From: "G. D. Akin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
As most of you know, I've been catching up on what you have all raved about,
Babylon 5. I kept everyone up to date with an almost episode by episode
commentary on season 1 and, as you told me, season 2 is even better. I have
the season finale to watch later today (then a wait until next month for
season 3 to come out.)
What did you think of "Confessions and Lamentations"? That's probably my favorite ep of the season.
Season 2, while it took me awhile to get used to Sheridan (I liked
Sinclcair), has gripped me from episode 1. However, last night I watched
"Comes the Inquisitor". I watched in astonishment as this horrible,
pointless episode trudged through the torture of Ambassador Delenn at the
hand of a sadist who was ostensibley there to see if the Vorlons could trust
her.
BS flag is about halfway up the staff now and ascending rapidly.
I was initially pretty turned off, too, when I first watched this episode. But on further viewings, and reading what JMS had to say, it's obvious that there's a lot more going on and being said here than what I picked up on my initial viewing. Check out http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/043.html for extnsive analysis and commentary by JMS on this episode.
The Vorlons are portrayed as almost omniscinet and omnipotent, as well as almost non-knowable and non-understandable. And they have to resort to this!
I don't think the Vorlons were portrayed as almost omniscient. Kosh was certainly fooled by his attempted murderer in the series pilot. They are incredibly advanced and powerful, but not omniscient or omnipotent. Future episodes will also bear this out.
As to why they'd use the Inquisitor over some sci-fi plot device - the point was to put her *motives* and determination to the test. They wanted to know *why* she was doing this - were her personal motivations the correct ones?
Could there have been some "nicer" way or hi-tech way to so this? Perhaps, but maybe the fact that they didn't choose such a way says something about the Vorlons...
Some comments from JMS on this point (collected and rearranged from the link above):
"The pain is necessary because it's easy to consider laying down one's life intellectually; when the pain and the agony bring it home, it's no longer as easy.
And there *is* no correct answer to "Who are you?" The only real answer is no answer, because as soon as you apply someone's term for it, you have limited yourself, defined yourself in someone else's terms.
Doing things in a refined, gentle, intellectual manner is the sort of thing Delenn's used to, she can handle that easily...the goal of Sebastian was to try and *break* her. That's not intended to be done gently. You don't break someone over a cup of tea discussing philosophical concepts and the nature of personal identity. It's also not terribly dramatic to watch.
Because of her position, rank and authority, she expected to be treated a certain way...which was why it was important to treat her just the opposite. It's easy to put oneself into a grand prophecy, to assume one has a destiny...to pay the price for that is something else again. Anyone can do the former; very few can ever do the latter.
Sacrificing oneself happens frequently...but for just one other person, AND in a situation where no one else would ever know about it. Bear in mind that he wasn't testing people randomly; only those who felt that they were chosen of god, fulfillers of prophecy...people who assumed that they were part of some grand scheme, and thus to whom an anonymous death is an intolerable thought.
Also, most probably never *got* that far, unable to stand the real pain of being placed in this position. Everybody can talk the talk; very few can walk the walk. Most probably just yanked off the bracelets and split, on the theory that they weren't being sufficiently coddled or glorified...or because being a potential prophet isn't as much fun as they'd thought.
Will: thanks, and you're quite right; it does say something about the Vorlons that they'd use Jack for this purpose. Now we just have to further define what that is.
It's pretty clear, to lots of folks, that the test was in some ways (most, actually) more for Delenn's benefit than Kosh's...lots of folks got this...and then others have said, "Well, if that's what he meant, why didn't he just have one of them come out and SAY this, say what was learned or that this was for THEIR benefit?"
So frankly, whether one comes out and says something, or does not come out and say something, someone on one side or the other is going to give you a hard time about it."
Then at the end we find out that Scotland Yard wasn't inept, Jack the Ripper
was absconded by the Vorlons for thier inscrutable reasons. What has this
to do with the "Coming Darkness?" Where did finding out his fate fit into
the grand scheme of things? Please don't tell me he plays an important role
later in the series.
Sebastian's conversation with Sheridan at the end of the episode gives a lot of insight into why the Vorlons picked him. Basically, Sebastian had been guilty of one of the very things he was testing Delenn for: a blind moral certitude in his own righteousness.
As for where finding out Jack the Ripper's fate fit into the grand scheme of things... it doesn't. You'll never see or hear of Sebastian again. (Although, IIRC, the actor later also plays one or two of the more heavily makeuped aliens at some point in the show.) Jack the Ripper was used because JMS wanted to use a well-known (to the viewers), evil historical figure from Earth for the Inquisitor. See quotes below for more on this.
More assorted snippets collected and rearranged from the JMS quotes:
"Also, check Sebastian's reaction when he asks Delenn what if she's wrong, "have you ever considered that? HAVE YOU?"
She responds, softly, "....yes."
Look at his face when she says this. It rattles him. It's not the answer he expected, but more important, it's not the answer he wanted, needed to hear.
He needed to hear her say that she had never had the slightest *scintilla* of doubt, that as he had been, she was a True Believer, a fanatic, incapable of doubt of mistake...and thus doomed to failure. He can't even meet her gaze; he turns, looks away, and suggests an "intermission" that is more for his benefit than hers.
There's an awful lot going on in this show, a great deal of it sub rosa, under the surface, implied in gestures or hesitations or looks, some implied, some stated outright. He *hates* the memory of Jack; it's not his name, the one thing that is his...remember, he is caught up with "who ARE you?" and his answer to that is lost in the persona created by history...his true name, is what's totally forgotten to history.
I looked at who this historical figure could be, but no one else fit into the area I wanted. It was a decision born of necessity, not whim. I needed someone far enough removed not to have any current victims' families still alive; someone known to a worldwide population (anonymous wouldn't have worked because why would Sheridan have known about him, why should we care, why should it resonate, and we'd spend time explaining what he did that would have meant cutting out other material in the episode); the other serial killers tend to have clear fates, whereas Jack vanished and is thus "available" to us; visually that period makes for a striking contrast to 2259.
And, again, you have to look at who he *was*...a fanatic, trying to clean up Spittlefields (good cause) by hatred (wrong reason) and murder (wrong means), the EXACT thing Delenn warns against at the very start of the show. (Did you know there's a letter in the London Times for that period that tries to explain the Ripper's motives as a cry ofr (for) understanding about conditions in that part of London?) He felt he was a divine messenger, learned he was not, and in bitterness has become the single best inquisitor you could've had in that job.
Every single thing about Jack made him *perfect* for that role, as mirror, menace and warning sign. So I used him. And I'd do it again. You have to find what works best for the story, and do it.
I used Jack because he was perfect for that particular job, which was what the Vorlons had decided as well. Simple as that.
Jack the Ripper has been used too much in SF.So, in other words, if a historical, real character has been used in some other venue, if the use of that same character in another, wholly different world/series/show/universe is absolutely, totally and completely the right thing for that story, one should instead do what's *wrong* for the story and leave it out?
Sorry. Don't buy it.
You can't exclude or include anything in your story just because a character or concept has been used by others. If we were to do that, then we might as well never make the show, because others have shown starships and hyperspace and aliens. Okay, yes, others have used Jack. But not in the same way. It was *right* for this show...should it not be used because oths have also used this character? I think that the moment you begin constantly course-correcting your show in reaction to other shows, you're dead in the water. You have to do what's right for *this* story, in *this* episode. And I think we showed a very different aspect of the character and the situation than has been shown before. If we just did the same old gag -- Jack comes to B5 and begin murdring people again -- then I'd agree. But we didn't. I think you have to judge a show by what's IN the show, and how well it's done, not against what has been done in other places.
Otherwise we might as well throw out starships and beam weapons and aliens and all the rest, since those have ALL been done a lot more than Jack."
BS flag at the top of the staff, snapping furiously.
What dreck!
I disagree; I like it, but it probably took 4 viewings over the years to really come to that opinion. My favorite scene, though, has nothing to do with JtR... it was the scene where Vir apologizes to G'Kar in the elevator, very moving.
If this episode had been the first I had seen, I may not have watched another. Fortunately, every episode in season 2 up to that point had me riveted to the screen. And all of you had said its going to get even better.
I know this episode is a glitch, a hiccough, but I was sorely disappointed in it.
Well, I don't think anyone promised you that *every* episode would be fantastic, just that the season as a whole was even better than season 1. I'll say right up front that every season has a couple so-so or not-so-great episodes, IMHO. Season 3 has one episode that I think is quite lousy, and the worst B5 episode overall. But the best episodes, and the quality of the overall show, make it well worth tolerating those episodes that aren't quite as good, but Your Mileage May Vary, of course.
-bryon
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