Recap and Discussion: 1 X 17 Legacies

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

Ne-r-o-o-o-n!!

D. C. Fontana of Star Trek fame wrote three of my favorite episodes: The War Prayer, Legacies, and A Distant Star. She has a real knack with characters: Sha’al Mayan, Neroon, and Jack Maynard are among the best. She describes this episode as having two A plots rather than an A and a B plot. I concur.

I had honestly forgotten this was the Alisa Beldon episode! So we have the perfect storm for me—the Minbari, especially glimpses into their culture; telepaths, a personal obsession, and Delenn kicking Warrior ass. Add in bonus Susan/Talia subtext veering into text and you’ve got one of my favorite episodes. *happy sigh*

Tell me what you think of Legacies!

After finishing this post I realize it's very Minbari and particularly Delenn-centric. Apologies, my inner fangirl is showing.

Recap:

The Minbari are doing a funerary tour with the body of their deceased leader Branmer.


Angelfish of Death!

Branmer was the Minbari who led the charge at the Battle of the Line, and who had to back down when the Religious Caste called off the war. Ouch. It turns out Branmer used to be Religious caste and was a chum of Delenn’s. She does not approve of the display, or Neroon, or apparently the Warrior caste. Garibaldi agrees, feeling that Neroon and his band are beating the drums of war. Garibaldi’s eyes slew around so much this episode I’m getting whiplash.

Personal aside: OMG I can’t believe Garibaldi brought up the Missing Man formation! I used that in a fic once, must have caught it subconsciously. Wow. I love re-watches.

­Meanwhile back in the Zocalo, Alisa Beldon, a young girl is seen shoplifting from a cart and as she is chased falls to the ground having suffered a mindburst.


Thief. Telepath. True Seeker.

Susan and Talia are in the bar, separately, and both intervene. Both are having excellent hair days.




Then back to the bridge where a baby Corwin tells Jeff and Mike that the Minbari ship is coming in with gunports open. This is not a good sign, except it really is, as is explained by Delenn, who is obviously in a snit.

Back to MedLab where Susan and Talia squabble over the baby. They are adorable when they fight. Steven pulls rank and sends them packing.

Neroon leads a parade of Star Riders escorting Branmer’s coffin. He stops to say ‘hey’ to Delenn. There is so much formal animosity in their ceremonial words. Now he directs the Warrior gaze to Sinclair. ‘It is a worthy thing to honor the Shai Alyt.’ Sub voce: You’re not worthy to black his boots, buddy, but thanks for the use of the hall.

Delenn asks Sinclair to come to the viewing and confesses she is not amused by the fuss. Sinclair isn’t either.

Back to Alisa. Talia shows her how to build a wall in her mind. Talia gets her name from her head, and she, Susan, and Steven look up the girl's history. Talia and Susan continue their custody battle. Steven is confused.

Neroon lays down the law to Sinclair. Garibaldi gives him such a look. Sinclair looks gobsmacked by all the demands, then gets nasty back. Delenn breaks up the fight but no one is pleased with her intervention. All that testosterone flying about.


Delenn takes a nap while plotting inside.

Then we have the ceremony. Bells, drums, zithers or whatever those harp-like things are, and Delenn and Neroon enter wearing big hoods, accompanied by Sinclair and Garibaldi.

‘This is the greatest of us. Warrior. Leader. The Hero of the Line,’ and ‘Now he belongs to the Ages.’ Neroon has a way with words.

The Minbari flag is folded quite correctly as per US custom, although triangle rather than rectangle, and handed to Delenn. Because she is the leading Religious leader present?

Then we open the box and no one is there! Neroon blames the humans even though he insisted on his own security and no one else. Delenn puts on quite a show of indignation. Neroon threatens war, Sinclair bristles, Garibaldi looks very stern.

‘It is not our way to allow a single clan to dictate Minbari policy’ says Delenn. ORLY?

Delenn stalks out, Neroon pursues.

.
Has had about enough of Neroon.

Garibaldi leaves to investigate, Susan enters to make an appeal to authority regarding Alisa’s options. Sinclair backs her search but doesn’t think she’s got much chance of finding anything.

Sinclair talks to Delenn in her quarters. The Religious caste issued the surrender order at the Battle of the Line. Branmer obeyed. There are still Warriors who resent it. Sinoval committed suicide rather than give the order to surrender. Neroon would follow Branmer’s orders, without question. Nice bonding moment while Delenn plays with her Minbari Legos.



Garibaldi questions the Narn, the Llort, the Pak’mara, and comes up empty.

Alisa is courted by Talia and Susan, and then Na’toth. Good point about the teeth.

Neroon wants to coopt the authority of station HR and replace Garibaldi. He and Sinclair bare their teeth and thump their chests. This will end in tears.

Talia and Susan fight over Alisa some more. Talia is Team PsiCorps and Susan is Team Anyone but PsiCorps. Susan throws in Ironheart which is totally valid and Ice Queen Talia has the vapors. Alisa just wants nice clothes and regular meals and for her moms to stop fighting.

Susan takes Alisa to visit Delenn, who continues building her toy. They discuss Minbari telepaths, who get an okay deal and loads of emotional payoff if not monetary gain. Alisa slips into Delenn’s mind, (why aren’t Minbari minds cold and alien? Hmm?) sees something interesting and spills it to Susan, and thus eventually to Garibaldi and Sinclair.

Neroon and Sinclair finally fight.

Delenn is caught with Branmer’s ashes by Sinclair and Garibaldi. ‘We need to talk’ are the scariest four words in the human language.

Delenn was hoping to pass off Branmer’s body’s disappearance as a miracle. She still will, but Neroon will have to be told the truth in order to call off the dogs and make the story fly. He hates it, but she schools him as Satai, and he knuckles under. This will also end in tears.


Delenn is smug.

Delenn makes Neroon apologize to Sinclair, but lets him do it privately. It’s a nice moment between old warriors.

Alisa makes her choice. Talia and Susan see her off, and go for a drink.


It's always hard when then kids leave home.

Sinclair also says his good-byes, and gets a hint. Chrysalis!

Points of Consideration:

The Minbari dictionary at jumpnow says that Alyt means Executive Officer and Shai Alyt means Ship Captain. I love that resource but that seems really prosaic. The Babylon Project wiki says Shai Alyt is equivalent to a 5-star general or member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Alyt corresponds to Brigadier General. Which makes me want to write a crossover with Neroon and the Brig from Doctor Who.

Alisa’s history in a screenshot is recorded in The Babylon Project wiki which is so cool. Alisa attended Malcolm X Elementary, and her religion is listed as Obeah.

Obeah (sometimes spelled Obi, Obea, or Obia), is a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices developed among West African slaves, specifically of Igbo origin. Obeah is similar to other Afro-American religions including Palo, Vodou, Santería, and Hoodoo.

Alisa’s choices are not great ones. Why no Centauri option though? Was Peter Jurasik not contracted for this episode?

The Minbari have a freeze ray! Of course they do.
The Minbari caste is passed through the mother’s line. This is interesting.
Does Delenn actually speak for the entire Grey Council? I missed it in the episode but the scriptbooks say a member of the Grey Council meets Alisa on her way to the ship.

Quotes!!
           
Neroon to Sinclair: ‘We have no interest in explaining our ways to you.’ Oh, you will. You will.

Neroon: ‘For a Warrior there is no other end to the journey.’

Delenn: ‘It has been my experience that discussions of old battle only interest historians.’

Ivanova: ‘There’s nothing more annoying than Mr. Garibaldi when he’s right.’

Na’toth: ‘Good point about the teeth.’

Neroon: “You talk like a Minbari, Commander. Perhaps there was some small wisdom in letting your species survive.”
Sinclair: ‘We like to think so.’ Snap!

Sinclair: ‘The future in exchange for the past.’ Oh snap!

*Alisa later appears in a short story by Fiona Avery, True Seeker.

   Summary from The Babylon Project:

While living on Minbar, Alisa kept in close contact with Delenn, who was eager to bridge the gap between Humans and Minbari. The Minbari taught her how to control and harness her talent and the honor to be found in using it to serve others. Alisa accompanied Entil’zha Delenn to the Narn homeworld to present the Narn regime with Minbari atmosphere purifiers that would assist in clearing the particulate matter out of the upper atmosphere left following the Centauri mass driver bombardment of 2259. Over the years Delenn and Alisa would eventually forge a close friendship that would ultimately prompt Alisa to take the oath of a True Seeker among the MInbari elite and dedicating her lie to bridging the gap between other worlds, not just Earth and Minbar.

In late 2269 Alisa was working with a finder’s program in the new Narn capital Mostoke when she took on the case of Jerrica Thomas, a young Narn girl who had been evacuated to Earth during the last days of the Narn-Centauri War and had spent ten years raised by humans in San Francisco.

Alisa set out to help Jerrica trace her biological family, though Alisa quickly discovered that someone else already knew of the girl’s return to narn and they wanted her dead. Fearing for the young girl’s life, Alisa left Jerrica in the care of an old acquaintace, the now famous Na’toth, while she left to break into the genetic archives of the Kha’Ri, and discover Jerrica’s true parentage.

Comments

[seldonp38.livejournal.com]

This episode seemed to mark the beginning of that very interesting and complex relationship between Delenn and Neroon.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I love Neroon! He's so... difficult.

And as much as I adore Delenn and want to be her when I grow up, I really didn't like her lying and manipulations here.

Still, lots of great personal interactions between everyone and hints of future things as well.

Sinclair honoring Branmer shows his decency. I've come to respect and love Sinclair more and more with each rewatch.

I am glad Alisa's story had a hopeful ending as well. There really are so few options for telepaths. Once again, I am so glad this is an ability we don't have in real life! I have enough trouble with my own thoughts. I can't even imagine having to deal with everyone else's. that would be a nightmare.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

The details of how telepathy would really affect our society fascinates me no end. Isolation seems to be the key; the Centauri female intelligence and communication pairs have a military/court feel, the Minbari solitary True Seekers, the Earth's PsiCorps. We want them far away from the rest of us.

I like sneaky Delenn; she gets too earnest and at times acts too much like arm candy for Sheridan in later episodes. And I say that as a flat-out unabashed Delenn fangirl.