SUMMARY: When Jha'dur, a war criminal from the now extinct Dilgaar, arrives in disguise on Babylon 5, she is attacked by Na'Toth.
As Dr. Franklin dresses Jha'dur's wounds, Na'Toth is
questioned by Commander Sinclair and Garibaldi.
Na'Toth explains that years ago during the interplanetary wars, her grandfather's family was butchered by Jha'dur, an infamous scientist and
war criminal then known as DeathWalker, who was famous for her cruel biological experiments.
Na'Toth swore to avenge her ancestor's murders.
Meanwhile, Talia Winters is hired by Kosh, supposedly to secretly monitor his meetings with a humanoid named Abbut. During the sessions between Kosh and Abbut, Talia senses no emotions or thoughts coming from Abbut. However, she experiences brief memories of a terrifying serial killer whose mind she scanned years earlier.
Talia later learns that Abbut is Vicker, a cybernetic video recorder, who tricked her with his conversations into feeling memories of her most vulnerable emotions, then imprinted her feats on a data crystal for Kosh.
Garibaldi and Sinclair suggests that Kosh hired Abbut to discover Talia's greatest fears and plans to use them against her in some future confrontation.
Meanwhile, Sinclair's Earth Alliance superiors order him to send Jha'dur to Earth immediately. Scientists are eager to perfect her promising experiments for
a youth serum. However, Ambassador Kalika representing the League Of Non-Aligned Worlds aboard Babylon 5, demands that Jha'dur be tried for her war crimes against their planets by the station's ruling council. To avoid a riot, Sinclair agrees to conduct a hearing.
Evidence confirms that Jha'dur is DeathWalker. Her serum was developed by performing sadistic experiments on the alien minorities for many years. However, for their own political self-interests, a bare majority of the ambassadors, with an abstention from Kosh, vote to send Jha'dur to Earth. Outraged, Kalika and the alien minorities that she represents reject the League's decision. A short time later, fleets of their warships surround Babylon 5.
Sinclair negotiates a compromise with Kalika. A coalition of alien scientists will accompany Jha'dur to Earth and help perfect the serum for the benefit of all races. Afterward, Jha'dur will be officially tried for her crimes. However, Jha'dur tells Sinclair that the active ingredient in her serum is taken from the living tissue of another being. Each donor must die so the recipient can live forever. The scientists who control the serum will become greater butchers than Jha'dur ever was.
As Jha'dur's transport shuttle departs, a massive Vorlon warship appears and destroys it. Having resolved the moral dilemma for everyone, Ambassador Kosh tells the assembled leaders that they are not ready for
immortality.

BRASH REFLECTIONS:
This is truly the first episode of B5 to really freak me out. That Jha'dur is one scary person.

I agree with the Vorlon postition. I smiled big time when they wasted Deathwalker's Flyer.

I agree this is a B5 episode when everything clicked right. It's fast, it's smart, it has cool politics, and even the minbary have a dark side. Nice seeing Lennir instead of Dellen. I don't know why it was done, but it made the episode a lot cooler for me, I don't know why.

I loved the politics, and how Sinclair calculated it all wrong. It's defnetly one of my fav episodes of the first season

One of my favorites too(so far).

This was the third or fourth B5 episode I watched, and after it, no one has been able to convince me that Sheridan is a better commander or more awesome character than Sinclair.

One of my favorites too(so far).

This was the third or fourth B5 episode I watched, and after it, no one has been able to convince me that Sheridan is a better commander or more awesome character than Sinclair.

One of my favorites too(so far).

This was the third or fourth B5 episode I watched, and after it, no one has been able to convince me that Sheridan is a better commander or more awesome character than Sinclair.

I find this episode strangely prophetic in consideration of the fuss concerning the extradition of General Pinochet from Britain. Very clever pitting politics against morality.

That is a wonderful way to get revenge one a race... in a twisted sort of way.

I have a question concerning the anti-agapic (pardon if this has been answered somewhere else): Do you only have to take one dose and you're effectively an immortal, or do you have to take doses at regular intervals or else you start aging again?

Spoiler for Season 2:

Was that Jack (Garabaldi's aide who shot him) that attacked Talia in her vision?

It was clever how the make-up people made Jha’Dur’s eyes look so much bigger than human eyes.

Michael says to Jeff: “Better pray to that god of yours.” Is Michael therefore an atheist?

In Points of Departure, Franklin stated that he's an agnostic. An atheist is someone who actively disbelieves in the existence of any deities. An agnostic is someone who just doesn't care.

Ruminations

- what the heck is the hour of skampering or the hour of longing?

- Soul hunters... death walkers... B5 needs less cheesy sounding names or titles. Must be an issue with the universal translator... Too literal.

- I love the Dilgarr eyes. Just like the Narn have unique eyes, so do the Dilgarr. The eyes are generally not altered in space alien costumes in Sci Fi shows.

- "Great Job" - Londo to Sinclair on his ability to keep things quiet.

NITS

- When Deathwalker's fighter is leaving at the end, the council is watching it on the viewscreen and you can see the jump gate opening. However, then the scene switches to an external view of the ship and the gate opens again.

- What are the Wind Swords? (most militant caste of Minbari) I thought there are only 3 castes?

- B5 seems to shift position in relation to the location of the jump gate. Sometimes its off ot the side, other times gate is aligned with the docking apature.

The Wind Swords are a clan within the the warrior caste.

NICE!

The war criminal A-plot was pretty good, and Robin Curtis and JMS did a great job creating a character you hated, but the real payoff for me in this ep was the Talia B-plot. All along she's under the assumption that she's aiding in some transaction when it's revealed at the end that the transaction is about her, and that she's helping it along! Nice twist, Joe!

I thought Jha'dur's eyes looked bigger too, but then thought I was just imagining it. I mean, how do you make eyes look bigger? Today they'd use CGI, but back then, I don't think CGI was sophisticated enough, or that a B5 ep had the budget for it.