episode reviews, etc
Sep. 21st, 2006 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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 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.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 07:05 am (UTC)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*
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 07:27 am (UTC)Caitlin Brown, and yes, that was the original S1 Na'Toth. You can tell from the glare. Mary Kay Adams, bless her little Klingon heart, couldn't glare.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 10:37 pm (UTC)I didn't know Mary Kay Adams played Klingons. In TNG or the other ST shows?
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 10:39 pm (UTC)www.imdb.com is always the answer to these questions. XD
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 10:58 pm (UTC)I love imdb but with my faulty memory I'm lucky I can remember the name to type in to search for. XD
no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 05:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-24 06:16 pm (UTC)Yeah MKA, she made the character for me really flat, not much emotion at all.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 04:44 pm (UTC)About Na'Toth: Apparently, despite totally adoring the original actress, I'm not quite clever enough to recognize her when I'm not expecting it to actually be her! How embarassing. In my defense, I recall thinking "huh, this woman is better than the interim girl they had before... More like the original voice and all." *Headdesk* Thank you for catching me out on that one....
Sheridan is lovably, adorably dopey. And yes, I really think that is a big part of why Delenn loves him. Besides, she knows she can totally own him in arguments.
I would have used a flame-thrower toting Pak'mara or Londo choking Byron with one of his tenticles
I'm both delighted and horrified by both of these thoughts. :D
That's the cute thing about Bester - he really does think that he's doing the right thing, that mundanes don't actually give a damn about teeps, and whenever he gets shown that it isn't quite that way, he gets kind of... thrown for a loop. Not enough to actually change him, mind you, but just enough that you can see a little of why he is the way he is. And his nattering little conversations are so very charming. ♥
no subject
Date: 2006-09-22 10:50 pm (UTC)Yes, I couldn't for the life of me remember the actress's name but aris told me it was Caitlin Brown. XD
She pwnds everyone in an argument.
Heh. My mind is a sick yet fun place to be sometimes. XD
Exactly. I just love how he can make everything happy and cheerful even when he's planning to make everyone but teeps into slaves. :D
But Delenn could still own him in an coversation...XD