"the long night" and "into the fire"
Jul. 29th, 2010 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseI can't help thinking we're going through this too quickly, but I'm so excited to see it all again that I can't actually stand the thought of slowing down. :P Spoilers for the whole series under the cut.
The Long Night
Inconsistency: We find out here that Susan's mother killed herself when she was young enough to be playing with dolls (the number 10 is sticking in my head, but I might be making that up), whereas earlier in the 2nd season, we heard that she was old enough that she was doing her mother's hair in curlers and so on. Um. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let a kid that age (10 or whatever - most people don't play with dolls much past the age of about 13, I don't think, though I could be wrong about that...) put curlers in my hair. Hell, I don't trust myself with curlers. But that's another issue altogether.
"Londo killed Aaaaagh!" I love this conversation between Londo and Vir. It has just the right level of serious concern, gallows humor, and an edge of hysteria. ♥ And, as before, I cheered when Vir killed Cartagia. And again when he waved at Morden's disembodied head. Yay, Vir! And then immediately poor Vir, because he feels so damned guilty about the whole thing, and I just love that about him.
The Boy is upset at Morden being gone now, and that made me think - we really do lose two of our best villains in this single episode. Cartagia and Morden were both fun, horrible, compelling characters who were interesting and appalling at the same time, and they had great chemistry with our heroes. Or, well, mostly with Londo. But I always rather liked when Morden interacted with everyone else, too. Oh well. It's the move from the personal to the impersonal, I guess, as we head into the battle with Earth's forces under Clark.
Tangential to everything but my love of the character, I wonder how much manipulation and calling-in of favors was required for Marcus to be the one to shuttle Lorien over to the White Star? He's so matter-of-fact about it, but I can't help thinking he wouldn't want to be anywhere but with her. And then, of course, every time we see them there on the bridge in the middle of battle, I can have horrible flash-forwards! Yay! *Headdesk*
Into the Fire
Lorien talking about the transitory blessings of friendship, love, and so on, and how "You should embrace that remarkable illusion. [...] It may be the greatest gift your race has ever received" reminds me very much of the "gift of death" that only the Man has as the youngest of the children of Iluvatar. Particularly mixed in with the references to how later generations of Lorien's people grew old and died, while the oldest did not. Very "golden age" type mythology, there, but hey - that's why it's mythology.
Londo finally figures out here that, hey, Morden lied to him. I'm glad to know that did finally come out - I'd forgotten, and was sort of worried he wasn't going to twig to it. And then he begs Vir to kill him to protect Centauri Prime. Oh, Londo. You're such a jerk, but you're also such a squishy. ♥ Good thing the Vorlons fighting the Shadows choose that exact moment to call out for reinforcements and the planet-killer ships decide it's more important to go help them right away then to take the time to blow one more planet to dust first.
All of which leads us up to the final confrontation between Delenn and Sheridan and the Vorlons and Shadows. In the spirit of full disclosure, I was not all that impressed by this the first time I saw the series - it felt hokey and cheap, like they couldn't figure out what to do or something, but... honestly, I think the whole thing comes off much better now that I'm older. Or possibly it comes off better with three glasses of red wine. Not sure which was the bigger factor, but, either way, I liked it much better this time. I find it interesting that the Vorlons talk to John (presumably because of his connection to Kosh) and use no speaker on their behalf other than a woman frozen in ice - wouldn't he perhaps be more receptive if they were to use the image of Kosh, or even his father, as Kosh has appeared to him before?
Meanwhile, the Shadows speak to Delenn in the form of first Ivanova ("Growth through pain and struggle, conflict and war. You of all people should understand this," she says here, and isn't that the truth... sort of. As always with the Shadows, it's a part of the truth, but it's also a really interesting point in the direction of where Delenn is coming from here and why, perhaps, the Shadows have chosen her to convince. Although in reality there's some assumption that of course they picked her because Sheridan had already been grabbed by the Vorlons), then Franklin, then Lennier, then Marcus, and then a mirror image of herself. It's interesting that the Vorlons don't change at all to talk to Sheridan, but that the Vorlons, like they always do, speak through the mouths of others. And of course when we do finally get them speaking for themselves, they speak with Morden's voice. Awww. He was their favorite, wasn't he? ♥
From the guide: "Feels like the magic's gone," Sheridan comments.
"No," Delenn tells him. "Not gone. Now we make our own magic. Now we create our own legends. Now we build the future. Now we stop..."
"...being afraid of shadows," Sheridan finishes.
That about covers it. We're done fighting legends... now we have to fight real people. Civil war, in-fighting, and building up from what remains.
The Long Night
Inconsistency: We find out here that Susan's mother killed herself when she was young enough to be playing with dolls (the number 10 is sticking in my head, but I might be making that up), whereas earlier in the 2nd season, we heard that she was old enough that she was doing her mother's hair in curlers and so on. Um. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let a kid that age (10 or whatever - most people don't play with dolls much past the age of about 13, I don't think, though I could be wrong about that...) put curlers in my hair. Hell, I don't trust myself with curlers. But that's another issue altogether.
"Londo killed Aaaaagh!" I love this conversation between Londo and Vir. It has just the right level of serious concern, gallows humor, and an edge of hysteria. ♥ And, as before, I cheered when Vir killed Cartagia. And again when he waved at Morden's disembodied head. Yay, Vir! And then immediately poor Vir, because he feels so damned guilty about the whole thing, and I just love that about him.
The Boy is upset at Morden being gone now, and that made me think - we really do lose two of our best villains in this single episode. Cartagia and Morden were both fun, horrible, compelling characters who were interesting and appalling at the same time, and they had great chemistry with our heroes. Or, well, mostly with Londo. But I always rather liked when Morden interacted with everyone else, too. Oh well. It's the move from the personal to the impersonal, I guess, as we head into the battle with Earth's forces under Clark.
Tangential to everything but my love of the character, I wonder how much manipulation and calling-in of favors was required for Marcus to be the one to shuttle Lorien over to the White Star? He's so matter-of-fact about it, but I can't help thinking he wouldn't want to be anywhere but with her. And then, of course, every time we see them there on the bridge in the middle of battle, I can have horrible flash-forwards! Yay! *Headdesk*
Into the Fire
Lorien talking about the transitory blessings of friendship, love, and so on, and how "You should embrace that remarkable illusion. [...] It may be the greatest gift your race has ever received" reminds me very much of the "gift of death" that only the Man has as the youngest of the children of Iluvatar. Particularly mixed in with the references to how later generations of Lorien's people grew old and died, while the oldest did not. Very "golden age" type mythology, there, but hey - that's why it's mythology.
Londo finally figures out here that, hey, Morden lied to him. I'm glad to know that did finally come out - I'd forgotten, and was sort of worried he wasn't going to twig to it. And then he begs Vir to kill him to protect Centauri Prime. Oh, Londo. You're such a jerk, but you're also such a squishy. ♥ Good thing the Vorlons fighting the Shadows choose that exact moment to call out for reinforcements and the planet-killer ships decide it's more important to go help them right away then to take the time to blow one more planet to dust first.
All of which leads us up to the final confrontation between Delenn and Sheridan and the Vorlons and Shadows. In the spirit of full disclosure, I was not all that impressed by this the first time I saw the series - it felt hokey and cheap, like they couldn't figure out what to do or something, but... honestly, I think the whole thing comes off much better now that I'm older. Or possibly it comes off better with three glasses of red wine. Not sure which was the bigger factor, but, either way, I liked it much better this time. I find it interesting that the Vorlons talk to John (presumably because of his connection to Kosh) and use no speaker on their behalf other than a woman frozen in ice - wouldn't he perhaps be more receptive if they were to use the image of Kosh, or even his father, as Kosh has appeared to him before?
Meanwhile, the Shadows speak to Delenn in the form of first Ivanova ("Growth through pain and struggle, conflict and war. You of all people should understand this," she says here, and isn't that the truth... sort of. As always with the Shadows, it's a part of the truth, but it's also a really interesting point in the direction of where Delenn is coming from here and why, perhaps, the Shadows have chosen her to convince. Although in reality there's some assumption that of course they picked her because Sheridan had already been grabbed by the Vorlons), then Franklin, then Lennier, then Marcus, and then a mirror image of herself. It's interesting that the Vorlons don't change at all to talk to Sheridan, but that the Vorlons, like they always do, speak through the mouths of others. And of course when we do finally get them speaking for themselves, they speak with Morden's voice. Awww. He was their favorite, wasn't he? ♥
From the guide: "Feels like the magic's gone," Sheridan comments.
"No," Delenn tells him. "Not gone. Now we make our own magic. Now we create our own legends. Now we build the future. Now we stop..."
"...being afraid of shadows," Sheridan finishes.
That about covers it. We're done fighting legends... now we have to fight real people. Civil war, in-fighting, and building up from what remains.
