"Each Night I Dream of Home" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for "Each Night I Dream of Home". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware. If you have any fanworks related to this episode, you can also leave links to them in this post.

Summary:
Franklin visits Excalibur as a part of a secret experiment that prompts the Drakh to launch an attack against the ship.

Extra reading:
The article for "Each Night I Dream of Home" at The Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[alexcat.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten how much I liked this one until rewatching it. It was good to see Dr. Franklin again. Even though he was a bit Mary Sue-ish on B5 sometimes, he was still a favorite of mine. I also thought the dynamic between Gideon and Matheson was fun in this one. I loved the smartass repartee between them. (Who you gonna believe, me or my face?) They almost seem to know what the other one is going to say and not from John's abilities either but because of a true friendship.

I had actually totally forgotten the Drakh attack in this one for some reason. Nice to see those horrid guys again! Not but it was fun to see the Excalibur blast them out of the sky.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

I liked this, too, although it was a pity that the massively telegraphed reveal was somewhat spoilt by the appearance of the mystery guest in the opening credits...
Seeing Franklin himself infected an quarantined somehow kept reminding me that Richard Biggs did not have that much time left himself. In fact, the 5-year estimate in the series seems uncomfortably close to the mark, coming t think of it :-(

Speaking of credits, I have started to wonder when Lockley would finally appear, considering she features so prominently. But it does make sense for her to enter the series in this episode, and I suppose it will provide an excuse of for contact with B5 later.
(as oppose to having this ep last, as in my DVD set)

Finally, that moment when Lockley looks at the lifepod, not knowing who is inside, is heartbreaking, although I know this is an age-old literary device.
(BTW, they also did it to two of the legends of ER in the final series, the b******s (*g*)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I didn't have the chance to rewatch until now. It's a great episode, but it really makes no sense placing it in this order because this is obviously Gideon's and Lochley's second, not first meeting. Speaking of Lochley, since my story about her starts during this episode, I might as well link it here:

Proserpina, Returning (http://archiveofourown.org/works/12592)

Back to the episode. The Senator is one of JMS' oily, untrustworthy politicians, and the only twist is that he doesn't actually do something backstabbing in this episode, but he plays such a minor role that it doesn't matter. David the volunteer is young, naive and either endearing or stupid or both, which makes him very real, and it was haunting to see Richard Biggs again as Franklin now that he's passed on.

The way Gideon rescues Lochley's star fury is one of my favourite suspense sequences in Crusade, and remains so on rewatch. Gideon is in fine form throughout the episode, going on the mat for the unknown pilot in distress but not throwing a tantrum about not being informed about everything at once, as certain other officers might have done, lightly flirting with Lochley and being teased by Matheson.

Sarah Chambers and Stephen Franklin's talk about bearing responsibility for infecting someone with the Plague: note that despite Sarah's guinea pig suggestion, they're not really debating whether to do it at all. It's a sign of the dire situation and the nature of the show they don't make this a moral dilemma episode, i.e. "should we/shouldn't we"; both doctors know they should.