And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place

"And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place" is an episode from the third season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Synopsis

Lord Refa and a high-ranking minister of the Centauri government arrive on Babylon 5. Refa is a powerful and sinister aristocrat and a onetime ally of Londo Mollari, another aristocrat and the Centauri Ambassador to Babylon 5. However, the two men have since become bitter rivals and enemies, and their rivalry has become so troublesome and vindictive that the Centauri Emperor himself has ordered it to end. To that end, Refa has brought the Centauri Minister - the Emperor's representative - to Babylon 5 to see just how dangerous Londo has become, and to convince him to side with Refa. Londo visits the Minister and announces that he will end the rivalry. He tells his aide Vir Cotto about his plan - he will lure G'Kar, a famous Narn and another enemy, back to the Centauri-occupied Narn homeworld. Once there, G'Kar will be captured by soldiers loyal to Londo's House and turned over to the Centauri Emperor, thus winning the Emperor's favor for Londo. Vir, horrified, protests, but Londo dismisses his concerns and gives Vir a fake message to take to G'Kar's quarters. Vir initially protests, but Londo swears that he will see Vir's family severely broken before all of the Centaurum if he does not defer to Londo's wishes. The message is meant to lure G'Kar back to his homeworld. Shortly afterwards, Vir is kidnapped by Refa's agents and his mind is forcibly scanned by a Centauri telepath. Having thus learned of Londo's plan, Refa tells the Minister that he will end the rivalry by presenting the Emperor with the much-wanted Narn rebel G'Kar, thus winning the Emperor's favor for his House.

G'Kar returns to the Narn homeworld, which lies in ruins after the Centauri's recent bombardment of the planet with small asteroids. While leading a small group of Narns through some underground tunnels, he is surprised by Lord Refa, who gloats over G'Kar's seeming capture. However, much to Refa's surprise, G'Kar calmly shows Refa a taped message from Londo. As it turns out, Londo had anticipated such a move from Refa and planned accordingly; furthermore Londo has two personal reasons for Refa's death: Londo (wrongly) believes Refa had killed Londo's mistress Adira, and also because Londo was forced to kill his best friend due to Refa's manipulations. The Centauri soldiers with Refa are loyal to Londo, and it is Refa, not G'Kar, who has been led into a trap. To get G'Kar's compliance, Londo has agreed to free thousands of Narn prisoners, and he tells G'Kar and the other Narns in his message that it was Refa who ordered that the Narn homeworld be bombed with asteroids. When the message is finished, the soldiers leave Refa and he faces G'Kar and the Narns alone.

G'Kar places a message crystal on Refa which will make it appear that he is a traitor to the Centauri. He then tells his fellow Narns not to damage Refa's face, as it will be needed for identification purposes; he slowly draws a line with his finger across Refa's throat to delineate this. Terrified, Refa tries to flee, but is easily caught and beaten to death by the enraged Narns. On Babylon 5, Londo rescues Vir from Refa's men, and informs Vir of his real objectives. Vir is furious that Londo lied to him and placed him in danger, but Londo scoffs at Vir's concerns, and tells him "Nonsense, you're not important enough [for them] to kill." However, Vir is still upset and it is obvious that he will not completely trust Londo again, at least for some time. This is shortly after Londo met with the Centauri Minister and presents him with the fake message crystal detailing Refa's "treason" against the Centauri Republic. The Minister appears skeptical that Refa would be a traitor, but agrees to accept the matter as closed and declares that the Refa-Londo rivalry has been "concluded" to his satisfaction.

Meanwhile, a secondary plotline involves the visit of several Human religious leaders to Babylon 5. The leaders have come at the invitation of Brother Theo, who leads a group of Catholic monks on the station. The leaders represent several of the Earth's major religions - Jewish, Protestant Christian, Muslim and Buddhist. They are also active in the underground resistance movement to Earth Alliance President Morgan Clark, who has abolished the Earth Alliance Constitution and assumed dictatorial powers. They have brought Captain Sheridan important information about the resistance movement on Earth and several other colonies (one minister has information hidden in his Bible). Near the end of the episode, a Protestant minister holds an enthusiastic interfaith religious service and invited human and alien alike; as the Marva Hicks (Cited as 'singer' in closing credits) sings "No Hiding Place Down Here", the song coincides with images of Refa's capture and subsequent death at the hands of the Narns.

Production details

• The Gospel song "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" is a traditional Negro spiritual, originally collected in 1907 and first printed in 1915, and popularized in a 1955 recording by Dorothy Love Coates & The Original Gospel Harmonettes.^[1]

References

External links

• And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5