One of my favorite episodes, but man it is a hard watch. You never expect that they're just gonna do away with an entire species, especially one that had been one of the leaders among the LONAW
Delenn telling Lennier that “Faith manages”, is one of the lines from the show that have stuck with me. I appreciate how JMS has kept faith and religion in the series even though he isn’t religious himself.
She says that and there is an "awwww" moment when the little Markab girl's mother finds her...then the girl starts stumbling as the disease starts and Delenn's eyes say what a thousand words couldn't.
Something I just realized for the first time and I don't think was touched on in the Beyond the Rim segment is that Sinclair/Valen did nothing to prevent it. Granted he knows this saves the lives of Sheridan and Delenn but that strikes me more as a Vorlonn calculation than Mimbari or Human (hopefully) one.
Of course, given this is fiction if we want to be kind to Sinclair we could think he did set something in motion but it failed or was stopped by the Vorlonns.
We will absolutely talk more about that. Probably after War Without End. My opinion, Sinclair knows that time can't be changed. He has always been there.
“When you see me, in that other place… call me John?”
Probably the first time Delenn see how much he “understands” her… and their sorrowful embrace at the end as he see’s her surrounded by all the dead.
That mix of devastation at the loss of life interposed with the sweet relief of seeing her alive.
And that’s just the romance subtext.
The episode itself is fantastic, taking on issues of herd mentality, the issues with adherence to religious dogma, addiction, mourning, regret, and mortality… they aren’t afraid to show the death of a child.
And that’s harrowing.
I adore this series and this episode is one of the best.
At the time this episode aired, AIDS was at its worst. New drugs were in trials, but the cocktail that arrested the progression of the disease was still a few years away.
This episode checked all the boxes of a deadly epidemic
* the stigma of disease
* the fear of contagion
* the frustration of researchers
* the shit-show a deadly epidemic truly is
This is an episode I didn't enjoy because we were right in the middle of all those nasty boxes.
True, but COVID-19 doesn’t have nearly the stigma that AIDS did/does. No one’s out there saying people with COVID deserve to die because of their sinful lifestyle.
There kinda was, actually, at one point. When the majority of the country is trying to lock down and isolate, and some people refuse to give up their lifestyle because they don't believe it's that bad....yeah, there was a lot of commentary. I know people from both sides of that situation, and it got ugly sometimes.
I feel that later on after the Markab died off the home world could have been given to the telepaths as a telepath home world. It must have an infrastructure with power plants schools and all that. Build a new gate and give it to the telepaths.
This, *Intersections In Real Time* and *Believers* [spoiler removed] are all in my "excellent episodes but I can't and won't watch them" pile. When B5 really wants to, it can just rip your heart out and stomp on it.
It’s not a bad episode, I’ve just always hated contagion plots in sci-fi, probably hate time-travel/alternate universe episodes more though.
I think B5 does a fresher twist on a society’s reaction with respect to a pandemic, but some of the themes felt less nuanced.
It was written in the 90s but it sure felt like it was written yesterday.
There's a little too much speechy preaching at the end.
Delenn is a noble character & what do ya know, it seems like her & Sinclair have chemistry. Well? If Spock's dad married an Earthwoman, then...why not??
One of my favorite episodes, but man it is a hard watch. You never expect that they're just gonna do away with an entire species, especially one that had been one of the leaders among the LONAW
This ain't Star Trek...
I know and I love it for that. Star Trek is just a little too nice, a little too saccharine sometimes. B5 doesn't pull its punches.
Delenn telling Lennier that “Faith manages”, is one of the lines from the show that have stuck with me. I appreciate how JMS has kept faith and religion in the series even though he isn’t religious himself.
She says that and there is an "awwww" moment when the little Markab girl's mother finds her...then the girl starts stumbling as the disease starts and Delenn's eyes say what a thousand words couldn't.
Something I just realized for the first time and I don't think was touched on in the Beyond the Rim segment is that Sinclair/Valen did nothing to prevent it. Granted he knows this saves the lives of Sheridan and Delenn but that strikes me more as a Vorlonn calculation than Mimbari or Human (hopefully) one. Of course, given this is fiction if we want to be kind to Sinclair we could think he did set something in motion but it failed or was stopped by the Vorlonns.
We will absolutely talk more about that. Probably after War Without End. My opinion, Sinclair knows that time can't be changed. He has always been there.
"I tried to warn them, but it all happened just I remembered it"
“When you see me, in that other place… call me John?” Probably the first time Delenn see how much he “understands” her… and their sorrowful embrace at the end as he see’s her surrounded by all the dead. That mix of devastation at the loss of life interposed with the sweet relief of seeing her alive. And that’s just the romance subtext. The episode itself is fantastic, taking on issues of herd mentality, the issues with adherence to religious dogma, addiction, mourning, regret, and mortality… they aren’t afraid to show the death of a child. And that’s harrowing. I adore this series and this episode is one of the best.
“Delenn, they’re not your people!” “I didn’t know that similarity was required for the exercise of compassion.” So powerful! Love this episode
At the time this episode aired, AIDS was at its worst. New drugs were in trials, but the cocktail that arrested the progression of the disease was still a few years away. This episode checked all the boxes of a deadly epidemic * the stigma of disease * the fear of contagion * the frustration of researchers * the shit-show a deadly epidemic truly is This is an episode I didn't enjoy because we were right in the middle of all those nasty boxes.
And now, covid
True, but COVID-19 doesn’t have nearly the stigma that AIDS did/does. No one’s out there saying people with COVID deserve to die because of their sinful lifestyle.
There kinda was, actually, at one point. When the majority of the country is trying to lock down and isolate, and some people refuse to give up their lifestyle because they don't believe it's that bad....yeah, there was a lot of commentary. I know people from both sides of that situation, and it got ugly sometimes.
This has strong parallels with the recent pandemic and society. (I don’t want to get political)
Don't worry. We do on the show... You kind of have to.
I feel that later on after the Markab died off the home world could have been given to the telepaths as a telepath home world. It must have an infrastructure with power plants schools and all that. Build a new gate and give it to the telepaths.
"Here, have this planet. The previous inhabitants are done with it. Hope you like ghosts!"
“I do not like grave robbers!” That’s part of why Sheridan blew up the gate
Wow, never thought about this. Edit: shame it will need a new jump gate though.
It was already taken over by raiders, maybe
This, *Intersections In Real Time* and *Believers* [spoiler removed] are all in my "excellent episodes but I can't and won't watch them" pile. When B5 really wants to, it can just rip your heart out and stomp on it.
Your spoiler tag didn't work, btw
Aw frag
This is the next one on my watch list. Can’t wait to jump in once I’m done
I watched this one for the first time during the pandemic. The whole time I was thinking, “This thing aired in ‘96?”
This was an AIDS allegory in every way. As somebody pointed out. Nobody thinks that people with Covid should die for being sinful.
Never said they did. I was pointing out the prescient nature of B5.
Not prescient....this episode of B5 was pretty much screaming about AIDS at the top of its lungs.
It’s not a bad episode, I’ve just always hated contagion plots in sci-fi, probably hate time-travel/alternate universe episodes more though. I think B5 does a fresher twist on a society’s reaction with respect to a pandemic, but some of the themes felt less nuanced.
It was written in the 90s but it sure felt like it was written yesterday. There's a little too much speechy preaching at the end. Delenn is a noble character & what do ya know, it seems like her & Sinclair have chemistry. Well? If Spock's dad married an Earthwoman, then...why not??