more episode commentary!
Jun. 28th, 2010 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseGood lord, we're most of the way through S2. This is what hormone-based depression will do to me - I can get through a disturbing amount of tv and knitting over a weekend if I'm allowed to. I'm going to break the commentary into a few posts, since... well, I ran myself right out of my lunch hour writing for the first three.
GROPOS
Dodger! ♥ ...Really, that's about my only reaction to this episode. The other two main GROPOS seemed quite fun, too - certainly more fun than stupid Keffer. Why couldn't we keep his two buddies and send him out instead? *Sighs* And surely we could trade Talia for Dodger... I mean, she's not a telepath, but... well, we'll be getting Lyta to finish off that arc soon anyway, so no difference there.
While I'm at it, I have to say that The Boy's main reaction to this episode was to point out that it would have been a lot more effective if they hadn't slammed us with the the little montage of our GROPOS' bodies at the end. I agree - leaving it uncertain but heavily implied, or just announced, showing the reactions to the casualty list, all of that would have been more effective. The montage was just sort of gratuitous. But I've already had to admit to him the "surgery with a chainsaw" aspect of B5's writing, so... I guess this was just a good example.
I know Keffer dies sometime soon. It can't be soon enough.
All Alone in the Night
I admit, I giggled when Neroon spoke out of the shadows, covered by his hood. Who could fail to recognize that snide voice? He's so deliciously nasty to Delenn. ♥ And while I'm flailing with Minbari-love... how cute is Lennier in this? So cute. This is the perfect point for him, I think - he's definitely in full-blown crush mode already, but he's remarkably confident about it - he worships her, but he's remarkably calm about it so far, and he hasn't lost hope or become bitter yet. At this moment in the series, it seems like Lennier is totally comfortable with where he is and what's happening around him, and all the really bad things haven't happened yet, and... awwwww. It's making me a bit wibbly, if you want the honest truth. The irrational, totally stupid part of me wants to hustle him away from the whole thing before it goes downhill for the poor boy.
And this scene in the shuttle bay is clearly the one I was thinking of when, way in the future in "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" I was having little reversed flashbacks with Lennier trying to slip off alone into the night and Delenn chasing after him. Except that time, it doesn't work out nearly as well as it does this time. And of course it gets me in the gut to watch Delenn forced to give up not only her place on the council, but her position among the other Minbari as well. It's her own damned fault, of course - Neroon is right, they told her to wait and she disobeyed orders. It's only right for her to be cast out of the council. But it's still awful to watch, since she so obviously never really expected to be so fiercely punished for her impetuous actions. (This is Delenn we're talking about - I'm sure in the back of her mind she was certain she could just force them to accept her decision once she'd already made the change - better to beg forgiveness than ask permission and all that, and anyway, it's HER DIVINE DESTINY.) And really, exile from her whole planet? Quite a stiff punishment. Neroon certainly enjoyed laying it on her, too.
...Oh yeah, and there's a subplot about Sheridan playing gladiator or something. And having dreams about Kosh. And Garibaldi with a fake dove on his shoulder. And Ivanova, who Sheridan's brain has apparently decided to cast as War/Death. I'm not so sure about the appropriateness of Garibaldi for this one, but I could get behind the idea of Ivanova personifying something like the Morrigan. ♥
Acts of Sacrifice
Whenever Delenn talks about the beginning of the Earth-Minbari war, I have to press my lips very tightly together to keep myself from snickering audibly. She "was there when it started," she says. Yes, dear. So you were. That tends to happen when you're the one screaming the order. *pets*
Poor G'Kar just can't catch a break in this episode. The other ambassadors refuse to help his people in any way but the background, his own people are challenging his authority... and someone told him it was a good idea to look like he was miming "tiger" in his otherwise-awesome fight with the rebelling Narn on the station. Seriously, The Boy was all "okay, that was kind of bad-ass" at his line about how the challenge had already been made and now all that remained was to see if he (the other Narn) could uphold it (or however that line goes - alas, the Lurker's Guide is not very good with exact quotes), and then... silly miming tiger-fighting-pose thing. Alas. They really needed a better fight choreographer on this show (...for more of this discussion, see my teeth-gritting comments every time Lennier pretends to know how to fight and goes into that absurd fighting pose of his - some actors, bless them, just shouldn't be allowed to come up with fight stuff on their own).
And then there's the Lumati. I'm fine with this plot line right up until the sex thing comes up. Then, I want to find JMS and slap him. See, here's the thing - that would never have been written into the story if the negotiations were being run by Sheridan. Or any guy. It only happens because Ivanova's a woman, it's only funny because Ivanova's a woman, and nobody takes it seriously - not even Franklin, who is Mr Angst Incarnate! - because hey, of course it's normal to have a female character in a situation where someone is demanding sex. It's funny! Because it's a woman and it's sex! Props to Ivanova for a solution to a bad situation, but it pisses me the fuck off that apparently by the 23rd century, we are still in a situation where a professional woman's only recourse when being propositioned by a client is to Deal With It Herself. Argh.
Back to the good side of the episode - it's a testament to Peter Jurasik's acting, IMHO, that even though Londo is pretty much the scum the universe wiped off the bottom of its boots at this point in the series, I still want to snuggle him when he's sitting alone at the bar, dejectedly waiting for Garibaldi. With a little glass of water with a cherry and a paper umbrella. Bless. ♥
GROPOS
Dodger! ♥ ...Really, that's about my only reaction to this episode. The other two main GROPOS seemed quite fun, too - certainly more fun than stupid Keffer. Why couldn't we keep his two buddies and send him out instead? *Sighs* And surely we could trade Talia for Dodger... I mean, she's not a telepath, but... well, we'll be getting Lyta to finish off that arc soon anyway, so no difference there.
While I'm at it, I have to say that The Boy's main reaction to this episode was to point out that it would have been a lot more effective if they hadn't slammed us with the the little montage of our GROPOS' bodies at the end. I agree - leaving it uncertain but heavily implied, or just announced, showing the reactions to the casualty list, all of that would have been more effective. The montage was just sort of gratuitous. But I've already had to admit to him the "surgery with a chainsaw" aspect of B5's writing, so... I guess this was just a good example.
I know Keffer dies sometime soon. It can't be soon enough.
All Alone in the Night
I admit, I giggled when Neroon spoke out of the shadows, covered by his hood. Who could fail to recognize that snide voice? He's so deliciously nasty to Delenn. ♥ And while I'm flailing with Minbari-love... how cute is Lennier in this? So cute. This is the perfect point for him, I think - he's definitely in full-blown crush mode already, but he's remarkably confident about it - he worships her, but he's remarkably calm about it so far, and he hasn't lost hope or become bitter yet. At this moment in the series, it seems like Lennier is totally comfortable with where he is and what's happening around him, and all the really bad things haven't happened yet, and... awwwww. It's making me a bit wibbly, if you want the honest truth. The irrational, totally stupid part of me wants to hustle him away from the whole thing before it goes downhill for the poor boy.
And this scene in the shuttle bay is clearly the one I was thinking of when, way in the future in "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" I was having little reversed flashbacks with Lennier trying to slip off alone into the night and Delenn chasing after him. Except that time, it doesn't work out nearly as well as it does this time. And of course it gets me in the gut to watch Delenn forced to give up not only her place on the council, but her position among the other Minbari as well. It's her own damned fault, of course - Neroon is right, they told her to wait and she disobeyed orders. It's only right for her to be cast out of the council. But it's still awful to watch, since she so obviously never really expected to be so fiercely punished for her impetuous actions. (This is Delenn we're talking about - I'm sure in the back of her mind she was certain she could just force them to accept her decision once she'd already made the change - better to beg forgiveness than ask permission and all that, and anyway, it's HER DIVINE DESTINY.) And really, exile from her whole planet? Quite a stiff punishment. Neroon certainly enjoyed laying it on her, too.
...Oh yeah, and there's a subplot about Sheridan playing gladiator or something. And having dreams about Kosh. And Garibaldi with a fake dove on his shoulder. And Ivanova, who Sheridan's brain has apparently decided to cast as War/Death. I'm not so sure about the appropriateness of Garibaldi for this one, but I could get behind the idea of Ivanova personifying something like the Morrigan. ♥
Acts of Sacrifice
Whenever Delenn talks about the beginning of the Earth-Minbari war, I have to press my lips very tightly together to keep myself from snickering audibly. She "was there when it started," she says. Yes, dear. So you were. That tends to happen when you're the one screaming the order. *pets*
Poor G'Kar just can't catch a break in this episode. The other ambassadors refuse to help his people in any way but the background, his own people are challenging his authority... and someone told him it was a good idea to look like he was miming "tiger" in his otherwise-awesome fight with the rebelling Narn on the station. Seriously, The Boy was all "okay, that was kind of bad-ass" at his line about how the challenge had already been made and now all that remained was to see if he (the other Narn) could uphold it (or however that line goes - alas, the Lurker's Guide is not very good with exact quotes), and then... silly miming tiger-fighting-pose thing. Alas. They really needed a better fight choreographer on this show (...for more of this discussion, see my teeth-gritting comments every time Lennier pretends to know how to fight and goes into that absurd fighting pose of his - some actors, bless them, just shouldn't be allowed to come up with fight stuff on their own).
And then there's the Lumati. I'm fine with this plot line right up until the sex thing comes up. Then, I want to find JMS and slap him. See, here's the thing - that would never have been written into the story if the negotiations were being run by Sheridan. Or any guy. It only happens because Ivanova's a woman, it's only funny because Ivanova's a woman, and nobody takes it seriously - not even Franklin, who is Mr Angst Incarnate! - because hey, of course it's normal to have a female character in a situation where someone is demanding sex. It's funny! Because it's a woman and it's sex! Props to Ivanova for a solution to a bad situation, but it pisses me the fuck off that apparently by the 23rd century, we are still in a situation where a professional woman's only recourse when being propositioned by a client is to Deal With It Herself. Argh.
Back to the good side of the episode - it's a testament to Peter Jurasik's acting, IMHO, that even though Londo is pretty much the scum the universe wiped off the bottom of its boots at this point in the series, I still want to snuggle him when he's sitting alone at the bar, dejectedly waiting for Garibaldi. With a little glass of water with a cherry and a paper umbrella. Bless. ♥
