{"id":7179,"date":"2019-02-01T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T21:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7179"},"modified":"2019-01-27T08:31:01","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T16:31:01","slug":"mark-watches-babylon-5-s04e16-the-exercise-of-vital-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/02\/mark-watches-babylon-5-s04e16-the-exercise-of-vital-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Babylon 5’: S04E16 – The Exercise of Vital Powers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of Babylon 5<\/i>, Garibaldi seeks out his employer, and Dr. Franklin learns a terrible truth. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of non-consensual medical procedures, brainwashing.<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh my god, I keep being SO WRONG about this season. OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I thought I had Edgars figured out, but his allegiances are the complete opposite of my suspicions. UGH, this show is too much!<\/p>\n

The Telepaths<\/b><\/p>\n

There is so much information kept from me, and I am furious about it, but this one feels so devastating. Dr. Franklin and Lyta make real headway into helping all the telepaths rescued from the Shadows, thanks to Lyta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability. And like I said on video, I think Dr. Franklin realized how silly it was that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never considered using a telepath to treat the telepaths. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant!!! It also sheds light on part of what these people have dealt with, how their minds are in these constant loops that desire something to do. Lyta is able to get through to one of them, but lord, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a horrifying ramification of that. The one telepath who is able to speak questions themselves: Who are they now? What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s their purpose? These people were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153designed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by the Shadows for one purpose, so how can they exist outside<\/i> of that? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a deeply fucked up notion, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which makes the unshared secret of Sheridan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan so daunting to me. What is he right about? Why is Dr. Franklin so floored by what Sheridan tells him??? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DEEPLY UPSETTING TO ME. Why would it cause Dr. Franklin to reflect on the nature of Sheridan post-Z\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122dum??? This is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not going to be good. I imagine Sheridan wants them for some sort of fight against Clark? But what would that be?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

William Edgars<\/b><\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I truly thought Edgars was working with the Psi Corps. I assumed that Bester had told Edgars about Lyta working for Garibaldi! I mean, he still could have? It just could have been through less-than-direct means. But because I made this very<\/i> wrong assumption about what he was doing, this episode knocked me the fuck out. This is so much more complicated than I thought, but it also means that I literally do not understand the endgame for Garibaldi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brainwashing. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now volunteered to work for someone who, I am guessing, has designed a means of eliminating telepaths. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the research he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done, right? So, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible that maybe<\/i> Bester wanted Garibaldi in place to spy on Edgars? But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain everything that came before this! Why did Bester want Garibaldi to ruin all his relationships with the Babylon 5<\/i> staff? It seems like a complicated way to get Garibaldi to Mars, right?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This whole thing is an emotional mess on top of being a logistical one, too. Garibaldi is around his ex, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feeling particularly volatile about her and her new husband, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that shy about it. That scene in his quarters where he tries to win her back in some small way is just so unfortunate. But I get it! He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adrift in his own lift, back on Mars, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to agree to something<\/i> for Edgars. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in exactly the sort of space that would make someone look back on their past like this. Is that<\/i> part of his manipulation, too? I honestly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fucking know! It could be! I trust practically nothing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m seeing on the screen because so much of it feels like an obfuscation. Does Edgars truly believe he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing a good thing here? Or is there some other ulterior motive I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figured out?<\/p>\n

What I am<\/i> confident about, however, is perhaps the most distressing part of this. I have to constantly remind myself that Garibaldi has been brainwashed and that what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set up to do at the end of this episode has a 99% likelihood of being part<\/i> of that brainwashing. I am eager to find out the details, but he continues to appear to have brainwashed to dislike and distrust Sheridan at the very least. Perhaps he distrusts all the others by default. So when Edgars dangles the carrot of more information about his anti-telepath agenda, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to be the only reason why Garibaldi would ever agree to turn Sheridan over to Clark. At least, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m choosing to believe rather than the alternative: this has nothing to do with what Psi Corps did to him and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s his own<\/i> choice.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this is too much. I need to know. What is Edgars developing? What was done to Garibaldi? What is Bester\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s endgame? What did Sheridan ask of Franklin???<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Exercise of Vital Powers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\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":"