We've been going through season 5 of B5

[conuly]

It's been going slowly because... well... look, are we supposed to hate Byron this much? Because I cannot stand him and his creepy cult leader vibe. (Fair's fair, though, kudos to whoever figured out that telepaths are both creepy and budget friendly if they never talk.)

I wanna toss him and Bester in a room, and not in a shippy tropey way, I just want them to stay locked up.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Yeah, the Telepath plot line did nothing for me. Was glad it wasn't the only one!

[sabotabby]

THANK YOU Byron was the fucking worst and I spent the entire time screaming about how much I hated him more than maybe any fictional character ever.

[jesuswasbatman]

I have never seen a single person have a good word to say about Byron. Someone else on the flist once met a then-teenage fan who thought his hairstyle was cute.

[conuly]

Meh, Marcus does cute hair better.

[cellio]

Much better!

[malada]

"look, are we supposed to hate Byron this much?"

Yes.

-m

[jack]

I didn't like the plot at all when I first watched it, and I later learned most people agreed with me. In retrospect I find it a lot more interesting: sometimes the people on the right side are culty and creepy and you do have to decide whether to have anything to do with them or not.

I think there was some mismatch between how Byron was supposed to come across and how he actually did. I think I just assumed he was doing some evil plot, and didn't really consider until later he actually meant what he said, and it would have been more interesting if he'd been more clearly creepy but sincere...

[silveradept]

No, I don't think we're supposed to like Byron at all, even though he's supposed to be on the right side of things, unlike Bester. I agree with the idea of having both of them put in a room and left there. Even though that might deny Garibaldi his revenge.

[conuly]

Garibaldi can hold the key.

[grammarwoman]

I was so happy to see Lyta Alexander get lots of screen time! ...But not like that.

[thewayne]

I love Bester, such a great baddie. You just want him to say "I'll get you yet, Commander! And your little dog Toto, too!"

[conuly]

I can hear him say it.

And you know what? Bester may be a total asshole villain, but at least I can believe that he thinks he's putting his people first. I can't quite believe that Byron doesn't know exactly what he's doing.

[cellio]

Yeah, Bester is an asshole, but he's an asshole with a principle he's trying to follow. His methods are disgusting but you can see something under that too, something that makes the character more interesting. Byron is just a cult-leader ass.

[brokenallbroken]

The Byron storyline makes me happy Claudia blew up her contract renegotiation, because I might have committed actualfax homicide if it had been Ivanova instead of Lyta, as originally intended. At least with the former Psi Corps drone susceptibility to cult-washing makes sense.

[conuly]

Relatedly, Lyta is not in a healthy place and probably shouldn't be in a relationship with anybody right now.

[brokenallbroken]

That's her entire character in a nutshell.

[conuly]

Like, can we get some therapy on this station!?

[brokenallbroken]

What I would have given for one of the medical staff to be a shrink...

[kshandra]

look, are we supposed to hate Byron this much?

What, The Telepath Lestat™? (I also heard them referred to as "Byron and the Telegoths," which was a pretty excellent summary as well.)

[mindstalk]

lol

[rivendellrose]

Where, oh where, was this joke when I was watching B5 a decade plus ago? Because that is making me laugh so hard. ♥

[rivendellrose]

People who hate Byron can always sit by me while they watch season 5 of B5. I hated that guy so much. Who has hair that shiny when they're purportedly a refugee? And the writers keep harping on about how charming he is as if they hope that if they say it enough it'll magically come true. Handing him over to Bester was always my fantasy, too. (Well, that and something else that actually turned out to be a spoiler and I was so delighted, so... hold this space.)

The actor has had a career as a voice actor, since then, and while I have no complaints about his actual work in that vein I still shudder every time I see his name in a cast list.

[conuly]

Who has hair that shiny when they're purportedly a refugee?

Cult leaders write cult budgets. Clearly "conditioner" is a separate line item.

[rivendellrose]

If I remember correctly, all his followers had annoyingly shiny shampoo-commercial hair, too, so I guess I should at least be glad he's sharing? That's nicer than most cult leaders...

[conuly]

Could be that he just has a type, and that type has nice hair.... (Blech.)

[cellio]

I hated Byron, and I hated Lyta for falling for his cult when earlier she seemed much more independent.

[conuly]

Mmm. IRL, anybody can fall for a cult, just like anybody can fall into an abusive relationship or get wrapped up in conspiracy theories. Previous level of independence doesn't matter, nor does intelligence or good sense or anything else we might like to think of as a buffer.

[cellio]

This is a good point. I hated Lyta's susceptibility, not the character herself (which is different from Byron who I just plain hated). But you're right that it's an easy trap to fall into. Maybe I just didn't see enough in her earlier to see the path to where she went. And maybe I'm just not remembering things clearly after all this time.