![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
To me, this episode next to The Coming of Shadows is the most outstanding episode of the season. Back in the original broadcast day it also was when I changed my mind about Sheridan and decided I was okay with him as new lead and found him interesting after all. Until then, he had felt to much younger me (again, during my first watching, decades ago, not during rewatches) like a too good to be true character. Now, decades of grimdark and Jack Bauer/24 inspired (anti)heroes later, older me still is incredibly impressed by this episode, including by the Sheridan main plot, because the point isn't that the episode lets him show his darker side in his desperation to find out the truth about his wife's fate from Morden, it's that the episode's narrative doesn't support him going to extremes about this. "He's a villain!" is not an argument for ignoring Morden's civil rights. And one of the reasons why I'm still very fond ouf Garibaldi, flawed as Michael G. (intentionally) is as a character, is that Garibaldi, who has come to respect and like Sheridan by now (and is involved in a conspiracy of sorts with him already), and certainly thinks Morden is as shady as anything, Garibaldi, who is pro-death penalty and no one's idea of a liberal, still calls Sheridan out on this and resigns over it rather than handwave it and going along with it.
This is very, very different from more current tv shows and movies, and I don't mean 24 (which isn't recent anymore anyway). I'm thinking of examples like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where one of the minor villans gets thrown from the roof (and caught at the last minute) to make him talk (which naturally works and makes him tell the exact truth), or The Flash, s1 ( I didn't watch further), where the surviving villains are locked up by our heroes without any legalities whatsoever in their own private dungeon. And neither Steve Rogers nor Barry in The Flash are meant to be antiheroes. So an episode that has a conservative character (and several others) point out that actually, no, you can't handwave civil rights if it's a shady-as-hell bad guy today feels more needed than ever.
(Leaving aside this is also one of the few times the show lets Sheridan be truly in the wrong as opposed to letting other characters unfairly accuse him of being in the wrong.)
The episode also juggles several other plot lines. Notably the introduction of Night Watch and the Ministry of Peace. Zack, this is why falling asleep in history class is bad for you. (As is the lack of reading the classics. "Minipax" isn't just Orwellian in the metaphorical sense, it is literally from 1984 and called "Ministry of Peace" there. Winston gets tortured and brainwashed in it.) Until this episode, younger me had assumed the whole Earth politics plotline would soon (as in, that season) be over and end by our heroes exposing the Santiago murder, thereby getting President Clark and assorted con-conspirators into prison. As, you know, was the custom in Star Trek until that point when an evil Admiral or several were conspirin for one or two episodes. In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum was when it began to dawn on me Babylon 5 was playing a more long term game than that with its Earth politicis storyline and might actually show an entire society turning authoritarian. It's also (still) unusual that Zack, who got introduced this season as a minor character and has been shown as a sympathetic Everyman, is the character the audience knows to accept membership by the end of this episode. Note that Zack, as opposed to Garibaldi, does not protest against Sheridan's treatment of Morden. And that Zack isn't suddenly acting evil, and his reason for accepting membership are mainly economic (that, plus having fallen asleep in history class).
Vir has only two scenes in this episode and one is asking for Morden's release as the Centauri representative (since Londo is off station), but the other is one of the all time great Vir scenes as we hear just how intensely he loathes Morden. (Fannish rumor from conventions I recall was that Stephen Furst improvised the handwave and JMS kept it, but it perfectly fits, and of course will have a great pay off several seasons down the line.) It is incredibly telling that Vir, who isn't just against the current war but also disllikes violence in general, Vir who spend the first season being shy and usually used as comic relief, is not kidding even a little bit when he says he wants to see Morden's head on a pike. At all. And Stephen Furst sells that perfectly. Still the best answer to Morden's "what you do want?" question in the entire show, say I.
The episode offers several very effective horror moments for a first time viewer, most of all the moment where Sheridan and the audience by alterering the lightning for the first time sees the Shadows with Morden not as slight distortions of the air but completely. (Well, technically he and the audience also saw one of them in Kosh's exposition video about Z'ha'dum beamed into his mind a scene earlier, but that wasn't as creepy.) Rewatching, I know it's coming, but it's still a great moment and I paid attention to Bruce Boxleitner's facial acting this time. He's not one of the show's best (nor worst! He's solid!) actors, but this is the scene where Sheridan makes his decision to fllow Delenn's and Kosh's request, and you can see when it happens. BTW, I do like that while he's already wavering, he does test what Delenn told him about Morden and the Shadows with that lighting experiment instead of taking her and Kosh's claim completely on faith.
Delenn's eposition speech in general: definiteily shows JMS' Tolkien fandom. Not for the first time, I think that basically, the Vorlons and the Shadows are Maia (Kosh is Gandalf, obviously, while the Shadows are more the Balrog or Sauron types), the Minbari are Elves (complete with having fought in an alliance in the last war millennia ago and currently isolating themselves except for a few like Delenn), and Z'ha'dum is Mordor. Where the Shadows lie. Whereas Sheridan's Coventry monologue to Zack falls more into the old fashioned type of conspiracy theory department. Young me was very surprised to have missed that bit of information in history when I first saw that episode, and discovered that it was a very controversial theory, not a proven fact. It does, however, fit with the episode's general themes. Though I would say Sheridan's Coventry moment isn't so much not taking revenge on Morden for whatever happened to Anna, and letting him go, though that's part of it, it's keeping that information (about the Shadows on Z'ha'dum) from G'Kar, who as Sheridan himself points out in this episode has been trying to convince people of his "there's an ancient race involved in all this" theory since the season's second episode. The scenes with the wounded Narn refugees - which has unfortunately a very contemporary relevance right now - emphasize that the war is going badly for the Narn by now, and this is is definitely because the Centauri have allies with superior fire power whom hardly anyone knows about at this point. Bringing that information the open would help the Narn - but might, as Delenn and Kosh argue, lose the larger war.
A few more thoughts which are spoilery for the remaining show.
cahn, go to the next review.If you
go to
Za'ha'dum
Vir's "can your associates arrange this for me, Mr. Morden?" speech gets a great pay off two seasons later as he does, indeed, get to see Morden's head on a pike. Since this is a gift from Londo: who told Londo this was Vir wish? Did Morden bring it up at some point? Did Vir? Or did Londo just make an educated guess/follow Centauri tradition?
Since I'm believer in the popular theory that if Michael O'Hare had remained on the show, Catherine Sakai's fate woulud have been Anna Sheridan's: rewatching the show reminded me of one problem with this, which is that Morden shows up in s1 when Catherine is still fine and herself, so she would have to come across Z'Ha'dum as part of her job at some point in s2, and then Sinclair would have had no reason to wonder why the hell Morden is around when Catherine has disappeared/been declared dead.
You
will
die
Knives
I had misremembered, one more non-JMS written episode this season, since this one hails from Lawrence Di Tillio. I think I've never rewatched the Sheridan plot, I always fast forwarded through it after the oriiginal broadcast, because the Centauri plot is where it's at for me. This time, I made myself watch Sheridan's plot as well, and it wasn't as dull as I recalled. In fact, it is an almost Trekian optimistic subplot in horror disguise, as it turns out the alien possessing Sheridan is not malevolent, just desperate to return home and having dififcultlies to communicate. Franklin's excitement about this new life form is pretty endearing, too.
But really: the episode is still all about the Centauri for me. Starting with Londo and Vir singing Verdi-esque Centauri opera arias as they debate their respective favourite composers. Which, btw, is a great non-life and death invoking way to show Vir's growth and how their relationship has changed and evolved from s1, where Vir never would have dared to contradict Londo not just on major but also on "minor" matters like musical taste, and that Londo concedes the argument by joining Vir's singing is just adorable. It's also the light hearted start to a sad main story, as Londo's old friend Urza Jaddo arrives ans a living demonstration of the consequences Londo's teaming-up with Refa and start of the Narn war has had not just for the Narn but for the Centauri as well. (This is also the first episode which names both the late Emperor - as Turhan, using his actor's name -, and the new one, Cartagia.) Flippantly said, JMS basically let the Centauri be Space Romans, though later s2 and s3 also make them Space Germans before S4 and S5 goes back to Space Romans, and Urza has that vibe of a Senator finding himself on the conscription list during the rise of the Second Triumvirate, figuring out too late that his old friend is in fact one of the three. Complete with suicide (well, suicide-by-Londo) as a way out. Then again, maybe that was his plan from the get go. After all, Londo's alliance with Refa isn't a secret anymore, especially for someone who has run foul of Refa, and there's that death vision thing.
andraste in her Urza/Londo story for which she invented the term "brachiarte" used the the fact Urza must have known he'd die in Londo's arms at least to great effect, see here. (No spoilers beyond this episode.) Though I have to say, this time around when I heard Urza say one couldn't build an Empire on war and deceit, I had a coughing attack, because ahem, which Empire isn't? Then gain, the Senators opposing the Second Triumvirate were hardly democrats in the modern sense (wasn't good old Brutus one of the richest cutthroat landowners when not opposing dictators?), so Urza having delusions about how the Centauri Republic sprang into being in the first place fits.Urza's remark about his wife - "we're comfortable with each other now" - sounds as if he lived out the "Arranged Marriage" trope with better results than Londo. Who almost quotes Macbeth to Vir as his final conclusion in this episode - (" "I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" - act 3, scene 4 ), while Vir points out it's never too late for a different choice. The show gives its own answer as to which of them is right, of course.
Lastly: it just occured to me: wouldn't Station Security oppose a duel? There was some time between Urza's challenge and the actual duel, and presumably Vir (or someone else) could have made a secret call in order to stop the entire thing. But that would not have solved Urza's problem from a Centauri pov, so I can buy no one did. Still, Londo presumably would be interrogated by Garibaldi later. Hmmmm. There's a scene asking to be written one day...
The other episodes
no subject
Date: 2022-03-20 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-20 11:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-20 01:15 pm (UTC)>>It's also (still) unusual that Zack, who got introduced this season as a minor character and has been shown as a sympathetic Everyman, is the character the audience knows to accept membership by the end of this episode.<<
To an extent, to work for the overall message, it has to be Zack because we all know a Zack (we might know several people who think they are Garibaldi or Sheridan but aren't but we definitely know Zack).
The Shadow effects are particularly unpleasant (in a good way) for the arachnophobic. Gah!
One friend refers to the Centauri as Space Habsburgs - I shout at him frequently but it doesn't help.
Because of the Space Roman thing, and because Vir knows that the loser of fancy duel whose name I forget will get protection for their family, is the lack of interference due to it being the least worst option for anyone who wants the best for Jaddo.
~~~~
>>Still the best answer to Morden's "what you do want?" question in the entire show, say I.<< I do like, even though it is the best, it's still linked to an eventual bad thing happening to the person who made it. Because "don't answer faerie questions".
Re: pondering Catherine Sakai thoughts, would it work as Morden is taken over as in original, but the Shadows, through their Centauri allies, realise that Catherine could be a weak spot for Sinclair so they draw her to somewhere where they can mind whammy her?
no subject
Date: 2022-03-20 02:09 pm (UTC)Absolutely, and my comment was meant as praise. Usually on a show if someone shows themselves succeptible to this kind of thing, it's, well, Peter Pettigrew, i.e. a character marked as "not sympathetic" from the moment they show up.
The Shadow effects are particularly unpleasant (in a good way) for the arachnophobic. Gah!
Quite. I squeak to this day most immaturely when I spot one of the brood.
One friend refers to the Centauri as Space Habsburgs - I shout at him frequently but it doesn't help.
ROTFLOL. Does he at least specify which general century and/or whether the Spanish or the Austrian line?
~~~~
I do like, even though it is the best, it's still linked to an eventual bad thing happening to the person who made it. Because "don't answer faerie questions".
True as well.
Catherine Sakai: or maybe Morden (realising that very thing) would have hired her to do a planet survey on Z'ha'dum so the Shadows can capture her, or he arranges for IPX to hire her, and Sinclair later finds out just who arranged for Catherine's last trip and then we get approxametely this episode, only with added Sinclair/Garibaldi angst?
no subject
Date: 2022-03-21 05:01 am (UTC)Back in the original broadcast day it also was when I changed my mind about Sheridan and decided I was okay with him as new lead and found him interesting after all. Until then, he had felt to much younger me (again, during my first watching, decades ago, not during rewatches) like a too good to be true character.
I can see what you mean about "too good to be true." I liked him immediately, but I had the benefit both of him resembling my friend's late husband (who really was a lot like that) and of having people talk about when Sheridan was going to show up for the whole preceding season! (Interestingly, I feel like it furthers the resemblance to my friend's husband -- I didn't know him well enough to say for sure that this was the kind of way his character might or did fracture, but it certainly seems very believable to me that it would be.)
And one of the reasons why I'm still very fond ouf Garibaldi, flawed as Michael G. (intentionally) is as a character, is that Garibaldi, who has come to respect and like Sheridan by now (and is involved in a conspiracy of sorts with him already), and certainly thinks Morden is as shady as anything, Garibaldi, who is pro-death penalty and no one's idea of a liberal, still calls Sheridan out on this and resigns over it rather than handwave it and going along with it.
Yes! Go Garibaldi :)
the Ministry of Peace
Oh man, my eyes went really wide at the Minipax mention, and I might have said aloud, "Welp, not very subtle to call your ministry Minipax, is it?!"
Still the best answer to Morden's "what you do want?" question in the entire show, say I.
Please tell me that this actually comes true like Londo's wish, because that would be fabulous. (Well, actually, don't. I suspect I will find it compelling either way.)
Starting with Londo and Vir singing Verdi-esque Centauri opera arias as they debate their respective favourite composers.
As you can imagine, I thought that part was excellent :D
the fact Urza must have known he'd die in Londo's arms
Ooooof, I didn't even think about that :( Having already been primed to think about opera, I found this part gave me intense Eugene Onegin vibes <3
The Sheridan subplot was interesting to me too, although -- I suppose having lived through decades of grimdark, but also having "Knives" right after "Z'ha'dum" -- I was honestly a bit surprised that Franklin's immediate reaction was "hey cool, it's a different kind of alien!" rather than that Sheridan might be cracking up. (I actually thought for a while that these two episodes might be part of an arc where that happened!) On second thought, I realized that it helped that not only did Garibaldi see the alien too, presumably the ship/station sensors did as well.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-21 09:58 am (UTC)Back in the lj days, I was part of a B5 discussion group, and that was fun for a while, but unfortunately the most active person in it hated Garibaldi and all telepath characters, and I got sick of the rants. Garibaldi is at no point of the show my favorite character, but I do like him consistently, even when he screws up; he's very human in his virtues and flaws, and scenes like the ones he has in this episode are a good reason why my sympathy for him doesn't waver.
Oh man, my eyes went really wide at the Minipax mention, and I might have said aloud, "Welp, not very subtle to call your ministry Minipax, is it?!"Well, actually, don't. I suspect I will find it compelling either way.
*does my best Kosh impression* Both.
I figured you'd like the Londo and Vir: Opera Fans opening. Eugen Onegin vibes for the Urza/Londo duel: good comparison!
Incidentally, if you're wondering: Urza's family does get adopted into House Mollari, and we see his grandchildren in the framing narration of the B5 tv movie In the Beginning, which you can't watch until you've reached season 4.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-24 05:03 am (UTC)*does my best Kosh impression* Both.
LOL
Okay, though, mostly I'm writing this because I managed to watch the next two episodes (early, even! the vagaries of changing vacation plans) and WHAT EVEN JUST HAPPENED. (Okay, I just had to let out some feelings :P )
no subject
Date: 2022-03-24 03:51 pm (UTC)JMS once commented he had trapdoors for most characters because unfortunately if you're a new show on a tiny budget, you always have to live with the risk of the cast departing for brighter shores. The three characters he absolutely could not have replaced by other characters if their actors had for some reason become unavailable and whose loss would have screwed up the show for good, according to him, were: Londo, G'Kar and Delenn. Thankfully, all three actors remained. :)
Again, I'll discuss the in-universe story of Talia in the review. That's just background stuff.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-26 05:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-21 04:43 pm (UTC)Spoilers for newbies
Date: 2022-03-21 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-21 04:47 pm (UTC)In spite of hating what Londo has come to represent, he still cares enormously for Londo the person.
He now, as you say, has the confidence to disagree completely with Londo -and express that disagreement - but his loyalty to Londo remains. He does not spill Londo's secrets.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-22 07:34 am (UTC)