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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 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-13 01:21 pm (UTC)