demonstrate the customs of their diverse religions.
G'Kar soon meets Tu'Pari, a courier from their homeworld, who gives him a data crystal from Du'Rog, G'Kar's political enemy. On this video message, Du'Rog claims that his own political career was ruined by G'Kar's ambitious treachery. Dying of an incurable disease, Du'Rog also wants G'Kar to die. He's hired an unknown assassin to murder G'Kar during the festival.
G'Kar suspects every stranger arriving at the space station, including his new diplomatic aide, Na'Toth. She claims to be
innocent and reminds G'Kar that members of the Narn assassins guild leave a black rose near their intended victims. When G'Kar awakens with a black rose on his pillow, he hires a hulking alien bodyguard to protect him.
The unknown assassin kills the guard, and Garibaldi investigates.
Meanwhile, Commander Sinclair reunites with his frequent
lover, Catherine Sakai, a geological surveyor who arrives
on Babylon 5 to meet with some alien mining executives. Sinclair and Catherine's conflicting careers and expectations frequently make them quarrel. After reluctantly agreeing to try once again to have a committed relationship, Catherine promises to return to Babylon 5 in a few weeks so
they can be together.
During one religious demonstration, Ambassador Delenn and her new attache, Lennier conduct a ceremony where a spiritual rebirth supposedly occurs after eating a special fruit. The ritual also aids Delenn with her secret mission - to make sure Sinclair still does not remember the 24 mysterious hours of his war experience against the Minbari years ago. If Sinclair remembers, Delenn has orders to kill him.
Later, while meeting with Lieutenant Commander Ivanova, Sinclair expresses sudden suspicion about the intentions and
trustworthiness of the enigmatic Vorlon, Kosh.
As the festival concludes, Tu'Pari, the actual assassin, abducts G'Kar into the cluttered interior level of Babylon 5 known as "Down Below," and tortures him in preparation to completing his assassin's contract. Luckily, Na'Toth follows them and helps G'Kar defeat Tu'Pari in a brutal fist fight.
Failing to fulfill the terms of his contract, Tu'Pari flees from the space station on the next shuttle flight before the Narn assassin's guild arrives to punish him.

BRASH REFLECTIONS:
I especially liked how Sinclair handled the problem of demonstrating Earth's dominant belief system. Wonderfully done.

Oh, and when G'Kar and Na'Toth send that assassin on his way, that cute little exchange was definately the funniest moment in the episode.

Does it seem right that Sinclair just gets up and walks out of the Centauri Ceremony?

Seeing as the Cintauri are all drunk off their @$$es I don't think anyone would notice, or care.

I just caught a few minutes of this, and noticed that it appears the show is being broadcast in a "widescreen" format. I'm sure this wasn't done on the original airing or I would've noticed it.

Is this a true widescreen, in that you actually get to see more on the edges, or were the black bars just added on the top and bottom? Knowing the dedication and quality of the series, I'd assume the former.

Al, in fact it is a little of both. The live action stuff was filmed in a ratio of 16x9 on 35mm film and transfered to video with the edges cropped off to broadcast. For all of the live action stuff they just went back to the origional negatives and transfered them to video agian this time they got the full 16x9 image. The CGI space shots were never on film, they went from computer to video and were made in 4x3 (fullscreen). The reason that they were not done in widescreen is beacuse at the time it did not seem worth it to spend valuable computer power (meaning time and money) to render all of that image that will never appear in the origional brodcast. The Space shots just have black bars matted over the top and bottom of the frames.

Technicly the way to do it and show people the most possible picture would be to letterbox the live action stuff and fullscreen the CGI, (as was done for the DVD of "Dr Strangelove") but the powers that be felt it would be too confusing, can you imagine trying to premote it, (i.e. tune in at 7:00 to see B5 in wide screen and full screen.)

There are rummors that Warner may release B5 onto DVD in widescreen and enhanced for 16x9 TVs. If they do that their are rummors that they may re-render the space stuff in wide screen, but you know how that rummor mill is. Warner will only do it if they feel that it will be worth the money that it would cost to do it.

There are rummors that Warner may release B5 onto DVD in widescreen and enhanced for 16x9 TVs. If they do that their are rummors that they may re-render the space stuff in wide screen, but you know how that rummor mill is. Warner will only do it if they feel that it will be worth the money that it would cost to do it.

Actually, it's not a rumor... well not anymore...

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The Narn on the monitor when G'kar finds out about the courier acts like nothing is going on... even though G'kar's being shot...

G'kar holds in crying out due to the pain. Something he does later on when being tortured the Emporer of Centauri.

I wonder if a Foundationist was one of the religions that Sinclair arranged to be in the line-up. Sinclair could've called on Stephen to do it.