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icepixieVoices of Authority
Yay, Marcus is back! And he's brought the snark! Oh, I do so love his and Ivanova's scenes together on the White Star. HEE. "I'll put a bucket on my head and pretend to be the ancient Vorlon god Boojie." *hearts excessively* Haha, and of course the Walkers don't care for the Vorlons, seeing as they're JUST AS BAD as the Shadows.
As much as I enjoy Susan and Marcus's banter, and find Marcus adorable, I am torn over whether they would actually have worked out had he lived. Part of me says they're perfect complements, and another part says Marcus would drive Susan absolutely batshit after a few months and they'd have to part. Personally, I think my OTP of Ivanova/Garibaldi would have a better chance of lasting--they don't drive each other crazy. As crazy, anyway. Of course, they are my OTP, so I'm biased...but to be fair, part of the reason they're my OTP is that I can see them actually lasting. (It matters to me whether I can see my ship remaining together years down the line, okay? Call it a commitment kink.)
In shallow news, I adore Claudia Christian's freckles. I don't know if they stopped covering them up with makeup or if she just got a lot of sun over the hiatus (since her hair appears to have acquired blonde streaks, I'm going with the second option), but whatever, they're cute as hell.
Anyway, so there was a plot to this episode as well. I had big ol' issues with the presentation of Musante, Night Watch, and the Ministry of Peace last time around. They have disappeared largely but not entirely this time. My original complaint, in essence, was that I didn't see how anyone could take this kind of talk about "ideological purity" seriously, nor accept the increasing totalitarianism on Earth without much of a peep. Apparently I wasn't paying attention my first time through S1-2, because they do lay groundwork for all of it over the years. But some of the wording of Musante's speech still makes me go "Seriously? SERIOUSLY??" Part of it is that the actress is terrible; part of it is the dialogue itself is just not subtle enough. "Eliminate internal threats to planetary security" seems a better phrase than "maintain ideological purity" if you don't want people to immediately laugh at you.
And oh, Zack. Zack, Zack, Zack. How soon until you give up this Night Watch thing? It's not too many more episodes, is it?
Back to Ivanova (always my favorite topic). So when she goes out in the Great Machine, sees stuff "a normal human mind" shouldn't be able to. How strong is her telepathy, anyway? She claims to not even be a P1, or so she thinks, but sometimes I wonder. But maybe a little bit of telepathy goes a long way.
She also seesthe Eye of Sauron the Shadows. (Seriously, JMS, I hope you paid some royalty money to Tolkien's estate.) And that weird path thing...we never get an answer about what that is, where it comes from, or who built it, do we? Hmm.
I love G'Kar giving Michael the Book of G'Quan and telling him to learn Narn. &hearts
Dust to Dust
I think this is my favorite Bester episode, if only because he's hilarious in it. (And, okay, yeah, because it's before he screws with Garibaldi's head, for which I will never, ever forgive him.) We also find out why the B5 gang didn't immediately go to the news with what they had on the Psi Corps's deep cover spy program: they were waiting to use it for blackmail. Very nice, guys. Sometimes I even think you can run a conspiracy. (Unlike in the last episode, when Ivanova is all, "Sure, I'll go down to Episilon 3 and meet with Draal about our secret mission to get anti-Shadow allies!" in front of everyone in C&C. These people have apparently never heard of talking about this stuff IN PRIVATE. WITH THE DOOR CLOSED.)
Ivanova also seriously tries to kill Bester here. Oh, Susan. See, this is why in my head, she and Garibaldi totally gang up on Bester and take him down later on.
I love G'Kar's revelation, Kosh-directed though it is. It doesn't really matter that it was Kosh--G'Kar thinks G'Quan was talking to him,* and it truly starts him down the path he's going to walk for the rest of the series. He'd been showing signs of it before, but I think this is his real turning point. Like last time, I spent much of that scene chanting "All of this has happened before; all of it will happen again." It's just so...yeah. Pretty sure RDM was a fan.
Question: are the Drazi getting anything in return for the colonies in the "buffer zone" other than an end to hostilities?
I don't really have anything new to say about the episode beyond those things, so I point to the reaction post I linked above. (Particularly about the TERRIBLE SCIENCE of dust, OMG, and the inevitability of the Psi Corps having developed and distributed it in order to get more better telepaths.)
* I suppose Kosh could actually have posed as G'Quan way back when?
Yay, Marcus is back! And he's brought the snark! Oh, I do so love his and Ivanova's scenes together on the White Star. HEE. "I'll put a bucket on my head and pretend to be the ancient Vorlon god Boojie." *hearts excessively* Haha, and of course the Walkers don't care for the Vorlons, seeing as they're JUST AS BAD as the Shadows.
As much as I enjoy Susan and Marcus's banter, and find Marcus adorable, I am torn over whether they would actually have worked out had he lived. Part of me says they're perfect complements, and another part says Marcus would drive Susan absolutely batshit after a few months and they'd have to part. Personally, I think my OTP of Ivanova/Garibaldi would have a better chance of lasting--they don't drive each other crazy. As crazy, anyway. Of course, they are my OTP, so I'm biased...but to be fair, part of the reason they're my OTP is that I can see them actually lasting. (It matters to me whether I can see my ship remaining together years down the line, okay? Call it a commitment kink.)
In shallow news, I adore Claudia Christian's freckles. I don't know if they stopped covering them up with makeup or if she just got a lot of sun over the hiatus (since her hair appears to have acquired blonde streaks, I'm going with the second option), but whatever, they're cute as hell.
Anyway, so there was a plot to this episode as well. I had big ol' issues with the presentation of Musante, Night Watch, and the Ministry of Peace last time around. They have disappeared largely but not entirely this time. My original complaint, in essence, was that I didn't see how anyone could take this kind of talk about "ideological purity" seriously, nor accept the increasing totalitarianism on Earth without much of a peep. Apparently I wasn't paying attention my first time through S1-2, because they do lay groundwork for all of it over the years. But some of the wording of Musante's speech still makes me go "Seriously? SERIOUSLY??" Part of it is that the actress is terrible; part of it is the dialogue itself is just not subtle enough. "Eliminate internal threats to planetary security" seems a better phrase than "maintain ideological purity" if you don't want people to immediately laugh at you.
And oh, Zack. Zack, Zack, Zack. How soon until you give up this Night Watch thing? It's not too many more episodes, is it?
Back to Ivanova (always my favorite topic). So when she goes out in the Great Machine, sees stuff "a normal human mind" shouldn't be able to. How strong is her telepathy, anyway? She claims to not even be a P1, or so she thinks, but sometimes I wonder. But maybe a little bit of telepathy goes a long way.
She also sees
I love G'Kar giving Michael the Book of G'Quan and telling him to learn Narn. &hearts
Dust to Dust
I think this is my favorite Bester episode, if only because he's hilarious in it. (And, okay, yeah, because it's before he screws with Garibaldi's head, for which I will never, ever forgive him.) We also find out why the B5 gang didn't immediately go to the news with what they had on the Psi Corps's deep cover spy program: they were waiting to use it for blackmail. Very nice, guys. Sometimes I even think you can run a conspiracy. (Unlike in the last episode, when Ivanova is all, "Sure, I'll go down to Episilon 3 and meet with Draal about our secret mission to get anti-Shadow allies!" in front of everyone in C&C. These people have apparently never heard of talking about this stuff IN PRIVATE. WITH THE DOOR CLOSED.)
Ivanova also seriously tries to kill Bester here. Oh, Susan. See, this is why in my head, she and Garibaldi totally gang up on Bester and take him down later on.
I love G'Kar's revelation, Kosh-directed though it is. It doesn't really matter that it was Kosh--G'Kar thinks G'Quan was talking to him,* and it truly starts him down the path he's going to walk for the rest of the series. He'd been showing signs of it before, but I think this is his real turning point. Like last time, I spent much of that scene chanting "All of this has happened before; all of it will happen again." It's just so...yeah. Pretty sure RDM was a fan.
Question: are the Drazi getting anything in return for the colonies in the "buffer zone" other than an end to hostilities?
I don't really have anything new to say about the episode beyond those things, so I point to the reaction post I linked above. (Particularly about the TERRIBLE SCIENCE of dust, OMG, and the inevitability of the Psi Corps having developed and distributed it in order to get more better telepaths.)
* I suppose Kosh could actually have posed as G'Quan way back when?
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 08:55 pm (UTC)Agreed entirely. I adore both of them despite all their failings, and I tend more toward the side of believing that they would have worked out... but I think that's more out of a mad wish that they would (I love both of them so much!) than out of a real sense that they would work long-term. I hate to say it, but I guess I tend to have that problem with my pairings in B5, given my other favorite is the eternally-problematic John/Delenn/Lennier triad.
In terms of long-term reality, it might be best to send Lennier and Marcus off to have wacky rangerly adventures together until they both get over their obsessive passions and grow up a bit.
See, this is why in my head, she and Garibaldi totally gang up on Bester and take him down later on.
They so would.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 11:54 pm (UTC)Yeah, I totally want to be able to see them working out, 'cause it'd be awesome. Snark forever! And possibly he'd get her to loosen up to a point where she could stand him for long periods. But I think in reality he would keep getting on her nerves with the talking and the joking and the optimism and the obsessiveness until she finally exploded like a damn firecracker.
(Of course, I love the tragic ending too much to actually want to see it in canon, so I'm just all screwed up.)
I hate to say it, but I guess I tend to have that problem with my pairings in B5, given my other favorite is the eternally-problematic John/Delenn/Lennier triad.
Hee. I ship Everyone/Everyone, to some degree, on B5, and yes, I have run across this problem as well. Sometimes it appears/ed in other fandoms too (why yes, Doctor Who, I'm looking at you). But it's really my OTPs that I need to be able to see making it for the long term--I enjoy playing with other pairings/triads/whatever on a show, sometimes a whole lot, but they don't have quite the same special place in my heart that my OTP(s) for that show do.
In terms of long-term reality, it might be best to send Lennier and Marcus off to have wacky rangerly adventures together until they both get over their obsessive passions and grow up a bit.
Oooh, I like that idea!
Also, I now ship them. Thank you.They so would.
If only we could've seen it.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 12:18 am (UTC)I wonder sometimes how much of how she reacts to Marcus is her actually disliking him, and how much is her really really really not wanting to get involved in a relationship. She seems genuinely amused by him a fair bit of the time, and some of the frustration and griping and supposedly disliking him... I don't want to sound like one of those mothers who, if two kids are bickering constantly and picking on each other, automatically assumes that they must be in love, but it does rather seem like she doesn't like the fact that he gets under her skin and is determined to hate him in order to make him go away. Then again, there are other moments when she seems genuinely to be annoyed by him. She's hard to read sometimes.
The trouble with their ending is that it's just so right. It's so... inevitable. Marcus is so in love with her, so in love with the idea of dying for a person or cause, and she's so convinced that nothing ever goes right for her in terms of romance, that it just seems like it's the only way their story could end.
I enjoy playing with other pairings/triads/whatever on a show, sometimes a whole lot, but they don't have quite the same special place in my heart that my OTP(s) for that show do.
Agreed. I love toying with random pairings - and don't encourage me to ship Marcus/Lennier, because I swear the only thing keeping me from it so far is the horrible thought that it would be the blind leading the blind, and likely to turn into the most obscene farce in the world if allowed to extend to anything beyond silly adventures - but I have my few little bits that just niggle at my heart in ways nothing else does.
If only, instead of "Crusade," we'd had "Ivanova and Garibaldi chase Bester all around the universe in their ongoing attempt to do him in at last." That's a spin-off I would happily have watched for seasons upon seasons, especially if we got the mad adventures of G'Kar and Lyta out on the Rim as a bonus side-feature. And the sit-com third plot where Delenn rules the interstellar alliance with an iron fist while raising a baby and still convincing Sheridan that of course he's the one who's really in charge. ♥
no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 01:54 am (UTC)Very, very good point. I think it's both, too, and I think she really does like him by, say, the beginning of S4. But I also think it's the kind of "like" that would turn to "hate" once they were actually in a relationship and she had to deal with him day in and day out. It's like one of those relationships that works great when you're in constant danger and every day could be your last, but once you're back to "normal" life, it all falls apart. At least, I'm semi-sure it would end up like that.
(Hmmm. Possibly my thoughts on this subject are influenced by the fact that while I like my ships to be full of banter, I also like for there to be a clearly-defined Chief Snarker, or for their snark to be complementary rather than similar, so that you have one person as the straight [wo]man in most situations. I feel like this stems from watching Moonlighting at an impressionable age.)
(I think I'm also influenced by the fact that while I intellectually acknowledge Susan had serious feelings for Talia, I never quite got the feeling they ran that deep on the show itself, so there's less immediacy to the idea of her not wanting to be in a relationship.)
The trouble with their ending is that it's just so right. It's so... inevitable. Marcus is so in love with her, so in love with the idea of dying for a person or cause, and she's so convinced that nothing ever goes right for her in terms of romance, that it just seems like it's the only way their story could end.
Yes, this is a perfect summation of it. It was completely inevitable.
don't encourage me to ship Marcus/Lennier, because I swear the only thing keeping me from it so far is the horrible thought that it would be the blind leading the blind, and likely to turn into the most obscene farce in the world if allowed to extend to anything beyond silly adventures
It would TOTALLY be the blind leading the blind, yes. And one could either go for high comedy or serious angst with it. (Oh, god, I am not allowed to write this. I've already got Marcus yammering at me about this weird thing based on Ulysses he wants me to do...)
Okay, so your replacement-for-Crusade idea is pretty much making my eyes bug out and my mouth go OMG YES!!! That would be PERFECT! I would watch the hell out of it. Susan and Michael would make most excellent bounty hunters, and they could totally run across G'Kar and Lyta, and Lennier. And yes, the adventures of Delenn controlling the galaxy via Sheridan on Minbar need to be part of it as well.