In the tenth episode of the fifth season of Babylon 5<\/i>, the telepaths stage a hunger strike; Sheridan and Delenn try to stop an Alliance civil war; and G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar makes a horrifying discovery. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of trauma<\/b><\/p>\n
THIS SHOW IS FOREVER TOO MUCH.<\/p>\n
The Telepaths<\/b><\/p>\n
I know that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier for me to understand the telepaths\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 side, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not entirely unsympathetic to what station staff or Sheridan have to deal with because of this situation. At the heart of Byron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions here is something similar: he understands that this is a massively difficult situation. Has Lochley been the telepaths\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 #1 champion? No, of course not. Earlier in this season, I was a tad worried that maybe Byron had an ulterior motive, that his beliefs were possibly part of some other agenda, but over time, the show has revealed Byron to be just as sincere as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always made himself out to be. Which makes this so much more heartbreaking to watch! He truly just wants a homeworld for his people, and I believe him when he says that once they get it, they will all leave everyone alone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 look, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, he sends a message to Lochley, telling her she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be safe if she comes to them, and then when she arrives, he basically only wanted to thank<\/i> her. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to budge on his position, and he knew that this would only make matters more terrible for everyone<\/i>. I admire his commitment to his cause and to the hunger strike because in it, there is still hope<\/i>. There is hope that the message he and his people are trying to get across will finally be heard.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Which is precisely why Lochley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to bring in Bester is just so, so bad<\/i>. This whole situation does feel like a growing tragedy, and Lochley made it worse. (Which is interesting, given that the academics in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Deconstruction of Falling Stars\u00e2\u20ac\u009d blamed Sheridan, not Lochley.) Was she bound by law or protocol? Sure. Does that alleviate my frustrations? No. Bester has a such an unhealthy and terrifying obsession with bringing these people in, and I doubt many of them will survive that process. And after that? Oh, I doubt many of them will survive after being captured. Look what they did to Talia! There is no way these people will have a better life under the Psi Corps. Does Lochley know that?<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I still only have that one bit to go off of\u00e2\u20ac\u201dher agreeing to Sheridan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s description of them as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fascists R Us\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dso I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite tell if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aware of just how much damage Bester and his bloodhounds will bring to the station and these people. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m speculating on what I think might<\/i> happen, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have any doubt about it. Plus, there are still the telepaths who left Brown Sector to solve matters their own way. The show positions them as part of Byron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure, interestingly. He couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t convince them to take the non-violent route! Their presence and their actions both complicate this further, especially since they killed people to get what they want. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 such a mess. SUCH A MESS.<\/p>\n My guess\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I predicted this on camera, too\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis that Byron is going to give himself up to spare his people. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Bester is going to go for it, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see???<\/p>\n The Drakh<\/b><\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m being more cautious than I probably need to be about calling this other plot a Drakh one, and after this episode, that doubt is gone. So, accepting that the Drakh are behind the shipping lines attacks, the question is: why<\/i>? Well, on the one hand, they are having the exact affect that they wanted them to, right? The Alliance nations, each suspecting one another with the faulty evidence, have geared up for a conflict. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re turning on one another, and the Alliance is on shaky ground. Okay\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 so why Centauri? Why inhabit their world and use their ships to attack the rest of the Alliance? Is it spite<\/i>? Because many of these nations were responsible for eradicating the Shadows from Z\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122dum, and if I recall correctly, there were other<\/i> species\/races who were living there and lost their home when Sheridan destroyed it. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 maybe revenge??? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know??? At the very least, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad Sheridan and Delenn have managed to temporarily quell any civil conflicts here, though they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re quickly running out of time. With the Drakh annihilating others so quickly and with no evidence, how are they ever going to find out the truth?<\/p>\n Forgotten<\/b><\/p>\n GOOD GOD, THIS SUBPLOT WAS SO UPSETTING. And while there is a beginning, a middle, and an end, the way its written is far more ambiguous upon inspection. Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Toth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story is going to take years<\/i> to unfold, and JMS isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t subtle about that. Her rescue is important, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appear onscreen that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more horrifying. Did she believe she would never be free? Could she hear the sounds of war outside of her cell, and did she believe that the Centauri won the war against Narn? The sheer isolation and loneliness she must have suffered while FORGOTTEN is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unimaginable. She was collateral damage, imprisoned for cruel and bigoted reasons, and then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 forgotten<\/i>. The title might not be referring to this, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely a tragedy.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I am glad that Londo took G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar seriously about rescuing her, and he did so in a way that exploited the biases of the other Centauri. He uses the guard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s military duty to get him to seal up the wing of cells by getting him to believe he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to let Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122toth starve to death; then, he uses the embarrassment of others to sneak Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Toth out right under their noses. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m less interested in what this means for Londo in terms of his atonement than I am in how this episode is yet another reminder of what he did. There is not an easy, clean path to redemption, particularly not for someone who was directly the cause of or complicit in so much pain and suffering. So, even though Londo is<\/i> doing the work to be a better person and to uplift other people, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still going to deal with the ramifications of his actions for the rest of his life. Did he personally jail Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Toth? No. But the bombing of Narn\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he watched it happen. He was part of the machine. And Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Toth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tragedy might be over in the literal sense, but as G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar says, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take a long time for her to soothe her mind and soul. At least she gets to do that on her home world, too.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Tragedy of Telepaths\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":" In the tenth episode of the fifth season of Babylon 5, the telepaths stage a hunger strike; Sheridan and Delenn try to stop an Alliance civil war; and G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar makes a horrifying discovery. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to … Continue reading