Garibaldi's Disappearance in S3 Finale Z'Ha'Dum

OK,

There is something about Garibaldi's "abduction" in this episode that has never made sense to me. Can someone explain this logically? (if it can be done)

So at the end of the Episode, Garibaldi's ship is taken by the Shadows. They wanted him alive. The question is why?

As we find out eventually in Season 4, it was Bester that used Garibaldi for mind games and to turn him against Sheridan and company when he needed to, and it was Bester that had Garibaldi programmed while he was gone.

What doesn't make sense, is how did Bester get his hands on him?

The Shadows were Bester's enemy too. He was fighting them as much as Sheridan and company, because the Shadows were trying to use telepaths in their ships. I very much doubt that he would have been able to say "Hey Shadows. Could you snatch Mr Garibaldi for me? I have some plans down the road for him." and that they would have listened. So I don't get how the Shadows took him for an unknown purpose, and that he ends up in Bester's hands.

Anyone know WHY Garibaldi was taken by the Shadows, and HOW Bester ended up with him?

That whole scenario never sat well with me. Just seemed like it was put there after the fact out of convienence. Thoughts?

Why was, as Justin said, to remove Sheridan's support mechanism. There were three people who were likely to take John's place if he were killed: Delenn, Ivanova and Garibaldi. Of them all, only Garibaldi had the potential to become a tool of the Shadows instead.

As for how Bester got involved, it was never spelled out but I think it was simply that he had a number of people loyal to him who let him know about Garibaldi's capture and helped him take control of the situation.

IMO...

Jan

The Shadows had control of Psi Corps, remember the scene where the Psi Cops meet Mr Morden? The Shadows were trying to neutralise Babylon 5 or possibly even take control of it. Consequently they captured Garibaldi and sent him for mind washing by Psi Corps. The Psi Corps research establishment is on Mars and so is Bester. Bester is also in charge of Psi Corps's space craft. When the attack on Babylon 5 was being planned Bester simply hijacked it and charge a few details.

These guys are right. The Season 4 episode "The Face of the Enemy" spells this out explicitly, when Bester debriefs and de-programs Garibaldi and the Psi-Corp kills William Edgards and takes the Telepath virus he was working on.

The Lurker's Guide sums this up:

"When Justin told Sheridan that the Shadows wouldn't kill him because someone else would come along and take his place ("Z'ha'dum") he had specific people in mind: Delenn, Ivanova and Garibaldi. The Shadows decided that given his innate paranoia, Garibaldi would be easiest to cause to turn away from Sheridan's cause, thus sabotaging the Army of Light in Sheridan's absence. The Psi Corps was given the assignment of programming Garibaldi. They took him to a secret facility on Mars, where Bester intervened and added some programming of his own.

Bester was aware that some kind of action was being planned against the Corps, but he didn't know what or by whom. Given Garibaldi's proven track record at ferreting out conspiracies, Bester instructed his colleagues to leave Garibaldi's personality largely intact, and to accentuate his natural sense of paranoia and distrust. Garibaldi's resignation was an unexpected bonus that put him in a perfect position to infiltrate Edgars' organization.

Garibaldi's mission was to gather information about the threat to the Psi Corps if the opportunity arose, then signal Bester. "

Ahhh OK, this makes sense then. I figured there was some piece of this I was missing. Thanks.

Seems like a good excuse to re-watch one of S4's best episodes to me ...

I'm getting there...