Just Watched Divided Loyalties Knowing the Arc

[Elipsis]

So I'm watching B5 from DVD, and although I know the full arc for the most part I have not seen every episode and certainly never have had the pleasure of seeing them all in the proper order before.

Knowing what happens in Divided Loyalties, I have to say I expected a better episode. It really bothered me that the Ironheart arc wasn't addressed at all, just ignored and shoved under the table... but is that it? How will the gift be addressed?

Why flash back to Kosh's data crystal and then not follow up on it? Talia knows a ton about what is going on on B5, I know the actor is gone from the series but is any of this going to be followed up on and addressed in later episodes?

I feel like DL could almost have been a two parter, it felt kinda rushed... but my big question is this - will later episodes cover any of the ramifications or is Talia's story just a complete dead end?

 

[Sindatur]

So I'm watching B5 from DVD, and although I know the full arc for the most part I have not seen every episode and certainly never have had the pleasure of seeing them all in the proper order before.

Knowing what happens in Divided Loyalties, I have to say I expected a better episode. It really bothered me that the Ironheart arc wasn't addressed at all, just ignored and shoved under the table... but is that it? How will the gift be addressed?

Why flash back to Kosh's data crystal and then not follow up on it? Talia knows a ton about what is going on on B5, I know the actor is gone from the series but is any of this going to be followed up on and addressed in later episodes?

I feel like DL could almost have been a two parter, it felt kinda rushed... but my big question is this - will later episodes cover any of the ramifications or is Talia's story just a complete dead end?

Talia was apparently supposed to be "cured" with the data Kosh recorded, but, since the actress decided to be difficult and not let him tell the story his way and wanted to be the star of the show, he wrote her off, so Divided Loyalties is the end of Talia's arc for the most part, rather than the point that starts her towards what Lyta eventually becomes

Lyta was always supposed to have her arc, but, the Network demanded someone sexier, so JMS brought in Talia and used Ironheart to prepare her for Lyta's arc, and then the actress got too big for her britches, so Divided Loyalties switched them back.

 

[crazyhorse]

I always wondered about the "see you in a million years" remark made to the time traveling Sinclair

 

[Elipsis]

Talia was apparently supposed to be "cured" with the data Kosh recorded, but, since the actress decided to be difficult and not let him tell the story his way and wanted to be the star of the show, he wrote her off, so Divided Loyalties is the end of Talia's arc for the most part, rather than the point that starts her towards what Lyta eventually becomes

So you mean that Talia still had a part to play after the Divided Loyalties episode had she not gone out on a sour note? Perhaps in some kind of Sinclair - esque roll where she is brought in occasionally to be a part of the story when its critical?

Lyta was always supposed to have her arc, but, the Network demanded someone sexier, so JMS brought in Talia and used Ironheart to prepare her for Lyta's arc, and then the actress got too big for her britches, so Divided Loyalties switched them back.

Had Talia not needed to be written out, would we still have seen Lyta at all? Or was she brought back in only because Talia was leaving?

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Had Talia not needed to be written out, would we still have seen Lyta at all? Or was she brought back in only because Talia was leaving?

There are no accurate answers to that sort of real world what-if.

 

[Elipsis]

There are no accurate answers to that sort of real world what-if.

*shrug*

JMS was pretty forthcoming as to what he was going to do with Laurel, so I thought that he might have at some point made a similar disclosure for Talia / Lyta.

 

[Jan]

Had Talia not needed to be written out, would we still have seen Lyta at all? Or was she brought back in only because Talia was leaving?

As far as I can tell, Lyta was brought back because Talia was leaving. In Script Book #4 JMS writes

But as the saying goes, for every door that closes, another one opens.
When Andrea closed that door on her way out, she opened another door that
allowed for the return of Patricia Tallman, who I had wanted for that role all
along. And this time, I was in town and around to make sure the negotiations
went well.

Jan

 

[GaribaldisHair]

I always wondered about the "see you in a million years" remark made to the time traveling Sinclair

Not sure where the time-travelling thing comes in, but I always figured that the "see you in a million years" referred to what we see in The Deconstruction of Falling Stars (set a million years in the future) where all humans have evolved beyond their physical bodies into beings more like Ironheart has become.

 

[Sindatur]

So you mean that Talia still had a part to play after the Divided Loyalties episode had she not gone out on a sour note? Perhaps in some kind of Sinclair - esque roll where she is brought in occasionally to be a part of the story when its critical?



Had Talia not needed to be written out, would we still have seen Lyta at all? Or was she brought back in only because Talia was leaving?

Bureau 13 (Or whatever it was called) had to be dropped because of real world concerns about the name. I believe the intention was for evil Talia to slowly take over nice Talia, and it may not have required a telepath to draw evil Talia out, it may have been the natural progression of the Bureau arc (If it did require a Telepath, and that was Lyta, that may have been Lyta's only part in the arc) and then Evil Talia would've been destroyed and nice Talia would've been restored by Kosh's "reflections" and Talia would've become what Lyta became. But since Andrea wanted more screentime and a to be a bigger star, Lyta came back and took over the arc she was originally supposed to have.

So, yea, Lyta [probably wouldn't have returned (or only to bring out Evil Talia)