Babylon 5/Recap/S02/E03 The Geometry of Shadows

The Geometry of Shadows
"Londo: Vir, do you believe in fate?

Vir:Well, actually, I believe there are currents in the Universe. Eddies and tides that pull us one way or the other. Some we have to fight, some we have to embrace. Unfortunately, the currents that we have to fight look exactly like the currents we have to embrace. The currents that we think are the one that's gonna make us stronger, they are the ones that are going to destroy us. And the ones that we think are going to destroy us, they are the ones that are going to make us stronger. Now, the other current--

Londo: Vir! Yes or no?

Vir: Yes! You know, somewhat, why?"

This episode contains examples of:
"Former Green Leader: Rules change caught up in committee, not come through yet."
 * Aggressive Negotiations: With the Drazi, what else could they be?
 * Clarke's Third Law: Deliberately invoked by the Technomages.
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Ivanova breaking her leg when the brawling Drazi pile on top of her, despite the fact that she's sympathetic and therefore doesn't qualify for the usual reasons. Perhaps it's her cynical outlook on life that makes it funny? In fact, the whole episode plays around with Comedic Sociopathy, really. Drazi die, but its overshadowed by the sheer humour of the conflict.
 * Early Installment Weirdness: The voiceover for this season is spoken by Bruce Boxleitner in-character as John Sheridan. However, when it was originally recorded, Boxleitner had nothing but the text to work from. When the footage was put together for the opening credits, Boxleitner asked to re-record the speech to better match the action on the screen, and to do it with more feeling. The improvement between the two takes in incredible.
 * Fantastic Racism: Played for Laughs, if you can believe that. Only it's not really racism, but something even more ridiculous. The source of conflict between the two Drazi sides isn't heritage, social class, caste, or anything like that - it's not even skin colour. It's between "green" and "purple", as decided by which color scarf a given Drazi pulls out of a barrel. Ivanova eventually has to dye one side's scarves the other color to keep them from fighting. If they're all purple, there's no feud.
 * Foreshadowing: Sheridan's line, "If you took this station back in time a thousand years..."
 * For that matter, not only will we see Technomages again, but the next person to talk to one (that we see, at least) will be Sheridan.
 * Incredibly Obvious Bug: Londo subtly places one in Sheridan's office moments before greeting Elric. It's fairly small but it's still there in plain sight. Elric notices it and blows it up.
 * Loophole Abuse: Ivanova ends the fighting by taking Green Leader's sash, thereby becoming Green Leader. When she asks, she's told that the rules never mention aliens.

"-Sheridan: Part of me says we'll not see their like again. But the part of me that still believes in magic says, "Don't be so sure.""
 * Loud of War: Elric punishes Londo by blasting Narn Opera into his quarters.
 * Shout-Out: the Technomages are made of them - the one we meet is named Elric, and he paraphrases, among other things, The Lord of the Rings, Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law and Willy Wonka.
 * Silly Reason for War: From a human perspective, anyway.
 * Technopath
 * You Are in Command Now: Again, a humorous case; Ivanova accidentally becomes leader of the green Drazi by taking the leader's sash.
 * You Haven't Seen The Last Of The Technomages: