Text 11535, 188 rader
Skriven 2007-02-04 13:08:50 av jphalt@aol.com (14974.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: The Paragon of Animals: my review
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The signing of the Declaration of Principles is tied to the Alliance's
first real test of strength in this strong entry, which also sees the
telepath arc simmering enticingly in the background.


THE PLOT

Sheridan is facing a new challenge: his effort to get the ambassadors
of the Non-Aligned Worlds to sign his Declaration of Principles. The
alien ambassadors insist that the Declaration is insulting to them,
with the Drazi ambassador whipping up a near riot among the others by
declaring them moral races who do not need to have their morality
legislated. Though Londo and Garibaldi both counsel Sheridan to drop
the Declaration, Sheridan digs his heels in stubbornly on this point.
"If we don't make it clear what we stand for, right from the start,
then we don't stand for anything," he insists, even as Garibaldi
counters that "these people respect strength... Sooner or later,
you're going to have to use force to make this thing work."

That "nasty reality" ends up coming sooner rather than later. A
severely wounded Ranger only barely makes it to the station, where he
immediately lapses into a coma. With Lyta's help, Sheridan discovers
that the Ranger came from the homeworld of the Enfili, a race that is
being bombed into potential extinction by Raiders for refusing to
surrender their resources. The Enfili beg to be allowed to join the
Alliance, offering to share their resources freely in exchange for
aid. Though it is not a convenient time for Sheridan's first show of
force, the very principles he was touting bind him to action.

Meanwhile, Garibaldi tries to persuade Sheridan to allow him to use
telepaths as an intelligence resource. Sheridan is very reluctant, but
agrees to at least let Garibaldi discuss the matter with Byron. When
Byron turns him down flat, Garibaldi turns to Lyta to ask her to
convince the cult leader. Lyta agrees... and finds herself drawn into
Byron's world as a result.


THE GOOD

Back in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars," during the news/talk
segment set at the very start of the Alliance, the anti-Sheridan
member of the talk panel stated that at some point, Sheridan's
alliance would have to use force. It was the one valid point that
character (who was otherwise a straw man figure) was allowed to raise.
This episode sees that day come - sooner rather than later. And in the
process, Sheridan is forced to face the reality that he will not be
able to initiate and maintain a long-term interstellar government
without compromising a few of his initial principles.

Sheridan's disillusionment is set up early in the episode. First, he
is unable to get the Non-Aligned Worlds to agree to signing the
Declaration of Principles. Ironically, everything that he, the
Rangers, and the Whitestar fleet do in the course of this episode ends
up being the solution to this problem. Getting the various races to
sign the Declaration requires a show of strength. Sheridan's early
discussion with Garibaldi - in which Sheridan represents the voice of
naive but earnest principles, and Garibaldi the voice of brutal
pragmatism - echoes the events of the episode. Sheridan and his
Alliance only earn the respect and allegiance of the other races when
Sheridan is forced into doing what Garibaldi stated he would have to
do: "A little less of the touchy-feely, and a little more of the iron
fist." In the course of accomplishing the things necessary to get the
Declaration of Principles signed, Sheridan ends up having to
compromise a few of his own ideals.

Sheridan also finds himself forced by circumstances into agreeing with
a proposition of Garibaldi's with which he is not comfortable: the use
of telepaths as an intelligence tool. When Garibaldi first proposes
it, Sheridan's every instinct is to refuse. He's reluctant even to
agree to let Garibaldi run the proposal by Byron. Allowing telepaths
freedom to scan anyone without permission - in the exact way that
Bester does - runs against everything Sheridan believes, everything
he's been taught, every moral sense he has. But, as Sheridan himself
notes, every victory he wins in this episode is due to intelligence
gathered by telepaths. Without Lyta's deathbed scan of the dying
Ranger, Sheridan wouldn't even have known of the Enfili situation;
without Byron's entirely unauthorized scan (or non-scan, as the case
may be) of the Drazi ambassador, the Whitestar fleet would have run
straight into an ambush, and both Sheridan's men and the Enfili would
have been destroyed. Sheridan's idealism is proved wrong, and
Garibaldi's pragmatism proved right; the Alliance genuinely does need
to use telepaths as a resource... just like every other major
government does.

Though I know he's probably the least popular recurring character in
the series' run, Byron's scenes in this episode actually work quite
well. Part of that is because he's used extremely sparingly. He only
has two major scenes, one opposite Garibaldi and one opposite Lyta.
Both scenes are well-written, and both scenes work for a variety of
reasons.

Unlike his portrayal in "No Compromises," the Byron we see here
doesn't come across as particularly saint-like. Though his refusal of
Garibaldi is entirely acceptable, the manner of his refusal is
unnecessarily rude and dismissive. He doesn't just tell Garibaldi
"No." He actively sneers at Garibaldi's entire personality and way of
thinking, in such a way that I was more than a little surprised that
Michael resisted the temptation to punch the smug long-haired one in
the nose. Byron's peaceful ideals may be admirable, but his
personality is not. He comes across as arrogant to a degree that makes
Bester seem almost warm and fuzzy by comparison.

And there are parallels between Byron and Bester, even this early. In
his scene with Lyta, Byron's claims of the telepaths being "better"
than the mundanes echo Bester's own sentiments. In his sarcastic,
sneering recital of Shakespeare's speech about man from "Hamlet,"
Byron effectively lumps all mundanes in with the worst of humanity and
ignores the best of humanity. Even Bester seems to be able to
distinguish between mundanes (his limited interactions with Stephen
are of a very different flavor than his interactions with Garibaldi,
for instance... and despite his use of Garibaldi, there's always a
sense that Bester respects him almost in spite of himself). Byron just
looks at a normal human and sees a "mundane," end of discussion.

Even Byron's treatment of Lyta has a disturbing undertone. For
instance, early in the conversation, he beckons Lyta to sit, then
snatches the chair away snapping, "No!" I didn't see a man trying to
bolster Lyta's self-esteem; I saw the first steps of calculated
behavior modification. His distress that Lyta is blocking him is
similarly disturbing. How can he say on the one hand that Lyta should
respect herself more as a human being (which is something he is right
about), and then at the same time deny her the right to her private
thoughts? Byron does have a certain charisma, and some of his ideas
are definitely right, but I see a definite streak of abusive and
controlling behavior in these moments. I hope and believe that these
character contradictions are intentional.

Lyta gets some excellent material in general in this episode, which
continues the process begun around "Epiphanies" last season, the
process of isolating Lyta more and more from the other regulars. After
she performs the deathbed scan, she is next seen sitting alone in the
Zocalo. It is obvious at a glance that she is distraught. And as the
camera angle emphasizes just how alone she is, I have to confess I
felt more sympathy for her than for probably any other character in
the episode. When Garibaldi came up and, rather than address her
obvious distress, immediately start talking about a job he wants her
to do, I cringed on her behalf - and wanted to applaud when she said,
of Byron's dismissal, "Then I don't see a problem." When Garibaldi
gave his final appeal - "Do this... for Sheridan, Delenn!" - a large
part of me really wanted her to reply, "You mean Sheridan, the guy
I've helped multiple times over the past 3 years, only to have him
threaten to sic Bester on me and then kick me out of my quarters for
not paying rent? That Sheridan?" Though Byron's conduct in both of his
major scenes makes me want to just dismiss him as an ass, very little
of what he says is actively untrue.


Other stray moments: Garibaldi's gun-to-the-head gesture when the
Drazi ambassador is whipping the other alien ambassadors into a near-
riot at the start of the episode... a priceless throwaway moment that
can't help but bring a smile. G'Kar's fussy perfectionism over the
Declaration is amusing, and I laughed almost in spite of myself at the
"All That Jazz" takeoff where he insists on taking away the signed
copies and giving Sheridan new copies because he's made it "better,"
only for an annoyed Sheridan to have to admit, "It's better." And lest
we allow G'Kar to slip entirely over the border into comic relief, we
get the magnificent narration of G'Kar's Declaration over a montage of
characters... wonderfully-scripted words, hauntingly delivered. The
dissolve from Sheridan's voice, reading the Declaration to Delenn, to
G'Kar's voice, reading the bulk of it, then back to Sheridan's is
skillfully done, and it's a standout sequence.


THE BAD

Sheridan's dealings with the Drazi ambassador show an almost
unrealistic degree of naiveté. Sheridan's rarely been the shrewdest of
men when dealing with diplomacy and politics (he's much more
comfortable on the battlefield). Still, who watching this episode
didn't realize the Drazi were behind the attacks the instant the
Enfili's proximity to the Drazi was mentioned? It was so obvious that
the possibility should have at least fleetingly flashed through
Sheridan's mind. In this one little segment of the episode, it seems
just a bit like Sheridan is being deliberately dumbed down in order to
really hammer home the point that he needs telepaths.


With that one minor reservation, I quite enjoyed the episode. All the
major characters were well-used; Sheridan's bending of his ideals to
fit the practicalities of his situation was a good theme to bring into
an early Alliance episode; the Byron plot is actually showing signs of
being interesting at this point; and it was all generally tightly-
scripted and well-realized.


My Final Rating: 8/10.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
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