"Hunter, Prey" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 2X13, "Hunter, Prey". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
A fugitive with sensitive information about the Earth government flees to Babylon 5.

Extra reading:
The article for "Hunter, Prey" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

An episode where I liked many of the parts better than the sum. This time around, I found myself really enjoying the start of the Kosh-Sheridan relationship, something I hadn't paid that much emotional attention to in the past. If you think about it, it's amazing how real a character Kosh became despite being hindered by being represented by a suit carried around by a stunt man. Sheridan following up his dream by dogging Kosh's step and insisting on talking to him is probably where Kosh starts to connect to humans as individuals instead of just as weapon fodder for the Vorlons, despite the fact he obviously needs Sheridan for that purpose.

Loved the Franklin/Garibaldi double act here; for some reason it reminded me about the actors joking in an s3 audio commentary about the two as a couple. And I'm mightily amused by Garibaldi's idea of discretion (i.e. dressing up as a 40s noir detective). And because I recently rewatched some Crusade eps and saw Dr. Sarah Chambers beat up some B5 thugs, I can't help but observe in the B5 verse doctors are well trained in martial arts. Good for them.

Arc-wise, this is more about the Santiago assassination and Clark's evil ways, of course. Sheridan's contact here never shows up again, does she? Or am I misremembering?

Finally: "What do you want?" "Never ask that question!" - Kosh is still very much in a rigid frame of mind here. It's not the Shadows' question per se that's a problem, any more than the Vorlons' "who are you?" question is. It's what people make of it. I always found it fitting that Sheridan asks both Shadows and Vorlons their questions in the end, but I would most like to hear the replies of the Vorlons' to the Shadows', and vice versa, not to their own.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

This is one of the few times we get Hague’s conspiracy actually working secretly against Clarke – it’s nice to see that Sheridan’s contact seems to be a civilian. I felt the information here was a bit too minor to really care about; it’s nice that they saved Dr. Jacobs, but his information doesn’t seem like something that would convince anyone who wasn’t already sure there was a conspiracy. Obviously, they couldn’t blow the lid on the whole thing now, but I think it would have been more interesting if the data crystal had been, say, leads on who Clark was working with or something.

It’s funny watching this episode and remembering just how much of a mystery the Vorlons still were at this point in the series – this is the first time we learn they have organic technology, and it still hasn’t been firmly established how old they are compared to everyone else.

Kosh’s bits about the ‘song’ are still pretty ambiguous even on a rewatch – when he says that this has happened once before, does he mean to Sheridan, to himself, or in general? The mention of Kosh’s ship ‘singing’ implies that we’re meant to interpret the song as equivalent to speech, to communication in general. In that case, the ‘Song’ Kosh refers to could mean the Vorlon teachings or philosophies in general – and, of course, the Streib ship was almost a microcosm of the Shadow war, with a powerful alien race trying to force various species to fight and Sheridan opting instead to try and work together with an alien to overcome them.

Which, of course, raises the possibilty that the Streib were actually agents of the Vorlons, setting up a controlled experiment purely to test how various species would react when encouraged or forced to fight...

Minor notes:

- It occurs to me there’s a potential interesting story could be written about Dr. Kyle meeting Dr. Jacobs and comparing notes on their experiences with Vorlons...

- Hey! It’s Garibaldi’s horrible shirt from “Survivors”!

- So, to protect against kidnapping, members of the president’s staff are implanted with tracking crystals… that let security sort of track them from a distance of almost an entire room away! Brilliant!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

it’s nice to see that Sheridan’s contact seems to be a civilian.

Good point; it shows Hague's group isn't all-military.

Vorlon mystery: I forgot this in my comment - the episode does a great job of enhanding this. I've rewatched the show (or selected eps of same) countless times now, and I still found myself captivated by the "mystery of the Vorlons" aspect here.

Streib: wow, that's a great idea. Given the Vorlons employ Jack the Ripper as a test of character, it would totally fit the pattern and would make the Streib episode less random.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

Aside from the plot holes that you could fly a StarFury through, I always liked this episode.

Franklin and Garibaldi's scenes were good, and I think here's where I started to think that doctor fellow wasn't so bad. I particularly liked his 'the mystery is gone' speech. It is echoed and refuted later in Delenn's 'we make our own magic' speech.

I think the doctor is one of the good accessory characters in that I always wondered what happened to him. As for the worth of his information, it would have been nice to have someone comment that Clarke's indisposition had been widely discussed and doubted; that might have made the importance of Everett's data more obvious. Other than that, I chalked it up to Clarke's incipient/chronic paranoia.

Sheridan's 'contact' I thought was just in civvies for her underground work? Sheridan's reaction to her, especially at the end, is a little off. He seems resentful she's involving him in the conspiracy he just joined. I mean, what did he think being in a conspiracy meant? It's not all secret passwords and codebooks!

And one of my favorite scenes of all time happens in this episode! When Sheridan and Garibaldi are on the stairs (why are they on the stairs anyway? To show us there are stairs, for There All Honor Lies?) and Sheridan sees his ribbon (he must use those stairs all the damn time, right? Must be the shortcut to the little Captain's room) and at the same time Garibaldi is tipped by the Ranger walking by. And then it's all 'Uh, gotta go' and they scurry off to their respective conspiracies. I love that.

I like that idea for the Streib too!

Oh, and the first time I saw the end, I got a real thrill from the shout-out to Helva, the original ship who sang.