"Eyes" is the first-season episode of Babylon 5 where I discovered Jeffrey Combs. I don't know how much you've seen of the show; if the answer is not much, suffice to say that the first season is incredibly uneven artistically, but it's necessary for any of the character development in later seasons to hold any resonance. "Eyes" is not one of the signpost episodes, but it was an interesting attempt to riff on the often consequence-free nature of captainhood in science fiction—a number of Sinclair's more reckless decisions come back to bite him—and it introduces some important information about Ivanova's background. An officer from Earthforce Internal Affairs is sent to investigate the command personnel on Babylon 5; he brings with him a liaison from the Psi Corps, a highly-rated telepath named Harriman Gray. This is Jeffrey Combs: a small, neatly dark-haired man with the psi on his shoulder and the black leather gloves of the Corps, as close at his colonel's heel as if he were leashed there. He has an odd affect, professionally expressionless, with a disquieting intensity of stare, and when he speaks out and tries to offer a moment of rapport, there's something awkward and overeager about it; it is difficult to tell whether he's as slimy as Ivanova assumes—she has bad history with the Corps—or whether there's more to him than his, frankly, fairly creepy assignment. The latter certainly turns out to be true, as he takes some pains to explain to Ivanova: he was a late-blooming telepath who manifested his first month in basic training and was claimed by the Corps, forever losing his dream of becoming a pilot in Earthforce. Liaison to the EIA is the closest he can get. He has a sweet, shy grin when you see it. You still don't know which way he'll jump until the final scene. Even after five seasons and, dear God, eighteen years, he remains one of my very favorite one-shot characters, both for what he illuminates about the world of Babylon 5 (reflecting in Ivanova's nightmares, an unspoken foil for Bester) and simply for his own sake; I believe I used to own a playing card of him, but I have no idea what happened to it. I hope it's still in the shoebox with all the Magic: The Gathering. I may have to look now.
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"Eyes"? What's that?
"Eyes" is the first-season episode of Babylon 5 where I discovered Jeffrey Combs. I don't know how much you've seen of the show; if the answer is not much, suffice to say that the first season is incredibly uneven artistically, but it's necessary for any of the character development in later seasons to hold any resonance. "Eyes" is not one of the signpost episodes, but it was an interesting attempt to riff on the often consequence-free nature of captainhood in science fiction—a number of Sinclair's more reckless decisions come back to bite him—and it introduces some important information about Ivanova's background. An officer from Earthforce Internal Affairs is sent to investigate the command personnel on Babylon 5; he brings with him a liaison from the Psi Corps, a highly-rated telepath named Harriman Gray. This is Jeffrey Combs: a small, neatly dark-haired man with the psi on his shoulder and the black leather gloves of the Corps, as close at his colonel's heel as if he were leashed there. He has an odd affect, professionally expressionless, with a disquieting intensity of stare, and when he speaks out and tries to offer a moment of rapport, there's something awkward and overeager about it; it is difficult to tell whether he's as slimy as Ivanova assumes—she has bad history with the Corps—or whether there's more to him than his, frankly, fairly creepy assignment. The latter certainly turns out to be true, as he takes some pains to explain to Ivanova: he was a late-blooming telepath who manifested his first month in basic training and was claimed by the Corps, forever losing his dream of becoming a pilot in Earthforce. Liaison to the EIA is the closest he can get. He has a sweet, shy grin when you see it. You still don't know which way he'll jump until the final scene. Even after five seasons and, dear God, eighteen years, he remains one of my very favorite one-shot characters, both for what he illuminates about the world of Babylon 5 (reflecting in Ivanova's nightmares, an unspoken foil for Bester) and simply for his own sake; I believe I used to own a playing card of him, but I have no idea what happened to it. I hope it's still in the shoebox with all the Magic: The Gathering. I may have to look now.