{"id":7184,"date":"2019-02-04T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T21:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7184"},"modified":"2019-01-28T19:44:59","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T03:44:59","slug":"mark-watches-babylon-5-s04e17-the-face-of-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/02\/mark-watches-babylon-5-s04e17-the-face-of-the-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Babylon 5’: S04E17 – The Face of the Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of Babylon 5<\/i>, HELP ME. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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

What the fuck!!!!! DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DO THIS TO ME!<\/p>\n

A New War<\/b><\/p>\n

This show has managed to pull off one hell of a plot in Garibaldi, and I know that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more to deal with. And because Garibaldi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story is like twelve episodes long at this point, it means we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten a detailed look at his experience as an operative for the Psi Corps. I was both right about his role and wrong about a whole bunch more things, but the point I want to make here at the start of this is that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten to see the ramifications of his life as an operative. So, by contrast, it is very strange that Lyta is given such a vital backstory\/context here, and yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only delivered to us in a monologue and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it. I suppose the intent is to give a contrast between two characters who were ruined by the Psi Corps. Which is fine! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that Lyta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story feels tacked on rather than an intricate part of it all, you know? Like, were there any hints of this prior to this episode? I suppose I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even care, except that this show is so good<\/i> at complicated backstories and weaving them into the narrative.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless, I also saw Lyta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purpose as focusing our attention on the possibility of a war between telepaths and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mundanes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d SHE WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WRONG.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dedication<\/b><\/p>\n

Look, we all knew Sheridan would go after his father. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in his nature, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d known for years at this point that Sheridan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father was a soft spot for him. But one thing that really stuck with me is that this plot is more about Garibaldi<\/i> than it is about Sheridan. Sheridan is the hero who has the support of the people around him; he is obviously going to go after his father because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Right Thing To Do and because family is important to him. He is the portrait of loyalty here, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not meant to be a surprise to us. No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the contrast provided by Garibaldi that makes this act so important. Garibaldi even makes a reference to Judas, who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The terribly fucked up thing here isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a contrast: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that, given the choice, Garibaldi wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have betrayed his best friend. <\/i>And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s SO PAINFUL.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another reason why the highly stylized, jarring sequence in which Garibaldi betrays Sheridan works so well for me. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a drama in the slow motion, in the images of violence, in the way that Garibaldi sits there calmly as Sheridan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body is battered. But that image crops up again later: when Garibaldi sits across from Bester. And we saw it a few times this season, too, whenever Garibaldi was getting a manipulative message through BabCom. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pure horror, and the show tips us into a terrible reality through these images.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An Agent of the Psi Corps<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh god, I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT PIECE THIS TOGETHER CORRECTLY AT ALL. I figured this was Psi Corps, and y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all got to watch me completely lose my shit because Garibaldi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions made zero sense to me!!! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so tragic to think just how fucked up this is because now Garibaldi knows everything he did. At the same time, I get why this messed me up as much as I did. I remarked that I had to keep reminding myself that this character had been brainwashed, that I had no idea where Garibaldi began and the brainwashing ended. Well, now I know why<\/i>.<\/p>\n

None of it was Garibaldi, and all of it was. It is so much more insidious and so much more creepy that this<\/i> is what Bester and company chose to do. They took Garibaldi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s normal qualities, and they heightened them just a little bit, then gave him subconscious pushes towards certain choices. It explains why this felt<\/i> like him the whole time, even if his choices didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. And in terms of a manipulative act, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fucking brilliant, which scares the shit out of me. Seriously, Bester is<\/i> capricious and cruel, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m blown away by his chilling monologue to Garibaldi.<\/p>\n

But what becomes of this all? Bester thinks he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being magnanimous, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no charity here, no sympathy or kindness. He used Garibaldi for his own ends after<\/i> the Shadows kidnapped him. He wanted a spy for the Psi Corps, and he got one. In the process, Edgars plan is revealed to Bester, and then… what? Garibaldi is freed from his brainwashing, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left with the guilt and shame of what he was forced to do.<\/p>\n

And y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even wrap my mind around the disaster that is Edgars. Like, yes! The Psi Corps is fucking awful<\/i>. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re absolutely how Clark has maintained power as long as he has, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen, time and time again, that Bester only cares about himself and (some) other telepaths. He would absolutely re-organize society to put telepaths on top, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that he more or less did that on Earth? At least allying and working with the Shadows, allying with Clark, suppressing resistance movements, using the Psi Corps to terrorize and subjugate telepaths.<\/p>\n

BUT MURDERING MILLIONS OF TELEPATHS IS NOT THE ANSWER. Neither is basically inflicting them with a chronic illness and then hanging a life-saving treatment over their heads for the entirety of their lives! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fucking demonic, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising<\/i>, at least not coming from someone like Edgars, for whom power, privilege, and money come to him so easily. In his mind, this is a war, and this is a pre-emptive strike. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so monstrous!!! So I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel bad that he and Wade were killed, and I also hate that the Psi Corps is so intricately tied to an oppressive regime, and this is all a horrible mess. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even figure out how this season will end, let alone how there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fifth one. What will come of Sheridan while in custody? What will Garibaldi do now that Ivanova has ordered him shot if he appears on the ship? THIS IS TOO MUCH.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Face of the Enemy\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":"