![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
B5 4x18-4x21
Almost done with season four! What!
4x18 "Intersections in Real Time"
Well, that was a lot, and I think that's all I really have to say about it. Poor Sheridan! (Orion: So this show aired on TV, huh; you'd just be watching The Price is Right and then suddenly you're watching this ...)
4x19 "Between the Darkness and the Light"
Oh, now we're talking! This episode had SO MUCH!
As much as I wish Garibaldi's friends would give him a little more credit, I did really love the scene with him, the Mars resistance, Franklin, and Lyta. Franklin wanting to hear his side of it, and knocking Number One aside before she can kill him! Franklin and Lyta back to back with guns, defending him from their allies! And then Garibaldi willingly submitting to a telepathic scan, which we know is awful for him even without Lyta having to push through Bester's blocks, but he's eager for her to do it just to prove to his friends that he's telling the truth - that was great.
And it's SO NICE to have him working with the others again. LOVED LOVED LOVED the jailbreak with Franklin, Garibaldi, and Lyta breaking out Sheridan. The bickering/banter, the sneakiness, the fights! Garibaldi's reputation as a traitor actually being useful to get them inside! That was terrific, everything I hoped for - well, except that it cut away mid-escape with Sheridan still weak from being tortured, Garibaldi stabbed, and absolutely no resolution to speak of, and the next time you see any of them, they're in different storylines. I .... I am so tempted to write missing scenes.
LONDO!! Rallying the League to send ships to help the White Star fleet! (LMAO at Lennier speculating on why Londo called a meeting and didn't tell Delenn about it: "Knowing the Ambassador, I'm already depressed by the options.") But it was for a good cause, keeping Delenn out of it to avoid putting her in a bad position - she's obviously so touched by the whole thing, and somehow I just find it kind of cute that Vir and G'Kar are standing next to each other when Londo and G'Kar are explaining their plan to Delenn; we see them together so rarely.
And the spacefight was so tense! The new Earth dreadnoughts are horrendous, thank you for that, Shadows. And I love the White Stars being able to spin on a dime in a spacefight, that's such a cool visual!
IVANOVA NO
4x20 "Endgame"
MARCUS NO
The previous episode very legitimately made me think they'd killed Ivanova! There were even tearful goodbyes! I was thinking "But I didn't know she died! I thought she was in the next season!" But I didn't know Marcus died either! How very dare! I actually thought he was the main character in one of the spinoffs! What! I'm unexpectedly emotional about his death. I was just starting to really like him!
(Kudos to the show for once again remembering the magic healing device, though. I had to explain it to Orion since he missed season one and early season two.)
This episode was mostly fight, but it was really exciting and excellent! Loved everybody doing their part - Garibaldi, Franklin, and Lyta with the resistance on Mars, Sheridan commanding the Agamemnon one last time. And that's what they wanted the telepaths for!
Even knowing that they (probably) weren't going to completely obliterate Earth, the whole sequence with the entire Earth defense grid of spaceguns turning to point at Earth and the President effectively going down in a murder-suicide with his planet was so tense. Sheridan ordering the Agamemnon into a suicide charge at the last weapons platform was a GREAT scene - I was pretty sure he was going to be in the next season so I didn't know quite how they were going to get out of that, but having the guys they were fighting just half an episode ago show up to save them (and Earth) was really excellent too.
4x21 "Rising Star"
Aftermath, glorious aftermath. This was all character stuff and I loved it. (Okay, I guess there was plot. But mostly it was the character scenes we deserved.)
The scene with Ivanova crying on the floor in her hospital gown and Franklin comforting her was really touching. And, as this show does, occasionally funny. ("I wish I'd boffed him when I had the chance!")
Loved Bester's conversation with Sheridan; it was exactly the right combination of threatening and genuinely touching in places. They kept Carolyn out of the fight because of him! (Really, they're better people than he deserves. T_T) I notice the only part of Sheridan's speculation about Bester fixing a war between the normals and telepaths that Bester denied was that he was going to lose ...
Sheridan's political fate makes total sense from a realistic standpoint - there are going to be consequences. I love that he had an ace up his sleeve all along, as he does.
Other things I want missing scenes for: the alien ambassadors on Earth. What little we saw of that was great; I want more! *bangs fist on table* Let them be tourists! And Delenn and Sheridan's wedding! We didn't see it, but I love that they apparently had everyone there who was around for it. <3
Londo and G'Kar were a self-indulgent delight in this episode. Bickering in the shuttle bay - about sex, no less (really cannot get over that a Centauri gesturing to their sides is obviously their version of a human pointing to their crotch, and somehow Londo does it in such a way that you can tell it's a vulgar gesture even though it's completely innocuous from a human standpoint). And their chorused "You're late!" to Vir! And Delenn telling them first about the new Alliance - their interactions with Delenn are honestly very cute in this episode, too - and voluntarily sitting together at the press conference (!!); then relaxing after the wedding*, watching the news broadcast and bickering. ("Stop eating that, you don't even know what it is!") They are incapable of even being friends like sane people; it's great.
*Covered in bits of sparkly confetti, which it took me a rewatch of that scene to notice.
ETA: Also enjoyed seeing G'Kar in his iridescent ceremonial armor at the press conference, instead of the more informal quilted coat he typically wears around the station. It's been so long since we've seen him in it that I wondered if he even still had it.
We stopped here, but tomorrow we are boldly forging onward into season five!
4x18 "Intersections in Real Time"
Well, that was a lot, and I think that's all I really have to say about it. Poor Sheridan! (Orion: So this show aired on TV, huh; you'd just be watching The Price is Right and then suddenly you're watching this ...)
4x19 "Between the Darkness and the Light"
Oh, now we're talking! This episode had SO MUCH!
As much as I wish Garibaldi's friends would give him a little more credit, I did really love the scene with him, the Mars resistance, Franklin, and Lyta. Franklin wanting to hear his side of it, and knocking Number One aside before she can kill him! Franklin and Lyta back to back with guns, defending him from their allies! And then Garibaldi willingly submitting to a telepathic scan, which we know is awful for him even without Lyta having to push through Bester's blocks, but he's eager for her to do it just to prove to his friends that he's telling the truth - that was great.
And it's SO NICE to have him working with the others again. LOVED LOVED LOVED the jailbreak with Franklin, Garibaldi, and Lyta breaking out Sheridan. The bickering/banter, the sneakiness, the fights! Garibaldi's reputation as a traitor actually being useful to get them inside! That was terrific, everything I hoped for - well, except that it cut away mid-escape with Sheridan still weak from being tortured, Garibaldi stabbed, and absolutely no resolution to speak of, and the next time you see any of them, they're in different storylines. I .... I am so tempted to write missing scenes.
LONDO!! Rallying the League to send ships to help the White Star fleet! (LMAO at Lennier speculating on why Londo called a meeting and didn't tell Delenn about it: "Knowing the Ambassador, I'm already depressed by the options.") But it was for a good cause, keeping Delenn out of it to avoid putting her in a bad position - she's obviously so touched by the whole thing, and somehow I just find it kind of cute that Vir and G'Kar are standing next to each other when Londo and G'Kar are explaining their plan to Delenn; we see them together so rarely.
And the spacefight was so tense! The new Earth dreadnoughts are horrendous, thank you for that, Shadows. And I love the White Stars being able to spin on a dime in a spacefight, that's such a cool visual!
IVANOVA NO
4x20 "Endgame"
MARCUS NO
The previous episode very legitimately made me think they'd killed Ivanova! There were even tearful goodbyes! I was thinking "But I didn't know she died! I thought she was in the next season!" But I didn't know Marcus died either! How very dare! I actually thought he was the main character in one of the spinoffs! What! I'm unexpectedly emotional about his death. I was just starting to really like him!
(Kudos to the show for once again remembering the magic healing device, though. I had to explain it to Orion since he missed season one and early season two.)
This episode was mostly fight, but it was really exciting and excellent! Loved everybody doing their part - Garibaldi, Franklin, and Lyta with the resistance on Mars, Sheridan commanding the Agamemnon one last time. And that's what they wanted the telepaths for!
Even knowing that they (probably) weren't going to completely obliterate Earth, the whole sequence with the entire Earth defense grid of spaceguns turning to point at Earth and the President effectively going down in a murder-suicide with his planet was so tense. Sheridan ordering the Agamemnon into a suicide charge at the last weapons platform was a GREAT scene - I was pretty sure he was going to be in the next season so I didn't know quite how they were going to get out of that, but having the guys they were fighting just half an episode ago show up to save them (and Earth) was really excellent too.
4x21 "Rising Star"
Aftermath, glorious aftermath. This was all character stuff and I loved it. (Okay, I guess there was plot. But mostly it was the character scenes we deserved.)
The scene with Ivanova crying on the floor in her hospital gown and Franklin comforting her was really touching. And, as this show does, occasionally funny. ("I wish I'd boffed him when I had the chance!")
Loved Bester's conversation with Sheridan; it was exactly the right combination of threatening and genuinely touching in places. They kept Carolyn out of the fight because of him! (Really, they're better people than he deserves. T_T) I notice the only part of Sheridan's speculation about Bester fixing a war between the normals and telepaths that Bester denied was that he was going to lose ...
Sheridan's political fate makes total sense from a realistic standpoint - there are going to be consequences. I love that he had an ace up his sleeve all along, as he does.
Other things I want missing scenes for: the alien ambassadors on Earth. What little we saw of that was great; I want more! *bangs fist on table* Let them be tourists! And Delenn and Sheridan's wedding! We didn't see it, but I love that they apparently had everyone there who was around for it. <3
Londo and G'Kar were a self-indulgent delight in this episode. Bickering in the shuttle bay - about sex, no less (really cannot get over that a Centauri gesturing to their sides is obviously their version of a human pointing to their crotch, and somehow Londo does it in such a way that you can tell it's a vulgar gesture even though it's completely innocuous from a human standpoint). And their chorused "You're late!" to Vir! And Delenn telling them first about the new Alliance - their interactions with Delenn are honestly very cute in this episode, too - and voluntarily sitting together at the press conference (!!); then relaxing after the wedding*, watching the news broadcast and bickering. ("Stop eating that, you don't even know what it is!") They are incapable of even being friends like sane people; it's great.
*Covered in bits of sparkly confetti, which it took me a rewatch of that scene to notice.
ETA: Also enjoyed seeing G'Kar in his iridescent ceremonial armor at the press conference, instead of the more informal quilted coat he typically wears around the station. It's been so long since we've seen him in it that I wondered if he even still had it.
We stopped here, but tomorrow we are boldly forging onward into season five!
no subject
I support your temptation.
and somehow I just find it kind of cute that Vir and G'Kar are standing next to each other when Londo and G'Kar are explaining their plan to Delenn; we see them together so rarely.
It's a low-key, lovely, and visible progression from the ambassadors signing their names on separate pages. "Politics and morality on the same side? That doesn't happen every day, Delenn."
(Londo looks so happy to be able to present anyone with a political accomplishment that is not a crime against multiple forms of humanity.)
MARCUS NO
I WAS NOT ALL RIGHT. I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALL RIGHT WITH LOSING IVANOVA. WELL PLAYED SHOW I STILL HATE IT.
Aftermath, glorious aftermath. This was all character stuff and I loved it. (Okay, I guess there was plot. But mostly it was the character scenes we deserved.)
Yes! These last few episodes are all bangers, but this one seems to collect all the emotional connective tissue missing from so many stretches of this season and it's great.
Bickering in the shuttle bay - about sex, no less (really cannot get over that a Centauri gesturing to their sides is obviously their version of a human pointing to their crotch, and somehow Londo does it in such a way that you can tell it's a vulgar gesture even though it's completely innocuous from a human standpoint).
It's unbelievably juvenile and I adore it, especially since the person not making the tentacle gestures cannot exactly be called the more adult of the two when they leave their artificial eye in a bridal suite.
They are incapable of even being friends like sane people; it's great.
Slightly buzzed and covered in glitter is a great look for both of them.
no subject
Yes! And I love that even though all we see of them throughout this run of episodes is an occasional snapshot here and there, you can sense the progression anyway: from working together for a purpose on the League deal (now relaxed enough around each other to, for example, hand off the dialogue between them when they're explaining to Delenn - the Narn and Centauri representatives are still at their usual opposite ends of the negotiating table, though), to casual chat and bickering while waiting for the shuttle, to actively choosing to sit next to each other with no one in between them (but still for a purpose) at the press conference, to finally hanging out voluntarily at the end of 4x21 with absolutely no other end except just spending time together, but still with that slight frisson of plausible deniability because there literally is no one else to be coming down from the post-wedding high with except a lot of Minbari. (I also get the sense that Londo's extroversion is the primary driver of their push towards friendship at this point - he's just not letting G'Kar *not* be friends, but G'Kar clearly does reciprocate, both in the sense of willingly spending time with him and also the same ten-year-old-boy sense of humor.)
(Londo looks so happy to be able to present anyone with a political accomplishment that is not a crime against multiple forms of humanity.)
He isssss. Londo, you did good! He's visibly following through on what he said a few episodes earlier about wanting to do better by his friends. (The humans in general, and B5 - but also Delenn, who looks not just touched and delighted by the whole thing, but by Londo specifically.) And he's also *finally* using that quality that was evident in season one, where he's a people person and charmer who is pretty good at getting past interspecies differences. The humans might be the glue that holds the alliance together, but Londo is not bad at it himself.
In general I love how Londo in the back half of season four is visibly more like he was in season one and early season two, more relaxed and extroverted and less closed off compared to how he's been the last season or so - but also more settled and serious, without the rampant hedonism (well, not quite so much of it). He's grown up a bit. But he's also visibly happier and more himself now that he's got something less destructive to turn his energy to.
I WAS NOT ALL RIGHT. I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALL RIGHT WITH LOSING IVANOVA. WELL PLAYED SHOW I STILL HATE IT.
I don't know why it came as such a shock, because the show has very evidently been willing to kill characters before, but I was absolutely not expecting it in either case!
These last few episodes are all bangers, but this one seems to collect all the emotional connective tissue missing from so many stretches of this season and it's great.
Yes, and I'm glad the show gave everyone enough time to breathe afterwards. Including follow-through on some storylines that I absolutely did not expect to get closure on in this season, like Bester and Carolyn (the way he goes visibly a little limp when Sheridan tells him she wasn't on the ships - he very much did think they'd gotten her killed), or Lise's fate on Mars after her husband's death.
Slightly buzzed and covered in glitter is a great look for both of them.
And I am thoroughly delighted we got to see it!
no subject
What is going on with his Keeper at this point in the season? Does he have it or...?
no subject
That hasn't become a thing yet. Well, unless it's possible for them to be sleeper agents unknown to their host until they activate, I guess. But I think that's still a ways in the future. T___T
no subject
Yes. And I think it says something about the show's priorities that despite the compression of this season, their through-line is always that clear: there's no chance of losing track of them.
(I also get the sense that Londo's extroversion is the primary driver of their push towards friendship at this point - he's just not letting G'Kar *not* be friends, but G'Kar clearly does reciprocate, both in the sense of willingly spending time with him and also the same ten-year-old-boy sense of humor.)
It's like the (non-)negotiation dynamic you identified earlier: if G'Kar weren't down for the stupid, stupid conversations, he just wouldn't be part of them. If he's within ambit of Londo, whatever they are saying to one another, implicitly he wants to be there.
He's visibly following through on what he said a few episodes earlier about wanting to do better by his friends.
Yes! I hadn't caught it as that kind of development, but you're totally right.
And he's also *finally* using that quality that was evident in season one, where he's a people person and charmer who is pretty good at getting past interspecies differences. The humans might be the glue that holds the alliance together, but Londo is not bad at it himself.
Yes! It's so nice to see. It's like he's finally snapped into focus as himself. And the fact that he and G'Kar are now presenting a united front carries explicit weight with the League, and G'Kar is no mean wordsmith himself, but I love that Londo is winding up what was obviously a Churchill-grade speech as Delenn and Lennier enter and it worked. (With that inevitable little grace note about the Centauri leading the way that he probably put in there just so G'Kar can roll his eyes at it. G'Kar has to be the first person he bounced this idea off, anyway.)
Including follow-through on some storylines that I absolutely did not expect to get closure on in this season, like Bester and Carolyn (the way he goes visibly a little limp when Sheridan tells him she wasn't on the ships - he very much did think they'd gotten her killed)
I love that whole interaction because his fears are not unfounded: her safety was part of his bargain with Babylon 5, but he could be very legitimately considered to have broken it by hijacking Garibaldi, and while it would feel uncharacteristically cold of Sheridan to have sent her to die deliberately in reprisal, there's just enough room for doubt in the fact that he fought that battle while barely out of the imprisoned-and-tortured phase for which Bester was unnecessarily responsible and Sheridan is willing to let him twist for the information.
And I am thoroughly delighted we got to see it!
I don't know if it's the happiest, but it's like the healthiest happiest we've ever seen them.
no subject
ETA: And along those lines, it's also really fascinating to see Londo dial it back when he switches from talking to G'Kar to talking to Vir! He's entirely capable of being inappropriate when talking to literally anyone, we've definitely seen that with him at other times, but he's definitely in a different mode when he's talking to G'Kar, at this point in their relationship trajectory, and you can see him become noticeably more toned down with Vir.
no subject
"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
"G'Kar, you are a depressing person."
"Thank you!"
He's entirely capable of being inappropriate when talking to literally anyone, we've definitely seen that with him at other times, but he's definitely in a different mode when he's talking to G'Kar, at this point in their relationship trajectory, and you can see him become noticeably more toned down with Vir.
Yes! It's outrageous, but it's not scattershot. It's particular to the two of them.