Babylon 5 3x18-20

[sholio]

Dropping some quick comments before bed.


It will come as no surprise that my single favorite moment in this run of episodes came at the end of "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place", in which Londo has spent most of the episode luring G'Kar back to the Narn homeworld by lying to him that his friend is still alive, in order to have him captured and executed. Ambushed and surrounded by armed Centauri guards in the catacombs beneath the city .... G'Kar smugly whips out a holographic recording of Londo doing a full on villain speech, because they've been working together the whole time to take down Lord Refa. (It just figures that they finally cooperate on something after three seasons and it's a brutal murder. Those two really do deserve each other.) The mood flip from "Londo, why are you doing this AGAIN, please stop being awful" to "oh oh oh, they're working together!" was wonderful.

Londo throwing the entire blame for 6 million dead Narns on Refa is certainly a look - that's your war crime too, Londo! But it occurred to me afterwards that G'Kar, having been inside his head, knows he's at least partly lying and went along with it anyway. He got what he wanted: Refa dead - which really was deserved, even if Londo was doing it for the wrong reasons - and 2000 Narn prisoners released (because Londo knows exactly the currency to pay him in, to ensure his cooperation). That moment when G'Kar quietly stands and watches Refa being torn apart by a mob of angry Narn, and then turns and walks away, is very powerful.

I did feel awful for Vir, who was the only one of the conspirators not in on the conspiracy, and spent the episode believing that he was lying to G'Kar in order to get him killed, then got kidnapped and telepathically interrogated. Londo fully deserved the chewing out he got from Vir afterwards. (Mitigated only slightly by Londo's genuinely rather badass rescue of Vir from Refa's guards.)

I know we needed to believe (like Vir) that Londo was entirely serious about selling out G'Kar for the reveal that they're actually working together to land, but I would've loved to be a fly on the wall for the negotiations that went into this, because I think it's the first time in the whole series so far that they've actively worked together on something*, and we didn't get to see any part of the planning process!

*a murder

But otherwise, that was basically excellent. I also enjoyed the use of telepaths in active combat - watching the Shadow ships squirming while they're held in place by telepaths is weirdly cathartic. Lyta bleeding from the eyes while she's pinning the Shadow ship was properly alarming. And about an episode before the reveal of the Minbari war fleet, Orion remarked that they really should be making more than just the one White Star-type ship. (I believe his exact remark was "They need to WW2 those ships!" - i.e. throw their entire manufacturing might into making an armada.) And then it turns out that's exactly what they've been doing.

Delenn: Honey, I brought you a war fleet.

It was, indeed, exactly what he wanted.

Other random stuff: the new Vorlon ambassador makes (the former) Kosh look approachable and fun. (Loved Sheridan's comment: "Well, he's definitely a Vorlon", or words to that effect.) I enjoy Lennier's ongoing commitment to twisting the truth into pretzels to hold firm on the Minbari prohibition on outright lying while technically lying through his teeth, and I found myself liking Neroon more than I would have thought possible after he had a bit of a heel face turn with Marcus and Delenn. Garibaldi's side trip to the missing Level 17 and his improvised gun was fun, as was the scene where he starts telling Sheridan about his day while Sheridan goes through various levels of "?????!!!!???" And I'm glad Franklin is getting a storyline, but I'm not really enjoying the walkabout all that much and I look forward to having it resolved one way or another.

The "Z minus X days" captions are not ominous at all.

Two more episodes to go in the season!

Comments

[sovay]

That moment when G'Kar quietly stands and watches Refa being torn apart by a mob of angry Narn, and then turns and walks away, is very powerful.

"One angry Narn with the key!"

I too would love to know how Londo pitched this plan to G'Kar, among other reasons because I believe it to be their first linear-time interaction since the events of "Dust to Dust."

[edit] The needle drop of the title is still one of my father's favorite uses of music in TV, ever.

[princessofgeeks]

Really enjoying your recaps. I was on the edge of my seat for all this part.

[hamsterwoman]

The scene in "And the Rock Cried Out", with the gospel song intercut with the murder, is possibly my favorite scene of the show, just, like, as a use of television as a medium. And yes, the end of it, when G'Kar walks away silently.

because I think it's the first time in the whole series so far that they've actively worked together on something*,
*a murder

LOL!

Definitely agreed with your (and Sheridan's) impressions of the new Vorlon, and the reveal of the White Star fleet is a great moment (character and worldbuilding :)

And yeah, much as I like Franklin as a character, the walkabout episodes are just not that interesting to me. (There are some JMS autobiographical elements there -- not the detox, getting hurt while being on his own -- but those aspects I found a lot more affecting in JMS's biography than in this fictionalized form bequeathed to Franklin.)

[lyr]

You know, I turned out to adore Neroon way more than I ever expected eventually.

[sholio]

I too would love to know how Londo pitched this plan to G'Kar, among other reasons because I believe it to be their first linear-time interaction since the events of "Dust to Dust."

I know!! I think that, as well as this being their first post-"Dust to Dust" interaction, what really gets to me is the absolutely insane amount of trust that it took for G'Kar to willingly put himself in the hands of armed enemies who could easily kill him, all on Londo's promise that he was going to get out again. His part in this plan is wildly dangerous - he has to get himself smuggled to a planet where there's a warrant out for him (I did love that conversation with Garibaldi, where Garibaldi asks how big the thing is that he wants smuggled and G'Kar holds up his hands to indicate himself: "About this high and this wide") and then actually put himself and several members of the Narn resistance in the hands of a group of armed Centauri, all on Londo's say-so that they're being paid off to release him and Londo isn't just going to turn around and wipe out the other half of the paper trail that could lead back to Refa's murder, which he could easily have done. And all of this while being surrounded by tangible reminders of what the Centauri - and Londo, specifically - did to his world. It boggles me more the more I think about it. And yes, he's gambling hugely to get something that matters a lot to him (justice for the Narns re: Refa that wouldn't happen any other way, and the release of a lot of captive Narns) but it still requires putting a really astonishing amount of trust in Londo to keep his side of their bargain, not just on his behalf but on behalf of other people as well.

It is really wild, too, that so far the fallout from the absolute worst decision Londo has made this season (to fall right back into working with the Shadows and playing into Morden's hands after Adira's murder) is actually turning out fairly positively so far - Refa dead, and Londo working with the Narns to get what he wants. And 2000 Narns in safety who wouldn't otherwise be; in a way this really underscores how much power Londo has to make positive change that he isn't using, since it took Vir months of effort and personal risk to do what Londo did in an instant with a stroke of a pen. (Also kind of interesting that Londo uses Vir as his catspaw for this because of the reputation Vir has among the Narns due to his Narn-smuggling activities - which answers a question I had been wondering about, whether the Narns in general, and G'Kar, know about it, which apparently they do - but also, Londo himself is doing something similar in this episode to what he just came down on Vir for like a ton of bricks a few episodes ago; Londo, you absolute hypocrite! Of course, Vir was doing it out of sympathy and compassion, while Londo is motivated by revenge, and would just as easily have killed 2000 Narns as set them free if it furthered his goals. But the reasons doesn't matter so much to the people who have their freedom where they wouldn't have before.) I'm sure the other shoe will drop eventually, and drop hard, but in the meantime, the worst thing Londo has done all season also led to the best thing he's done this season, which I wasn't expecting.

[sholio]

Thank you!! I'm having a great time.

[sholio]

The scene in "And the Rock Cried Out", with the gospel song intercut with the murder, is possibly my favorite scene of the show, just, like, as a use of television as a medium.

It really is just so well done! The more so the more I think about it. In addition to the song literally describing what's happening in the other storyline, and the juxtaposition of the brutal killing with the upbeat and positive (but also quite violent - Delenn's expression as she parses the lyrics is very "???") gospel song, there's also the juxtaposition of people from different species and religions coming together in the church, vs the bloody and violent fallout of Londo and G'Kar's temporary alliance: Narns and Centauri working together to the same end at last, and that end is a murder of vengeance for both races. It's an interesting underscore to G'Kar's earlier drug-fueled vision about Narns and Centauri being essentially two sides of the same bloody coin.

And that is really interesting about Franklin's arc being patterned off JMS's, I wouldn't have guessed!

[sholio]

I couldn't believe what a turnaround I had on him in just that one episode! The scene where he's laughing with Marcus (who he nearly killed) in the medbay is just great. This show is so good at humanizing (so to speak) its side characters.

[hamsterwoman]

And that is really interesting about Franklin's arc being patterned off JMS's, I wouldn't have guessed!

Not the addiction part, I should clarify, but, the getting jumped and hurt and thinking he was going to die alone, and IIRC the "meeting yourself" experience while that happens. (JMS's memoir, Becoming Superman, talks about that incident in his life in some detail, and also was a really fascinating read in general, although really hard, because his childhood was a complete nightmare.)

the upbeat and positive (but also quite violent - Delenn's expression as she parses the lyrics is very "???") gospel song

Yes! It's very convenient to have an alien POV to highlight how the "plot" and the jaunty tune of the song are quite jarringly at odds. And I hadn't thought of the connection between all the people/aliens coming together in the church and Narn and Centauri working together for a common goal, but that's also really cool!

[hamsterwoman]

Drive-by love for your Marcus icon/quote! :)

[lyr]

Thanks!

[lyr]

Yes, this was the first episode that made me like him. His arc after this is the one I found most impactful, but this one really set the foundation for it.