B5 Watchthrough: Deathwalker/Believers/Survivors
Wednesday, August 19th, 2020 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ariela
After the rapid plot advancement/mystery solving of And the Sky Full of Stars (which, of course, only creates more mystery), B5 goes into a run of episodes that mostly aren't as bad as, say, Soul Hunter or Infection, but are honestly just... inessential. I skimmed through Deathwalker three times looking for important moments to pull out, but didn't feel like there was anything that wasn't covered in other episodes. Believers was a big deal when it aired, but it's a lot clumsier than B5's usual nuanced approach to religion (it reminds me, unpleasantly, of everything I didn't like about the way Bajoran religion was handled on DS9). I find it excruciating to watch, and know a couple of fellow fans who refuse to acknowledge it exists. And Survivors is backstory about Garibaldi, but really the only important thing about it is that he falls off the wagon. Ultimately, you don't need to watch them and unlike By Any Means Necessary, which is also inessential but I've added to my must-watch-in-full list for quality reasons, I don't recommend that you do unless you're invested and just want more early B5 content.
(Believers is about some alien parents who refuse medical treatment for their son because of their religious beliefs. They think that if someone is cut open, their soul escapes. Franklin goes ahead and operates on the kid to save his life over their objections. They kill their child, believing they're putting a soulless shell out of its misery. It was an Extremely Big Deal at the time that the kid died.)
There are a few important plot points or things that get called back to here, but I can summarize them quickly:
- Kosh hires Talia to help him with some negotiations, but they aren't what they seem. It becomes apparent that he's recording her reactions. When she asks why, he says, "Reflection. Surprise. Terror. For the future."
- Vorlons don't seem to like telepaths.
- The League of Non-Aligned Worlds, which is an alliance of a lot of alien species without the sort of power possessed by the Minbari, Centauri, or Narns, has representatives on B5. They allied with Earth during war with a now-extinct species called the Dilgar.
- Kosh quote: "Understanding is a three-edged sword." (JMS annotation: "Your side, their side, and the truth.")
- There has been some sort of outside interference with Minbari religion in the past.
- Kosh quote: "The avalanche has already begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
- There's an attempt to assassinate President Santiago.
- Garibaldi's an alcoholic who falls off the wagon in this episode.
- Rowan Kaiser's analysis/review of Deathwalker and Believers at the AV Club.
- Lurker's Guide Deathwalker page.
- Lurker's Guide Believers page.
- Rowan Kaiser's analysis/review of Survivors at the AV Club.
- Lurker's Guide Survivors page.
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Date: 2020-08-22 07:04 pm (UTC)