I can believe Delenn can rationalise everything she does and says in this scene as fine, but on the other hand: in an alternate universe where Marcus lived and it's him rather than Lennier in this scene, would it have gone the same way? Meeting him in a dark unsavoury bar without telling Sheridan, probably yes; stroking his face and asking him to stay longer and having a conversation about how much her husband loves her vs understands her, no, I really don't think so
Quite. Of course, Delenn never answers Morden's question in s1, which is wise of her, but that doesn't mean she has really resolved it for herself, I don't think.
But then, the Rangers as an institution seem to work better when we see less of them and just see Rangers as individuals - any time they get screen time as an organisation they don't seem to come off very well
It's really tricky to write non-evil mysterious organisations, especially when the degree to which they're supposed to come across as ambiguous instead of "solely" good is never quite clear. The Rangers share that lot with the Jedi, to a point. :)
Unlike Psi Corps, which gets a really good episode with 'The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father'! And makes sense as an institution which is not any more good than it seemed before, but makes sense from its own perspective. As does Bester of course, who is such a good antagonist partly because he isn't a one-dimensional villain, but also partly because he knows that's what he looks like to the main characters and plays with it even before this
Very true. On this rewatch, it struck me that in a "normal" episode we would, for example, just get the scene where Franklin says it has to be a higher ranking telepath inflicting those injuries and Bester in his usual Bester way says "you'd think that" , but in this episode we see him change demanour immediately once he and the interns are out of Franklin's earshot when he tells them "this is very bad", showing he absolutely agrees with Franklin's conclusion, but he doesn't break persona.
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Quite. Of course, Delenn never answers Morden's question in s1, which is wise of her, but that doesn't mean she has really resolved it for herself, I don't think.
But then, the Rangers as an institution seem to work better when we see less of them and just see Rangers as individuals - any time they get screen time as an organisation they don't seem to come off very well
It's really tricky to write non-evil mysterious organisations, especially when the degree to which they're supposed to come across as ambiguous instead of "solely" good is never quite clear. The Rangers share that lot with the Jedi, to a point. :)
Unlike Psi Corps, which gets a really good episode with 'The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father'! And makes sense as an institution which is not any more good than it seemed before, but makes sense from its own perspective. As does Bester of course, who is such a good antagonist partly because he isn't a one-dimensional villain, but also partly because he knows that's what he looks like to the main characters and plays with it even before this
Very true. On this rewatch, it struck me that in a "normal" episode we would, for example, just get the scene where Franklin says it has to be a higher ranking telepath inflicting those injuries and Bester in his usual Bester way says "you'd think that" , but in this episode we see him change demanour immediately once he and the interns are out of Franklin's earshot when he tells them "this is very bad", showing he absolutely agrees with Franklin's conclusion, but he doesn't break persona.