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Patrick

Patrick is a mid-40 year old geek with an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a master's degree in Information Systems. Nothing he says here has anything to do with the official position of his employer or any other institution.

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  1. Avatar Patrick says:

    It also provides an interesting contrast to G’Kar’s farewell message of “This is entirely my own choice and I accept its consequences.”

    Yes, this is when you realize that you’ve been rooting for the wrong guy all along, if you’re a Londo fan who doesn’t like G’Kar.

    The Minbari have evidently been giving him lessons in being cryptic.

    Hah, that was my same thought.

    In Medlab, Kosh visits the emperor. “How will this end?” “In fire.”

    Lrnu, guvf vf va ergebfcrpg n fprar gung obguref zr n ovg. Jr xabj sebz rneyvre gung Xbfu guvaxf gung gur Anea naq gur Pragnhev ner onfvpnyyl ybfg pnhfrf, naq ol cebprff bs ryvzvangvba gung vzcyvrf gur uhznaf naq gur Zvaonev ner jbegu fbzrguvat gb gur Ibeybaf.

    Ohg urer lbh frr gur svefg vaxyvat gung Xbfu vf npghnyyl xvaq bs n onfgneq. Gur Pragnhev pyrneyl unir n zbzrag bs erqrzcgvba urer, fubjvat gung gurl’er pncnoyr bs erpbtavmvat gurve jebatf, naq fb qb gur Anea va guvf rcvfbqr, ernyyl. T’Xne tvirf hc uvf nffnffvangvba nggrzcg, gur Rzcrebe jnagf gb ncbybtvmr, vg frrzf yvxr gur Anea naq gur Pragnhev npghnyyl unir gur pncnovyvgl gb trg nybat, nofrag gur zrqqyvat bs gur Funqbjf.

    The two telepaths nod at each other, to relay this information back to Centauri Prime. (Again – they can’t tell he’s lying? Isn’t that kind of the point of having telepaths around?)

    Well, in the first case, you can expect that there might be a diplomatic protocol for not scanning ambassadors. Although in previous episodes people have spilled murder thoughts to telepaths, G’Kar had his ritual cleansing moment and it could be argued that he was calmly accepting his fate, and not all hyped up on adrenaline or anything.

    But this doesn’t make sense to me at all. If you have an Emperor near dying I would imagine he would be under constant scanning, by default. Questions of succession, last minute orders, etc. Especially if there is a last words moment!Report

    • Avatar Pinky in reply to Patrick says:

      V sryg yvxr Xbfu jnf orvat erfcrpgshy gb gur Rzcrebe ol gryyvat uvz gur gehgu. Gur Ibeybaf ner cynlvat n “ovt-cvpgher” tnzr, ohg Xbfu trahvaryl frrzf gb pner nobhg vaqvivqhnyf. Ur’f abg nyjnlf tragyr, ohg ur’f abg pehry. Jura uvf ercynprzrag neevirf, jr frr jung n Ibeyba jvgubhg qrprapl npgf yvxr.

      I wouldn’t assume that the court telepaths were working in the Emperor’s best interest. They could be bought, or they could be above it all.

      Palace guards and loyal advisors back-stab all the time. It wouldn’t be wise for the court telepaths to take a side against someone who could be the next emperor. They are there to report, not to influence things. They may even be forbidden to get involved. Or maybe they’re so used to hateful thoughts coming from Narns that they didn’t even notice. (Wouldn’t it be interesting if the Centauri were incapable of reading Narns’ minds? Or thought them so far below them that they didn’t bother?)Report

      • Avatar Patrick in reply to Pinky says:

        Ur’f abg nyjnlf tragyr, ohg ur’f abg pehry. Jura uvf ercynprzrag neevirf, jr frr jung n Ibeyba jvgubhg qrprapl npgf yvxr.

        Lrnu, gung’f n tbbq cbvag.Report

  2. Avatar Burt Likko says:

    This episode made me sad — peace was right there and all that had to happen was for G’Kar to see the opportunity: it’s clear enough to me that G’Kar, a fundamentally honorable man in a fundamentally dishonorable situation, would have stayed his knife upon hearing the Emperor offer an apology.

    But, of course gur Funqbjf unir bgure vqrnf. (Naq fb qb gur Ibeybaf.)Report

  3. Avatar Damon says:

    I always read the Centari telepaths are knowing what the emperor really said and, being unable or unwilling, to call BS on Londo, they bail. Or maybe they are prohibited from speaking about it.

    This is also one of my favorite episodes as well. Now the action really ramps up!Report

    • Avatar Patrick in reply to Damon says:

      I always read the Centari telepaths are knowing what the emperor really said and, being unable or unwilling, to call BS on Londo, they bail.

      That’s not what I thought the first time I saw the episode, but that’s what I thought on the re-watch. Interesting.

      I’ve been amused by how differently I’m perceiving the show, generally, now that I’m re-watching it almost 20 years later…Report

    • Avatar James K in reply to Damon says:

      Perhaps the close communication the telepaths have with each other make it infeasible for them to read anyone else’s minds. Their powers may be suitable for communication only.Report

  4. Avatar daveNYC says:

    B5 is at its best when it has an episode that brings together the threads from the different storylines.

    The nice thing about Londo is that he never kicks puppies. Every bad thing he does is within reason, and you rooting for him to do the right thing because it seems possible that he might actually choose to do the right thing at some point.

    There’s plenty of ways to handwave the telepaths. They might be too specialized for long range communication with each other to be able to read minds and/or their role is as a resource for the Emperor as the head of state, not as the Emperor as ‘himself’, so they assist with keeping him in touch with the government on Centauri Prime, but do not get involved with the hardball politics that goes with the job. Centauri politics are hardball enough that I suspect that Centauri telepaths stay the hell away from it, being a known mind reader and a player in that game would probably qualify for the Discworld definition of suicide.Report

  5. Avatar Tod Kelly says:

    This was a great recap, KMW.

    And if you can’t get anyone for All Alone In the Night, I’ll do it, Pat. (Though I get that my style of B5 recaps might be grating to fans.)Report

  6. Avatar Reformed Republican says:

    This definitely stands as a favorite episode. After some of the clunky episodes that left me reconsidering my opinion, I am reminded of why I was so fond of it. There is some quality acting from the better actors of the show, and the plot moves really well. G’Kar’s reconciliation with Londo, while Londo knows what he has done, and then G’Kar’s reaction when he finds out about the colony, are great moments.

    As DaveNYC says, with Londo, there appears to be some hope that he will turn around. He does these things, despite his reservations. Vir tries to turn him around, but Londo just digs his hole deeper.

    (He accepts this “I have information from a source I can’t tell you anything about, but I promise it’s reliable” thing pretty quickly.)

    If you do not trust your Chief of Security, you have problems.Report