The Babylon 5 First-Timer's Watch Log.
Rumors, Bargains and Lies
Aaand we open on the firm belief that Sheridan is not connected to the same reality everyone else is.
...Given that Sheridan is apparently bent on doing that for this entire episode, we shall ignore him and focus on Delenn. Delenn is awesome. And she didn't break the Council, the Warriors did that by breaking the balance in it in the first place; she just made sure it didn't benefit them. And now we get to watch her starting to stitch it back together. Only stronger than before. Have I said Delenn is awesome yet? Delenn is awesome.
Please tell me she knew about the bomb and Lennier dismantled it because that would make her speech to the religious lot twice as awesome.
Lennier DID know. And he is ULTRA awesome. Please don't let him die.
(Sheridan, really. Reverse psychology does not go that far. It really doesn't. Except when the writing is bad, and IT IS BAD, OH MY EYES. WOW is this badly written. Really, really amazingly badly written.)
Moments of Transition
Hello Garibaldi. Do you ever get the feeling you've made a deal with a rather brighter devil than Morden was?
Sheridan, the only one who has no faith in Delenn is you. Knock it off.
OMG EVIL!CHEKOV! HI EVIL CHEKOV! HOW I HAVE MISSED YOOOOOU.
Garibaldi, disobedience to the law is not an equal offense. This is why there is something called 'the spirit of the law'. It's what makes disobedience the right thing to do, or the wrong thing to do, depending on circumstances.
Mmm. Delenn? Surrender? Not without a trick up her sleeve.
And I have to say...if Sheridan was so fucking stupid as to not add the Rogue Telepath to the payroll, given his deep distrust of Psi Corps, then he really does not deserve Lyta's loyalty and Bester's offer is one hell of a good offer for her to take. (Have I mentioned how much I want to bitchslap every human on this show for their reactions to telepaths? I REALLY WANT TO BITCHSLAP EVERY HUMAN ON THIS SHOW FOR THEIR REACTIONS TO TELEPATHS.)
On that note, while Zack is well intentioned he is really not that bright. And why is it the B5 staff are always the ones asking telepaths to do flatly unethical and illegal things? I mean couldn't they at least treat the telepaths better if they want them to go darkside?
(That said I still love Evil CHekov and anything he gets into. He's like Vir in that there is no episode in which he appears that there is not boundless joy.)
And Delenn did it. Ooooh she did it well. See that Sheridan? Snickering over your really bad attempts at reverse psychology? DELENN DID IT BETTER AND DID IT RIGHT, YOU DINGUS.
...and the episode ends with Sheridan going full on zealot. On the one hand, about time. On the other, he's a fool if he thinks it will be easy or that his hands will stay clean. Of course, with the writing on this show, he may well be the Great White Hope. But if he is I will have to take time off typing this stuff up to go barf.
No Surrender, No Retreat
VIIIIR! OMG VIIIIR! SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!
Is it weird that this is the first episode I've actually wanted to see fic about? What Sheridan's saying is something all the beings present really know; that there are basically two factions of Humans, and one of them aided while the other hid. Sheridan's just saying "We, the faction that aided you, want you to basically stay out of this", which...really there is no reason for any of the races present to argue about. Earthgov maaaay be powerful (we haven't actually seen them in action vis a vis other races during the whole run of the show so that's kind of guesswork) but B5 has actually got Vorlonbebe ships and has actually been using them. It seems like a no brainer. Yet I'd love to get an idea of what the aliens think is actually going on. If there's any reason they WOULDN'T simply regard this as a human-internal matter.
Oh gods. The talk. The talk between G'Kar and Londo. On the one hand, I can understand why Londo feels he needs to tell G'Kar that something has changed. On the other, I swear I keep sighing and growling "check your privelege" at the screen, because Londo is genuinely comparing his hardships to G'Kar's and that is so very wrong...even though I can see that Londo has nothing else to compare G'Kar's hardships to BUT his own sufferings. Had I the skill I would screencap THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION for an example of "why when priveleged group supports oppressed group, they still should not in any way attempt to speak FOR oppressed group, just sit back and hand 'em the megaphone." Cos wow.
Mmm. Okay. This one...I really wish I had a military lawyer I could talk to about it. Because I've seen media that pushes this question either way; either soldiers must decide the morality of an order before they obey it, or they must obey orders, however immoral, and it's their commanders who take responsibility. I'm not actually sure which one of these is accurate for the US military in law or practice. I'd like to believe it's the first option, but ...let's just say I don't have shit tons of faith in the military.
Either way...welcome to the hell that is civil war, Sheridan. There's a reason sane people don't go in for it.
The Exercise of Vital Powers
you know, I HAD been going to say "It's great we're actually seeing battles now, the way we really didn't for nearly all the other wars that've been going on throughout this show's run", but as this episode opens with saying "oh we've just liberated all these other places" I think I have to retract that compliment.
And then we switch to Garibaldi. Who...isn't making a lot of sense, to be honest. I mean yes. I get being Worried about the effects of coming back from the dead. But Sheridan marching against Earth? THAT was freaking inevitable. That has fuckall to do with Sheridan being brought back from the dead and everything to do with that is how Clark has set the board. There are only a few possible reactions to Clark's actions. You can resist (in which case you NEED an army, or you will DIE) or you can submit. And Garibaldi already knew Sheridan wasn't going to submit...so sooner or later it was going to BE a fight. There's nothing at all mystic about that.
If Garibaldi were making sense, he'd be worrying "will Sheridan give the power back once he's taken Clark out". Because THAT is a really, REALLY valid fear if you're of the mind that Sheridan's believing his own hype. But freaking out that Sheridan's taken up arms against Clark now that the rest of the galaxy is behaving...no, there's nothing the least bit weird or even unexpected about that.
I am, AGAIN, Bothered As Fuck about the treatment of telepaths on this show. Really, really bothered.
And now I'm wondering what the fucking fuck re: everything to do with the implications of the Mars economy. You have to import orange juice? Any intelligent people, building habitation domes to keep a breathable atmosphere, would've started with making sure the soil was fertile and then planting trees. A good terraforming plan would likely involve a whole freaking DOME of just plant life, a natural recycling environment as well as a handy source of fruits, vegetables, and herbivorous meat. You'd BRING those things and then maintain a habitat, because the habitat would then maintain both a breathable atmosphere and a food source YOU DON'T HAVE TO IMPORT ALL THE FUCKING WAY FROM EARTH LIKE A DAMN FOOL.
Likewise the comments about space being at a premium. Why? THERE'S A WHOLE FUCKING PLANET. Two million people shouldn't even be much of a freaking BLIP on a full planet. JUST BUILD MORE DOMES. Space should be the LEAST of your worries. What you'd have to worry about would be things you CAN'T easily grow or raise. Any minerals that Mars is short on, for example. Why the freaking hell should it be harder to get space on a full planet, with its own gravity, than it is on a space station?
ah. Now, at last, it becomes clear why Bester wasn't more actively and directly involved in the Shadow War. Clever, Evil Chekov. Clever. And frankly, honestly, while I have never really been on the Magneto side of the mutant/human divide...in this show? This universe? I'd rather see Bester in charge, and the Psi Corps. They've treated telepaths like shit this entire show. And all the shit the normal people are ranting about would make for one hell of a clear and decisive government. I'd rather see Telepaths run Earth than just about anyone else I've seen on this show. Even when they're being reacted to with extreme fear, paranoia, suspicion and high levels of jackassery, nearly every telepath seen on the show - however weak - has acted professionally and done their damndest to carry out their duty, and that's more than I can say for most of everyone else. That goes triple for the megacorps.
I have a horrible feeling Sheridan's going to wind up doing bad, bad things to the telepaths. Again.
What I want to know, really badly, right now is: with the doctor VISIBLY shaken and upset and doubting Sheridan but not verbally providing any real answers, did Lyta hold to her oath and not scan to find out what had upset him so much?
I get why Garibaldi carries a torch for Lise. I do NOT get why Lise carries a torch for Garibaldi.
*sigh* Garibaldi. THINK it through. This man is asking a lot more of you than Sheridan was. He's asking you to remove a very real force of power, and swearing he'll remove another and not talking about what would come next. He wants to wipe the board CLEAN. No Sheridan, no Clark, no telepaths. What's he admitted would be left? The megacorps. Whom you know fuckall about.
For a bright man you can be very, very stupid.
And "You're doing the right thing" is such a loaded phrase on this show it should be its own arc phrase.