421: Rising Star

Ivanova recovers, saddened by Marcus' sacrifice to save her.  Londo is somewhat disappointed to hear that, following an illness afflicting the Centauri Regent, he is all but proclaimed as Emperor.  Delenn, Londo and G'Kar, along with the other non-aligned races accept a proposal to establish a new age of peace in the galaxy.  Sheridan, having turned himself over to Earth, is met by Bester who threatens to kill him if his lover Carolyn was part of Sheridan's use of the telepaths on the Earthforce ships.  Sheridan assures him that she wasn't.  The new President of Earth persuades Sheridan to resign his post in Earthforce in return for amnesty for all the officers serving under him in his assault, and he agrees.  Garibaldi scours the Mars underground for his lover Lise Hampton-Edgars - eventually finding her held captive by kidnappers.  Sheridan is met by his father and Delenn - who heralds the arrival of the Rangers on Earth to act as a joint peace-keeping force.  The League of Non-Aligned Worlds is broken but re-formed as a bold new Interstellar Alliance allowing equality amongst all races, and Delenn invites Earth to join.  After some deliberation, the President accepts - and Sheridan is appointed President of the Alliance itself.  Ivanova is promoted to Captain of her own ship for a year-long tour of duty.  Garibaldi must once again decide whether to return to Babylon 5 or remain on Mars with Lise.  On the way back to Babylon 5 aboard the White Star, Sheridan and Delenn are married - and they are both unaware their wedding night is being watched by G'Kar through his prosthetic eye.

Notes: Marcus has not been proclaimed dead, only clinically so and enters cryogenic storage.  The Regent's "illness" no doubt refers to his Shadow Keeper (see Epiphanies).  Londo first dreamt he was Emperor in The Coming of Shadows, foretold he would become Emperor in Point of No Return, and we see him in this position in War Without End and In the Beginning.  Bester's lover Carolyn was first seen in Ship of Tears and recalled in Epiphanies.  Sheridan mentions his fears of a Telepath War, echoing Lyta's fears in The Face of the Enemy.  Delenn also mentions the telepath war in the closing monologue - as well as the Drakh War (A Call to Arms, Crusade).

Until TNT took up the eleventh-hour option for a fifth season, this was originally to be the next-to-last episode of Babylon 5, with the final episode, Sleeping in Light, produced and intended to be broadcast next.  The following episode, The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, was the first episode produced on commencement of the following season.

Guest Cast: Beata Pozniak as President Susanna Luchenko; Walter Koenig returns as Bester; Rance Howard returns as David Sheridan; and Denise Gentile returns as Lise Hampton-Edgars.

Delenn:

"It was the end of the Earth year 2261, and it was the dawn of a new age for all of us. It was the end of one chapter, and the beginning of another.

The next twenty years would see great changes, great joy, and great sorrow: the telepath war, the Drakh war, the new Alliance would waver and crack. But in the end, it will hold. Because what is built endures, and what is loved endures.

And Babylon 5... Babylon 5 endures..."