Comes the Inquisitor

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"Comes the Inquisitor" is an episode from the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Synopsis[]

Ambassador Kosh informs Delenn that the Vorlons will be bringing an Inquisitor to the station to test her ability to lead in the fight against the Shadows. She explains the situation to Sheridan, who finds it odd but agrees to arrange an isolated section of the station for this test and to make sure the Inquisitor is met without incident. Sheridan is surprised when the Inquisitor is not only human, but appears to be from Victorian England. He curtly introduces himself as Sebastian and requests to start the test immediately. When Delenn arrives, Sebastian gives her a set of wristbands which can inflict pain on her, but she has the option of removing them at any time. However, if she does so, she will fail the test. Sebastian repeatedly asks her to identify herself, refusing to accept most of her answers related to herself or her titles. He refutes her statements that she is part of a larger prophecy and her ulterior motives.

Lennier comes searching for Delenn, and finds her in the isolated section while Sebastian is away. He offers to help her escape, but she insists on remaining and tells him to go. Lennier leaves but immediately approaches Sheridan, explaining the situation. Sheridan comes to Delenn's aid, but Sebastian instead starts to torture him with the same line of questioning. Feeling neither of them are worthy, Sebastian suggests finishing one of them off, but both of them beg Sebastian to take them instead. Sebastian concludes his test, revealing both of them have passed: they were willing to sacrifice themselves not for fame or glory, but for the life of a loved one in an isolated area that no one would ever hear of. He states that they are the "right people, in the right place, at the right time" for the upcoming war. As Sebastian prepares to leave, Sheridan reveals he has researched his background and concluded he really is Jack the Ripper, taken by the Vorlons from Earth in 1888. Sebastian affirms Sheridan's theory, noting that he, too, had thought he was chosen for a holy cause, which led the Vorlons to identify him as ideally suited to be an Inquisitor in the future. Sebastian leaves, his goal concluded.

Meanwhile, Ambassador G'Kar seeks ways to smuggle weapons onto the Narn homeworld to fight the Centuari, a costly endeavor according to his arms dealer. Garibaldi learns of G'Kar's efforts and warns him not to use Babylon 5 as a routing point for the weapons, but does offer an alternate, safer route to bring the weapons to Narn. G'Kar tries to convince the other Narn on the station to help with the cost of the weapons but they question if the effort would be of any value and wonder if G'Kar is fit to lead them. G'Kar makes a deal that he will get communication with one of the Narn families within the day or otherwise give up his leadership position. G'Kar begs Sheridan for help, and Sheridan decides this would be a proper task for the Rangers to complete. The Rangers are successful, and the station's Narn agree to support G'Kar further.

Production[]

Straczynski was in part motivated to write this episode to make the Vorlons appear more morally ambiguous. He wanted to point out that people should not instantly fall for what others say they are.^[2]

Due to a mistake in the screenplay, Sheridan remarks that Jack the Ripper committed his murders in the "West End" of London, when in fact the murders took place in the East End.^[2] After the original airing, the line was dubbed over to correct this error, and the dubbed version can be found on the DVD release.^[1][2] The captions have not been corrected and still refer to the "West End" of London.^[1] With reference to the gaffe, writer Straczynski has stated, "So I content myself with the notion that it's west...of B5. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shoot myself."^[2]

Actor Wayne Alexander (who was raised in the San Joaquin Valley, California) spoke with such a convincing English accent that many UK viewers believed he was an Englishman. When he was told of this, Alexander was reportedly quite flattered.^{[citation needed]}

Allusions[]

These are the historical, scientific, literary, cultural and other educational references found in this episode.^[1]

• Sebastian's observation, "No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother", is a paraphrase from the Gospel of John.
• Sebastian describes himself as, "Diogenes with his lamp, looking for an honest man willing to die for all the wrong reasons". Diogenes the Cynic was a Greek philosopher who is reputed to have sought "an honest man".
• Jack the Ripper slew at least five people in London in 1888.
• The limbo sets, camera motion, lighting, and the clipped cadence of the rapid-fire question-and-answers between Delenn and Sebastian were deliberately intended as an homage to "Once Upon a Time," the penultimate episode of The Prisoner television series from the 1960s. Joe Straczynski has spoken of how influential that series was to him on several occasions, and there are several other nods throughout the course of the series. This is the most detailed, however. He later wrote the foreword to The Prisoner's Dilemma (by Jonathan Blum and Rupert Booth), a novel of The Prisoner, in which he expressed his admiration for that series.

• 

  14th century Bible translation
  Gospel of John

• 

  Diogenes looks for an honest man, painting, c. 1780s
  Diogenes

• 

  "The Nemesis of Neglect"—There floats a phantom on the slum's foul air..., cartoon and poem, September 1888
  Jack the Ripper

References[]

External links[]

• "Comes the Inquisitor" at Wikiquote
• "Comes the Inquisitor" at IMDb
• "Comes the Inquisitor" at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5