B5rewatch: Legacies
So let me finally post another one of these, and it’s another episode of semi-controversial placement that I would rather watch in DVD order; but at least this one I like.
1x17: Legacies
I’m actually going to leave my big discussion of why I choose not to revise the order this time until the wrap...unless I cover most of it during; partly because I could use the refresher on a few points of why I come down on that side. Suffice it to say for now that I can see some of why the revised order is an option here, but I don’t feel it’s best placed that late in events and I don’t see any better place than where it is on the DVD.
The promo is pretty accurate at least, no real complaints. It’s relatively engaging, and more or less shows what you’ll be getting in the episode. The A plot anyway, as usual the B plot gets nothing, but I’m not sure it provided much in the way of potential promo material anyway; obviously the promo crew didn’t think so. Only gripe might be that the announcer is SUPER DRAMATIC, but that’s pretty much normal, I just found some of the annunciation choices particularly overdone in this case.
The exposition in the opening scene is pretty rough. I can easily imagine that this is not the first time Sinclair and Garibaldi have groused about what’s happening with Brammer’s procession, but it’s still fairly awkward.
It is nice and fairly subtly handled how far Susan and Talia have come over the season; Susan is no longer running the other direction the exact second Talia enters a room, instead she will coldly nod at her and just take the first offered opportunity to run the other way. Really Talia, take the hint, she’s not that into you.
I’d never noticed before, but as soon as Talia say’s Alisa is a telepath, Ivanova - who had been lightly touching Alisa - instantly pulls her hands away from her. To what extent that was meant to be done that way I don’t know, but it works quite well.
Again, it really seems these people should know Minbari tradition with the gunports. I know that to this point in the series we haven’t really gotten the story of how the EMW started but just because we haven’t been told doesn’t explain why the characters haven’t. Even if by some logic it’s not common knowledge (which I don’t think is borne out later), high ranking diplomatic officials should know that and have briefed the station crew on all they could expect during this visit. Even if B5 doesn’t have the best support system back home, not starting another war with the Minbari seems like it would be high on people’s priority list.
Minor point in why I don’t want to push this episode all the way to almost the end of the season, in small ways it feels like it’s building on Grail so better to have them closer together. Sinclair’s just decided not to argue when Delenn tells him she’s expects him to be someplace, which if one was going to insist on shipping them would be kind of funny I guess.
Let’s just state this now, the actress playing Alisa is in no way young enough to have just ‘hit puberty.’ Aside from the baby talk voice she *might* pass of 16 (TV 16 that is, not likely to be confused with actual 16 year olds) if you don’t look too close; and the baby voice would sound fake and annoying on an actual young teen much less an obviously adult woman, and actually draws attention to the fact that she’s way too old for that voice. She’s also a crappy actress who wasn’t helped by the direction/staging in her first scene making her seem like the galaxy’s worst shoplifter.
Question 1) Was Franklin too busy to come to the reception? He’s at later events in the series, but not here; though he really hasn’t been attending much until now I don’t recall. So is this something that changes as JMS takes over more of the writing, but maybe in series we have to conclude Sheridan just insists Franklin actually be part of the command staff while Sinclair didn’t?
Question 2) I don’t see any Worker Caste in the procession; although the Workers are harder to pick out and it makes sense that the Warrior and Religious Castes would have more to do in this funeral (there could also be some in the crowd and just not in the lineup). I’m still calling it partially in favor of no one being sure if they existed yet.
Ivanova later says she can block casual scans or at minimum know that they’re happening, and that was kind of supported in Eyes (maybe not completely, but enough that it didn’t seem wrong) but doesn’t seem in play here.
I get a small laugh thinking that in a couple years, Garibladi could have complied with Neroon’s demand for non-human security with Narns, although by that point no one would have been willing to accommodate him. And then another small laugh that Neroon does best Garibaldi’s security set up all on his own later, so maybe he was right to want better guards.
Another round of questions:
Question 1) Was Neroon speaking Minbari or English in the ceremony? Because I feel like Neroon would do everything possible to not make it accessible to the humans, and likely thinks the Minbari so high above them that he must resent having to include them at all in this but should at least block them out with language.
Question 2) If they’re doing this ceremony many times on their tour back to Minbar, who were they planning to present the flag (which should have just been a triangle to start with rather than a square folded into progressively smaller triangles) to at other stops? Delenn is Satai and an old friend, so it works here, but what about elsewhere?
Question 3) So...Delenn...about that whole Minbari do not lie thing? I’m sure I’ll ask that question a lot this episode.
...So the crew *does* know that Dukhat’s death was a tragic accident, so what was up with the beginning? I really can’t tell what wasn’t known on a writing level and what wasn’t known in character when it’s all contradicted like that. (I was going to mention this in my first rant on the subject, but I couldn’t remember what words were used on the subject this episode or by who, but now I’m pretty sure this just got extra confused.)
I’m thinking for all the writing in the episode is not stellar, someone was really clued in to things. Because Sinclair and Delenn’s conversation turns to the War and Delenn goes straight over to work on the Chrysalis contraption (as it’s all connected to those things she sometimes has regrets about; no, I’m not letting that go).
Considering it seemed earlier that Ivanova was perhaps a touch uncomfortable being in physical contact with a telepath, she’s pretty calm about holding hands with Alisa as the episode goes on. Either she’s being pretty trusting in Alisa’s brand new mental shield, or possibly thinking Alisa wouldn’t know what she was seeing even if she picked up on something, or it just doesn’t quite all work together.
Ordering the pumping of the pak’ma’ras’ stomachs is totally an appropriate commercial break point, especially since it is at best a red herring and barely that.
If they’re really trying to sell Alisa as a young teenager, I guess we should just be glad the direct mating option wasn’t on the table this time around when it came to the Narns wanting telepaths.
Delenn really should have started planting seeds for her cover up plan at least by the time they were done with the main avenues of searching for the body. This plan of hers really needed better planning all around, and she’s usually a much better planner.
I don’t know if it was initially intended or if it’s a consequence of how the Ivanova-Talia arc played out, but they do come off a little like divorced parents caught up in their own issues rather than what’s best for their temporary surrogate child. In most ways I have to say I think Talia’s mostly right; if this situation weren’t happening here Alisa wouldn’t really have a choice, so better to send her off with a good feeling towards the Corps; and Ivanova is projecting, as Alisa is clearly not Sofie. Not to say Alisa would have been particularly happy in the Corps, her personality doesn’t seem suited to it (although it doesn’t seem suited for the Minbari either; she’s supposed to be young, it could work out a lot of different ways). Sure, if she does have options she might as well explore them, but normally she wouldn’t have options.
The fact that they seem to be using a triluminary when stealing the body is one of the pieces of evidence for why this should be watched after Babylon Squared, but that doesn’t really hold water for me. Delenn is so reverent of the triluminary in B^2 that I don’t think she’d hand it over to someone else to go body snatching with and we are never given any indication that this is a power the triluminaries have. It seems just as likely to me that the Minbari have some other stunning device that happens to be triangle shaped (because Minbari) that they were using here. It may have been intended to be that, but it’s not convincing to me.
Sinclair, turn your damn lights on when you see something this suspicious. Hell, you can turn them on in the middle of this fight by saying “lights,” you don’t have to try and find a light switch. It almost seems to be calling attention to how wrong this is when he does it immediately after the fight is over. (Also, Marcus is a way better hand to hand fighter - and with a pike - than Sinclair and he gotten beaten 90% to death by Neroon, how does Sinclair manage to knock him out with a punch?)
Okay, let’s just take as written that Delenn’s plan was stupid; here’s a few other points I think about when she’s explaining it (when not reflecting on how dumb it was, and how Delenn should really be smarter than that):
Point 1) You know, long view I can believe Delenn and Brammer could have been life long friends, as they’re both religious people who turn out to be really good at leading wars.
Point 2) While thinking of that, it puts something of a spin on her long lasting friendships with both Mayan and Brammer, as the sides of Delenn’s own nature find different sorts of friendships.
Point 3) One also might wonder if Delenn’s excessive decision to respect Brammer’s wishes in this are tied in with those things she sometimes regrets. She would like to be remembered as a peaceful religious figure rather than someone who commits horribly regrettable (sometimes) acts of war.
Point 4) Okay here’s something I’ve been wanting to discuss for ages. The Minbari do have precedent in their history for someone’s body just going missing and never being found. However, that person was Valen and I don’t think even the people who really liked Brammer would argue that he was equal to Valen. There could I suppose have been other instances of transcended bodies, either real or used as cover like this; either way if this is something the Minbari actually believe happens it should be discussed in the episode, preferably before this. Delenn is planning to claim a true religious miracle without discussing with us whether that sounds as much like bullshit to the average Minbari as it does me.
Point 4.5) This does become mildly comical if like me you assume that as one of the Ones, Delenn - like Valen/Sinclair and Sheridan - will also not leave a body behind.
Point 5) On one hand the bit about “taking his place with the gods” makes me go ‘Minbari don’t have gods’ but I suppose on the other...is point 4.5.
So another of the sticking points with me for the viewing order debate is the discussion of the Grey Council that happens here. And I will certainly admit that if this was after B^2 rather than before it, it changes things. With B^2 to consider, Delenn would have just been offered and rejected leadership of the Council, which muddies the waters of her using Council authority like this. And because of that I prefer it this way, but I’ll concede that if one was accustomed to thinking of them in the other that could seem more natural.
But for me, even more than the question of what standing Delenn might or might not have within the Council, is the treatment of the Council itself. In B^2 it may not have quite settled into its three members from each of three castes structure but it kind of...fakes it well enough. This doesn’t quite work or even muddle as well, so it seems like it should go before we get to things that kind of do work. If we were to consider Minbari government as it will be revealed eventually, Delenn cannot be speaking for the whole of the Grey Council, because the Warriors on it would probably not be standing quietly for this; she’s pushing things just as close to the tipping point by involving the Council as she would be by going public (okay maybe not quite, because she does at least supposedly know how to handle the Warriors on the Council)...if the Minbari went public with anything, which they really don’t.
And really, connected to both of those levels, this feels like it comes pre Babylon Squared. Council authority can be used as a club when we haven’t met them, when they’re just shrouded figures of mystery, when they seem like the all powerful force in Minbari society, and that’s sort of lost when Delenn is offered leadership and then rejects them. This is sort of my last big reason for not liking the revised order regarding this episode (with one more small point later); maybe it’s because of how I’ve always (more or less) viewed the show, but it’s how I see things.
Okay, could someone standardize the décor in Sinclair’s office or does that have to wait for season 2 (where there’s probably still sometimes issues I suspect, but it’s really bugging me now)? Where’s the couch? Hell, the chairs are all gone (except maybe the one behind the desk). Again, this could work if it was supposed to be a conference room, some cultures probably want austere meeting rooms, including the Minbari probably, but this must be meant to be Jeff’s office.
Alisa has very nice teeth for a young teen that’s been living on the streets for months. Also, I don’t know that “t-ed off” is a phrase that’s likely to last to the 23rd century, it didn’t really last to the 21st.
Noticing this time that post ATSFOS Sinclair and Delenn don’t interact a whole lot on screen puts something of a spin on their interactions in this episode. The ‘letting the past go’ sentiment could apply to their relationship as well as Jeff’s to the Minbari as a whole and still trying for the two species. But that doesn’t quite work with the last scene between Sinclair and Alisa where he’s all interested if she saw anything in Delenn’s mind. He hasn’t actually let it go, he still wants to know what happened.
The last reason why I don’t want to move this episode where it’s recommended to go is having the last line being “Chrysalis.” For me that works better as another sign post toward ‘Chrysalis’ down the road, not if it’s the next episode. They could still have the discussion, but the exact way it was positioned feels poorly done to be the last thing before we get to the Chrysalis.
So that seems like it should be enough, but I have several things I still want to cover. I have mostly covered my case for not moving the episode, so I’ll just say again that I just happen not to agree with the revised order. This would be considered potentially movable if I was putting together my own re-order of s1, but I don’t know where it would end up aside from not where the revised order puts it.
I don’t know if this episode just got better as it went along or once I had settled into it it just seemed that way, but it felt really awkward early on and it didn’t so much by the end. The story of this episode was fine all along, but the writing of it - the dialog, the handling of exposition, conveying what people know, etc. - was not so good; and it was never great but it got less obviously not good. Mira Furlan never seemed quite comfortable in her performance this episode, and I’m really starting to notice she maybe never seemed all that comfortable as s1 Delenn; I know she never liked the makeup and was glad when it got to s2, but when I’m not reviewing it I don’t always notice how much that did show up in her acting. Obviously Alisa can’t act, but CC seemed to take a while to find her role this time around, making Thompson the best actress in those scenes and I still don’t think she’s all that good. Saying all that, I start to wonder if maybe the director had a problem directing an episode so dominated by female performers, because while Sinclair and Garibaldi and Neroon are still hit with the writing problems, their performances are mostly alright; maybe nothing great but I didn’t have major complaints.
I know there’s a reason Na’Toth is maybe a little off, because as I recall it was written to be G’Kar rather than her; and while it mostly still works, once you know that it sort of becomes obvious. The performance is quite Na’Toth, but the dialog is pretty much G’Kar. It is good that we got another solid appearance by Na’Toth, I just wish it had been fully her we were seeing.
This episode does seem to have a weird understanding of telepaths in human society, one that does not really track with even what we already know much less what we know down the road. Do you really think the Psi Corps’ just going to let her go off to Minbar like this? That the second they hear about her being there, they won’t be going after her (first with the carrot then the stick)? She does not have a choice in this; the Corps, the sleepers, prison, or the underground, those are her choices. And like I said earlier, the fact that she’s supposed to be young not to mention untrained, makes Ivanova’s stance on this really...wrong. There’s plenty to object to about Psi Corps, some of which Susan knows at this point and some we as the audience perceive, but that doesn’t make her right about why she’s on the war path concerning Alisa’s fate. Now Franklin, supposedly already involved in the underground railroad, he could have offered some real substantial reasons for Alisa definitely not going to the Corps if she can avoid it.
One thing I want to discuss, especially in how it contrasts with the portrayal in The War Prayer, is how Sinclair’s relationship with the Minbari and the War in handled. This episode seems to come down on the opposite side as TWP on how realistic racist-Jeff was; in TWP we’re supposed to take as given that it’s all an act, while this episode acknowledges that he isn’t over it, he is still haunted by what he saw happen on the Line (not to mention the unanswered questions about it), he is still angry and it’s only circumstance of not having to interact with the Warriors (who are, as far as he knows, the ones responsible for the War) that means he seems okay with the Minbari. He knows the diplomatic, respectful, and correct things to say, and he can usually control his feelings on the matter, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there; and that’s what was so weird about the portrayal in TWP, by all logic, it was clearly at least partially true, but it wasn’t presented that way.
For that matter, racist asshole Jeff might explain why he never bothered to learn what the open gunports meant, though it doesn’t explain Garibaldi seeming just as freaked. I’m going to imagine Corwin sitting in the pit thinking ‘should I point out to my superiors that I studied this and was just reporting it as an observation?’
Next time: Voice in the Wilderness Part 1, I considered doing it all in one go, but as long as these things have gotten, probably better to do one at a time.
1x17: Legacies
I’m actually going to leave my big discussion of why I choose not to revise the order this time until the wrap...unless I cover most of it during; partly because I could use the refresher on a few points of why I come down on that side. Suffice it to say for now that I can see some of why the revised order is an option here, but I don’t feel it’s best placed that late in events and I don’t see any better place than where it is on the DVD.
The promo is pretty accurate at least, no real complaints. It’s relatively engaging, and more or less shows what you’ll be getting in the episode. The A plot anyway, as usual the B plot gets nothing, but I’m not sure it provided much in the way of potential promo material anyway; obviously the promo crew didn’t think so. Only gripe might be that the announcer is SUPER DRAMATIC, but that’s pretty much normal, I just found some of the annunciation choices particularly overdone in this case.
The exposition in the opening scene is pretty rough. I can easily imagine that this is not the first time Sinclair and Garibaldi have groused about what’s happening with Brammer’s procession, but it’s still fairly awkward.
It is nice and fairly subtly handled how far Susan and Talia have come over the season; Susan is no longer running the other direction the exact second Talia enters a room, instead she will coldly nod at her and just take the first offered opportunity to run the other way. Really Talia, take the hint, she’s not that into you.
I’d never noticed before, but as soon as Talia say’s Alisa is a telepath, Ivanova - who had been lightly touching Alisa - instantly pulls her hands away from her. To what extent that was meant to be done that way I don’t know, but it works quite well.
Again, it really seems these people should know Minbari tradition with the gunports. I know that to this point in the series we haven’t really gotten the story of how the EMW started but just because we haven’t been told doesn’t explain why the characters haven’t. Even if by some logic it’s not common knowledge (which I don’t think is borne out later), high ranking diplomatic officials should know that and have briefed the station crew on all they could expect during this visit. Even if B5 doesn’t have the best support system back home, not starting another war with the Minbari seems like it would be high on people’s priority list.
Minor point in why I don’t want to push this episode all the way to almost the end of the season, in small ways it feels like it’s building on Grail so better to have them closer together. Sinclair’s just decided not to argue when Delenn tells him she’s expects him to be someplace, which if one was going to insist on shipping them would be kind of funny I guess.
Let’s just state this now, the actress playing Alisa is in no way young enough to have just ‘hit puberty.’ Aside from the baby talk voice she *might* pass of 16 (TV 16 that is, not likely to be confused with actual 16 year olds) if you don’t look too close; and the baby voice would sound fake and annoying on an actual young teen much less an obviously adult woman, and actually draws attention to the fact that she’s way too old for that voice. She’s also a crappy actress who wasn’t helped by the direction/staging in her first scene making her seem like the galaxy’s worst shoplifter.
Question 1) Was Franklin too busy to come to the reception? He’s at later events in the series, but not here; though he really hasn’t been attending much until now I don’t recall. So is this something that changes as JMS takes over more of the writing, but maybe in series we have to conclude Sheridan just insists Franklin actually be part of the command staff while Sinclair didn’t?
Question 2) I don’t see any Worker Caste in the procession; although the Workers are harder to pick out and it makes sense that the Warrior and Religious Castes would have more to do in this funeral (there could also be some in the crowd and just not in the lineup). I’m still calling it partially in favor of no one being sure if they existed yet.
Ivanova later says she can block casual scans or at minimum know that they’re happening, and that was kind of supported in Eyes (maybe not completely, but enough that it didn’t seem wrong) but doesn’t seem in play here.
I get a small laugh thinking that in a couple years, Garibladi could have complied with Neroon’s demand for non-human security with Narns, although by that point no one would have been willing to accommodate him. And then another small laugh that Neroon does best Garibaldi’s security set up all on his own later, so maybe he was right to want better guards.
Another round of questions:
Question 1) Was Neroon speaking Minbari or English in the ceremony? Because I feel like Neroon would do everything possible to not make it accessible to the humans, and likely thinks the Minbari so high above them that he must resent having to include them at all in this but should at least block them out with language.
Question 2) If they’re doing this ceremony many times on their tour back to Minbar, who were they planning to present the flag (which should have just been a triangle to start with rather than a square folded into progressively smaller triangles) to at other stops? Delenn is Satai and an old friend, so it works here, but what about elsewhere?
Question 3) So...Delenn...about that whole Minbari do not lie thing? I’m sure I’ll ask that question a lot this episode.
...So the crew *does* know that Dukhat’s death was a tragic accident, so what was up with the beginning? I really can’t tell what wasn’t known on a writing level and what wasn’t known in character when it’s all contradicted like that. (I was going to mention this in my first rant on the subject, but I couldn’t remember what words were used on the subject this episode or by who, but now I’m pretty sure this just got extra confused.)
I’m thinking for all the writing in the episode is not stellar, someone was really clued in to things. Because Sinclair and Delenn’s conversation turns to the War and Delenn goes straight over to work on the Chrysalis contraption (as it’s all connected to those things she sometimes has regrets about; no, I’m not letting that go).
Considering it seemed earlier that Ivanova was perhaps a touch uncomfortable being in physical contact with a telepath, she’s pretty calm about holding hands with Alisa as the episode goes on. Either she’s being pretty trusting in Alisa’s brand new mental shield, or possibly thinking Alisa wouldn’t know what she was seeing even if she picked up on something, or it just doesn’t quite all work together.
Ordering the pumping of the pak’ma’ras’ stomachs is totally an appropriate commercial break point, especially since it is at best a red herring and barely that.
If they’re really trying to sell Alisa as a young teenager, I guess we should just be glad the direct mating option wasn’t on the table this time around when it came to the Narns wanting telepaths.
Delenn really should have started planting seeds for her cover up plan at least by the time they were done with the main avenues of searching for the body. This plan of hers really needed better planning all around, and she’s usually a much better planner.
I don’t know if it was initially intended or if it’s a consequence of how the Ivanova-Talia arc played out, but they do come off a little like divorced parents caught up in their own issues rather than what’s best for their temporary surrogate child. In most ways I have to say I think Talia’s mostly right; if this situation weren’t happening here Alisa wouldn’t really have a choice, so better to send her off with a good feeling towards the Corps; and Ivanova is projecting, as Alisa is clearly not Sofie. Not to say Alisa would have been particularly happy in the Corps, her personality doesn’t seem suited to it (although it doesn’t seem suited for the Minbari either; she’s supposed to be young, it could work out a lot of different ways). Sure, if she does have options she might as well explore them, but normally she wouldn’t have options.
The fact that they seem to be using a triluminary when stealing the body is one of the pieces of evidence for why this should be watched after Babylon Squared, but that doesn’t really hold water for me. Delenn is so reverent of the triluminary in B^2 that I don’t think she’d hand it over to someone else to go body snatching with and we are never given any indication that this is a power the triluminaries have. It seems just as likely to me that the Minbari have some other stunning device that happens to be triangle shaped (because Minbari) that they were using here. It may have been intended to be that, but it’s not convincing to me.
Sinclair, turn your damn lights on when you see something this suspicious. Hell, you can turn them on in the middle of this fight by saying “lights,” you don’t have to try and find a light switch. It almost seems to be calling attention to how wrong this is when he does it immediately after the fight is over. (Also, Marcus is a way better hand to hand fighter - and with a pike - than Sinclair and he gotten beaten 90% to death by Neroon, how does Sinclair manage to knock him out with a punch?)
Okay, let’s just take as written that Delenn’s plan was stupid; here’s a few other points I think about when she’s explaining it (when not reflecting on how dumb it was, and how Delenn should really be smarter than that):
Point 1) You know, long view I can believe Delenn and Brammer could have been life long friends, as they’re both religious people who turn out to be really good at leading wars.
Point 2) While thinking of that, it puts something of a spin on her long lasting friendships with both Mayan and Brammer, as the sides of Delenn’s own nature find different sorts of friendships.
Point 3) One also might wonder if Delenn’s excessive decision to respect Brammer’s wishes in this are tied in with those things she sometimes regrets. She would like to be remembered as a peaceful religious figure rather than someone who commits horribly regrettable (sometimes) acts of war.
Point 4) Okay here’s something I’ve been wanting to discuss for ages. The Minbari do have precedent in their history for someone’s body just going missing and never being found. However, that person was Valen and I don’t think even the people who really liked Brammer would argue that he was equal to Valen. There could I suppose have been other instances of transcended bodies, either real or used as cover like this; either way if this is something the Minbari actually believe happens it should be discussed in the episode, preferably before this. Delenn is planning to claim a true religious miracle without discussing with us whether that sounds as much like bullshit to the average Minbari as it does me.
Point 4.5) This does become mildly comical if like me you assume that as one of the Ones, Delenn - like Valen/Sinclair and Sheridan - will also not leave a body behind.
Point 5) On one hand the bit about “taking his place with the gods” makes me go ‘Minbari don’t have gods’ but I suppose on the other...is point 4.5.
So another of the sticking points with me for the viewing order debate is the discussion of the Grey Council that happens here. And I will certainly admit that if this was after B^2 rather than before it, it changes things. With B^2 to consider, Delenn would have just been offered and rejected leadership of the Council, which muddies the waters of her using Council authority like this. And because of that I prefer it this way, but I’ll concede that if one was accustomed to thinking of them in the other that could seem more natural.
But for me, even more than the question of what standing Delenn might or might not have within the Council, is the treatment of the Council itself. In B^2 it may not have quite settled into its three members from each of three castes structure but it kind of...fakes it well enough. This doesn’t quite work or even muddle as well, so it seems like it should go before we get to things that kind of do work. If we were to consider Minbari government as it will be revealed eventually, Delenn cannot be speaking for the whole of the Grey Council, because the Warriors on it would probably not be standing quietly for this; she’s pushing things just as close to the tipping point by involving the Council as she would be by going public (okay maybe not quite, because she does at least supposedly know how to handle the Warriors on the Council)...if the Minbari went public with anything, which they really don’t.
And really, connected to both of those levels, this feels like it comes pre Babylon Squared. Council authority can be used as a club when we haven’t met them, when they’re just shrouded figures of mystery, when they seem like the all powerful force in Minbari society, and that’s sort of lost when Delenn is offered leadership and then rejects them. This is sort of my last big reason for not liking the revised order regarding this episode (with one more small point later); maybe it’s because of how I’ve always (more or less) viewed the show, but it’s how I see things.
Okay, could someone standardize the décor in Sinclair’s office or does that have to wait for season 2 (where there’s probably still sometimes issues I suspect, but it’s really bugging me now)? Where’s the couch? Hell, the chairs are all gone (except maybe the one behind the desk). Again, this could work if it was supposed to be a conference room, some cultures probably want austere meeting rooms, including the Minbari probably, but this must be meant to be Jeff’s office.
Alisa has very nice teeth for a young teen that’s been living on the streets for months. Also, I don’t know that “t-ed off” is a phrase that’s likely to last to the 23rd century, it didn’t really last to the 21st.
Noticing this time that post ATSFOS Sinclair and Delenn don’t interact a whole lot on screen puts something of a spin on their interactions in this episode. The ‘letting the past go’ sentiment could apply to their relationship as well as Jeff’s to the Minbari as a whole and still trying for the two species. But that doesn’t quite work with the last scene between Sinclair and Alisa where he’s all interested if she saw anything in Delenn’s mind. He hasn’t actually let it go, he still wants to know what happened.
The last reason why I don’t want to move this episode where it’s recommended to go is having the last line being “Chrysalis.” For me that works better as another sign post toward ‘Chrysalis’ down the road, not if it’s the next episode. They could still have the discussion, but the exact way it was positioned feels poorly done to be the last thing before we get to the Chrysalis.
So that seems like it should be enough, but I have several things I still want to cover. I have mostly covered my case for not moving the episode, so I’ll just say again that I just happen not to agree with the revised order. This would be considered potentially movable if I was putting together my own re-order of s1, but I don’t know where it would end up aside from not where the revised order puts it.
I don’t know if this episode just got better as it went along or once I had settled into it it just seemed that way, but it felt really awkward early on and it didn’t so much by the end. The story of this episode was fine all along, but the writing of it - the dialog, the handling of exposition, conveying what people know, etc. - was not so good; and it was never great but it got less obviously not good. Mira Furlan never seemed quite comfortable in her performance this episode, and I’m really starting to notice she maybe never seemed all that comfortable as s1 Delenn; I know she never liked the makeup and was glad when it got to s2, but when I’m not reviewing it I don’t always notice how much that did show up in her acting. Obviously Alisa can’t act, but CC seemed to take a while to find her role this time around, making Thompson the best actress in those scenes and I still don’t think she’s all that good. Saying all that, I start to wonder if maybe the director had a problem directing an episode so dominated by female performers, because while Sinclair and Garibaldi and Neroon are still hit with the writing problems, their performances are mostly alright; maybe nothing great but I didn’t have major complaints.
I know there’s a reason Na’Toth is maybe a little off, because as I recall it was written to be G’Kar rather than her; and while it mostly still works, once you know that it sort of becomes obvious. The performance is quite Na’Toth, but the dialog is pretty much G’Kar. It is good that we got another solid appearance by Na’Toth, I just wish it had been fully her we were seeing.
This episode does seem to have a weird understanding of telepaths in human society, one that does not really track with even what we already know much less what we know down the road. Do you really think the Psi Corps’ just going to let her go off to Minbar like this? That the second they hear about her being there, they won’t be going after her (first with the carrot then the stick)? She does not have a choice in this; the Corps, the sleepers, prison, or the underground, those are her choices. And like I said earlier, the fact that she’s supposed to be young not to mention untrained, makes Ivanova’s stance on this really...wrong. There’s plenty to object to about Psi Corps, some of which Susan knows at this point and some we as the audience perceive, but that doesn’t make her right about why she’s on the war path concerning Alisa’s fate. Now Franklin, supposedly already involved in the underground railroad, he could have offered some real substantial reasons for Alisa definitely not going to the Corps if she can avoid it.
One thing I want to discuss, especially in how it contrasts with the portrayal in The War Prayer, is how Sinclair’s relationship with the Minbari and the War in handled. This episode seems to come down on the opposite side as TWP on how realistic racist-Jeff was; in TWP we’re supposed to take as given that it’s all an act, while this episode acknowledges that he isn’t over it, he is still haunted by what he saw happen on the Line (not to mention the unanswered questions about it), he is still angry and it’s only circumstance of not having to interact with the Warriors (who are, as far as he knows, the ones responsible for the War) that means he seems okay with the Minbari. He knows the diplomatic, respectful, and correct things to say, and he can usually control his feelings on the matter, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there; and that’s what was so weird about the portrayal in TWP, by all logic, it was clearly at least partially true, but it wasn’t presented that way.
For that matter, racist asshole Jeff might explain why he never bothered to learn what the open gunports meant, though it doesn’t explain Garibaldi seeming just as freaked. I’m going to imagine Corwin sitting in the pit thinking ‘should I point out to my superiors that I studied this and was just reporting it as an observation?’
Next time: Voice in the Wilderness Part 1, I considered doing it all in one go, but as long as these things have gotten, probably better to do one at a time.