{"id":7232,"date":"2019-03-20T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T20:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7232"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:02:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T03:02:06","slug":"mark-watches-babylon-5-s05e12-the-ragged-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/03\/mark-watches-babylon-5-s05e12-the-ragged-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Babylon 5’: S05E12 – The Ragged Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth episode of the fifth season of Babylon 5<\/i>, G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar deals with an unexpected consequence of being away from the station, and Garibaldi makes a mistake. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of alcoholism<\/b><\/p>\n

This really is a show of consequences. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the major reasons I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m such a big fan of serialized fiction and why I tend to prefer it over standalones. (Says the person who is now working on novels three, four, and five, all of which are… standalones. OKAY, ONE DAY.) There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something magical in seeing a story develop over a long period of time, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly the case with both of the plots that unfold in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Ragged Edge.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with the happier of the two of them.<\/p>\n

The Book of G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar<\/b><\/p>\n

This has to be a rewarding show to re-watch, and I know many of you have picked up on things through this project that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not noticed before. But just in terms of seeing G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey from the beginning, knowing where he ends up in season 5… that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotta be a lot. This episode does a fascinating thing by reminding us of how far G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar has come through other characters<\/i>. In particular, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lon, but there are all the nameless Narns who want to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153worship\u00e2\u20ac\u009d G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar. Why is that? Why has his book\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhich he wrote almost entirely for personal reasons\u00e2\u20ac\u201dresonated with so many other Narns?<\/p>\n

The reasoning for that strikes right at the heart of the struggle for the Narns. They were subjugated and oppressed by the Centauri twice<\/i>, and when we met G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar, he was fiery, angry, and eager for both revenge and attrition. We watched as the world turned its back on the Narns and G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar had to fight for his own people. And then… we watched him find peace. We saw how he came to embrace other races, other experiences, and other ways of thinking about life. But G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey is not the journey of the other Narns, many of whom subscribe to older ways of thinking because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all they know.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another complication here, though, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to acknowledge it. This was never what G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar wanted. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to become \u00e2\u20ac\u0153holy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d through this experience, and he certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be worshiped. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so impressed with his humility throughout this. How can he guide others when he was lost for so long? How can he even be sure that what these people are listening to are the beliefs and not the believer? Ta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lon plays a great role in this, since he helps G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar realize that while these thoughts are good, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing wrong with teaching others. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lack<\/i> of awareness about power that makes cults of personality a thing, and G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar seems deeply aware of who he is and what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You Had One Job<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, this is going to be hard to watch. And its inevitable that someone is going to find out the truth about what happened on the Drazi homeworld and that Garibaldi is no longer sober. His relapse is amidst a volatile moment in his life, in his mind, and in the political sphere of the Alliance. Even if I understand why there was an impulse to start drinking again, I never felt comfortable with the events unfolding on the screen. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not supposed to, either. Garibaldi makes amateur mistakes on this mission. Well, so does Tafiq. Neither of them should have drunk at all<\/i>, let alone consume a whole bottle between the two of them. What would this mission have looked like if Tafiq had left earlier to secure transport back to the station? What if Garibaldi had been wide awake when the pilot gave the rendezvous signal? Would Garibaldi have heard the assault in the hallway?<\/p>\n

I suppose there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no real point to playing, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What if?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This happened, and the mission was nearly a complete disaster. Tafiq was murdered by a Drazi, and the pilot was murdered by the Centauri. (Under control of the Drakh? Or ordered to do so by the Regent, who is under the control of the Drakh?) If Garibaldi hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grabbed that button off one of the assassins, then the Alliance would have still been completely in the dark. Granted, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still in a tough place, but Garibaldi wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t honest with them about what happened at all<\/i>. What if he messes up another mission and another chance to figure out the Drakh conspiracy? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know!!! But unless he stops hiding his relapse, and unless he starts being more honest, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to end well.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even then, this is still a disaster. Yes, the Alliance is one step closer to discovering the truth, but what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got is so terribly complicated as it is! How can they be sure it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Centauri and not some other faction? G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar is perfectly sensible about why Londo shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be told, but even then? How the hell do they navigate this without putting others at risk of assassination? How can they stop the attacks? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW. I genuinely don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the next move is besides observing, and they definitely<\/i> need something more proactive than that.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Ragged Edge\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":"