The Exercise of Vital Powers

Overview

Garibaldi arrives on Mars and meets William Edgars. Lyta helps Franklin in an attempt to make contact with the frozen telepaths. Denise Gentile as Lise. Mark Schneider as Wade. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as William Edgars.

P5 Rating: 8.62

Production number: 416
Original air week: June 2, 1997
DVD release date: January 6, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John LaFia

Plot Points

@@@865323625 Sheridan's forces have liberated the colony at Beta Durani, as well as a midrange military outpost.
@@@865323625 Lyta is able to awaken the implanted telepaths ("Ship of Tears.") After observing the effect of her mental contact with them, Franklin has devised an artificial equivalent and feels he's well on his way to reviving them.
@@@865621220 Garibaldi is still in love with Lise.
@@@865621220 Edgars runs the fourth-largest corporation on Earth. His company is involved in chemical and biological weapons manufacturing as well as pharmaceutical production.
@@@865545104 Edgars says President Clark has become increasingly paranoid since taking office. Learning of the Shadows' interest in Psi Corps, Clark developed an interest as well. As his paranoia increased, he started giving the Corps more and more power, since telepaths were able to tell him absolutely whether the people around him were loyal. The Corps, of course, isn't eager to give up its newfound clout, and Edgars and others fear that if Sheridan takes his battle to Earth, Clark may panic and give the Corps unprecedented control over society, a development that wouldn't be easy to reverse. He therefore wants Sheridan's campaign stopped for Earth's own good.
@@@865621220 Clark's forces still haven't located Sheridan's father.
@@@865323625 According to Edgars, the real power in Earthdome has never been in the hands of the politicians; the mega-corporations have always called the shots. They let Clark declare martial law, but didn't foresee the Psi Corps connection until it was too late.

Unanswered Questions

@@@865323625 What does Sheridan plan to do with the telepaths?
@@@865364116 Will Psi Corps come looking for the murdered telepath?

Analysis

@@@865621220 Lise tried to warn Garibaldi off. Why? How much does she know about what her husband is planning? How far will she go to protect Garibaldi?
@@@865968765 Garibaldi said Mars had tried to kill him before. One of those occasions was his trek across the surface with Sinclair ("Infection" and issues 4-8 of the comic series.) What were the other two?
The incident that killed Frank Kemmer ("Survivors") has been suggested, but Garibaldi said that took place on Europa, not Mars.
@@@865797858 He also said he'd sworn never to come back to Mars. But in "A Voice in the Wilderness part 2," he told Lise he had some leave coming up and was thinking of taking it on Mars. Maybe he only considered that after he realized Lise was in danger during the uprising.
@@@865622080 In "Moments of Transition," Bester claimed in his log entry that Garibaldi was inching closer to where Bester needed him to be. It's plausible that Bester has been priming Garibaldi to join up with Edgars. The Corps seems to be aware of the telepathic virus (the assassins in "Conflicts of Interest" were likely Corps operatives) and is thus probably aware that Edgars has some interest in it. Given the presence of the virus, they wouldn't be able to use a telepath as an undercover agent. Setting up a non-telepath to be their spy and/or saboteur in Edgars' organization would be the Corps' only recourse, and they'd have to do it with subconscious programming since Edgars isn't above using telepaths to test potential employees' loyalties.
Garibaldi was a logical choice because the Corps knew of his connection to Lise; in "A Voice in the Wilderness," Garibaldi asked Talia to look into Lise's condition by going through Corps channels. It wouldn't be much of a leap for the Corps to assume that Lise would therefore recommend Garibaldi to her husband, making Garibaldi the best possible candidate for the job of unwitting spy.
@@@865706778 Edgars appeared to accept Garibaldi's answer that he didn't remember what happened to him while he was missing ("Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?") Given how paranoid Edgars is in other respects, will that really be the end of the matter? Does Edgars know more than Garibaldi does about what happened? Perhaps Edgars' seeming trust of Garibaldi is really an application of the old adage, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."
@@@866938139 During his questioning, Garibaldi told Edgars, "Everyone lies." In "And the Sky Full of Stars," Sinclair said the same thing to Garibaldi, and elaborated: "The innocent lie because they don't want to be blamed for something they didn't do, and the guilty lie because they don't have any other choice."
@@@866938139 Garibaldi stood in front of a mirror during his questioning, staring at his own reflection. But the mirror was warped, distorting his image. Garibaldi studied the image as he spoke; perhaps he viewed it a metaphor. Garibaldi also studied his reflection in "Conflicts of Interest."
@@@865728347 The telepath indicated that Garibaldi was telling the truth when he claimed not to remember what happened during his absence. Yet Garibaldi has had flashes of memory, so that answer wasn't entirely honest. Was the telepath lying herself, perhaps to protect the interests of the Corps, or did Garibaldi simply believe he was telling the truth, in that he can't recall more than brief cryptic flashes?
@@@865364116 The people in Edgars' laboratory are presumably telepaths. If that's true, their condition is probably related to the telepathic disease Garibaldi learned about in "Conflicts of Interest," and the drug Edgars' people were withholding was most likely derived from the substance Garibaldi helped smuggle through the station.
It's worth noting, however, that the placement of the sores on the patient's face were very similar to the insertion points of the Shadow implants in the telepaths on the station. Perhaps Edgars managed to get his hands on some implanted telepaths and is performing his own experiments on them.
@@@865706271 It's also possible the substance Garibaldi saw wasn't a cure for the virus, though that was implied by Edgars here in that there was clearly some drug that can be given to ease whatever illness his test subjects were suffering from. If instead Edgars is developing the virus itself with the intent of releasing it and wiping out all human telepaths, spreading rumors before its release about a genetic flaw inherent in telepaths might help deflect suspicion later.
Or, to take it further, Edgars may be producing both the virus and the cure, with the intent of infecting Earth's telepaths then using availability of the cure -- which apparently requires continuous usage -- to gain control over the Corps himself.
@@@865969018 Franklin said Sheridan hadn't changed since returning from Z'ha'dum, "except for..." He stopped himself before completing that sentence. Was this just a reference to Lorien's life-restoration energies, which Franklin noted in "Falling Toward Apotheosis?" Or does he know about something else?
@@@865364116 Assuming Sheridan asked Franklin to bring the newly awakened telepaths with him to Mars, it's likely he's anticipating some kind of conflict with the Psi Corps when he moves to liberate it. Given Franklin's reaction, it's unlikely Sheridan proposed anything as innocuous as using the telepaths to help shield members of the Mars resistance from detection.
It's also not clear where the frozen telepaths' loyalties will lie even if Franklin manages to extract their implants and give them back control of their own minds. They're all fugitive telepaths ("blips," as Bester called them in "Ship of Tears") so presumably have no love for the Corps, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be willing to act on Sheridan's behalf.
Of course, that assumes Sheridan wants Franklin to give them back mastery of their own thoughts; perhaps his order was instead for Franklin to find a way to use the implants to take control of the telepaths.
@@@865787203 Given the frozen telepaths' effect on computer systems, one possible use would be to smuggle them onto Mars and wake them up near some of Earth Force's communication network; they'd presumably throw it into disarray and allow Sheridan's forces to move in on a disorganized enemy.
@@@865364116 Lyta's expanded powers were in evidence again. The psi rating of the telepath in Medlab was never mentioned, but Lyta was telepathically strong enough to force him to stop in his tracks as he tried to kill himself. If she can do that to a fellow telepath, who presumably would have instinctively tried to block her, can she do the same -- or worse -- to a normal human?
@@@866938418 The awakened telepath didn't react reflexively to Lyta's Psi Corps badge the way Carolyn did in "Ship of Tears." Why not? He wasn't merged with any machinery as Carolyn was, so he couldn't have thrown lightning bolts. But he didn't appear to react at all. Perhaps the Shadows' anti-Corps conditioning wasn't universally applied.
@@@865622552 Lyta's indignant response to Zack's request was likely brought on by his previous request that he scan Garibaldi ("Moments of Transition.") That request may have led her to automatically assume the worst when Zack asked for her services.
@@@865622456 Edgars and Clark may believe that Clark is using the Psi Corps, but it's just as plausible that by now, they're using him. The Corps could feed misinformation to Clark in order to bolster its own standing, and since, as Edgars said, Clark is trusting the Corps to ferret out liars and turncoats, he'd be unable to tell that they were leading him on.

Notes

@@@854134623 The title is a reference to Aristotle's definition of happiness: "The exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope."
@@@865970223 Edgars alluded to "Clark's 'Night of the Long Knives.'" That's a reference to Roman history, when, in the year 31 AD, the emperor Tiberius had his aide Sejanus and his followers killed in a purge.
A more recent use of the same term was to describe Hitler's purge of the rival SA faction of the Nazi Party in 1934.
@@@865442107 The title as shown at the top of act one is missing the leading "The." But the "The" was present in the pre-show information screen on the initial US satellite feed, and it's present in the episode listings sent out by Warner Bros., so it's included here.
@@@865621220 Both Edgars and Sheridan love fresh orange juice ("The Geometry of Shadows.")
@@@884248227 Continuity glitch: When Lise and Garibaldi are talking in his room, after she brings him dinner, she starts to leave, but stays and closes the door most of the way. After she's done talking, Garibaldi moves across the room to her and shuts the wide-open door.

jms speaks

@@@865498639 It's a very different feel...leisurely, in a way, but no less tense. A good addition to the mix.
@@@865969998 One thing on the line Wade speaks...the actor consistently got the line wrong. It read, "Everything is illusion, Mr. Garibaldi; constructs of light, language, metaphor," rather than concepts.
There is a subtle but distinct difference.
@@@865498639 Garibaldi's said he doesn't trust telepaths ever since the pilot movie. It's a question of degrees at this point.
@@@875077421 What book was Edgars reading when Garibaldi walked in?
The Bible.
@@@866152425 Were the scars on the sick telepaths from the removal of implants?
No, just standard lesions.
Remember, a man as smart and rich as Edgars can surely afford private lesions for his "kids."