more of s5
Aug. 31st, 2010 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseContinuing with "Strange Relations" and moving onward through "A Tragedy of Telepaths," with comments stretching outward before and after.
Continuing with Strange Relations
One thing I meant to mention last time and didn't have time to really do justice comes out of the end of the prior episode (I really am getting messed up in this, aren't I? Although I'd argue it's fair to talk about it here since here is where it actually comes out at last...) - Delenn's upset over finding out that Lochley was married to Sheridan. First off, to butcher a little Shakespeare, methinks the lady doth protest too much. It's pretty rich for Delenn to be all "YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME TEN SECONDS AFTER YOU THOUGHT OF IT!" at John about his having been married twenty-some years ago, when, um, hello? Directed the attempted genocide of her husband's race? Also, it's strange to me that Delenn would be jealous at all. She's normally pretty damned confident of her relationship with John... or at least she used to be. I get a little bit of the "women are jealous after you marry them!" vibe from this. Might be unfair, but that's what I'm getting.
Secrets of the Soul
Skipped this one. Apparently this was a prescient move on my part, as it appears from the Guide to be the episode with Byron and Lyta getting it on while all the other telepaths watch creepily through a flimsy curtain. They're such a fun bunch.
Day of the Dead
Hooray, an actually good episode! ♥ I was really afraid this one wouldn't live up to my memories of it, but it totally did. Penn and Teller were quite charming and amusing as Rebo and Zooty (although my opinion of the comic duo is still closer to Lochley's than to Sheridan's), and the cameos by the dead were all very touching and interesting. Props to Gaiman for making us care about Zoe (and Lochley, too) in such a short amount of time - she wasn't quite as gut-wrenching as, say, Adira or Dodger, but she was still an interesting and touching bit of the episode, and I think it was really important to us having a better understanding of Lochley's character. The all-too-brief scene between Delenn and Lennier also always makes me wobbly.
Dodger is pretty much my favorite one-shot character of the series... which is a bit amusing considering how little I like Garibaldi by this point in the series. He's just such a pain in the ass. Here's this funny, smart, gorgeous woman (...with legs, man, serious legs) who has, gee, come back from the dead just to hang out with you? And he's all "oh, have I told you about LIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSEE? MY LOVE? Who is NOT HERE AT ALL?" I would have so much more respect for Garibaldi if he weren't always going on about Lise. She's an idiot. And also, not nearly as fun or attractive as Dodger. So there.
I made so many cracks about good eating in the afterlife last time that I was rather shocked this time to discover that Morden didn't particularly look different than I remembered him. A little filled out around the edges, perhaps, but I think a large part of the difference I saw last time might have been switching from watching episodes on my tiny computer screen to watching it on our upstairs TV at the old house... which tended to have graphic problems. Go figure.
I can't help noticing (thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
icepixie that the poem Dodger recites as her example of Emily Dickinson's poems being sing-able to "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is actually a Millay poem, not Dickinson at all. The one Garibaldi tries is Dickinson, at least. And I've heard that trick actually works, too. And Dodger's parting quote, "Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell" is apparently Dickinson as well.
Also, I had the charming experience of The Boy turning to me and being all "so, do we get Marcus back, then?!" and getting all excited. "No," I said. "Who would he come for?" "Um. Lennier?" "....No, he gets someone else..." "Well, what about Franklin, then? They were BFF!" "No, not him, either...."
It's nice to have someone else to share the pain with.
In the Kingdom of the Blind
The Centauri are still bastards (except Londo, for a change, and also his one friend who is dead), and G'Kar is still totally bad-ass. His whole thing in the court with the guard who whipped him made me want to cheer.
A Tragedy of Telepaths
Na'Toth is back!!! ♥ And it's the real Na'Toth, too! I wanted to hug her and feed her cookies. Also, G'Kar is bad-ass. Anyone who hasn't noticed that by now hasn't been paying attention. And I still love the way they get Na'Toth off Centauri Prime. It's silly, but clever, and Londo is terribly entertaining when he's pretending to be drunk off his ass.
Phoenix Rising
Ding dong, Byron's dead! *Dances*
There was a FABULOUS groan of horror from The Boy when he started singing, there at the end. I may have let out a little shriek of rage and frustration, as well. But, by god, he's gone now, hooray! I won't have to put up with him again until the next time I drag someone through the series. ♥♥♥
And from here on out, if I remember correctly, the episodes get much better. Or, you know, possibly stay approximately as good but are worlds better from my POV by virtue of not having Bester. Which is pretty much the same thing, in the end.
ALSO: I forget which episode it's in, but when the telepaths sneakily get the goods on all the ambassadors, I love the reactions of Our Heroes. Sheridan has this fantastic "OHSHIT" look that makes me wonder what the hell he's hiding from everyone (seriously, a boy-scout like Sheridan? What is he hiding?), and Delenn. Oh, Delenn. Suddenly, she is very sympathetic to the telepaths' desire for their own homeworld! She thinks it would be a very good idea indeed to go along with them! It's morally right! This has absolutely nothing, NOTHING, to do with the fact that she's afraid Byron is going to walk up to Sheridan and say "Yeah, your wife, Delenn? Totally started the war against Earth. She's the one who swayed the Council to war, and she's the one who told them to have no mercy."
She's not thinking of this at all, you guys. It's the morality of thing. She's just trying to do what's right!
Continuing with Strange Relations
One thing I meant to mention last time and didn't have time to really do justice comes out of the end of the prior episode (I really am getting messed up in this, aren't I? Although I'd argue it's fair to talk about it here since here is where it actually comes out at last...) - Delenn's upset over finding out that Lochley was married to Sheridan. First off, to butcher a little Shakespeare, methinks the lady doth protest too much. It's pretty rich for Delenn to be all "YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME TEN SECONDS AFTER YOU THOUGHT OF IT!" at John about his having been married twenty-some years ago, when, um, hello? Directed the attempted genocide of her husband's race? Also, it's strange to me that Delenn would be jealous at all. She's normally pretty damned confident of her relationship with John... or at least she used to be. I get a little bit of the "women are jealous after you marry them!" vibe from this. Might be unfair, but that's what I'm getting.
Secrets of the Soul
Skipped this one. Apparently this was a prescient move on my part, as it appears from the Guide to be the episode with Byron and Lyta getting it on while all the other telepaths watch creepily through a flimsy curtain. They're such a fun bunch.
Day of the Dead
Hooray, an actually good episode! ♥ I was really afraid this one wouldn't live up to my memories of it, but it totally did. Penn and Teller were quite charming and amusing as Rebo and Zooty (although my opinion of the comic duo is still closer to Lochley's than to Sheridan's), and the cameos by the dead were all very touching and interesting. Props to Gaiman for making us care about Zoe (and Lochley, too) in such a short amount of time - she wasn't quite as gut-wrenching as, say, Adira or Dodger, but she was still an interesting and touching bit of the episode, and I think it was really important to us having a better understanding of Lochley's character. The all-too-brief scene between Delenn and Lennier also always makes me wobbly.
Dodger is pretty much my favorite one-shot character of the series... which is a bit amusing considering how little I like Garibaldi by this point in the series. He's just such a pain in the ass. Here's this funny, smart, gorgeous woman (...with legs, man, serious legs) who has, gee, come back from the dead just to hang out with you? And he's all "oh, have I told you about LIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSEE? MY LOVE? Who is NOT HERE AT ALL?" I would have so much more respect for Garibaldi if he weren't always going on about Lise. She's an idiot. And also, not nearly as fun or attractive as Dodger. So there.
I made so many cracks about good eating in the afterlife last time that I was rather shocked this time to discover that Morden didn't particularly look different than I remembered him. A little filled out around the edges, perhaps, but I think a large part of the difference I saw last time might have been switching from watching episodes on my tiny computer screen to watching it on our upstairs TV at the old house... which tended to have graphic problems. Go figure.
I can't help noticing (thanks to
icepixie that the poem Dodger recites as her example of Emily Dickinson's poems being sing-able to "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is actually a Millay poem, not Dickinson at all. The one Garibaldi tries is Dickinson, at least. And I've heard that trick actually works, too. And Dodger's parting quote, "Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell" is apparently Dickinson as well. Also, I had the charming experience of The Boy turning to me and being all "so, do we get Marcus back, then?!" and getting all excited. "No," I said. "Who would he come for?" "Um. Lennier?" "....No, he gets someone else..." "Well, what about Franklin, then? They were BFF!" "No, not him, either...."
It's nice to have someone else to share the pain with.
In the Kingdom of the Blind
The Centauri are still bastards (except Londo, for a change, and also his one friend who is dead), and G'Kar is still totally bad-ass. His whole thing in the court with the guard who whipped him made me want to cheer.
A Tragedy of Telepaths
Na'Toth is back!!! ♥ And it's the real Na'Toth, too! I wanted to hug her and feed her cookies. Also, G'Kar is bad-ass. Anyone who hasn't noticed that by now hasn't been paying attention. And I still love the way they get Na'Toth off Centauri Prime. It's silly, but clever, and Londo is terribly entertaining when he's pretending to be drunk off his ass.
Phoenix Rising
Ding dong, Byron's dead! *Dances*
There was a FABULOUS groan of horror from The Boy when he started singing, there at the end. I may have let out a little shriek of rage and frustration, as well. But, by god, he's gone now, hooray! I won't have to put up with him again until the next time I drag someone through the series. ♥♥♥
And from here on out, if I remember correctly, the episodes get much better. Or, you know, possibly stay approximately as good but are worlds better from my POV by virtue of not having Bester. Which is pretty much the same thing, in the end.
ALSO: I forget which episode it's in, but when the telepaths sneakily get the goods on all the ambassadors, I love the reactions of Our Heroes. Sheridan has this fantastic "OHSHIT" look that makes me wonder what the hell he's hiding from everyone (seriously, a boy-scout like Sheridan? What is he hiding?), and Delenn. Oh, Delenn. Suddenly, she is very sympathetic to the telepaths' desire for their own homeworld! She thinks it would be a very good idea indeed to go along with them! It's morally right! This has absolutely nothing, NOTHING, to do with the fact that she's afraid Byron is going to walk up to Sheridan and say "Yeah, your wife, Delenn? Totally started the war against Earth. She's the one who swayed the Council to war, and she's the one who told them to have no mercy."
She's not thinking of this at all, you guys. It's the morality of thing. She's just trying to do what's right!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:49 pm (UTC)I cannot express how disappoint I was when I realized that Delenn was not in the meeting dead people part of the station in Day of the Dead. I don't care about stupid Garibaldi boo. >:(
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 05:33 am (UTC)(That last point comes from The Boy, who has taken the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot angle of the three of their relationships to heart and no doubt expects lurid payoff of some sort from it. But I think there's a kernel of truth in there, still.)
And oh god, Delenn should have been in the Brakiri part of the station. I am convinced that she would have had a lovely heart-to-heart with Dukhat. Absolutely convinced. And it would have been awesome.