SUMMARY: Londo Mollari is infatuated with Adira Tyree, an exotic Centauri dancer who performs on the recreation level of Babylon 5.
Their affair often distracts him from his political duties. Commander Sinclair is annoyed when Londo arrives late to a treaty negotiation Ambassador G'Kar and his imposing new assistant, Ko 'Dath.
Adira is later confronted by Trakis, the alien slave trader
who owns her contract. Trakis orders Adira to seduce Londo and get a copy of his "purple files," a private collection of scandalous secrets about Centauri royal families. Trakis hopes to sell the files to G'Kar who will generously pay for any information he can use to unbalance the treaty negotiations in his favor.
Adira hesitates to obey Trakis because she genuinely cares for Londo and doesn't want to ruin his political career. However, to grain her freedom from Trakis, she weakens Londo with a drug, fits him with a small mind-controlling device and forces him to reveal his personal computer access code for the incriminating files. She transfers the data to a data crystal and sadly bids Londo farewell as he sleeps from the drug's aftereffects.
Suddenly deciding not to betray Londo, Adira keeps the crystal and hides within the labyrinth of Babylon 5. Trakis and his hired killers eventually find her and take the crystal while the killers guard her in a secluded corner of
the space station, waiting to depart with her on the next shuttle flight.
When Londo realizes that Adira disappeared and his purple files are missing, he begs Sinclair to help him save his career. Pretending to favor the Narns, Sinclair arranges a meeting between Trakis and G'Kar for the sale of the crystal. In attendance is Talia Winters, Babylon 5's resident telepath, who mentions Adira's disappearance, then
uses her powers to read Trakis' mind and learn her location as he thinks about her. Security guards rescue Adira from the killers as Londo forcefully retrieves the crystal from Trakis. Sinclair agrees not to arrest Trakis if he will release Adira from her contract, and he complies. Adira apologizes to Londo for deceiving him as she boards her departing shuttle. He forgives her and invites her to return to him after she's experienced some of the opportunities awaiting her in life as a free woman.

BRASH REFLECTIONS:
Well, not the most interesting episode of the season. The only real insight it provided in the long run was a deeper look at Commander Ivanova. Not that's a bad thing. She always was one of my favorite characters.

I do like that purple file idea. Maybe I should start one of my own *BEG* (That's Big Evil Grin to all you non-techie types).

Commander Ivanova made the call to her father in CnC. Why? I thought the whole point was to be in private

Richie: It's been shown that occasionally CnC has been empty. She probably called between shifts.

Brian: I had thought of that but still somebody could have walked in there and seen her talking to her dad

Maybe she locked the door before calling? And besides, if she called from her quarters, that would have been a dead givaway as to who was using the Gold Channel.

Outside Adira's Quarters, Trakis finds a waiting Londo. When he inserts the card into the slot to open the door, the wall is shaking.

This episode seems fairly unimportant on its own. However, it does set up quite a bit in the 3rd and 4th seasons. The connection with Adira is more important than it appears.

When Adira returns from downloading the Purple files onto a data crystal, Londo’s head moves between one shot and the next, and then back again depending on the camera angle. In the more distant shots his head is leaning back against the top of the sofa; in the nearer shot his head is suddenly far enough forward for Adira to be able to kiss his forehead.

Ruminations

Exotic dancer in a club, place called Davo... sounds like Quarks (DS9)... oh wait, that's Dabo


Nits

G'kar's aid had blue eyes, not the red eyes of NARN

Okay, so in the beginning of the episode, Garibaldi reports to Ivanova that someone hacked into the stations "gold" communications channels, which only to be used by the ambassadors, and only with the expressed permission of Sinclair. He finds out near the end of the episode, that it was Ivanova herself, talking to her ill/dying father. So why would she have to hack into a restricted channel to do this? Do the gold channels permit faster communication than conventional ones? Was Ivanova herself short on funds, and trying to "save a few credits", as she suggested an ambassador was doing earlier? If the reason for this was explained, I didn't get it.

The closing episode is produced with what appears to be a poignant air, and the implication that this is an emotional parting for Londo, but I didn't understand this. What was the intended idea? That Londo had fallen in love with this dancer/slave/agent? Someone fill me in here.