That was a short amount of time to convey a rather complex ideal, but again ... given the point at which it was discovered that there would be no fifth season, how could what you wish be accomplished?
Who knows. It would take a lot of thinking to come up with an answer to that. I'm just pointing out the parameters of the story and how the logic doesn't quite work out in the end.
Don't forget that while Garibaldi is suspicious by nature, he was still "adjusted" by Bester. Moreover, don't forget that Garibaldi before said adjustment went to G'Kar and let him have it for not sending a Narn cruiser out in "Walkabout", that the "captain has the moral authority to say you may not come back" (sic). This is doubtless the stance that the rest of the command staff took, even if we didn't see it on-screen. Telling the command staff would be helpful from one perspective, that's true... yet there is still the problem of Ulkesh at this point. Sheridan has to take a hard-nosed approach, a willingness to make those tough choices.
I understand that Garibaldi was adjusted. That's not the point. The point is, he's supposed to be acting suspiciously, but in the end, I mostly agree with him! I don't know why the rest of the command staff is so willing to go along with Sheridan. He disappears at Z'ha'dum, is presumed dead, and suddenly returns to the station behaving very differently than before, and with Lorien, a figure who is brought on board without explanation.
Although I wasn't entirely happy with the way it was portrayed on Battlestar Galactica, either, I found that way the characters treated Kara Thrace after her "death" much more believable.
That is one thing I was disappointed in, that the other "First Ones" seemed to be little more than window dressing. They didn't seem to have much in the way of things to do. Even with Lorien's explanation.
Agreed. They make for more of a visual presence than just Lorien, but they don't contribute much to the narrative. In fact, Lorien going around to find all the First Ones actually slows down the narrative more than I would like.
It's simply a succinct, if a bit overwrought, summary of the plotline's resolution in a timeline forced upon the show creators.
I'd agree, except JMS has been pretty explicit, both on the internet and in the script books that the "full" version wouldn't have run much longer, and he seems to like it cut down the way it is just as much as any longer version.
Loath seems to be too strong a reaction. I'm disappointed because I would have liked to have seen more detail and more involvement in this and other stories (the Minbari civil war for one). But "loathing"? I think if that's your reaction then maybe - but only maybe because you did one helluva job in research - your expectations are a bit unrealistic given the constraints.
I would definitely have liked to see the Minbari civil war expanded. As it stands its like a foot note version of the story as I imagine it. One episode the war begins, the next, it's over. That might be a slight exaggeration, but not much of one.
Perhaps loathe is a strong word. I don't know. I graded the episode a C+ upon second viewing. I think that grade sums up my feelings more so than one word does.
As for having high expectations...it's part of who I am as a critic. My fundamental parameters for criticism is that anything flawed (in whatever way) is explainable, but nothing is excusable. Good television can be explained, if not excused. Great television requires neither explanation nor excuse. But great television is very, very, very few and far between in my eyes.
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...Remember when I said I would "be brief?"
