Episode 4.11: Lines of Communication
Another good episode--not thrilling, but certainly not disappointing, either. In fact, I'd put this one slightly higher than RACING MARS, if only because Resistance Leader Daryl Hannah gives a stellar angry speech, and the Drakh alien is blurry, which is an amazing creature design I don't think I've ever seen before. I also--and I can't believe I'm saying this--kind of liked Marcus in this episode. I mean, I still felt all warm and happy when the last shot was him being sad and lonely in the dark, because screw you Marcus, but he also had a great little scene with Franklin that really worked for me. Does this mean he's growing on me? Or does this just mean that he went a whole episode without pointlessly annoy someone, and that made him more palatable?
There's an A plot, a B plot and a tiny little C plot that only gets two scenes. The C plot is that Sheridan wants to counteract the bad press Earth is spreading about Babylon 5, so he decides to start his own little news show. He converts the war room into "the voice of the resistance," and convinces Ivanova to become a pro-B5 propaganda news anchor. I can't imagine that it's actually going to work, but it was all worth it just for this exchange:
Sheridan: "You have a face people trust."
Ivanova: "I'd rather have a face people fear."
The B plot is the most interesting of the three: Franklin and Marcus are still on Mars, still working with the resistance leader known as Number One. One of her operatives blows a risky bomb to kill an Earth security team, but in the process kills ten civilians, and Number One rakes him across the coals for it. So not only is he a dangerous murderer, but he protests that it was justified, all of which combine to make me very surprised that he lives through the episode--if I was a resistance leader I would have had him killed for posing that kind of threat to the entire organization. I suppose there might be some mitigating circumstances that force her to keep him alive, but the episode didn't so much as hint at them, so they don't count. Then we have a meeting, and Franklin and Marcus give what I assume is supposed to be an impassioned speech, but it mostly just comes across as angry, and then the wikipedia entry tells me that the Martian resistance becomes B5's ally but I don't remember anything that explicit in the actual episode. It ends with Number One obviously super flirting with Frankling, saying "hey, sorry your hotel blew up, Franklin can have dinner with me while Marcus does guard duty," and that delicious dis on Marcus is why I like this show.
The A plot is bigger, but not as fun. Some minbari dude named Forell tells Delenn that a) somebody's attacking their trade routes, and b) the warrior caste refuses to help, but c) there's a new alien species that might be a valuable ally. There's some pointless betrayal shenanigans involved, though they don't really go anywhere: Forell didn't actually tell Delenn about the aliens until after Delenn meets them, implying in the moment that these are the eyeball parasites and that he has been suborned by them, but at the end when he dies it turns out he was totally sincere the whole time and he really just thought these aliens could help, so then why all the secrecy and gun-pulling? Just to make the audience suspicious? How does Forell know there's an audience, and why does he want to make them suspicious? His plan would have been better served by being open with Delenn from the beginning, but this is clearly a case of the plot driving the character rather than the other way around.
The alien, when we meet it, is a creepy blurry guy in a black cloak. On the comm he introduces himself as Drakh, and when Delenn asks if that's his name or his species he says "yes." Does this mean it's a hive mind? When they meet him in person he introduces himself as "an emissary of Drakh," which muddies the waters a little--is he an emissary because he's one aspect of the hive mind, or because he's not actually part of whatever Drakh is, and he's just the thing they use to talk to people, Mouth of Sauron style? Are the Drakh the eyeball parasites, and this was just some rando who had one hidden under his cloak? Are the Drakh and the eyeball parasites BOTH separate, former allies of the Shadows? I'm asking these question not because the episode was dumb to not answer them, but because the episode was awesome in asking them, and I'm excited to learn more.
Obviously it turns out that Drakh, or THE Drakh, or however you're supposed to refer to them, are evil, and Delenn figures it out and gets into a big CGI ship battle during which Forell is somehow injured; I'm not totally sure how because ship battles are boring. I will say, though, that Delenn and Lenier make a much better bridge crew than Sheridan and the humans--when Delenn wants to turn her badass dial up to 11, she can really sell it, and of course Lennier is who I want to be when I grow up.
Which reminds me that I don't think we've seen Vir all season? Season 3 developed his character so well, and then threw it all away, and I'd love to see him come back and be awesome again.
Whatever. Delenn blows up the Drakh ship and flies home, and we get a big conversation about how she needs to be with her people, and somehow the entire thing is framed for Sheridan's benefit rather than hers. Come on, Delenn: the Minbari are falling apart, and you need to go fix it, and THAT'S OKAY. You don't need to convince Sheridan that this is better for his personal growth, just tell him you need to go to Minbar and he can deal with it. HE'S A GROWN MAN. YOU HAVE YOUR OWN LIFE. NOT EVERYTHING'S ABOUT HIM. Sometimes I want to slap this show.
We end with a sex joke, though this was broadcast TV so it wasn't allowed to be dirty enough to really work. Delenn mollifies Sheridan's ego, he consents to let her make her own decision, and then she asks "Have you heard from Steven?" Sheridan says "Not in a while, but I'm sure he has his hands full," which after the earlier "Number One's got the hots for Franklin" conversation can't help but give a very distinct mental image. But since they can't actually show that image on screen, all we get is Number One off screen moaning his name, and it doesn't work nearly as well but at least we get to see Marcus looking sad and lonely, and that's enough to warm my heart.
There's an A plot, a B plot and a tiny little C plot that only gets two scenes. The C plot is that Sheridan wants to counteract the bad press Earth is spreading about Babylon 5, so he decides to start his own little news show. He converts the war room into "the voice of the resistance," and convinces Ivanova to become a pro-B5 propaganda news anchor. I can't imagine that it's actually going to work, but it was all worth it just for this exchange:
Sheridan: "You have a face people trust."
Ivanova: "I'd rather have a face people fear."
The B plot is the most interesting of the three: Franklin and Marcus are still on Mars, still working with the resistance leader known as Number One. One of her operatives blows a risky bomb to kill an Earth security team, but in the process kills ten civilians, and Number One rakes him across the coals for it. So not only is he a dangerous murderer, but he protests that it was justified, all of which combine to make me very surprised that he lives through the episode--if I was a resistance leader I would have had him killed for posing that kind of threat to the entire organization. I suppose there might be some mitigating circumstances that force her to keep him alive, but the episode didn't so much as hint at them, so they don't count. Then we have a meeting, and Franklin and Marcus give what I assume is supposed to be an impassioned speech, but it mostly just comes across as angry, and then the wikipedia entry tells me that the Martian resistance becomes B5's ally but I don't remember anything that explicit in the actual episode. It ends with Number One obviously super flirting with Frankling, saying "hey, sorry your hotel blew up, Franklin can have dinner with me while Marcus does guard duty," and that delicious dis on Marcus is why I like this show.
The A plot is bigger, but not as fun. Some minbari dude named Forell tells Delenn that a) somebody's attacking their trade routes, and b) the warrior caste refuses to help, but c) there's a new alien species that might be a valuable ally. There's some pointless betrayal shenanigans involved, though they don't really go anywhere: Forell didn't actually tell Delenn about the aliens until after Delenn meets them, implying in the moment that these are the eyeball parasites and that he has been suborned by them, but at the end when he dies it turns out he was totally sincere the whole time and he really just thought these aliens could help, so then why all the secrecy and gun-pulling? Just to make the audience suspicious? How does Forell know there's an audience, and why does he want to make them suspicious? His plan would have been better served by being open with Delenn from the beginning, but this is clearly a case of the plot driving the character rather than the other way around.
The alien, when we meet it, is a creepy blurry guy in a black cloak. On the comm he introduces himself as Drakh, and when Delenn asks if that's his name or his species he says "yes." Does this mean it's a hive mind? When they meet him in person he introduces himself as "an emissary of Drakh," which muddies the waters a little--is he an emissary because he's one aspect of the hive mind, or because he's not actually part of whatever Drakh is, and he's just the thing they use to talk to people, Mouth of Sauron style? Are the Drakh the eyeball parasites, and this was just some rando who had one hidden under his cloak? Are the Drakh and the eyeball parasites BOTH separate, former allies of the Shadows? I'm asking these question not because the episode was dumb to not answer them, but because the episode was awesome in asking them, and I'm excited to learn more.
Obviously it turns out that Drakh, or THE Drakh, or however you're supposed to refer to them, are evil, and Delenn figures it out and gets into a big CGI ship battle during which Forell is somehow injured; I'm not totally sure how because ship battles are boring. I will say, though, that Delenn and Lenier make a much better bridge crew than Sheridan and the humans--when Delenn wants to turn her badass dial up to 11, she can really sell it, and of course Lennier is who I want to be when I grow up.
Which reminds me that I don't think we've seen Vir all season? Season 3 developed his character so well, and then threw it all away, and I'd love to see him come back and be awesome again.
Whatever. Delenn blows up the Drakh ship and flies home, and we get a big conversation about how she needs to be with her people, and somehow the entire thing is framed for Sheridan's benefit rather than hers. Come on, Delenn: the Minbari are falling apart, and you need to go fix it, and THAT'S OKAY. You don't need to convince Sheridan that this is better for his personal growth, just tell him you need to go to Minbar and he can deal with it. HE'S A GROWN MAN. YOU HAVE YOUR OWN LIFE. NOT EVERYTHING'S ABOUT HIM. Sometimes I want to slap this show.
We end with a sex joke, though this was broadcast TV so it wasn't allowed to be dirty enough to really work. Delenn mollifies Sheridan's ego, he consents to let her make her own decision, and then she asks "Have you heard from Steven?" Sheridan says "Not in a while, but I'm sure he has his hands full," which after the earlier "Number One's got the hots for Franklin" conversation can't help but give a very distinct mental image. But since they can't actually show that image on screen, all we get is Number One off screen moaning his name, and it doesn't work nearly as well but at least we get to see Marcus looking sad and lonely, and that's enough to warm my heart.
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