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selenakVoices of Authority
Wherein we learn that Garibaldi is a bad liar, Delenn a better one, but then we already knew that, and nothing recruits a F'irst One as quickly as a little petty rivalry. :) This is a moving-the-plot-forward kind of episode which I neither particularly love nor dislike. 'The Ivanova vs the gigantic Christmas ball scenes are fun. Ivanova accidentally coming across a recording of Clark (talking to Morden's unmistakable voice) admitting his complicity in Santiago's assassination while in the Great Machine is a bit of an Evidence ex Machina and makes devoting an entire episode to Clark's doctor and his evidence earlier a bit pointless, not to mention that 20 years after the original broadcast, it seems to come from a more naive age. Yes, Sheridan's line about the unique stamp on each government channel providing proof this is not a fake is meant to disarm the argument Team Clark would just call lit a fake, but in the age of the Orange Menace and half of the country with access to other information still beliieving his every claim and voting for him, it's hard not to conclude that in reality, Clark and Co. needn't have worried, that crying "fake news!" would have been enough, no other authoritarian efforts necessary.
Otoh, Julie Mussante, the political officer who back in the day mainly brought me the obvious Orwell/Nazi associations, this time around echoed for me not just the past (the Stalinist methods which of course partly inspired Orwell) but the present: China, where unemployment and poverty can't happen because the Party made it a paradise, Hungary and Viktor Orban. Her demeanour and looks, otoh, echoes the creepy unimodel blondes on Fox TV and prefigures so much of the current Republican attitude. (Well, except for the attempt to have sex with Sheridan. Julie Mussante written today would more likely accuse him of being involved in a pedophile ring.)
G'Kar being sick of being left out of the loop and being lied to by Our Heroes partly sets up his actions in the next episode, and his handing the book of G'Quan over to Garibaldi and challenging him to learn the Narn language will later become a plot point. Incidentally, Sheridan and Delenn at this point still hesitating to let him into their secrets is one of those things which I would call surprising realism - yes, we the audience know G'Kar is all about the patriotism and fight of evil now and would not betray them, but Delenn in particular has reason to recall G'Kar hasn't always been reliable when his temper gets the better of him - except that Sheridan was ready to reveal his being part of an anti government plot to Ivanova, Franklin and Garibaldi at the end of s2 on shorter aquaintance (except for Ivanova) and with less reason to trust they'd go along with him.
Lastly: Sheridan's indignance at the thought of civilian control or co-control reminds me of something others have observed is a bit of a general problem. Of course, the Ministery of Peace is a creepy Orwellian institution and a part of Earth turning more and more authoritarian/fascist, and therefore, Sheridan not wanting anything to do with it is of the good. However, so far all the secret reisstance figures we know of are part of the military, and they are setting themselves against a civilian elected government. Again, circumstances - they know Clark came to power through an illegal secret coup via assassination - are an excuse, but it would have been good had JMS thought of at least letting someone mention there's some contact to some non-military people back on Earth involved in the resistance. (Even the July 20th 1944 conspirators against Hitler, who were, by and large, not democrats by nature, and not just because many of them were conservative nobility, did not plan to make one of the generals the next head of government had their plot succeeded, but had chosen a civilian as the next chancellor until the war was over and elections could be held. The man intended as Chancellor was Carl Friedricih Goerdeler, the former Mayor of Lepzig, and he hadn't been the only civilian involved in the 20th July plot.)
Dust to Dust
This, otoh, is one of my favourite B5 episodes, uniting - and I think it's the only episode to do so - a Londo-G'Kar-Vir plot with a Bester plot. It's from this point onwards the show uses Bester as something other than a straightforward villain. (Meaning not that he's suddenly a good guy, but that his reasons for showing up on B5 can include goals that can coincide with those of Our Heroes - or not. It varies, and that makes it extra interesting and him unpredictable.) And he continues to get the best lines from JMS. ("So you think of me as something bright and cheerfull, full of toys for small children? Thank you! That makes me feel so much better about our relationship" is my favourite on this time around.) He's also shown as competent without using his telepathy, which we hadn't seen before. Ironically, in universe, it's at this point, imo, that Bester concludes Garibaldi is good at his job, which, well, will have consequences. Oh, and speaking of foreshadowing: "We may be all that stands between you and the abyss."
I can never make up my mind about: whether or not Bester is lying on either of his claims re: Talia. I mean, my general assumption is that he's definitely lying in the second one ("dissection") for the reason Ivanova names - he wanted to provoke Our Heroes in order to scan them - , and likely genuinely did not know Talia was Control. (His actions in A Race through Dark Places don't really fit with him knowing this.) Otoh I don't believe the program being discontinued is true on any level. (Though as we'll see again later this season, and it's worth remembering, Bester is not the head of 'Psi Corps, and Psi Corps is an institution that thrives on secrets within secrets and playing out various branches against each other.9
Bester's description of a Dust-created invasion of someone's mind as mental rape in the briefing scene sets up the climax of the episode. Now, G'Kar consideirng Dust (before he experiences it) as a useful resistance weapon against the Centauri makes sense from his pov (and is a reminder G'Kar the resistance fighter of old would agree with Kira on DS9 that any method is justified against an oppressor). As his people are his foremost concern, it also makes sense that he would test it on himself, rather than make someone else do it, especially after having been warned by Lindstrom about possible effects. However, choosing to use it to get into Londo's head is entirely personal and irrational. (From a purely pragmatic pov: there's no way G'Kar could have disguised an assault on the most prominent Centauri on the station as anything but what it was, even if Vir hadn't been there to witness it. Anything he'd learn from Londo in terms of Centauri secrets couldn't have been useful enough for the resistance to justify the likely Centauri retaliation had Londo died, especiallly since the Centauri would have known that all of Londo's intelligence was compromised. Purely from a pragmatic pov, testing the capacity of Dust when used by a Narn should have been done on a lurker no one would discover or miss any time soon. But wanting to invade Londo's mind isn't about learning secrets for the Narn resistance, not really. It goes back to "he knew, and he betrayed me!", G'Kar's initial reaction in Coming of Shadows , not "those Centauri are at it again!"', and even further than that. Londo at tihs point isn't an abstract symbol of Centauri opression. G'Kar's feelings re: Londo Mollari might be intermingled iwth how he feels about the Centauri in general, but they are not the same, and the relationship with Londo is intensely personal to him, the sense of betrayal is personal, and therefore the need for revenge is personal. And so G'Kar does get into Londo's head, literally.
For both their arcs, it's important that G'Kar learns all of Londo's secrets here. Of course, he already knew that Londo knew about the Centauri attack ahead of time, and that Londo was on board with the Narn/Centauri war. But he hadn't known Londo made the initial request and contact with the Shadows, and of course he didn't know about Londo's prophetic dreams. (Londo had told Sinclair about his death vision involving G'Kar, but not anyone else, at least not on screen, and certainly not G'Kar.) (That he didn't know before Londo got his job because it was considered a joke and no one else wanted it is a bit surprising, because Londo's status and behavior in s1 all but screams this from the walls.) It's one of those things where a sci fi element - telepathy - comes in really handy, because I can't think of a "mundane"present day AU where G'Kar would find out all of this with the same degree of reliability and absolute knowledge. (If he'd, say, tortured it out of Londo in a physical way, he always would have to wonder whether Londo didn't just say what G'Kar wanted to hear so that the pain would stop.) And while such a personal assault is not the equivalent of starting a brutal war and a second occupation, it means that now Londo isn't the only one having done something to the other in their relationship.
Meanwhile, Londo and Vir: Londo's spinning Vir's positive reports on the Minbari in the negative is both present day relevant and darkly funny, but Londo's cynicism in doing so not withstanding, I think certain s4 events bear out Vir was somewhat rosy-eyed about Minbar, planet of peace and enlightenment, and the wonderful religious caste. What's blatant in this particular episode is the by now strong affection between them, despite their complete difference of political opinions. Not just because Vir is the last person left who still believes Londo is capable of positive change, but because even Londo as he's now means such a lot to him - and vice versa. The wordless interaction in gestures in sickbay is one of my favourite Londo and Vir scenes.
The other episodes
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Date: 2022-05-01 06:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-01 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-01 09:21 am (UTC)I feel like literally anyone else who talked to Londo during Season One would have known how he got his job. Except, Londo does take it more seriously whenever someone manages to persuade him to be in a room with G'Kar, if only because arguing with G'Kar is about the only part of it he does enjoy. G'Kar is also egocentric enough to think all those times Londo skived off to drink or gamble or watch strippers were meant to annoy him, personally, not the result of Londo and the Centauri not taking the project seriously. Also, we know that G'Kar wanted the ambassador's position and loves his job (he's got political power, a position where he can genuinely help his people and access to all the aliens he can seduce, why would he not?) so I guess he'd never thought about it being something his opposite number was forced into.
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Date: 2022-05-01 12:23 pm (UTC)On the one hand, sounds plausible to me, on the other, well, if he had told himself "I'm going to try this out myself" he had to consider whose thoughts he'd be reading in order to check whether the stuff worked as advertised. And as the Judge pointed out, he avoided mindreading every by stander and went straight to Londo's quarters. What I mean: if G'Kar had been in Down Below when he took Dust and then reconsidered once he was high, I'd believe he didn't hit on the idea until he had taken Dust. As it is, I think he either knew he wanted to do it before, or was repressing what he wanted to do to the degree that he didn't even consider he needed a guinea pig in addition to himself.
I will never be over the fact that not only G'Kar's rebirth as a prophet but also every single development in his relationship with Londo from this point forward turns on the worst thing he ever does.
Very true. I can't think of another show that managed to pull off something similar and made it feel right. Another thing: the fact that Kosh bothers to intervene and stage a vision for G'Kar is quite a change in Kosh, who wrote off both the Centauri and the Narn in s1 as "dying people". (And I think that's the general Vorlon attitude. The Narn are no longer of interest because there are no more Narn telepaths, and the Centauri because they're considered tainted now if they weren't before. The Minbari and the humans are needed for the war against the Shadows, so they are the future. But Kosh - this Kosh - in his years on the station has started to care about individuals and people beyond "are they useful against the Shadows", and that's one big proof for it right here.
G'Kar is also egocentric enough to think all those times Londo skived off to drink or gamble or watch strippers were meant to annoy him, personally, not the result of Londo and the Centauri not taking the project seriously.
Good point, and Born to the Purple is a good example of this, because for once, Londo really does nothing there to spite G'Kar or because of G'Kar, he hardly thinks of G'Kar at all, it's all about Adira both in the positive and the negative sense. But to G'Kar, it's a personal slight what's going on.
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Date: 2022-05-04 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-01 02:41 pm (UTC)In the meantime, I enjoyed this episode -- it seems weird to call it more lighthearted when there's so much serious stuff going on in it, but it does seem like even though the underlying themes are terrible, they're playing it a bit less grindingly grim than the last few episodes -- Mussante is played to be so awful she rolls back around to being practically kind of fun to watch, and the scene where she strips for Sheridan, and then Ivanova shows up, is pretty much played for (serious-edged) slapstick, and I enjoyed it. (Sheridan's face!) Especialy since in this particular episode, at least, there was no real consequence to her being terrible. Though then her last scene is not funny at all, of course, and sort of makes everything else more grim in retrospect, with the promise of more grimness to come. At least it wasn't in this episode. (I was also more-or-less able to decouple her from current events, which helped.)
On Ivanova's tactics: admire her and them, but I was a little taken aback by the First Ones having less emotional savvy than my first grader, but whatever.
On Morden: The funny thing is that I missed it the first time she was listening -- I haven't gone back and checked, but I wonder if it was staticked out a bit, because the second time, when Sheridan is listening, it was incredibly clear that it was Morden (and I freaked out! I hadn't expected that!)
On President Clark: yeah, watching this for the first time in 2022 I was like "do you really think that people are going to buy that?" and smiled a little sadly at the unique-channel-stamp fix.
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Date: 2022-05-03 05:43 am (UTC)That was something else. Bester is as always so much fun to watch. My favorite bit was definitely the interrogation scene with Garibaldi, and how he just bluffs his way through the whole thing -- and I did realize he was bluffing, so it was fun to see it in action. And the little smile he gives after Garibaldi leaves him. And then I got totally blindsided by his last line, about how they had been the ones to develop Dust but they just didn't want it to get in the hands of non-humans. OUCH.
Me to G'Kar: G'KAR DON'T DO IT REALLY BAD IDEA
Though speaking of bad ideas! Ivanova! About to blast Bester out of existence! I was... glad that Sheridan didn't let her get away with that. (I kind of love Sheridan & Ivanova, ngl. I don't ship them at all but I love their relationship, because I am a sucker for mutual-respect subordinate relationships.)
I just really like Fredersdorf, okayAlso me to G'Kar: NOW YOU KNOW IT REALLY REALLY WASN'T THE EMPEROR. Yes, I have certain things that don't stop bothering me :P
Also also: I was really taken by the scene of G'Kar making that decision to take a different path. <3 Even if it was a bit of a Kosh ex machina -- because I absolutely believe that G'Kar was capable of making the other decision in spite of angels and wise figures; I feel that it really was his choice.
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Date: 2022-05-03 06:31 am (UTC)I absolutely believe that G'Kar was capable of making the other decision in spite of angels and wise figures; I feel that it really was his choice.
What Kosh did was giving G'Kar a chance, providing a moment to step back and reflect on what he was doing. What G'Kar made of it is entirely G'Kar's decision, as you say. He could as easily - more easily in fact - have said "to hell with that, at least I'll take Londo down with me!", in the same spirit as he was in the elevator a few episodes earlier. Still, Kosh providing that chance is one of three lucky breaks G'Kar gets - the first being Morden not choosing him but Londo in s1. (Had Morden chosen s1 G'Kar, and given him what he wanted (reminder: all the Centauri dead and Narn children playing flute on their bones was the general idea), G'Kar's life would have gone a very different way.) What makes G'Kar's arc so great is that his epiphany doesn't mean G'Kar from this point onwards is just a saint, or that making the right decisions comes easily to him - realisation means nothing without follow up, and you have to get up each day and make that decision anew, work for it every day.
I kind of love Sheridan & Ivanova, ngl. I don't ship them at all but I love their relationship, because I am a sucker for mutual-respect subordinate relationships.
I think their relationship is great as well. To me, it also has overtones from a big brother/younger sister relationship - she teases him on occasion, he feels protective for her but not in a patronizing way, he knows she can handle herself. And in this case, he looks out for her soul as well as her career.
Bester is as always so much fun to watch.
Isn't he just? I'm soooooo glad JMS wrote this part for Walter Koenig to shine in. And the Bester/Garibaldi scenes are always a particular highlight, plus immensely quotable. Incidentally, this isn't Bester's last visit this season, he'll come back in another episode. Trivia alert: the female Psi Cop showing up at the very end of "Dust to Dust" (and earlier in the teaser scene of "A Run Through Dark Places" in s2) is Walter Koenig's real life wife. Here is a 2019 interview of Walter Koenig speaking about playing Bester and working on Babylon 5. (No spoilers, plus after 20 years he gets a few details wrong - Sinclair was a Commander, not a Captain, Bester was never the leader of Psi Corps, though he was a high level operative, that kind of thing, but that's understandable 20 years later and at his age.) In it he describes how he came to play the part, why that was so satisfying to him and what kind of working experience he had on the show, and it's lovely.
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Date: 2022-05-05 05:28 am (UTC)Yessss!
Still, Kosh providing that chance is one of three lucky breaks G'Kar gets - the first being Morden not choosing him but Londo in s1.
I seem to remember you mentioning that G'Kar not being able to kill the Centauri emperor as another lucky break -- is that the second?
To me, it also has overtones from a big brother/younger sister relationship
*nods*
That's a really nice interview, thank you!
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Date: 2022-05-05 07:32 am (UTC)Yes. If G'Kar had killed Emperor Turhan, he would have been the one to start the second Narn/Centauri war, the Centauri still would have had military superiority due to Londo's contact with Morden and would have won, and the Narn would have had far less to none of the sympathy they now have, especially if despite G'Kar's recorded denial his government knew anything it can be proven that on the contrary, the Khari was all for the assassination. And if it's revealed the Emperor came specifically to apologize to the Narn? Even more of a desaster. There but for a heart attack goes G'Kar.
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Date: 2022-05-11 10:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-11 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-11 12:19 pm (UTC)