(no subject)

[solitary_summer]

Blah. I still feel like having been run over by something, even after having slept almost eleven hours. Probably not enough, after not having slept at all the night before. I knew I was going to regret it, and, wow, did I ever. Biking to work in the morning yesterday, sun shining, I had to convince myself that it was indeed morning rather than afternoon. Had those moments where customers were asking me something and I just couldn't make sense of the words in my head at all. It got a little better after a while, but still... note to self, not to be repeated any time soon.



B5: 2.1 Points of Departure

* God, Sheridan is so young... (in every way). Quite a contrast to Sinclair, though this of course is a necessary and good thing. (He’s also much better in English than in German; I never liked his dubbing voice.) So innocently enthusiastic about a shower, fresh fruit... he’s absolutely no idea at that point what he’s getting himself into. Kind of cute, but not at all easy getting used to.
* Now Ivanova in comparison, she's got this sense of responsibility for the station, of belonging here, something which Sheridan continues to lack during the next couple of episodes; quite naturally, seeing as he’s just arrived, but still...
* Sheridan’s attitude towards the Minbari is rather different from Sinclair’s, more arrogant, less… awed, maybe because he’s actually achieved a sort of victory during the war. He doesn’t like them, but there isn’t this bitterness in him about a fight where they’d never stood a chance, a defeat followed by a gift victory, that Sinclair had to overcome. Maybe also because he’s younger and in some ways more realistically thinking, less philosophical – to him they’re a problem, not a mystery.
* When the other Minbari cruiser disabled the Trigati, their suicide… very well done, the bitterness, the proud hopelessness…
* Hm. I like it how everything seems to be becoming clearer, but in fact they’re being purposefully misleading again about why Sinclair is someone the Minbari trust. First human contact. Hu. It’s also an interestingly constructed anti-climax that when those things (or at least the edited-out version) finally are revealed it’s to someone who nods politely, but brushes it off as a Minbari superstition.
* Why did the president ask for Sheridan specifically? Presumably not in order to de-escalate the situation, one might guess.



B5: 2.2 Revelations

* For some reason I can't quite pinpoint this episode doesn't really work for me.
* Sheridan in council with Londo ranting on and on… almost amusing, except for the fact that it builds up to Sheridan's temper tantrum in 'A Distant Star'.
* Na’Toth is now being played by a different actress? I’m not happy about this.
* The Narn ships destroyed by the Shadow ships, or again later when they simply cut the Narn cruiser in half… horrible. Cruel in an almost playful cat-and-mouse way. The sense that they're enjoying it.
* Londo: he’s tasted blood; more ruthless already even when he is scared. This man who only half-jokes about destroying the Narn homeworld isn’t the man who was genuinely shocked at the death of ten thousand Narn during the destruction of a military outpost. Then Londo had been careless in his vague agreement to the offer of having the problem taken care of, now he knows what he's doing when he gives Morden the coordinates and arrival time of the Narn ship. Ashamed and uncomfortable, but he does it knowingly. Loss of innocence – also Londo’s. Even he still had innocence to loose.
* Sheridan’s tragic story about the loss of his wife somehow failed to really move me.
* On asomewhat related note, I miss Sinclair. Miss him miss him miss him.
* The machine being used to bring Garibaldi back and Sheridan offering to serve as a source of energy seemed a bit, I don't know, forced, ovedone – or will it be relevant later?
* That guard, fidgeting with his gun, waiting for whether Garibaldi remembers: would he have shot Sheridan, Ivanova and Franklin simply to shut up Garibaldi? Or believed he’d even get past them all? Or shot himself? Not quite realistic. If he’s ruthless enough he (or the people he’s working for) should have found about a way to quietly kill Garibaldi as long as he was in the coma.
* Liked it how you see the different paths for Londo and G’Kar in this episode. During most of the first season for all their being enemies they weren't all that different personality-wise, snark, bitch, insult, now you see their paths diverging in reaction to the threat of the Shadows, something already implied in ‘Signs and Portents’ when Morden asked both of them what they wanted and then decided to use Londo rather than G’Kar as his associates’ tool.
G’Kar, when he realises that they’ve moved to another, much more basic level of enmity.
* Sheridan is, and continues to be rather naïve, in a kind of cute, but also kind of annoying way, like this station is his personal playground, here to provide wonders for him.
* Delenn: Personally I think her change was a little over-dramatised. It surely would have been possible to convey that it was physically painful and frightening without covering her in blue scales? And then she’s a little too pretty when she makes her re-appearance, what with the hair-do and everything. Not even having had hair before one would guess she’d have a few problems arranging it. (Or is there now also a hair dresser under a vow of silence on B5? *g*)
* G’Kar’s ”... a dark and terrible place known as Z'ha'dum. It has been dead for a thousand years. No one goes there - no one! ” and then cut to Sheridan’s politely smiling, but not exactly convinced uh-oh, another of those nutcases and why do I have to be bothered with all this look. Good moment.
* The level of violence and barely leashed aggression, when the other guards arrest Garibaldi’s attacker. Is he even aware of this level of loyalty, of how much he's liked, or does the one betrayal overshadow all this in his mind? I think in this episode there was a sense of something growing colder and darker in Garibaldi and he isn’t the man to stand much more of this; harder each time to pick himself up again, to put the façade in place again.


B5: 2.3 The Geometry of Shadows

* Londo :: sigh :: You see him getting caught up in his own ambition, the deep satisfaction – the thrill - at finally, at long last, getting closer to the centre of power, being sought out, his support asked. Having once tasted this kind of power, it becomes addictive fast and the scruples are easier to ignore each time. The Londo of this episode and the last is a harder, darker, rather unlikeable person.
With Sheridan, convinced that he’d be all too easily able to manipulate this young newcomer to do what he wanted him to do– rather unpleasant. Even if Sheridan’s laid himself open to it, in a way, not taking the aliens serious enough. One can see, though, when he’s told that he’s been used, that he’ll never make the mistake of trusting Londo’s words or aims so readily again.
* "... or am I going to have to spend the rest of my life paying for one little mistake?" "Oh, I'm afraid you're going to have to spend the rest of your life paying for your mistakes." Good moment, good scene. (Though I really prefer the unspoken implication of this in ‘Signs and Portents’; a happy, relieved Londo accepting back the ‘Eye’, wanting to buy Morden a drink, utterly unaware that he’s just sold his soul to the devil. The contrast is stronger and more chilling.)
* Vir with the technomage ”I work for Ambassador Mollari. After a while, nothing bothers you!”: Sad. Sad because of the innocence already lost, and even sadder, because there is still so much innocence in his belief that he’s seen it all, when it had barely started.
* Garibaldi: it never struck me quite as hard before that he's really a man of extremes, a perfectionist. Black or white, all or nothing. One fault and everything's failed. Maybe it's the alcoholism that makes him see himself in such unforgiving terms of either-or, but while he’s probably not totally wrong in believing that he might have known, it's maybe in some ways a good thing that he hadn’t. He has enough trust issues as it is, even if he tends to joke about it, and to be so paranoid as to distrust everyone – well, that's what Bester made him do in the end.
The scene with Sheridan was a very vulnerable moment, to see this basically strong man so deeply shaken, needing approval and reassurance so badly. And with Sinclair gone, so lost without someone to hold on to. I’m not sure if it was meant to imply he was actually playing with the thought of killing himself (though Sheridan putting the gun back into the holster seems to suggest that he at least is also talking about another level of ‘easy things' 'the universe doesn't give you any points for doing’), but what with the talk of guilt, redemption and last chances during season 1 I don’t think it’s entirely impossible. either... And then there’s this shining young man walking in, saying he wants to believe in him, and you know he’s going to do it, or at least wanting to, badly. Sheridan might not be Sinclair, but he’s someone to hold on to.
[They never told Garibaldi how they brought him out of his coma?]
* "Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." :: snort :: Love the LotR references and variations in this episode – the technomages leaving Middle Ea--- er, the known universe.
* The Drazi subplot… worked surprisingly well, you got their point that despite the apparent randomness of the factions the fight made sense to them. It's really kind of intriguing, the contrast between what to human understanding is utterly senseless, and the gravity with which the Drazi treat this issue. ("Where there was one Drazi people, now there are two! The two fight until there are one!”)
[On a side-note, are we to see this as an omen/symbol for the approaching civil war? But there were issues at stake, nothing as random as the Drazi green and purple scarves, unless you want to take the nihilistic approach that despite Ivanova’s protestations there isn't all that much difference between a flag and a randomly chosen coloured piece of cloth, at least in the grander scheme of things. Come to think of it, from a Vorlon perspective most human struggle must appear like this.



B5: 2.4 A Distant Star

* Very good Sheridan (and Ivanova) character episode, I liked this aspect even better than the drama about the Cortez lost in hyperspace and the rescue mission. Sheridan who still doesn’t really belong here, much more comfortable with his military friends, too full of himself and discontent at being stranded at the same time, still taking his position and responsibilities very – too – lightly. Susan, who despite her friendship with him suddenly becomes deadly serious and decidedly protective of this station, all too aware of its importance; giving him, I think, a clear warning where her priorities are. The way they turned a scene that started out light and humorous into something very serious. How much Sheridan still has to grow into his position, into the man he’s going to be. His anger at being turned into a politician, though… in hindsight that’s extremely ironic. He doesn’t know half of it yet.
The (military) leader is much more obvious already in Sheridan than in Sinclair, though. Sinclair commanded a quieter kind of loyalty; Sheridan is a charismatic military commander who people will follow, right from the start.
* Delenn having to discover what she’s lost through her change; that even if she’s right about something she suddenly can’t rely on her authority any longer as she used to do or command blind obedience. ”Understanding isn’t required, only obedience is” doesn’t work any longer just like that.
* Liked the conversation between Sheridan and Delenn in the end. And I think this really is where Sheridan starts falling in love, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Because she gives his life a different perspective, gives him a new focus.
* The Franklin – Garibaldi scene in the end was very cute.
* The Cortez was an awesome design, truly impressive, then that giant ship aimlessly drifting in hyperspace – eerie.
* Was the contact with the Shadow ships in hyperspace random or more to the point, were the Shadows even aware of the identity of the ship or its mission? Probably not, because if then, why not take out the Cortez directly rather than the fighters to rescue her.


It took two viewings for me to realise what I found so jarring (though maybe not necessarily in a bad way) about the first four season 2 episodes: with Sheridan someone assumes command who's utterly untouched by the atmosphere that had been built up during season one. Sinclair's growing unease about the Narn/Centauri situation and the developments on earth, his awareness of things changing in major ways. His knowledge that something important and very real is going on with the Minbari that involves him, even if had no clear idea yet what it is.

Now, despite the fact that the Shadows slowly begin to emerge, despite what G'Kar saw out at the Rim and Londo's growing involvement with them, it's on some level not quite as acute, because for the new captain himself this is far from being a prime priority at this point. There's this young, good-looking, charming war-hero breezing in, for whom the post is part career opportunity, part exile and part personal wonderland/playground (funny aliens and all, Minbari ambassador hibernating in a cocoon, haha) and one could safely say that at the beginning he's far from being aware of being aware of the true scope of his task (even such as it was the moment he entered the station, not touching upon future developments). Lacking Sinclair's personal experience and involvement, he doesn't even believe the edited-out version of what the Minbari are willing to tell; it's one of their myths to him...