I agree with Estelyn that Lochley is great in this, and it works well having her logs at the beginning and end. Still, I have to put in the obligatory "This storyline could have been SO AMAZING with Ivanova" here. Ah well.
When I started watching this episode today I thought "Urgh, it's one of those telepath episodes", but it's really not that bad
There isn't that much of Byron in it, and he isn't being all arrogant ... Plus, it has Bester. Episodes with Bester are always fun ... for a certain value of "fun".
Joining those who appreciated the usage of Lochley logs. I've often thought that B5 has many very elegant ways to open/close the episodes. This is one of those.
I don't know how this storyline is supposed to go on but basically *anything* would be amazing with Ivanova.
Though Lochley wasn't bad in this one. In any case, it's not her fault (character or actor) as has been many times said here - it's just that she followed Ivanova. Big boots to fill.
Luckily not much of Byron, only his minions - and Lyta - gazing at him admiringly. And Byron being all martyr. For a nonviolent person, he sure is willing to let 'his' people die.
I have a wrong mindset for understanding 'dying for a cause'. Especially, if my actions were the direct cause of getting other people killed too, just so we could be ever-so-noble, just so we could "get our point across". My mind just doesn't work that way. If Lennier's Tears has excessive sensitivity to pretentious & arrogant behaviour, I'm allergic to martyrs and victim mentality*. Byron's methods are increasingly like that. Too indirect for my taste. Hunger strike, manipulation, mind invasion, blackmail.
No. Just no.
*Note that I do understand the harsh situation of teeps. Either play along and join the self-made prison of psi-corps, or don't play along and spend your whole life ostracized, running.
Speaking of psi corps, how did that happen? Telepaths obviously could've easily taken over the world if they had so chosen. But they didn't. They themselves uphold a system which effectively forces them to police each other. It's obvious that without the contribution of telepaths, the mundanes would be quite helpless to protect themselves against teep influence. So what's up with that?
(there's probably conversation on this somewhere here but where...)
Londo & G'Kar + saving Na'Toth = brilliance. Forgetting Na'Toth in the prison as an example of mindless bureaucracy rings absolutely credible and reminds me of something, some fictional work... well, perhaps it'll come to me.
Londo and G'Kar's friendship is fragile, yes, perhaps, but I think that (based on this episode) it actually is surprisingly strong. It could withstand a potentially very explosive and emotionally taxing situation, considering how close G'Kar and Na'Toth had become. G'Kar's outburst (with 'you'll burn with it') could've been too much for the usually rather irritable Londo.
Ambassadors seem foolish and gullible but this didn't bother me as much as in some much earlier episodes. Sometimes back in earlier seasons I wondered that if ambassadors are supposed to be from the brightest part of the population, then how horrifyingly stupid must the rest of them be? How come people this mindlessly gullible and prone to be offended at absolutely anything can *ever* have had any relations with other races to begin with!
This episode, however, seemed quite plausible. The glowing aftermath of Shadow War and assisting in the Earth War is over, and dull ordinary life has begun. So, old grudges surface again - with the kind help of the whatsitsname race who are effectively controlling the Centauri...
