So, uh, you know how I’ve been whining all along about how boring and dull I find Commander Sinclair? By the end of this episode, I had changed my mind. Completely.
Holy cow.
WOW. Both Jeff and I really enjoyed this episode. And yes, I enjoyed it even though Londo didn’t make a single appearance.
So my immediate question (which of course I don’t want any of you to answer): *IS* Sinclair being used by the Minbari, and why/how? He has that “hole in his mind” (was that from a scene from a previous episode that I’ve forgotten already?!?), after all, and the Minbari obviously did something to him.
Plus Delenn went through the red fruit exchange Minbari marriage ceremony without telling him. Delenn seemed so sincere and likeable up to now — IS SHE ONE OF THE BAD GUYS?!? Don’t answer that.
Sinclair: Everyone lies, Michael. The innocent lie because they don’t want to be blamed for something they didn’t do, and the guilty lie because they don’t have any other choice.
Why DID the Minbari suddenly surrender when they were on the verge of victory? Don’t answer that.
Who was that white-eyed guy in the last scene who told Delenn that Sinclair would have to be killed if he remembered? One of the Grey Council? Don’t answer that.
It was clear from the discussion inside Sinclair’s mind that Sinclair was a rising star in Earth Force Defense until the mysterious blackout. The Evil Guy said: “So what happened, commander? Why’d you fall off the merry-go-round?” but Sinclair just tells him to go to hell. Does Sinclair KNOW why he stopped being promoted? Don’t answer that.
By the way, I immediately recognized that blonde guy with the seventies haircut as Khan’s sidekick from Wrath of Khan.
And now I’m even more curious about one of the early scenes, when Dr. Franklin is examining Delenn and she asks him if he used to hitchhike spaceships. I thought it was just smalltalk but was she asking for a different reason? Don’t answer that.
At the end, the Bad Guy After His Brains Got Fried turned around and said, “Commander Sinclair, there’s something in my head. It says, ‘Maybe you’re still inside. Maybe we’re both still inside.” Was this just a “maybe we’re all brains in a vat” throwaway comment to freak out the audience? Or was it indicative of something more? Don’t answer that unless it truly was just a throwaway comment.
But anyway…
Wow.
Things are getting really, REALLY interesting.
I hope we find out more about Delenn soon. My current theory (DON’T tell me if I’m right/wrong): that she started out siding totally with the Minbari Grey Council but is now having doubts. That she truly does admire Sinclair — I’m sure I saw her look of hesitation when that blank-eyed Minbari guy at the end told her that Sinclair might have to be killed.
And what’s going to happen with Sinclair? As sadistic as that Bad Guy In His Head was, the fellow did make some good points. If I was Sinclair, I -would- be doubting myself, wondering if I was being used by the Minbari.
But hold on a sec…what if Sinclair himself KNOWS WHAT’S GOING ON? OR WHAT IF HE’S BEEN BRAINWASHED INTO BEING AN EVIL MINBARI UNDERCOVER AGENT? Maybe he’s like Jason Bourne and just needs a trigger to start a programmed response that is designed to bring down Earth Defense!
Or maybe I need to just calm down and watch some more episodes.
And speaking of episodes, could someone please click through a couple of the episodes on the Lurker’s Guide Master Episode List and let me know if they’re spoiler safe as long as I stick to episodes I’ve seen? I did click through to one early on but left as soon as I got the impression that they tend to do “hindsight analysis,” but I want to confirm if this is true or not. Thanks.
Next episode: Deathwalker.
[For those who comment below: As the title of my blog indicates, I'm watching B5 for the very first time so PLEASE refrain from posting plot/character spoilers about upcoming episodes, or including links to pages with spoilers (unless you warn readers that they contain spoilers). Thanks so much! - Debbie]
23 comments ↓
*laughing* I really enjoyed reading this, mainly because of how you were writing it. . . halfway through I was chorusing along . . . out loud . . . at work . . . “Don’t answer that!”
You’re half making me want to watch the series myself, but finding it would either be a pain or expensive, and I tell myself I don’t have time. . .
Hmmm … I’d suggest saving the Lurker’s Guide for later, as it’s probably a bit more detailed than you’d want for now.
Save it for when you watch the whole series thru a second (or third or fourth) time. And you will want to watch it at least one more time to see how much the whole series ties together.
“There is a hole in your mind” is something a Minbari says to Sinclair in “the Gathering” (the pilot, which I think you said you haven’t watched yet).
I’ve been waiting for you to get to this episode! It’s so hard to comment without spoilers!
I agree, Sinclair has been pretty dull up until this episode. This is the first episode you really get an idea that there’s a lot more going on than they’re telling us. Even though there’s subtle hints in the earlier episodes that you can see when once you know that you should be looking for these sorts of things, if you’re watching the show fresh without any prior knowledge this is probably the first time you become aware of it.
I think the hole in Sinclair’s mind is mentioned by Kosh in the pilot movie but, as has been said before, you don’t really need to see it to understand what’s going on. I didn’t see it until a year or two ago when I bought the B5 Movie box set.
I also love this episode because you get an idea how close Earth came to losing the war with the Minbari. In a lot of popular sci-fi shows Earth reigns supreme (*stares pointedly at the Star Trek universe*) but in this show there are aliens much more powerful than Humans (as we saw at Sigma 957).
I think the comment about “both still inside” was just a throwaway line. I also thought “Cool! They’re gonna do the whole Matrix/Total Recall thing!” but I don’t remember anything more coming of it. JMS is quoted as saying ‘I would *never* pull a “he wakes up and it was all a dream” on the series. I hate that kind of story.’
I’m rewatching B5 since I haven’t seen it for a long time and I couldn’t remember anything about the episodes you were talking about. It’s great stuff!
Oooo, now you’re making me want to watch it again. Good questions all.
I remember being blown away by some of the answers, and by how the characters develop, like Real People. Characters you hated, turn into characters you love. Then hate again, then love…
What Sinclair _does_ remember about the Battle of the Line has had a definite impact on him (an example from one of the episodes you’ve seen already: the conversation in “Infection” where Garibaldi worries that Sinclair is a bit too willing to risk his life). The questions raised by what he _doesn’t_ remember obviously make EarthGov a bit unsure of him, and he isn’t oblivious to that.
OK, quick recap of events in “The Gathering.” (You’ve had part of this already — it was in the conversation in “The War Prayer” between Sinclair and Ivanova, after Sinclair visits Kosh.)
The station had only been open a short time, and the Vorlon ambassador, Kosh, was about to arrive for the first time. He demanded that on arrival he only meet Sinclair, alone, but Sinclair’s lift got stuck en route, and someone else disguised as Sinclair met Kosh and poisoned him, with a patch on the back of Kosh’s hand. (This is the detail Sinclair suddenly remembers when visiting Kosh in “The War Prayer.”)
The records indicate no stoppage of the lift — in fact, all the records have been modified, by someone high up (we never learn who), to counter Sinclair’s alibi. The situation escalates until a Vorlon fleet arrives at the station, threatening to destroy it unless Sinclair is handed over for trial.
It is just then that station cameras broadcast the confrontation between Sinclair and the true killer. In the process, the killer’s disguise — a suit that projects a sort of hologram around the wearer — shorts out, and reveals the killer to be a Minbari, from a clan that opposed the surrender at the Battle of the Line. It is this Minbari who just before dying mocks Sinclair with “There is a hole in your mind.”
Meanwhile, the doctor — not Franklin, but someone named Kyle — was able to save Kosh, and the pilot ends with all the ambassadors gathered for the first time.
Because of the longer-than-expected time between pilot and series, four of the cast members were unable to return — the one who played Dr. Kyle; the one who played Lyta Alexander, the telepath; the one who played Laurel Takashima, the second-in-command; and the one who played Sinclair’s lover, Carolyn Sykes. You heard the plot reasons covering the absences of Kyle and Alexander in that talk between Sinclair and Ivanova, and he referred to Sykes briefly in “Parliament of Dreams” when Catherine Sakai asked after her and he told Sakai they had broken up.
Yay, love all your questions. You have some truly brilliant episodes ahead of you…
And, again I’d say, if you truly want to stay spoiler-free you are best to stay away from B5 websites. “The Lurker’s Guide” is fascinating, but is probably best left to a second watching and best appreciated then, too. As others have said, if you are getting hooked, you will want to see this series more than once. I’m about three-quarters of the way through Season 1 now for the third time and I’m just as enthralled as I was the first time.
Heh. I was waiting for you to get to this one. You really should watch “The Gathering”, where Sinclair talks about the Battle of the Line. The rest of the “pilot” isn’t amazing, but that is where JMS’s lyricism shows through, and where the title of the episode comes from. (So I was really excited when I first saw the title of the episode listing, knowing that we were going to see flashbacks of that last battle)
(I’m paraphrasing from memory): “The sky was full of stars, and every star was an exploding ship. One of ours.” Chills.
And to relieve some of your suffering, yes, the “we’re still inside” was a throwaway.
Joseph - what part of “No spoilers” don’t you understand? Yes, those events happen before the current ones so it isn’t a “future spoiler” - but it was sounding as if she’s hooked enough now to watch the pilot without abandoning the series - and what you put there isn’t exactly going to enrich her viewing experience. Whether now or some time in the future, she’ll watch that eventually.
…she wanted to know where the flashback came from…
OK. If I spoiled something, I’m sorry. I don’t think I did.
Yes, the Lurkers’ Guide does seem to be written with knowledge of the whole series. The summaries on the tv.com listing however seem to be safe.
You now have serveral of us wanting to re-watch it with you *g*…
You do realise you now need to write the song “Don’t answer that!” in which you throw out ever more crazed plot questions only to immediately follow each with an urgent “Don’t answer that!”
Meanwhile I will just reassure you that yes, there is a reason why the Minbari surrendered, why there is a hole in Sinclair’s mind, and why that particular Minbari ceremony will turn out to be doubly appropriate. And all of these you will discover in due course! The nice thing about B5 is that unlike some shows which just throw out most questions pretty much at random and never get around to addressing them, those in B5 will mostly turn out to be answered. Eventually…
The answers are at least as interesting as you’re guessing. I don’t remember them all myself now. Maybe I should go out and buy myself a set of seasons 1-4 now!
… after I see whether US income tax leaves me broke, though.
Thanks for all your comments. Joseph: I do want to stay spoiler-free for ANY episodes I haven’t seen yet, but it’s my fault for not making that more clear. No worries; I saw Hvideo’s comment before I saw yours, so am going to skip reading that comment of yours until I’ve seen the pilot — my friend Reid is going to lend me the pilot, hopefully this Friday!
Phil: what a cool idea for a song! I’d be tempted to write it except that it would still have spoilers for those who haven’t yet watched the show.
I’ll address some of the other comments later after I’ve watched the pilot (else I’ll keep having to NOT look at Joseph’s post about the pilot each time I scroll up to reread a comment).
And again, thanks for your patience with my past (and future, I’m sure) ignorant comments about characters and the series.
I’m irrevocably hooked in now, and am committed to watching the entire series.
In case you’re all curious about how I saw Hvideo’s comment first, I tend to do a very quick skim of all the comments before reading them in detail to see whether it looks as if there are spoilers in them (I still remember how one total stranger purposely posted an entire plot summary of the last Harry Potter book in Allison’s blog after she specifically asked for no spoilers). If it ever looks as if there ARE spoilers but I’m not sure, I won’t read those comments until I verify with Allison that they’re spoiler-free.
I loved B5 from the start, but made the same stupid mistake with Buffy - watched an episode, thought it silly, and missed several seasons before discovering how wonderful it was. It took me a long time to catch up.
Phil gave me the full B5 series in December. We just got to episode 13, which I had remembered as the most important of Season 1. It was the one that took B5 from mere entertainment to absolutely enthralling for me. Even better the second time through, knowing what is to come.
I think to be honest Debbie that there are enough spoiler-laden B5 filks out there that one more really isn’t going to make much difference. Especially one with more questions than answers!
Besides, I suspect, as with yourself and those other songs, those who haven’t watched the show will have most of it just wash right over their heads without registering - since of course they don’t know who all those characters are in the first place!
The difficult question would be judging at which point in watching the show to write such a song - I suspect the best idea would be to note the questions as you go along (which you are anyway!) and then write the song afterwards with the benefit of both foresight and hindsight, so to speak!
Meanwhile, I think I may well feel my DVDs calling me. It’s been quite a while since I’ve watched all of first season…
Speaking of filk-worthy, are you finding things that are filk-worthy? Would the character sing their own song, or would their be a song about them? For instance, I could see a song about Sinclair. There have been songs done from the character’s direct view, but don’t think of those now. …. Oops, Talia just here ya.
Now I need time to watch ep 9.
I have written one B5 song. I don’t play it often because, frankly, it’s not a very good song. The only thing that makes it worth mentioning is that it’s a parody of an old gospel tune that goes, “Farther along, we’ll know all about it. Farther along, we’ll understand why.”
It was irresistible.
“If I was Sinclair, I -would- be doubting myself, wondering if I was being used by the Minbari.”
One of the recurring comments by viewers during this part of the show the first time around was that they didn’t particularly care for way Sinclair was being portrayed. A common way to describe this was that “the acting seems wooden”. You, too, mentioned that you had not found him very interesting up until now.
JMS and Michael O’Hare spent time discussing how Sinclair ought to be feeling after going through the experiences he remembered and knowing that there were things that he did not remember (and how important those things were to others and what they might be willing to do to find out). So a fair part of how Sinclair was portrayed all season was the deliberate choice on how to portray someone who had been through those life-changing experiences. The audience started out knowing almost nothing of those experiences. Since JMS knew the entire 5-year story he knew all the things that would only be revealed slowly during the show itself. This is a far different situation than in most shows. Imagine the “self-contained episodes” of Star Trek where everything pretty much rewinds to where it was for the characters after each episode. This allows each writer (and there were many) a common starting place - but you don’t get season 1 episodes of Star Trek that provide a foundation for a reveal in season 3. In B5 you get that long term planning because the 5 year story was already known even if individual writers might be given an outline and told to write the full script for various B5 episodes.
So there were a number of criticisms of the “wooden” style of Sinclair that were made as slams against O’Hare’s acting ability when in fact it was mostly in accordance with how JMS wanted the post-Battle-of-the-Line Sinclair to be played. Uncertainty and self-doubt was a natural consequence of his history. Viewers who were used to dynamic and pristine heroes (Captain Kirk, etc.) did not easily accept a lead with a (mostly unrevealed) troubled background.
The comment about “the hole in your mind” was made in the pilot by someone who attacked Sinclair (I’m deliberately unclear as I intend not to spoil).
As for the Delenn-Franklin conversation: The part about Franklin “hitchhiking on star ships” is not as interesting as Delenn’s own reaction when Franklin asked her what HER role in the war has been.
I no longer remember at what point I saw the pilot. I know it was after the series started airing.
I didn’t see it the first time around — I saw it on TNT (and yes, Debbie, I had to be militant about avoiding spoilers - but it was worth every stern glance!) By the time it got to TNT, JMS had things like the original (never aired) pilot and the final (aired) pilot interspersed at what seemed to me to be miscellaneous times, but which I came to recognize as quite strategic.
Debbie, if you — or anyone else — can find the original episode airing sequence from TNT, that would help you get episode lists (and fill-back info) without spoilers unintended by JMS.
I’ll look and see what I have. If you can contact Sharon Brevoort, I know she had the complete series she taped from TNT. If she still has that intact, she can give you a list. I, too, taped them all, but got rid of the tapes once I had the series in DVD, and as I remember (they are now all packed and sitting in the basement of the new house) the “specials” (including the pilot re-air) are all in one set, so I don’t know the order.
I don’t know how long it will take you to do this viewing exercise of yours, but if it’s still going on once we’ve moved into the new house, I am definitely going to join you then! Reading you here is such a tantalizing taste of watching it for the first time!
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