Madner Kami wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:41 am
Sheridan's Monologue about good leaders. Boy did that age badly, especially before the background of Boxleitner's political orientation. Has he ever made a statement about January 6th or anything into that territory?
I'm not familiar with Boxleitner's politics, and a bit of googling only gave me sources labeling him as a Republican, but without any details, quotes, or even an indication of how old this information is. Without a bit more context, I'm not sure how his views interact with this scene.
On the surface, I don't really see anything particularly wrong with his speech now that wouldn't have been equally wrong then. The basic sentiment of "leaders are out of touch" is hardly objectionable. If this was given in the context of pay, lifestyle, and the perks (or even actual bribes) that come with a position of power and influence, he'd be absolutely right.
The position he's taking, that he shouldn't cancel just because of a threat, is also arguably correct. You can't let everything come to a screeching halt because of a threat from a single nutjob, it only empowers the nutjobs. But that wasn't his argument.
And so we have a terrible mismatch, leaders are out of touch, therefore, I can't hide behind a bunch of security in the face of a credible assassination attempt. Says the guy who was only even put on the path towards this leadership position as a result of a leader being assassinated, and things turning to shit as a result.
-----
As for Byron and Lochley, I'd say both are a miss. They had a blank slate to do whatever they wanted. With Lochley, they mostly left the slate blank. And I kind of get it, it's hard getting people invested in the new replacement character for the final season, just look at Ezri Dax. But they could have done something more interesting. Bringing back an existing character would be one way, or maybe they could have put in someone who would be more actively antagonistic, and not make them one of our heroes. Someone from the other side of the war had potential, but with that conflict being over, and the morality of it being so stark, it's hard to see how you could get much out of that without bogging the show down with it.
With Byron, they needed a character that was going to be compelling and probably likable, given how much time would be devoted to the telepath stuff. What we got was neither interesting or enjoyable.
I almost wish we'd gotten Jeffrey Combs back. His character came across as naive and a bit on the timid side, but deep down he's a decent guy with principles. Imagine how much his character might have evolved over the course of the past few years, particularly after he ruined the schemes carried out by Bester, Psi Corps, and some powerful people who would have likely gone on to support Clark. I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up as a runaway that's been to hell and back. And Combs is easily charismatic enough to play someone that was reluctantly thrust into leadership.