B5, S03E07-10
Mar. 4th, 2012 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyIn which I get excited because there's a three-part episode and also centipedes.
Exogenesis: There is an outbreak of David Cronenberg plaguing Down Below, with centipede creatures burrowing into people’s spines and either killing them or turning them into happy zombies. One of these is an old guy that Marcus likes to quote Shakespeare at, so he and Franklin investigate after Garibaldi declares it Not His Problem. But it turns out that the centipedes are actually expies of the Trill symbiotes from DS9, and they carry ancient memories that make the people who receive them feel all special. So the process is totally consensual. It’s kind of a cool, if unremarkable, twist on Monster of the Week episodes, plus Marcus gets to be badass and also admits he has the hots for Ivanova (get in line, bubs).
Meanwhile, Dreamy Corwin gets promoted to lieutenant, a cause for both celebration and concern, since Dumbledore’s Army must determine how likely he is to rat them out if he finds out that they’re plotting against the government. So Ivanova tries to arrange a private chat, but because she has basically no social skills, she suggests her quarters, and so Dreamy Corwin thinks it’s a date. Misunderstandings abound. Anyway, it turns out he’s pretty much a rules guy, much to everyone’s disappointment. I actually think he was just trying to impress Ivanova and is probably trustworthy, but what do I know? I read him as gay and presumably uninterested in her romantically, but apparently not so much.
Messages From Earth:
Marcus, why are you trying to seduce Ivanova with bacon and eggs? Though I guess she’s not that religious because she looks like she’s going to eat it right before the cut. Marcus, meanwhile, is showing off his badassery in defense of a blond woman. Apparently dudes are trying to kill her because years ago, she was part of an archeological dig on Mars that uncovered a Shadow ship. There’s some really great writing, by the way, as she relays her story to Dumbledore’s Army. Anyway, the point of this all is that Earth has found another Shadow ship, this one on Ganymede. They don’t want to destroy it or use it to fight against the Shadows. They want to wake it up (Shadow ships, like the Vorlon ships, are living. *shudder* That makes them so much worse) and use it against other races and Earth dissidents.
Bad idea Earth! Clearly, President Clark has not read or watched enough sci-fi or horror to know that these things go wrong in 100% of all cases.
Speaking of Clark, it seems that the video of him confessing to Santiago’s assassination has gotten out to the general public, as well as the information from Clark’s doctor that negates his alibi. There are Senate hearings on Earth, and conspiracy theories—which happen to be correct in this case—abound.
So Delenn and Sheridan, along with Lennier, take the White Star to Ganymede to try to destroy the Shadow ship before Clark can get his grubby hands on it. This is probably a suicide mission, although obviously they’re main characters so it won’t be. They get a rather subtly drawn romantic moment on the uncomfortable-looking Minbari beds (Minbari sleep on an angle because they believe lying down completely is tempting fate. I suspect the Minbari are trolling Sheridan here, since we haven’t seen these beds anywhere other than on the White Star.).
Regardless, they are too late to stop the Earth expedition from waking up the Shadow ship. Predictably, everything goes horribly wrong and the ship destroys the base on Ganymede, and the White Star gets into an epic space battle with it through Jupiter’s atmosphere. They’re able to destroy it with some technobabble, but out of nowhere, they’re attacked by Sheridan’s old ship, the Agamemnon, whose captain obviously thinks that the base was destroyed by the White Star. For a few minutes, I actually think that Sheridan is going to have to blow up the Agamemnon, which would have been excellent drama, but they escape using more technobabble.
The technobabble is lampshaded, however:
Sheridan: Give me everything you’ve got!
Lennier: If I was holding anything back, I’d tell you.
Never change, Lennier. You are the best of them.
Back on B5, Garibaldi visits G’Kar, who is so happy about being in prison and having some time to himself that he sings. The other prisoners are not so keen on this. Don’t they know that singing G’Kar is the best thing ever? I’m pleased to report that this recap requires no sad lizards, though G’Kar is writing his memoirs and that is never a good sign.
Nightwatch, on the fast track to becoming the universe’s least effective fascist organization, finally notices that Sheridan has been missing for four days, not that they do anything about it except holding yet another boring meeting. Zack is there, annoying the shit out of me. Someone get these people some jackboots, stat.
Oh, and Marcus is still trying to get Ivanova to sleep with him in increasingly cute ways. He is kind of adorable. I don’t want them to get together, though, because I have been trained in the ways of Joss Whedon to automatically assume that if two characters I like hook up, it will end very badly for both of them.
Anyway, the good guys’ triumph is short-lived, because the bad guys use everything that happened to their advantage. The Shadow ship seen in Keffer’s last recording is a threat that justifies crackdowns on civil liberties. (Hmm, this is familiar.) The destruction of the Ganymede base can be attributed to an attack by an unknown enemy—remember, the White Star is a completely bizarre ship that no one has seen before. With this ammunition, Clark declares martial law.
I feel like everything that happens in this episode requires an exclamation point.
Point of No Return:
!!!!!!!
(Exclamation marks have been extracted from the following recap and placed above to make me sound less like a 13-year-old girl.)
Really, show, you spoil me. B5 awaits the martial law order that is now in effect on Earth and all of its colonies. General Hague (that one non-corrupt general who was trying to expose Clark) is on the run, trying to summon his forces for a coup. Nightwatch has been ordered to take over station security. All hell breaks loose, basically.
Meanwhile, Majel Barrett is on the station, playing the former Emperor’s third wife. Londo’s asked her to read his fortune. Normally I hate predestination storylines, but I love this one, because it’s Londo, having seen the cost of his great destiny, trying to fight it as much as he can. Also, Majel Barrett.
And G’Kar’s been sprung three weeks early because Garibaldi figures it’s useless guarding him when there are riots all over the station. Good call, Garibaldi. Also, G’Kar has found Space Jesus or Space Gandhi or something. I think I liked him more when he was angry all the time. He makes up for the loopiness at the end, though.
Lots and lots of characters get crowning moments of awesome:
- Vir is Vir, and so is awesome by virtue of being in this episode. Also, he and Londo are both destined to be Emperor, but not at the same time. I do hope it’s Londo, then Vir—not that I don’t love Londo as a character, but I imagine he’d be even more disastrous given power. Also, I don’t want Vir to die.
- Garibaldi gets to finally let loose his rage on Nightwatch and it is a sight to behold.
- Hague, while not actually appearing on screen, gets a space battle and everyone cheers when he gets away.
- G’Kar comes up with a cunning plan, or at least part of one (we don’t see the discussion before the cunning plan is set into motion) and the Narns are now partially in charge of station security. How great is that? Also, he sings again, though it’s in Narn this time so I don’t know if it’s as funny as his other songs.
- The Russian president organizes a civilian barricade of the Senate to protect the senators that Clark is trying to purge.
- Zack is okay, I guess. He betrays Nightwatch, albeit in a completely dopey way, and leads them into a trap.
- Sheridan pulls a Sinclair and finds an incredibly bureaucratic, technical way to save the day. Don’t mess with Sheridan. He will beat you with the chain of command. It’s doubly hilarious because he’s essentially fighting a military dictatorship with military dictatorship.
Other things I noticed:
- Wow, Bush really lifted a lot of his rhetoric right from this show, didn’t he?
- I have been mentally blocking out the credits but it took me until now to notice that Na’Toth has been dropped from them. I guess Ta’Lon is the new Na’Toth, which is unfortunate, because while I like Ta’Lon, he’s nowhere near as cool as Na’Toth. And she didn’t even get a cool exit! She just stopped being on the show.
Anyway, when will there be Emperor Vir? Maybe we should have some kind of countdown.
Severed Dreams: This show is so good! There’s practically no filler at this point; it’s all stuff I expected to happen around the season finale happening before mid-season.
So! Londo is pissed that the Narns are working security, and says so out loud, so the Narns just dick with him. Heh. He mostly blames the humans and their silly civil war.
Cut to ships blowing up! Yay! Except that the space battles are exploited for their full dramatic potential; the rebelling ships are reluctant to fire on other Earth ships, and to twist the knife even more, the commanding officer of Hague’s ship, the Alexander, knows the captain of the ship he has to blow up, the Clarkstown. Wait, why is Hague not captaining his ship? Oh hell, they dropped a bridge on him.
The Alexander has sustained heavy damages, so it heads for the one safe place left: B5. Within minutes, Sheridan draws the line I expected him to draw much later—he cuts all external communications and lets the Alexander in, despite express orders not to do so, essentially taking sides against Earth. But it gets better. The new commander, Major Ryan, tells everyone that the Mars Provisional Government has refused to implement martial law. He barely finishes before Earth starts bombing the fuck out of Mars.
Delenn, Lennier, and G’Kar rescue a Minbari Ranger who has more distressing news: Many of the Non-Aligned Worlds have sided with the Shadows and are also killing the shit out of each other. The Grey Council refuses to intervene in any of this, even though after the Vorlons, they probably know the most about the Shadows. (By the way, how did Delenn know that Shadow ships are alive two episodes ago? Has she seen one close-up or something?)
Joining Mars in taking a stand in the most unlikely way is ISN. The news director interrupts the official broadcast to get word out that, in solidarity with Mars, two Earth colonies have declared independence until President Clark is removed. Then ISN gets bombed and its signal cut. R.I.P. ISN. You were one of the most enjoyable parts of the show.
One last rebel ship comes to B5: the Churchill, captained by Sandra Hiroshi. She tells everyone that Earth warships are on their way to seize control of B5 and hand over power to Nightwatch. Ryan wants to take off to draw fire away, but Hiroshi says that the ships were already on their way. Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin decide unanimously not to surrender.
Meanwhile, Delenn storms into the Grey Council and breaks it up, bringing the religious caste and the worker caste with her. Go Delenn!
Sheridan has a heartwarming conversation with his dad back on Earth. Hmm, for some reason I’d assumed his dad was dead. I guess not.
Oh, go me! I got at least one prediction right: Sheridan declares B5 an independent state until Clark is removed from power. Awesome! He uses Draal’s projection system to do it, and I am pleased to see that the issue of using Epsilon 3’s technology to defend the station is at least brought up, then dismissed.
Then it’s epic space battle time. Hiroshi’s ship goes down but takes an enemy ship down in the process, a bunch of Narn security guys get killed but prevent the station from being boarded. Things go boom. I am pleased.
B5 wins, but barely. Sheridan says the ultimate jinx, and so of course more destroyers show up. They are about to be well and truly fucked when some other jumpgates open, and it’s Delenn at her most utterly badass to the rescue. In the face of this crowning moment of awesome, the Earth destroyers flee in terror.
This is one of those episodes that had me squeeing out loud. I may have been applauding along with the folks in the Zócalo even. I love explosions more than anything except maybe political intrigue, and this episode had lots of both. Given the show’s model of “and then it got worse,” I can’t wait to see where they go for another two-and-a-half seasons.
Exogenesis: There is an outbreak of David Cronenberg plaguing Down Below, with centipede creatures burrowing into people’s spines and either killing them or turning them into happy zombies. One of these is an old guy that Marcus likes to quote Shakespeare at, so he and Franklin investigate after Garibaldi declares it Not His Problem. But it turns out that the centipedes are actually expies of the Trill symbiotes from DS9, and they carry ancient memories that make the people who receive them feel all special. So the process is totally consensual. It’s kind of a cool, if unremarkable, twist on Monster of the Week episodes, plus Marcus gets to be badass and also admits he has the hots for Ivanova (get in line, bubs).
Meanwhile, Dreamy Corwin gets promoted to lieutenant, a cause for both celebration and concern, since Dumbledore’s Army must determine how likely he is to rat them out if he finds out that they’re plotting against the government. So Ivanova tries to arrange a private chat, but because she has basically no social skills, she suggests her quarters, and so Dreamy Corwin thinks it’s a date. Misunderstandings abound. Anyway, it turns out he’s pretty much a rules guy, much to everyone’s disappointment. I actually think he was just trying to impress Ivanova and is probably trustworthy, but what do I know? I read him as gay and presumably uninterested in her romantically, but apparently not so much.
Messages From Earth:
Marcus, why are you trying to seduce Ivanova with bacon and eggs? Though I guess she’s not that religious because she looks like she’s going to eat it right before the cut. Marcus, meanwhile, is showing off his badassery in defense of a blond woman. Apparently dudes are trying to kill her because years ago, she was part of an archeological dig on Mars that uncovered a Shadow ship. There’s some really great writing, by the way, as she relays her story to Dumbledore’s Army. Anyway, the point of this all is that Earth has found another Shadow ship, this one on Ganymede. They don’t want to destroy it or use it to fight against the Shadows. They want to wake it up (Shadow ships, like the Vorlon ships, are living. *shudder* That makes them so much worse) and use it against other races and Earth dissidents.
Bad idea Earth! Clearly, President Clark has not read or watched enough sci-fi or horror to know that these things go wrong in 100% of all cases.
Speaking of Clark, it seems that the video of him confessing to Santiago’s assassination has gotten out to the general public, as well as the information from Clark’s doctor that negates his alibi. There are Senate hearings on Earth, and conspiracy theories—which happen to be correct in this case—abound.
So Delenn and Sheridan, along with Lennier, take the White Star to Ganymede to try to destroy the Shadow ship before Clark can get his grubby hands on it. This is probably a suicide mission, although obviously they’re main characters so it won’t be. They get a rather subtly drawn romantic moment on the uncomfortable-looking Minbari beds (Minbari sleep on an angle because they believe lying down completely is tempting fate. I suspect the Minbari are trolling Sheridan here, since we haven’t seen these beds anywhere other than on the White Star.).
Regardless, they are too late to stop the Earth expedition from waking up the Shadow ship. Predictably, everything goes horribly wrong and the ship destroys the base on Ganymede, and the White Star gets into an epic space battle with it through Jupiter’s atmosphere. They’re able to destroy it with some technobabble, but out of nowhere, they’re attacked by Sheridan’s old ship, the Agamemnon, whose captain obviously thinks that the base was destroyed by the White Star. For a few minutes, I actually think that Sheridan is going to have to blow up the Agamemnon, which would have been excellent drama, but they escape using more technobabble.
The technobabble is lampshaded, however:
Sheridan: Give me everything you’ve got!
Lennier: If I was holding anything back, I’d tell you.
Never change, Lennier. You are the best of them.
Back on B5, Garibaldi visits G’Kar, who is so happy about being in prison and having some time to himself that he sings. The other prisoners are not so keen on this. Don’t they know that singing G’Kar is the best thing ever? I’m pleased to report that this recap requires no sad lizards, though G’Kar is writing his memoirs and that is never a good sign.
Nightwatch, on the fast track to becoming the universe’s least effective fascist organization, finally notices that Sheridan has been missing for four days, not that they do anything about it except holding yet another boring meeting. Zack is there, annoying the shit out of me. Someone get these people some jackboots, stat.
Oh, and Marcus is still trying to get Ivanova to sleep with him in increasingly cute ways. He is kind of adorable. I don’t want them to get together, though, because I have been trained in the ways of Joss Whedon to automatically assume that if two characters I like hook up, it will end very badly for both of them.
Anyway, the good guys’ triumph is short-lived, because the bad guys use everything that happened to their advantage. The Shadow ship seen in Keffer’s last recording is a threat that justifies crackdowns on civil liberties. (Hmm, this is familiar.) The destruction of the Ganymede base can be attributed to an attack by an unknown enemy—remember, the White Star is a completely bizarre ship that no one has seen before. With this ammunition, Clark declares martial law.
I feel like everything that happens in this episode requires an exclamation point.
Point of No Return:
!!!!!!!
(Exclamation marks have been extracted from the following recap and placed above to make me sound less like a 13-year-old girl.)
Really, show, you spoil me. B5 awaits the martial law order that is now in effect on Earth and all of its colonies. General Hague (that one non-corrupt general who was trying to expose Clark) is on the run, trying to summon his forces for a coup. Nightwatch has been ordered to take over station security. All hell breaks loose, basically.
Meanwhile, Majel Barrett is on the station, playing the former Emperor’s third wife. Londo’s asked her to read his fortune. Normally I hate predestination storylines, but I love this one, because it’s Londo, having seen the cost of his great destiny, trying to fight it as much as he can. Also, Majel Barrett.
And G’Kar’s been sprung three weeks early because Garibaldi figures it’s useless guarding him when there are riots all over the station. Good call, Garibaldi. Also, G’Kar has found Space Jesus or Space Gandhi or something. I think I liked him more when he was angry all the time. He makes up for the loopiness at the end, though.
Lots and lots of characters get crowning moments of awesome:
- Vir is Vir, and so is awesome by virtue of being in this episode. Also, he and Londo are both destined to be Emperor, but not at the same time. I do hope it’s Londo, then Vir—not that I don’t love Londo as a character, but I imagine he’d be even more disastrous given power. Also, I don’t want Vir to die.
- Garibaldi gets to finally let loose his rage on Nightwatch and it is a sight to behold.
- Hague, while not actually appearing on screen, gets a space battle and everyone cheers when he gets away.
- G’Kar comes up with a cunning plan, or at least part of one (we don’t see the discussion before the cunning plan is set into motion) and the Narns are now partially in charge of station security. How great is that? Also, he sings again, though it’s in Narn this time so I don’t know if it’s as funny as his other songs.
- The Russian president organizes a civilian barricade of the Senate to protect the senators that Clark is trying to purge.
- Zack is okay, I guess. He betrays Nightwatch, albeit in a completely dopey way, and leads them into a trap.
- Sheridan pulls a Sinclair and finds an incredibly bureaucratic, technical way to save the day. Don’t mess with Sheridan. He will beat you with the chain of command. It’s doubly hilarious because he’s essentially fighting a military dictatorship with military dictatorship.
Other things I noticed:
- Wow, Bush really lifted a lot of his rhetoric right from this show, didn’t he?
- I have been mentally blocking out the credits but it took me until now to notice that Na’Toth has been dropped from them. I guess Ta’Lon is the new Na’Toth, which is unfortunate, because while I like Ta’Lon, he’s nowhere near as cool as Na’Toth. And she didn’t even get a cool exit! She just stopped being on the show.
Anyway, when will there be Emperor Vir? Maybe we should have some kind of countdown.
Severed Dreams: This show is so good! There’s practically no filler at this point; it’s all stuff I expected to happen around the season finale happening before mid-season.
So! Londo is pissed that the Narns are working security, and says so out loud, so the Narns just dick with him. Heh. He mostly blames the humans and their silly civil war.
Cut to ships blowing up! Yay! Except that the space battles are exploited for their full dramatic potential; the rebelling ships are reluctant to fire on other Earth ships, and to twist the knife even more, the commanding officer of Hague’s ship, the Alexander, knows the captain of the ship he has to blow up, the Clarkstown. Wait, why is Hague not captaining his ship? Oh hell, they dropped a bridge on him.
The Alexander has sustained heavy damages, so it heads for the one safe place left: B5. Within minutes, Sheridan draws the line I expected him to draw much later—he cuts all external communications and lets the Alexander in, despite express orders not to do so, essentially taking sides against Earth. But it gets better. The new commander, Major Ryan, tells everyone that the Mars Provisional Government has refused to implement martial law. He barely finishes before Earth starts bombing the fuck out of Mars.
Delenn, Lennier, and G’Kar rescue a Minbari Ranger who has more distressing news: Many of the Non-Aligned Worlds have sided with the Shadows and are also killing the shit out of each other. The Grey Council refuses to intervene in any of this, even though after the Vorlons, they probably know the most about the Shadows. (By the way, how did Delenn know that Shadow ships are alive two episodes ago? Has she seen one close-up or something?)
Joining Mars in taking a stand in the most unlikely way is ISN. The news director interrupts the official broadcast to get word out that, in solidarity with Mars, two Earth colonies have declared independence until President Clark is removed. Then ISN gets bombed and its signal cut. R.I.P. ISN. You were one of the most enjoyable parts of the show.
One last rebel ship comes to B5: the Churchill, captained by Sandra Hiroshi. She tells everyone that Earth warships are on their way to seize control of B5 and hand over power to Nightwatch. Ryan wants to take off to draw fire away, but Hiroshi says that the ships were already on their way. Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin decide unanimously not to surrender.
Meanwhile, Delenn storms into the Grey Council and breaks it up, bringing the religious caste and the worker caste with her. Go Delenn!
Sheridan has a heartwarming conversation with his dad back on Earth. Hmm, for some reason I’d assumed his dad was dead. I guess not.
Oh, go me! I got at least one prediction right: Sheridan declares B5 an independent state until Clark is removed from power. Awesome! He uses Draal’s projection system to do it, and I am pleased to see that the issue of using Epsilon 3’s technology to defend the station is at least brought up, then dismissed.
Then it’s epic space battle time. Hiroshi’s ship goes down but takes an enemy ship down in the process, a bunch of Narn security guys get killed but prevent the station from being boarded. Things go boom. I am pleased.
B5 wins, but barely. Sheridan says the ultimate jinx, and so of course more destroyers show up. They are about to be well and truly fucked when some other jumpgates open, and it’s Delenn at her most utterly badass to the rescue. In the face of this crowning moment of awesome, the Earth destroyers flee in terror.
This is one of those episodes that had me squeeing out loud. I may have been applauding along with the folks in the Zócalo even. I love explosions more than anything except maybe political intrigue, and this episode had lots of both. Given the show’s model of “and then it got worse,” I can’t wait to see where they go for another two-and-a-half seasons.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 02:40 pm (UTC)The only show I can remember watching as a teenager was the X-Files. I think I might have been too busy to watch TV or something. I'm sure I did watch other things, but they didn't stick.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 02:50 pm (UTC)Random factoid: Hague wasn't supposed to die, but the actor got doublebooked to B5 and Deep Space 9, and picked the latter with very little notice. JMS replied by killing off his character.
- Wow, Bush really lifted a lot of his rhetoric right from this show, didn’t he?
Yeah, he probably did...
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 02:57 pm (UTC)I figured something like this, otherwise he'd have died on screen.
Yeah, he probably did...
*sob* I imagine Margaret Atwood must feel similarly every time someone uses The Handmaid's Tale as a playbook rather than as a cautionary tale.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 05:50 pm (UTC)Of course, the problem with the Lurkers GUide is the fact that for years everyone was waiting for the Londo prophecies and I don't know if they were obvious in the show without JMS pointing them out online. Besides that he would sometimes lie to protect a plot point.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 04:38 pm (UTC)I'm not sure why listening to your reactions fill me with so much glee. I guess I'm more of a fanboi of this show that I thought.
I think that *is* Delenn's crowning moment.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 05:16 pm (UTC)Later on the television industry actually priced seasons of their shows at affordable prices and realized that people will actually pay $20-$35 for a season of a show that they only know from reputation if it's a good reputation and then get hooked. As opposed to paying $200 for an entire season because "we gotta make money somehow"
no subject
Date: 2012-06-17 04:00 am (UTC)Between B5, Farscape, Lexx, and Stargate, we really did have a lot of awesome TV there for a while...
(Haha, I don't know if you watch Stargate or not, but the two actors who play John Criton and Aeryn ended up on Stargate when their time on Farscape ended. The two shows had an entertaining friendly rivalry going on, and in the absolutely hilarious 200th episode of SG they gave Farscape a pretty hilarious poke.)
no subject
Date: 2012-06-17 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:02 pm (UTC)I love reading you watching this show. I loved it when it aired, and my brother and I watched it a second time on second-hand videotapes. Fond memories.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 09:51 pm (UTC)I like that so much of B5 is about bureaucratic turf wars and lawyerly using the regs against each other. In most shows, it is totally one-sided. It is the standard "pencil-pushers and bean-counters stopping cops from doing their jobs" bit. I like that JMS shows both sides using the bureaucracy. Of course, this is only logical given the story that JMS is trying to tell. After all, fascists are not fans of the rule of law, they prefer the rule of strong men instead. Fairness, consistency and limits on the power of authorities is not something they enjoy.
It’s doubly hilarious because he’s essentially fighting a military dictatorship with military dictatorship.
Yup. Creeping moral ambiguity. "Gaze not into the abyss and fight not with monsters" as Nietzsche said. If I recall correctly, there is more "WTF, Hero?" on the way and there has already been plenty already.
it’s Delenn at her most utterly badass to the rescue
Uttering one of the best lines ever.
By the way, I am finally caught up with you, so now I can finally participate in the discussion in real time rather that long after the fact.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 10:13 pm (UTC)Here is an online except to whet your appetite.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 10:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-06 02:45 am (UTC)It was rather distressing to watch that happen after having watched the show when it originally aired. "Homeland Security" doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy...
And yeah, it's a shame that Julie Caitlin Brown wasn't able to continue as Na'Toth.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-17 04:21 am (UTC)But basically the actress who played Na'toth (Caitlyn Brown) was afraid she'd get typecast, so ended up leaving the show (she maaaay have had a movie come along and had to choose between them, and so went for the one where she wasn't buried under a tonne of latex and would be recognizable, but I forget the details).
There was a replacement actress who lasted a couple of hours in the makeup before suffering an extreme claustrophobic reaction and fleeing the set, so she was out. And they did try and replace Na'Toth (I think at first just her actress, but the new actress could have been playing a completely new character, I don't recall for sure). And, okay, she could stand the makeup and act okay, but JMS was apparently unhappy with her take on the character, because where Caitlyn's Na'toth was all in-your-face aggressive right back at G'kar, which worked, the new one decided to just sort of let it all flow past her, and be the rock in the stream. Which didn't play as well off G'kar.
Which made three aides that G'kar went through in a very short time. I think there was a throw-away line about one of the aides having met with an unfortunate accident involving an airlock, but I don't recall which one it was. JMS apparently briefly considered giving G'kar a new aide every episode, each of them meeting horrible fates, a la "Murphy Brown", but then thought better of it, ha ha.
But that is the story of Na'toth, more or less...