"And Now for a Word" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 2X15, "And Now for a Word". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
ISN Special Report about a regular day on Babylon 5.

Extra reading:
The article for "And Now for a Word" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, Delenn really doesn’t come across very well – she’s apparently initially refused requests for an interview, and unlike G’Kar and Londo doesn’t seem at all prepared.

Yes. And considering she's been a professional diplomat for more than a year now (and wasn't there this earlier scene where she and Sinclair, or was it Garibaldi, get editions of their respective papers? At any rate, Delenn does know what the media are), it just feels weird to see her behave so incompetently.

Now granted, as Sheridan said, the Earth Alliance really isn’t in a position to take on the Centauri, but it’s interesting to note just how much of a paper tiger the Earth Alliance seems to be.

It could be that Clark & Co. are indulding in playing both sides against the middle, in the hope that the Centauri and the Narn will so exhaust each other's resources that whoever remains standing will be a ripe fruit for the Earth Alliance a few years later. But they could just as easily be extreme isolationists, granted. Also, here's a thought: maybe the losses from the Earth/Minbari war were as heavy as In the Beginning implies, the numbers Cynthia gives are already a spin predating Clark and were chosen by earlier goverments as to not let the population know how narrowly they escaped, and Earth can only indulge in posturing because it really needs more time to recover?

[(Anonymous)]

I thought the reporter's questions to Delenn were on the spot, and worth considering. Delenn's inability to handle them reflected badly on her, which (I thought) was the point. How _are_ you a bridge between the two races, anyway?

Delenn may be a diplomat, but she's not a public diplomat; she works with negotiations among leaders and other diplomats, who are at least respectful within the formalities. I don't think Delenn, at this point, is really up to handling people whose respect is predicated on the quality of her words, rather than her status. (Something last week's episode with Neroon ties into.)

The post-production editing was obviously slanted, but I thought the reporters were at least trying to do an honest job.


Tony Zbaraschuk

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Of course, if the Clark regime had any expansionistic goals, surely they've have gotten involved either when the Centauri started moving against the League worlds or later when the League turned on each other - a Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, perhaps, to go with the Munich Agreement analogies that pop up rather unsubtly later this season.

I do think it's amusing to look at what the show tells us humans are like - "They build communities out of diverse populations!" and compare it with how humans as a whole actually behave in the show - Isolationist dictatorship followed by a government apparently apathetic at best towards the Interstellar Alliance, followed by bombing themselves back to a pre-spaceflight status, and then eventually evolving into the new Vorlons...

[kathrid.livejournal.com]

It could be that Clark & Co. are indulding in playing both sides against the middle, in the hope that the Centauri and the Narn will so exhaust each other's resources that whoever remains standing will be a ripe fruit for the Earth Alliance a few years later.

I agree with this. It's also worth remembering that the Clarkists have a fairly advanced project researching Shadowtech, allowing them to produce some fairly vicious Earth/Shadow hybrid ships in as little as 2 years from now. I view them as trying to lull the Centauri into a false sense of security until they've finished building an upgraded fleet in the next few years.