"Mind War" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 1X06, "Mind War". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Extra reading:

The article for "Mind War" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

- Sinclair’s first response when he realises Bester is communicating telepathically with him is one of almost… revulsion. I’ve always felt one of the better handled aspects of B5 is just how pervasive anti-telepath feelings are. Yes, Bester’s a villain – but Sinclair has no way of knowing that, and as far as we can tell, all he was trying to do was speed up the small talk…

Yes, that's true, and the show is really consistent about this. I remember when first watching s4, the difference between Sheridan's treatment of Lyta in Epiphanies and Garibaldi later, during the middle of the season, struck me. Not the fact Lyta gets forced out of her quarters but that Sheridan, when dressing her down, threatens to hand her over to Psi Corps if she ever acts behind his back again. To Psi Corps, an organisation he despises and sees as fascist. Whereas with Garibaldi he might be increasingly pissed off, but he doesn't say "if you keep acting like this, we'll send you back to Clark". And as I mentioned in my comment above, The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father presents a great reverse pov to a very similar plot to Mind War. When Zack, upon hearing Bester say that the man he pursues has killed a Psi Cop, jokes "and that is bad because...?", it's not different from the comments Sinclair, Garibaldi or Ivanova make in Mind War. But in The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father, we've seen the murdered man's widow crying over his dead body in the previous scene, and we're also in the pov of Bester's interns who get introduced to mundanes this way, and suddenly Zack doesn't like like Standing Up To The (Psi-Cop) Man but like a callous bigot.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

I always thought the attitudes were inconsistent myself, or rather more consistently anti-PsiCorps, than anti-Psi.

Sinclair is quite personable with Talia, even taking her to dinner after she arrives. And Sheridan is reasonable with Lyta, even protective of her before the Vorlons go rogue (and after that he has reason to worry). The human businessmen who utilize either of the telepaths have no obvious problems being surface-scanned (except when they are trying to pull something.) Franklin has no problems with Lyta, or the original doctor (whose name seems to be escaping me. Kyle, was it?)

Garibaldi and Susan are the two (and Zack later as you point out) that show their dislike more openly and generally. I think they are meant to be representative of the common attitude of uneasiness however.

The telepaths are the eternal 'other', and I find that fascinating. We can deal with all sorts of other races with various abilities and differences, but not the aliens among us. There's an element of guilt, too, I imagine. PsiCorps exists to make us feel better about the telepaths; so we can more safely use them. They make their own family out of the Corps because we have rejected them.