B5rewatch: By Any Means Necessary
I don’t really have any things to say pre-cut, so let's just jump in...
1x12: By Any Means Necessary
Well...it’s a very accurate preview. I don’t know that it’s engaging or enticing, but it is pretty accurate. Although using the bit where Londo is talking about drug effects as a ‘Boom’ response made me laugh.
Weirdly, or maybe appropriately considering this episode is about thinking about the conditions faced by underappreciated people, I find myself thinking how miserable the extras in the fire suits must have been.
I do love G’Kar and Ivanova’s little interplay on the “Someone needs to be blamed,” “Well, we could blame you pilot,” “Don’t blame us,” issue. Even just a couple scenes in and it’s a really good G’Kar episode, but I guess I kind of like petty G’Kar (which is good since he shows up a lot this episode).
However...that doesn’t look like Sinclair’s normal desk; and even if it was, why are they all sitting behind the desk like that? I think the director might have thought they were in the Council chambers rather than Sinclair’s office, but the backdrop is the office set not the Council room. And then, if they were in Council Chambers, why would Ivanova be sitting on that side of the table? The staging for this doesn’t work.
While there will always be some questions alone this line, I do think it’s worse in s1; where they choose to have certain Steller or BabCom conversations is often weird. Sinclair hovering on the edge of the C&C station to talk to Hidoshi about the budget doesn’t seem like the right choice. Sure it needed to happen (at least in C&C) so it could flow right into Ivanova’s announcement, but it still seems like a weird choice to me.
In a reverse of the Compton problem, Jerry Doyle’s acting was doing fine around the main cast, but then seems pretty stiff and ill-fitting with the dockers. Which now that I think about it might have been intentional to a point, it certainly could have worked, but it isn’t layered enough in the performance to convey that it’s Garibaldi who feels he’s in the wrong here rather than just awkward acting.
I’ll allow that Drennan didn’t write ‘Surely, you’re not serious,’ just “You’re not serious,” it’s just that the delivery is so perfectly matched with Airplane that even though Sinclair doesn’t say ‘surely,’ I still feel like Hidoshi should have to respond “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”
So...who’s manning the docks while the works are on strike? Someone must be and it’s just going slow because Zento managed to get onboard the station, but it’s not made clear what’s going on to compensate for the dockers’ absence.
The line about “I think we know where the fat went” sounds like it’s supposed to be an insult, but it isn’t clear who she’s insulting. Maybe Zento was meant to be played by a bigger guy at the writing stage and that line is an artifact, but as is he’s pretty fit looking.
There are two funny things I want to note about Londo’s refusal of Sinclair’s request. First, which is more ‘pagan” (which really seems an incorrect word for Londo to use), worshiping the sun or making a god of sun that the Centauri probably have? Second, Londo would rather burn the plant than give it to G’Kar, when burning the plant is exactly what G’Kar wants to do already. And now that makes me think that on a lot of other shows this episode would have been a very special episode where Londo learned about Narn culture and helped burn the plant at the end.
On that note, I think it would be funny if the god statue G’Kar and Na’Toth stole was a sun god, it would seem appropriate.
There’s a slight wording hiccup in that Hidoshi says Sinclair is ordered to move in with troops to end the strike; so Sinclair’s ultimate work around doesn’t follow orders (that we hear, likely the official order was more just about authorizing the Rush Act like it’s treated later). However, it’s a small thing and I think it may be allowable in the s3 argument that a senator can’t give the military direct orders. Iffy and the wording should have been tighter, but I’m not going to dock the episode for it.
Hey, that’s Jack isn’t it? I’m not sure I ever noticed him in this episode before since he doesn’t have anything to do besides be a security guy, but if my inability to recognize people with much surety isn’t playing trick on me and they did place him in here, good going.
As you may have noticed I didn’t find a ton to say about this episode as it was happening, I also kept coming back to it at weird times when I couldn’t seem to focus on it for any great length of time. I do quite like this episode when I just watch it through, but I don’t find that pulling it apart did anything good for my enjoyment of it.
Aside from some weird choices in terms of sets and staging, everything about this episode mostly worked...mostly. It doesn’t do much wrong, and I certainly don’t find much to complain about, but...it all feels a little superficial. And then when superficial details feel off (like staging and location choices) it was kind of distracting.
One thing I will say is that the A plot with the dockers feels...not quite preachy but Important-with-a-capital-I, edging on Very Special Episode about Worker’s Rights territory. It doesn’t quite go over that line, but like I said it barely avoids it; and while it’s focused on being Important for the world, it sort of isn’t very important to the world and story of B5. I want to give the episode story credit for addressing something that still usually goes ignored in shows like this - just practical details of how the world works - and I think all along a lot of fans have given it that credit, but remove that element and the A plot isn’t terribly engaging or nuanced.
The B plot is far more memorable and Babylon 5-esque. Although the writing is still a touch superficial, it’s quite fun and holds my attention a lot more than the A plot. Andreas and Peter are settling into their roles nicely and they hold a consistent tone to their plot that helps make it work.
Something one kind of notices on a normal watch but doesn’t feel out of place, but kind of irks me when I start pulling it apart is how much of a Gary Stu Sinclair is in this one. His position is clearly the one we are supposed to see as right; no ifs, ands, or buts. Our sympathies are meant to lie with the dockers, because Sinclair’s do (and Zento is presented as a total asshole rather than any kind of competent negotiator), but only our noble hero can step in and save the situation. He can even step in and save G’Kar’s situation in the end, running on no sleep and not having prepared for the question. Now if you’re wondering, this isn’t something I normally have a problem with, I know our heroes are going to be at the center of the stories and in resolving them, that’s not quite why Sinclair’s perfect hero/Gary Stu-ness stands out for me this time. I can’t quite put words to why that is, and like I said part of it’s from picking the episode apart rather than just enjoying it as it’s presented to me, but he’s just too much the perfect hero in this one. It’s episodes like this that put truth to the reason JMS gave for so long about Sinclair/O’Hare’s departure; he’s a finished character, there isn’t a lot left for him to learn or grow from.
Damn, I’m doing it again, I’m just pointing out the flaws, even though on the whole I do like this episode, I just don’t like it in pieces the way these examinations lead me to look at it. I guess it’s a ‘whole is better than the sum of its parts’ story.
One bit of subtlety I didn’t take time to point out in the reaction portion, because it’s never explicitly remarked upon in the text, is about the G’Quan Eth. Londo always (up until the very end, so he probably does know he’s doing it wrong but keeps doing it to annoy G’Kar) refers to it as a “G’Quan Eth Plant” while G’Kar just says “G’Quan Eth” the subtext being that Eth means plant in the Narn language, so Londo is creating a tautology by saying Eth Plant and therefore refusing to speak Narn (or whatever the language is called) correctly. It’s a clever bit of writing, all the more because it’s so subtextual.
Next time: Finally done with the ones I reviewed on my last rewatch, so maybe even more to say about Signs and Portents
1x12: By Any Means Necessary
Well...it’s a very accurate preview. I don’t know that it’s engaging or enticing, but it is pretty accurate. Although using the bit where Londo is talking about drug effects as a ‘Boom’ response made me laugh.
Weirdly, or maybe appropriately considering this episode is about thinking about the conditions faced by underappreciated people, I find myself thinking how miserable the extras in the fire suits must have been.
I do love G’Kar and Ivanova’s little interplay on the “Someone needs to be blamed,” “Well, we could blame you pilot,” “Don’t blame us,” issue. Even just a couple scenes in and it’s a really good G’Kar episode, but I guess I kind of like petty G’Kar (which is good since he shows up a lot this episode).
However...that doesn’t look like Sinclair’s normal desk; and even if it was, why are they all sitting behind the desk like that? I think the director might have thought they were in the Council chambers rather than Sinclair’s office, but the backdrop is the office set not the Council room. And then, if they were in Council Chambers, why would Ivanova be sitting on that side of the table? The staging for this doesn’t work.
While there will always be some questions alone this line, I do think it’s worse in s1; where they choose to have certain Steller or BabCom conversations is often weird. Sinclair hovering on the edge of the C&C station to talk to Hidoshi about the budget doesn’t seem like the right choice. Sure it needed to happen (at least in C&C) so it could flow right into Ivanova’s announcement, but it still seems like a weird choice to me.
In a reverse of the Compton problem, Jerry Doyle’s acting was doing fine around the main cast, but then seems pretty stiff and ill-fitting with the dockers. Which now that I think about it might have been intentional to a point, it certainly could have worked, but it isn’t layered enough in the performance to convey that it’s Garibaldi who feels he’s in the wrong here rather than just awkward acting.
I’ll allow that Drennan didn’t write ‘Surely, you’re not serious,’ just “You’re not serious,” it’s just that the delivery is so perfectly matched with Airplane that even though Sinclair doesn’t say ‘surely,’ I still feel like Hidoshi should have to respond “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”
So...who’s manning the docks while the works are on strike? Someone must be and it’s just going slow because Zento managed to get onboard the station, but it’s not made clear what’s going on to compensate for the dockers’ absence.
The line about “I think we know where the fat went” sounds like it’s supposed to be an insult, but it isn’t clear who she’s insulting. Maybe Zento was meant to be played by a bigger guy at the writing stage and that line is an artifact, but as is he’s pretty fit looking.
There are two funny things I want to note about Londo’s refusal of Sinclair’s request. First, which is more ‘pagan” (which really seems an incorrect word for Londo to use), worshiping the sun or making a god of sun that the Centauri probably have? Second, Londo would rather burn the plant than give it to G’Kar, when burning the plant is exactly what G’Kar wants to do already. And now that makes me think that on a lot of other shows this episode would have been a very special episode where Londo learned about Narn culture and helped burn the plant at the end.
On that note, I think it would be funny if the god statue G’Kar and Na’Toth stole was a sun god, it would seem appropriate.
There’s a slight wording hiccup in that Hidoshi says Sinclair is ordered to move in with troops to end the strike; so Sinclair’s ultimate work around doesn’t follow orders (that we hear, likely the official order was more just about authorizing the Rush Act like it’s treated later). However, it’s a small thing and I think it may be allowable in the s3 argument that a senator can’t give the military direct orders. Iffy and the wording should have been tighter, but I’m not going to dock the episode for it.
Hey, that’s Jack isn’t it? I’m not sure I ever noticed him in this episode before since he doesn’t have anything to do besides be a security guy, but if my inability to recognize people with much surety isn’t playing trick on me and they did place him in here, good going.
As you may have noticed I didn’t find a ton to say about this episode as it was happening, I also kept coming back to it at weird times when I couldn’t seem to focus on it for any great length of time. I do quite like this episode when I just watch it through, but I don’t find that pulling it apart did anything good for my enjoyment of it.
Aside from some weird choices in terms of sets and staging, everything about this episode mostly worked...mostly. It doesn’t do much wrong, and I certainly don’t find much to complain about, but...it all feels a little superficial. And then when superficial details feel off (like staging and location choices) it was kind of distracting.
One thing I will say is that the A plot with the dockers feels...not quite preachy but Important-with-a-capital-I, edging on Very Special Episode about Worker’s Rights territory. It doesn’t quite go over that line, but like I said it barely avoids it; and while it’s focused on being Important for the world, it sort of isn’t very important to the world and story of B5. I want to give the episode story credit for addressing something that still usually goes ignored in shows like this - just practical details of how the world works - and I think all along a lot of fans have given it that credit, but remove that element and the A plot isn’t terribly engaging or nuanced.
The B plot is far more memorable and Babylon 5-esque. Although the writing is still a touch superficial, it’s quite fun and holds my attention a lot more than the A plot. Andreas and Peter are settling into their roles nicely and they hold a consistent tone to their plot that helps make it work.
Something one kind of notices on a normal watch but doesn’t feel out of place, but kind of irks me when I start pulling it apart is how much of a Gary Stu Sinclair is in this one. His position is clearly the one we are supposed to see as right; no ifs, ands, or buts. Our sympathies are meant to lie with the dockers, because Sinclair’s do (and Zento is presented as a total asshole rather than any kind of competent negotiator), but only our noble hero can step in and save the situation. He can even step in and save G’Kar’s situation in the end, running on no sleep and not having prepared for the question. Now if you’re wondering, this isn’t something I normally have a problem with, I know our heroes are going to be at the center of the stories and in resolving them, that’s not quite why Sinclair’s perfect hero/Gary Stu-ness stands out for me this time. I can’t quite put words to why that is, and like I said part of it’s from picking the episode apart rather than just enjoying it as it’s presented to me, but he’s just too much the perfect hero in this one. It’s episodes like this that put truth to the reason JMS gave for so long about Sinclair/O’Hare’s departure; he’s a finished character, there isn’t a lot left for him to learn or grow from.
Damn, I’m doing it again, I’m just pointing out the flaws, even though on the whole I do like this episode, I just don’t like it in pieces the way these examinations lead me to look at it. I guess it’s a ‘whole is better than the sum of its parts’ story.
One bit of subtlety I didn’t take time to point out in the reaction portion, because it’s never explicitly remarked upon in the text, is about the G’Quan Eth. Londo always (up until the very end, so he probably does know he’s doing it wrong but keeps doing it to annoy G’Kar) refers to it as a “G’Quan Eth Plant” while G’Kar just says “G’Quan Eth” the subtext being that Eth means plant in the Narn language, so Londo is creating a tautology by saying Eth Plant and therefore refusing to speak Narn (or whatever the language is called) correctly. It’s a clever bit of writing, all the more because it’s so subtextual.
Next time: Finally done with the ones I reviewed on my last rewatch, so maybe even more to say about Signs and Portents