B5 Rewatch: "The Summoning" and "Falling Toward Apotheosis"

[icepixie]

I...you know, I don't really have a lot to say about these episodes that I didn't last time. So this is gonna be short.

The Summoning
Ohhhhh, Susan just has NO CLUE what Marcus is talking about, doesn't she? Oh, sweetheart.

Delenn kind of cracked me up when Sheridan reappeared. She looked less pleased than, well, horrified. Maybe it was the lighting.

Lyta actually showed some self-awareness this time: that she's been used and thrown away by Kosh, and she deserves a little respect for all she's done. So she does. Too bad she's not going to get it until she has a big ol' hissy fit in S5, and even then it's really grudging, and only 'cause she can kill people with her mind. (Lyta and River Tam should hang out.)

Falling Toward Apotheosis
Ivanova's kind of caught in the middle between Sheridan and Garibaldi, isn't she? You can see her looking from one to the other in the war room, not sure what to do or say. It's pretty obvious that if push comes to shove, she's siding with Sheridan (and thus Lorien), but it warms my heart to know that she's not dismissing Garibaldi's concerns outright.

And, uh, Garibaldi's got SOME PRETTY COMPELLING CONCERNS THERE. In his position, I wouldn't trust Lorien either. And he's got a definite point about how no one's really questioning Sheridan's miraculous return ('cause they need a hero/figurehead), but are giving him the third degree. I'd be pissed as well.

I still wonder what Sheridan blackmailed Ivanova with in order to get her to do the Voice of the Resistance. It doesn't seem like her at all.

Comments

[celamity]

Hmm, who *would* win a Lyta/River grudgematch?

Ivanova doing the Voice made sense to me as she'd be a well-known face (at least, I expect Earth at large might know who the second in command of B5 was). It makes her more than merely a Voice.

[icepixie]

Hmm, who *would* win a Lyta/River grudgematch?

I tend to think they'd team up to fight crime! rather than engage in a grudge match, actually. ;)

Good point about Ivanova's notoriety. But I still can't get the image of her protesting that she's no good at this public relations thing and she'd be ever so much more effective in C&C out of my head.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

Garibaldi's little rant ("I get the third degree and, 'Are you OK Chief?' every time I sneeze") is one of my favorite parts of this episode.

Here's the whole thing about Garibaldi: He's absolutely right about the things he says, in this episode and later ones. I just watched Racing Mars yesterday (so I'm not that far ahead of you), and when he confronts Sheridan about the Cult of Personality and "You even came back from the dead. Can you GET more messianic than that?" - he's RIGHT, which is sort of the bitch of it. In "Apotheosis" - he's right about Lorien and he's right about the captain - Sheridan just came back from the homeworld of the Shadows, and nobody's concerned that he might not be completely himself? WTF? Did Dr. Franklin check the back of HIS neck for epidermal scarring? (OK, maybe he did, 'cause he did run some relatively undefined "tests" on Sheridan - but I kind of doubt it.)


I think from a writing position, JMS did a pretty good job of setting that up; he had to have someone presenting the other side to Sheridan's behavior in Season 4, and if it wasn't someone in the "inner circle", someone viewers already like and trust, it wouldn't make us think. We'd just dismiss it as - "That person sucks. And is wrong. Loser. I hope somebody kills you and makes you eat your own eyeballs." (or something.) But because it's Garibaldi and we're all not *quite* sure what's going on with him at this point, it's a believable counterpoint.

I will say, I buy that Ivanova would do the Voice of the Resistance and trust Lorien just on Sheridan's say-so. Even before he went to Z'ha'dum, she seldom questioned his orders. But I don't think that's Ivanova's fault. I think it's a military thing, something about doing what your CO tells you to do or asks you to do, even if he is your friend.

[icepixie]

Yes, I think having Garibaldi be the voice of dissent was a good idea as well, though I do wish it wasn't because he was being controlled by Bester. (I think perhaps he would've voiced the same concerns, but more diplomatically, without Bester's interference.) I mean, I admire the pain the mind control puts us through, but it's still pain. :(

Ivanova is very into the whole chain of command thing, yes.