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selenakConfessions and Lamentations
I must say, back in ye olde 1990s a story about a virus that's 100% contagieous felt way more abstract and metaphorical about the human condition than it does today. Though I guess if this episode was written today, the Markab wouldn't be in denial about the virus because they think it only affects the immoral, they would be in denial it exists at all, though there would be the simultanous conviction it was artificially created in a human/Drazi/Centauri/whatever lab, any attempts at safety measures would be greeted by a loud minority as dictatorship, and there would be contageous demostrations throughout the station.
Okay, now about the episode proper: I think that was the first sci fi story on tv I watched where an entire species gets wiped out, and by an illness, not a war (or for that matter a supervillain). Since the Markab weren't just invented for this episode - we've seen them in the background throughout the show so far, and a few times, like with the Markab trader Sheridan got his hitchhiker from, they slightly affected the plot - I had really not anticipated this happening. Franklin creating a vaccine, but too late to save the Markab on the station (or, as it turns out, anywhere else except for the hope of a few remote colonies) reminds me of the later DS9 episode The Quickening where Bashir tries to find a cure for a similarly lethal disease, fails but finds a vaccine that will allow at least some other members of the same people to survive. In both cases, a major emotive plot point is the human doctor and the alien doctor initially clashing but then developing a strong relationship and the alien doctor dying as the emotional climax. The DS9 episode is somewhat more optimistic, though; it ends with Bashir continuing to work on a cure (in addition to the vaccine he's managed), whereas this episode hears with Franklin having to listen to some jerks sounding xenophobic and ignorant. Thinking about it, it's probably one of B5's bleakest episodes.
Which makes its Sheridan/Delenn-shipping thread an odd subplot. The opening scene is downright fluffy, and reminded me of my headcanon that Delenn is sometimes just messing with Sheridan regarding those endless Minbari rituals, testing how far he'll believe her. If it's true about the dinner preparation, though, poor Lennier. Poor, poor Lennier. BTW, I had forgotten that Vir isn't the only aide whom we thus have canon on preparing meals for their ambassador. I suppose that makes G'Kar the only envoy who can and does cook himself (we've seen it on screen, too). :) In contrast to the rom-com opening, the later scenes take the h/c route with Delenn's decision to stay with the dying Markab and her later breakdown in Sheridan's arms. What Delenn does in this episode - staying with the Markab, which has zilch to do with prophecies, destiny or big pictures - is actually a far better reply to a question asked just two eps later in Comes the Inquisitor than what happens there, but then I think that's intentional. Now I don't ship Sheridan and Delenn in the sense that the first time of watching, I was rooting for them to get together, or by seeking out fanfic. Nor do I anti-ship them. But younger me thought scenes like the flarn meal were a bit too cutesy whereas older me thinks it's interesting and for the 1990s an unusual storytelling choice that nearly all the initiative for this relationship comes from Delenn. I mean, Sheridan is obviously attracted and thinks she's great, but she's the one proposing shared meals, flirting, and initiating the first intimate touch (here, cradling his cheek). And she's completely confident throughout. One thing the show never does with Delenn, including in the rom com type scenes, is letting her fret about whether or not Sheridan likes her, or what her own emotions for him are. She (correctly) assumes he does, and while she has plenty of angst in other regards, that's never one of them. Ditto for the lack of "is this love I feel?" fretting. This is still unusual in the way canon romances are handled all too often, which I didn't get as a much younger viewer.
Lastly: Warren Keffer, unwanted pilot, actually gets a scene. Behold. (And the actor still feels as stiff as the lines JMS writes for him.)
Divided Loyalties
Back in the 1990s it could be tough to be both a DS9 and a B5 fan because some of your fellow fen insisted on fighting holy wars and putting down the respective other show, as if you couldn't love both. One of the arguments I recall concerned Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn (kiss on screen, but only one episode, and the relationship was never mentioned before nor would be again) vs Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters (the relationship is developed long term and on screen, but there's no kiss, and even here, in the episode where they spend the night together, there were people insisting they were just gal pals). Strangely enough, I don't recall that many arguments about whether the unhappy endings (Lenara Kahn doesn't want to put up with a life time of ostracisim and thus ends the relationship vs Talia gets essentially killed by a secondary personality implanted in her) was following the unhappy lesbians cliché; that kind of discussion belonged to later eras.
Anyway. I thought then, and I still think that the way Talia gets written out works far less well than the Sinclair removal. (Let's speak Watsonian-only now, i.e. the "Andrea Thompson left" argument gets put aside.) Starting with the fact that if you're Psi Corps and want a sleeper program so you have moles in various command positions at hand, then using your own official representative at the station really is a weird choice. Ivanova, Garibaldi, hell, Sheridan himself would have been far more effective choices. Not to mention that Control, who is not bound by Talia's scruples, could have scanned Sheridan & Co. whenever she wanted (and only Susan would have noticed) in order to learn whatever she wanted to know. Then there's the fact that a whole bunch of telepaths, including several who were much more powerful and experienced than Talia, were connected to her mind in "A race through dark places" and did not feel any indication of a secondary personality. (As I mentioned in the spoilery part of my "Race through dark places" review, I briefly toyed with the evil idea that maybe the illusion wasn't the others making Bester see Talia killing the rebels with him, but making Sheridan and Franklin see everyone surviving, but that doesn't work because we the audience see Talia talk to the main rebel telepath later, and also, no dead bodies.) Nor did Überpowerful Jason Ironheart. And because Talia exits with this episode for good, there's never any follow up on her developing telekinesis, either. All of which goes to say: it's really noticable this was a last minute decision.
This said: various previous story elements do work with the idea. Back in the day because of Garibaldi's flashbacks to the s1 episode "Death Walker" and the scan/copy of Talia's mind Kosh orders made there, speculation raged she would be saved/restored by using that crystal, and that sometimes does happen in fanfiction, but Kosh ordering it in the first place also works as foreshadowing of him finding something about her off/distrustful/worth investigating. And of course s1 introduced the fact that in this universe, "death of personality" and the replacement by another personality is something you can do.
What still gets me is that despite Lyta explaining that the moment she sends the password, the original personality will die, none of our regulars seem to really take in that means they're condemning one of theirs to death. I mean, it's an emergency situation, but still, a token "isn't there another way to uncover the mole and/or to ensure the original personality is saved?" protest would not have gone amiss. And of course, the whole Ivanova part of this episode is absolutely heartbreaking. She's not good at trusting people in general, let alone telepaths, but she really let Talia in, and not only does she relive the trauma of her childhood (losing her mother/Talia due to the Psi Corps), but she now has to live iwth the additional cruelty of Control insinuating Talia's affection for Susan was the product of her manipulation, not something that really came from Talia. And she has to come out to Sheridan about being a low level telepath herself. Ivanova gets put through the wringer here, with her heart stomped upon and broken into tiny pieces.
As for poor Talia: the first regular to die, even if her body survives. Characters like her are made for the "she deserved better" phrase. (Mind you: in the post Divided Loyalties story I wrote, Family Business, I didn't resurrect her, I tried to flesh out Control some more.
cahn, you can't read it yet, it has some vague s3 spoilers.) RIP.This is also the episode to reintroduce Lyta Alexander to the show. If Talia Winters, from her dresses to her hair style and demeanour, was coded from the get go as a film noir heroine, Lyta isn't; you see her vulnerable only in the last scene, with Kosh, and otherwise she's another trope, Resistance Fighter/X-(Wo-)Man. Though of course I am reading her with hindsight. But it's also the way the show styles, and Patricia Tallman plays, Lyta scanning someone very differently from when Talia did; Lyta's demeanour (intense, focused gaze) when telepathically active resembles Bester's, if any other telepath's. And of course the show dresses her very differently, too. More about Lyta next season.
The other episodes
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Date: 2022-03-27 04:20 am (UTC)I must say, back in ye olde 1990s a story about a virus that's 100% contagieous felt way more abstract and metaphorical about the human condition than it does today.
Although I feel like humans do better with black and white; 100% contagious and 100% fatal... well, there'd still be stupid people, because of course there are, but I think most people would understand that a lot better, actually. (Though me, having been scarred by the last two years: "You know this goes through the AIR and NONE of you are wearing MASKS????"
What Delenn does in this episode - staying with the Markab, which has zilch to do with prophecies, destiny or big pictures
Yeah, this surprised me a lot! I hadn't thought she would do something like that. It made me feel a lot more positive towards her :)
Now I don't ship Sheridan and Delenn in the sense that the first time of watching, I was rooting for them to get together, or by seeking out fanfic. Nor do I anti-ship them.
I was just ??!! about them. Like WHAT?
I mean, I know it was hinted at before but how can a Minbari have romantic feelings about a human? I think my brain got stuck there somehow.
Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters (the relationship is developed long term and on screen, but there's no kiss, and even here, in the episode where they spend the night together, there were people insisting they were just gal pals).
I must admit that I found it low-key enough that I was like "...did that... what was that..." and then about five minutes later I was like "...Talia was IN SUSAN'S BED, looking FOR HER, wasn't she?!" and then had to go back and watch that scene again. And then I was sure -- it's not very ambiguous, though I do think it's subtle.
[have to go, more tomorrow!]
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Date: 2022-03-27 10:29 pm (UTC)On Confessions and Lamentations: I only vaguely remember "The Quickening" (I think I must have at least partially pushed it out of my memory) -- but in any case I was not prepared for a 90's show to end with the entire race wiped out. I really thought Franklin was going to save at least some of them! I mean, I knew that quarantine under these circumstances could not have been a good idea, but there was an incubation period... it was possible... (Also, I think my brain has tried to deal with it by treating the episode a bit more flippantly than my actual at-the-time reaction, as I can see by rereading my comment from yesterday.)
I also wanted to comment on the scene where Franklin punches the table. I mean, for the viewer it's a bit cathartic (who among us didn't want to punch a table at that point?) but in addition I feel like up until now (with the caveat that I haven't watched everything with him) that Franklin has always been very controlled, even when he's wrong. Even when he loses his temper at his dad, it's pretty tame. And, idk, I don't think this about most characters (Garibaldi, for instance, isn't someone I want to be losing control ever because dude, no) but it made me like Franklin better, that the alien doctor's death affected him enough that he was emotional about it to that extent. And I liked that it was that act of emotion, not all the logic and control he's been applying to the situation (but coupled with that, of course!) that allowed him to solve the problem. (And then that heartbreaking control is back at the end when he's listening to the jerks being xenophobic -- which is the right thing to do, of course, but :( )
On Divided Loyalties: okay, last night I didn't have time to deal with the biggest part of my being all SO MANY FEELINGS at you last week, but as you knew very well: TALIA.
And because Talia exits with this episode for good, there's never any follow up on her developing telekinesis, either
WHAT
okay, this is the kind of spoiler I NEED, thank you, because otherwise I would have kept watching for her to come back (the way that Sinclair has occasionally shown up) because the TK was clearly going somewhere!
I need someone to write me the longfic AU of the next three years, where Talia is still actually there inside and gets back to Susan and somehow her telekinesis is a major plot point and they live happily ever after. :PPPP
Do we know what jms had in mind to do with the telekinesis?
Starting with the fact that if you're Psi Corps and want a sleeper program so you have moles in various command positions at hand, then using your own official representative at the station really is a weird choice.
Honestly, none of this stood out to me because I was just so shocked at the whole thing (so, I guess, jms succeeded in that). I bought the misdirection hook line and sinker, and thought it was going to be Ivanova and that we'd have to deal with the fallout of that somehow. And also that somehow they 'd avoid the character-death aspect.
What still gets me is that despite Lyta explaining that the moment she sends the password, the original personality will die, none of our regulars seem to really take in that means they're condemning one of theirs to death.
I didn't take that in either (haha, as I said above), but what got me is that no one afterwards, except for Susan, seemed to grieve that the Talia they all knew was actually dead! It was all "welp, what do we do with Talia2.0" and so on, but -- I was angry about this because I was upset about Talia's death, why weren't they?! They were acutally supposed to be her friends!
but she now has to live iwth the additional cruelty of Control insinuating Talia's affection for Susan was the product of her manipulation, not something that really came from Talia.
Argh, in the AU that I need, Control is absolutely lying here :P
As for Lyta, I thought she was really cool -- yes, very different from Talia -- and it sort of baffles me that the network didn't like her. She's so intense!
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Date: 2022-03-28 11:09 am (UTC)Franklin losing control: it‘s true, he very rarely does.
I must admit that I found it low-key enough that I was like "...did that... what was that..." and then about five minutes later I was like "...Talia was IN SUSAN'S BED, looking FOR HER, wasn't she?!" and then had to go back and watch that scene again. And then I was sure -- it's not very ambiguous, though I do think it's subtle.
*nods* Yes, I think that‘s how it hit me the first time around, too. But bear in mind this was when any same sex relationship in a tv show was still an incredibly big deal for its absolute rarity.
Also, a reminder that poor Susan‘s on screen love life so far looks like this:
- the ex who turns out to have became a racist bigot (Malcolm the racist from season 1‘s „The War Prayer“)
- the new love who was effectually killled by her evil secondary personality who was everything Ivanova has feared all her life
=> you can guess the intimacy issues
Do we know what jms had in mind to do with the telekinesis?
Yes, because he does it with Lyta. (Lyta‘s contact with the Vorlon(s) = Talia‘s gift from Ironheart.) I.e. you‘ll find out.
The Ivanova misdirection: I think I probably bought it as a first time watcher, too, I can‘t remember exactly anymore, though. Incidentally: Ivanova herself is another replacement character because the network hadn‘t liked the female first officer from the pilot, Laurel Takashima, either. (Ivanova NOT having been present in the B5 pilot is why she doesn‘t know Lyta, and why Garibaldi and Sinclair are both longer on B5 than her, for example.) According to JMS, Laurel Takashima was supposed to get the „is secretly a mole without knowing she is“ plot, and the misdirection with Ivanova is a nod towards that. (Talia getting it only came to be when Andrea Thompson wanted to leave, though.)
what got me is that no one afterwards, except for Susan, seemed to grieve that the Talia they all knew was actually dead! It was all "welp, what do we do with Talia2.0" and so on, but -- I was angry about this because I was upset about Talia's death, why weren't they?! They were acutally supposed to be her friends!
Good point. There‘s a scene with someone other than Susan showing rage and grief about Talia‘s death (Garibaldi), but it doesn‘t happen until mid s3. I wrote a Lyta story once where among other things she deals with having had to effectually kill Talia - whom she liked - but it‘s spoilery for all five seasons. I think Sheridan can be sort of excused in that he knew her the least, but even so, like I said, both a line of dialogue along the lines of „isn‘t there another way to find the mole which doesn‘t kill the original person?“ before, and a „Alas, poor Talia“ moment of grief thereafter would not have been amiss.
When we get to the later seasons, I‘ll have somewhat more to say about the command staff & the telepath characters, but that‘s all way too spoilery for now.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-29 03:24 am (UTC)But bear in mind this was when any same sex relationship in a tv show was still an incredibly big deal for its absolute rarity.
Yes! I am definitely watching this as "a show from the 90's" -- if it had been a show made in the last few years I would have been rather less surprised (though, okay, I was still surprised that She-Ra reboot went there, but more because animated kids show).
- the ex who turns out to have became a racist bigot (Malcolm the racist from season 1‘s „The War Prayer“)
Whoops, I missed that one! Poor Ivanova.
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Date: 2022-03-30 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 06:06 pm (UTC)Spoilers (new viewers please skip)
Date: 2022-03-27 09:23 pm (UTC)I think it's interesting the different ways that the show portrays telepaths, for all that The Corps Is Mother etc. Even original flavour Lyta was very different to Talia.
Re: Spoilers (new viewers please skip)
Date: 2022-03-28 12:04 pm (UTC)Re: Spoilers (new viewers please skip)
Date: 2022-03-28 11:49 pm (UTC)Re: Spoilers (new viewers please skip)
Date: 2022-04-04 07:37 pm (UTC)Good write up all round with at least two points I hadn't previously considered.
Would write more, but Covid...