"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 2X17, "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
Sheridan finds out about a connection between Morden and Anna. Night Watch begins to recruit members on Babylon 5.

Extra reading:
The article for "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

The first time I saw this, I was deeply unimpressed. I was like, WHAT THE HELL, HOW CAN WE BE EXPECTED TO LIKE SHERIDAN WHEN HE'S GOING ALL GUANTANAMO ON MORDEN?

Then I, um, got the point, that we're not supposed to cheer him on. What can I say, post-9/11 politics and B5 make a strange mix.

What I've really come to love here is the way Sheridan's behaviour comes so close to Clark's. That's what makes him, and the Earth civil war, so interesting to me. (That's also what makes me raise my eyebrows a whole lot at the Sheridan-love that takes over the last season. Ah well, what is fandom for, but to explain how the writers are wrong?)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Sheridan and Clark (in absentia, via his tools): I think the whole "you don't exist, therefore I can do anything" is even literally doubled in Intersections in Real Time when Sheridan is the captive, but I'm not 100% sure - it's been a while since I watched the later.

re: hero worship for Sheridan later on - to me that was best analyzed by (I think) Kds as the problem you get when you try to marry a traditional type of epic narrative with an attempt at storytelling with democratic rules. Aragorn can become king in RotK without anyone casting a vote, and we can take it for granted he'll be a good king. But Sheridan is supposed to be a president, not a war leader anymore, and suddenly we have the problem that what we see is one thing (he's not very good at it) and what we hear is another (he's the old ideal of the warrior-hero ruling by nearly universal acclaim and starting a legendary golden age). Think also of BSG which started with good intentions - in the commentaries for the miniseries you get Ron Moore saying one of the reasons why he invented Roslin as a character was that he didn't like that in the old show, the Quorum were shown as small-minded tools and Adama was always right overruling them, and he wanted a civilian authority as well - and ended up with a story where Roslin and Adama were literally in bed together and always right while the Quorum was always wrong. I think the only series who managed to pull off a narrative where there was a good head of goverment who was, nonetheless, not always right, and whose opponents had understandable motives and were right on occasion as well, in short, showed a practising democracy instead of a fantasy monarchy in disguise was The West Wing.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Sheridan and Clark (in absentia, via his tools): I think the whole "you don't exist, therefore I can do anything" is even literally doubled in Intersections in Real Time when Sheridan is the captive, but I'm not 100% sure - it's been a while since I watched the later.

Sad fact: it's really just a matter of weeks since I watched "Intersections", but I can't remember either.

But Sheridan is supposed to be a president, not a war leader anymore, and suddenly we have the problem that what we see is one thing (he's not very good at it) and what we hear is another (he's the old ideal of the warrior-hero ruling by nearly universal acclaim and starting a legendary golden age).

I read an old interview with Bruce Boxleitner recently, where he said he drew a lot of Sheridan from leaders like Churchill, Eisenhower and MacArthur. Which I thought was really telling, because with the exception of Eisenhower, they weren't really men known for their successes after WW2. And MacArthur was deeply unpopular outside of America, particularly in Australia, where he had a base.

As for a legendary golden age -- congratulations, dude, you have invented the Federation. Countdown to creation of Section 31 in five, four, three...

...fantasy monarchy in disguise...

There's a bit in "The Lost Tales" where Sheridan refers to ISA HQ as "the royal palace". A Freudian slip, but his, or JMS's? I'm not saying that it keeps me up at night, but I did once wake up wondering about it.