Ship of Tears - BESTER! I was totally unspoiled for him and it was an awesome shock to see him!
Delenn here is at her best, and does something which is rare in characters, no matter whether they're written as heroes or villains: she accepts full responsibility for a decision which she thought at the time - and still thinks - was justfied BUT also acknowledges the monstrous dimension of.
Ah -- thanks for pointing that out; I did admire that but hadn't really thought about its rarity.
And I deeply appreciate the raw emotional honesty of the scene with G'Kar - that he says he may forgive her one day, but not now, and she accepts that.
Really liked that scene.
...would intertwine in the reveal that telepaths can be used against the Shadows?
Not me! That was really neat.
It also answers one question about Bester - is there anything he wouldn't do to achieve his goals? Handing over telepaths to the Shadows is beyond his personal line, it seems.
Huh. I don't disagree, but I think I think about it slightly differently -- like, this is all very consistent with what I've seen of Bester; he's intensely tribal, where his tribe is human telepaths, not non-telepath human beings, and definitely not aliens. (Cf his line about that drug that induces telepathy and how it should be back with humans where it belongs.) So to give telepaths to the Shadows is basically just the kind of means that basically negates the ends he's working towards. Those ends are distasteful and whatever the psi equivalent of racist is, but they do mean he defies the Shadows, so it means that for now he's working on the side of Our Heroes.
(The way Walter Koenig plays his shock doesn't come across as Bester faking this for Sheridan's benefit.)
Yeah, that was not a fakeout. Koenig! That was an awesome bit of acting.
and while I don't think he knows Ivanova is a latent (low level) telepath, her mother was one, so he might be able to guess that she has at least the ability to notice when she's being scanned.
Ohhhh! Right, he did even mention her mom in that scene! So he must have guessed that, even if he doesn't know for sure.
Interludes and Examinations
I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING AT ALL. I didn't pay enough attention to Kosh being Merlin, I suppose -- I thought of him as Elrond or Galadriel, I guess? They don't die! They just fade out into the West! I was really shocked by this. Though yes, once I got over my utter shock I could see how it fit into the story. But also. KOSH!!
but here, the last time he does it as he's dying, it unquestioningly comes across as heartfelt as well.
Yes! I absolutely adored that scene.
His heated conversation with Sheridan is one of those scenes that are good upon first watch
It was a really well-done scene, where JMS set it up masterfully and led me like a sheep. About two seconds before Sheridan let loose on Kosh, I was like, "...You know, do the Vorlons ever do anything or do they just sit around while everyone else does stuff?" and then of course Sheridan said the same thing, so I was nodding in agreement, and then with Kosh getting violent I thought, aha, we're seeing the dark side of the Vorlons, like Jack the Ripper, and I was with Sheridan all the way -- and, well, that was another part of why I didn't see it coming!
And then Adira! She definitely did not deserve that.
Also, Londo not even considering Morden as a suspect (instead of Refa) still baffles me upon the nth rewatch, and I can barely fanwank it by declaring it's Londo's inner traditionalist who thinks of death by poison as something only aristocratic Centauri do to each other.
I also wondered why he didn't consider Morden. My fanwank was that he already had the idea in his head that Refa would be declaring revenge -- sort of like how G'Kar, on hearing that Narns had been attacked, was all "LONDO!!" even though he had no actual evidence that Londo was involved, and not, say, the Emperor, even though that might actually have made more sense. Of course, G'Kar was right and Londo was not, but I think that was luck.
It's also interesting that Morden doesn't just cut his losses early in the epsiode... kills Londo and bets on Refa (and Cartagia) then acting in a Shadow-friendly manner.
I kind of headcanon Morden as someone who likes solutions that maximize chaos and suffering. Why kill Londo when you could by killing Adira instead both make Londo suffer and sow dissension bewteen Refa and Londo? Weakens Centauri government for free!
Also, yay for Garibaldi finally pushing Franklin, omg.
no subject
Delenn here is at her best, and does something which is rare in characters, no matter whether they're written as heroes or villains: she accepts full responsibility for a decision which she thought at the time - and still thinks - was justfied BUT also acknowledges the monstrous dimension of.
Ah -- thanks for pointing that out; I did admire that but hadn't really thought about its rarity.
And I deeply appreciate the raw emotional honesty of the scene with G'Kar - that he says he may forgive her one day, but not now, and she accepts that.
Really liked that scene.
...would intertwine in the reveal that telepaths can be used against the Shadows?
Not me! That was really neat.
It also answers one question about Bester - is there anything he wouldn't do to achieve his goals? Handing over telepaths to the Shadows is beyond his personal line, it seems.
Huh. I don't disagree, but I think I think about it slightly differently -- like, this is all very consistent with what I've seen of Bester; he's intensely tribal, where his tribe is human telepaths, not non-telepath human beings, and definitely not aliens. (Cf his line about that drug that induces telepathy and how it should be back with humans where it belongs.) So to give telepaths to the Shadows is basically just the kind of means that basically negates the ends he's working towards. Those ends are distasteful and whatever the psi equivalent of racist is, but they do mean he defies the Shadows, so it means that for now he's working on the side of Our Heroes.
(The way Walter Koenig plays his shock doesn't come across as Bester faking this for Sheridan's benefit.)
Yeah, that was not a fakeout. Koenig! That was an awesome bit of acting.
and while I don't think he knows Ivanova is a latent (low level) telepath, her mother was one, so he might be able to guess that she has at least the ability to notice when she's being scanned.
Ohhhh! Right, he did even mention her mom in that scene! So he must have guessed that, even if he doesn't know for sure.
Interludes and Examinations
I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING AT ALL. I didn't pay enough attention to Kosh being Merlin, I suppose -- I thought of him as Elrond or Galadriel, I guess? They don't die! They just fade out into the West! I was really shocked by this. Though yes, once I got over my utter shock I could see how it fit into the story. But also. KOSH!!
but here, the last time he does it as he's dying, it unquestioningly comes across as heartfelt as well.
Yes! I absolutely adored that scene.
His heated conversation with Sheridan is one of those scenes that are good upon first watch
It was a really well-done scene, where JMS set it up masterfully and led me like a sheep. About two seconds before Sheridan let loose on Kosh, I was like, "...You know, do the Vorlons ever do anything or do they just sit around while everyone else does stuff?" and then of course Sheridan said the same thing, so I was nodding in agreement, and then with Kosh getting violent I thought, aha, we're seeing the dark side of the Vorlons, like Jack the Ripper, and I was with Sheridan all the way -- and, well, that was another part of why I didn't see it coming!
And then Adira! She definitely did not deserve that.
Also, Londo not even considering Morden as a suspect (instead of Refa) still baffles me upon the nth rewatch, and I can barely fanwank it by declaring it's Londo's inner traditionalist who thinks of death by poison as something only aristocratic Centauri do to each other.
I also wondered why he didn't consider Morden. My fanwank was that he already had the idea in his head that Refa would be declaring revenge -- sort of like how G'Kar, on hearing that Narns had been attacked, was all "LONDO!!" even though he had no actual evidence that Londo was involved, and not, say, the Emperor, even though that might actually have made more sense. Of course, G'Kar was right and Londo was not, but I think that was luck.
It's also interesting that Morden doesn't just cut his losses early in the epsiode... kills Londo and bets on Refa (and Cartagia) then acting in a Shadow-friendly manner.
I kind of headcanon Morden as someone who likes solutions that maximize chaos and suffering. Why kill Londo when you could by killing Adira instead both make Londo suffer and sow dissension bewteen Refa and Londo? Weakens Centauri government for free!
Also, yay for Garibaldi finally pushing Franklin, omg.