{"id":7110,"date":"2018-12-11T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7110"},"modified":"2018-12-05T22:22:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T06:22:50","slug":"mark-watches-babylon-5-s03e12-sic-transit-vir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/12\/mark-watches-babylon-5-s03e12-sic-transit-vir\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Babylon 5’: S03E12 – Sic Transit Vir"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth episode of the third season of Babylon 5<\/i>, a secret of Vir\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spills out. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For extended discussion of racism, imperialism\/colonization, concentration camps, the Holocaust, and genocide.<\/b><\/p>\n

I think I wanted to like this episode more than I did, primarily because it does something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been asking of the show for a while now: it gave me a break. For the most part, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sic Transit Vir\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a funny, light-hearted departure from the grim and upsetting nature that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to. At least, it is right up until it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when the episode should<\/i> have abandoned the humorous tone. It would have made sense if the script had careened into a new story, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a clumsy effort to keep the humor around after a couple horrific and traumatizing scenes. And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get why<\/i> it has to be that way! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually something amazing in a story that manages to successfully change tone, and I believe that Babylon 5<\/i> could have pulled it off.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me back up so I can explain myself. I think I misunderstood the opening, and I want to clear that up because even understanding it correctly, it still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really change my opinion. I usually jot down notes in the immediate moment after I stop recording, just so I know what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to talk about in my review. I was trying to figure out how\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d I would talk about Ivanova\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dream and its ramifications for her character when I realized that Vir also<\/i> had a dream, right? His scene in the opening may have started in reality, but I thought he really did go back to his quarters and find a bunch of Narns waiting for him. Thus, I kept waiting for the show to address that. Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they? Clearly, the Narns knew what Vir was doing, so why had they confronted him over him saving their lives? It made the assassination attempt confusing, too. Did they also<\/i> believe that Vir had been sending Narns to their death, not saving them?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But… that scene didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen, right? He dreamt it! And that gives at least some narrative similarity to his story and Ivanova\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, which I appreciate. Both of them were dealing with their respective situations in a subconscious manner. In Ivanova\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, her stressful dreams were a manifestation of her restlessness onboard the station. She finds a means of dealing with that by taking on the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Abrahamo Lincolni\u00e2\u20ac\u009d persona in order to free more Narns from Centauri occupation.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This all stems from what Vir has done, and the parallels here\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto people saving Jewish people during the Holocaust, or to the actual Underground Railroad\u00e2\u20ac\u201dare deliberate. Vir knew what was happening to the Narn people, and he used his position to save over two thousand Narns from certain death, from being forced to work in deplorable conditions at work camps, from suffering even more than they had already suffered. He had done this by hiding these people within their deaths. One of the most scathing lines in this episode\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand perhaps in the show as a whole\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis Vir\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assertion that people only care about living<\/i> Narns, not the dead ones. Dead Narns have no affect on the world, and so, the Centauri just keep on killing them, and most of the universe turns away from looking at the carnage.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, Vir has a way to save these Narns. He designates them as dead, then smuggles them through Babylon 5 before sending them off elsewhere. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an admirable and incredible thing that he does, and this episode makes sure that we know how terrifying the other<\/i> Centauri are in regards to this. JMS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s script is so direct in this aspect, and both Londo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Lyndisty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dialogue leaves nothing open to interpretation. They truly believe the Narn deserve what they get, they believe that they are civilizing an inferior race, and they believe that they are doing the universe a favor. This is spelled out in no uncertain terms. Londo is direct about it, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lyndisty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mortifying monologue to Vir about the real<\/i> reason an assassin attacked Vir that left me with chills. And disgusted. Let me say that! Because the casual way in which Lyndisty spoke of genocide was just… what can you say? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a glee in her voice as she speaks about villages razed to the ground, or when she talks about culling \u00e2\u20ac\u0153aggressive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d members of the Narn gene pool. Genocide fills her with a spiritual happiness<\/i>, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the most revolting things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen. Just… ever? And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a strange reaction, and nor do I think that JMS didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t intend for us to be totally repulsed by Lyndisty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words or the context in which she was saying them.<\/p>\n

So it felt strange to me that there was still this jokey tone in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sic Transit Vir\u00e2\u20ac\u009d after this point. What happened to the Narn assassin that was in Vir\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room? Why isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Vir more vocal about his disgust towards what Londo or Lyndisty say to him? Vir\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s private actions are bold and commendable, but once confronted, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re given the sense that he basically feels embarrassed by it all? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little strange, and I expected him to push back more against the genocide of the Narns and the support of it. He kinda does when he bids Lyndisty goodbye, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still too cutesy for my tastes. Like, how can he even feel attracted to this woman when she represents something so obviously fucking terrible?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, I just think this episode gave us a very important addition to this war, one that is deliberately uncomfortable, but the humor dilutes it just a bit too much. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually interested in the fandom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s take on this because I can also recognize that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a horror in the contrast of it all. The joy and certainty we hear in the voice of Londo and Lyndisty as they calmly talk of genocide is half the reason their words are so impactful. So I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take that away at all; I just wish the episode ended with the same weight as those scenes had.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sic Transit Vir\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":"