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SPOILER ALERT: The resolution when President Clarke says: "And I'd have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids and that damned clone dog!" Riveting!
The season 5 problem: if they'd known for sure that there'd be a season five, then the 'civil war' plot line would have carried on into the first six episodes of season five, and the Byron/telepath plot would have been a B or C-plot in the background, which later become Very Important.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that, so season five has a very weak opening. And the Byron actor... isn't really charismatic enough for the role (Though I'm not sure anyone could have been).
I used to think Robin Downes was terrible, but then I saw him in other things, including as Moran in In The Begining, and he was good.
It's just Byron being what he was, not a good person. He used "non-violence" as a gimmick to generate sympathy, but he didn't want to peacefully coexist wtih non telepaths any more than Bester.
There's a line from the new cop drama Battle Creek that they replay in the beginning of every episode to explain the animosity between the buddy cops...
I think you get lucky. Not because you trust people, but because you're just really good-looking, man.
Byron never considered that everything wouldn't magically work out for him instantly and immediately. He was dumbfounded that the seas did not part for him the second they all got a good look at his hair.
The season 5 problem: if they'd known for sure that there'd be a season five, then the 'civil war' plot line would have carried on into the first six episodes of season five, and the Byron/telepath plot would have been a B or C-plot in the background, which later become Very Important.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that, so season five has a very weak opening. And the Byron actor... isn't really charismatic enough for the role (Though I'm not sure anyone could have been).
I used to think Robin Downes was terrible, but then I saw him in other things, including as Moran in In The Begining, and he was good.
It's just Byron being what he was, not a good person. He used "non-violence" as a gimmick to generate sympathy, but he didn't want to peacefully coexist wtih non telepaths any more than Bester.
The season 5 problem: if they'd known for sure that there'd be a season five, then the 'civil war' plot line would have carried on into the first six episodes of season five, and the Byron/telepath plot would have been a B or C-plot in the background, which later become Very Important.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that, so season five has a very weak opening. And the Byron actor... isn't really charismatic enough for the role (Though I'm not sure anyone could have been).
I used to think Robin Downes was terrible, but then I saw him in other things, including as Moran in In The Begining, and he was good.
It's just Byron being what he was, not a good person. He used "non-violence" as a gimmick to generate sympathy, but he didn't want to peacefully coexist wtih non telepaths any more than Bester.
I understand that they were trying to pay homage to Masada, but the thing was that Masada had been a city for hundreds of years before the Romans put the place to siege.
Byron was more like a teenager who commits suicide because his parents won't let him go to a new movie with his friends.
The season 5 problem: if they'd known for sure that there'd be a season five, then the 'civil war' plot line would have carried on into the first six episodes of season five, and the Byron/telepath plot would have been a B or C-plot in the background, which later become Very Important.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that, so season five has a very weak opening. And the Byron actor... isn't really charismatic enough for the role (Though I'm not sure anyone could have been).
I used to think Robin Downes was terrible, but then I saw him in other things, including as Moran in In The Begining, and he was good.
It's just Byron being what he was, not a good person. He used "non-violence" as a gimmick to generate sympathy, but he didn't want to peacefully coexist wtih non telepaths any more than Bester.
Where does the fault lie for Byron? Is it Robin Atkins Downes' fault? If a "better" actor was cast in the role, with the same lines, would it have gone better?
Or was it JMS' fault? Was it the writing that really tanked it and RAD was doing his best with crappy writing?
In both cases, we've got a body of work to support that it's not RAD nor JMS, as both have done great work outside of this storyline.
Honestly, I give the benefit of the doubt to RAD here. I think Byron was a poorly thought-out character and the whole Season 5 telepath plot-line is arguably the weakest plot the show had (possibly including the dropped Bureau 13 stuff).
Now, part of the problem is that it seems the Byron plot-line was supposed to include Ivanova, which would have pulled from her backstory, as well as her intimacy with Talia. This would have played off of the previous four seasons worth of backstory and her falling in love with Byron could have tied in to Marcus' death (giving us a reason for Byron's hair).
The season 5 problem: if they'd known for sure that there'd be a season five, then the 'civil war' plot line would have carried on into the first six episodes of season five, and the Byron/telepath plot would have been a B or C-plot in the background, which later become Very Important.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen like that, so season five has a very weak opening. And the Byron actor... isn't really charismatic enough for the role (Though I'm not sure anyone could have been).
I used to think Robin Downes was terrible, but then I saw him in other things, including as Moran in In The Beginning, and he was good.
It's just Byron being what he was, not a good person. He used "non-violence" as a gimmick to generate sympathy, but he didn't want to peacefully coexist with non telepaths any more than Bester.
Why should he do so? Normals fucked him up and treated him like shit (the Psi-Corps) and he was forced to do terrible things in the service of the Psi-Corps, so I wouldn't be feeling amazing towards people that treated me like shit (especially considering that humanity had centuries to consider how to handle telepaths just by reading most of the science fiction and comic books published about said people.
He wanted a telepath homeworld. Bottom line he was never about co-existence, but rather telepaths having their own enclave: separate and apart.
Having a world of their own to live on isn't a bad idea considering how humanity treated telepaths in the first place (think of similar places like Genosha in the X-Men comic books.)
I think the fault lies in the character concept, and possibly whoever decided Byron and the rest of the telepaths should look the way they ended up looking. RAD seemed to be a decent enough actor...he could certainly pull off his speeches well enough. But I just don't know what TPTB were going for making the telepaths look like vagrants and such. I mean, maybe having telepathy really -would- mess someone up that much, but...
...maybe I'm being a bit of a politically incorrect elitist snob here, but I think a telepath who wasn't a creep like Bester, wasn't a total oddball as a lot of the telepaths were made out to be, and otherwise just seemed reasonable (earlier Byron appearances) might have helped win the Sympathy Vote a bit more.
I mean...I'm a gay Jew, and I think I know something about being persecuted, and I get the whole "we shouldn't have to hide who we are" thing, but when it comes to the political arena and the big picture, there's something to be said for trying to put others at ease even if you shouldn't have to and don't really want to.
Byron's bunch practically proved the Psi Corps right, about all teeps needing to be recruited, controlled or neutered. They were their own worst enemies.