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selenakThe Geometry of Shadows
I have a pretty irrational bias against the technomages, I admit. Not because of anything in this episode; it's because of Galen in the B5 spin-off Crusade, whom I just can't stand, to the point where I practically boo and hiss whenever he's on screen. So I went into rewatching this particular episode with mixed feelings. Anyway, it seems my Galen dislike is either receding or not affecting my response to the rest of the tribe anymore. The technomage subplot offers two important scenes; the one with Vir is the first time we see his capacity for bravery. (Here in a trivial matter, compared with later goings-on, but it still makes a point about Vir.) And of course the final scene with Londo and Elric (played by Michael "Kor the original Klingon" Ansara) with the "my followers?" "Your victims" exchange. Incidentally, given the emphasis on the technomages achieving their magical effects via technology, this begs the question of how a prophecy - which can't be achieved via technology - qualifies. However, Crusade offers a pretty good explanation why the technomages are sensitive to Shadow influence (and thus could sense it about Londo). JMS also works in a direct Tolkien quote re: wizards, and I think this might explain another reason why I took against the technomages back in the day. See, before he was played by Ian McKellen, I wasn't a Gandalf fan. His tendency to disappear and key junctures and only provide cryptic hints, if that, instead of actual explanations used to annoy me when I was reading LotR and The Hobbit as a young 'un. I have to admit, though, that since Ansara has an awesome voice, the Gandalf quote couldn't have been given to a better actor.
(Also: "You will pay for the rest of your life for your mistakes." Triple ouch.)
"14 words to make someone fall in love" reminds me both of one of the things Wednesday (who in tern uses actual Norse mythology echoes here) tells Shadow he can do in American Gods, and of the way David uses this ability in the Centauri book trilogy, which is incredibly chilling. I have massive problems with those books, but that was actually a highly effective way of using a takeaway line, use it and show the terrible consequences which refuse to go aawy.
The Drazi subplot as I recall was mostly there to explain Claudia Christian's rl accident, and it's blatant comic relief. You could argue that the Drazi are coded as primitive stupid barbarians here, but then again, one of them makes a neat rethorical point about wars and flags, and it's just as possible it was meant as an allegory. Also, of course, it's great Sheridan got Ivanova a promotion.
Garibaldi trying to figure out whether he still wants to be Security Chief in this new Sinclair-less B5 and after he missed that his second-in-command, whom he liked and trusted, was a villain, was one of the subplots instead of directly going back to the job is a characterisation subplot which helps making (most) of the characters on this show feel so real.
Soul Mates
As opposed to Peter David's books, I like the episodes he wrote for B5 unreservedly. And I'll always be thankfull to him for creating Timov. Actually, given that I've I've written about Timov and her marriage to Londo (
cahn, you can't read this one yet, it has spoilers for the entire show), and about Mariel's affair with G'Kar (this one does not have any spoilers, it's set pre-show and provides backstory to their scene in this episode), and then there was the crack story about Mariel's trashy tell all memoirs (spoilers for newbies! Do not yet read!), this episode proved truly inspirational for me, fanfiction-wise. :) Rewatching, I still enjoy it as much as ever. And now wonder whether I shouldn't write a Daggair story, to complete the set.Timov, Daggair and Mariel aren't played by the actresses whose photos were used for Londo's wives in s1, which makes sense, since at the time it probably wasn't sure yet whether they would ever appear on the show. Given we've never seen them before, and they're present here only in one subplot, it's impressive how vividly their personalities come across instantly. David at times has a tendency to go overboard with the quippy dialogue in his works, but here it just fits both for the wives and for the Londo and Timov verbal sparrings. My headcanon for Timov has always been that she was the first of the arranged marriages (not the first woman Londo married, that was the dancer he mentioned to Garibaldi and whom he will talk about again in s5), and from lower social status but from a house much wealthier than House Mollari, which has been on the decline for quite a while (modelled on the classic "English aristocrat marries American milllionairess" trope), hence Daggair's "breeding will tell" dig.
"G'Kar, if you were married to Londo Mollari, we'd all be concerned" is still one of my favourite quotes.
The subplot around Talia, her ex husband and Garibaldi: I remember the second time I watched this episode, back when the dvds came out, and I heard the guy's voice in the English original, I thought, hang on, I know that voice, checked the credits again, and it was indeed the same actor who years later would play Angel's arch nemesis Daniel Holtz on Angel: The Series. Which amazed me - Holtz has such a different physical presence, and no, it's not just the different age. Matt Stone's agenda here seems to conflict with certain revelations later in the show, but then again, the script leaves the tiny window of ambiguity as to whether or not he lied to Talia regarding what motivated him. His dialogue contains one direct self quote of Peter David from the Star Trek novel Q-Squared, where Alt! Jack Crusher taunts Picard with pretty much the same lines ("...the little noises she makes") about Alt!Beverly as Stoner taunts Garibaldi here.
BTW: misuse of the word "Empath". Not all sci fi universes are the same, but I'd stll would describe someone with the ability of imposing his will on other people (complete with manipulating their emotions about him) not as an empath but a hypno.
Lastly, Delenn's bad hair day: look, given how Ivanova's hair is usually gorgeous and shiny, I'd have asked her for advice, too, and also, it makes sense a Minbari would not know how to deal with hair. It's one of the very few times where we see Delenn used for comic relief instead of in dramatic plots, and it does make me smile.
The other episodes
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Date: 2022-02-13 06:50 am (UTC)I thought you'd be amused that my chief reaction to the Vir scenes was "wow, someone has been watching Don Giovanni??" I know JMS said in his memoirs that he wasn't a fan of opera, but the scene where Vir confronts the mage just reminded me so much of "O statua gentilissima," right down to "Badate ben, non io!" Only, of course, it's not Londo that threatens Vir on, but Vir doing it himself, as you say <3 And the next scene between Londo and the technomage rather has a bit of the DG feel to it as well to me, with the difference that Londo does apologize in the end, which of course DG himself never did.
"Soul Mates": aw, thanks for warning me off of the stories. For now. (And of course you should write a Daggair story!)
Ha, I assumed Timov was the first of the arranged marriages, but I didn't have any other headcanon (though I like yours!)
I was actually a little confused about what G'Kar's theory was. It seems to imply Mariel is the guilty party -- but how did she set up the booby trap (how did she know Stoner would have it?), and is he just saying that her saying she gave the gift to him was a way to make it appear that she wasn't the guilty one? Which seems sort of... convoluted.
And heeee Delenn's bad hair day!
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Date: 2022-02-13 07:27 am (UTC)JMS said in his memoirs that he wasn't a fan of opera
Which is ironic because both Londo and Vir are opera fans and at one point sing a Centauri opera aria together; I guess JMS asked Christopher Franke, the soundtrack composer, to come up with something suitable. :)
Londo and apologies and
Joseph: The Revenge OperaDon Giovanni; keep it in mind, it becomes a major plot point in one of my favourite s5 episodes.Stories: like I wrote, the Mariel and G'Kar story ("Diplomatic Relations") is the one which is spoiler-free, it's entirely set pre show and my speculation of how G'Kar ended up having a fling with her. But all the others are spoilery.
I was actually a little confused about what G'Kar's theory was.
Definitely that Mariel did it, and covered herself by pointing out she gave it to Londo, thus making herself look innocent. As to how she knew Stoner would bring the statue to the station, she did not, and if he hadn't, she would have found another gift and set it up to kill. Renember, it's only Garibaldi's speculation that the statue was booby-trapped (by the Narn) already when Stoner found it. Stoner himself says he handled it repeatedly without it going off, and indeed it didn't when Mr. Homm, err, the trader assessed it, either. Now of course it could be boobytrapped in a way that only got triggered by Centauri DNA, but that seems overly complicated for the Narn in the middle of their indepence war against the Centauri. So basically Mariel, having learned divorce (and thus loss of income) was imminent, set out for a something that made for a suitable present and then set it up to kill Londo. The Centauri have a grand tradition of assassinations among the nobility, but they usually try to leave no traces between themselves and the to be killed person, so Mariel explicitly saying this was her gift just before it goes off would make her look innocent.
You might recall that in s1, Londo made a "famine, pestilence and death" remark about this wives; Mariel is Death. (Timov is Famine, Daggair is Pestilence. Which leaves Londo as War, in terms of the apocalyptic horsemen, btw.)
ETA: Also, do you think Londo figured out the blood came from Timov, or was his choice of Timov exactly what he said it was, based on the fact she's a straight arrow and he'll always know how he stands with her? (This is not a point cleared up in the show, hence fans taking different approaches to it.)
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Date: 2022-02-15 06:31 am (UTC)I kind of like to think that Londo hadn't figured out about the blood when he made his choice, because I like his reasoning :) But I do kind of headcanon that he figures it out later, after he's already made the choice.
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Date: 2022-02-14 01:06 am (UTC)Tangent, but NOT JUST ME THEN. It REALLY annoyed and frustrated me as a kid how he just ran out on them a lot of the time and it was perfectly fine behaviour for a wizard, or whatever. He's like a powerful nearly-parental? figure, but also cryptic and unreliable, and I bounce off that type.
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Date: 2022-03-11 10:41 am (UTC)It strikes me that the other two both seek to live through manipulating other people. Timov feels that is beneath her. Rich or poor, she will stand on her own two feet.
Agree with you about 'empath'.
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Date: 2022-03-14 02:03 pm (UTC)It strikes me that the other two both seek to live through manipulating other people. Timov feels that is beneath her.
Yes, that's my reading of her, too.