Where There's Smoke, There's. . . S5, "Wheel of Fire"Nattering

[ase]

While I'm waiting for Photoshop to recover from a resize command gone horribly awry...

B5, S5, eps 1 - 4. The season we almost didn't get. First of all, Byron and his followers. Who don't resemble a cult at all. The eerie silence and cold shoulder to those who Aren't One of Us, the isolation of Byron's followers from the rest of the station, the charismatic, kind of scary leader... none of this says cult at all.

*Thwap*

Aha. I thought the sarcasm switch was stuck in the "on" position.

More seriously. A bunch of long-haired telepaths who seem to prefer wearing black. If it's a deliberate statement, it's an interesting one: rejecting society's norms (shorter hair) and choosing clothes that let you blend into the shadows. "Screw you, society!" and "No one to see here, move along" at the same time. Or possibly black doesn't show stains much and it's easier to let your hair grow if you're a human telepath on the run. It's hard to say much about individuals, based on the first four eps, because no one except Byron says anything. (Well, except Simon, and he's felled by the No Cute Kids rule pretty fast.) Despite Byron's quick "hi, this is..." speech to Lochley in "No Compromises", we never get to really "meet" anyone, find out how they met Byron.

Byron is one scary guy. He has a Dream, trails devoted followers behind him, and shows no inclination to play by non-telepaths' rules. I'm tempted to jump ahead and comment on where and who that attitude is most reminiscent of, but that's the midseason arc. He's also a powerful telepath; even when he chooses to play the game (as with the Drazi ambassador) he's a wild card. And to be totally random, the scene with Lyta and the chair sticks in my mind. Possibly because it's blurred out of existence in my memory. This is a guy used to manipulating other people in a fairly heavy-handed fashion.

I really should try reading the blurbs before watching the eps, see how much I can dredge out of memory. Sort of check to see what I'm prone to eliding out over time. And see how much offscreen events colored my perceptions. I suspect I'd still think the Byron/Lyta arc is the Dumbest Thing Ever on my favorite show, except possibly for the Garibaldi + booze = Badness arc, which I vaugely remember as being as fun as broken glass.

"The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" goes by very fast, and very light, and smacks me with a heavy emotional wallop. Of course Londo's not going to die, he's got a destiny. According to the narrative Rules, people with destinies or a role in a time travel paradox don't die prematurely. Sorry.

But watching him not-die is fun. I love character stories. And character moments. And internal references, like Vir and Lennier at the bar one last time. Speaking of, the Lennier arc? Another frustrating S5 idea that didn't pan out well. B5's S5 is kind of like Buffy S6: just off, a bit. Given the drama that surrounded it (TNT's 11th hour save and the Claudia Christian situation) it's not surprising the series felt a little shaky. IIRC things firmed up around midseason.

"A View From the Gallery" was just fun. The plot twisted around in fairly implausible ways to get Mack and Bo where the narrative needed them to be, and the "what's it do?" joke fell kind of flat for me, but the change in perspective was a clever idea. And the Londo/G'Kar interaction in the shelter was very cool. Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik played off each other really well though the entire season (and all of the series).

Did the "interests" meme, but there's no real reason to post it, there's no surprises, except perhaps that "chocolate" earned only an "8." Contrast with "books", which hit the low 30's. The other results are either stuff that's there in another form ("books" - "bujold" - "fantasy") or not on there for good reason ("writing" - because I don't -"sushi" - something I'm getting used to very slowly, despite several encounters with truly excellent samples - "polyamory"- next to the Amoeba, but not engulfed by it).

Comments

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I suspect I'd still think the Byron/Lyta arc is the Dumbest Thing Ever on my favorite show

As I understand it, the original intent was to involve Byron with Susan. Do you think that would have worked better?

[ase.livejournal.com]

Absolutely Probably yes. It's the sort of spectacular personal mistake Ivanova would make. She got the "heart of stone" character arc for the first four seasons of the show - look back to S1 and how she handled her father's death. She doesn't tell a soul and is furious when someone else mentions it to Sinclair. She acts fairly emotionally burned to my eye. All attempts at romance (the Homeguard ex-BF in S1, crushing - or whatever - on Talia in S2, the Marcus situation in S3 and S4) go badly awry, either because they're a jerk or unwitting Psi-Corps sleeper agents or madly, even suicidally in unrequited love with someone who (as of early S4, specifically "Into the Fire") is not on speaking terms with her heart. So at the end of S4 she's in a rebound position - she was finally starting to flirt back at Marcus when he died. She expected to die and didn't. She's in a position to reassess how she approaches life and human relationships at the end of S4. So assume she stays, and meets Byron, this charismatic, pacifist rebel against Psi-Corps who has a vision of a world very far away from everything on Earth and in space that's ever hurt her. And Byron, who (running with the datapoint that he's madly in love with Lyta) seems to have a weakness for emotionally starved women, would probably love to spend lots of time with Susan, an emotionally starved (very weak) telepath who just happens to have the ear of the President of the new Interstellar Alliance, and who's either at the top of the internal B5 chain of command or very close to it. It's in Byron's interest to have Susan Ivanova personally invested in the fate of the telepaths he leads.

It's not smart love, but it's fairly predictable, and is a nice late-game payoff of Ivanova's character arc. Which was all tragically messed up by the Claudia Christian mess in real life. I really think that, and the 11th hour renewal, and the grind of working like mad for years on the previous seasons really threw off the timing (pacing?) of early S5. Which is not to say there isn't good stuff. Byron gets some lovely poetic lines right from the start. The Lochley and Garibaldi personality clash is fascinating to watch, in a sort of "potassium, meet water" way. And some of the arc-lite episodes, like "A View From the Gallery" and "Learning Curve" are interesting, if somewhat pedestrian. Coming down from the dramatic intensity of late S4 and shifting threads around to get everyone in position for the late S5 machinations was probably a huge writing challenge.

Which actually has nothing to do with your question. So the short answer would be yes, I do think it would have worked better.

BTW, what do you think of the Byron/Lyta/telepath arc?

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

It really didn't impress me. I'm not sure why. (I have to add that I only saw those episodes once; I now have the DVDs, and will be able to give them more careful consideration. My opinions may change after that.) The only parts of S5 that I much liked were some of the standalones - Day of the Dead, A View from the Gallery - and the whole Londo arc.

Okay, let's try to be more specific. The problem I saw with the arc was Lyta. I simply could not see her playing any sort of romantic role; she seemed too scarred by her experiences with Psi-Corps and the Vorlon for her to believably become involved with anyone - to allow herself that kind of vulnerability again. Yes, intimacy between teeps is supposed to be Special - but neither she nor Byron convinced me of that. (I suspect it's more the actors than the roles; Patricia Tallman, in particular, just seemed to me to have a limited range.)

[ase.livejournal.com]

I just got the DVDs myself, and haven't seen any of the S5 eps in about six or seven years (has it really been that long?), so rewatching them now is certainly interesting.


The only parts of S5 that I much liked were some of the standalones - Day of the Dead, A View from the Gallery - and the whole Londo arc.

"Day of the Dead" rocked. It was my introduction to Neil Gaiman's writing. It was a nifty idea, executed very well, and gave Lochley some depth, Garibaldi some comedy, and beefed Lennier's arc up a bit. (And any chance to see Ed Wassner pulling out the "sinister Mr. Morden" stops is a thrill. I don't know how he imbues Morden with such a sense of "looking fair and feeling foul", to borrow Tolkien's terminology. Possibly I'm projecting after years of seeing him lurk around, asking "what do you want?" It was still fun to see him again.) The Londo arc is technically excellent, but I found it really difficult to watch the first time through. Perhaps having seen it through once will help when I get to the bits that made me want to scream, "no, Londo! Don't! Noooo!" the first time through.

I've only seen the first six eps of the season, so far, but S5 is working slightly better for me this time. I think it's my ability to cynically attribute a Machiavellian edge to Byron: it's certainly in his interest and the interest of his cult followers to have the onstation Psi-Corps representative (Lyta) in his pocket. Any official information she receives from the Corps will probably be passed on to Byron.

One thing machiavellian!Byron has going for him is that he plays on Lyta's sense of alienation very well. Pay attention to how he treats Lyta in "The Paragon of Animals": he insults and frightens her, tells her that's how the world treats her and she deserves better, and is then unfailingly nice to her. From her point of view, the world does tend to stomp on Lyta. Granted, working for the Vorlons would probably warp any human a bit.

And, of course, I haven't rewatched "Secrets of the Soul" yet. As I recall it cemented the Byron/Lyta thing as the Dumbest Plot Device Ever (except maybe for the Sheridan/Lochley marriage thing); I may lose all respect after rewatching that.

The problem I saw with the arc was Lyta. I simply could not see her playing any sort of romantic role; she seemed too scarred by her experiences with Psi-Corps and the Vorlon for her to believably become involved with anyone - to allow herself that kind of vulnerability again.

On the other hand, she may feel that she needs a Cause to work for, a group to identify with: Psi-Corps, the Vorlon ambassador's messenger, etc. IIRC she's been in the Corps her entire life; without a group identity she may feel a little lost. So she'd be very eager to join the telepaths. At this point I suspect we're presenting alternate interpretations of the same material, but that's what fannish argument is about, right?

(I suspect it's more the actors than the roles; Patricia Tallman, in particular, just seemed to me to have a limited range.)

That's possible too. I'm not particularly good at evaluating actor performances, but those definitely play a large - huge - role in how well a scene or plotline "works" for viewers.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, she may feel that she needs a Cause to work for, a group to identify with

That's certainly a plausible interpretation.

I'm going to have to find time to watch the DVDs sometime soon. I just don't remember enough details to comment with any certainty.