solitary_summer | (no subject) (Reply)

Did what New Year celebrations I felt up to earlier this day, visiting first M. and then U. at work with a mini-bottle of sparkling wine and sweets. Got wet and cold, biking through rain turning to sleet, but it was nice... Let midnight slip by, sipping wine, typing, music through the headphones, trying to drown out the sounds of the fireworks. No deep résumés or resolutions that I’m not going to keep anyway; nor the energy to make up any. But mostly I’m content if I’m not feeling downright suicidal at this time of the year and I think things have been changing for the better recently; I’ve been changing. It should be enough if this continues, I’ll just try to be aware, conscious of the changes...

[Fortune cookies can be eerie. We got them to distribute to the customer; for me it was a first-time thing, they're still not as common here as I gather they are in the US. (Or maybe I’ve been living under a rock.) The first message was totally random, but the second one was very much to the point...Geh’ einmal gründlich in Dich und räume mit den negativen Gefühlen auf.]

B5: 1.9 Deathwalker

* Na'Toth is still very formidable. "I will not be denied this!"
* It should have been obvious from the moment Jha'Dur demanded Na'Toth's head from G'Kar that the 'monument' she wanted for herself wasn't going to be anything so (comparatively) harmlessly ironic.
* In fact there are a couple of things that strike me as... odd about this episode. I believe the Vorlons' 'solution' was the only possible path to take from the moment the serum was proved to be legit, and it's strange - almost implausible - that no one else realised this or wanted to realise it. It should have been obvious there'd be bloody wars over its possession even without the added complications of the gruesome details of the production. One is tempted to ask, how could Sinclair, who's usually not so blind to what goes on on Earth, have been so naive to even hope his plan would work out in the first place?
* When Jha'Dur finally reveals the true scope of her revenge Sinclair is duly shocked, but one can't quite escape the feeling that he walked into her trap too easily. Nevertheless it's a great, horrifying moment, which bears some basic truth about the nature of all of us.
* Interesting that Garibaldi was evidently the only one to instinctively rejected dealing with Jha'Dur without even a second (or first) thought to the possibilities of the serum. Even when he said the serum could be reproduced without her, it's almost an afterthought, and one gets the feeling that he doesn't really care. "There is no choice", and he very much means it.
* Did Garibaldi let G'Kar know that Jha'Dur was going to be shipped off to earth? Probably not, but one wonders.
* I suffered for Lennier; so innocently convinced that it was impossible that the Minbari would have sheltered Jha'Dur only to be forced to pass that vote in the end.
* The sub-plot with Talia was well constructed, too, even if it seemed trivial at first. There's this funny guy with the funny hat and the seemingly senseless, but also to all appearances harmless negotiations, only for Talia to discover in the end there were never any negotiations at all, but she'd been used by those two for the Vorlons to gather ammunition against her. The look on her face when she realises this... (And I think she already does, instinctively, when Kosh tells her what was on that crystal; or at least realises she'd been used. Sinclair and Garibaldi merely confirm the details.) No wonder Lyta ran amok in the end, the way telepaths keep being abused. Very cold.
* Both plot lines offer an insight into the working of the Vorlons' minds; a hint already at how much they regard humans as children to guide and protect, maybe; or as rats in an experiment. The coldness of their machinations, the complete disregard to pain inflicted on the individual.

B5: 1.10 Believers

* I have to admit my initial reaction to the plot synopsis was apprehension, because I'm rather wary of projecting contemporary problems info SF universes without at least a minimal modification. Moreover I'm 110% on Dr. Franklin's side in this conflict. Any grown up person can decide for themselves whether they want to live or die, but no one, not even a parent, maybe most especially not a parent, should have the power to make this decision for another person.
Despite these reservations I found it a very powerful, gripping episode with a ethically believable and artistically satisfactory resolution.
* As far as this is possible, they made the parents' stance convincing and their tragedy believable without exposing them to ridicule. From an artistic POV at least this is very necessary. Even if I still want to slap them.
* Emotionally extremely intense, builds up to a climax from the moment Franklin decides to do the operation in defiance of Sinclair's orders; the parents' frightened rejection of their son, Franklin cradling the boy; Franklin's quarrel with Sinclair ("Who asked you to play God?" "Every damn patient who comes through that door, that's who! People come to doctors because they want us to be gods. They want us to make it better... or make it not so. They want to be healed and they come to me when their prayers aren't enough. Well, if I have to take the responsibility, then I claim the authority, too! I did good!"); Franklin realising that they were going to kill the child; the shift from victory and, yes, a certain amount of self-satisfaction, to incredulity and despair in view of the parent's serenity.
* Logical, in that everyone acts according to his/her believes and never diverges from that course until the bitter end. No miraculous last-minute changes of minds here. Sinclair, doing what he has to do as a commander of B5, even if he maybe doesn't like it; Franklin and the other doctor following the oaths they took, doing the operation; the parents, in killing what they believe is no longer their son. The child, of course, is given no choice.
* The Ivanova sub-plot may have seemed pointless, but it served to ease the tension in the end; after the tragedy and high level of emotions Ivanova strolling in, still high from the fight, oblivious to the recent tragedy, provided a clean break and necessary relief. The boy emerging from the freighter she helped protect being reunited with his parents re-connected to the main story line again. Very good closure; very well done.

B5: 1.11 Survivors

* Another very good episode, emotionally powerful, revealing a lot about Garibaldi's character and past, even if it was maybe slightly too obvious who the real villain was, even if his reasons didn't become clear until the end.
* No slashy thou.. Eh. Whatever. Who cares. Slashy or not, this episode had some very good Sinclair - Garibaldi moments. That conversation in the café "And you?" "I crawled back into the bottle. I didn't come out again for a long, long time.". Sinclair trying to convince Garibaldi not to try working it out alone, repeating this once more in the final scene in sickbay, which was really sweet, you could feel all the affection and pride. It’s somewhat ironic that in the end it'd be Sinclair who'd leave, alone, to the point of consciously avoiding Garibaldi on his way to Babylon 4.
* Garibaldi's scenes with both Londo and G'Kar were very good, especially the one with G’Kar… The offer and its rejection said much about both of them.
* Garibaldi in that bar; the alien whose hat he'd borrowed for a disguise, saying "No want hat, take bottle" when the hat is returned; Garibaldi, black eye, dried blood from the corner of his mouth to his chin, contemplating the bottle, until he pours himself a glass and drowns it, the pink neon sign 'happy daze' (only the ‘happy’ part visible) behind his head.
* Later, Garibaldi, drunk, stumbling out, right in front of the guards... so, so painful to watch.
* Garibaldi, tired, beaten up, hung over, sprawling in that chair in the middle of the interrogation room under the harsh white spot light. "Is that what you want? To tear my life down like I did yours?"
* The second episode in a row where we're being told that it's our ability to suffer that makes us human: Franklin in ‘Believers’ "What makes us human is that we have so many different ways to hurt.", now Garibaldi is saying something very similar.

B5: 1.12 By Any Means Necessary

* I honestly didn't think in the beginning that this episode would work out so well: the plot and sub-plot seemed too incompatible; the bickering between G'Kar and Londo over that plant too light-weight at first in comparison to the seriousness of the dock workers' strike and the threat of the military being called in. But despite the more humorous scenes Londo is deadly serious in taking his revenge through something seemingly so trivial, apparently having planned this for quite some time; it offers good insight into how his character and mind work. G'Kar's religious believes, which of course shall become more important later, are treated seriously, too; even if Sinclair is understandable exasperated, it's never too ludicrous that they'd bother him about that plant on top of his other troubles.
* But, uh, 'illegal strike'? I'm somewhat appalled.