"Shadow Dancing" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 3X21 "Shadow Dancing". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
Sheridan and Delenn lead a strike against the Shadows.

Extra reading:
The article for "Shadow Dancing" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's a suspenseful episode - B5 brings on the good space battles - with some nice couple moments for shippers of Marcus/Ivanova and Sheridan/Delenn, but as I ship neither couple, I feel rather neutral about their scenes. (I will say that I've always suspected Delenn of making some of the "Minbari rituals" up simply to a) tease Sheridan and b) do whatever she wanted to do while having a good excuse. I approve of this character trait.) Upon watching again, I found it most interesting that Delenn is the one who persuades the representatives of the other races to commit their ships. Which makes sense to me - she's the politician, Sheridan is the soldier - and reminds me of my slight disgruntlement of the s4 thing where she and Ivanova aren't presented as capable of holding the Alliance together at their own, but more about that when we get to s4.

Franklin meeting himself: Richard Biggs is really good in the relevant scenes, but it's still not a storyline that is anything but predictable. Poor Franklin. First he gets the daddy issues and the "but I do love you, son/dad" cliché scene in s2, and now he gets the "pull yourself together" scene in s3. I think what I liked best about this upon rewatch is that it showcases the friendship between him and Garibaldi. "Don't ever do this to me again."

Anna's arrival: more about Anna when we get to the next episode. Did I realize it was her during first broadcast? I think I pretty much guessed due to Delenn's vision in WWE and other hints over the season. It's still an excellent cliffhanger, and of course the "Z minus..." inserts were terribly efficient the first time around, as we were all waiting for Sheridan to go to Z'ha'dum.