Discussion post - 1x03 "Born to the Purple"

[bluefall]

It's Friday night, it must be time for a discussion post! This week's offering:

1x03: Born to the Purple

Londo's career is in jeopardy when a beautiful slave seduces him and steals a sensitive computer file. Garibaldi investigates an unauthorized use of a restricted communications channel.

Vital Stats
Production number: 104
Written by Larry DiTillio
Directed by Bruce Seth Green

Original air date: February 9, 1994

Arc Notes / Story Points of Interest
- I can't actually think of a single one, though that may be due to my being barely half awake at the moment. Ivanova's angst, maybe? (Note her hair will be less severe after this.) Still, this is our first non-JMS episode, so.

Trivia
- Adira, like every other Centauri in the show, is wearing a scalp cap.

- The scene where Londo pays off Adira's coworkers for info is based on JMS' own experiences investigating strip clubs in Vegas back when he was a journalist.

- The crew briefly considered loosening Londo's fan into limp sex hair in that first postcoital scene. Just thought I'd share that mental picture.


A very by-the-numbers, classic story this ep (in the sense of "older than dirt and been told a million times" classic); did it justify this retelling? Did Udenio pull her weight as the guest star? What was up with Talia's hairdo at Fresh Air?

A reminder: not everyone playing along has seen the series before, so please be considerate about major spoilers. Vagueness, warnings and/or spoiler tags are appreciated.

Comments

[julian]

I'm a wee bit tired myself, and I watched this a week ago and am vague, so I'll just say--

Udenio suuuuucked, but she did get across all the O No I Am Sad I Have To Leave Him, so that's OK. And Jurasik got across the rest of it.

I think it was worth the retelling, if only because the G'Kar/Londo bits built more of their by-play, ditto Sinclair/Garibaldi, and Moar Talia (and more info on the Psy Corps).

So basically, not vital Right Now Important, but an underpinning-building show.

[01d55]

The bit where Sinclair totally puts one over on G'kar really seems to trade on residual "he had it coming" from Firing Line. G'kar has legitimate grievances here and could easily make a justifiable case for favoritism.

Also, a lot of the jokes re: G'kar's new assistant feel like they're trading on the "ugly/old women are inherently terrifying" trope.

The etch-a-sketch DS was pretty funny, though.

[seawolf10]

Finally got caught up. Barely half awake myself right now, so this'll be short and possibly incoherent.

Thoughts on this episode:

The insectoid criminal that looks like a big mantis (does it/its species even have a name?) ordering the delaying attack on Sinclair is a bit of a plot hole, unless the Big Mantis is supposed to be really stupid. A criminal agreeing to attack the station commander, possibly kill him, over a trivial situation like Adira? That doesn't fly -- too much risk, even for a supposedly high fee.

I really liked it when Sinclair bluffs the small time gangster running the club. Refreshingly and convincingly devious.

Ivanova's sneaking around to talk to her father...I can't tell if that's a plot hole -- she could just tell Garibaldi: "My father's dying. Since it's a very urgent and private matter, I'd like to use Gold Channel to communicate with him" -- or a character element. I'm thinking character element, since so far she seems to be very taciturn, and that's further borne out when she and Garibaldi talk around the situation near the end of the episode.

Thoughts on the series (so far) in general:

I like that the cast is almost all average, at best slightly above-average, in terms of physical beauty. Star Trek and Stargate usually cast actors who were on the high end of the scale, and it always jarred my suspension of disbelief.

Vorlons are interestingly bizarre. Comments make me think we'll be seeing a lot more of them. Good.

[julian]

Yeah. The preying mantis fixer guy worked for me less well, this time. He shouldn't be sticking his neck out. ("For nobody.")

But I heart sneaky-ish bluffy Sinclair.

And that's totally a character element. I mean, sort of creaky (it shouldn't be /that/ hard to tell him you're doing it), but if (as she clearly is) she's rabid about privacy, it makes some sense.