{"id":44070,"date":"2014-08-03T12:29:10","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T18:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=44070"},"modified":"2014-08-06T08:40:33","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T14:40:33","slug":"b5-rewatch-3x14-ship-of-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/03\/b5-rewatch-3x14-ship-of-tears.html","title":{"rendered":"B5 Rewatch: 3×14 “Ship of Tears”"},"content":{"rendered":"

People are asking favors of the B5 command staff, both Psi-Cop Bester and potential ally G’Kar. Who will get their wish?<\/p>\n

\"Welcome<\/a>
Welcome Back, Bester<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A-Plot<\/strong>: \u00a0Bester arrives at the station with information, attitude<\/a>, and an offer to help Our Heroes in the fight against the Shadows. He’s aware of alien forces infiltrating EarthGov and the Psi Corps, and want to put a stop to it. To that end, he knows where a Shadow convoy carrying weapon components can be intercepted.<\/p>\n

After much debate, the B5 command staff decide to follow up on his info, and the White Star, along with Bester, intercepts a transport ship escorted by Shadow fighters. They defeat the Shadows, but then a big Shadow ship shows up — then flees.<\/p>\n

The cargo vessel, as it turns out, is full of telepaths, “blips,” folk who refused sleeper drugs but also to join the Corps. They appear to have been taken by the Shadows as potential pilots for their vessels — including (coincidentally) the first one awakened<\/a>, Bester’s lover and (pregnant) mother to his child.<\/p>\n

While this plotline is most driven toward learning more about the Shadows and their plotting, it’s also a marvelous opportunity to flesh out Bester as, not just an obnoxious telepath bigot who would just as soon see B5 go down in flames as piss on the fire (though he clearly, delightfully remains that), but also a person with human feelings and a potential ally against the Shadows and the Clark administration. “It’s the only promise I ever made that means a damn to me,” he says about his commitment to protect Caroline, and you believe it, even if it shows a remarkable compartmentalization of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Superior<\/a>
Superior smugness, thy name is Bester.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Actually, that’s a point I can’t emphasize enough, to both Joe Straczynski and actor Walter Koenig’s credit: this is not some big redemption, or a “hey, when you peel back this outer layer, you can see I’m really not that bad a guy, so maybe we can be friends.” sort of thing. Bester remains an out-and-out teep bigot, with clear (though often just out of provocation) contempt for the rest of humanity.<\/p>\n

BESTER: We’re not expendable; mundanes are.<\/p>\n

GARIBALDI:\u00a0That would be us.<\/p>\n

BESTER: Got it in one, Garibaldi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He believes in his people, their (and especially his) superiority and value over all other humans, and will do whatever he can to make sure they are safe and (as the best step in that direction), in charge. \u00a0In this episode, he doesn’t become more “human” by giving up that sense of superiority, but by letting us see that you can be a smug, savage bigot, but also<\/em>\u00a0be a nice (or at least tragic) person in another context. We saw something similar with Vir and Lyndisty (and Londo) last week; this week emphasizes it for Earthers, too. Villains can be humans, and humans can be villains; it sounds simple, but it’s a truth too often ignored on TV, including too many previous episodes of B5,\u00a0where the various conspirators, thugs, assassins, investigators, and rabble-rousers from Earth have been mostly one-dimensional maniacs and villains. Bester may be a villain and even maniacal in some ways (though never ranting, and always calculatingly polite or impolite), but he’s not simply one-dimensional in it — and, in a pinch like this, “Your war is now my war” is something Our Heroes can make use of.<\/p>\n

\"Bester<\/a>
There are some things even Bester cannot fix on his own.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(That Bester is\u00a0also<\/em> a victim of the Psi Corps setup is worth noting as well: a loveless, arranged marriage, with his true lover in a re-education camp and, then, whisked off in secret by the Shadows; one almost feels sorry for him, especially in his ignorance that the system he’s fighting for is so problematic. Almost.)<\/p>\n

I always joke about Morden being the most loved villain on B5, but every time I see a Bester episode, Walter Koenig changes my mind. His self-confidence, simmering anger, hidden humanity, pointed disrespect<\/a>\u00a0and “trolling” nature, all wrapped up in one, neat, black-garbed package, lend him both menace and sympathy. Morden is, ultimately, a danger because of who backs him (as we eventually see demonstrated); Bester is a danger because of who he is<\/em>.<\/p>\n

B-Plot<\/strong>: The A-plot takes up most of the show, but there’s an important B-plot as well. G’Kar is once again insisting on being let into the Great Conspiracy, having more than done what he told Sheridan he’d do. Sheridan and Delenn are reluctant, but realize it’s necessary. The main problem is explaining to G’Kar how long they’ve known about the Shadows, and how, basically, the Narn homeworld was left out to dry for the Centauri assault.<\/p>\n