Atonement | For the Second Time

] The year is: 2026

[1:14] That's right. But for the first time and the second time, we are searching this show for what it's trying to say. What are the messages that JMS was putting out there? What are the messages we're just picking up on? We're talking about things like mirrors to society, hope that things can be better in the future, or maybe those messages that just tell us how to be better human beings to one another. That being said, this is not Jeff and mine's first time watching this show. So we've been through it front to back, not back to front, but we've been through it, the whole thing, which means from this point forward, anything is fair game for Jeff and I to talk about anything from any point in the timeline, any point in the franchise, any point anywhere. It's all good for Jeff and I to discuss and we will be discussing it. So please consider this your one and only spoiler warning. You must now leave if you've not seen this show before. But good news, we have a first watch that's completely spoiler-free. Just scroll back up in the feed. You'll find that there. And that's where you now need to take this opportunity and excuse yourself. Because what's happening forward, trust us, you don't want to be spoiled. So this is it. From this point forward, everything else is fair. Why are you still here? Go! Go!

[2:30] This week, Brent, we were watching Atonement for the second time. On our first time around, we played a game where we'd predict what the episodes were going to be about. I predicted that this was going to be an episode where Earth Force was going to come and try and abduct Delenn, make her atone very publicly for influencing Sheridan.

[2:50] Do you remember what you predicted for this one? Yeah, I said this was going to focus on Marcus and basically be what he did before he became a ranger. Okay. Right? I think it wasn't in a couple episodes ago. We found out that it was him and his brother, and he was following in his brother's footsteps. We didn't get a lot of detailed information out of it. I figured this would be – he had some stuff that kind of came up, and it would be a lot of kind of Marcus's backstory is what I thought this would be. Which would be fun. They cover that in the novels, so that's cool, but I still think it'd be good in a TV thing. Do you, Brent, want to hear what we had to say about this one the first time around? I would love to. All right, let's do it. Previously on Babylon 5.

[3:36] Atonement i kind of love ducat i want that guy as a mentor he was cool he was confident he didn't he was wise for him to see that they're making a bad choice and heading down a bad path he did everything right so dylan really seems to think like she's not coming back dylan has a great line well what chance do i have if you've already made up your mind and he's like yeah that's up to you to figure out right that's on you we're here to tell you how you're wrong in the middle of her grief she says no mercy and then she comes back and says actually that was really stupid and the dude's like too late this is the show reference is the lynn has to atone i think it undercuts the leadership of delen you delen don't own this problem a whole bunch of other people voted to do it as well uh she usually presents this sort of mask of assurance but we the viewer have also constantly seen her doubt.

[4:31] She comes face to face in this episode with her most vulnerable and real self, and emerges from it, having truly become.

[5:12] We've been seating pretty much ever since Voice in the Wilderness, when we met Drawl, kind of talking about leading towards this collapse of Minbari society. And I think we're seeing some of that here. And I think it's going to collapse. I think it's going to get ugly. That's going to be part of season four. How permanent is this whole change with Garibaldi and Zack? Jerry doyle is leaving the series i think michael garibaldi is leaving the staff of babylon 5 is he going to be a bad guy i'm banking that he will be a bad guy in this season jakar they are 100 setting up this eye to be a thing in a future episode it's going to be like the camera that you just set somewhere and he's going to be able to see what's going on speaking of franklin he and marcus are getting sent away to mars to make contact with the resistance on mars he sings It's the major general song from the Pirates of Penzance. Yes. That is your end of the episode. You must sing. You didn't put this song on. I sang in this one. That's a good one. You should go back and hear me sing. It's terrible.

[6:14] Wanted Dukat as a mentor. Heck yes. I still want Dukat as a mentor. Give me a Dukat. Give me a Rabbi Kozlov. Like, line him up. Dude, what was the name of the black preacher guy from rock No Hiding Place? Black preacher guy. I forget his name. He'd be great, too. He'd be good, too. Brother Theo. There's so many great brothers. Take Brother Theo. You know who I don't want? Lorian. He's kind of creepy. Mm-hmm. Right? Or Jack the Ripper. Basically, anyone played by Wayne Alexander. No, thank you. You're right. Like, it's this thing, right? Right. But, dude, you said it, the eye. Yeah, buddy. We got to put that somewhere and see something later on, didn't we? Dude, that was so messed up. So, like, could you imagine? like that was played for laughs i i want to know what that was like i know what i felt just hearing myself say that knowing where that eye gets placed i want to know what people were like would they heard us say that back then like i wonder like if that's a thing for people like you know what he does with that eye or if people are more like let's just forget about that i think that's good.

[7:24] Little bit there you go there you go uh also the jerry jerry doyle stuff man you you nailed his arc pretty good there kind of yeah i mean at a high level he's a bad guy in like an episode or two like pretty pretty rough he's pretty he's pretty rough for mostly the rest of the season except for a couple of episodes and then he's even more rough through like the first three-fourths of season five big chunk of it yeah well brent that was had a lot to say the first time around, you want to uh dive in watch this for the second time no all right no desire thanks for coming everybody we will see you next oh of course we should this was a good episode yeah i remember being really good yeah let's do it let's do it what's about to happen is we're going to watch the episode bring it up watch it with you right here we'll comment on it uh any messages we happen to pull out any cool things that maybe Brent found some things JMS said that'll want to bring up in the moment. If you're watching this on YouTube, you're going to see the edited version of that, like a reaction video sort of a thing. The full and the unedited version is available at our Patreon at patreon.com slash badnerds.

[8:35] And if you guys are joining us on the podcasting app, stick around, because you're going to have all of that audio. We don't want you to miss a single thing. Like Steven Tyler, you don't want to miss a thing don't want to miss a thing that was not an invitation for you to sing oh dang it i'm just itching i got like the bug now from now you got the bug right well squash the bug uh yeah stick around and then when we get to the other side we'll obviously we'll still be there because jeff and i'm gonna have all sorts of conversations in the middle and we don't want to rehash it later and it wouldn't be good for you if we did that anyway so you'll you'll just get all that plus you'll get all the fun things where jeff and i get to just be dumb so yeah Yeah, which is a good perception of this. Jeff, what do you say we go be dumb right now? Let's go. Accessing file.

[9:29] Mr. Allen, you are now the head of security. The rest of the command staff accepted to lend... I love that he gets a uniform. Same. Like a proper uniform. I actually read that... I didn't even do research for this episode, so I don't know where I read this, but the only reason he got a uniform was one day he pops into JMS's office, and he's like, so, uh... His black uniforms are pretty cool, huh? JMS's like, yeah, yeah, they're pretty great. Can I have one? He's like, yeah, they're, uh... They look really cool, don't they? He's like, yeah, yeah, sure they do. And he's like, well, I think they look really good. And then Conaway walks off. And then like a day later, JMS is like, oh, my God, he wants one of the uniforms. Yeah, yeah. Here's the thing. If there's anything you and I have learned about our friend Joe, subtlety doesn't work with him at all. No, not even a little bit. Just directly ask for what you need. One, he will appreciate that approach so much more. Also, by the way, me too.

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