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anything short of a miracle
Apologies ahead of time; I'm powering through season one because, frankly, a lot of it is character bits, a lot of it is human character bits, and I just don't care enough to do proper deep analysis when I know what's waiting for me. (In the same vein, I'm probably going to skip whole sections of season five because I want Byron to die in a ball of fire.) First season is a bit of a wasteland in the middle, to be honest; sort of space-show-of-the-week.
1x10, Believers
Okay, here's the thing: I can't do this episode. And it's because this is one of those times when the morals of the show collide with JMS's determination that no adorable children should be allowed to live, and it drives me up the wall. So I'm skipping it.
1x11, Survivors
This is actually a perfectly good episode that I just don't care about enough. The important plotty bit is potential danger to President Santiago; the important character bit is a whole heap of backstory regarding Garibaldi's past failures and his tendency to fall off the wagon. Mostly, this episode makes me want to give Mike a hug, someone nice like Franklin to hang out with, and the advice that he needs to stop hanging out with the Bad Decision Dinosaur.
1x12, By Any Means Necessary
There is, I believe, a joke among the Londo/G'Kar portion of fandom, and it goes something like this: you know you ship them when your answer to "What happened in No Surrender, No Retreat?" is not "An epic last stand against theShadows and the Vorlons rest of Earthforce," but rather "Londo tries to get G'Kar to share a drink with him." (See? I crossed out part of my first sentence, because obviously the B plot was so much more important that I forgot what the A plot was.)
This episode is like that for me. I am pretty sure there's an A plot about a dock-workers' strike, with some fairly decent social commentary, and Sinclair coming up with a solution to the problem using underhanded devious trickery, a lot of twisty brilliance, and an ending that probably wouldn't happen outside of TV. I even like it quite a lot. As far as I know, though, this is actually an episode about Narn religion, and the ways G'Kar and Londo try to get one up on one another before their hatred for each other becomes really serious.
Actually, I think what I like best about it is how funny their animosity is. (It's amazing how long it stays amusing, too; I mean, I can't stop laughing during the trapped-in-a-turbolift sequence in third season, and by then it's definitely not funny anymore.) But back here, it really is pigtail-pulling; Londo has hardly any power at all, so he gives himself some small satisfaction by knowing everything there is to know about G'Kar and then annoying him as much as possible. I like that their self-worth is already weirdly dependent on one another. "Consider this a small, a very tiny portion of revenge for what you did to our colony on Raghesh 3." Oh Londo. The awful thing is that he doesn't get that that attack was part of the Narn revenge for all the Centauri did to them, and so on and so forth. I love how alike G'Kar and Londo are.
"You left your door unlocked, ambassador. Very careless of you. I thought it best to sit here and guard your room until you returned," G'Kar says mildly, sitting in the middle of Londo's quarters, and I light up with joy, because -- look, season five has its problems, but it's completely redeemed for me by the fact that G'Kar and Londo's arc is incomplete otherwise. That line is perfect, because someday G'Kar is going to mean it sincerely.
I love, too, G'Kar's rage and Na'Toth's calm acceptance of it. Their following conversation is excellent, too. (For the most part, I love how this show treats religion. See above, ie Believers, for those times when I don't.)
G'KAR. And what do you believe in?
NA'TOTH. Myself, Ambassador.
G'KAR. Too easy an answer. We all believe in something greater than ourselves, even if it's just the blind forces of chance.
NA'TOTH. Chance favors the warrior.
One, I love Na'Toth so, so much. Two, G'Kar's brand of spirituality is probably my favourite sort in this show (which is why I failed to mind or even to notice when he went all messiah, because I was so busy enjoying the whole process). Fair warning, I'm probably going to transcribe a lot of G'Kar's speeches in the later seasons. As opposed to what I'm doing now. Heh.
Also, I have a very important question. WHAT IS LONDO WEARING.
Moving on.
"It is not about money, Commander, or spiritual beliefs. G'Kar is worried about losing face." On the note of G'Kar and Londo being alike, I'd like to observe that sometimes Londo doesn't get G'Kar at all, because he assigns his own motivations to G'Kar. In a lot of ways, G'Kar is already ahead of Londo spiritually/morally/what-have-you.
Mind you, I suspect that the whole G'Quan-Eth B plot this episode is so funny, and the whole arc is so good, because I'd be willing to watch Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas act at each other for hours, and have a stupid grin on my face the whole time.
It's probably also worth noting, this episode, that I'm genuinely enjoying Michael O'Hare's acting. That might have something to do with the fact that I was only watching it in small doses, but I think it was real improvement. Yay Sinclair!
And speaking of Sinclair, I do like that he has to come up with two creative solutions in one day, one to the dockworkers' strike and one to G'Kar's ceremonial woes. I am really, really easy for this show, but I love the whole notion of G'Kar celebrating in the light of a star that touched a mountain a Narn decade ago. I also love that G'Kar's response is, "Commander, you are a far more spiritual man than I gave you credit for." Now I want improbable time travel fic about them being religious leaders together.
In conclusion, this episode is great.
1x13, Signs and Portents
This, on the other hand, is one of my favourite of first season.
First, we have a hilarious little scene with Ivanova: "Why does my mouth always taste like old carpet in the morning?" she asks rhetorically, and the chipper computer replies, "Unknown! Checking medical logs." The look on Ivanova's face is priceless. And it only gets better. She wanders groggily into C&C and tells Sinclair, "Sleeping is not the problem. Waking up, that is a problem. I've always had a hard time getting up when it's dark outside." And to Sinclair's slightly bewildered, "But in space it's always dark," she gives a resigned, "I know. I know." It remains one of the clearest Ivanova Is Awesome scenes in my head, and I don't even know why.
MORDEN! <3 "I've been out of circulation. Spent the last few years exploring out on the Rim." The guard asks him, "Find anything interesting?" and he replies, "Yes," with a boyish cheerful smile that has not yet had time to become horrifically ominous.
I forgot that Sinclair goes to Garibaldi for help re: his missing hours and the Minbari War. I'm not surprised, but I still love the scene on a rewatch: "You've got both," Garibaldi says, when Sinclair says he needs help and a friend; and, "Jeff, this is me, remember?" Oh season one OTP, how I love you.
Sdkdfsjhfd HOW ARE LONDO AND G'KAR SO FUNNY. I mean, part of it is the staging; they insult each other at length outside a turbo-lift, with this poor little human standing between them, who scurries into the lift as soon as possible; and of course the humor also comes from the way they both snap "Now look what you made me do!" when they miss the elevator, because we the audience can see that they're alike, and therein lies the absurdity. It's so brilliant I don't know what to do except babble about it.
Oh, hey, here's the first of a few conversations I'm going to just transcribe.
MORDEN. You still haven't answered my question, Ambassador. What d'you want?
G'KAR. What do you mean, what do I want?
MORDEN. What do you want?
G'KAR. What do I want for supper? What do I want to do this evening? What --
MORDEN. What do you want?
G'KAR. This is pointless. What I want is for you to go away and leave me in peace.
MORDEN. As you say.
G'KAR. Wait! What do I want? The Centauri stripped my world. I want justice.
MORDEN. But what do you want?
G'KAR. To suck the marrow from their bones, and grind their skulls to powder.
MORDEN. What do you want?
G'KAR. To tear down their cities! Blacken their sky! Sew their ground with salt! To completely, utterly erase them!
MORDEN. And then what?
G'KAR. I don't know. As long as my homeworld's safety is guaranteed, I don't know that it matters.
Let's break this down. Rumor has it that, when someone tells Morden what they want, their desires do come true, whether through Morden/the Shadow's actions or no. (For instance, Vir wants to wave at Morden's head on a pike. Morden definitely doesn't help him achieve that desire, at least not purposefully, but ...) After this, Morden himself does leave G'Kar alone, so there's the first point. Does G'Kar get justice? Eventually, maybe. I mean, in a lot of ways he does get it for himself, with all the things that Londo does in seasons four and five. And while there is no personal sucking of marrow from bones or skull-grinding or any of that, eventually (thanks, Drakh!) the Narn do tear down Centauri cities, blacken their skies, &c, if not completely erase them, and the Narn homeworld's safety is basically secure within the Stellar Alliance. G'Kar does get what he wants. He just doesn't want it anymore by then, not that way.
I also want to bring up the fact that, at least in terms of sheer passion, G'Kar is an excellent candidate to be the Shadows' pawn. The problem is that his scope is too narrow for them: he only cares about destroying the Centauri and keeping Narn safe. If he'd done something dangerous like say he wanted the Narn Regime to be more powerful than all of their enemies, to destroy and conquer and ascend, he would have been perfect. But I don't know how long he would have been perfect; for all that he schemes, for all that he hates, and for all he'll sacrifice any means for an end, at his core he's made of solid honor, and when you break him down, that's eventually what you'll hit. (Whereas, with Londo, at his core he's solid pride, which will eventually result in incredible things, but results in a lot of terrible things first.) Deep in my soul I suspect I eventually want to write The One Where Morden Chose G'Kar, but that's for a time when I've at least watched through the first half of fourth season again. /o\
I am curious about Lady Ladira's visions. (One of my favourite things about this show is all the tasty, tasty prophecy. Mm.) She sees that Babylon 5 will be destroyed, and also that there will be fire, death, and pain. All of these things are true, but I wonder if what she sees is the version of events that gets transmitted in War Without End, the one where they didn't succeed in stealing Babylon 4 and therefore the Shadows destroy them, or if what she sees is a sort of conglomerate vision of the whole upcoming history of the station, compressed to the moment of its decommissioning. Both interpretations have their appeal, but I sort of like option two better; I like to read this universe as a place where echoes slip through, where they made other choices or didn't act quickly enough, but that those parallel worlds are ones where the timestream is damaged. "The future is always changing," Lady Ladira says; "We create it, with our words, our deeds, and our beliefs." I like that time is all connected, but also that everything is a choice, that it is being created, isn't fixed, even if it all holds together. This all makes sense in my head, but I'm going to save it for the Babylon 4 episodes.
Ah, here is conversation the second:
DELENN. What is the purpose of your question, Mr ... Morden, is it?
MORDEN. The question is its own purpose, Ambassador Delenn. What do you want?
DELENN. I'm informed that you have just seen Ambassador G'Kar. Are you asking each of us this question?
MORDEN. Perhaps. Does that invalidate the question?
DELENN. No. But it makes me wonder --
And then of course she stops, and throws him out, because she has a ... glowing Triluminary in her forehead? IDK, but it makes her see Morden covered in shadows (heh), and then she knows "They're here." I'm not sure the Triluminary-in-her-head thing is ever properly explained, but I assume the answer is "Vorlons! :D" It's a lot creepier to see this when you know that they're both sort of pawns for their associates. Delenn did save herself, though. She answers Morden's questions with her own, and never gives him anything. She doesn't even say she wants him to leave; she just orders him. YEAH DELENN. <3
The little scene with Londo and Lord Kiro is interesting, because, of course, Lord Kiro has an intrigue, and wants to be emperor. Londo roundly ignores all the insinuations of a plot until Kiro makes it blatant, and Londo's response to his claim of rightful inheritance is "We must all make our sacrifices." The thing about Londo is that he isn't interested in power; in a lot of ways, he gets the concept of sacrificing everything for the good of his people a long time before G'Kar does, because he never needs any moment of revelation about what the right kind of sacrifice is. This doesn't do a damn thing to save him, but I want to at least give him credit for it.
Okay, and here's the big one.
MORDEN. Ambassador, I was authorized to speak to you --
LONDO. Yes, yes. Look, what do you want?
MORDEN. That's what I was gonna ask you! What do you want?
LONDO. You are a lunatic. Go away. Pester someone else. You are a very persistent young man.
MORDEN. I have to be. I'm not allowed to leave until you've answered my question. What do you want?
LONDO. This is a silly conversation.
MORDEN. Yes it is. What do you want?
LONDO. To be left alone.
MORDEN. Is that it? Is that really all, Ambassador?
LONDO. All right. Fine. You really want to know what I want? You really want to know the truth? I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want to see the Centauri stretch forth their hand again, and command the stars. I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power; I want to stop running through my life like a man late for an appointment, afraid to look back or to look forward. I want us to be what we used to be! I want -- I want it all back, the way that it was! Does that answer your question?
MORDEN. Yes. Yes it does.
This is what Londo thinks he wants. But the anger with which he wants it, and more importantly the bitterness ... he wants a story. He wants romanticized good old days, and what he gets -- well, for a start, what he gets is Emperor Cartagia, who I'm willing to bet is a hell of a lot like what those good old days really looked like. At this point Londo can't possibly want what's good for the Centauri, because he wants what he's been taught to want, and the thing he's been taught isn't any good. It's broken. So he's going to get it all, and he's going to get it all broken.
He also says he wants to be left alone, and in the end, in all the important ways, he's completely isolated. On the other hand, I can at least hope that he's also able to stop running through his life like a man late for an appointment; he does get a few good looks at the truth along the way. So I suppose it's a bit all right in the end.
Just now, though, he's accidentally sold his soul. Oops.
Meanwhile, Morden runs into Kosh. "Leave this place," Kosh says. "They are not for you. Go. Leave! Now." And then Garibaldi reports that Kosh's encounter suit got damaged. Ow. Little fight with Morden's Shadows? At least there's no permanent injury yet. (Less relevantly, I hear they are not for you and my mind immediately leaps to Pippin via Palantir being told tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him. That is incorrect on all levels except the "JMS likes using Tolkien language" one, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.)
First Shadow ship sighting! Say what you like about the rest of the CGI on this show, those fuckers are scary. It's the combination of the spider shape, the mesh pattern, their ability to annihilate almost anything in a single stroke, and the creepy wiggly way they get in and out of hyperspace.
This exchange breaks my heart a little:
LADY LADIRA. I'm sorry. I'll do anything I can to help.
LONDO. Thank you. But I'm afraid I'm beyond anything short of a miracle.
That's ... probably true. The fun thing about Londo's arc, though, is that on a rewatch it's easy to pinpoint the moment of his fall, even if it crept up on you the first time; his redemption, though, I'm guessing will be a lot harder to pinpoint. Most of the miracles on this show (excepting, perhaps, G'Kar's revelation) are of the dark kind, sudden events that make things that much unbelievably worse; anything honestly good and helpful and worth doing has to be done, in long slow complicated stages. And that's exactly the sort of story I want told.
Ohhh, that vision of the station exploding, that Ladira gives to Sinclair, is the actual shot they used for the decommissioning in Sleeping in Light. How so awesome, show?
Lastly, I leave you with this INCREDIBLE BIT OF COSTUMING that I just noticed. Oh Morden. Oh costuming department. Oh JMS. You dorkfaces.
Yeah. :D
1x10, Believers
Okay, here's the thing: I can't do this episode. And it's because this is one of those times when the morals of the show collide with JMS's determination that no adorable children should be allowed to live, and it drives me up the wall. So I'm skipping it.
1x11, Survivors
This is actually a perfectly good episode that I just don't care about enough. The important plotty bit is potential danger to President Santiago; the important character bit is a whole heap of backstory regarding Garibaldi's past failures and his tendency to fall off the wagon. Mostly, this episode makes me want to give Mike a hug, someone nice like Franklin to hang out with, and the advice that he needs to stop hanging out with the Bad Decision Dinosaur.
1x12, By Any Means Necessary
There is, I believe, a joke among the Londo/G'Kar portion of fandom, and it goes something like this: you know you ship them when your answer to "What happened in No Surrender, No Retreat?" is not "An epic last stand against the
This episode is like that for me. I am pretty sure there's an A plot about a dock-workers' strike, with some fairly decent social commentary, and Sinclair coming up with a solution to the problem using underhanded devious trickery, a lot of twisty brilliance, and an ending that probably wouldn't happen outside of TV. I even like it quite a lot. As far as I know, though, this is actually an episode about Narn religion, and the ways G'Kar and Londo try to get one up on one another before their hatred for each other becomes really serious.
Actually, I think what I like best about it is how funny their animosity is. (It's amazing how long it stays amusing, too; I mean, I can't stop laughing during the trapped-in-a-turbolift sequence in third season, and by then it's definitely not funny anymore.) But back here, it really is pigtail-pulling; Londo has hardly any power at all, so he gives himself some small satisfaction by knowing everything there is to know about G'Kar and then annoying him as much as possible. I like that their self-worth is already weirdly dependent on one another. "Consider this a small, a very tiny portion of revenge for what you did to our colony on Raghesh 3." Oh Londo. The awful thing is that he doesn't get that that attack was part of the Narn revenge for all the Centauri did to them, and so on and so forth. I love how alike G'Kar and Londo are.
"You left your door unlocked, ambassador. Very careless of you. I thought it best to sit here and guard your room until you returned," G'Kar says mildly, sitting in the middle of Londo's quarters, and I light up with joy, because -- look, season five has its problems, but it's completely redeemed for me by the fact that G'Kar and Londo's arc is incomplete otherwise. That line is perfect, because someday G'Kar is going to mean it sincerely.
I love, too, G'Kar's rage and Na'Toth's calm acceptance of it. Their following conversation is excellent, too. (For the most part, I love how this show treats religion. See above, ie Believers, for those times when I don't.)
G'KAR. And what do you believe in?
NA'TOTH. Myself, Ambassador.
G'KAR. Too easy an answer. We all believe in something greater than ourselves, even if it's just the blind forces of chance.
NA'TOTH. Chance favors the warrior.
One, I love Na'Toth so, so much. Two, G'Kar's brand of spirituality is probably my favourite sort in this show (which is why I failed to mind or even to notice when he went all messiah, because I was so busy enjoying the whole process). Fair warning, I'm probably going to transcribe a lot of G'Kar's speeches in the later seasons. As opposed to what I'm doing now. Heh.
Also, I have a very important question. WHAT IS LONDO WEARING.
Moving on.
"It is not about money, Commander, or spiritual beliefs. G'Kar is worried about losing face." On the note of G'Kar and Londo being alike, I'd like to observe that sometimes Londo doesn't get G'Kar at all, because he assigns his own motivations to G'Kar. In a lot of ways, G'Kar is already ahead of Londo spiritually/morally/what-have-you.
Mind you, I suspect that the whole G'Quan-Eth B plot this episode is so funny, and the whole arc is so good, because I'd be willing to watch Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas act at each other for hours, and have a stupid grin on my face the whole time.
It's probably also worth noting, this episode, that I'm genuinely enjoying Michael O'Hare's acting. That might have something to do with the fact that I was only watching it in small doses, but I think it was real improvement. Yay Sinclair!
And speaking of Sinclair, I do like that he has to come up with two creative solutions in one day, one to the dockworkers' strike and one to G'Kar's ceremonial woes. I am really, really easy for this show, but I love the whole notion of G'Kar celebrating in the light of a star that touched a mountain a Narn decade ago. I also love that G'Kar's response is, "Commander, you are a far more spiritual man than I gave you credit for." Now I want improbable time travel fic about them being religious leaders together.
In conclusion, this episode is great.
1x13, Signs and Portents
This, on the other hand, is one of my favourite of first season.
First, we have a hilarious little scene with Ivanova: "Why does my mouth always taste like old carpet in the morning?" she asks rhetorically, and the chipper computer replies, "Unknown! Checking medical logs." The look on Ivanova's face is priceless. And it only gets better. She wanders groggily into C&C and tells Sinclair, "Sleeping is not the problem. Waking up, that is a problem. I've always had a hard time getting up when it's dark outside." And to Sinclair's slightly bewildered, "But in space it's always dark," she gives a resigned, "I know. I know." It remains one of the clearest Ivanova Is Awesome scenes in my head, and I don't even know why.
MORDEN! <3 "I've been out of circulation. Spent the last few years exploring out on the Rim." The guard asks him, "Find anything interesting?" and he replies, "Yes," with a boyish cheerful smile that has not yet had time to become horrifically ominous.
I forgot that Sinclair goes to Garibaldi for help re: his missing hours and the Minbari War. I'm not surprised, but I still love the scene on a rewatch: "You've got both," Garibaldi says, when Sinclair says he needs help and a friend; and, "Jeff, this is me, remember?" Oh season one OTP, how I love you.
Sdkdfsjhfd HOW ARE LONDO AND G'KAR SO FUNNY. I mean, part of it is the staging; they insult each other at length outside a turbo-lift, with this poor little human standing between them, who scurries into the lift as soon as possible; and of course the humor also comes from the way they both snap "Now look what you made me do!" when they miss the elevator, because we the audience can see that they're alike, and therein lies the absurdity. It's so brilliant I don't know what to do except babble about it.
Oh, hey, here's the first of a few conversations I'm going to just transcribe.
MORDEN. You still haven't answered my question, Ambassador. What d'you want?
G'KAR. What do you mean, what do I want?
MORDEN. What do you want?
G'KAR. What do I want for supper? What do I want to do this evening? What --
MORDEN. What do you want?
G'KAR. This is pointless. What I want is for you to go away and leave me in peace.
MORDEN. As you say.
G'KAR. Wait! What do I want? The Centauri stripped my world. I want justice.
MORDEN. But what do you want?
G'KAR. To suck the marrow from their bones, and grind their skulls to powder.
MORDEN. What do you want?
G'KAR. To tear down their cities! Blacken their sky! Sew their ground with salt! To completely, utterly erase them!
MORDEN. And then what?
G'KAR. I don't know. As long as my homeworld's safety is guaranteed, I don't know that it matters.
Let's break this down. Rumor has it that, when someone tells Morden what they want, their desires do come true, whether through Morden/the Shadow's actions or no. (For instance, Vir wants to wave at Morden's head on a pike. Morden definitely doesn't help him achieve that desire, at least not purposefully, but ...) After this, Morden himself does leave G'Kar alone, so there's the first point. Does G'Kar get justice? Eventually, maybe. I mean, in a lot of ways he does get it for himself, with all the things that Londo does in seasons four and five. And while there is no personal sucking of marrow from bones or skull-grinding or any of that, eventually (thanks, Drakh!) the Narn do tear down Centauri cities, blacken their skies, &c, if not completely erase them, and the Narn homeworld's safety is basically secure within the Stellar Alliance. G'Kar does get what he wants. He just doesn't want it anymore by then, not that way.
I also want to bring up the fact that, at least in terms of sheer passion, G'Kar is an excellent candidate to be the Shadows' pawn. The problem is that his scope is too narrow for them: he only cares about destroying the Centauri and keeping Narn safe. If he'd done something dangerous like say he wanted the Narn Regime to be more powerful than all of their enemies, to destroy and conquer and ascend, he would have been perfect. But I don't know how long he would have been perfect; for all that he schemes, for all that he hates, and for all he'll sacrifice any means for an end, at his core he's made of solid honor, and when you break him down, that's eventually what you'll hit. (Whereas, with Londo, at his core he's solid pride, which will eventually result in incredible things, but results in a lot of terrible things first.) Deep in my soul I suspect I eventually want to write The One Where Morden Chose G'Kar, but that's for a time when I've at least watched through the first half of fourth season again. /o\
I am curious about Lady Ladira's visions. (One of my favourite things about this show is all the tasty, tasty prophecy. Mm.) She sees that Babylon 5 will be destroyed, and also that there will be fire, death, and pain. All of these things are true, but I wonder if what she sees is the version of events that gets transmitted in War Without End, the one where they didn't succeed in stealing Babylon 4 and therefore the Shadows destroy them, or if what she sees is a sort of conglomerate vision of the whole upcoming history of the station, compressed to the moment of its decommissioning. Both interpretations have their appeal, but I sort of like option two better; I like to read this universe as a place where echoes slip through, where they made other choices or didn't act quickly enough, but that those parallel worlds are ones where the timestream is damaged. "The future is always changing," Lady Ladira says; "We create it, with our words, our deeds, and our beliefs." I like that time is all connected, but also that everything is a choice, that it is being created, isn't fixed, even if it all holds together. This all makes sense in my head, but I'm going to save it for the Babylon 4 episodes.
Ah, here is conversation the second:
DELENN. What is the purpose of your question, Mr ... Morden, is it?
MORDEN. The question is its own purpose, Ambassador Delenn. What do you want?
DELENN. I'm informed that you have just seen Ambassador G'Kar. Are you asking each of us this question?
MORDEN. Perhaps. Does that invalidate the question?
DELENN. No. But it makes me wonder --
And then of course she stops, and throws him out, because she has a ... glowing Triluminary in her forehead? IDK, but it makes her see Morden covered in shadows (heh), and then she knows "They're here." I'm not sure the Triluminary-in-her-head thing is ever properly explained, but I assume the answer is "Vorlons! :D" It's a lot creepier to see this when you know that they're both sort of pawns for their associates. Delenn did save herself, though. She answers Morden's questions with her own, and never gives him anything. She doesn't even say she wants him to leave; she just orders him. YEAH DELENN. <3
The little scene with Londo and Lord Kiro is interesting, because, of course, Lord Kiro has an intrigue, and wants to be emperor. Londo roundly ignores all the insinuations of a plot until Kiro makes it blatant, and Londo's response to his claim of rightful inheritance is "We must all make our sacrifices." The thing about Londo is that he isn't interested in power; in a lot of ways, he gets the concept of sacrificing everything for the good of his people a long time before G'Kar does, because he never needs any moment of revelation about what the right kind of sacrifice is. This doesn't do a damn thing to save him, but I want to at least give him credit for it.
Okay, and here's the big one.
MORDEN. Ambassador, I was authorized to speak to you --
LONDO. Yes, yes. Look, what do you want?
MORDEN. That's what I was gonna ask you! What do you want?
LONDO. You are a lunatic. Go away. Pester someone else. You are a very persistent young man.
MORDEN. I have to be. I'm not allowed to leave until you've answered my question. What do you want?
LONDO. This is a silly conversation.
MORDEN. Yes it is. What do you want?
LONDO. To be left alone.
MORDEN. Is that it? Is that really all, Ambassador?
LONDO. All right. Fine. You really want to know what I want? You really want to know the truth? I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want to see the Centauri stretch forth their hand again, and command the stars. I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power; I want to stop running through my life like a man late for an appointment, afraid to look back or to look forward. I want us to be what we used to be! I want -- I want it all back, the way that it was! Does that answer your question?
MORDEN. Yes. Yes it does.
This is what Londo thinks he wants. But the anger with which he wants it, and more importantly the bitterness ... he wants a story. He wants romanticized good old days, and what he gets -- well, for a start, what he gets is Emperor Cartagia, who I'm willing to bet is a hell of a lot like what those good old days really looked like. At this point Londo can't possibly want what's good for the Centauri, because he wants what he's been taught to want, and the thing he's been taught isn't any good. It's broken. So he's going to get it all, and he's going to get it all broken.
He also says he wants to be left alone, and in the end, in all the important ways, he's completely isolated. On the other hand, I can at least hope that he's also able to stop running through his life like a man late for an appointment; he does get a few good looks at the truth along the way. So I suppose it's a bit all right in the end.
Just now, though, he's accidentally sold his soul. Oops.
Meanwhile, Morden runs into Kosh. "Leave this place," Kosh says. "They are not for you. Go. Leave! Now." And then Garibaldi reports that Kosh's encounter suit got damaged. Ow. Little fight with Morden's Shadows? At least there's no permanent injury yet. (Less relevantly, I hear they are not for you and my mind immediately leaps to Pippin via Palantir being told tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him. That is incorrect on all levels except the "JMS likes using Tolkien language" one, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.)
First Shadow ship sighting! Say what you like about the rest of the CGI on this show, those fuckers are scary. It's the combination of the spider shape, the mesh pattern, their ability to annihilate almost anything in a single stroke, and the creepy wiggly way they get in and out of hyperspace.
This exchange breaks my heart a little:
LADY LADIRA. I'm sorry. I'll do anything I can to help.
LONDO. Thank you. But I'm afraid I'm beyond anything short of a miracle.
That's ... probably true. The fun thing about Londo's arc, though, is that on a rewatch it's easy to pinpoint the moment of his fall, even if it crept up on you the first time; his redemption, though, I'm guessing will be a lot harder to pinpoint. Most of the miracles on this show (excepting, perhaps, G'Kar's revelation) are of the dark kind, sudden events that make things that much unbelievably worse; anything honestly good and helpful and worth doing has to be done, in long slow complicated stages. And that's exactly the sort of story I want told.
Ohhh, that vision of the station exploding, that Ladira gives to Sinclair, is the actual shot they used for the decommissioning in Sleeping in Light. How so awesome, show?
Lastly, I leave you with this INCREDIBLE BIT OF COSTUMING that I just noticed. Oh Morden. Oh costuming department. Oh JMS. You dorkfaces.
Yeah. :D
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> we have a hilarious little scene with Ivanova
JMS uses this as an example in a post now archived on the Lurkers' Guide. For whatever reason, it's a classic bit of JMS scripting. And Claudia realizes it wonderfully well.
> INCREDIBLE BIT OF COSTUMING that I just noticed
It's a... ring on a chain? I've just rewatched the scene, and I'm not getting the relevance.
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Heh. I think it's exactly the right kind of not-quite-dark humor, perhaps?
And yes! There are a lot of little ways in which Babylon 5 is like Lord of the Rings, and apparently one of them is Morden wearing a ring on a chain while working for the Shadows.
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Aaaah! Subtle. Either that, or I'm a twit.
(Never been a big fan of LotR, books or movies, but I should have spotted that.)