Well, he didn't relapse into drinking, but he did relapse into being an asshole. My knowledge of the recovery process is limited, but I thought that being impulsive, stubborn, and having a grandiose black and white worldview were parts of dry drunk syndrome that many must also deal with. The show does not specifically invoke this or even imply it. Instead, Garibaldi is being mind-controlled. But it does seem to work with the previously established character while being a departure at the same time. He is and he isn't still the same Mr. Garibaldi. Something is different about him and yet there is a thread of consistency.
My thing is I don't like shows that romanticize cops who rough up suspects. During this story, he is less the "rough around the edges" good guy. He is troubled and he gets dark and paranoid, but you also see him trying to help people so there is a struggle. That's why I said realistic. I was not looking at it in the context of his being in recovery, although that is certainly an important established part of his character. The scale of the show is grandiose and there are plenty of conspiracies around to be suspicious about. (And the story is of course, yet another dark, grandiose conspiracy, so although driving away his friends is dysfunctional behavior, it is consistent with the environment/story.) Garibaldi goes rogue, in an understated way, but it is not portrayed as a cool, rebel thing, but a fucked up thing. Hence, I see it as subverting a trope that I don't like. Plus, there is the evil corporate stuff to flesh out the B5 universe and I liked watching that.
Perhaps you are talking about stuff that happens much further on. I'm near the end of re-watching season 4 and have just finished up the storyline we are discussing. I don't remember much from my first viewing shortly after it aired years ago and I have not re-watched the pilot, so my memory is fragmentary. We probably should not say much more lest we reveal spoilers.
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Date: 2012-03-26 05:39 am (UTC)My thing is I don't like shows that romanticize cops who rough up suspects. During this story, he is less the "rough around the edges" good guy. He is troubled and he gets dark and paranoid, but you also see him trying to help people so there is a struggle. That's why I said realistic. I was not looking at it in the context of his being in recovery, although that is certainly an important established part of his character. The scale of the show is grandiose and there are plenty of conspiracies around to be suspicious about. (And the story is of course, yet another dark, grandiose conspiracy, so although driving away his friends is dysfunctional behavior, it is consistent with the environment/story.) Garibaldi goes rogue, in an understated way, but it is not portrayed as a cool, rebel thing, but a fucked up thing. Hence, I see it as subverting a trope that I don't like. Plus, there is the evil corporate stuff to flesh out the B5 universe and I liked watching that.
Perhaps you are talking about stuff that happens much further on. I'm near the end of re-watching season 4 and have just finished up the storyline we are discussing. I don't remember much from my first viewing shortly after it aired years ago and I have not re-watched the pilot, so my memory is fragmentary. We probably should not say much more lest we reveal spoilers.