episode reviews, etc
Sep. 21st, 2006 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseHow 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 thereal 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 chanceeven 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.
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
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
(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.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 08:59 pm (UTC)What bugs me most about Lyta and Byron's relationship, looking back on it, is that he's kind of a bastard as well as being annoying, and yet I think we're supposed to see him as a good thing to have happened to her. So... Kosh II was supposed to come across like an abusive partner, but Byron can wake her up to how she's been used by him and everyone else by... kicking over a chair and yelling at her? Because it's for her own good? I'm a little uncomfortable with this...
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 09:16 pm (UTC)Psh. He doesn't even have that great of hair - it's a horrible style for his facial structure. Or possibly I'm just bitter.
I'm so glad I'm not the only person who thinks that! When he was throwing his whole "assert yourself, damn it!" tantrum, I couldn't help wondering why the hell we were supposed to like him any better than anyone else who's abused Lyta. Or, in the end, any different than any of them. To be perfectly honest, Byron struck me as no better than the classic cult leader who manipulates and controls his people with showers of love, closeness, and constant repetition of how special they are, how they're the chosen of God, how they've been abused and misunderstood by the outside world... it was creepy. I would not have been the slightest bit surprised if he'd passed out poisoned kool-aid or something while they were all holed up in Brown Sector. It would've fit his temperament and manner of operation perfectly.