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woodsfae · 7 months

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B5 s02e21 • Comes the Inquisitor Jack the Fucking Ripper table of contents • previous episode

Oh, man. G'Kar is totally right, but of course no one's taking him seriously.

"Are you willing to sacrifice all that you are to keep all that you have?"

Yeah, war destroys you. Everything G'Kar says lately I'm like "That's absolutely horrible! But you're right!"

Oooo, Vir Cotto is up to something! I hope he keeps exceeding my expectations.

Another Delenn and Kosh secret meeting. I am so amused by their relationship. And interested! Lennier said Kosh was calling for Delenn. Was it on the local landline, or something more metaphysical? Is Lennier a telepath? I'm guessing that Delenn isn't actually a telepath, just has incredibly well honed insight, but we've seen so little of other species' telepathy that I'm just itching to learn more. It would be sensible to assign a telepath to be high-ranking, but isolated dignitaries' aides.

O.o The Vorlon have something called inquisitors! And one is going to interrogate Delenn!! Whoa. I wonder if they're a Vorlon, or just a contact of the Vorlons.

I love how there's always more and more and more worldbuilding and plot for me to sink my teeth into. The silliest episodes and exchanges are still so rich and dense with information.

omfg. MORE AWKWARD FLIRTING. And Delenn and John haven't even mutually held hands yet.

Lennier: "If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, the work becomes corrupted, and ultimately self-destructive. Ambassador Kosh wishes confirmation that the right people are in the right place at the right time."

That's a bit of an american xtian idea of rightness of actions. US Pres Nixon was a bad dude, but he still passed the civil rights act, which has immeasurably improved lives. It doesn't diminish all the lives saved or the good done that he was also a slime-sucking toerag.

The guy G'Kar is meeting has a really strong prescription on his glasses. And of course people are war profiteering off the desperate Narn.

The Narn are more dangerous now than they've ever been. They're backed into a tiny corner, with nowhere to go but out and through anyone trapping them there.

This person arrived on a Vorlon ship…. I'm so curious if Vorlons are humanoid or can disguise themselves believably as different, lower-order species. He's implying he's human, but I have my doubts.

oh-hohohoho!! Protective Sheridan! cute.

WHOA. This guy, Sebastian (?) first met the Vorlons in 1888! incredible. A genuine Victorian in the 23rd century, who's going to psychically interrogate an alien from a society which has been spacefaring for tens of thousands of years. That's so cool.

Garibaldi: "Don't endanger B5. Got it? OK. Here's my illegal contacts who can help out, maybe. ;) byeeeeee <3"

Garbaldi, a real quote this time: "Like you said. I never start a conversation unless I know where it's going, but I always leave a little room for someone to disappoint me. Thanks for not doing it."

Made me laugh. And then also uncomfortably squirm. I'm a little like that, too. (damn you JMS, making me identify with characters I dislike! *shakes fist*)

This meeting with Sebastian and Delenn is so fairytale-like.

Someone should tell Sebastian and the Vorlons that you get better results with positive reinforcement than with punishment methods. It gets harder and harder to think the more you are in suspense of when the next pain will come. How very Victorian of this guy, though.

"Do you know how many have stood before me as you stand now? Proud, defiant, full of their own boated self-importance. Confident that they are chosen, special, chosen of God? All of them have broken. And better for everyone that they did. Better to spare others the illusion of false hope. You have the audacity to presume that you are on a mission form god, embarked on a noble cause. I don't believe it. And by the time you leave here, neither will you."

I dunno, dude. You might have gotten better results if you'd taught people to cultivate the type of qualities you think you need to succeed.

This whole thing makes a little more sense if I assume he's telepathically reading her and using her being pushed off balance to see more truth in her mind…I guess. This feels like very dated ideas of psychology. People are not more themselves when they're in pain, being arbitrarily punished, and given no useful instructions. They're just confused and hurting.

I think, that like a fairytale, he's already given her the answer disguised as a lie - he said if she removed the manacles, she would be failing the Vorlons. I think if she stands up for herself and refuses to be electrocuted anymore, she will show true strength of will and clarity of purpose.

Hah, Vir didn't even know he was getting into an elevator with G'Kar. very awkward. But actually, they could be good friends! Vir hates genocide, G'Kar hates being genocided.

Vir: "I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do, but… I tried telling them, but they wouldn't listen. They never listen! I'm sorry." G'Kar: cuts his hand with his knife "Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. How do you apologize to them?" Vir: "I can't." G'Kar: "Then I cannot forgive." Me: 🥺

How very decent of Vir to say something, though. I bet he's the only Centauri who has said, to a Narn, that they are sorry and tried to prevent the atrocities from taking place.

Back to Sebastian the Victorian who rivals Freud in his weird-ass theories about finding the truth about people!!

This dude is a sadist. Perhaps the Vorlons' true test is seeing if someone will ever decide the universe is better off without him.

Hmmm. He will reward her for admitting that she questions herself, her clarity of purpose, and her beliefs. He's still full of shit, though.

"Your only destiny is to be the nail that get hammered down. Bang, bang, bang."

asshole.

Sebastian: "You're being a fool!" Delenn: "Then I am a fool. But it's better to be what I am than what you are." Sebastian: "And what am I? Please - tell me." Delenn: "You are a creature which has received pain and given pain, and taken too much joy in its application. You have aspired to dreams and been disappointment because you are not strong enough , or worthy enough, or right enough. So you lash out at anyone who believes they can make a difference because it reminds you of your own failure. You have to prove they're just as bad, just as flawed as you are. Am I close, Mr Sebastian?" Sebastian: "Bang." *electrocutes Delenn*

Yeah, he needs to die. There's no fucking way that standing there and taking being degraded, verbally abused, and physically tortured is what the Vorlons are looking for.

There's a lot in this episode I disagree and agree with, and all of it so completely believable and understandable in a complex situation. The writing on this show is so smart and impresses the hell out of me over and over again. Not this part with Sebastian, though. That's just wacked out of the Vorlons.

Yes, Lennier to the rescue!! More heads are better. Cooperation and collective action is key. Being tortured alone doesn't make you strong, it just makes you injured.

And he's not done yet! Getting reinforcements, gathering allies! Siccing Sheridan on Kosh!

Sebastian was expecting, or pretending he was expecting, someone to interfere.

Oh. Well a line of flame and concussive force wasn't a power I expected from Sebastian! What a fun practical effect! My guess is that they put a line of gasoline or kerosene on the floor, then Sebastian struck his cane, with something to strike a spark, on the end of the line of flammable liquid. Then, Sheridan did a fantastic pretend-to-be-blown-away jump back and they added the air punch with CGI in post production.

Sheridan's all tied up, and the mind games continue! I judge the Vorlons less for this extreme action because they're so higher-dimensional I'm impressed they are even able to interact with the cast in any meaningful way. Like how we can make a puppet bee dance the dance of "Food five miles to the south-west across a river," but we don't have the fine manipulations to stroke the bees with our puppet antenna and say "welcome home, sister. Give me your burden so I can carry it into the hives while you rest."

And I judge Sebastian less because, since 1888, he has been a little bee trying to learn from the puppet-bees, and that would warp anyone.

But seriously, the torture is unhelpful.

Delenn, you badass.

Sebastian: "One single move, gesture, and his life is snuffed out. Or yours. You would trade your life for his? I thought you had a destiny. Is that destiny not worth one life?" Delenn: "If I fall, another would take my place, and another. And another!" Sebastian: "But your great cause?" Delenn: "This is my cause! Life! One life, or a million, it's all the same!" Sebastian: "Then you make the sacrifice willingly?" Delenn: "Yes!" Sebastian: "No fame, no armies or banners or cities to celebrate your name. You will die alone and unremarked. And forgotten." Delenn: "This body is only a shell. You cannot touch me. You cannot harm me. I am not afraid."

Delenn is fine as hell for that, for her emotional fortitude, and for her grace and sincerity. But really, there was no need for the 4d torture chess. Particularly the christian ethics lesson aspect. Sebastian is deranged. He's been 'round the twist since the 1880s.

Background check on Sebastian! He and his address are either going to be accurate, or have never existed in any capacity.

Sinclair's Rangers arranged for the communication between that one Narn and his family on Narn! They are super useful! Good job Sinclair!

It'd be a real nut-kicker if, after G'Kar has earned, once again, the faith of his people in exile, the weapons-dealer rips them off.

Records confirm that Sebastian lived on earth in London in 1888. And that he vanished without a trace. Right after Jack the Ripper's last murder. He was a fanatic, and a murderer, by his own admission. And now he tortures and murders at the direction of the Vorlons. They tore him down and then set him loose with the same directives as his self-appointed former mission of violence.

Jack the Ripper: "Perhaps, they will finally let me die." Sheridan: "I think that might be wise."

STONE COLD. a;dskgfjas;dkjgas I agree. Dude is incredibly twisted and doesn't even enjoy it. Do the Vorlons know they took a madman and drove him even more mad? Do they know their little bee they took from its hive has been longing for death?

I don't want to come to the notice of higher beings. Particularly not B5's version of them.

on to the season finale!

#babylon 5 #john sheridan #delenn #kosh #g'kar #vir cotto #michael garibaldi #woodsfae b5

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