{"id":6990,"date":"2018-09-25T13:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T20:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6990"},"modified":"2018-09-20T17:10:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T00:10:00","slug":"mark-watches-babylon-5-s01e03-born-to-the-purple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/09\/mark-watches-babylon-5-s01e03-born-to-the-purple\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Babylon 5’: S01E03 – Born to the Purple"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the third episode of the first season of Babylon 5<\/i>, Londo gets involved in a potential scandal, and Ivanova deals with a terrible setback. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of death\/grief, slavery, consent<\/b><\/p>\n

This episode was a bit perplexing to me, only in the sense that I expected there to be another act\/story beat towards the end. Instead, it just sort of… ended? There wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t this sense of a sweeping climax or a cathartic conclusion, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also wondering if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intentional. Perhaps Babylon 5<\/i> isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to follow the same sort of storytelling rules that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve expected. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK.<\/p>\n

Ivanova<\/b><\/p>\n

Look, I figured<\/i> that something important was unfolding on those gold channel conversations, but I just thought that Ivanova was poking fun at Garibaldi. WHICH WAS REALLY FUN. Ivanova is the character I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve latched on to the quickest, so LORD, this was a gut-punch. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me that this is such a small part of the running time of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Born to the Purple,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d given how clearly vital this is to the character. Losing one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father is a huge<\/i> deal, and I am actually expecting that this will be referenced at least a few times this season. I say that because this event occurred so early within season one and in such a unique way. Garibaldi knows the truth and, without saying it outright, communicates this to Ivanova, possibly bringing them closer.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting the sense that this show drops seeds along the way, that these tiny moments can grow into larger things with a little patience. At least I hope<\/i> that is the case! It would be weird if there was no intent to deal with things like Ivanova\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death, or Sinclair being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153chosen.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Londo<\/b><\/p>\n

Like the previous episode and Delenn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story giving us insight into the Minbari, I feel like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Born to the Purple\u00e2\u20ac\u009d provides us with some necessary information on the Centauri. Some of that is spelled out, while most of it is introduced through smaller moments or within dialogue. As for the kind of worldbuilding that was spelled out to the viewer, the superficial nature of the Centauri is now very<\/i> obvious to me. As Londo says, his people care very<\/i> much about appearances. Class, rank, titles… all these sort of things are part of the hierarchical nature of Centauri society. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that is why Adira was so pleased with the nature of Londo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s title: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ambassador\u00e2\u20ac\u009d must carry a lot of weight in the republic.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It also explains why Adira was so reluctant to have dinner with Londo in public. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that sense that this relationship was scandalous<\/i>, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious how much of that had to do with Adira\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s citizenship status. This episode is very casual about the fact that Adira is a slave, though little is told to the audience about what this actually means. Trakis frequently abuses her as her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153master,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and since there is so little in the way of worldbuilding here, I feel like that it is acceptable behavior within Centauri society. Hell, no one<\/i> seems to express any opinion that slavery is wrong, not even the humans who come to learn the truth about Adira.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So it leaves this episode with an odd lens with which you can analyze everything. Adira was forced and compelled to steal Londo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purple files for Trakis, and it also means that Londo had a relationship with a woman who was more or less forced to seduce him? Granted, by the end of the episode, it seemed obvious that Adira had feelings for Londo, but I would have preferred that some part of this was unpacked on screen. Instead, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more time spent on the Euphrates negotiations (and the humor that came with them); there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more time spent on saving Londo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reputation. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an odd choice, but I also admit that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a great grasp on Centauri society. I know<\/i> I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m missing a lot of the details, but that also means that this episode never came across as willing to grasp with the issues it brought up.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Born to the Purple\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"