tearing up the evidence papers in front of the council, snarling out his counter-accusations.
It's as dramatic as his dictation of terms after the fall of Narn and it has something of the same awful commitment for me, in that whatever private qualms he may experience about the defensibility of his/government's position, on the public stage it's damn the torpedoes, full party line ahead. He doesn't want to believe that he has been effectively sold out by his own people, that all the while he was throwing himself into his sincere responsibilities as a charter member of the Alliance—a political role he could be finally, uncomplicatedly proud of—someone back home was setting the charges to blow all his bridge-building. Londo determined to suppress his second thoughts can be formidably difficult to get through to.
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.
YES. It isn't even moral cowardice for me in that moment, it's that Londo has historically, demonstrably never loved anything as much as Centauri Prime, for whose sake he most recently burnt every one of his bridges on Babylon 5 that wasn't Vir. It's what got him into his mess of moral event horizons in the first place. It's what kept him doubling down on them for far too long, sunk cost committed to his homeworld's greater good. All evidence and temperament should point to him once more presenting a united front against the enemies of his empire, even if they are his personal friends. But he doesn't even hesitate. He's right up in the defense minister's face about it, even before the ultimatum comes down. Even more than with Na'Toth, he's refusing to be a bystander. He failed G'Kar colossally on that front once (several times) before and now he just steps in.
(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.)
Both of you have good points! I appreciate that when the wheels come off, it's not because anyone is holding the idiot ball, it is probably too late for me to be trusted with metaphor.
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.
I love everything about that plotline, from the fast food to the absolute berserkering with the coutari while Londo beams approvingly. He's a great choice for ambassador and once again it's somewhere that wasn't at all predictable from his start point and makes perfect sense.
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.
no subject
It's as dramatic as his dictation of terms after the fall of Narn and it has something of the same awful commitment for me, in that whatever private qualms he may experience about the defensibility of his/government's position, on the public stage it's damn the torpedoes, full party line ahead. He doesn't want to believe that he has been effectively sold out by his own people, that all the while he was throwing himself into his sincere responsibilities as a charter member of the Alliance—a political role he could be finally, uncomplicatedly proud of—someone back home was setting the charges to blow all his bridge-building. Londo determined to suppress his second thoughts can be formidably difficult to get through to.
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.
YES. It isn't even moral cowardice for me in that moment, it's that Londo has historically, demonstrably never loved anything as much as Centauri Prime, for whose sake he most recently burnt every one of his bridges on Babylon 5 that wasn't Vir. It's what got him into his mess of moral event horizons in the first place. It's what kept him doubling down on them for far too long, sunk cost committed to his homeworld's greater good. All evidence and temperament should point to him once more presenting a united front against the enemies of his empire, even if they are his personal friends. But he doesn't even hesitate. He's right up in the defense minister's face about it, even before the ultimatum comes down. Even more than with Na'Toth, he's refusing to be a bystander. He failed G'Kar colossally on that front once (several times) before and now he just steps in.
(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.)
Both of you have good points! I appreciate that when the wheels come off, it's not because anyone is holding the idiot ball, it is probably too late for me to be trusted with metaphor.
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.
I love everything about that plotline, from the fast food to the absolute berserkering with the coutari while Londo beams approvingly. He's a great choice for ambassador and once again it's somewhere that wasn't at all predictable from his start point and makes perfect sense.
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.
That sounds . . . agonizingly correct . . .