"A Day in the Strife" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 3X03, "A Day in the Strife". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
An alien probe holds Babylon 5 hostage. Meanwhile, the Centauri send a new liaison to replace G'Kar as the leader of the station's Narn population.

Extra reading:
The article for "A Day in the Strife" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

I’d forgotten season three had all these stand-alone episodes at the start. Of course, they’re not really standalone in the sense of being disconnected from the arc – Bezerker probe aside, the episode’s mainly detailing the status quo after the end of season two, giving a change to see how things have changed before they all go to hell in the mid-season episodes. That’s nice – once the arc starts up again in a few episodes, it’s pretty much non-stop until the end of season four, with few opportunities to really reflect on what’s going on.

As selenak has said, Na’Far is a surprisingly likable collaborator. It’s nice that it’s left ambiguous as to how much of a point he had – there’s no evidence that the Narn resistance ever accomplished much, and he is probably correct that Narn really isn’t in a position to continue the fight immediately. And Londo is quite right that Na’Far is only hiding his pride; he sincerely believes his path is the most effective way of ensuring an eventual Narn victory. A shame the character never appeared again – outside of G’Kar, the Narn never really get the same amount of depth as the Centauri.

The Bezerker plot – eh. Why design a bomb with such a specific detonation trigger? Just have it blow up whenever it detects alien spaceships or stations, and who cares if the potential threat only scored nine out of ten on quantum physics? Anyway, pretty forgettable – even the episode trailer managed to work out that it wasn’t the main focus of the episode, and they tend to assume whatever plot has the most special effects must be the only plot worth mentioning.

Minor notes:

- The Narn casualty figures seem oddly low. I’d have thought several days of orbital bombardment would leave millions dead, not merely tens of thousands. Of course the ‘official’ Centauri figures is, no doubt, much lower than the real number...

- B5’s limited pool of actors willing to wear full-face makeup is occasionally irritating, like when the same actor plays multiple League ambassadors, but it does work well in episodes like this as several of the Narn requesting G’Kar remain are members of the Narn community seen in earlier episodes. I think one of them is the Narn whose family G’Kar contacted in “Comes the Inquisitor” for example. Helps establish the Narn on Babylon 5 as a close-knit community.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I’d forgotten season three had all these stand-alone episodes at the start.


Me too. I remembered the upcoming Gethesmane episode because that is one of my favourite standalones in the entire show, but didn't recall there were so many in a row.

Narn community: that's true. I think it's also interesting that G'Kar doesn't bond with any of them, including the new arrival Ta'Lon, beyond his leader-in-exile capacity; instead, his new friendships, now that Na'Toth is gone, are with Garibaldi and to some degree Delenn and Sheridan. In a way, it prepares what happens in s4 and s5; his eventual inability to live among his own people comes not a little from him going from leader to prophet, but he's not really one of a group.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

I’d forgotten season three had all these stand-alone episodes at the start.

I had forgotten it had this episode - completely!

I'd like to challenge last week's suggestion for least memorable episode. Convictions at least I vaguely remembered as "the one with Londo and G'Kar in the lift", and, quite separately "the one where Brother Theo arrives"...

That said, it does contain some very good scenes in the Narn plotline (as others have commented), and Franklin's problem starts to be spelt out more explicitly.

Ah, but...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

While the Mad Bomber and the berserker probe are equally forgettable, the former gets more screentime than the later. A day in the strife has far more Narn scenes than Convictions does have Londo & G'Kar scenes.

Re: Ah, but...

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

true, but I do remember the lift scene quite distincly as a scene (and also Ivanova/Theo), whereas much of the other arc business from both episodes is in my mind as general information, but I would not have been able to say where I learnt it.

One could of course argue that I *should* have remembered te humiliation scene...

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

The problem with determining the 'least memorable episode' is that the least memorable episode is the one you never remember when you're trying to think of episodes...

I have this nagging sense there's some episode in early season five that's even less memorable than either, but since I can't remember it, well...