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icepixieNow that I'm into the really exciting parts, I'm torn between wanting to slow down and space out the crack, or just mainline through the end of the Shadow War.
Ceremonies of Light and Dark
I like the pacing of Severed Dreams-->Ceremonies-->Sic Transit Vir. SD is an adrenaline rush, this episode sits back and takes stock of what just happened, and STV puts people on new paths via something fairly comedic.
And part of that taking stock is this ceremony that no one wants to come to. I do find it hilarious how Delenn and Lennier keep wandering around, asking people if they want to come, and getting turned down. They remind me of, say, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls.
There ceremony itself is very nice; the command staff must hold Delenn in high esteem to a.) go through with it, and b.) have her be the one they tell their secrets too. The secrets are largely things we already figured out, but it's nice to have confirmation. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but we never get Marcus's secret, do we? Or Lennier's thing he gives up, come to think of it.) Given that I slash Susan/Delenn like burning, especially after SiL, Susan telling Delenn that she thinks she loved Talia has some implications I like. Though I still don't know what Susan saw in Talia...
(I wonder if Delenn was completely flummoxed by Franklin's "problem." We have the background, but I'm not sure where she would've picked it up. I guess it was more for the teller than the listener, though.)
And ohhhhhh, Lennier. Poor baby. Yeah, you can kid yourself all you want about your pure love and accepting that she's "fated for another," but we all know better. Hell, even Marcus knows better. Marcus also tells himhe's doomed not to make foolish promises involving his entire life. You know, teacher/student of any kind is one of my big, big, big squicks (it became even more so after I started teaching), but somehow it doesn't seem to bother me here, despite them being mentor/mentee. They're just so...I dunno. I like them a lot. Too bad it doesn't work out.
(Speaking of this, I just looked them up in IMDB, and I'm somewhat shocked to find that Bill Mumy is a year and a half older than Mira Furlan. Maybe it's his attache role, but he looks several years younger than her. If Delenn is, say, roughly equivalent to forty, he looks perhaps in his late twenties, maybe early thirties.)
The mad computer added some much-needed levity, as did Michael's password and Susan's reaction to it. (Hmmm, maybe the missing scene I'm jonesing to write should be the events of the apparent hour or so they spent together trying to fix the computer. The AI could remember security footage of them going into each others' quarters late at night and leaving early in the morning, and make suggestive comments.)
Londo's two-part poison (if indeed he wasn't bluffing) is still devious as hell. (And oh, it's going to end in Adira's death. :() Fighting a war on twelve fronts is still OMGWTF.
Sic Transit Vir
I think some of my fondness for this episode stems from the fact that it's the only one I actually remember from my first try at watching the show when I was twelve. But it's quite, quite charming on its own. Londo killing the space roach! Vir not knowing what to do with sex! Ivanova not knowing what to do with Vir telling her about Centauri sex!
Of course, Lyndisty's clear approval of her family's eugenics projects does bring down the mood. I think I see the point JMS was making by having her be, on the surface, funny (to us, since she talked like someone straight out of a Shakespearean comedy, minus the iambic pentameter) and charming (well, apparently; Vir thought so, anyway), yet have all these horrible ideas about Narns on the inside. But on the whole, it doesn't entirely work for me; it feels like the two parts of her character, and indeed the two parts of the story in this episode, are a bit too unconnected. Charming, funny, charming, sweet, funny, charming, charming,NAZI CENTAURI EUGENICS. Weird.
Still, the space roach and the "high numerical value" conversation are golden. :D
As, for that matter, is Delenn being playful and adorable with Sheridan. I love that moment when she plays dumb, a la Benton Fraser, about Sheridan asking her on a date. (One day, I'm going to write that crossover ship. It would be awesome like an awesome thing.) Her distracting him with the picture so she could put salt on her flarn was hilarious.
One note about the title: It translates to "so passes Vir," yes? Doesn't that sound ominous to you? He's one of the few who make it to SiL alive, so I'm not sure what the purpose of the title was. Hmmm.
Ceremonies of Light and Dark
I like the pacing of Severed Dreams-->Ceremonies-->Sic Transit Vir. SD is an adrenaline rush, this episode sits back and takes stock of what just happened, and STV puts people on new paths via something fairly comedic.
And part of that taking stock is this ceremony that no one wants to come to. I do find it hilarious how Delenn and Lennier keep wandering around, asking people if they want to come, and getting turned down. They remind me of, say, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls.
There ceremony itself is very nice; the command staff must hold Delenn in high esteem to a.) go through with it, and b.) have her be the one they tell their secrets too. The secrets are largely things we already figured out, but it's nice to have confirmation. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but we never get Marcus's secret, do we? Or Lennier's thing he gives up, come to think of it.) Given that I slash Susan/Delenn like burning, especially after SiL, Susan telling Delenn that she thinks she loved Talia has some implications I like. Though I still don't know what Susan saw in Talia...
(I wonder if Delenn was completely flummoxed by Franklin's "problem." We have the background, but I'm not sure where she would've picked it up. I guess it was more for the teller than the listener, though.)
And ohhhhhh, Lennier. Poor baby. Yeah, you can kid yourself all you want about your pure love and accepting that she's "fated for another," but we all know better. Hell, even Marcus knows better. Marcus also tells him
(Speaking of this, I just looked them up in IMDB, and I'm somewhat shocked to find that Bill Mumy is a year and a half older than Mira Furlan. Maybe it's his attache role, but he looks several years younger than her. If Delenn is, say, roughly equivalent to forty, he looks perhaps in his late twenties, maybe early thirties.)
The mad computer added some much-needed levity, as did Michael's password and Susan's reaction to it. (Hmmm, maybe the missing scene I'm jonesing to write should be the events of the apparent hour or so they spent together trying to fix the computer. The AI could remember security footage of them going into each others' quarters late at night and leaving early in the morning, and make suggestive comments.)
Londo's two-part poison (if indeed he wasn't bluffing) is still devious as hell. (And oh, it's going to end in Adira's death. :() Fighting a war on twelve fronts is still OMGWTF.
Sic Transit Vir
I think some of my fondness for this episode stems from the fact that it's the only one I actually remember from my first try at watching the show when I was twelve. But it's quite, quite charming on its own. Londo killing the space roach! Vir not knowing what to do with sex! Ivanova not knowing what to do with Vir telling her about Centauri sex!
Of course, Lyndisty's clear approval of her family's eugenics projects does bring down the mood. I think I see the point JMS was making by having her be, on the surface, funny (to us, since she talked like someone straight out of a Shakespearean comedy, minus the iambic pentameter) and charming (well, apparently; Vir thought so, anyway), yet have all these horrible ideas about Narns on the inside. But on the whole, it doesn't entirely work for me; it feels like the two parts of her character, and indeed the two parts of the story in this episode, are a bit too unconnected. Charming, funny, charming, sweet, funny, charming, charming,
Still, the space roach and the "high numerical value" conversation are golden. :D
As, for that matter, is Delenn being playful and adorable with Sheridan. I love that moment when she plays dumb, a la Benton Fraser, about Sheridan asking her on a date. (One day, I'm going to write that crossover ship. It would be awesome like an awesome thing.) Her distracting him with the picture so she could put salt on her flarn was hilarious.
One note about the title: It translates to "so passes Vir," yes? Doesn't that sound ominous to you? He's one of the few who make it to SiL alive, so I'm not sure what the purpose of the title was. Hmmm.
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Date: 2010-08-10 03:48 pm (UTC)Sic Transit Vir: Lindasty is mind-boggling. She's amusing and horrifying at the same time. I see her as someone utterly in love with the idea of being in love and married, and it wouldn't matter what man her family had arranged the betrothal with -- she'd have had the same reaction to anyone.
Vir continues to amaze me -- he flails, he struggles, he's the comic relief for everyone, and yet quietly he was arranging the escape of thousands of Narns. Abrahamo Lincolni indeed.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 05:57 pm (UTC)I see her as someone utterly in love with the idea of being in love and married, and it wouldn't matter what man her family had arranged the betrothal with -- she'd have had the same reaction to anyone.
That makes much sense.
And Vir is awesome, yes.