Babylon 5 Rewatch: “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”
An excerpt:
Truthfully, this episode is owned by guest Mel Winkler. [J. Michael] Straczynski shows an excellent understanding of how to write religious characters (something the show has been excellent at generally, notably with Rabbi Koslov in “TKO” and [Brother] Theo), and Dexter is magnificent here. It’s hard to say which bit of his is best, his declaration that it’s better to do something instead of nothing at dinner; or his excellent sermon (that applies to the U.S. of 2025 as much as it does the Earth Alliance of 2260) about how fear, hate, and ignorance are the enemy, not the other; or his great late-night conversation with Sheridan.
It’s probably the latter, just because Dexter so perfectly reads Sheridan. And when he crosses a line by telling Sheridan that Delenn loves him (which is blindingly obvious to everyone, truly), he backs off and finds a different approach. I especially like that, when Sheridan—more than a little snidely—asks if Dexter is saying that Sheridan should turn his problems over to God, Dexter’s dry reply is: “When God comes knocking at your door, you won’t need me, or anyone else, to tell you what that sound is.” He’s not proselytizing. The best religious leaders are also communityleaders, and you get to be that way in part by being able to read people, and in part by understanding people. Dexter gets what Sheridan is going through, partly because of his experience as a chaplain in a war. Though it takes an anecdote about his relationship with his wife, rather than his time on the front lines, to get through to Sheridan.
