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Babylon 5 1.19 - "Voices in the Wilderness Part 2"
This was another one of those episodes that left me marveling that this show can include some of the most obvious and cliched elements while totally ignoring the standard textbook plot resolution arc. In Part 1, the obvious cliffhanger, the place I expected the episode to end, was with Sinclair and Ivanova threatened by the seismic chaos on the planet; instead, it moved on, brought them back to the station, and ended with the mysterious ship coming through the jump gate. In this episode, we found out that the ship was nothing less than a giant penis an Earth military vessel, commanded by an officer who might as well have had I AM WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING stenciled on his forehead. And suddenly, the central conflict shifted, from the mysterious facilities beneath the planet's surface to the tension between Sinclair, trying to keep the planet beneath the station from exploding into a million pieces, trying to buy enough time to get the answers to all the important questions, and the commander's shoot-first-ask-questions-never belligerence. As a juxtaposition of diplomacy and scientific evaluation on the one hand and the stereotypical "military" solution on the other, it was not any more subtle than the characterization of Captain Pierce. But it was indicative of the precarious balance of power in the universe right now, that Earth's military was poised to move so quickly and so dramatically to preserve its claim to what it thought might be a tactical or technological advantage. Also interesting was the fact that Pierce (or his superiors) acted without clear authority, and were eventually countermanded by President Santiago's affirmation that Sinclair is in charge of the station. Santiago should technically be commander-in-chief, right? Those sorts of conflicts of command don't happen in a government where everybody is working toward the same goal. (Also, it was nice to see Senator Hideyoshi reprising his role as Sinclair's reluctant government contact and man on the inside.)
It was also obvious, when two characters who are in the credits and episodic guy Draal went down to the planet with Varn, who was going to take his place and command Epsilon 3's technology from there on out. But the returning inhabitants being a rebel faction, and the concern of the creators of the technology that it not fall into any of their hands--another species, or the unworthy of their own species--was another unexpected twist, and made those creators into much less of a utopian cliche, much more of a familiar society that had created something it couldn't agree how to use. I'm quite sure that this isn't the last we'll see of whatever is going on in Epsilon 3. And it was interesting to see the risk-taking side of Londo. He's shown no shame in avoiding danger in the past, from assassins and creatures on the station; but this danger was of a different quality, the kind of thing that fit into a heroic narrative, and he seemed to respond to that aspect of it.
Babylon 5 1.20 - "Babylon Squared"
My response to this episode is mostly flappy hands and high-pitched noises. But we were almost foiled by a marred DVD surface; right after the technician reported a signal coming from Babylon 4, the disc froze, and we couldn't get it to play past that point. There was shrieking and wailing. Some teeth might have been gnashed. Alternative methods of acquiring the episode were discussed and rejected as too slow and/or impractical. We ended up navigating to a chapter ahead and rewinding, and having to skip about five minutes of unplayable DVD, but being able to see most of the rest of the episode was a huge relief.
And even though the A and B plots aren't at all connected in the here and now--Babylon 4, unstuck in time, and Delenn's potential ascension to leadership of the Gray Council--they really, really are, in the long run, because they are both about Sinclair and Delenn's roles in whatever is going to happen. On the one hand, there are hints of a coming conflict, some kind of destructive and losing battle, and of Sinclair's role in trying to stop it (OMG SINCLAIR IS THE ONE!); on the other hand, Delenn is convinced she also has a role to play in future events, convinced enough to take the risk of exile. Delenn questioned Sinclair when he was captured during the Battle of the Line, and the Minbari surrendered soon after that; the parallels here can't be a coincidence.
As an added bonus, Zathras was a fun episodic character, we found out that Garibaldi broke up with his girlfriend to follow Sinclair to Babylon 5, and we actually found out what happened to Babylon 4. I was well-pleased.
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swsa's posts about The X-Files are kind of making me want to watch the show from the beginning, and molly_may and laurashapiro have not helped by egging me on in this thought. (In my copious spare time! Yes. Obviously this would be something to pick up when I finish one of my current 12,000 shows.) I was never more than a casual, sporadic viewer, so I've missed most of the episodes. At this point, I think 80% of my entertaining memories of the show consists of listening to the bitterness, which is always prolific, detailed, and backed by numerous examples. Maybe if I know going in that it all ends in tears, I can just enjoy it for what it is, the monsters of the week and the creepiness and the mystery? Or am I asking for trouble? I already have considerable issues with one show creator (DO YOU HEAR THAT, JJ ABRAMS, YOU HACK?) and I'm not sure I want to add to the list.
And so I turn to you, LJ, because many of you have seen this show. You have looked at its true face and lived. What do you think?
Poll
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And now for some adventures in seeing if I can make and eat dinner before my 8:30 conference call with India. Sigh.
