With everything that happened in the last episode, I confess I felt a bit let down by this one, though it was fun to see Londo corrupt Lennier AND find out that the latter is so good at hand-to-hand combat.
As soon as I saw Mueller, I knew he was evil, mainly because all I’ve ever seen him are Bad Guy roles. So I wasn’t really surprised when Talia Winters was horrified by what she found in his mind.
The other subplot with Laura Rosen was mildly interesting, mostly because of the alien technology she was using. My questions (which I don’t want anyone to answer, of course): What aliens created it? Was it just coincidence that Rosen got her hands on it? Did Rosen correctly interpret its function? Where did she get that cool wall sculpture?
The minute she mentions that it used to be used for corporal punishment, I knew that somewhere along the line, the Bad Guy was going to get his life sucked out of him. I was a bit disappointed when I found out I was right.
The whole idea of doing a brainwipe is an interesting one, isn’t it? Especially that it’s considered more humane than an outright execution…though I suppose that the community benefits.
Mueller’s last words in the courtoom after sentencing are pretty nasty: “You’re all dead and you don’t even know it!” Nice.
I still find it hard to believe that this subplot would be thrown in so close to the end of the season with such a zero-sum by the end of the episode. My theory (DON’T TELL ME IF I’M RIGHT) is that not was only Mueller’s life energy transferred to Laura Rosen, but also some of his Evil Essence. And that the reason the part about Talia was included is because she’s going to recognize that Evil Essence sometime in the future. And that would make his last words in the courtroom even more ominous.
But again, please don’t tell me (or even hint) if I’m right about this. 
Back to Londo and Lennier. What the HECK was that tentacle thing coming out of Londo’s stomach?!? Londo’s reference to the goddess of passions statue near the end of the episode seems to indicate that the Centauri males have long tentacles for…er…male organs. Don’t tell me. REALLY don’t tell me.
And then the doctor asks the healer’s daughter out. Interesting…that would be a good set-up for when the daughter finds out that her mother has turned into a Murdering Lunatic. But we’ll see.
Next episode: Chrysalis.
[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/hints about upcoming episodes, or including links to pages with spoilers (unless you warn readers that they contain spoilers). More info about spoilers here. Thanks so much! - Debbie]
9 comments ↓
Yeah, this episode was a bit weak.
Laura Rosen was played by June Lockhart who played Bill Mumy’s (Lennier) mother in Lost In Space. Although they didn’t have any scenes with each other in this episode.
JMS speaks about Londo’s appendages:
# Q: What are Londo’s appendages called?
Tentisticularites?
# Are Londo’s appendages in addition to or instead of human-type “appendages”?
That would be instead of, not in addition to.
# As for the tentacles…well, there’s no rules about showing tentacles on TV. I think they didn’t even want to deal with it. There are some moments when they pretend they didn’t see it, and I pretend I didn’t write it.
# Centauri males have six.
# Centauri females, btw, have six narrow…ummm…slots on their backs, three on either side of the spine, right around the base of the spine.
The awful thing is that the two women in props — who were having FAR too much fun with this — kept bringing me the tentacle to verify the shape, size, consistency, do we see veins or not….
I tell you here and now: our staff meetings are something else.
# Actually, Centauri have six. They extend out from the sides of the body, and “fold” in over the solar plexus when not in, er, use. (We actually saw one extended for other purposes in the first season, “The Quality of Mercy.”) Female Centauri have six…er…slotted areas on either side of the spine, just above the hips, three on either side.
To go any further would probably bring in the FBI.
# Does that mean Centauri women have multiple births on a regular basis?
No multiple births, in that sense, not any different than humans.
# “What kind of birth control do the Centauri use?”
Conversation.
# Which of the six do they use for urination?
That assumes the urinate out of the same organs they use for sex; ain’t necessarily the case.
# We used a bullwhip sound effect for the “retraction” in QoM; when we were in sound editing, I asked for the hardest whip-crack they had…and got it put in REAL loud. Every time I hear it, I’m on the floor….
Bill Mumy wanted to have a scene with June Lockhart, but JMS didn’t see how it could be done with a proper in-story rationale, and didn’t want to do it just for a fan in-joke moment.
Bill actually snuck a walk through one of her scenes in plain clothes.
Earlier in the episode, Londo tells someone to “touch ‘dis”, pointing to a spot just under where our heart would be. It must be where one of his six organs folds up.
Did you notice that Lennier referenced his years as “eleventy-fifth” and eleventy-seventh.” Minbari use base 11 instead of base 10. According to JMS, the Minbari consider their head as the eleventh “counting finger,” which is where mathematics is derived.
From jms on Minbari counting systems:
“Minbari use base 11, not base 10, so twelve would be eleventy-first year, and so on.
Minbari base eleven includes fingers and head, from which the principle of mathematics comes.
You’re also looking at this from a strictly English-speaking perspective; in German, for instance, 21 is “Ein und Zwanzig” (pardon any misspellings in there, it’s been a while) which is exactly the same structure, albeit reversed, used for Minbari counting (and, in fact, is more or less what I based his “statement” on).
Eleventy-seven = Eighteen base ten.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven
Eleventy-one, eleventy-two, eleventy-three, eleventy-four, eleventy- five, eleventy-six, eleventy-seven, eleventy-eight, eleventy-nine, eleventy-ten, twelfy
Twelfty-one, twelfty-two, twelfy-three, twelfty-four, twelfty-five, twelfty-six, twelfty-seven, twelfty-eight, twelfty-nine, twelfty-ten.
And so on.
Who here still has a problem with this?”
How many Centauri does it take to change a lightbulb?
One Centauri, six lightbulbs, no hands, no step-ladder…
Awww. You REALLY don’t want to know about Centauri organs? :)))
Bob Kanefsky has this HILARIOUS and totally spoiler free song:
http://www.songworm.com/lyrics/songworm-parody/SixTransitGenitaliaCentaur.html
First time I heard it, I almost burst with laughter
Katy: OH. MY. GOD. =:oO
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
[PICKS SELF UP OFF FLOOR AND POURS SELF INTO A BUCKET]