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Babylon 5 S01E07: "The War Prayer" - Episode Discussion
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- Title
- Babylon 5 | Full Episode | The War Prayer: Season 1, Episode 7 | Beyond Infinity
- Authors
- ClipZone: Beyond Infinity
- Duration
- 44:33
- Published
- Apr 16 2026
Mark Twain, “The War Prayer” (ca.1904-5) | The American Yawp Reader
The source of the name of the episode. Worth a read. It isn't at all going to cause some comparisons to current events. /S
And ah yes, Homeguard... A humans first/Earth First movement that will not feel resonant in any way whatsoever to anyone living through current times. /S
This episode contains hate crime. Sigh
More to come as I rewatch.
D plot:
The question of the assassination attempt of Kosh - how did they get to his hand. He has a hand? What do Vorlons look like? This is one of those very intentional mysteries that is not over yet. Everyone who saw Kosh has been called back to Earth.
C plot:
Ivanova has a romantic past just like Sinclair does. Good thing this random guest is totally unrelated to the other plots and won't result in any pain. Also she is growing illegal coffee.
B Plot:
Londo is a deeply tragic character, three wives, no love, and his shoes are too small. (｡•́︿•̀｡) Every time more is revealed it highlights how little he has going for him despite apparent great privilege.
Perhaps he can learn to dance again someday.
A Plot (spoilers)
Homeguard goes from one attack to near riots very quickly (I don't think they're specifically mentioned previously but tensions were.) As people feel unsafe but trapped and that humans won't police human violence, it's... Far too close to home. G'kar makes a nice heel..he's probably genuine to an extent, it is scary, but also it's about the political advantage.
Oh noooo, Malcolm is the bad guy. Who could have guessed.
Sinclair once again putting himself out there, and Ivanova having one more loss. Shootout in a random cargo bay is quite the recurring pattern for the show.
"I can't believe you did this to me" is the litany of every person with zero responsibility for their own actions.
"Such great hatred for so little real reason.. "
"Human ways are often unfathomable but in time one learns to live with them."
"If one has an exceedingly strong constitution."
Yeah, we suck.
I like this episode, I don't like how relevant it is.
Same.
I feel like the illegal coffee has been mentioned once before? I might be misremembering.
It did seem like he hadn't completely forgotten!
She had the illegal phone calls but I don't think the coffee came up til here!
I think he wants to remember but I'm not sure he does quite, yet.
So interestingly the illegal coffee has been mentioned, but it was grown by a different character!
The pilot movie for the show had the previous second-in-command Takashima illegally growing coffee in hydroponics, when she was re-cast for the series I guess they kept that character trait alive for Ivanova?
The whole thing is pretty interesting. The movie is largely treated as canon and comes up in the plot in this very episode, yet they've usually tried to make clear that the cast changes were totally different people who have since been replaced in their postings in the year since.
Maybe Takashima and Ivanova know each other and she passed along knowledge of her little illicit garden to her replacement?
Ah good catch! They do dabble with a few of the Takashima plot lines with Ivanova - but mostly go a different direction. Where I think the coffee was supposed to be a sign of corruption in Takashima for Ivanova I think it, and her phone calls, are ultimately exceptions, rather than clues to something
It's been a very long time since I've watched the show so mostly speculating based on these few episodes, but I'd tend to agree.
In the small amount of time we spent with Takashima they seemed to want to make it front and center. While it's a pretty mild infraction, there was something funny about giving a speech about how she'd been a bit of a loose cannon in the past and was working so hard to stay on the straight and narrow and stick to the rules while both characters were drinking the fresh coffee she'd just fessed up to.
Ivanova seems all business all the time, so I think they're using these mild exceptions to humanise her as a character, softening the image subtly so we as viewers find her easier to empathise with. That she takes her job very seriously isn't really up for debate, so what we read from it is completely different.
Getting a bit more into spoilers for the first season although it's mostly what doesn't happen
Iirc Takashima was going to be stuck on the take, being blackmailed rather than really wanting to engage in the corruption. The coffee was the warning sign, though obviously senior staff isn't above letting some of that small shit slide because, well, coffee. She's supposed to be how Kosh gets targeted though and how some of these other breaches would have happened.
Unfortunately, it's relevant because it's timeless. JMS drew on the propaganda of the 50s through early 80s as inspiration, and per his commentary Mira Furlan felt that the parallels to her young adulthood in Croatia/Serbia were disturbingly relevant. Twenty years ago these scenes found echoes in the propaganda around the occupation of Iraq, and nowadays...
Oh believe me I know. I just don't want it to be relevant perpetually forever because humans have so much hatred..
"The War Prayer" episode for non-Americans:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8h1hfq
In terms of its theme it is told a tad heavyhanded but it does have wider reach than a simple token episode. They don’t solve the problem in the end. It is clear that there is a rising faction against aliens and it will be part of the larger story arc. We are still very much in the setting things up stage of the series, and I think it strikes the right balance of being self contained stories and building things further. Especially in how we get deeper understanding of both Lando and Ivanova in this episode.