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Ari Ben Zayn in "Eyes"

As I was rewatching "Eyes" a few months back, I was wondering about Ben Zayn's motives in having Garibaldi working closely with him as he's running his kangaroo court in an attempt to railroad Sinclair. His stated reason is that he "likes the way Garibaldi operates" or something like that, but he surely knew of the close relationship between Garibaldi and Sinclair before he came aboard and that it might cause problems for him.

I think there might be three reasons to have Garibaldi around rather than ordering him to patrol Brown sector for a few days to keep him far away.

1) Keep your friends close and your enemies closer -- Ben Zayn was fearful that if he told Garibaldi to take a hike while he conducted his witch hunt that the Chief might scheme against the Colonel behind his back. (Of course, our intrepid detective manages to do this anyway:D)

2) It adds some legitimacy to the investigation -- that way if anyone questions Ben Zayn's motives and/or findings he can say "Hey, Sinclair's best bud was there the whole time, and he never found anything [concrete and overtly] fishy about this . . ."

3) He's hoping for more incriminating info from Garibaldi -- he's probably holding out a slight hope that he can turn Garibaldi against Sinclair, or more likely just trying to see what he can get by asking the Chief's side of the story on events which have occurred (ie. Deathwalker and the Vorlons).

Anyways, this topic has been burning a whole in my mind for a while (pun intended), so I just thought I would throw it out there.
 
It might be a requirement. I have no idea what their laws are, and feel like a fool because I must have recently seen this episode, but I don't remember it too well. :eek:

Edit: just took a quick look at the Lurker's Guide again and yea, now I recall which episode that one was. (I'm bad with names/titles.)

Probably, my guess would be, he figures that Garibaldi is a by-the-book kinda guy. And a guy who will tend to know what a lot of others don't. That'd be my best guess.
 
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I agree with all your reasons, Garibaldi could be a bit of a loose cannon at times, even around people he liked and trusted (Sinclair), so best to know as much as possible where he is and what he's doing, if you're someone he neither likes nor trusts.
 
I think it's possible he genuinely did like Garibaldi's style, just as he said.

Ben Zayn was psychotic, it might have been completely beyond his comprehension that Garibaldi could put his friendship over his duty and a chance to get in with the new commander.
 
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Divide and conquer. Having Garibaldi run errands for him distracts him from helping Sinclair. Also, if his plan was to actually assume command of the station, it would be better to have Garibaldi as at least some kind of an ally.

And I think he "liked his style" because he saw the two of them as "real" soldiers and Sinclair as some over-privileged elitist.

By the way, this episode is one of the most entertaining ever. The scenery-chewing of the Ben-Zayn: my god, it's just magnificent. Throw in Way-Un, and it's just a cluster-f*** of over-acting. Love it!
 
Divide and conquer. Having Garibaldi run errands for him distracts him from helping Sinclair. Also, if his plan was to actually assume command of the station, it would be better to have Garibaldi as at least some kind of an ally.

And I think he "liked his style" because he saw the two of them as "real" soldiers and Sinclair as some over-privileged elitist.

By the way, this episode is one of the most entertaining ever. The scenery-chewing of the Ben-Zayn: my god, it's just magnificent. Throw in Way-Un, and it's just a cluster-f*** of over-acting. Love it!

Wasn't the guy playing Ben Zayn going through a divorce at the time... magnifying his rage.

The bit that gets me the most is when Garibaldi tells Jeff to back off because Ben Zayn is baiting him... and then it cuts back to Ben Zayn who looks on with malicious glee.. as if his soul is about to jump from within him and do a naked tango in front of everyone.
 
i always got the feeling he trusted garibaldi because they were GROPOS during the war, because i really do believe he trusted him.
 

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