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(More customer reviews)This season of B5 is bittersweet for fans, because it was both the best of seasons and the worst of seasons. The best, because it had some of the most moving moments in the whole B5 canon (the scene where the Liberation Fleet jumps out of hyperspace to Earthspace, with the music reaching it's height, is indelible).
The worst because both the shadow war AND the earth war each their conclusion, prematurely, in this season. It is one slam-bang episode after another, as JMS fought was he thought was the fight to tell the last two seaons in one season - it left the cupboard bare for season five, but it left us with a powerful season of TV!
I won't bother with a show-by-show description of what happens. Others, better qualified than I, will surely do so. But I will share what i think were the highlights of the season:
1. Sheridan's speech when arriving at earth was extremely well-written and delivered. Though Boxleitner has been called "wooden" in his style, this speech was a vindication for him.
2. The whole thread having to do with Sheridan's sacrifice on Zha'ha'dum was well-done. Not overplayed by anyone, it still cast a delicious pall over the season, making all choices seemingly minor in comparison.
3. The end of the Shadow War was well-handled. It showed that the enemy was not the one most alien in body, but the one most alien in mind, that was the foe. In the end, we understood the Shadows and Vorlons but never understood Bester or Clark. The former were beaten by reason, the latter only by force.
4. Tactics, especially those at Proxima Three, were interesting and important. It is a rare show that show more than just shooting until one side figures out a dodge to win against imposible odds. Sheridan's forces and tactics had this one won from the start - the cost was the only variable.
There are some poorly-done elements. The Shadows and Vorlons are pathetic at the end. Lorien was a bit TOO deus ex machina for my tastes. Jerry Doyle is a bit too much overtaxed by the script, as is Patricia Tallman (both needed a couple of more episodes to make charactor changes believable).
However, the season as a whole is magnificent. The intro sequence alone is worth the price of admission. This is must-get for B5 fans and TV sci-fi fans alike.
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