B5, S03E04-6
Feb. 27th, 2012 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyMy inability to lie down or sit for any length of time will not stop the B5 reviews. Nothing can!
Passing Through Gethsemane: Were it not for the reappearance of Lyta and the reveal that she’s now working for Kosh (and tripping off of his Space Jesus rays), this would be a complete standalone episode. And a pretty amazing one. A strikingly young Brad Dourif plays one of Brother Theo’s monks, on B5 researching the spiritual beliefs of other species. He’s haunted by flashbacks and nightmares. A scene with Garibaldi watching an ISN broadcast about a serial killer condemned to death of personality telegraphs what’s going on—Brother Edward used to be a serial killer before he was mindwiped.
The flashbacks aren’t accidental; the families of his victims have paid a telepath to fuck with his head so that he remembers. He’s able to recall his former life for just long enough to want to die; one of the men seeking revenge obliges. He’s subsequently caught, and also sentenced to death of personality, whereupon Theo specifically requests that he be sent to the monks.
It’s a small, lovely story, independent of the larger backdrop of diplomacy and war, and largely relies on some impressive acting and dialogue. Brother Theo is excellent, BTW. I’m glad he’s shaping up to be a recurring character.
Voices of Authority: I let several days and a lot of morphine go between seeing this episode and writing the recap. Ah, moving!
Anyway, I kind of hate Zack Allen. Or rather, I’m irritated when someone makes the creative decision that dumbass = comedy gold. Maybe some person out there likes characters whose sole purpose is comic relief, but I have yet to meet that person. To make matters worse, Zack’s poor decision-making ability leads to plot fallout, and while I do happen to like the plot fallout, I don’t like it being caused by pure stupidity. He’s like the Jar Jar Binks of B5 and I want him to die horribly.
That said! There is a lot of plot happening. The war council meets, sans Kosh for what I can only assume are budgetary reasons (isn’t he part of the war council? Or am I confused?), and they have a new goal. Find the First Ones—a load of ancient races that battled the Shadows a thousand years ago. The only First Ones still around doing stuff are the Vorlons, but apparently there are others, sleeping in hidden cities or wandering the stars. They are very old and very powerful.
OH GOD YOU GUYS THE FIRST ONES ARE THE OLD ONES. Seriously, that’s how Delenn makes it sound when she describes them. Don’t wake Cthulhu ZOMG!
Then it’s decided that this scene has a ham shortage, and Draal shows up! Draal! If you keep chewing all the scenery there will be nothing left between the characters and the cold vacuum of space! He invites them (which “them” is not specified, but presumably Delenn and Sheridan) down to the planet in, oh, say, four hours.
A complication emerges. Said complication is blond, pretty in a bland, perky way, and thoroughly evil. She’s Julie Musante, the new political officer assigned to B5 to keep Sheridan in line and command Night Watch. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY TELL ME SHE’S A RECURRING CHARACTER. She’s like Dolores Umbridge and Jilly Kitzinger and Joseph Goebbels rolled into one and I am exceptionally pleased at the thought of having someone I can hate on so much. Obviously Sheridan does not want a political officer running B5, and obviously he doesn’t get a choice in the matter, and the first thing she does is criticize his office decor for not being patriotic enough. I really want to see her redecorate Sheridan's office to be more patriotic. Show, oblige me! Then she invites him to dinner. In four hours, when he has to go hang out with Draal.
So instead Ivanova has to go to meet with Draal and make awkward conversations. He puts her in the machine and sends her out in search of the First Ones. She finds a planet where some First Ones are hanging out, but then she flips—someone, presumably the Shadows, can see her and know her name. She hightails it out of there, but before she can, she gets a vision of the destruction of Earth Force One and sees a clip of Vice President Clark flat-out admitting that he had President Santiago killed. This vision can be recorded and is actual evidence, holy shit. Draal says that there is no way a normal human would be able to see something like that, which is stating the obvious. Don’t you know that Ivanova is God?
Meanwhile, Musante’s attempts to ingratiate herself with Sheridan go as far as getting naked in his quarters. Um. Awkward! Then Ivanova astral-projects herself into Sheridan’s quarters to give him the good news, and—really really awkward! The most awkward ever, in fact. See, this is the kind of cheap gag I find funny, not Zack Allen complaining about the fit of his uniform.
Accordingly, it ends up being Ivanova and Aragorn, son of Arathorn who go in search of the First Ones. This bit is really fun. The First Ones they find are giant floating Tiki masks with flames coming out of their mouths and eyes. This is how you use cheap CGI when you can’t afford to make things look good, people! They clearly understand English but speak in their own language, so when Ivanova asks them to join Dumbledore’s Army, their response is to shout “ZOG” and run away.
But she is clever, our Ivanova, and she realizes from talking to them that they aren’t pleased when she mentions the Vorlons. So she shouts after them that Dumbledore’s Army doesn’t need the Tiki Masks because the Vorlons are already on side, and are way more badass and did all the heavy lifting in the last big war against the Shadows. The Tiki Masks can’t deal with the hit to their ego and agree to sign on. Marcus looks like he totally wants to make out with Ivanova right then and there and I can’t say I blame him.
Back on B5, G’Kar has realized that something is up and is driving everyone crazy trying to find out what it is. No one will tell him, but he’s figured out about the Rangers, the human-Minbari alliance, and that it has something to do with the Shadows. So he shows up at Garibaldi’s quarters in the middle of the night to give him the massive Tome of Plot Foreshadowing.
And Musante calls a meeting of Night Watch, getting all kinds of information from the clueless Zack Allen and mugging in front of some impressive propaganda posters that I’d like a copy of if they exist. There is a big purge coming up! Woohoo! I love purges! Basically I think she’s going to wrest control of B5 from Sheridan, or at least try, and this will be hella entertaining to watch.
Dust to Dust has both Bester and Vir in it, so automatic awesome points.
Bester is on the station tracking down a Dust dealer. Dust is a drug that allows ordinary people to temporarily become telepaths and experience someone else’s entire life. Why you’d want to do that, besides for the reasons that G’Kar does, I have no idea, but let’s roll with it. It’s depicted in a creepy enough fashion that I’ll forgive yet another drug plotline. (Franklin is still addicted to stims by the way. Boo.)
Anyway, no one trusts Bester for some reason, so after Ivanova tries to kill him before he even lands, they give him a choice. Either a team of Minbari telepaths strong enough to keep him out of people’s brains follows the senior staff around at all times, or he takes the ability-suppressing drugs. He chooses the latter. Which is too bad, because I think the team of Minbari telepaths would have been much funnier. De-fanged Bester and Garibaldi have to team up to do actual police work, and the results are fabulous.
Vir is also back from Minbar. He’s gone native, much to Londo’s distress and my amusement. He submits a report about the Minbari and Londo’s like, “YOU ARE THE MOST NAÏVE EVER.” STFU, Londo. But it’s obvious how much Londo needs him and misses him.
G’Kar, as it turns out, was the client for the Dust dealer. He wants to weaponize the stuff. See, that makes sense! Re-living someone’s mountaineering accident makes less sense. G’Kar gets a hold of a sample, beats the shit out of Vir and Londo, then mindrapes Londo, getting the whole Shadow story along with the prophetic dreams, before getting a vision of Space Jesus. I mean, it’s not so much a vision as Kosh is right there projecting things into his head, but regardless, G’Kar is convinced to be a better person, and takes his 60-day sentence for assault without complaint.
Oh, and the PsyCorps dissected Talia and are responsible for there even being Dust in the first place. Thanks, PsyCorps! You guys are assholes.
Oh yeah, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seaya, this is the episode with the coded-as-Jewish merchant not understanding the Bund's historical role. I cut him (but not JMS) some slack because no one knows what the Bund was now.
You also might all be interested in knowing, apropos of nothing, that the receptionist at my physio clinic is a Juggalo. I mean, a really nice Juggalo, but still. I have never met one before and didn't even know that there were Juggalos in Soviet Socialist Canuckistan.
Passing Through Gethsemane: Were it not for the reappearance of Lyta and the reveal that she’s now working for Kosh (and tripping off of his Space Jesus rays), this would be a complete standalone episode. And a pretty amazing one. A strikingly young Brad Dourif plays one of Brother Theo’s monks, on B5 researching the spiritual beliefs of other species. He’s haunted by flashbacks and nightmares. A scene with Garibaldi watching an ISN broadcast about a serial killer condemned to death of personality telegraphs what’s going on—Brother Edward used to be a serial killer before he was mindwiped.
The flashbacks aren’t accidental; the families of his victims have paid a telepath to fuck with his head so that he remembers. He’s able to recall his former life for just long enough to want to die; one of the men seeking revenge obliges. He’s subsequently caught, and also sentenced to death of personality, whereupon Theo specifically requests that he be sent to the monks.
It’s a small, lovely story, independent of the larger backdrop of diplomacy and war, and largely relies on some impressive acting and dialogue. Brother Theo is excellent, BTW. I’m glad he’s shaping up to be a recurring character.
Voices of Authority: I let several days and a lot of morphine go between seeing this episode and writing the recap. Ah, moving!
Anyway, I kind of hate Zack Allen. Or rather, I’m irritated when someone makes the creative decision that dumbass = comedy gold. Maybe some person out there likes characters whose sole purpose is comic relief, but I have yet to meet that person. To make matters worse, Zack’s poor decision-making ability leads to plot fallout, and while I do happen to like the plot fallout, I don’t like it being caused by pure stupidity. He’s like the Jar Jar Binks of B5 and I want him to die horribly.
That said! There is a lot of plot happening. The war council meets, sans Kosh for what I can only assume are budgetary reasons (isn’t he part of the war council? Or am I confused?), and they have a new goal. Find the First Ones—a load of ancient races that battled the Shadows a thousand years ago. The only First Ones still around doing stuff are the Vorlons, but apparently there are others, sleeping in hidden cities or wandering the stars. They are very old and very powerful.
OH GOD YOU GUYS THE FIRST ONES ARE THE OLD ONES. Seriously, that’s how Delenn makes it sound when she describes them. Don’t wake Cthulhu ZOMG!
Then it’s decided that this scene has a ham shortage, and Draal shows up! Draal! If you keep chewing all the scenery there will be nothing left between the characters and the cold vacuum of space! He invites them (which “them” is not specified, but presumably Delenn and Sheridan) down to the planet in, oh, say, four hours.
A complication emerges. Said complication is blond, pretty in a bland, perky way, and thoroughly evil. She’s Julie Musante, the new political officer assigned to B5 to keep Sheridan in line and command Night Watch. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY TELL ME SHE’S A RECURRING CHARACTER. She’s like Dolores Umbridge and Jilly Kitzinger and Joseph Goebbels rolled into one and I am exceptionally pleased at the thought of having someone I can hate on so much. Obviously Sheridan does not want a political officer running B5, and obviously he doesn’t get a choice in the matter, and the first thing she does is criticize his office decor for not being patriotic enough. I really want to see her redecorate Sheridan's office to be more patriotic. Show, oblige me! Then she invites him to dinner. In four hours, when he has to go hang out with Draal.
So instead Ivanova has to go to meet with Draal and make awkward conversations. He puts her in the machine and sends her out in search of the First Ones. She finds a planet where some First Ones are hanging out, but then she flips—someone, presumably the Shadows, can see her and know her name. She hightails it out of there, but before she can, she gets a vision of the destruction of Earth Force One and sees a clip of Vice President Clark flat-out admitting that he had President Santiago killed. This vision can be recorded and is actual evidence, holy shit. Draal says that there is no way a normal human would be able to see something like that, which is stating the obvious. Don’t you know that Ivanova is God?
Meanwhile, Musante’s attempts to ingratiate herself with Sheridan go as far as getting naked in his quarters. Um. Awkward! Then Ivanova astral-projects herself into Sheridan’s quarters to give him the good news, and—really really awkward! The most awkward ever, in fact. See, this is the kind of cheap gag I find funny, not Zack Allen complaining about the fit of his uniform.
Accordingly, it ends up being Ivanova and Aragorn, son of Arathorn who go in search of the First Ones. This bit is really fun. The First Ones they find are giant floating Tiki masks with flames coming out of their mouths and eyes. This is how you use cheap CGI when you can’t afford to make things look good, people! They clearly understand English but speak in their own language, so when Ivanova asks them to join Dumbledore’s Army, their response is to shout “ZOG” and run away.
But she is clever, our Ivanova, and she realizes from talking to them that they aren’t pleased when she mentions the Vorlons. So she shouts after them that Dumbledore’s Army doesn’t need the Tiki Masks because the Vorlons are already on side, and are way more badass and did all the heavy lifting in the last big war against the Shadows. The Tiki Masks can’t deal with the hit to their ego and agree to sign on. Marcus looks like he totally wants to make out with Ivanova right then and there and I can’t say I blame him.
Back on B5, G’Kar has realized that something is up and is driving everyone crazy trying to find out what it is. No one will tell him, but he’s figured out about the Rangers, the human-Minbari alliance, and that it has something to do with the Shadows. So he shows up at Garibaldi’s quarters in the middle of the night to give him the massive Tome of Plot Foreshadowing.
And Musante calls a meeting of Night Watch, getting all kinds of information from the clueless Zack Allen and mugging in front of some impressive propaganda posters that I’d like a copy of if they exist. There is a big purge coming up! Woohoo! I love purges! Basically I think she’s going to wrest control of B5 from Sheridan, or at least try, and this will be hella entertaining to watch.
Dust to Dust has both Bester and Vir in it, so automatic awesome points.
Bester is on the station tracking down a Dust dealer. Dust is a drug that allows ordinary people to temporarily become telepaths and experience someone else’s entire life. Why you’d want to do that, besides for the reasons that G’Kar does, I have no idea, but let’s roll with it. It’s depicted in a creepy enough fashion that I’ll forgive yet another drug plotline. (Franklin is still addicted to stims by the way. Boo.)
Anyway, no one trusts Bester for some reason, so after Ivanova tries to kill him before he even lands, they give him a choice. Either a team of Minbari telepaths strong enough to keep him out of people’s brains follows the senior staff around at all times, or he takes the ability-suppressing drugs. He chooses the latter. Which is too bad, because I think the team of Minbari telepaths would have been much funnier. De-fanged Bester and Garibaldi have to team up to do actual police work, and the results are fabulous.
Vir is also back from Minbar. He’s gone native, much to Londo’s distress and my amusement. He submits a report about the Minbari and Londo’s like, “YOU ARE THE MOST NAÏVE EVER.” STFU, Londo. But it’s obvious how much Londo needs him and misses him.
G’Kar, as it turns out, was the client for the Dust dealer. He wants to weaponize the stuff. See, that makes sense! Re-living someone’s mountaineering accident makes less sense. G’Kar gets a hold of a sample, beats the shit out of Vir and Londo, then mindrapes Londo, getting the whole Shadow story along with the prophetic dreams, before getting a vision of Space Jesus. I mean, it’s not so much a vision as Kosh is right there projecting things into his head, but regardless, G’Kar is convinced to be a better person, and takes his 60-day sentence for assault without complaint.
Oh, and the PsyCorps dissected Talia and are responsible for there even being Dust in the first place. Thanks, PsyCorps! You guys are assholes.
Oh yeah, and
seaya, this is the episode with the coded-as-Jewish merchant not understanding the Bund's historical role. I cut him (but not JMS) some slack because no one knows what the Bund was now.You also might all be interested in knowing, apropos of nothing, that the receptionist at my physio clinic is a Juggalo. I mean, a really nice Juggalo, but still. I have never met one before and didn't even know that there were Juggalos in Soviet Socialist Canuckistan.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 01:29 am (UTC)If you think he's young in B5, check him out in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).
no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-29 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 05:19 am (UTC)Man, those lines were quoted so often and so hard when the show was first one.
Sorry but it was a one-off show for Ann Coulter of the 23rd century. But there are other Nightwatch fascists coming up.
And I think that whole "this new uniform is scratchy" bit comes up again.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 12:10 pm (UTC)Does Zack die horribly? *big puppy eyes*
no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 04:52 pm (UTC)That's kind of a bummer though.
The character does become less annoying though. I think. I liked him.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 06:43 pm (UTC)not the world I want to live in....
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 09:23 pm (UTC)I like that moment of total disconnect when Sheridan looks like he wants to strangle the new monk with his bare hands. On his face, you can watch him grappling with the revelation and it's implications - including the one that Brother Theo was lying about not knowing where the first monk came from.
He’s like the Jar Jar Binks of B5 and I want him to die horribly.
Minus the Stepin Fetchit dialog humor.
The war council meets, sans Kosh for what I can only assume are budgetary reasons (isn’t he part of the war council? Or am I confused?), and they have a new goal.
More likely plot reasons. A lot of plot complications and minor story lines could be resolved quickly on the "I wonder if that silly duck will remember that he can fly" principle. Although, B5 is usually good at bringing these solutions in later. In retrospect, this is realistic. People are not always available when you need them. And it had been established that Kosh frequently leaves the station for his own cryptic reasons.
The First Ones they find are giant floating Tiki masks with flames coming out of their mouths and eyes. This is how you use cheap CGI when you can’t afford to make things look good, people!
I thought the Tiki gods' look was deliberately cutesy. Perhaps it was homage to a local bar the cast or writers frequented. I liked their awesome ship, so crappy CGI was not the problem. They just did not look like they belonged on that ship. I would have used that ship for different aliens and put the Tiki gods in a giant 8-sider made of two Aztec pyramids glued together base-to-base.
I'm of two minds on the silly look. On the one hand, these elder ones are vain and jealous, so they are supposed to look a little ridiculous. (They do have a petty rivalry with the Vorlons, after all, which Ivanova figured out immediately.) On the other, the ship leads you to expect something more awe-inspiring. I think this dissonance was deliberate. All logical in retrospect, but the fact of the matter remained that it did not work. There is ample precedent for this. Londo and G'Kar are way too over-the-top when we first meet them. I appreciate what JMS is trying to do, but he often over does it. This is like G'Kar stomping his foot when thwarted. I would have used the same dynamic of JMS, but dialed the ridiculousness down a notch or two.
And Musante calls a meeting of Night Watch, getting all kinds of information from the clueless Zack Allen and mugging in front of some impressive propaganda posters that I’d like a copy of if they exist.
Yes! I loved that you even saw those posters down below.