Everyone to the rescue! Garibaldi, Franklin, and Lyta save Sheridan, the Alliance charges in to help, and Ivanova rains on Earthgov’s ambush parade.
As we careen down the last hill of the rollercoaster that is Season 4, here is where you can talk about everything that has led us here.
(Have not listened to the podcast yet, apologies in advance if I repeat content.)
In “Lines of Communication” earlier this season we had Delenn sitting in the command chair of a White Star, facing an enemy ship. In this episode we have Ivanova sitting in the command chair.
Delenn just says “End this”, while Ivanova gives her “God sent me” speech. I think it’s the longest piece of dialogue we get from Claudia Christian all season?
Lennier fires when Delenn commands. Ivanova pushes the button herself.
Is is a weakness of Delenn that, while brave and willing to risk her own life, she won’t do herself what she expects others to?
I don’t think I can go with that interpretation of Delenn, if for no other reason that she was willing to die in the starfire wheel. I’d see the difference between them as just being that Delenn has no military training. It would have been embarrassing for her to deliver one of the most bad*ss speeches ever and then miss the shot.
I also haven’t listen to the episode yet, but I’ll just say: MY. FAVOURITE. IVANOVA. MOMENT!!!
Oh, I’ll also say this:
TV is a cultural wasteland filled with inappropriate metaphors and an unrealistic portrayal of life created by the liberal media elite.
Couldn’t agree more. 🙂
I feel there is no limit to what Delenn would do herself if she felt it necessary, but the direction her life path/career path went means that she has a position where she can delegate most things she wants done. I don’t see that as a weakness, except in that her position, as one who need only give direction and then step out of the way, moves her character to the periphery of the show more than I think is fair.
I’ll defend the title a little. Whether or not JMS intended it, I think there’s a pretty obvious B5-specific way to understand it.
The darkness is the Shadows, and the light is the Vorlons. The Shadows advocate a war of all against all, the Vorlons advocate an absolute top-down authoritarianism. Our heroes stand for a virtuous middle between these two extremes, of co-operation between equals.
And the actions of the nonhuman races in this (for all that I find Vir’s “politics and morality” line to be clunky) are critical to this theme. Meanwhile, Sheridan is fighting to restore that vision on the smaller level of Earth politics.
On another note, I find the emphasis placed on Sheridan being back on the bridge of the Agamemnon a bit odd. Obviously, the ship is important to Sheridan, but the writing seems to expect that it will have the same level of significance for us, the viewers.