Guide Page: "Learning Curve" (original) (raw)

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Contents: Overview -Backplot -Questions -Analysis -Notes -JMS

Overview

Two Minbari Rangers-in-training come to the station and learn a difficult lesson. A new underworld boss tries to take control of DownBelow.Nathan Anderson as Rastenn.Turhan Bey as Turval.Brendan Ford as Tannier.Trevor Goddard as Trace.Brian McDermott as Durhan.

P5 Rating: 7.65

Production number: 506 Original air date: February 18, 1998 DVD release date: April 13, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski Directed by David Eagle

Plot Points

Lochley wasn't on Sheridan's side in the civil war, though she may not have been on Clark's side either. She feels her role as a soldier is to follow orders until she's given a specific order she finds immoral. As a soldier, she says, the most important words in her vocabulary are loyalty, duty, and honor, and turning against the chain of command would mean sacrificing one of the three, rendering the other two meaningless.
Sheridan and Lochley appear to have had a relationship of some sort in the past.
Several races are now represented in the ranks of Ranger trainees, including the Pak'ma'ra, who will specialize as couriers and infiltrators since they're so unpleasant to most other races that everyone goes to great lengths to ignore them.
The two telepaths supplied by Byron to Garibaldi ("The Paragon of Animals") have begun their training.
Lennier, according to one of his instructors, is pushing himself too hard in his Ranger training, most likely in an attempt to impress Delenn.

Unanswered Questions

Did Lochley disobey any of Clark's orders during the war, as Garibaldi tried to discover?
What history do Sheridan and Lochley share?
Lochley said Garibaldi was the second man she'd met who was as stubborn as she was; who was the first? Sheridan?
Did Garibaldi read Lochley's file after Zack left?

Analysis

One aspect of Ranger training is Mora'Dum, the application of terror. Marcus referred to that aspect during his conversation with Franklin in"A Late Delivery from Avalon."
The friction between the Minbari castes hasn't gone away completely, but does seem to have been reduced to the level of conversational sarcasm, at least within the ranks of the Rangers.
Durhan has been mentioned once before, during the fight between Marcus and Neroon in"Grey 17 is Missing." Marcus was given personal training in pike combat by Durhan.
Turval's philosophy about meaningful deaths isn't shared by Delenn: in"The Paragon of Animals," she told Franklin that the Ranger's death would be meaningless if he took his information to the grave with him. Turval wouldn't consider it meaningless, since the Ranger was pursuing a noble cause when he died.
This episode marks the second time Lochley has been overruled on something she considered a station matter (the first was Sheridan's decision to allow the telepath colony in"No Compromises.") Given her insistence to Sheridan that she be allowed the authority to run the station her way, this incident probably isn't sitting well with her. At what point will she decide she's had enough and begin to confront Sheridan on the subject?
It's not clear whether Lochley actually fought for Clark or not. By her own admission she didn't support the rebellion, but as she pointed out to Garibaldi, not every conflict has only two sides. Her comment about making a decision that affects only oneself suggests she might have deserted or otherwise refused to cooperate. Perhaps she was even punished for it.

Notes

The station's underworld has had a hole in its power structure since the departure of n'grath ("Soul Hunter," among other episodes.) It wasn't explicitly stated, but the implication was that n'grath was assassinated.
Turhan Bey played the Centauri Emperor in"The Coming of Shadows."
A conceptual error on Trace's part: Trace's right-hand man told him that "everybody in security went up two levels or down one." Moments later, Trace posited that whatever was going on was "just these three levels." But if security went up two levels or down one, it'd only leave two levels empty: if, for illustration's sake, Trace were on level 5, the security people would have gone down to level 6 or up to level 3, leaving levels 4 and 5.

jms speaks

Lochley would never get away with chewing out a superior like she did Garibaldi.
That might apply in a straight hierarchical organization, but Garibaldi is not her superior; they are on parallel lines of command, not vertical, he doesn't answer to her, she doesn't answer to him. She has total and complete authority over the station and is answerable only to Earthdome and, in political matters, to Sheridan.
You may not think this sort of thing happens, but it does, and it would. You're talking to the only producer to go out and berate Angela Lansbury's son who was then directing an episode of Murder, She Wrote, in front of his whole crew, and still remain employed afterward.

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