The Parliament of Dreams
Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri
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This was a pretty good episode. It wasn't PERFECT, but it was good.
First of all, the plots themselves. I thought the G'Kar assassination thing was quite good. And the alien rituals thing was interesting and/or amusing, in fact, I wish there could have been more of it. However, it was the THIRD sub-plot, that of Catherine Sakai, Sinclair's old lover, coming back on the station and the two of them getting back together again, that I had a problem with.
In my opinion, this plotline did little more than take time away from the more interesting stuff, such as the alien rituals. Plus, their whole relationship is boring. Sure, there are a few cute lines, and I suppose that it does tell us a bit more about Sinclair. But you KNOW from the beginning that they're going to end up falling into bed together no matter what they say, and that is EXACTLY what happens. B5 is usually good at realistic or off-beat relationships--theirs is too standard stereotype T.V. fare. The only decent things that come of it are that we learn that Sinclair likes Tennyson--but that is mentioned in later episodes, so it's not necessary here--and that the Minbari Rebirth ceremony is ALSO a WEDDING ceremony and that "depending on how seriously everyone took it, someone just got married the other day!". But this is never followed up on.
Since Catherine Sakai DOES show back up again, it's not TOTALLY disposable, but I would have been happier if it had been cut down just a bit.
Now that we've got the mediocre stuff out of the way, on to the good stuff! For in general, this WAS a good episode.
First off, the new arrivals. Lennier finally comes on board (YAY!), he is one of my fave characters. He won't look Delenn in the eye at first, evidently because she is a member of the Grey Council. She tells him that he must NEVER call her Satai or mention the Grey Council again because "it would raise questions that I do not care to answer right now". Interesting. And this scene also reiterates what I said--that "Soul Hunter" is completely disposable. The only important line in that episode is repeated and expanded here!
And the other new arrival--Na'Toth, G'Kar's new aide. Seems that the old one, Ko'Dath (or "Snarl-Woman") had a mysterious accident involving an airlock last week, ouch. Na'Toth--Great Maker help me, I think I'm actually starting to LIKE a NARN! She made a very good first impression on me. She is tough, mean, funny, sarcastic, smart, tricky, and has an EVIL sense of humour. Kinda like an alien version of Ivanova.
The assassination plot was done very cleverly. The guy who was playing the REAL assassin was a good actor and was obviously having fun completely camping it up as a total sadistic loony, complete with bug-eyed grins (and the little old-fashioned GLASSES were a nice touch). Interesting that you see G'Kar absolutely REFUSING to cry out--he did the exact same thing in the FOURTH season when being tortured by Emperor "I Must Have My Scream" Cartagia. Shades of things to come...
G'Kar really shone in this episode. Just as "Born to the Purple" was Londo's episode, "Parliament" was G'Kar's. Never mind that G'Kar had to put up with two other major plotlines going on at the same time AND the fact that Londo at least got the girl in HIS episode!
Seriously, Andreas Katsulas did a great job giving G'Kar a much more fun and colourful personality than you thought he had at first. His whimsical little song that he sings while cooking his meal, his almost Valley-Boy accent while talking to Tu'Pari for the first time ("This is Ambassador G'Kar's quarters. This is Ambassador G'Kar's table. This is Ambassador G'Kar's dinner. What part of this progression escapes you?") his...tiny, hot-pink lace bikini panties that Garibaldi finds, (WAY too much info!) his sparring with Na'Toth...all combine to make a much more rounded character than just the lying, blustering heavy we met in "Midnight on the Firing Line". I stand by my view of the Centauri characters being the best but in this episode, the Narns did get a bit more entertaining.
And now we come to the most interesting, storyline. The alien religious festivals. The Minbari one was dramatic, graceful, and mysterious. I found Garibaldi's and G'Kar's reaction interesting--why did they not eat the little red fruits when everyone else did? Hmmn...
And finally, last but definitely NOT least, the CENTAURI religious festival! THIS was the scene I had been most waiting to see. Unfortunately, it was too SHORT.
I wish there had been more to this scene. I don't know, I just would have liked a bit more time to look around the room, hear the music, "meet" a couple more Centauri gods, maybe learn a few food and drink names or a few more words of their language (besides the toast, "ValtoooOOO!") and soak up the atmosphere. As it was, it was VERY funny but it went by too quickly; the punchlines seemed squished together; it felt a bit rushed. And as we Centauri know, you should NEVER rush the good stuff! Remember what I said earlier, about how the Sinclair/Sakai relationship was boring and predictable and should have been cut down to make room for other things? THIS is the scene that could have most benifitted from that.
And should there have been a Narn festival, if we're going to be cutting out an entire sub-plot? Ummm...I dunno...the main purpose of the festivals is to show us something of that race's culture, and the assassination plot already did that quite well.
And finally, the ending, with Earth's "dominant" belief system, consisting of a long, long line of people that keeps going and going even as we're fading out into the credits, representing EVERY belief on Earth, not any ONE, was a beautifully open-minded sentiment (notice that the atheist was FIRST?!) and the absolute perfect way to do it. It represents that OUR dominant belief is that we respect ALL beliefs. Very nice.
All in all, a good way to spend an hour.
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