Text 12501, 34 rader
Skriven 2007-02-20 22:57:04 av Bill (15944.babylon5)
  Kommentar till text 12411 av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (15854.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: A View from the Gallery: my review
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On Feb 17, 3:03 pm, "jph...@aol.com" <jph...@aol.com> wrote:
> This time around, I liked it a lot better, and I think these reviews
> had a lot to do with my newfound appreciation for this piece. The
> writing of these reviews has led me to reflect several times upon the
> theatrical nature of much of the show. I do think an appreciation of
> that theatricality is necessary to properly enjoy this episode.
> Certainly, Mac and Bo are not convincingly blue-collar characters. I
> have never met a blue-collar maintenance or construction worker who
> speaks the way these two do. The dialogue is not naturalistic, and the
> pair seem often more like constructs than characters... elements that
> pushed me firmly out of this episode on first viewing, I suspect.
>

I beg to differ with you on this one. I *am* one of those blue collar
men and I have had conversations similar to the ones Bo and Mack had.
Just not all in the same day, though.

I have had conversations with fellow maintenance men that ranged from,
"I suddenly understand [the boss] better now," to something like the
"flopping on the deck" conversation. In apartment maintenance, you
even have those "well, not all the hard work" days. I had one such day
when I had to open an apartment door to allow the police to arrest a
fugitive who was holding a hostage.

What JMS managed to capture was the sense that Bo and Mack had been a
team for some considerable time and were very likely friends off the
clock as well. That's very difficult without somehow having the
experience or observing two such people in action. Now, if you'll
excuse me, I have to go deal with a Centauri who blew up his hair
dryer ;)

Bill
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