Yowza. Ok, so this episode more than made up for the previous. And of course at the end of the season, I’m left with SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS that I can’t possibly understand how you all stayed sane after watching it, knowing you had to wait until the next season to find out what happened next!
But before I start babbling (or rather in a feeble attempt to organize my babbling), let me start at the beginning.
So much for my theory that Londo and G’Kar could almost be friends.
From what I can tell, however, Londo seems to be more trustworthy than G’Kar, at least when it comes to the important stuff. G’Kar has obviously decided to ignore a signed treaty.
Other perks of this episode:
We finally get to see what the president looks (looked) like:
And Sinclair proposed to Catherine!
I still don’t trust Catherine. Did she ever tell him about all the money she made in that one episode? I don’t think so. Plus we never did get to find out about the “special surprise plans” she had for New Year’s Eve, did we?
Londo: But this - this, this, this is like being nibbled to death by… what are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet… go quack…
Vir: Cats.
Londo: Cats. I’m being nibbled to death by cats.
And Morden came back! LONDO, YOU FOOL, DON’T TRUST HIM!! Why do I get a terrible, sinking feeling that Londo is going to have a really, really rough time next season?
Right now, Londo seems to be a good person at heart. Yes, he has some surface bad qualities but he can be a decent and loyal friend to Garibaldi (GARIBALDI! THEY SHOT GARIBALDI!!!!), and he has the capacity for great love. He seemed genuinely shocked and dismayed when he heard that 10,000 Narns were killed.
But now power and prestige are coming his way, and who knows what Morden and those Shadow-Guys are going to ask of him! DON’T BE LURED BY THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE, LONDO! I’m afraid for him. Will his good side survive intact? Don’t tell me.
And then that scene with Delenn and Kosh, when Delenn says, “I have come as I said I would. Kosh, I have great doubts. I must know if it’s true. I must see with my own eyes.” She must know if WHAT is true? Don’t answer that. And WHAT DOES KOSH SHOW HER?!? Don’t answer that. And what promise does she say she’ll keep?!?? Don’t answer that.
As for the scene where Sinclair asks Garibaldi to be his best man and Catherine asks Ivanova to be her maid of honour, you have to admit that Ivanova and Garibaldi look great together, don’t they?
So GARIBALDI CAN’T DIE. Of course he won’t die. They wouldn’t kill off a major character like Garibaldi. Except this is the B5 universe, not Star Trek, so I don’t really know that yet. I’m hoping, though, that they wouldn’t dare to kill off such a great character after only one season. Right? I’m right, aren’t I?
Don’t tell me.
The minute I heard the news bit about the Vice President having to opt out of the presidential trip because of a viral infection, I knew that he was involved in the conspiracy. Don’t tell me if I’m right!
Meanwhile, what did Delenn want to discuss with Sinclair in her quarters? AUGH, I wish he had remembered to go to her quarters before Delenn did her cocoon thing!
Kosh: And so it begins.
More questions (which I’d appreciate you NOT answering):
- So it turns out that Delenn’s weird crystal sculpture had a purpose after all! But did she know why she was building it? Did Lennier? How did she know she was going to get the Triluminary? What’s the purpose of the Triluminary? I seem to remember there were 2 or 3 others; have they been used the same way?
- The young telepath in an episode earlier in the season saw the word “chrysalis” in Delenn’s mind -before- Delenn got the triluminary. Does this mean Delenn would have found a way to do the cocoon thing even without the triluminary?
- Why was Lennier crying when Delenn went into cocoon mode?
- HOW IS DELENN CHANGING?!? And WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SINCLAIR???
G’Kar: Tell the commander he was right. We were at a crossroads, and there is no going back.
Because someone earlier had posted that Sinclair wasn’t going to be around in the second season, I kept waiting for Sinclair to get killed or transferred or kidnapped or whatever, but that never happened. So is he around in the second season after all? Don’t tell me.
And where did G’Kar go? He says in his recorded message to Na’Toth that he has suspicions about the attack on quadrant 27. What does he suspect? Don’t answer that.
And what about the traitor guy who shot Garibaldi? I hope something very bad happens to him soon. I was very upset when Garibaldi was attacked; I yelled at the screen to warn him, but unfortunately he didn’t hear me and got shot anyway. GARIBALDI CANNOT DIE. He can’t. He has so much to do with his life first, like realize he’s in love with Ivanova and also to keep Catherine from stabbing Sinclair in the back at their wedding.
Of course Jeff and I want to plunge right into the second season, but we’re going back to watch The Gathering next since we missed that in the beginning.
But I have to say; I’m truly hooked. I suspect Jeff will be by the beginning of next season but whether or not he decides to keep watching, I’ve committed to watching the rest of the series.
I deeply regret not giving the series more of a chance when it first aired but better late than never, right?
I’ve heard many times that if I make it through the first season of B5, it only gets better. And that excites me because I didn’t find the first season nearly as bad as I had expected; there were some real episode gems, and I can’t wait to see how the second season plays out.
[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]
24 comments ↓
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha.
As they say, all past is prologue. And Season 1 was just an appetizer. Season 2 is where it starts to ramp up and start really getting good.
Heh heh heh.
This is going to be *fun*.
JMS’s comment was that this episode is where they kicked the tables over…
This is truly brilliant watching your responses. Makes me want to watch along with you all over again.
Oh, man. It’s just so awesome to see someone watching the show for the first time.
And, hey, non spoiler info! President Santiago is actually played by B5 producer Douglas Netter.
Londo and G’Kar–there’s a reason so many fans of the show are obsessed with those two characters. They are simply made of awesome, and the way they relate to one another over the years–there’s always something interesting going on.
Hold on to your hat, starting with the next season. If you’ve gotten this far without seeing ‘The Gathering,’ you probably don’t need to see it, and it *is* weaker than the series itself. If you’re worried about Jeff not getting hooked, you might consider just diving into season 2 and watching the pilot later.
I’ve been reading and waiting for you to get here before I said anything.
It brings tears of joy to my eyes, reading your progress to this point. Until the new Battlestar Galactica (which I wanted to hate, and had to love), I didn’t think I’d find writing as fine as B5. I kept the office mailing list (in a company of 400 people, at least 150 were on that list at any one time; we were *all* fans) and celebrated my 30th birthday by watching 3 episodes *at the office* with my friends.
I so love this show.
And I love watching the speculation and the “don’t tell me!”
Is it at all permissable to say *if* you’ll get an answer to a specific question - not what the answer is, but whether or not it’s addressed?
It’s so hard to restrain my enthusiasm.
Turns out Walker Smith, in his joking with Garibaldi, was profetic. You were too.
This episode was filmed 12th of the 22 because it needed so much post-production time for all the effects. JoeMS had to get his characters up to speed on some of the things that would happen in Season 1 to lead up to this. Then again, he most likely did not explain why.
This episode did not air until after the summer re-run break, on 10/26/1994 and the first of the next season aired the next week (in the US, but I would think you could see them in Toronto). So, the big anticipation was before airing in America. In the UK, it ended up airing at the begining of October, so UK fans were buzzing on the BBSs and boards about this before US fans had a chance to.
I don’t think the assasination of President Kennedy would have been in your lifetime, but that horror is echoed here in the assasination of President Santiago. The image of Vice-President Clark being sworn in echoes this photo of
Lyndon Baines Johnson taking the presidential oath of office on November 22 on Air Force One by White House photographer Cecil Stoughton.
When I first seen this episode, I was amazed at that image, and could not wait to re-wind the tape to see that again. In the lurkers guide JMS points out it was deliberate, with him and the director on set that day with a copy of the LBJ photo to get it right. The day they did it on, November 22, 1993, just a co-incidence, but eerie.
“…I’m left with SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS that I can’t possibly understand how you all stayed sane after watching it, knowing you had to wait until the next season to find out what happened next!”
Who says we stayed SANE?
“Who says we stayed SANE?”
Yeah, that about sums it up. Especially four episodes from the end of second season when Channel 4 stopped showing episodes for a period of *weeks* whilst waiting for the USA to catch up. And just after a certain rumour had hit the water too which meant the waiting was tinged with increasinly fevered speculation! Sane? Uh-huh!
I also remember a certain youngster’s Christening where the party was adjourned for an hour because the B5 fans present *had* to watch the broadcast of a season finale. Well, these things won’t wait, you know!
All I can do is smile cryptically and pat Debbie on the head and bite my tongue about what’s coming. We all went through the same journey, same thoughts and comments and all. Ah, the nostalgia.
(Well, except that I never ’shipped Garibaldi and Invanova.)
Actually, about the girl seeing the word in Delenn’s mind… this isn’t really a spoiler, but the episodes were not aired in the intended order. “Babylon Squared” is supposed to come before “Legacies”, which is supposed to directly precede “Chrysalis”. The master episode list at the Lurker’s Guide will show you what the intended order was.
Didn’t you just love seeing that first tiny glimpse of a Shadow? Feeling your spine jolting and your hackles raising and your legs shooting you off the couch, hoarsely whispering, “What the F@!% is THAT!?”
Off-topic, but cool: Cecil Stoughton recently appeared on Antiques Roadshow to get the famous LBJ photo appraised!
Re: “nibbled to death by cats”: a local costumer once appeared in the Balticon masquerade in full Centauri formal garb with a life-size goose puppet decked in multiple jeweled collars under his arm. He was introduced as “the Centauri ambassador and his pet cat.”
What you’re not getting is all the “real world” stuff that was being dealt with at the time of broadcast such as studio pressures, renewal uncertainty, and a bunch of others that you might consider spoiler-ish.
The B5 that exists isn’t exactly the B5 that was conceptualized. There are plot and episode events that became necessary to synchronize the show with external events and possibilities. Some of them are unfortunate, but it’s a tribute to JMS that he dealt with it as well as he did.
As someone mentioned earlier, Walker’s “watch your back” warning to Garibaldi was a nice bit of foreshadowing.
I would like to warn you that there were originally two different opening sequences to season two. One version was non-spoilery and used for the first two episodes of season 2 and the second version which contains a spoiler for something in episode 2 was used for the rest of the season. Unfortunately when they made the DVDs they used the same spoiler opening for all the episodes. This is something you may have already had spoiled for you but if you want to avoid it I would suggest only watching the opening monologue part of the credits for the first two episodes and skipping past the cast list part. Or skip the opening entirely for the first two episodes.
Also I would still encourage you to watch the pilot movie. It will be referred to again.
It’s cool that you are enjoying the show so much already, it only gets better from here. Season 2 was where the show really started to hit it’s stride. (Also from around mid to late season 2 until mid season 5, JMS wrote every single episode.)
If you can time it, watch the opening monologue at least then skip ahead past the cast credits. I always liked the season title monologues because from Season 2 onwards they let you in on what was going to be the focus for the following year, in suitably portentous fashion. My favourite - memorized, naturally - always will be the one for Season 4.
What they are saying, for the first 3 episodes of Season 2, once the show title sequence starts, hit the chapter advance button to skip over the the actor names.
Finally got all caught up with you! I’m very much enjoying your comments and the replies you’re getting.
I have to say, Garibaldi/Ivanova never occurred to me (note: I’m not saying I didn’t get surprised later, nor am I saying I did). Interesting.
“I was very upset when Garibaldi was attacked; I yelled at the screen to warn him, but unfortunately he didn’t hear me and got shot anyway.”
I too shouted at the screen the first time I saw it. He didn’t hear me either.
Fortunately neither did my mum, considering it was 1am.
I’m really enjoying your blog!
I’m amazed at how many of you were turned off at the beginning, and didn’t come back until coaxed for season 2.
I was hooked from the start (although I didn’t see the pilot until it was aired … before season 2, was it?) and it just kept getting better.
Granted, it was And the Sky Full of Stars that clinched it as a Husband-worthy show, so I agree about the early part not being as good as the rest. He does NOT watch TV. Bab5 and Firefly are the only exceptions. Oh, and he’ll watch Chuck, just as a brainless period of rest.
It was very difficult to get him to watch Bab 5. But once he started, he wanted an episode (or 2) each evening. When I recommended Firefly, he was more willing to trust my judgment!
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