Babylon 5 (TV Series) And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place (1996) User Reviews

Very good episode that is bolstered by a TERRIFIC ending

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 23 January 2007]

This episode, like all other BABYLON 5 episodes, has at least two concurrent plots running through it. The first involves human religious leaders meeting on B-5 and the news that they bring concerning the growing dictatorial rule of President Clark. While all this is interesting and watching two of the religious dudes argue IS fun to watch (their banter is pretty funny), the other plot is much more important to the ongoing plots underpinning all the episodes of season 3 (i.e., the Shadows). Lord Refa appears to be the person responsible for the poisoning of Londo's lady love, so Londo is obsessed with revenge. At the same time, Refa sees Londo as a challenge to his authority and it's pretty clear he would love to destroy Londo's reputation or even kill him--as much of the first portion of this show is about their posturing and trying to impress the representative from the Emperor. So, Londo and Refa spend much of the episode plotting and it's very tough for the viewer to know exactly WHAT is going on and who will come out victorious at the end. Suffice to say that when all the dust is settled by the end of the show that what occurs is very exciting and pretty gritty. They do NOT decide to just let bygones be bygones, but by the show's conclusion, one of them is dead! Pretty exciting stuff.

Empathy without sympathy

[mikolon1 · 9/10 · 18 July 2021]

While in collage my daughter had to write a paper on the difference between empathy and sympathy. She used this episode as an example. Londos understanding of Riffa as well as Sheridans growing understanding of the shadows both showed empathy without sypathy.

Damn

[VenVes · 1 September 2018]

How disappointing. What's up with the weird Goodfellas section? So entirely out of place with the feel and overall message of the show. What happened G'kar? And you were doing so well.

Thankfully, the end of the episode gives me a moment I've wanted for a long time. It was the only ship in that scene I was interested in.