A child of Valen
I just watched Atonement, and, oh, give me Delenn in an evening down and Delenn defying authority and Delenn facing what's inside of herself all in one episode anytime. She is the reason I'm watching this show, and I like to be reminded that she is fierce and that she is fallible. She screams, "No mercy" and it's pure grief. She grieves for Dukhat and for herself, for her own loss, and later, she will grieve the decision she made in rage, and what it cost.
Her scenes with Lennier crackle and burn. God, there is something there and she knows it, and yet she still willingly accepts Lennier's offer to follow her wherever she'll go even though she knows she cannot give him what he wants. It's heartbreaking to see Lennier sitting by a prone, deeply troubled Delenn inside the Dreaming, telling her he'll stay with her no matter what, and then, later, to see Lennier walk silently away from Delenn and Sheridan when they return to Babylon 5. It's fascinating to see how different things are between Sheridan and Delenn, how different she is with him, after seeing her with her own people, where she is both subservient and commanding, where she holds her energy in her shoulders as though ready to strike. On Minbar, it's the Delenn we saw when she broke the Grey council. But with John, she is softer, more reserved, at ease. She still keeps a secret from him but you find that it doesn't seem to matter. We all keep secrets from one another, sometimes because we just don't know how to speak them aloud.
I continue to be impressed with the deft hand of J. Michael Straczynski in the episodes of he wrote. He pairs humor with pain. He sandwiches the pain between two jokes, so we forget, just for a moment, the wretched ache in our hearts. G'Kar looks at himself with his own removable eye. Sheridan goes to see Delenn, who tells him she's going to Minbar, but doesn't tell him she might never come back. Ivanova stumbles out of an elevator, covered in streamers, carrying her old cane, looking like she's had a room full of Drazis dance all over her. We watch Dukhat die over and over and over in Delenn's arms. Marcus sings "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General." We forget, in our laughter, that we are all fierce and fallible, and that we all must face the whisper hidden inside of ourselves. We pass through grief, rage, and atonement, over and over, but in the end, we come home, and we laugh.
Her scenes with Lennier crackle and burn. God, there is something there and she knows it, and yet she still willingly accepts Lennier's offer to follow her wherever she'll go even though she knows she cannot give him what he wants. It's heartbreaking to see Lennier sitting by a prone, deeply troubled Delenn inside the Dreaming, telling her he'll stay with her no matter what, and then, later, to see Lennier walk silently away from Delenn and Sheridan when they return to Babylon 5. It's fascinating to see how different things are between Sheridan and Delenn, how different she is with him, after seeing her with her own people, where she is both subservient and commanding, where she holds her energy in her shoulders as though ready to strike. On Minbar, it's the Delenn we saw when she broke the Grey council. But with John, she is softer, more reserved, at ease. She still keeps a secret from him but you find that it doesn't seem to matter. We all keep secrets from one another, sometimes because we just don't know how to speak them aloud.
I continue to be impressed with the deft hand of J. Michael Straczynski in the episodes of he wrote. He pairs humor with pain. He sandwiches the pain between two jokes, so we forget, just for a moment, the wretched ache in our hearts. G'Kar looks at himself with his own removable eye. Sheridan goes to see Delenn, who tells him she's going to Minbar, but doesn't tell him she might never come back. Ivanova stumbles out of an elevator, covered in streamers, carrying her old cane, looking like she's had a room full of Drazis dance all over her. We watch Dukhat die over and over and over in Delenn's arms. Marcus sings "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General." We forget, in our laughter, that we are all fierce and fallible, and that we all must face the whisper hidden inside of ourselves. We pass through grief, rage, and atonement, over and over, but in the end, we come home, and we laugh.