"Chrysalis" discussion

[ruuger]

And so we have reached the end of season 1.

This is the discussion post for the episodes 1X22, "Chrysalis". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:

Garibaldi discovers a conspiracy to assasinate the president. Meanwhile Londo gets help from his new allies.

Extra reading:

The article for "Chrysalis" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I rewatched season 1. I picked up on so many more things this time around. I've always been a Sinclair fan, but I've gotten to appreciate him even more; as much as I love Sheridan, I'm gonna miss Jeff, and particularly his relationship with Garibaldi. From now on, we're going to see a Garibaldi who is a lot less certain of himself and his place in the world, I think, and of course it's partly because of what happened to him in this episode, but also because of Sinclair not being around. It's fascinating to watch his future development, of course, but sad for someone who genuinely likes the character and the person.

Great episode for all of the aliens, too -- not only the ambassadors but Vir, Na'Toth, and Lennier all have memorable moments in this ep ("cats!") Londo and Morden's scenes are fantastic and chilling, of course, but I think I was most struck this time around by G'Kar, knowing how much change lies ahead of him.

Just a terrific episode, with so many hints of things to come.

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing Dukhat in "In the Beginning" telling Delenn that if she ever doubts herself, she should look in the face of a Vorlon. And I like Dukhat and all, but I wonder how the Minbari let themselves be manipulated by the Vorlons. I mean, I like Delenn both pre- and post-transformation, but she gave up a lot for this, and I'm not completely sure what the point was other than to make her attractive to human men. And that's just really skeevy. I know that to her, this was largely penance for her sins, but I think I would like the Vorlons more if they didn't feed on that kind of thing.

Okay, that was a ramble, but this episode makes me think about how differently I thought about the Vorlons after I had seen all of the series.

[acktacky.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going too fast, but this is really funny. I have just got the biggest urge to watch B5 again, and have been plowing through it for the past two weeks or so. I'm at the end of Season 3, but maybe I'll follow this community and give some insights, and possibly rewatch a few episodes again to discuss. :)

Cooool. Haha.

[beatrice_otter]

"We know what we're doing."

Ironic, considering that no one at this point knows what they're doing. Everyone knows what they think they're doing. It's not even remotely the same thing. Narn, Centauri, Human, Minbari, Vorlon, Shadow--everyone is in the process of making a fundamental mistake, and the concatenation of those mistakes is going to destroy civilization as they know it and replace it with something different. And all of them believe they know what they're doing and that they can control the events they are unleashing.

"And so it begins ..." indeed!

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Well this is a cheerful episode, isn’t it?

I’m reminded of Londo’s line in “Signs and Portents” – “I’m sick of running through my life like a man late for an appointment” – because this is an episode almost entirely about people being just a little too late for things. Garibaldi just fails to stop Santiago’s assassination. Sinclair’s just a little too late to talk to Delenn. For that matter, G’kar recognises the truth of what Sinclair had said to him too late to resolve Quadrant 37 peacefully. The only person who is on time for anything is Londo – and of course in the long run, he’d have been better off to miss his meetings with Morden…

Coming off a rewatch of Season 1, and knowing what’s going to happen next, really accentuates the theme of missed opportunities. I can’t help but feel somehow that if the assassination had been stopped, if Delenn and Sinclair could have gotten everything else out in the open, if G’kar and Londo could have negotiated a compromise… well, then, somehow, all the other problems would have gone away, that Sinclair would have stayed on, and the crew could have gone on happily having minor stand-alone adventures for the rest of the show’s run…

Regarding Delenn and the Chrysalis – I’ve always felt one of the weaknesses of the show is that Delenn got increasingly short changed character wise as the show went on. There’s issues related to her transformation that never got properly addressed. For all the importance she placed in it, it didn’t really do anything to bring humans and Minbari together. If anything brought the two species together, it was the opening of the Rangers to humans… and that’s assuming you think the two species ever really came together, something which doesn’t seem to be implied by “Deconstruction of Falling Stars”. That’s not a flaw in the plot – the whole Chrysalis thing seems to be almost purely a Vorlon project, not a Minbari or a human one, and obviously events played out in a way that makes it unclear where the Vorlons planned on taking things… it also seems clear that the Vorlons never expected the Shadows to gain influence over Earth as much as they did, and they certainly weren’t expecting to be leaving the galaxy forever in a mere couple of years.

Still, it’s interesting to consider that Delenn is almost as much a cast-off, unfinished and unsupported, project of the Vorlons as human telepaths. It could have been interesting to see that explored in Season 5, which was, after all, almost entirely concerned with the remaining legacies of the Vorlons and Shadows…

Minor notes:

- The lurker Garibaldi talks to is the rogue telepath from “A Race Through Dark Places”, yes? Always nice to see minor characters introduced a few episodes before they become important. Is this the first appearance of that ISN newsreader too, or had she appeared earlier in the season?

- I’m always amused by the security guard’s half-assed efforts to delay Garibaldi with the transmitters – “Duh, I can’t read the serial code” (Heh, that’ll delay him almost a whole thirty seconds before he grabs them off me and reads them himself!)

- The scene in C&C as Santiago is killed is very well done – both the series regulars and the extras do a great job of conveying the seriousness of the moment and the sense of despair as the news comes in of Earth Force One’s fate.

- Clark’s swearing in is, of course, a reference to LBJ’s swearing in… which has always struck me as something of an insult to Johnson who was, after all, at least as good a president as Kennedy, if not as charismatic…

- Shame Talia didn’t get a line somewhere or something – every other regular character’s in the episode.

- Every time I watch Season One, I’m reminded of what a shame it is that Julie Caitlin Brown didn’t stay on as Na’toth.

- Last scene with Morden is just one more nail in the coffin of Jeanne Cavelos’ attempts to re-characterise Morden as an unwilling and coerced agent of the Shadows in “The Shadow Within” and the Technomage trilogy. I think if Morden is counselling and reassuring Shadows that ‘destiny is on our side’, it’s a pretty good clue that he’s perfectly happy with his job.

[marphilly.livejournal.com]

This is one of my favorite episodes of the series. Delenn and Garibaldi's storylines leave great cliffhangers, and for some reason, one of my favorite scenes is Kosh telling Sinclair that he forgot something.

[alexcat.livejournal.com]

I guess my favorite part was "And so it begins." Everything begins! It was like all of season qne was ever so slowly cranking up for the last episode in which we are all thrown into the fire!

[lazulidragon.livejournal.com]

Aha, I love this episode! Everything starts out so cheery, like things are wrapping up for the season, and then it all implodes in spectacular fashion.

So this is where the "stop looking into mirrors" business first comes up. That's the line that always kills me in Vir's drunken S4 monologue.

Speaking of scenes that kill me, watching Londo talk to Morden just...hurts. You can tell that he knows damn well what a bad idea it is, and yet he asks for Morden's help anyway. Then it turns out to be even worse than he thought, and he's clearly shaken, but he doesn't back down. I noticed, this time around, the way he pours himself a drink after telling Vir to send the message, then pours it back in the bottle. It's like he can't let anyone even think that he might be drunk, or, possibly, that he won't let himself get drunk, which is interesting, considering how important alcohol ends up being much, much later.

I wonder what it is about Babylon 5 that makes it a good place to set up the jamming devices? Is it just easier to smuggle things there, or was there stuff going on at other majpr ports, or what? That always struck me as a little odd, though not as odd as the senator's reaction. I can only assume that Clark had her in his pocket already.

On a completely unrelated note, I kinda like Ivanova's dress.