Intersections in Real Time
Some things you need to know right out:
- I love this episode, and whatever that says about me psychologically, IDGAF.
- I have not seen The Prisoner.
- I have not seen Closetland.
- I have seen the Next Generation "there are four lights" episode. I still like this better.
I'm not going to really do an episode summary, since the summary is essentially "Sheridan is interrogated and tortured by Clark's forces." Instead, since I know this can be an unpopular ep simply for its ability to push some peoples' squick buttons, I'll talk about the things I like about it and what I think makes it awesome.
1) The structure of the episode. I love, love, love when the camera doesn't pull away, and stays with a character, stays in a scene, resists the urge to fade to black when things get sticky or uncomfortable. If it makes you squirm as a viewer, I think that means the writer and the actors have done their job - they've made it real enough to evoke emotion in their audience.
2) The acting. You guys know I'm a Bruce fan and so I'm biased, but honestly, he and the interrogator are both golden. My husband (a tried-and-true Londo and G'kar fan) made a point of differentiating between the "best episode" of the series and the "best acted episode" of the series just for this ep. I especially like the interrogator at the very beginning, before he loses his cool, when he's very matter-of-fact and detached. And I like that Sheridan is forced to take a back seat. He reacts more than he acts.
3) The things it says about the Human psyche. Back in S2, Dr. Franklin noted that "the Human body is a fascinating thing. It can repair itself, or it can one day decide that the world is just to painful..." The same can be said about the mind. The Human mind can endure and resist... or it can one day decide it just can't take it anymore. It can also repair itself and move on - which is why some people can come away from traumatic experiences without a lot of emotional scarring.
4) The things it says about truth. What is truth? It's a question that can be debated for hours and still come up without a consensus, keeping with the theme of the series of asking big, unanswerable questions. It falls under the same umbrella as "Who are you?" and "What do you want?" The interrogator says that "the truth is sometimes what you believe it to be and sometimes what you decide it to be." And he's right. He also says, "The truth is fluid. The truth is subjective." And he's also right. Truth changes, evolves... there are some absolute truths, but as in a case where someone like Clark is calling the shots, even those truths get a little blurred at the edges.
Discussion
The interrogator promises Sheridan he will not lie to him. Does he ever blatantly break that promise?
"Governments make policy. Soldiers have to accept those policies even when they're completely contradictory. It's the very definition of your job. A soldier accepts that the face of truth changes on a daily basis." True? Fair? True of people who are not soldiers and are just ordinary Joes and Janes? Current events thoughts, anyone?
LET'S PLAY "WRITER."
And now for some FUN.
If JMS had had his way, if he'd known he was going to get a 5th season, this episode would have been the Season 4 finale. Let's pretend that is the case. Given your feelings on this ep (whatever they might be), would you have returned to watch Season 5 with this as the cliffhanger?
and
Coming off of this as the Season 4 cliffhanger, how would you have structured Season 5 to exclude Byron & Co. differently? HAVE FUN! PLAY! Add/subtract whatever! Think about how you would have resolved... Londo and G'Kar; Garibaldi; the war, and the aftermath of the war; Lennier's angst; Sheridan and Delenn (mid-S5 wedding?); Ivanova and Marcus; anything else I might have forgotten, with the only requirement being that Sleeping in Light would still be the series finale, so any changes you'd make have to keep that episode canon. Enjoy.
- I love this episode, and whatever that says about me psychologically, IDGAF.
- I have not seen The Prisoner.
- I have not seen Closetland.
- I have seen the Next Generation "there are four lights" episode. I still like this better.
I'm not going to really do an episode summary, since the summary is essentially "Sheridan is interrogated and tortured by Clark's forces." Instead, since I know this can be an unpopular ep simply for its ability to push some peoples' squick buttons, I'll talk about the things I like about it and what I think makes it awesome.
1) The structure of the episode. I love, love, love when the camera doesn't pull away, and stays with a character, stays in a scene, resists the urge to fade to black when things get sticky or uncomfortable. If it makes you squirm as a viewer, I think that means the writer and the actors have done their job - they've made it real enough to evoke emotion in their audience.
2) The acting. You guys know I'm a Bruce fan and so I'm biased, but honestly, he and the interrogator are both golden. My husband (a tried-and-true Londo and G'kar fan) made a point of differentiating between the "best episode" of the series and the "best acted episode" of the series just for this ep. I especially like the interrogator at the very beginning, before he loses his cool, when he's very matter-of-fact and detached. And I like that Sheridan is forced to take a back seat. He reacts more than he acts.
3) The things it says about the Human psyche. Back in S2, Dr. Franklin noted that "the Human body is a fascinating thing. It can repair itself, or it can one day decide that the world is just to painful..." The same can be said about the mind. The Human mind can endure and resist... or it can one day decide it just can't take it anymore. It can also repair itself and move on - which is why some people can come away from traumatic experiences without a lot of emotional scarring.
4) The things it says about truth. What is truth? It's a question that can be debated for hours and still come up without a consensus, keeping with the theme of the series of asking big, unanswerable questions. It falls under the same umbrella as "Who are you?" and "What do you want?" The interrogator says that "the truth is sometimes what you believe it to be and sometimes what you decide it to be." And he's right. He also says, "The truth is fluid. The truth is subjective." And he's also right. Truth changes, evolves... there are some absolute truths, but as in a case where someone like Clark is calling the shots, even those truths get a little blurred at the edges.
Discussion
The interrogator promises Sheridan he will not lie to him. Does he ever blatantly break that promise?
"Governments make policy. Soldiers have to accept those policies even when they're completely contradictory. It's the very definition of your job. A soldier accepts that the face of truth changes on a daily basis." True? Fair? True of people who are not soldiers and are just ordinary Joes and Janes? Current events thoughts, anyone?
LET'S PLAY "WRITER."
And now for some FUN.
If JMS had had his way, if he'd known he was going to get a 5th season, this episode would have been the Season 4 finale. Let's pretend that is the case. Given your feelings on this ep (whatever they might be), would you have returned to watch Season 5 with this as the cliffhanger?
and
Coming off of this as the Season 4 cliffhanger, how would you have structured Season 5 to exclude Byron & Co. differently? HAVE FUN! PLAY! Add/subtract whatever! Think about how you would have resolved... Londo and G'Kar; Garibaldi; the war, and the aftermath of the war; Lennier's angst; Sheridan and Delenn (mid-S5 wedding?); Ivanova and Marcus; anything else I might have forgotten, with the only requirement being that Sleeping in Light would still be the series finale, so any changes you'd make have to keep that episode canon. Enjoy.