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icepixieRumors, Bargains, and Lies
In which I ship Delenn/Neroon SO FREAKING HARD, and also Delenn/Lennier, and an OT3 between all of them as well; also, damn, but everyone in this episode is acting paternalistic.
So I am having a bit of an intellectual crisis right now. I chortle gleefully at Delenn's manipulation of, well, everything, and love her because of it. I think it's great that she basically plays everyone, all the time. Even in this episode, I quite enjoyed her little scheme with Neroon, played out for the good of her world. (They could be so epic. WHERE IS THE FIC?) I also developed great appreciation for Sinclair's similar level of sneakiness, and I cheered at various points when Londo and G'Kar snuck around and manipulated others.
Sheridan is doing pretty much the same thing in this episode when he tricks the ambassadors into demanding protection from the White Stars, and it makes me really uncomfortable. Given the above paragraph, it really shouldn't, and yet there you have it. Is it just because I kind of hate Sheridan even more than usual this season, and I'm looking for any and all reasons to dislike him and whine about how he's playing god? Is it that it goes against his brash, direct, puppyish nature? Is it something about this particular kind of manipulation? Do I, horrifyingly, only enjoy connivance when someone is doing it primarily or at least partially for his or her own good, rather than purely for what he/she thinks is the good of others? (Well, I liked Sinclair doing similar things with the League on a smaller scale in S1, so I guess that isn't it.)
I don't know. But interestingly, I feel much the same about Lennier attempting to pull the wool over Delenn's eyes for her own good. He's so sweet, but so misguided. I mean, that her own caste was willing to kill her and themselves in order to prevent what they thought was a surrender is probably information she needs to know in order to do her freaking job.
Well. Aside from the fact that I don't buy for a MINUTE that she didn't figure it out on her own, anyway. Like hell that little speech to them about their being her rock, and obviously so much smarter than the warriors, blah blah blah, was not a strongly-worded hint to them to find a way to stop what they'd done with the fuel fumes.
Actually, you know what, here's my theory: Lennier overheard the other religious caste members talking about their plot, and told Delenn, who suspected something like this might happen. While he ran off to disable the gas, she gave the You Are My Rock speech to others. In sickbay, she and Lennier staged that pointed exchange about it potentially being sabotage in order to whip the religious folks back into line. Once she left, Lennier, not wanting to give their game away, made up that bit about how he values her better world above his own (easy to do since it has some basis in truth, but not as far as he took it when he was talking to them). Because really, those two moments were waaaaay too pointed to be coincidental. Bonus: now I don't have to yell at Lennier for being foolish because it was all a lie!
Anyway, in further ways I turn this episode into crack: Delenn/Neroon. I'm serious, WHERE IS THE FIC? There appears to be none, and this makes me oh so sad. They don't exactly like each other, but they respect each other. They are saving their world together through the power of being really fucking sneaky! He dies for her! (Which, uh. I have still not quite figured out why he couldn't just leave the Starfire Wheel after handing her off to Lennier, but more on that later.) It would be angsty, and they'd snark at each other, and Neroon would be all, "The damn humans kept you away from us and caused this war," and Delenn would be like, "You could've stepped up while I was off saving the galaxy, asshole," and there would be all kinds of Minbari stuff involved, and it would be just different enough between each of their castes that they would each feel the need to make sarcastic comments on whatever it is: "Among my caste, we do it this way." / "That's 'cause you're soft." Then Lennier would maybe wander in, and because I wholeheartedly subscribe to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rivendellrose's theory about the Minbari having three sexes* and Lennier being part of the third one, he would, ah, be incorporated. And I would clap my hands in GLEE.
Hmmm. I'm tempted to write it myself, since the internet will not satisfy my desires.
* Speaking of which, I saw another soft-pointed religious male among the conspirators. There are at least three, including Lennier and Forell!
Moments of Transition
In which it really sucks to be Lyta, but at least Zack is there for her. Also, my short-lived Ship of Awesome goes down in a literal ball of flame. As do some civilians. :(
I ship Lyta and Zack in a helpless sort of, "Oh, but they're so cute!" way. God only knows it would probably wind up looking like something Tennessee Williams dreamed up. But...Zack is so cute when he's trying to break the news about having to move as gently as possible, and you can just tell he's thinking, "If my mother wouldn't roll over in her grave at the very idea, I'd totally tell her she could stay in my quarters!" Bless.
And poor, poor Lyta. I think of all the characters--Susan excepted--she's the one I feel sorriest for. Sheridan couldn't find a way to gainfully employ her in the resistance after all she did for them? Really? Paying a bit of a salary so that you could keep this amped up telepath in your back pocket is too onerous? Instead, she's left to Bester's clutches, which is going to come back and bite everyone in the ass.
Speaking of Bester, he really does make me want to smack him in the face for pretty much this entire episode. Grrr. Get out of Michael's head! I've forgotten exactly how the Edgars/Bester plotline plays out--I seem to recall that Edgars wanted to develop a drug that would kill all telepaths, and Bester was using Garibaldi to stop him instead of doing it himself, but I don't remember all the details--but argh, Bester makes me feel like Ivanova at the end of this episode.
Moving back to Delenn's plot (in both senses of the word): Okay, so I get the reasoning behind that Starfire Wheel thingy, but I'm still allowed to think the existence of such a...magic machine, for lack of a better term, is really ridiculous, aren't I? Of course, this is a race that apparently keeps a Dry Ice Chamber of Vision-Having around all the time on the off chance someone needs to use it, not to mention has their chief governing council meet on a starship, in a darkened room, standing in some spotlights for dramatic effect, so I should probably expect nothing less.
And of course Delenn uses it to grandstand. Because not only does she not compromise, she's totally gonna die for her people even when it's unnecessary! Because she has a DESTINY! (I love her, really I do, but Delenn perhaps also has a bit of an ego problem...) Like I said above, I still don't get why Neroon had to die after getting her out of the fire. Was it just that the mechanism controlling it had ratcheted up to "incinerate" before he could leave?
Finally, Clark is a monster. But we knew that. And now we're going to kick his ass!
In which I ship Delenn/Neroon SO FREAKING HARD, and also Delenn/Lennier, and an OT3 between all of them as well; also, damn, but everyone in this episode is acting paternalistic.
So I am having a bit of an intellectual crisis right now. I chortle gleefully at Delenn's manipulation of, well, everything, and love her because of it. I think it's great that she basically plays everyone, all the time. Even in this episode, I quite enjoyed her little scheme with Neroon, played out for the good of her world. (They could be so epic. WHERE IS THE FIC?) I also developed great appreciation for Sinclair's similar level of sneakiness, and I cheered at various points when Londo and G'Kar snuck around and manipulated others.
Sheridan is doing pretty much the same thing in this episode when he tricks the ambassadors into demanding protection from the White Stars, and it makes me really uncomfortable. Given the above paragraph, it really shouldn't, and yet there you have it. Is it just because I kind of hate Sheridan even more than usual this season, and I'm looking for any and all reasons to dislike him and whine about how he's playing god? Is it that it goes against his brash, direct, puppyish nature? Is it something about this particular kind of manipulation? Do I, horrifyingly, only enjoy connivance when someone is doing it primarily or at least partially for his or her own good, rather than purely for what he/she thinks is the good of others? (Well, I liked Sinclair doing similar things with the League on a smaller scale in S1, so I guess that isn't it.)
I don't know. But interestingly, I feel much the same about Lennier attempting to pull the wool over Delenn's eyes for her own good. He's so sweet, but so misguided. I mean, that her own caste was willing to kill her and themselves in order to prevent what they thought was a surrender is probably information she needs to know in order to do her freaking job.
Well. Aside from the fact that I don't buy for a MINUTE that she didn't figure it out on her own, anyway. Like hell that little speech to them about their being her rock, and obviously so much smarter than the warriors, blah blah blah, was not a strongly-worded hint to them to find a way to stop what they'd done with the fuel fumes.
Actually, you know what, here's my theory: Lennier overheard the other religious caste members talking about their plot, and told Delenn, who suspected something like this might happen. While he ran off to disable the gas, she gave the You Are My Rock speech to others. In sickbay, she and Lennier staged that pointed exchange about it potentially being sabotage in order to whip the religious folks back into line. Once she left, Lennier, not wanting to give their game away, made up that bit about how he values her better world above his own (easy to do since it has some basis in truth, but not as far as he took it when he was talking to them). Because really, those two moments were waaaaay too pointed to be coincidental. Bonus: now I don't have to yell at Lennier for being foolish because it was all a lie!
Anyway, in further ways I turn this episode into crack: Delenn/Neroon. I'm serious, WHERE IS THE FIC? There appears to be none, and this makes me oh so sad. They don't exactly like each other, but they respect each other. They are saving their world together through the power of being really fucking sneaky! He dies for her! (Which, uh. I have still not quite figured out why he couldn't just leave the Starfire Wheel after handing her off to Lennier, but more on that later.) It would be angsty, and they'd snark at each other, and Neroon would be all, "The damn humans kept you away from us and caused this war," and Delenn would be like, "You could've stepped up while I was off saving the galaxy, asshole," and there would be all kinds of Minbari stuff involved, and it would be just different enough between each of their castes that they would each feel the need to make sarcastic comments on whatever it is: "Among my caste, we do it this way." / "That's 'cause you're soft." Then Lennier would maybe wander in, and because I wholeheartedly subscribe to
rivendellrose's theory about the Minbari having three sexes* and Lennier being part of the third one, he would, ah, be incorporated. And I would clap my hands in GLEE.Hmmm. I'm tempted to write it myself, since the internet will not satisfy my desires.
* Speaking of which, I saw another soft-pointed religious male among the conspirators. There are at least three, including Lennier and Forell!
Moments of Transition
In which it really sucks to be Lyta, but at least Zack is there for her. Also, my short-lived Ship of Awesome goes down in a literal ball of flame. As do some civilians. :(
I ship Lyta and Zack in a helpless sort of, "Oh, but they're so cute!" way. God only knows it would probably wind up looking like something Tennessee Williams dreamed up. But...Zack is so cute when he's trying to break the news about having to move as gently as possible, and you can just tell he's thinking, "If my mother wouldn't roll over in her grave at the very idea, I'd totally tell her she could stay in my quarters!" Bless.
And poor, poor Lyta. I think of all the characters--Susan excepted--she's the one I feel sorriest for. Sheridan couldn't find a way to gainfully employ her in the resistance after all she did for them? Really? Paying a bit of a salary so that you could keep this amped up telepath in your back pocket is too onerous? Instead, she's left to Bester's clutches, which is going to come back and bite everyone in the ass.
Speaking of Bester, he really does make me want to smack him in the face for pretty much this entire episode. Grrr. Get out of Michael's head! I've forgotten exactly how the Edgars/Bester plotline plays out--I seem to recall that Edgars wanted to develop a drug that would kill all telepaths, and Bester was using Garibaldi to stop him instead of doing it himself, but I don't remember all the details--but argh, Bester makes me feel like Ivanova at the end of this episode.
Moving back to Delenn's plot (in both senses of the word): Okay, so I get the reasoning behind that Starfire Wheel thingy, but I'm still allowed to think the existence of such a...magic machine, for lack of a better term, is really ridiculous, aren't I? Of course, this is a race that apparently keeps a Dry Ice Chamber of Vision-Having around all the time on the off chance someone needs to use it, not to mention has their chief governing council meet on a starship, in a darkened room, standing in some spotlights for dramatic effect, so I should probably expect nothing less.
And of course Delenn uses it to grandstand. Because not only does she not compromise, she's totally gonna die for her people even when it's unnecessary! Because she has a DESTINY! (I love her, really I do, but Delenn perhaps also has a bit of an ego problem...) Like I said above, I still don't get why Neroon had to die after getting her out of the fire. Was it just that the mechanism controlling it had ratcheted up to "incinerate" before he could leave?
Finally, Clark is a monster. But we knew that. And now we're going to kick his ass!