B5: Season 5, Episodes 13-16

[icepixie]

Once Byron and his crew went away, this show got MUCH, MUCH BETTER. That the Alliance is crashing down around everyone's ears is heartbreaking, but it makes for some pretty awesome storytelling nonetheless.

The Corps Is Mother, the Corps Is Father
- No, the Psi Corps building isn't creepy at all...

- I wonder if the telepaths not speaking telepathically among themselves was merely a courtesy to the actors or if there's a story-related reason for it.

- ...They really shouldn't have tried to visualize/FXize that training exercise.

- Gordon Gordon! Well, not really. But hee.

- OMG, when that blonde lady came into the room to tell them something was wrong, I totally thought it was Talia. She had the same hairstyle, and it was kind of dim in there. I'm still not her biggest fan, but I got a little excited there.

- Telepaths are a bunch of Stockholm syndromers, aren't they?

- AAAAAUUUUUGHHHHH LITTLE GIRL YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLY CREEPY GAAAAAH. HE'S NOT FIFTY YEARS OLDER THAN YOU OR YOUR INSTRUCTOR OR ANYTHING. (Yeah, so, since I became a TA? MASSIVE, MASSIVE SQUICK at teacher/student sexual relationships. MASS. IVE.)

- *snort* Bester's expression. He's all OH, GODDAMN IT when he hears he has to go back to B5.

- Calculus FOUR-B?

- Aaaand the Psi Corps is the mafia. "We deal with it within the family."

- OMG, Psi Corps mothership hiding out in hyperspace. The Vorlons made them, and now they have become the Vorlons.

- "Annexing the Sudetenland?" Aw, Zack's been reading up on Earth history! He was so not into it back in season three.

- Hello, casino! It's been two years since we saw you!

- That kid's awfully gleeful about putting unstable telepaths away. I guess she's just the right kind of sociopath for the Psicops.

- And then she got creepy again with the backrub. EW, EW, EW.

- Well, that ending...wasn't terribly surprising, actually.

Meditations on the Abyss
- ...Delenn secretly goes clubbing because her marriage is boring? (Sorry.)

- Heh, Delenn's starting a barfight. Fabulous.

- Lennier!

- Oh, Lennier. You and your unrequited love. :(

- "McBari's. With the golden headbones." Okay, that was cheap but hilarious.

- Yay, Vir gets a promotion!

- Ow, my head hurts from the anvil that was dropped on it. So that promise will come back to bite the Alliance in the ass, yes?

- Aussie Minbari!

- Aw, I liked G'Kar with one blue eye. He was cool-looking.

- G'Kar's study session totally reminds me of Raphael's School of Athens, but with leather instead of togas.

- Both the lamp and river metaphors were awesome. G'Kar is wonderful.

- BWAHAHAHAHA! Yay, Vir! You show them!

- Oh, Findel. You and Marcus would've had a lot to talk about.

- Er...it's the Minbari Dead Poets' Society?

- I'm guessing that conspicuously empty place at the table is for Michael.

- Yep. Oh, Michael. *sigh*

Darkness Ascending
- That's a rather impressive gun dream!Garibaldi has...

- Uh...Lyta? That's...not creepy or anything...

- Bleh, Lise.

- DUN DUN DUN! People! For the love of God, get a damn DOOR for your covert conversations! This is like the fifth time someone has heard a conversation they shouldn't have for purposes of the plot!

- ...Did Lyta grow her hair out in memory of Byron?

- Lise finding the bottle in 3...2...1...

- So you're going to let whiskey control you instead?

- AWKWARD. I guess this is the problem inherent in marrying your co-leader...

- "My pleasure threshold? I don't have one." AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. Okay, I may have just found the one pairing on this show I don't ship. *shudder* That was...I...yeah. NOT SO MUCH.

- Damn, that waiter was pushy, wasn't he?

- So how did the Centauri on that warship not detect Lennier breaking into their hull and stealing their air? (So many things happened in this episode for the sake of plot!)

- Aw, Delenn. Heh, she knows her sci-fi tropes; "He's not dead until we see a body." Classic! (And hey, even then! Lennier could always join Marcus in the cryo facility...)

- Dude, G'Kar. That's pretty crafty.

- LENNIER! Yay, you're back!

And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder
- Just from the similarity in title to "Severed Dreams," I had a feeling this one would be momentous. And very sad for everyone. (Well, you know, there was Garibaldi's statement about being at war with the Centauri in the last episode. Details, details...)

- Sheridan and Delenn never actually sleep, do they? We see them in bed a lot, and they're always getting woken up by something.

- I for one was very happy for all the recapping that went on in this episode, because I'd kind of lost track of who knew what and when.

- Oh DEAR. *watches dreams being torn asunder*

- Urk. Will G'Kar never see them again? That sounded an awful lot like a goodbye to Delenn.

- Ummm, as I recall, Michael, you did say something to Zack about Nightwatch...

- Zack is being a bit melodramatic there...

- Aw, now that the have NATO, they're going to get involved in a Cold War with the Centauri. :(

- "You can rely on me." Why do I get the impression he can't?

- One thing I really like about scenes on Centauri Prime is the lighting design. It's very different from the station lighting (since they're simulating natural light), and very pretty.

- ...Garibaldi, did you just start a war? *sigh*

- Alliance go boom. :(

- "They will never put their prime minister in prison!" ..."Shut up." *snerk*

- "So many candles will go out tonight. I wonder some days if we can see anything at all." I think this quote has gotten some common cultural currency. I know I've heard it before divorced from its context (thinking it was awesome even without it). Wish I could remember where.

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Both the lamp and river metaphors were awesome. G'Kar is wonderful.

The lamp! That's the one I told you about. LOVE THAT. Like I say, I got more spirituality out of this show than I ever got from church up to that point, and that's part of why. Love that speech. (Can't remember the river, though...)

G'Kar rocks.

[icepixie]

The lamp! That's the one I told you about. LOVE THAT.

It is really, really cool.

Like I say, I got more spirituality out of this show than I ever got from church up to that point, and that's part of why.

Myself, I'm thinking half-seriously of converting to the Minbari religion. Perhaps I could start a movement.

(Can't remember the river, though...)

The Narns are still badgering him for an answer to What is truth/God, and G'Kar finally gets exasperated and says, "The truth is a river. God is the mouth of the river." I thought that was pretty nifty.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Myself, I'm thinking half-seriously of converting to the Minbari religion. Perhaps I could start a movement.

I could probably be persuaded to join you. Though I'd want a healthy dose of G'Kar in there, too. I am fascinated by the fact that all this was developed by an atheist.

G'Kar finally gets exasperated and says, "The truth is a river. God is the mouth of the river."

Ahh, bells now ringing in my head. Might have to get out the DVDs sometime soon...

[icepixie]

I could probably be persuaded to join you. Though I'd want a healthy dose of G'Kar in there, too.

Church of G'Kar, Minbari chapter?

I am fascinated by the fact that all this was developed by an atheist.

Why? Do you find it more surprising than if it had been developed by someone affiliated with a particular religion? (I personally am less surprised that it comes from an aetheist--if you're not beholden to one particular faith, I would imagine making up faiths becomes easier.)

Ahh, bells now ringing in my head. Might have to get out the DVDs sometime soon...

You should! Myself, I'm thinking a rewatch as soon as I finish with the first run-through. I know I've missed things along the way...

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Church of G'Kar, Minbari chapter?

Absolutely!!

personally am less surprised that it comes from an aetheist--if you're not beholden to one particular faith, I would imagine making up faiths becomes easier.

Because generally speaking, one doesn't usually think of atheists as being as interested/educated in religion as JMS probably is (he has to be to have come up with all the things he did--you just can't make that stuff up in a vacuum, at least not to that level of detail). Thus I wouldn't say I agree with you exactly, but I do think that it's easier for an atheist to look at a variety of different faiths for what they are, without bias, and to see what's good about them all, what's useful, etc. Still, it's more of a general perception thing, which in my case may come from growing up in a town where the local atheist regularly sent inflammatory letters to the editor to piss all the religious folks off. When I think "atheist," that's the first image that pops into my mind, right or wrong. It's a shame the term has such a stigma when the simple lack of belief in a deity doesn't automatically mean you're an asshole.

And I poked around YT this afternoon and found that bit pretty easily, so no need for the DVDs right this minute (though I'm tempted to get them out and spend next week mainlining as much as I can, from the beginning, until I can't see straight...).

[icepixie]

Absolutely!!

I think both religious views might actually work together better than I was thinking--the Minbari think the universe has broken itself up into parts, including us, in order to understand itself; G'Kar's lamp metaphor is the path to that understanding.

Because generally speaking, one doesn't usually think of atheists as being as interested/educated in religion as JMS probably is (he has to be to have come up with all the things he did--you just can't make that stuff up in a vacuum, at least not to that level of detail).

Hmmm. I guess a lot of people probably do think of atheists as not being interested in religion. In my experience, though, most atheists come to that position through a lengthy questioning process and exploration of various faiths. (Of course, I do hang around with academics. My sample is not necessarily representative of the rest of the nation.)

It's a shame the term has such a stigma when the simple lack of belief in a deity doesn't automatically mean you're an asshole.

Yep. I completely agree.

(though I'm tempted to get them out and spend next week mainlining as much as I can, from the beginning, until I can't see straight...)

Dooooo iiiiiiit.... *g*

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I think both religious views might actually work together better than I was thinking

Oh, definitely!

Really, if I had to guess JMS's religious background knowing what I know now, but not knowing that he's an atheist, I'd guess he was a Unitarian Universalist. That whole questioning and exploration thing is very UU.

Dooooo iiiiiiit.... *g*

Don't worry! I am so close already! (Also, why do I not have a G'Kar icon?)