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Babylon 5 5x16 (more)
Now that the primary thoughts/screaming are done, a few more random items.
* The amended chapters of the Book of G'Kar that G'Kar gives to Delenn in case he doesn't come back, about which he tells her that he fixed some things he wrote "when I was a much angrier person" - he rewrote all the Centauri and Londo parts, didn't he? Because he doesn't want his early, angry, hateful thoughts on the Centauri to be the legacy he leaves behind. (And this is after the Centauri just betrayed everybody!)
* In retrospect it's kind of fascinating to me that this episode has Londo at about the worst he's been since he and G'Kar became friends. In his betrayal and hurt, he's reverted to his worse self - tearing up the evidence papers in front of the council, snarling out his counter-accusations. And it changes absolutely nothing between them. Delenn and Sheridan have to take a hard line with him (and we see how it's tearing up Delenn, staying up all night meditating over the candle and crying, although Londo doesn't see any of that - in public, and with him, she presents a calm face of accusation). But G'Kar stays very quiet in the meeting, standing with the council when they make a decision - he knows it's the right thing to do, and also that the Centauri very much are responsible - but he also *isn't* going to take a public, individual stand against Londo, the way most of Londo's friends have done. He knows the Centauri are guilty, he believes Londo isn't, but it's completely obvious throughout the episode that whatever else is going on, whatever worst and pettiest qualities this situation is bringing out in Londo, G'Kar loves that fucking idiot enough to die for him and follow him into hell, and nothing about this situation has changed that in the slightest.
* Even though he believes Londo wouldn't do the same. It's very clear in the final scene on Centauri Prime that Londo bucking his people's orders and facing down a threat of execution to protect G'Kar is a total shock to him. G'Kar knows full well that Londo is (or at least historically has been) a moral coward and he doesn't expect the same kind of die-for-you loyalty in return and still loves him enough to do just about anything and forgive just about anything for him. (While insulting him continually to his face, because they wouldn't be them without that.)
* I haven't really talked about Zack and Garibaldi at all, but that's a really interesting dynamic too - their fight in Garibaldi's quarters, Zack deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt and the reprieve he asks for, and this blows up epically in both their faces when Garibaldi's negligence shatters their very tentative attempt to prevent war between the Centauri and the Alliance. (Orion would like to point out that Garibaldi did not *cause* a war, he just failed to prevent one. Still, you had one job, literally! But like all of the other fatal flaws on display throughout this episode, we saw everything leading up to it and we know why it happened.) Zack has never been a personal favorite character of mine, but I really love that he's been with the security team, and he's been through enough with them and the other characters, that his scenes with Garibaldi feel earned.
* Vir, my darling. If I mention nothing else about the previous episodes, it's that the episode in which Vir comes into his own as the ambassador-elect feels like a proper precursor to Vir's role in this one. He doesn't have much to do other than backing up Londo, but he has been set up as a worthy successor. And possibly his innate kindness, honesty, and moral backbone is what they all need out of the local representative of the Centauri in the current mess, certainly better than Londo's politicking and fierce adherence to the party line.
* EDIT: Also, now that I've seen this far, the visible evidence in season three, that at the end of his timeline, Londo implicitly trusts the survival of his people to Delenn and Sheridan after they openly betrayed him here absolutely ENDS ME. And it's for the same reasons they cut him off at the knees in front of the council and he knows it: because they will do the right thing, no matter what.
* The amended chapters of the Book of G'Kar that G'Kar gives to Delenn in case he doesn't come back, about which he tells her that he fixed some things he wrote "when I was a much angrier person" - he rewrote all the Centauri and Londo parts, didn't he? Because he doesn't want his early, angry, hateful thoughts on the Centauri to be the legacy he leaves behind. (And this is after the Centauri just betrayed everybody!)
* In retrospect it's kind of fascinating to me that this episode has Londo at about the worst he's been since he and G'Kar became friends. In his betrayal and hurt, he's reverted to his worse self - tearing up the evidence papers in front of the council, snarling out his counter-accusations. And it changes absolutely nothing between them. Delenn and Sheridan have to take a hard line with him (and we see how it's tearing up Delenn, staying up all night meditating over the candle and crying, although Londo doesn't see any of that - in public, and with him, she presents a calm face of accusation). But G'Kar stays very quiet in the meeting, standing with the council when they make a decision - he knows it's the right thing to do, and also that the Centauri very much are responsible - but he also *isn't* going to take a public, individual stand against Londo, the way most of Londo's friends have done. He knows the Centauri are guilty, he believes Londo isn't, but it's completely obvious throughout the episode that whatever else is going on, whatever worst and pettiest qualities this situation is bringing out in Londo, G'Kar loves that fucking idiot enough to die for him and follow him into hell, and nothing about this situation has changed that in the slightest.
* Even though he believes Londo wouldn't do the same. It's very clear in the final scene on Centauri Prime that Londo bucking his people's orders and facing down a threat of execution to protect G'Kar is a total shock to him. G'Kar knows full well that Londo is (or at least historically has been) a moral coward and he doesn't expect the same kind of die-for-you loyalty in return and still loves him enough to do just about anything and forgive just about anything for him. (While insulting him continually to his face, because they wouldn't be them without that.)
* I haven't really talked about Zack and Garibaldi at all, but that's a really interesting dynamic too - their fight in Garibaldi's quarters, Zack deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt and the reprieve he asks for, and this blows up epically in both their faces when Garibaldi's negligence shatters their very tentative attempt to prevent war between the Centauri and the Alliance. (Orion would like to point out that Garibaldi did not *cause* a war, he just failed to prevent one. Still, you had one job, literally! But like all of the other fatal flaws on display throughout this episode, we saw everything leading up to it and we know why it happened.) Zack has never been a personal favorite character of mine, but I really love that he's been with the security team, and he's been through enough with them and the other characters, that his scenes with Garibaldi feel earned.
* Vir, my darling. If I mention nothing else about the previous episodes, it's that the episode in which Vir comes into his own as the ambassador-elect feels like a proper precursor to Vir's role in this one. He doesn't have much to do other than backing up Londo, but he has been set up as a worthy successor. And possibly his innate kindness, honesty, and moral backbone is what they all need out of the local representative of the Centauri in the current mess, certainly better than Londo's politicking and fierce adherence to the party line.
* EDIT: Also, now that I've seen this far, the visible evidence in season three, that at the end of his timeline, Londo implicitly trusts the survival of his people to Delenn and Sheridan after they openly betrayed him here absolutely ENDS ME. And it's for the same reasons they cut him off at the knees in front of the council and he knows it: because they will do the right thing, no matter what.