B5, S03E18-20
Mar. 19th, 2012 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyThe show must go on and all that. No really. Getting far too engrossed in a television show is seriously the best thing for me right now.
(On the shorter side, because sitting sucks and being witty is harder when you're preoccupied with scary real life health bollocks.)
Walkabout:
Everyone gets replacement goldfishes in this episode. Med Lab is being run by Dr. What’s Her Face, who is not addicted to stims and is actually competent. B5 has its new telepath (kind of), Lyta Alexander, who is very much not Talia and can’t act. And it also gets a new Vorlon, who is Kosh. Er, they are all Kosh. Apparently.
Franklin’s storyline gets the most time, which is unfortunate because I hate it. I thought it had reached its ultimate low point the last time Garibaldi pulled an intervention, but it’s so much worse. Basically Franklin has dressed himself in backpacker gear and gone wandering in Down Below looking for a missing piece of his soul or I don’t know. It’s not literal. It would actually be better if it were literal. He meets a cheesy singer singing a cheesy song in a cheesy bar and they exchange cheesy dialogue and presumably have cheesy sex. Only she’s addicted to Space Heroin. Except not really, she was just using it as a painkiller and she’s dying of a mysterious Space Illness. I don’t buy a second of it, especially because neither she nor her quarters look anywhere near poverty-stricken. Anyway, I guess Franklin learns an important lesson but to be honest, I fell asleep during that part.
So Nu!Kosh! That is more interesting. His face is a red camera and he is more of a dick than Old!Kosh, so I like him. His first act is to Force-choke Lyta and I like him even more. While I am pretty sure that Old!Kosh is going to be resurrected either literally or metaphorically, I wholeheartedly approve of his replacement. Anyway, Lyta was supposed to keep a piece of Old!Kosh in her head, or something, but she was away when he was killed, so she didn’t manage it. Fortunately, she discovers that Sheridan probably did this because she keeps hearing Old!Kosh’s voice every time she’s around him.
In other cool news, Dumbledore’s Army has expanded. By a lot, apparently. In addition to G’Kar, the Gaim and a bunch of other aliens are now on it. Dumbledore’s Army needs to meet every episode so that I can see more Gaim. They are really neat looking.
So Sheridan has a good idea, which is to take the White Star straight into an area where the Shadows are going to attack and then get telepaths to try to jam their ships and see if this will blow them up. Wait, did I say it was a good idea? Because it’s a terrible idea, and Na’kal, the captain of one of the few surviving Narn warships, agrees with me. Accordingly, it’s the White Star with Lyta on board, and a Minbari ship with three telepaths (oh good, we remembered that there are Minbari telepaths) on board, and everyone else hangs back. Lyta manages to freeze one ship with her RAEG!!!one!! over Kosh’s murder, but the White Star has to use all of its power, including its ability to jumpgate, to actually take out the ship. The Minbari manage to take out several of the Shadows with their telepaths, but a number of Shadows greater than 0 remain. Fortunately, Garibaldi’s guilt-tripping works better on G’Kar than it does on Franklin, so it’s Narns and assorted other aliens to the rescue!
Oh, and in case you cared, Narns really like Swedish meatballs, and in fact Swedish meatballs exist in the cuisine of every sentient race. That’s delightfully quirky. What the actual fuck, show?
Grey 17 Is Missing:
Really, the only thing you need to know about this episode is that there is a Zarg. A Zarg looks exactly the way you picture it. Fortunately it is not immune to bullets.
Franklin is in withdrawal. Yes, he was perfectly fine last episode despite not being on stims. What do you mean, continuity?
Let’s see what else—Delenn is now the official Ranger leader and Neroon is okay with this because Marcus was willing to die for her. Also, Robert Englund is in this episode, but can’t save it. The sole redeeming bit is where Neroon calls Delenn a religious fanatic. The rest is so bad that JMS had to apologize.
zarg pictures
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place:
A welcome return to form. This episode is chock-full of FUCK YEAH! moments.
So, a minister, a rabbi, an imam, and a Buddhist monk walk into a space station. Brother Theo has called them there in a rare show of ecumenicalism, and also because they’re able to smuggle out news from Earth. They’re all involved with the underground resistance back home. Also, Theo and the minister get into a bunch of sass-offs and, well, JMS is capable of writing some funny dialogue after all. It’s a pretty inconsequential plot but I enjoyed it a good deal.
In capital-P Plot, Londo pwns and it’s magnificent. Lord Refa turns up, with the Emperor’s representative in tow, supposedly to settle the feud between his house and Londo’s. Londo uses Vir to send a message to G’Kar that Na’Toth (emo!tear) is alive but a prisoner on the Narn home world, figuring that G’Kar will somehow smuggle himself back and then Londo’s guys will capture or kill him, proving his value to the Emperor. Vir does not want to do this because he has ethics, but Londo threatens his family, so…yeah. But Refa has a telepath with him, who forcibly reads Vir’s mind and uncovers the plot, and so Refa goes down to Narn to get G’Kar before Londo’s guys can. Of course, it is all the most clever of ploys—Refa’s guys are actually loyal to Londo, and G’Kar was in on it the whole time in exchange for a) brutal vengeance on Refa for bombing his home world, and b) the release of 2000 Narn prisoners. Londo plants a data crystal on Refa with information suggesting that he was planning to overthrow the Emperor and playing both sides against the middle, so not only do the Narns get the satisfaction of killing him, Londo gets the satisfaction of knowing the honour of Refa’s house will be ground into the dirt forever.
And I get the satisfaction of watching Refa die horribly at last! To the strains of much better music than in the last episode. The whole thing is glorious. Well, Vir feels differently, and I can’t blame him. But you know. Karmic death for Refa. Fucking fantastic.
Yes, that is a Klaus Nomi cover of “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead.” You’re welcome.
The third plot is, at long last, the Sheridan/Delenn romance. Which—okay, I tend to glare resentfully when people get romance all up in my sci-fi, but I have to admit that I’m heavily invested in this one. Sheridan’s approaching burnout, with a five o’ clock shadow that he should always wear if you ask me. Delenn pulls him back from the edge. It’s kind of beautiful. I utterly, utterly love how their relationship is portrayed as one of equals and JMS doesn’t suddenly turn Delenn into some simpering cliché or Sheridan into some overprotective macho whatever. They work together, building off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Her romantic gift to him is a fleet of hybrid battleships modeled after the White Star so that they can go kick some Shadow ass together.
Two more episodes to go.
(On the shorter side, because sitting sucks and being witty is harder when you're preoccupied with scary real life health bollocks.)
Walkabout:
Everyone gets replacement goldfishes in this episode. Med Lab is being run by Dr. What’s Her Face, who is not addicted to stims and is actually competent. B5 has its new telepath (kind of), Lyta Alexander, who is very much not Talia and can’t act. And it also gets a new Vorlon, who is Kosh. Er, they are all Kosh. Apparently.
Franklin’s storyline gets the most time, which is unfortunate because I hate it. I thought it had reached its ultimate low point the last time Garibaldi pulled an intervention, but it’s so much worse. Basically Franklin has dressed himself in backpacker gear and gone wandering in Down Below looking for a missing piece of his soul or I don’t know. It’s not literal. It would actually be better if it were literal. He meets a cheesy singer singing a cheesy song in a cheesy bar and they exchange cheesy dialogue and presumably have cheesy sex. Only she’s addicted to Space Heroin. Except not really, she was just using it as a painkiller and she’s dying of a mysterious Space Illness. I don’t buy a second of it, especially because neither she nor her quarters look anywhere near poverty-stricken. Anyway, I guess Franklin learns an important lesson but to be honest, I fell asleep during that part.
So Nu!Kosh! That is more interesting. His face is a red camera and he is more of a dick than Old!Kosh, so I like him. His first act is to Force-choke Lyta and I like him even more. While I am pretty sure that Old!Kosh is going to be resurrected either literally or metaphorically, I wholeheartedly approve of his replacement. Anyway, Lyta was supposed to keep a piece of Old!Kosh in her head, or something, but she was away when he was killed, so she didn’t manage it. Fortunately, she discovers that Sheridan probably did this because she keeps hearing Old!Kosh’s voice every time she’s around him.
In other cool news, Dumbledore’s Army has expanded. By a lot, apparently. In addition to G’Kar, the Gaim and a bunch of other aliens are now on it. Dumbledore’s Army needs to meet every episode so that I can see more Gaim. They are really neat looking.
So Sheridan has a good idea, which is to take the White Star straight into an area where the Shadows are going to attack and then get telepaths to try to jam their ships and see if this will blow them up. Wait, did I say it was a good idea? Because it’s a terrible idea, and Na’kal, the captain of one of the few surviving Narn warships, agrees with me. Accordingly, it’s the White Star with Lyta on board, and a Minbari ship with three telepaths (oh good, we remembered that there are Minbari telepaths) on board, and everyone else hangs back. Lyta manages to freeze one ship with her RAEG!!!one!! over Kosh’s murder, but the White Star has to use all of its power, including its ability to jumpgate, to actually take out the ship. The Minbari manage to take out several of the Shadows with their telepaths, but a number of Shadows greater than 0 remain. Fortunately, Garibaldi’s guilt-tripping works better on G’Kar than it does on Franklin, so it’s Narns and assorted other aliens to the rescue!
Oh, and in case you cared, Narns really like Swedish meatballs, and in fact Swedish meatballs exist in the cuisine of every sentient race. That’s delightfully quirky. What the actual fuck, show?
Grey 17 Is Missing:
Really, the only thing you need to know about this episode is that there is a Zarg. A Zarg looks exactly the way you picture it. Fortunately it is not immune to bullets.
Franklin is in withdrawal. Yes, he was perfectly fine last episode despite not being on stims. What do you mean, continuity?
Let’s see what else—Delenn is now the official Ranger leader and Neroon is okay with this because Marcus was willing to die for her. Also, Robert Englund is in this episode, but can’t save it. The sole redeeming bit is where Neroon calls Delenn a religious fanatic. The rest is so bad that JMS had to apologize.
zarg pictures
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place:
A welcome return to form. This episode is chock-full of FUCK YEAH! moments.
So, a minister, a rabbi, an imam, and a Buddhist monk walk into a space station. Brother Theo has called them there in a rare show of ecumenicalism, and also because they’re able to smuggle out news from Earth. They’re all involved with the underground resistance back home. Also, Theo and the minister get into a bunch of sass-offs and, well, JMS is capable of writing some funny dialogue after all. It’s a pretty inconsequential plot but I enjoyed it a good deal.
In capital-P Plot, Londo pwns and it’s magnificent. Lord Refa turns up, with the Emperor’s representative in tow, supposedly to settle the feud between his house and Londo’s. Londo uses Vir to send a message to G’Kar that Na’Toth (emo!tear) is alive but a prisoner on the Narn home world, figuring that G’Kar will somehow smuggle himself back and then Londo’s guys will capture or kill him, proving his value to the Emperor. Vir does not want to do this because he has ethics, but Londo threatens his family, so…yeah. But Refa has a telepath with him, who forcibly reads Vir’s mind and uncovers the plot, and so Refa goes down to Narn to get G’Kar before Londo’s guys can. Of course, it is all the most clever of ploys—Refa’s guys are actually loyal to Londo, and G’Kar was in on it the whole time in exchange for a) brutal vengeance on Refa for bombing his home world, and b) the release of 2000 Narn prisoners. Londo plants a data crystal on Refa with information suggesting that he was planning to overthrow the Emperor and playing both sides against the middle, so not only do the Narns get the satisfaction of killing him, Londo gets the satisfaction of knowing the honour of Refa’s house will be ground into the dirt forever.
And I get the satisfaction of watching Refa die horribly at last! To the strains of much better music than in the last episode. The whole thing is glorious. Well, Vir feels differently, and I can’t blame him. But you know. Karmic death for Refa. Fucking fantastic.
Yes, that is a Klaus Nomi cover of “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead.” You’re welcome.
The third plot is, at long last, the Sheridan/Delenn romance. Which—okay, I tend to glare resentfully when people get romance all up in my sci-fi, but I have to admit that I’m heavily invested in this one. Sheridan’s approaching burnout, with a five o’ clock shadow that he should always wear if you ask me. Delenn pulls him back from the edge. It’s kind of beautiful. I utterly, utterly love how their relationship is portrayed as one of equals and JMS doesn’t suddenly turn Delenn into some simpering cliché or Sheridan into some overprotective macho whatever. They work together, building off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Her romantic gift to him is a fleet of hybrid battleships modeled after the White Star so that they can go kick some Shadow ass together.
Two more episodes to go.
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Date: 2012-03-20 03:08 pm (UTC)