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2005-01-27 Entry: "End of Season 3 (Starts with Z, Ends With 'ha'dum)"

"Shadow Dancing" sees the Alliance trying to make a substantive strike against the Shadows (based on Sheridan's spotting of the Shadows' plans in the last episode). Of course, persuading the League worlds to provide ships is a tough job, especially when they can't tell them what the mission is.

Unfortunately, they need a scout ship in the area, to alert the fleet when the Shadows turn up... so Marcus and Ivanova have a tough mission. And darn it, I can't remember the Egyptian blessing that Sheridan would have given to Ivanova to send them off - oh, Ivanova supplies it - "May God stand between you and harm, in all the empty places where you must walk." I presume they didn't have God there though.

Tourists in Down Below? Franklin doesn't look like he's doing all that well. And there's more of the Z Minus countdown. Okay, Franklin intervenes in a mugging, and gets stabbed for his troubles. Of course, when his double shows up, he's got a lot to answer for.

Ivanova and Marcus get into difficulty when a Shadow scout ship turns up, and they need to jam its transmission to keep the rest of the Shadow fleet coming in. But in stopping it, their engines are damaged, and the rest of the fleet is here...

Garibaldi puts it best after the battle - "Now that we've shown we can hurt them, how long until they come knocking?" Well, they don't come with warships... they send a personal message... picking up from Delenn's vision in War Without End - she's watching Sheridan sleep, and someone important comes calling...

And then, the Z countdown makes sense, with the last episode, "Z'ha'dum."

Okay, Anna Sheridan has come to the station... didn't she die on Z'ha'dum with the rest of the Icarus crew? And apparently the Minbari equivalent of "What is past, is prologue" is "What is past, is also sometimes future"? Huh?

But Anna has all the answers... as long as John goes to Z'ha'dum to get them... didn't Kosh have a saying about that? Oh yeah, easy to forget (?!) "If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die!" Probably shouldn't take that offer John...

Londo gets promoted to the royal court - adviser to Emperor Cartagia on matters of planetary security - and a Shadow agent turns up warning Londo to leave the station really damn sharpish if he values his life.

Oh, and Anna's scarring on her neck? It matches the implants in the telepaths they rescued in Ship Of Tears.

Okay, Anna spills the beans... well, not really, but apparently IPX planted a homing device in the first Shadow ship found on Mars... which allowed them to track down Z'ha'dum. Then they went there, found the Shadows, and the rest of the crew died in an accident (which destroyed the comms system) - and in return for not harming the Shadows (huh?!), the surviving crew members were allowed to study their technology. Yeah... and I have ten thousand acres of swampland and a bridge I want to sell you...

Okay, Garibaldi's covering up something for the Captain... and the talking about the weather thing is a little spy vs. spy, but what can you do?

Yeesh... I'm narrating the episode... but there's so much of interest here... oh, and we have three of the crew of the Icarus (Anna, and Morden we've already met). The other member, Justin, an elderly gentlemen who does a good job of talking in riddles... he's something of a middle man, and he's deciding what the hem length should be this year... hopefully long, with a well turned ankle...

Sheridan thinks going to Z'ha'dum will prevent the fall of Centuari Prime... Delenn really should do a better job of warning him against going when she meets him there in 20 years... especially after she knows the whole story...

Okay, and the Vorlons are the Lords of Order... while the Shadows are Lords of Chaos... which was a pretty cool game that could have done with more levels and a PC conversion...

Oh, and Shadow ships are going to drop in on the station, which forces them to scramble all the fighter squadrons (including Garibaldi... which'll be important later).

Two of the nuclear devices G'Kar was obtaining are missing... I wonder where they could have gone! So John gets to stand over a big pit... with Anna trying to persuade him to come back inside... with the White Star (and its cargo) heading planetwards... and with Kosh's final message "Jump. Jump Now!"

And Garibaldi's last line when the Shadows pull out? "What the hell?"

And G'Kar gives good speech... Moments of Transition... Moments of Revelation... Okay, what's Garibaldi's first name? Michael? They don't use it very often... but his Star Fury appears to be trapped in a Shadow ship... And that's a kickarse season ending...

And then, because I'm a sucker for punishment, I'm watching the JMS commentary on the last episode... Ah, useful information - "Why are you here, and where are you going" are the questions for the Humans... this'll come up when we get to Crusade... and I think the only remaining question pairing is "Who do you serve, and who do you trust?" which may be the Drakh question... but it could come from somewhere else...