B5 Rewatch: "The Coming of Shadows"

[icepixie]

The Coming of Shadows
My original reaction. Sadly, I never did teach a class on dramatic irony, so I never got to show this episode. But it would've been an EXCELLENT example.

It's weird--the first time through, everything about this episode was so immediate, and I was on the edge of my seat even though I had a shadowy idea of what was to come (see what I did there?). This time, I was much more detached, because I was busy going, "Oh, this connects to that! And that with this other thing! And this thing is totally referencing that thing that happened last season!"

Like Kosh's "[This will end] in fire." Well, yes. Four years later. And he casts a prophetic shadow over the Centauri emperor, because the Shadows and Vorlons are not so different as they would have us believe. (This time I caught the emperor noting that none of their expeditions to Vorlon space had ever returned. Hmmmmmmm.)

We also get the first mention of the Rangers, whom Sinclair describes as even more Tolkieny than I remembered, which is an achievement.

And Londo. Londo, Londo, Londo. Like rivendellrose says, this is the episode where he really can't go back. He had a choice (Vir was right about that), he made it, and now the consequences are pretty much going to last for the rest of the show. Too bad his dream didn't come a little earlier--obviously he wanted to stop the assault.

G'Kar and the emperor, on the other hand, also make choices, but get them snatched away at the last minute. Perhaps it's important to think you don't have a choice?

I feel like I should have more serious things to say about this episode, but there's not much left--it is its fantastic self, and I can do little but point and say, "Look! Fantasticness!" So I'll go with less srs bzns:

- Maybe Ivanova really just likes Centauri parties for the food? She was very interested in the buffet table at the reception for the emperor. *g*

- The Centauri Empire's government really, REALLY reminds me of Barrayar's. There's the backstabbing and plotting and strategy, court figures with more power than the monarch, the emperor getting to make very few choices of his own, and oh yes, we'll have a Mad Emperor Yuri in a couple of seasons.

- Is it canon that hair height indicates status for Centauri males? I got that impression from this episode. I'm also curious if they all wear wigs, as the emperor does. I don't think Londo's is a wig, but I'm not totally sure. (Obviously it's not Peter Jurasik's hair, but it might be supposed to be Londo's.)

Comments

[icepixie]

Re: the drink scene: I literally had trouble breathing the first time I watched that, I was so shocked at the irony. When I regained control of my lungs, all I could do was make flaily hands and moan until it was over.

It's kind of impressive, isn't it? I remembered that they were very Tolkieny, of course, but... really, the green stones even? Seriously?

Exactly. And this is before we get Marcus and his cloak and staff, even!

And yet he still swears it wasn't borrowed or homage or anything at all? Puh-leeeeeease.

He DOES? Really??? Yeah, uh, NOT SO MUCH, FRIEND.

And we don't talk about the nutball makeup artist who said that Minbari women carve theirs because that's just fucking stupid.

I heard that a while back, and wondered what kind of crack was being dealt. I can't even cut my own hair; I'm pretty sure carving a headbone would be beyond me.

I always thought they could've made the religious caste men's crests look a little more like the women's, because I can't really tell the difference between a warrior and a religious caste guy. Not that it's hugely important, but it would've been nice.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

He DOES? Really??? Yeah, uh, NOT SO MUCH, FRIEND.

I haven't run into any interviews where he's all NO NOT AT ALL NEVER EVER EVER, but in the Usenet quotes on the Lurker's Guide he made some very disparaging remarks when someone indicated something in S1 seemed like a Tolkien reference, and either then or at another time (I'm useless with this sort of thing unless I make notes) he was all "Tolkien borrowed from mythology and history, I'm just doing the same," which... might very well be convincing if he wasn't borrowing the bits that Tolkien didn't borrow from other mythology or literature.

On the other hand, it reminds me of the time Tolkien himself went off in a letter on how the Rohirrim ARE NOT Anglo-Saxons. Um. We know. They have horses. But... otherwise, their culture is Anglo-Saxon, their hall is Anglo-Saxon, and you have them speaking Anglo-Saxon. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck... yeah.

I can't even cut my own hair; I'm pretty sure carving a headbone would be beyond me.

Right there with you. I dyed my hair red for years, and I was never even brave enough to do that myself. More than that, the assumption that it would be women who would go to weird lengths to alter their bodies just kind of twigs me (although I have to say, at least the Centauri are a little bit of a nod in the other direction).

I always thought they could've made the religious caste men's crests look a little more like the women's, because I can't really tell the difference between a warrior and a religious caste guy.

And the great thing here is that I pay so damned much attention to the Minbari that I can tell you the exception to that rule - Lennier. He has this absurdly smooth (for a male) headcrest that just... it's nothing like the female crest, but it's all soft peaks, totally unlike Neroon's or Dukhat's or whatever. I'd noticed it before and had been trying to decide if it was age or caste or what that it indicated, but then in "The Long Dark Night of Londo Mollari" when he's going off to join the Rangers he's surrounded by all these Rangers and oh my god, it was like watching a baby deer with those first stubby little antlers in the middle of a whole herd of bucks. It just broke my heart how young and fragile it made him look. So, um, effective makeup design, there.

Of course, that doesn't actually answer your question - the other religious caste Minbari men that we see don't seem to have headcrests that are nearly as soft-edged as Lennier. But all of that is to say that there's some variation, and it seems to be based on age and testosterone (or the Minbari equivalent).

What's really confusing for me is that there doesn't seem to be an obvious distinction for the Worker caste, either. Unless all the Minbari we see on B5 are Religious, which... I guess could be true? But I got the impression somewhere along the line that at least some of them were Workers.

[icepixie]

I have to admit, I can't read the "JMS on Usenet" quotes they have up there. He seems very...defensive. Maybe the people he was responding to were being jerks and we just don't get to see it, but he doesn't come off well in many of the quoted responses. ("OMG, how dare you criticize without knowing this tiny bit of trivia!") And the blatant refusal to acknowledge obvious debt to Tolkien is irksome.

On the other hand, it reminds me of the time Tolkien himself went off in a letter on how the Rohirrim ARE NOT Anglo-Saxons.

He tried that? Wooooow.

More than that, the assumption that it would be women who would go to weird lengths to alter their bodies just kind of twigs me

Harrumph. Indeed. (I had actually heard that it was both genders of all castes who did such things, which makes marginally more sense, but I think it may have been fan speculation rather than from anyone involved in the production team.)

oh my god, it was like watching a baby deer with those first stubby little antlers in the middle of a whole herd of bucks

Oh, Lennier. :( I have no memory of this--I must pay better attention to it when I get to S5!

I like the idea of bone crests being based on Minbari testosterone. Actually, I find it mildly hilarious, but anyway. :D

What's really confusing for me is that there doesn't seem to be an obvious distinction for the Worker caste, either. Unless all the Minbari we see on B5 are Religious, which... I guess could be true? But I got the impression somewhere along the line that at least some of them were Workers.

Don't we see some Workers on the grey council at some point? Maybe not. What I'm beginning to wonder about is, if these bone crests are inherited and easily identify a caste, what happens to that crest when a Worker and a Religious, or some other combination, have a kid? I seem to recall that people could switch castes if they felt strongly enough about it, and there's something about the mother's caste taking precedence for the kid if it's a mixed-caste marriage, so apparently it happens. Hmmm. Maybe the bone crests are just general guidelines for classification.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Agreed - JMS comes off sounding like a total asshat in a lot of the quotes. I still skim them sometimes because I enjoy the little behind-the-scenes stories that occasionally show up, but mostly I find myself just wishing he'd shut up.

"OMG, how dare you criticize without knowing this tiny bit of trivia!"

That does very much seem to be the attitude, yes.

Re: Tolkien - I don't remember the precise quote or situation, and I suspect it may have been much less jarring in-context, but yes. My understanding was that he was having one of his "trying desperately to explain that LotR is not actually an allegory" kind of things, but still. If you're interested and like podcasts, I highly recommend the lectures and talks on this site (http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/lectures/lectures.html) - Dr. Corey Olsen of Washington College is a scholar of medieval studies and Tolkien, and he's posted his entire course on the works of Tolkien (smaller pieces through Silmarillion, Hobbit, and LotR) as well as discussions with other scholars. The website is hideous, but his lectures are entertaining and very well-informed, and I'm pretty sure he covers the whole Anglo-Saxon debacle at some point, probably in his chat with Professor Michael Drout on this page (http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/lectures/chats.html).

that it was both genders of all castes who did such things

I am totally okay with this fanon, although it does seem like rather a lot of work to do, and makes one wonder what the hell they look like when they're not being carved.

Actually, I find it mildly hilarious, but anyway. :D

Desperate and bizarre attempts to rationalize fandom weirdness - just another service I provide. :P It is a really odd mental image, isn't it?

Don't we see some Workers on the grey council at some point?

We do, after the council is dissolved and then recreated and Delenn gives them dominance, but I don't remember if we actually see them without the hoods.

What I'm beginning to wonder about is, if these bone crests are inherited and easily identify a caste, what happens to that crest when a Worker and a Religious, or some other combination, have a kid? I seem to recall that people could switch castes if they felt strongly enough about it, and there's something about the mother's caste taking precedence for the kid if it's a mixed-caste marriage, so apparently it happens.

We definitely do get the thing about people switching castes (Branmer switched from Religious to Warrior during the war with Earth), and in the same situation we do get the reference about the mother's caste taking precedence (although there was something else about family history there, too, that I don't quite remember). And I didn't mean to imply that there's an inherent difference between the crests of the three castes straight from birth - my fandomy little explanation for myself has always been that it has more to do with what one does than what one is. Presumably the Warrior caste are out and about fighting and sparring and doing all sorts of things associated with that, and that might... increase the production of whatever testosterone-replacement hormone we want to make up for the Minbari, tied to aggression and incidentally making their crests higher, sharper, what-have-you. Whereas the majority of the Religious caste spend most of their time in contemplation and prayer and all, don't get worked up, don't produce as much of that hormone, and consequently we end up with someone like Lennier who has the very smooth crest.

In reality, of course, I haven't got the slightest clue what I'm talking about and feel now like I ought to go read up on antlers and things like that to try to figure out exactly how they work. I seem to remember there being crests or antlers or something like that in certain species that develop during rut season or whatever, but biology is, at best, a faint hobby of mine, not an actual field I've done much study in. Alas.

[icepixie]

Agreed - JMS comes off sounding like a total asshat in a lot of the quotes. I still skim them sometimes because I enjoy the little behind-the-scenes stories that occasionally show up, but mostly I find myself just wishing he'd shut up.

Oh, I'm so glad it's not just me. I definitely think he might've done well to just not engage sometimes, from the evidence on those pages.

That does very much seem to be the attitude, yes.

There's one somewhere in S1 where someone obviously asked a very reasonable question about...ranks, I think? Something to do with EarthForce. And he started his response with something along the lines of, "You are wrong. In the British armed forces..." And I was like, "...Because I should obviously conclude that EarthForce is based on the British army even though every EF officer we've met so far has sounded completely American?"

Thanks for the Tolkien links! Podcasts tend to make my head hurt, but when I finally get around to my re-read of the series (scheduled for, in all likelihood by this point, 2012), I will check them out.

Your "activity creates different kind of head bones" explanation makes sense, though I know little about biology myself. Although it's hilarious to think of them as antlers--I mean, they basically are, but I had just been thinking of them as skulls, pretty much.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I definitely think he might've done well to just not engage sometimes, from the evidence on those pages.

Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. The thing is, I can understand how, especially in the early days of the internet, it would have been tempting to respond to everything, but... maybe it's just the power of hindsight, but it so clearly looks like a bad idea, as well.

"...Because I should obviously conclude that EarthForce is based on the British army even though every EF officer we've met so far has sounded completely American?"

Obviously. I mean, didn't he make that clear? :P

Although it's hilarious to think of them as antlers--I mean, they basically are, but I had just been thinking of them as skulls, pretty much.

It gets funnier now that I've remembered antlers fall off every year. Probably not really the best analogy after all, unless we're missing something about Minbari culture.

[icepixie]

Oh, early days of the internet. So much fumbling, preserved for so many years. (I'm trying very hard not to think about my own Usenet posts circa 1996-7...)

It gets funnier now that I've remembered antlers fall off every year. Probably not really the best analogy after all, unless we're missing something about Minbari culture.

...So that's why Lennier isn't in every episode! *snerk* I vote for someone to write crackfic about one of the humans finding out the bone crests fall off every year. (Or maybe Vir? Because the world needs more Vir&Lennier fic.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

(I'm trying very hard not to think about my own Usenet posts circa 1996-7...)

I'm lucky - I never discovered Usenet. There's probably still some extremely horrible teenage fanfiction out there somewhere, but fortunately it's for fandoms that mostly don't exist anymore. And with a completely different pen-name.

I vote for someone to write crackfic about one of the humans finding out the bone crests fall off every year.

I vote 'not it!' The world does need more Lennier&Vir, but I'm not clever enough with comedic fic to pull that one off. (Also, I'm ashamed to note that it's directly referred to as bone in the beginning of the 3rd season, by Franklin... I'm not sure what the difference between bone and antler is, but with any luck the chief medical officer would be. So, I guess that's my theory down the drain. I would still happily support it for the benefit of amusing fic that embarrasses Lennier, though. ♥)

[icepixie]

Some of my earliest fanfic is under my real name, because I was a teenager (and thus dumb), and because it was such early days no one really realized it would all be around FOREVER.

I vote 'not it!'

Hmmm...I need another victim, then... *eg*

Too bad about Franklin confirming it's bone. Oh, well.