Actually, it was nice in general to see a character like Ivanova mostly defined by her own character and not a string of hook-ups with the other men in the cast, as is par for the course with most other shows.

Quite true. Her relationship with Talia and Marcus' crush on her aren't what she's about, they're simply part of her life, and not the one which gets the most screentime.

JMS and romance: well, he outdid himself with the epic Londo/G'Kar I'm okay with his writing in this regard for the most part. His weaknesses as a writer to me are in other areas. And he's really good with friendships and complicated in-between-relationships.