Babylonia!

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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9 Responses

  1. Patrick says:

    P.S. – What’s the deal with the title? Ain’t no knives in this episode.Report

  2. Damon says:

    Yep, I think James K nails it.

    That and the metaphors to our own history. I always enjoyed the Centauri plot line in this episode. The Sheridian one not so much. It’s nice to see that Londo hasn’t fully decended to the dark side. It gives his character more depth.Report

  3. Patrick says:

    The beta plotline in this episode is weak. One of the problems with the split plotline mechanism is when you get a really dominant plotline (like this week), the second one feels like it is just dialed in.Report

  4. Pinky says:

    Up until now, Londo has always trusted his decision-making. Even when he’s made a catastrophic decision, he’s been willing to bear the consequences of it. For him, the key moment in this episode wasn’t the death of a friend but the realization that he’s not in control of the young turks. He may trust himself to bear the great burden of regenerating the Empire, but that’s because he trusts himself. He’s now realizing that his decisions have put some bad people into decision-making roles, and he can’t pull back when things go too far.

    There’s actually a lot of depth in this episode. On both the big scale (the war and the Empire) and the small scale (the duel), Londo’s getting backed into positions he doesn’t like, and it only looks like he’s calling the shots.Report

  5. KatherineMW says:

    Not a huge fan of this episode for two reasons: Sheridan’s storyline is kind of silly and doesn’t go anywhere, and Urza’s actor really gets on my nerves. Especially in the scene at the party, he really over-pronounces his lines and puts on a weird accent to make then sound Dramatic! Most of the regular actors on the show may only be okay, but occasionally you get a guest actor who’s really bad, and this is one of those times.

    The fight scene is dreadful – I know this isn’t Game of Thrones, but couldn’t they put a little more effort into looking like they’re fighting instead of occasionally listlessly banging the swords into each other?

    Londo’s actual storyline and character progression in the episode is good, but it’s dragged down by the acting surrounding it.

    Urza says you can’t build an Empire on slaughter and deceit.

    Heh. Study history, Urza. You can’t built an empire on anything else.Report

    • James K in reply to KatherineMW says:

      I thought Carmen Argenziano was decent in Stargate SG1, so I suspect the problem is the accent. Vir makes it clear that there are Centauri who don’t sound like Londo, so he should have just gone with his normal accent.

      The fight scene is dreadful – I know this isn’t Game of Thrones, but couldn’t they put a little more effort into looking like they’re fighting instead of occasionally listlessly banging the swords into each other?

      I imagine B5 hin’t have a fight choreographer so that was problably two people who have never held a sword before trying to do a sword fight. That’s certainly what it looked like.

      Heh. Study history, Urza.

      I’m pretty sure he was speaking normatively.Report

    • Pinky in reply to KatherineMW says:

      I haven’t rewatched the episode in a long time, but it’s hard for me to imagine that there’s an “over-the-top” for a Centauri. They are a proud and mighty-haired people.Report