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]

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.