episode reviews, etc

[rivendellrose]

How is "Love Lessons from TV Doctors" one of the main headlines on MSN.com today? It must really be a slow news day...

And I hate when people's voice mail messages start out sounding like a real person, so I make a fool of myself by starting to talk to the message and then realizing no, no - it's just another damned machine.

(Ohmigod, my actual degree has come in handy twice in the last two days! ...I really hate that this is a wonderful surprise to me. Being an English major without actual technical training kind of sucks.)

Episode reviews continue below!



A Tragedy of Telepaths:
So... apparently in 200+ years, humans have come up with no better alternative to spray paint. We can travel the stars, put sick people in stasis, and interact on a daily basis with dozens of alien species... we can even run an interstellar alliance of those species. But we can't find a better way to mark walls than aeresol cans of black paint. I weep for the future of humanity.

Oh, and I was happy to see Na'Toth again, even though it couldn't be the real original actress. And I loved how they got her out of the palace.

Phoenix Rising:
This episode made me unreasonably cranky, because I spent the whole slowly realizing that, in a twisted and entirely plot-oriented way, the original plan for Ivanova to fall for Byron would have made a degree of sense. It'd be a handy way of tying up the telepathy plotline that she'd been walking from the beginning, and it would almost make sense for her to attach herself to a guy who wanted to give teeps freedom from the Corps. I can even forgive the romance angle because... okay, she just blew it big time with Marcus. She's aware of that, now. And then this other guy walks in, and maybe she thinks "maybe I should give it a go, give him a chance even if he seems like a creepy worthless bastard." I've done that. It's an almost inevitably stupid thing to do, mind you, but I've done it, and I think a lot of other people probably do it at one or another point in their lives.

(And yes, I finally found JMS's statements on the whole plot - It's no secret that I would've had Ivanova becoming somewhat linked to Byron romantically (she would see him as a character like Marcus, which is why there are certain similarities, and she would take a chance only to find it wrong this time, underlining that she'd missed her one major opportunity thus far for a good relationship). This was expressed to Claudia toward the last part of S4, so she knew at that time that her latent ability would be coming out, and that she'd have a big part in S5.
In this scenario, Lyta would have become a devoted follower of Byron's, much as she has, but it would have been more love from afar: protective, somewhat unrequited but hoping for more...so that when he met his fate, Lyta would end up right where she is now, just by a different road.

In other words, damn you for making sense, JMS. I don't like it when things I disagree with make sense.

I'm still glad it didn't go down that way, though. And I cheered when Byron finally offed himself and his creepy little associates, although he took way too damned long having his melodramatic and sappy little goodbye. Seriously, he's making me dislike Lyta by pure association, and then at the end there she was being almost as wangsty and obnoxious as him. The wangst is contagious. But at least now he's finally dead.

Bester was the only good thing about that whole plotline. Well... Garibaldi desperately trying to shoot Bester was good, too, but as that pertains to Bester I figure it counts. So much love for Walter Koenig. He's such a perky, boyish, adorable incarnation of evil.

(Geek moment of joy for Asimov's laws! ♥)

The Lurker's Guide page wonders whether the bomb at the Psi Corps HQ might be Garibaldi's doing. Considering the newscaster specifically mentions that the words "Remember Byron" were found at the scene, I rather think he's missed the point. Garibaldi did his stupid thing - he started drinking again.

The Ragged Edge:
As much as I like Garibaldi, episodes about him usually put me to sleep. This was no exception. I absolutely loved the opening scene with Delenn and Sheridan, though. Delenn tells him she'd like to start a war with Earth, and Sheridan just kind of nods in frustration and says something like "I'll sign it as soon as I can." And there's that big, brilliant 'you're so dumb sometimes, and I think that's why I love you' grin. :D

...And that's really all I have to say about this episode. I got a lot of knitting done between it and the Byron stuff earlier.

The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father:
More Bester! Yay! More telepaths! Boo!

I'm sorry, I hate the whole ongoing telepath plot - I always have, and I probably always will. But seeing them from the Psi Corps perspective did make things a lot more interesting, so that was nice. And I loved how adorably in awe of Bester little Lauren was. Very cute little creepy girl. ♥ Bester in this episode reminds me of the kind of awesome professor everybody wants in college... except for that whole fascism thing. Ah well - everybody's got their faults... ;)

I'm a big cheat and I like to peek at chapter titles before seeing the episode. The first ep for tonight (Meditations on the Abyss) includes the title "Ambassador Vir" (!) and a lot of Lennier stuff. I have come to fear Lennier episodes. Experience so far in this season indicates that it will not be anything good. In fact, I expect no more good to come for him for the rest of the series. Alas. JMS loves to be mean to exactly the characters that I love.

Comments

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

I liked the telepath angle in some ways, because it's just such a fun can of worms and I can see it going down just the way it did...but most of the telepaths on the show DRIVE ME INSANE. So it's a mixed bag.

Congrats, you survived JMSs biggest writing snafus.

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

But at least now he's finally dead.

Yay! When I watched B5 for the first time this spring, I tried (and mostly succeeded) to be unspoiled throughout. But when Byron first appeared, I asked a friend who had watched the series already "Just tell me: Is his death painful and/or humiliating?" and she was able to tell me "Yes" and so that kept me going through his episodes.

I like The Ragged Edge because we got to go to the Drazi homeworld. The Drazi are endlessly entertaining and fascinating to me, so I loved that. But the Sheridan/Delenn comedy scene ranks up there too. I just love how dopey he is.

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

Ack, yes, the telepaths. It's funny: I can appreciate that the past five years have established beyond doubt that lots of telepaths get treated very badly, that Psi Corps is evil, that Lyta got screwed over by everybody and can't be blamed for inadvisable relationship choices, and that something about the telepath situation was going to snap very, very soon, and still lose a big chunk of sympathy for any rebellion that has Byron as a figurehead.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

And I hate when people's voice mail messages start out sounding like a real person, so I make a fool of myself by starting to talk to the message and then realizing no, no - it's just another damned machine.

Oh, that is SO one of my pet peeves.

And can I just say that B5 has some killer episode titles! They're all so intriguing!

[maymargaret.livejournal.com]

And I hate when people's voice mail messages start out sounding like a real person, so I make a fool of myself by starting to talk to the message and then realizing no, no - it's just another damned machine.

That's right up there with the telemarketers who use your names and act like they know you. Or junkmail that is hand adressed.

Ohmigod, my actual degree has come in handy twice in the last two days!

W0W, How? You've used yours two more times then I've used mine. And linguistics is supposed to more applicle then English.

[jfrog78.livejournal.com]

I use my degree everyday I work! Also I liked the way the Byron plot lines go just not Byron because he is creepy. I do enjoy that when JMS didn't know there was going to be a fifth season he put in that scene in the 4 final episode with Garibaldi and the telepaths. Then there was a season fifth so he had to work it into one of the shows.

I love Garibaldi episodes but the ones where he is not being a total doodoohead.

The core episode was great. It was nice to see the inside of that operation alittle. Also Lauren was very cute yet creepy. Also it made me like Bester a little more in the like him but hate him category.

[oszras.livejournal.com]

Yay! You're finally out of the suckiness of S5 and onto more G'Kar and Londo stuff. :D

A Tradgedy of Telepaths:

My problem was with the scene where they hang up the bloodhound guy in the elevator in a crucifixion pose with the 'free Byron' or something Byron on the walls. The Cult of Zombie Hippies actually think Byron is Christ or Christ like? See that is what worries me about humanity in the future: when Bester, as much as I love him, becomes the sane one in the storyline. :D

Also, that was the real Na'Toth in this episode. Wasn't the actress Julie something? I'm pretty sure that was the same actress but I'm dead tired right now so I could just be hallucinating. XD

Phoenix Rising:

You know I actually could see Ivanova do something like this because I've done the same thing. But I'm really, really glad CC left because I find Byron to be written, acted, whatever, horrible that I just would not be able to stand him near her. I feel like I sound like a crazy fan for saying that... :D

I did find Lyta saying goodbye to Byron kinda sad. Weirdly though it wasn't anything Lyta or Byron did in that scene that made it sad to me. I just kept thinking about how effing sad Lyta's life has been since being back on B5. It just hit me then how sad everyone's life has been since season one.

Bester is love. XD

The Ragged Edge:

God, Sheridan is such a dope and you know I have to think that is why she married him sometimes...he's just so, so loveable that way. And then there are other times I wonder about her sanity in loving Dead-Boy.

I like Garibaldi (he does have some wonderful one-liners) but I'm like you I just sorta get distracted by other things. Mostly I ruminate on plotlines and characterization and how to kill Byron in a better way than just having him torch his self. Because really? that was such a lame way to go. I would have used a flame-thrower toting Pak'mara or Londo choking Byron with one of his tenticles, you know something really creative. XD

The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father:

Loved it. Even though Bester's views are twisted I could at least see where he was coming from. I also got this vibe that he really was astonished that Franklin actually cared about telepaths it made me want to hug him. I loved seeing a different side of the Corps as well. JMS did a lot of that in this season View from the Galley, this one and a one or two more, I think. This season felt different to me as well, a little off until I got into the second half of it. Even then though it still felt different from all the other seasons and I can't really pin down why either...

And that Lauren girl was creepy, in the sick creepy way. She gave me the heebie jeebies. The was she sounded so...reverent...about spacing the normal guy at the end...*shudders*