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B5, last two episodes of season 2:

Comes the Inquisitor: I think this one could probably bear a lot of analysis, but I don't think I personally have that much to say. It does a good job placing Vorlon morality in doubt. What I'm not sure of is how much we're supposed to accept the conclusion Sebastian and thus the Vorlons reach in the end--are we supposed to think it's been achieved through flawed means, but is basically sound and useful? I think it's worth noting that I'm not sure how much Delenn or Sheridan themselves changed through this process. They were both already people who would sacrifice for a person they cared about, and I think they also both already knew that about themselves. It's useful for us, the audience, to know that Delenn believes that she's not the only one who can fulfill her 'destiny', but did she herself discover that for the first time? I'm not sure.

I'm also not sure that people who would sacrifice themselves in this way are actually that rare. For a complete stranger, in the dark? Maybe pretty rare. For a loved one? I don't know. Maybe they're rarer among the sort of people who believe they have a grand destiny. Do the Vorlons primarily use people who believe they have a grand destiny, or that they're the right person in the right place?

It doesn't really seem like service to the Vorlon has let Sebastian grow much. He knows he was wrong, but it doesn't seem like he's got much past that point--and he still looks out at women he doesn't approve of and is angry and disgusted.

The Fall of Night:

This one was a lot of fun, despite lots of terrible chickens coming home to roost. Also had a few 'Oh no he's hot' moments with Sheridan being righteously determined.

I appreciated the Londo analysis between the characters--thanks for the meta, Garibaldi!

G'Kar gets to be happy for a few moments, so you know it's all going to go wrong.

I don't think I've ever seen a show start arguing with its own opening credits in this way--I kind of loved it, and the way the Ministry of Peace played into that. Both actors for that part did a good job, with one being realistically slimy and the other genial and gentle-seeming, and the former making the latter look better until the punch of his complicity lands.

The reason for G'Kar hiding in the bushes: tragic. The effect of G'Kar hiding in the bushes: hilarious.

The Kosh effects...haven't aged that well, I don't think. It's interested that they went with a bald angel; I don't think I've ever seen a portrayal of a classic angel without hair. Maybe hair is just really difficult to project into people's minds. But the concept remains interesting in its double-edged effect--are they co-opting the imagery? Did they create it? And which would be more manipulative, and is their apparent aesthetic of holiness justified by ancient wisdom, or a screen to make them harder to question? But, as we're induced to ask all this, Kosh saves Sheridan, which is a significant risk to take.

And, of course, Keffer makes a mess, and dies doing so. I thought this was well done--it all probably could have been prevented, but everything's been so busy that managing Keffer's need to know the truth just fell through the cracks. Everyone acted believably, and the dominoes fell.

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I'm transferring playlists off spotify right now for reasons of Fuck Them, but have also reached the level of B5 brainrot where I'm listening to various songs wondering if and how they might fit the fandom, haha.

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Oh, also in the development of darkness between seasons--

Londo's most heroic moment in s1 was a Draal/machine planet episode; here his darkest moment is too. And they're both related to his ideas of nobility and glory. :((

B5:2:17-20

Tragedies on various scales.

Knives does a fantastic amount of work characterising Londo and Centauri culture more generally.

Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.

I wasn't expecting Urza to be such a straightforwardly good man--someone with a lot of the same background as Londo, but with a completely different perspective. Someone who views his 'glory days' with horror, not nostalgia. I wonder if it's him who has changed since they knew each other best, or if it's Londo? It seems to me that Londo in season 2 hasn't actually changed in values since Londo in season 1, just acquired the power to put his darker ideals into action. My impression is also that, at the moment, he genuinely believes in the project of empire--it's not something he rationalises as unpleasant but necessary for some greater good: he consciously sees conquest as integral to greatness for the Centauri, the goal in itself. He finds some of the messy bits unpleasant, but those he can rationalise as necessary--as they are, when it comes to empire: there's no imperialism without them. It's not precisely that he's lying to himself about what he wants: at the moment, he does want this. On some level, at least.

But he's still clearly lying to himself. When he says at the end of the episode that this is the first time he's genuinely doubted that he's doing the right thing--it definitely isn't. When G'Kar reached out to him and he realised the war wasn't inevitable, he is very visibly horrified at what he's just done. When the emperor told him he and Refa were damned, he's shaken. My guess is Urza's death is just harder to scribble over in his memory. It's personal, it's related to a Centauri, it's related directly to someone who shared the better days he longs for--not someone he can decide isn't worth his regret, and not someone he can claim just doesn't understand. Possibly in his mind, the great age he's working toward is populated by people like Urza, so having it rejected, having his attempts to bring it about kill Urza, must be devastating. And since Urza threw the fight, there's not even any glory in winning--the only valour there lies in losing but saving others.

Also very interesting is that he apparently hasn't been monitoring the politics back home very carefully. After everything he's done to orchestrate them, despite knowing how important they are to his position--he's just been letting Refa do as he likes. Natural trust in an ally? Natural discomfort with the court environment? Averting his eyes from the details of what he's done so the abstraction can keep its shine? I don't know, but it's striking.

Confessions and Lamentations: OOOF, is my opinion on this one. The actor who played Dr. Lazarenn was really good and carried the emotional heart of the episode. His gravitas, his regret...Stephen's reaction to the situation was heartbreaking as well.

Divided Loyalties: Where the last one was grandly tragic, this one is just depressing. The stakes were super high, so maybe it makes sense that the focus is elsewhere, but it felt a little odd that nobody really acknowledges that by 'waking' the implanted personality, they're effectively killing the real one. It all felt a bit hurried, presumably because Talia's actress wanted to be written out. B5 really did have some bad luck with aborted plotlines.

The Long, Twilight Struggle: OOOF times infinity. It's OOOFs all the way down.

At a variance from my impressions from Knives: Here, Londo's objections to Refa's plans hinge on things he's scorned himself before. He didn't want other species dictating what the Centauri did, but he references the outlawing of Mass Drivers by other planets. His role as diplomat has been a degrading one, but he cites treaties which would disallow the planetary bombardment. And, when he's persuaded, it's by Refa talking about how many Centauri lives could be saved by rapid action. That still relies on the unspoken assumption that Narn lives matter less, but it's certainly a less aggressive concern than some he's previously given as motivation.

Some more evidence he's been deliberately averting his eyes from the specifics of what's been going down so he can hang on to the ideal: his face when he's told he has to come and watch.

The episode seems like the culmination of the 'nobody listens to G'Kar' arc, so it's interesting that it also seems to be the first one which specifically calls attention to his skill with words and oratory. I continue to love his relationship with Sheridan, who at this point knows he was right all along about the Shadows--I should think that's a part of why he respects G'Kar's insights. The freedom speech is a great one, and both Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik are absolutely killing it here. I mean, they always are, but there's so much going on in the acting for that scene. I've noticed that Londo and G'Kar haven't really interacted since the war broke out--if I'm recalling correctly at least--which may be part of Londo trying to remove himself from the cost of his actions. The way he stares at G'Kar here seems significant in that context, as does the way G'Kar barely looks at him.

The very next scene, Londo's smiling to himself as he listens to the report about Centauri celebrating the fall of Narn. King of doubling down! But then, again at odds with his previous positivity about conquest, he's clearly troubled about the mention of annexing other worlds. Also king of not knowing what he wants!

We must be pretty near the bottom of the pit now. Two more episodes in the season.

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Ornament of Fish in Waves (Okimono).  Japan, circa 1900.  Bronze, silver, gilt, shibuichi and shakudo. 13.1 x 48.7 cm. An okimono of stylized bronze waves among which swim two shubunkin, one cast in richly patinated copper, the other in oxidized silver with partially gilt areas, the eyes of shibuichi, shakudo, and gilt. The fish naturalistically modelled, supported by the highly stylized waves.

Oshima Joun (1858-1940), given name Yasutaro, was the son of the cast-metal worker Oshima Takajiro, whose father Yasubei had started the family business. He succeeded to the business in 1877 and took the name Joun. He used the go Shokaken.  Text and image via Khalili Collection

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B5:2:17-20

Tragedies on various scales.

Knives does a fantastic amount of work characterising Londo and Centauri culture more generally.

Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.

I wasn't expecting Urza to be such a straightforwardly good man--someone with a lot of the same background as Londo, but with a completely different perspective. Someone who views his 'glory days' with horror, not nostalgia. I wonder if it's him who has changed since they knew each other best, or if it's Londo? It seems to me that Londo in season 2 hasn't actually changed in values since Londo in season 1, just acquired the power to put his darker ideals into action. My impression is also that, at the moment, he genuinely believes in the project of empire--it's not something he rationalises as unpleasant but necessary for some greater good: he consciously sees conquest as integral to greatness for the Centauri, the goal in itself. He finds some of the messy bits unpleasant, but those he can rationalise as necessary--as they are, when it comes to empire: there's no imperialism without them. It's not precisely that he's lying to himself about what he wants: at the moment, he does want this. On some level, at least.

But he's still clearly lying to himself. When he says at the end of the episode that this is the first time he's genuinely doubted that he's doing the right thing--it definitely isn't. When G'Kar reached out to him and he realised the war wasn't inevitable, he is very visibly horrified at what he's just done. When the emperor told him he and Refa were damned, he's shaken. My guess is Urza's death is just harder to scribble over in his memory. It's personal, it's related to a Centauri, it's related directly to someone who shared the better days he longs for--not someone he can decide isn't worth his regret, and not someone he can claim just doesn't understand. Possibly in his mind, the great age he's working toward is populated by people like Urza, so having it rejected, having his attempts to bring it about kill Urza, must be devastating. And since Urza threw the fight, there's not even any glory in winning--the only valour there lies in losing but saving others.

Also very interesting is that he apparently hasn't been monitoring the politics back home very carefully. After everything he's done to orchestrate them, despite knowing how important they are to his position--he's just been letting Refa do as he likes. Natural trust in an ally? Natural discomfort with the court environment? Averting his eyes from the details of what he's done so the abstraction can keep its shine? I don't know, but it's striking.

Confessions and Lamentations: OOOF, is my opinion on this one. The actor who played Dr. Lazarenn was really good and carried the emotional heart of the episode. His gravitas, his regret...Stephen's reaction to the situation was heartbreaking as well.

Divided Loyalties: Where the last one was grandly tragic, this one is just depressing. The stakes were super high, so maybe it makes sense that the focus is elsewhere, but it felt a little odd that nobody really acknowledges that by 'waking' the implanted personality, they're effectively killing the real one. It all felt a bit hurried, presumably because Talia's actress wanted to be written out. B5 really did have some bad luck with aborted plotlines.

The Long, Twilight Struggle: OOOF times infinity. It's OOOFs all the way down.

At a variance from my impressions from Knives: Here, Londo's objections to Refa's plans hinge on things he's scorned himself before. He didn't want other species dictating what the Centauri did, but he references the outlawing of Mass Drivers by other planets. His role as diplomat has been a degrading one, but he cites treaties which would disallow the planetary bombardment. And, when he's persuaded, it's by Refa talking about how many Centauri lives could be saved by rapid action. That still relies on the unspoken assumption that Narn lives matter less, but it's certainly a less aggressive concern than some he's previously given as motivation.

Some more evidence he's been deliberately averting his eyes from the specifics of what's been going down so he can hang on to the ideal: his face when he's told he has to come and watch.

The episode seems like the culmination of the 'nobody listens to G'Kar' arc, so it's interesting that it also seems to be the first one which specifically calls attention to his skill with words and oratory. I continue to love his relationship with Sheridan, who at this point knows he was right all along about the Shadows--I should think that's a part of why he respects G'Kar's insights. The freedom speech is a great one, and both Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik are absolutely killing it here. I mean, they always are, but there's so much going on in the acting for that scene. I've noticed that Londo and G'Kar haven't really interacted since the war broke out--if I'm recalling correctly at least--which may be part of Londo trying to remove himself from the cost of his actions. The way he stares at G'Kar here seems significant in that context, as does the way G'Kar barely looks at him.

The very next scene, Londo's smiling to himself as he listens to the report about Centauri celebrating the fall of Narn. King of doubling down! But then, again at odds with his previous positivity about conquest, he's clearly troubled about the mention of annexing other worlds. Also king of not knowing what he wants!

We must be pretty near the bottom of the pit now. Two more episodes in the season.

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Prompt: G'Kar's first molt after Cartagia is made more difficult by some of the deeper scars. Hurt/comfort, scene partner any?

This turned into a whole entire fic, so here it is!

Stripped Bare (2533 words) by Sholio Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Babylon 5 (TV 1993) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Delenn & G'Kar (Babylon 5), G'Kar & Londo Mollari Characters: G'Kar (Babylon 5), Delenn (Babylon 5), Londo Mollari Additional Tags: Developing Friendships, Alien Biology Summary: Narns have to molt occasionally. This isn't a problem for G'Kar until Cartagia.

(Contains some very mild body ickiness, but not particularly graphic.)

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B5:2:13-16

As usual for season two, an excellent set of episodes--though I do kind of wish they'd spread the Vorlon stuff out a bit more. IIRC Kosh was very absent from the beginning of the season, and he's featured in five out of the last six (albeit *very* briefly in And Now For a Word). I'd have liked to see more of his initial lessons before the shadow reveal--the one we got was, or at least seemed to be, a fairly conventional 'remember there's beauty in things society deems ugly' spiritual message, which doesn't seem quite mind-bending enough for the context.

All that said, I enjoyed the weirdness the Vorlon involvement brought to Hunter, Prey--it would otherwise have been a pretty straightforward, very Earth-focused episode. Sheridan being sneaky is always a good time, and it was really nice to get a Garibaldi and Stephen team-up, since they're not matched that often. Their banter was fun, as was Garibaldi's hat.

There All the Honour Lies: Those were some really nice-looking action figures! The alien masks were incredibly goofy and I loved them. All the merchandise was simultaneously adorable and in terrible taste. Someone out there in-universe owns those dolls and makes them all kiss, just saying.

Lennier's really come into his own in these last few episodes. Minbari cultural stuff is fascinating as ever, and I liked that Delenn and Lennier's investigation played as kind of an obstacle to Sheridan's without actually crossing into antagonism--they've got the same aims, just different methods.

This was the lightest interlude in Londo's plot this season. It was nice seeing him be nice to Vir, though of course Vir is right to be conflicted--staying on Babylon 5 and profiting socially off Londo's increased credibility has its own emotional and moral cost.

And Now for a Word: I love this kind of thing. Outsider-view, media-based--I'd eat up a glimpse of in-universe social media commentary on B5 too.

Then there's the interviews, with Londo at his most bastardly, and G'Kar heartbreakingly sincere. It's interesting that he got so personal. He could have stuck to describing general atrocities as his motivation for fighting, but he gave his own story. His description of his family's experiences was measured, almost downplayed--'served in a Centauri household', (not, 'Was a slave') 'a difficult time [...]things were tense'--compared to how intense he usually is when describing Centauri crimes against his people. The mix of opening up and keeping his emotional responses muted is really telling, I think.

The framing of the Narn/Centauri conflict continues to shift in fascinating ways--the Narn appear as the aggressors, and they cause massive trouble for the B5 command, but they're also proven right.

In the Shadow of Zha'Ha'Dum

Speaking of Narn being proven right!

The armband minipax stuff was not precisely subtle, but I liked its placement here because, in the end, Sheridan's dilemma fundamentally changes so he never actually chooses civil liberties over 'what if' and 'fixing things'. Having a signpost for 'We're still talking about fascism' feels kind of necessary, given that. I thought the acting of Sheridan's very quiet mania was great and painful, and everyone's different responses to it were also lovely. Stephen was a favourite, and I'm glad Garibaldi drew a line and refused to cross it.

Vir, of course, is MVP. Tell 'im!

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<3 Your responses are always also great to read!

It's particularly interesting to me how much he wants acknowledgement of his and his people's pain, maybe almost more than he actually wants vengeance or destruction of their enemies.

Literally screaming for it at points, oh G'Kar. *wibbles* Even when people are conceding that, yes, the Centauri behaved terribly, there's always a but coming (On some level, fair enough! The Narn do some pretty shady stuff in early seasons! G'Kar's choices push people away, and need addressing!) and it rarely seems like anyone recognises how much of the worst of this stuff is still in living memory. There's a lot of emphasis on '100 years ago', no 'when you were growing up'.

Re: Londo--narratively, it's fascinating that the thing which keeps him sympathetic (besides his innate charisma, lol) is also the thing which makes him most culpable -- he knows on some level that this is wrong. He's no sadist: it makes him uneasy and unhappy and lonely at best. But he doesn't stop, because he's sunk so much into this path already, and because stopping would require dismantling the self-protective parts of his worldview.

B5 season 2 9-12

Side note: I was browsing the wiki and saw a mention of the fact that Narns shed their skins. This seems like something which should be explored in fic, just sayin'.

The Coming of Shadows: SAD. I'M SAD. These old men should be at the club, not carefully curating their grand tragedy.

ANYWAY. Fascinating how G'Kar's shenanigans are still often played for comedy here, even though if he'd succeeded in the assassination I don't think his disclaimer that he was acting alone would really have worked... Maybe it would have, I don't know. Going by this and what was said last season about the Centauri not having the will to destroy Quadrant 37, I get the impression that the Narn have been somewhat relying on Centauri reluctance to go to war over the pushing of boundaries (not that assassinating the emperor is a 'push' rather than a detonation). But the emperor and his in-circle seems to have been the source of much of that hesitation. It was being read as weakness, by both G'Kar and Londo, and given what the emperor says about never making any choices until now, maybe it actually was! Still, I've seen some meta talking about how in some ways G'Kar is lucky--he suffers more than enough, but most of the time it's not his own wrongs which cause it. He was lucky he didn't get a chance to go through with the assassination, because ultimately getting his own people destroyed, ruining the chance for peace--that would have been the worst version of his fate. At the same time--he's so easily turned off that path here. A second-hand apology is all it took for a change of heart. Most of my thoughts on G'Kar and forgiveness rely on knowledge of future plots, so I'll just say that he shows a surprising capacity for it here despite everything up to this point, and that it's interesting that even acts of restitution don't work until wrongdoing is openly admitted.

Londo, though--his plans are played utterly without humour this time. I'm a little surprised they even had Vir in the room while they plotted--I'm assuming that Londo must have confirmed his loyalty or else Refa would have objected. And Vir, despite begging Londo not to do this, is thus made complicit. I don't think he's going to get any satisfaction out of the eventual 'I told you so'. And Londo doubts and regrets and nonetheless refuses to be turned from the path he's on. His little 'Take my people back to the stars' echoes his 'what I want' speech to Morden, but everyone in the room knows it was a hollow lie.

Also, his shock when G'Kar comes to him with the offer of possible friendship--gah. It's like that's the first time it's occurred to him that the circumstances of the death dream, the eternal cycle of blood he's assumed between the Narn and the Centauri, isn't just automatic--his own choices contribute to it rather than just reflect it. He can't tell himself it was all inevitable, and he realises that at the exact moment the war has now become impossible to take back.

ALSO, the death dream vision--giving him the scary lighting and the harshest moments! Never trust a prophecy that puts the torch under its chin, Londo!

G'Kar crying on a heap on the floor TnT. His outbursts until now have generally been played either as comic or at least slightly villainous, but this... I did love Sheridan's reaction. (It sometimes feels, so far, like Sheridan is the only one on this damn station who ever attempts de-escalation.) He and G'Kar have a cool dynamic, which we see again at the end when G'Kar thanks him.

Without the Shadows in the background, the emperor's apology really might have turned things around. If it had happened a little earlier, even in this timeline, maybe Londo would have made different choices. It's not like he's not had plenty of warning, but I think the tragedy of G'Kar's 'he betrayed me' is perhaps partly that it had all already happened. That olive branch might have worked after all if the timing hadn't been wrong.

Too late now! Londo is fully committed to fucking up!

GROPOS: Predictably less to say here. It was a good episode! Franklin has tended to get some mixed quality in his focus episodes, so it's nice that his part of this one was satisfying. It built his relationships with Susan and Sheridan as well as with his father, which was great. The main plot set up the ripple effects of the Narn/Centauri war and was a decent reflection on the costs of such things.

All Alone in the Night: There's inevitably a nostalgic feeling to watching a thirty-year-old show, even if you didn't catch it the first time round, and my main reaction to this episode is that Baby!Perry would have gone nuts for it. I was obsessed with Stargate SG1 when I was about nine or ten, and I LOVED the episodes when someone got whumped. (Especially Jack. Early edition blorbo.) This reminded me very much of back then. I appreciate Sheridan's commitment to keeping his new Narn friend alive, his resourcefulness and his determination. I thought the episode did a really good job showing the ways he isn't just a hard-nosed jarhead type before we found out those nuances of his character were a key part of why he's been chosen for his job.

Also, while the station has always felt well-developed in a world-building sense, the little lighthearted transition scenes in this season have brought that to life beautifully. I mean, if you see a non-regular in one of these scenes, you do suspect they're going to die sharpish, but still, it makes the friendships between the characters feel strong and natural.

Acts of Sacrifice: STOP MAKING MY ORANGE KANGAROO REPTILE MAN CRY. That's twice in four episodes! (I know they won't stop.)

The Centauri justification for firing on civilians was unpleasantly realistic. Londo not even being there, being out trying to capture the connections he's traded in for a respect he's not even enjoying--it's genuinely sad, but it's also contrasted against the cost in a way that really shows how selfish his concerns still are.

We're still at a very 'both sides' stage, although the framing of the Narns and Centauri is shifting in interesting ways. G'Kar's challenger and his followers come off pretty badly, but the Narn in the opening scene are out-and-out heroes, and the Narn who dies attacking the Centauri who just beat him up feels genuinely like a tragic waste--whereas that Centauri gets murdered and I doubt anyone in the audience cares any more than Londo does. (Earth really needs to invent some kind of non-lethal weapons. I know a big metal pole can very much be deadly, but given the way the gropos were treated a few episodes ago for getting in massive brawls, it's a little jarring to see the Narn shot down so easily. Even a taser or something might have worked. And they should have at least arrested the Centauri who were involved too.)

The Lumati plot, while often funny, had some gut-punches. Them talking about being inspired by humans and Downbelow to segregate the 'inferiors' in their own kind--ouch. I like how strongly marked the themes of moral compromise in diplomacy are in both sides of the episode.

G'Kar getting lectured, sometimes fairly, sometimes less so, biting his tongue, fighting his own people, getting poisoned and pretending it's fine, thanking Delenn and Sheridan for the aid they can give, then going and cry-laughing in the corridor--ow, ow, ow. I really like how it's framed as a kind of third-option triumph of hope and morality against bad orders in Sheridan's part of the episode, and on G'Kar's side it's so completely inadequate...Then there's Londo, with his own wish for friends so painful in its simplicity, and him getting a diminished and temporary version in the end too. 'The Narns are falling before us. [...] What else does one need?' What indeed? OW.

(The modesty of his own real desire, compared to everything he's layered on top of it, reminds me a lot of how small and simple the apology that overwhelmed G'Kar was in TCoS. Gah!)

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Foxes disguised as monks. On the left from Japan and on the right from Denmark.

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The 'This is fine' meme is way older than anyone had expected. This 14th-century manuscript illustration shows the legendary 5th-century British king Vortigern in his burning castle.

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Owen Gent (British, b. Exeter, England, based Bristol, South West, England) - An Unkindness, 2023, Personal work for an exhibition in Belfast.

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.

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Also, G'Kar was shown sitting on what looked much more like a regular bed in Acts of Silence, and now I'm confused about Narn furniture again. Maybe the stone thing really was just a table?

B5 season 2 9-12

Side note: I was browsing the wiki and saw a mention of the fact that Narns shed their skins. This seems like something which should be explored in fic, just sayin'.

The Coming of Shadows: SAD. I'M SAD. These old men should be at the club, not carefully curating their grand tragedy.

ANYWAY. Fascinating how G'Kar's shenanigans are still often played for comedy here, even though if he'd succeeded in the assassination I don't think his disclaimer that he was acting alone would really have worked... Maybe it would have, I don't know. Going by this and what was said last season about the Centauri not having the will to destroy Quadrant 37, I get the impression that the Narn have been somewhat relying on Centauri reluctance to go to war over the pushing of boundaries (not that assassinating the emperor is a 'push' rather than a detonation). But the emperor and his in-circle seems to have been the source of much of that hesitation. It was being read as weakness, by both G'Kar and Londo, and given what the emperor says about never making any choices until now, maybe it actually was! Still, I've seen some meta talking about how in some ways G'Kar is lucky--he suffers more than enough, but most of the time it's not his own wrongs which cause it. He was lucky he didn't get a chance to go through with the assassination, because ultimately getting his own people destroyed, ruining the chance for peace--that would have been the worst version of his fate. At the same time--he's so easily turned off that path here. A second-hand apology is all it took for a change of heart. Most of my thoughts on G'Kar and forgiveness rely on knowledge of future plots, so I'll just say that he shows a surprising capacity for it here despite everything up to this point, and that it's interesting that even acts of restitution don't work until wrongdoing is openly admitted.

Londo, though--his plans are played utterly without humour this time. I'm a little surprised they even had Vir in the room while they plotted--I'm assuming that Londo must have confirmed his loyalty or else Refa would have objected. And Vir, despite begging Londo not to do this, is thus made complicit. I don't think he's going to get any satisfaction out of the eventual 'I told you so'. And Londo doubts and regrets and nonetheless refuses to be turned from the path he's on. His little 'Take my people back to the stars' echoes his 'what I want' speech to Morden, but everyone in the room knows it was a hollow lie.

Also, his shock when G'Kar comes to him with the offer of possible friendship--gah. It's like that's the first time it's occurred to him that the circumstances of the death dream, the eternal cycle of blood he's assumed between the Narn and the Centauri, isn't just automatic--his own choices contribute to it rather than just reflect it. He can't tell himself it was all inevitable, and he realises that at the exact moment the war has now become impossible to take back.

ALSO, the death dream vision--giving him the scary lighting and the harshest moments! Never trust a prophecy that puts the torch under its chin, Londo!

G'Kar crying on a heap on the floor TnT. His outbursts until now have generally been played either as comic or at least slightly villainous, but this... I did love Sheridan's reaction. (It sometimes feels, so far, like Sheridan is the only one on this damn station who ever attempts de-escalation.) He and G'Kar have a cool dynamic, which we see again at the end when G'Kar thanks him.

Without the Shadows in the background, the emperor's apology really might have turned things around. If it had happened a little earlier, even in this timeline, maybe Londo would have made different choices. It's not like he's not had plenty of warning, but I think the tragedy of G'Kar's 'he betrayed me' is perhaps partly that it had all already happened. That olive branch might have worked after all if the timing hadn't been wrong.

Too late now! Londo is fully committed to fucking up!

GROPOS: Predictably less to say here. It was a good episode! Franklin has tended to get some mixed quality in his focus episodes, so it's nice that his part of this one was satisfying. It built his relationships with Susan and Sheridan as well as with his father, which was great. The main plot set up the ripple effects of the Narn/Centauri war and was a decent reflection on the costs of such things.

All Alone in the Night: There's inevitably a nostalgic feeling to watching a thirty-year-old show, even if you didn't catch it the first time round, and my main reaction to this episode is that Baby!Perry would have gone nuts for it. I was obsessed with Stargate SG1 when I was about nine or ten, and I LOVED the episodes when someone got whumped. (Especially Jack. Early edition blorbo.) This reminded me very much of back then. I appreciate Sheridan's commitment to keeping his new Narn friend alive, his resourcefulness and his determination. I thought the episode did a really good job showing the ways he isn't just a hard-nosed jarhead type before we found out those nuances of his character were a key part of why he's been chosen for his job.

Also, while the station has always felt well-developed in a world-building sense, the little lighthearted transition scenes in this season have brought that to life beautifully. I mean, if you see a non-regular in one of these scenes, you do suspect they're going to die sharpish, but still, it makes the friendships between the characters feel strong and natural.

Acts of Sacrifice: STOP MAKING MY ORANGE KANGAROO REPTILE MAN CRY. That's twice in four episodes! (I know they won't stop.)

The Centauri justification for firing on civilians was unpleasantly realistic. Londo not even being there, being out trying to capture the connections he's traded in for a respect he's not even enjoying--it's genuinely sad, but it's also contrasted against the cost in a way that really shows how selfish his concerns still are.

We're still at a very 'both sides' stage, although the framing of the Narns and Centauri is shifting in interesting ways. G'Kar's challenger and his followers come off pretty badly, but the Narn in the opening scene are out-and-out heroes, and the Narn who dies attacking the Centauri who just beat him up feels genuinely like a tragic waste--whereas that Centauri gets murdered and I doubt anyone in the audience cares any more than Londo does. (Earth really needs to invent some kind of non-lethal weapons. I know a big metal pole can very much be deadly, but given the way the gropos were treated a few episodes ago for getting in massive brawls, it's a little jarring to see the Narn shot down so easily. Even a taser or something might have worked. And they should have at least arrested the Centauri who were involved too.)

The Lumati plot, while often funny, had some gut-punches. Them talking about being inspired by humans and Downbelow to segregate the 'inferiors' in their own kind--ouch. I like how strongly marked the themes of moral compromise in diplomacy are in both sides of the episode.

G'Kar getting lectured, sometimes fairly, sometimes less so, biting his tongue, fighting his own people, getting poisoned and pretending it's fine, thanking Delenn and Sheridan for the aid they can give, then going and cry-laughing in the corridor--ow, ow, ow. I really like how it's framed as a kind of third-option triumph of hope and morality against bad orders in Sheridan's part of the episode, and on G'Kar's side it's so completely inadequate...Then there's Londo, with his own wish for friends so painful in its simplicity, and him getting a diminished and temporary version in the end too. 'The Narns are falling before us. [...] What else does one need?' What indeed? OW.

(The modesty of his own real desire, compared to everything he's layered on top of it, reminds me a lot of how small and simple the apology that overwhelmed G'Kar was in TCoS. Gah!)

[peregrineroad]

B5 season 2 9-12

Side note: I was browsing the wiki and saw a mention of the fact that Narns shed their skins. This seems like something which should be explored in fic, just sayin'.

The Coming of Shadows: SAD. I'M SAD. These old men should be at the club, not carefully curating their grand tragedy.

ANYWAY. Fascinating how G'Kar's shenanigans are still often played for comedy here, even though if he'd succeeded in the assassination I don't think his disclaimer that he was acting alone would really have worked... Maybe it would have, I don't know. Going by this and what was said last season about the Centauri not having the will to destroy Quadrant 37, I get the impression that the Narn have been somewhat relying on Centauri reluctance to go to war over the pushing of boundaries (not that assassinating the emperor is a 'push' rather than a detonation). But the emperor and his in-circle seems to have been the source of much of that hesitation. It was being read as weakness, by both G'Kar and Londo, and given what the emperor says about never making any choices until now, maybe it actually was! Still, I've seen some meta talking about how in some ways G'Kar is lucky--he suffers more than enough, but most of the time it's not his own wrongs which cause it. He was lucky he didn't get a chance to go through with the assassination, because ultimately getting his own people destroyed, ruining the chance for peace--that would have been the worst version of his fate. At the same time--he's so easily turned off that path here. A second-hand apology is all it took for a change of heart. Most of my thoughts on G'Kar and forgiveness rely on knowledge of future plots, so I'll just say that he shows a surprising capacity for it here despite everything up to this point, and that it's interesting that even acts of restitution don't work until wrongdoing is openly admitted.

Londo, though--his plans are played utterly without humour this time. I'm a little surprised they even had Vir in the room while they plotted--I'm assuming that Londo must have confirmed his loyalty or else Refa would have objected. And Vir, despite begging Londo not to do this, is thus made complicit. I don't think he's going to get any satisfaction out of the eventual 'I told you so'. And Londo doubts and regrets and nonetheless refuses to be turned from the path he's on. His little 'Take my people back to the stars' echoes his 'what I want' speech to Morden, but everyone in the room knows it was a hollow lie.

Also, his shock when G'Kar comes to him with the offer of possible friendship--gah. It's like that's the first time it's occurred to him that the circumstances of the death dream, the eternal cycle of blood he's assumed between the Narn and the Centauri, isn't just automatic--his own choices contribute to it rather than just reflect it. He can't tell himself it was all inevitable, and he realises that at the exact moment the war has now become impossible to take back.

ALSO, the death dream vision--giving him the scary lighting and the harshest moments! Never trust a prophecy that puts the torch under its chin, Londo!

G'Kar crying in a heap on the floor TnT. His outbursts until now have generally been played either as comic or at least slightly villainous, but this... I did love Sheridan's reaction. (It sometimes feels, so far, like Sheridan is the only one on this damn station who ever attempts de-escalation.) He and G'Kar have a cool dynamic, which we see again at the end when G'Kar thanks him.

Without the Shadows in the background, the emperor's apology really might have turned things around. If it had happened a little earlier, even in this timeline, maybe Londo would have made different choices. It's not like he's not had plenty of warning, but I think the tragedy of G'Kar's 'he betrayed me' is perhaps partly that it had all already happened. That olive branch might have worked after all if the timing hadn't been wrong.

Too late now! Londo is fully committed to fucking up!

GROPOS: Predictably less to say here. It was a good episode! Franklin has tended to get some mixed quality in his focus episodes, so it's nice that his part of this one was satisfying. It built his relationships with Susan and Sheridan as well as with his father, which was great. The main plot set up the ripple effects of the Narn/Centauri war and was a decent reflection on the costs of such things.

All Alone in the Night: There's inevitably a nostalgic feeling to watching a thirty-year-old show, even if you didn't catch it the first time round, and my main reaction to this episode is that Baby!Perry would have gone nuts for it. I was obsessed with Stargate SG1 when I was about nine or ten, and I LOVED the episodes when someone got whumped. (Especially Jack. Early edition blorbo.) This reminded me very much of back then. I appreciate Sheridan's commitment to keeping his new Narn friend alive, his resourcefulness and his determination. I thought the episode did a really good job showing the ways he isn't just a hard-nosed jarhead type before we found out those nuances of his character were a key part of why he's been chosen for his job.

Also, while the station has always felt well-developed in a world-building sense, the little lighthearted transition scenes in this season have brought that to life beautifully. I mean, if you see a non-regular in one of these scenes, you do suspect they're going to die sharpish, but still, it makes the friendships between the characters feel strong and natural.

Acts of Sacrifice: STOP MAKING MY ORANGE KANGAROO REPTILE MAN CRY. That's twice in four episodes! (I know they won't stop.)

The Centauri justification for firing on civilians was unpleasantly realistic. Londo not even being there, being out trying to capture the connections he's traded in for a respect he's not even enjoying--it's genuinely sad, but it's also contrasted against the cost in a way that really shows how selfish his concerns still are.

We're still at a very 'both sides' stage, although the framing of the Narns and Centauri is shifting in interesting ways. G'Kar's challenger and his followers come off pretty badly, but the Narn in the opening scene are out-and-out heroes, and the Narn who dies attacking the Centauri who just beat him up feels genuinely like a tragic waste--whereas that Centauri gets murdered and I doubt anyone in the audience cares any more than Londo does. (Earth really needs to invent some kind of non-lethal weapons. I know a big metal pole can very much be deadly, but given the way the gropos were treated a few episodes ago for getting in massive brawls, it's a little jarring to see the Narn shot down so easily. Even a taser or something might have worked. And they should have at least arrested the Centauri who were involved too.)

The Lumati plot, while often funny, had some gut-punches. Them talking about being inspired by humans and Downbelow to segregate the 'inferiors' in their own kind--ouch. I like how strongly marked the themes of moral compromise in diplomacy are in both sides of the episode.

G'Kar getting lectured, sometimes fairly, sometimes less so, biting his tongue, fighting his own people, getting poisoned and pretending it's fine, thanking Delenn and Sheridan for the aid they can give, then going and cry-laughing in the corridor--ow, ow, ow. I really like how it's framed as a kind of third-option triumph of hope and morality against bad orders in Sheridan's part of the episode, and on G'Kar's side it's so completely inadequate...Then there's Londo, with his own wish for friends so painful in its simplicity, and him getting a diminished and temporary version in the end too. 'The Narns are falling before us. [...] What else does one need?' What indeed? OW.

(The modesty of his own real desire, compared to everything he's layered on top of it, reminds me a lot of how small and simple the apology that overwhelmed G'Kar was in TCoS. Gah!)

[peregrineroad]

Not a proper reaction post, but I have just watched The Coming of Shadows and OHHHH NOOOOOO

[peregrineroad]

B5 2.5-8

That was a lovely run of episodes. We can take it as read that I didn't love Stephen's choices in A Long Dark--on the Doylist level, I think it was bad writing; in character terms I'm just choosing to ignore it. I love an idealist with flaws, but this was unconvincing at best.

That said, I really enjoyed the rest of the episode--loved how it tied in the building myth arc, the threat was pleasantly creepy, and while the Amis plot wasn't perfect in terms of its handling of mental health, it felt like there was real meat on those bones. I thought it was well-acted, too. I'm very quickly getting fond of Sheridan, his wonder and delight at discovery being a big reason why, and his enthusiasm at finding the Copernicus is a lovely demonstration of that trait. And Londo and G'Kar's reactions to all the talk of an agent of darkness were fascinating. Londo, of course, needs not to believe such things to conceal from himself how much trouble he's in, but I am curious about how Centauri designate 'superstition', given their various cultural beliefs about Gods and souls and prophecies.

(Also saying very ahead of time that I will not be watching Day of the Dead because I just don't want to engage with NG's writing at all at the moment.)

A Spider in the Web hit on certain tropes I really like and handled them well, so I loved it even though it didn't feature my favourite characters. I was thinking when Talia got in the Free Mars guy's head that it would be cool and creepy if he were some kind of revived corpse fixating on the moment of his death, and was delighted to be right. I love a good struggle-with-mind-control episode, and appreciated the way the situation on Mars was fleshed out too. Sheridan was great in this episode too: smart and compassionate.

Soul Mates: I LOVE TIMOV! I knew she'd be great but I didn't expect how enjoyable every moment of her screen-time would be. She's so funny. I wish she'd turn up more. It'd be good for Londo, discomforting as he might find it. I'm glad he was able to recognise some of that himself, too. When my sister's watch with me gets to this point, we'll watch A Race to Dark Places before this one, though, because they're clearly the wrong way round.

G'Kar calls Londo Londo here when talking to Mariel. I'm starting a count of the times he does that.

A Race to Dark Places:

Bester is such a good villain. The Psi-corps in general are interesting because they all seem to be simultaneously villain and victim, persecuting their own kind as they've been persecuted themselves. Some of the stories were genuinely harrowing. I enjoyed Sheridan's uncertainty about what to do when hit with the classic Lawful or Good dilemma, and I liked that, while he got to take a third option this time, he clearly won't always be able to. That sort of thing came back to bite Sinclair in the first season, too, but I feel like Sheridan's mix of commitment and cynicism is maybe better suited to exploring it? And Stephen! Good for him, and good for Talia. I know Talia's original story arc *spoilers* won't get properly played out, which is a shame because it's interesting stuff!

Also, Garibaldi assuming Susan was running the escapes and being wrong was adorable.