Babylon 5 5x11 – 5x16
Oct. 24th, 2015 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI really have to learn to cook and eat more regularly. LK and MSZ told me they'll help me make a longer list of relatively quick recipes that I can make for myself, that will help.
Phoenix Rising: That was over the top and not enough at the same time. Considering that in the episode with the scenes from the future the telepath colony was held up as the major mistake Sheridan and Delenn made early on it's over quick and with not too much bloodshed, at the same time it's very ~dramatic. I'm still not a big fan of Byron, and how infatuated Lyta is with him, and I still see the latter as a consequence of how few other people she has who offer her kindness.
Sheridan is a dick here, I don't remember specifics but I was really annoyed at him (yet again.) He cannot understand why telepaths would not want to go back to PsiCorps, has he learned nothing in the past? He'd basically hand them over for brainwashing and torture and seems to think they should be fine with it.
Garibaldi, even without the block, why did you think confronting a Psi-Cop on your own would ever work? Stupid.
The Ragged Edge The book of G'Kar! G'Kar as a religious icon! And the book was unfinished, poor G'Kar. Five or six… hundred… thousand copies, heh.
I liked G'Kar trusting that Londo is not involved in the Centauri attacks and wanting to protect him (by keeping him in the dark, but still.)
The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father: Having signs saying "obey" on the walls of PsiCorps headquarters is a bit much. But it's good to see the "other side." Bester is the best kind of villain: an asshole but entertaining, and with his own if warped values and goals. (His first name is Al. Al Bester. For some reason I find this hilarious. It's probably just the idea of calling him by his first name.)
Zack outright asks why it's bad if a telepath is murdered. I just… wow. This asshole should not be in charge of security, he should be fired for that. Even though we know, and later in the episode see, that telepaths murder mundane, it's still not okay. I was neutral-to-positive on him before, but not anymore.
At least Franklin tries to bridge that gap instead of widen it. I'm still not his biggest fan but how much he values all live and how willing he is to stand tall for that is cool.
Meditations on the Abyss: Finally! Right before we watched this episode I'd complained to LK how much I missed Vir and Lennier. I'm surprised Vir didn't get better at reading politics by now, but don't underestimate him. *insert gif of his finger-wave at Morden that I'm too lazy to look for* And of course Lennier is scarily competent as always.
Darkness Ascending: Lennier <3 Scarily competent as always. And reckless.
Ugh, I don't like the way Delenn and Sheridan's relationship works. He doesn't send her friend to do his job because he doesn't want her to lose someone she loves. Instead of confronting him about it, she sends Lennier on the mission – which she absolutely has the right to do – and tries to keep it a secret. When Sheridan finds out he recalls the ship without talking to her first and only then blames her for keeping him out of the loop. How about the two of you try talking before acting? Especially Sheridan, his impulsive order endangered their mission. In the previous episode Delenn says that for Sheridan, loving her sometimes gets in the way of knowing her. She seems fine with it and sometimes does similar things, so maybe it works for them and I shouldn't judge, but I'm not a fan.
Lyta! Still on Babylon 5 and trying to help the other telepaths. I first thought she was going to go to Lise for help, she inherited her husband's business empire and definitely has the funds. But G'Kar is also a very interesting option. Telepath DNA so the Narns can breed their own telepaths in exchange for funds and ships. There was a moment when she was flirting back with G'Kar that looked uncomfortably like she was willing to (pretend to) sleep with him for the money, but fortunately it didn't come to that. (Now that I think about it, I would definitely read Lyta/G'Kar.) As G'Kar said, the Shadows are gone, so the Narns don't need telepaths like they did before. I assume they'll mostly use them for counter-intelligence. I did like G'Kar testing Lyta by asking her to spy on the other ambassadors for him.
At least we know now why Garibaldi doesn't ask Lyta to remove Bester's block, he doesn't trust her. For just a second I thought his dream, where she sits on his bed with her eyes glowing green and says she'll stop hiding what the Vorlons did to her, might be real.
The Alliance finally has the necessary proof that Centauri are behind this, and they aren't going to talk to Londo before this, or even allow him on the Council meeting? Seems stupid.
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder: I didn't like the way the testimonies before the Council worked: many leading questions, and little evidence that the Centauri government is behind it. Thanks to G'Kar they know that the court is divided, so why accuse the government itself instead of at least offering them the chance to "come clean", blame a scapegoat and stop? Sheridan and the others seem very concerned that the Alliance could break apart any moment. Usually governments try not to admit that they've made a mistake so soon so there'd be a grace period of a few months after joining the Alliance where they try to defend it, that doesn't seem to happen here.
Poor Londo, after Cartagia the Centauri government is screwed up again. This time he's optimistic again, but nope, in the cell he goes. I liked his insistence that Lennier wouldn't lie, and I loved his and G'Kar's interactions here. They've come a long way.
I don't like Garibaldi's latest relapse into alcoholism. It's not unrealistic, sure, but I just don't see how he can come back from this. He and Zack both, Zack should have reported it. Garibaldi lied to Sheridan that he could handle it and then was directly responsible for many deaths and the battle that starts the next war. This is going to be very ugly.
In general season five has more small "this is stupid"-moments. Not necessarily larger stuff, just minor things the characters do or don't do that aren't smart or aren't explained or things that are missing. I'm not sure how many more, it's been months since I saw the previous seasons, but it's definitely noticeable. It's a shame, because previous seasons set a high standard and all of these small moments taken together make it a bit harder to take the plot seriously and feel for the characters.
Phoenix Rising: That was over the top and not enough at the same time. Considering that in the episode with the scenes from the future the telepath colony was held up as the major mistake Sheridan and Delenn made early on it's over quick and with not too much bloodshed, at the same time it's very ~dramatic. I'm still not a big fan of Byron, and how infatuated Lyta is with him, and I still see the latter as a consequence of how few other people she has who offer her kindness.
Sheridan is a dick here, I don't remember specifics but I was really annoyed at him (yet again.) He cannot understand why telepaths would not want to go back to PsiCorps, has he learned nothing in the past? He'd basically hand them over for brainwashing and torture and seems to think they should be fine with it.
Garibaldi, even without the block, why did you think confronting a Psi-Cop on your own would ever work? Stupid.
The Ragged Edge The book of G'Kar! G'Kar as a religious icon! And the book was unfinished, poor G'Kar. Five or six… hundred… thousand copies, heh.
I liked G'Kar trusting that Londo is not involved in the Centauri attacks and wanting to protect him (by keeping him in the dark, but still.)
The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father: Having signs saying "obey" on the walls of PsiCorps headquarters is a bit much. But it's good to see the "other side." Bester is the best kind of villain: an asshole but entertaining, and with his own if warped values and goals. (His first name is Al. Al Bester. For some reason I find this hilarious. It's probably just the idea of calling him by his first name.)
Zack outright asks why it's bad if a telepath is murdered. I just… wow. This asshole should not be in charge of security, he should be fired for that. Even though we know, and later in the episode see, that telepaths murder mundane, it's still not okay. I was neutral-to-positive on him before, but not anymore.
At least Franklin tries to bridge that gap instead of widen it. I'm still not his biggest fan but how much he values all live and how willing he is to stand tall for that is cool.
Meditations on the Abyss: Finally! Right before we watched this episode I'd complained to LK how much I missed Vir and Lennier. I'm surprised Vir didn't get better at reading politics by now, but don't underestimate him. *insert gif of his finger-wave at Morden that I'm too lazy to look for* And of course Lennier is scarily competent as always.
Darkness Ascending: Lennier <3 Scarily competent as always. And reckless.
Ugh, I don't like the way Delenn and Sheridan's relationship works. He doesn't send her friend to do his job because he doesn't want her to lose someone she loves. Instead of confronting him about it, she sends Lennier on the mission – which she absolutely has the right to do – and tries to keep it a secret. When Sheridan finds out he recalls the ship without talking to her first and only then blames her for keeping him out of the loop. How about the two of you try talking before acting? Especially Sheridan, his impulsive order endangered their mission. In the previous episode Delenn says that for Sheridan, loving her sometimes gets in the way of knowing her. She seems fine with it and sometimes does similar things, so maybe it works for them and I shouldn't judge, but I'm not a fan.
Lyta! Still on Babylon 5 and trying to help the other telepaths. I first thought she was going to go to Lise for help, she inherited her husband's business empire and definitely has the funds. But G'Kar is also a very interesting option. Telepath DNA so the Narns can breed their own telepaths in exchange for funds and ships. There was a moment when she was flirting back with G'Kar that looked uncomfortably like she was willing to (pretend to) sleep with him for the money, but fortunately it didn't come to that. (Now that I think about it, I would definitely read Lyta/G'Kar.) As G'Kar said, the Shadows are gone, so the Narns don't need telepaths like they did before. I assume they'll mostly use them for counter-intelligence. I did like G'Kar testing Lyta by asking her to spy on the other ambassadors for him.
At least we know now why Garibaldi doesn't ask Lyta to remove Bester's block, he doesn't trust her. For just a second I thought his dream, where she sits on his bed with her eyes glowing green and says she'll stop hiding what the Vorlons did to her, might be real.
The Alliance finally has the necessary proof that Centauri are behind this, and they aren't going to talk to Londo before this, or even allow him on the Council meeting? Seems stupid.
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder: I didn't like the way the testimonies before the Council worked: many leading questions, and little evidence that the Centauri government is behind it. Thanks to G'Kar they know that the court is divided, so why accuse the government itself instead of at least offering them the chance to "come clean", blame a scapegoat and stop? Sheridan and the others seem very concerned that the Alliance could break apart any moment. Usually governments try not to admit that they've made a mistake so soon so there'd be a grace period of a few months after joining the Alliance where they try to defend it, that doesn't seem to happen here.
Poor Londo, after Cartagia the Centauri government is screwed up again. This time he's optimistic again, but nope, in the cell he goes. I liked his insistence that Lennier wouldn't lie, and I loved his and G'Kar's interactions here. They've come a long way.
I don't like Garibaldi's latest relapse into alcoholism. It's not unrealistic, sure, but I just don't see how he can come back from this. He and Zack both, Zack should have reported it. Garibaldi lied to Sheridan that he could handle it and then was directly responsible for many deaths and the battle that starts the next war. This is going to be very ugly.
In general season five has more small "this is stupid"-moments. Not necessarily larger stuff, just minor things the characters do or don't do that aren't smart or aren't explained or things that are missing. I'm not sure how many more, it's been months since I saw the previous seasons, but it's definitely noticeable. It's a shame, because previous seasons set a high standard and all of these small moments taken together make it a bit harder to take the plot seriously and feel for the characters.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-25 04:04 am (UTC)And, OMFG, people, YOU don't like the PsiCorps, and you're surprised that there are teeps who don't like it? Gah.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-25 10:07 pm (UTC)I'm still baffled that they let Bester run free on the station and meet with the command staff without other telepaths present to make sure he doesn't try anything underhanded. They were smart enough to do that in the past, and nothing in the meantime made Bester more trustworthy, so why not anymore?
no subject
Date: 2015-10-25 10:24 am (UTC)IIRC the finale was nice, though that was more properly a part of S4.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-25 10:10 pm (UTC)So far season 5 has no Ivanova, which is also a major disadvantage. I hope she'll at least visit again, but who knows. (No spoilers.)