ISN’s propaganda inspires Sheridan to start B5’s own news station. Delenn and Lennier encounter the Drakh. Franklin and Marcus convince the Mars resistance to partner with B5.
Something about the blonde woman bugged me. Her character is clearly supposed to be tough, but she just looks far too pretty. I liked the way she told off the guy who bombed the civilians, though.
I liked Ivanova’s reaction when Sheridan admits he didn’t even notice that she was wearing a bathrobe. “What am I, chopped flarn?” I’m assuming flarn is the equivalent of liver? Flarn. What a great word.
I bet Marcus would have noticed.
Delenn finds out more about the difficult situation back on Minbar, and realizes that she should have been paying more attention.
Marcus and Franklin give the Martian rebels a convincing pep talk. Interesting that Franklin says that B5 needs the rebels to obey whatever commands come from Sheridan, no matter how strange they may sound.
Interesting…what do they have in mind? Don’t tell me.
Philllipe: And what if I said I sprout wings and fly to New York, eh?
Franklin: In your case, I’d say you were crazy. But if Sheridan said it, I’d tell him to stop off on the West Side and pick me up some bagels.
Meanwhile, Forell has betrayed Delenn, though he mistakenly believes it’s for the good of the Minbari. Check out Lennier’s “if you hurt a hair on her head I’m gonna rip your lungs out through your nostrils” stance:
Romantic sparks kindle between Franklin and the blonde Martian rebel woman, much to the delight of Marcus:
I love Marcus’s speeches about love and life. He’s sensitive, has a sense of humour, romantic and a virgin. What on earth is Ivanova WAITING FOR?!??
The Drakh are pretty creepy-looking and they’ve already attacked ships. What was Forell thinking?
Though Forell has a point: letting the warrior caste take over Minbar would be bad.
I found it nearly impossible to understand what the Drakh was saying to Delenn, even with the translator. What was the last thing that Drakh said to Delenn before it left the ship? “Delenn”?
Love seeing Delenn in battle, commanding the Minbari forces. Don’t piss off Delenn — you’ll be sorry!
Lennier: The Drakh mother ship is heading for the jump gate.
Delenn: How fast?
Lennier: Fast.
Delenn: Be faster.
Delenn tells Sheridan that she has to go back to Minbar for a while, and that this is probably a good thing for him. “Things can never be the way they were,” she tells him. “When you were at Z’ha’dum, you touched your destiny. You cannot just walk away from that.”
She tells Sheridan that he needs to be dangerous again, and that he can do that much better if she’s not around.
Delenn is so good for Sheridan. Nothing better happen to her. I’m serious. I wasn’t sure if I liked her in the beginning, but I’ve grown to really enjoy her character.
Next episode: Conflicts of Interest
[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 ↓
I liked the look of the Drakh here…but I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that you won’t see them looking like this again. The blur was a last-minute fudge to cover the costume, because it didn’t look the way JMS wanted it. I think they should have kept it. But then, I was disappointed when the Ferengi lost all that crazy body language they had in their first appearance and started moving just like everyone else.
Yes, Delenn in command kicks serious ass.
And yes, Susan is an idiot for not snapping Marcus up immediately.
Flarn is the Minbari dish Lennier/Delenn prepared for Sheridan back around season 2 or 3. It seems to come in cubes and have a consistency of tofu.
Breen(sp?) is the Narn dish that G’Kar remarked that the universe seems to provide on each civilized world, but the Earthers call it ‘Swedish Meatballs’.
Spoo is the other blue meat.
What on earth is Ivanova WAITING FOR?!??
Ivanova is waiting back on B5. Maybe she is waiting to get back to Earth.
DVD subtitles are available on the DVDs, NTSC subtitles also show up on my TV. Both condense some longer speech segments to get them to be readable during that speech, but both spell things correctly.
Nice echo of Delenn in “Atonement”.
The blonde resistance leader is “Number One”. I agree, she is far too pretty to be taken seriously as a tough leader. But I can’t put my finger on why prettiness negates toughness!
I also think that the resistance are far too clean and well dressed for a group of people living hand to mouth in caves on Mars.
“The blonde resistance leader is “Number One”. I agree, she is far too pretty to be taken seriously as a tough leader. But I can’t put my finger on why prettiness negates toughness.”
I would say it is a matter of our expectations. We often look at such casting choices and come up with “She was cast because she was pretty, not because she can play a Tough character.”
About the only time this expectation relaxes is for a show about the French Underground in WWII, where there is almost always a pretty yet very tough female character. This has become such a standard that we expect to see it and would miss it if it doesn’t show up. I think JMS was going for this - but didn’t get the reaction from the audience he was looking for.
Of course, no one seems to have a problem with Mira playing a “Pretty yet Very Tough” role. Claudia likewise. I think the difference is that in both those cases they let the characters establish the Very Tough before really allowing the Pretty/Sexy to shine through. Mira was in an isolated position all of first season. Claudia used rather severe (militarily appropriate) hairstyles, makeup and mannerisms. They also established that Susan had been badly hurt emothionally in the past - and had her badly hurt twice more on the show. First with her old boyfriend showing up and then with Talia. Every time she has opened up emotionally she has been badly hurt. So it is quite realistic that in this part of her life she has built walls around herself that are VERY high.
I like “Number One”!
Remember when Sheridan tried to make flarn for Delenn? Disaster!!
For me, the problem with Number One was always the sound of her voice. It sounded like she was forcing it low to sound tough (much like Steven Pacey did as Tarrant in B7), and thereby flattening the inflections and straining it all the time. Having not seen her in any other roles, I don’t know if that’s true, or if she’s just cursed with a “gritty” voice. =:o\
She played a pilot in a short-lived series called “Space Rangers.” I think it’s her natural voice.
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