Babylon 5 Rewatch: The Long Twilight Struggle/Comes the Inquisitor
The Long, Twilight Struggle
This is one of those episode which I've only watched twice before, not because it's not excellent, but because emotionally, it's really gutting. Under current rl worldpolitical circumstances more than ever. Because I've seen it only twice before, I had forgotten a few details, such as the fact the chief commander of the Narn forces is G'Kar's uncle, or Refa stroking the red velvet of the Imperial Throne coveteously. (So looking forward towards two particular s3 scenes, I can't tell you!) Incidentally, I never noticed before, but the episode providing an excuse as to why Emperor Cartagia isn't in the opening scene (presumably for the Doylist reason that they hadn't cast Cartagia yet) contrasts with the episode not giving us any reason as to why Na'Toth isn't with G'Kar (when she really should be, ic), and that this never struck me before says something about the diminished presence of Na'Toth 2.0. in this season. Now, season 5 will provide us with an explanation as to where Na'Toth was in the final days of the Narn/Centauri war, and why hence she couldn't be with G'Kar, but a one line version of this could have been worked into the dialogue of this episode.
This one nitpick aside, it truly is superb. Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurrasik are on fire as actors. This truly is G'Kar's season, and there's a reason why that clip of Londo observing the use of mass drivers on the Narn homeworld - which uses no special effect other than Londo's mirrored face in the ship's window, and Peter Jurasik's facial acting - will be used in the ever changing credits mix for seasons 3, 4, and 5 consistently. And of course G'Kar in the council chamber near the end has become one of the most quoted scenes of the show. (Sidenote: one of the good things given how the episode puts one through the emotional wringer for the rewatching fan is knowing that both G'Kar and Londo couldn't, at that moment, possibly imagine just how Narn would become, spoiler, and yet the show through its masterful character development makes it feel right when it happens.) In terms of Londo's overall arc, his voicing his doubts about his "allies" to an unimpressed Refa and the way his face falls in the tag scene when hearing about the additional annexations sets up certain s3 developments re: Londo and Refa, but note that at this point, he still thinks the overall goal justified the awful means used so far, and of course it's clear even to a first time watcher that he's kididng himself if he thinks that he can just say goodbye to Morden and associates now that he has what he originally wanted. This is not how deals with the devil work, Londo.
Draal 2.0. isn't bad, and the change of appearance is called out on screen and explained, but I must say the melancholic dignity of Draal 1.0. to me was more endearing than the huffed pomposity of Draal 2.0. Otoh, Delenn's delight in seeing him again and Sheridan unwittingly speaking up a sentence too soon repeatedly were light touches in a dark episode, and it occured to me that Draal is the first Minbari who after noticing Delenn's half-human state does not only not disapprove but says "I like it", which must mean a lot to her.
Sheridan being presented with the Rangers - literally, I mean, Delenn feels not so much as if she's letting him in to a secret as like she's making him a cheer-up present - made me realise another thing I had forgotten was that he hadn't known about them yet until this point. Though he's still not told who leads them, what with Garibaldi saying "a friend".
Comes the Inquisitor
This episode's guest star, Wayne Alexander, is one of those actors who keeps showing in different identities at the same show, being different each time, and Sebastian won't be the last of them. (More in season 4.)
Anyway: Mr. Sebastian, aka Jack the Ripper. I remember jesuswasbatman disliking the overabundant use of Jack the Ripper in sci fi tv - the two other examples that immediately come to my mind are that he shows up in TOS, he shows up in Sanctuary, though the later was post B5 - , and I must admit I somewhat changed my mind about this in general, because as a much younger watcher, it didn't really hit me that using Jack the Ripper in most cases means using real life atrocities for a quick shock effect. I would argue that's not so in this particular case, but that's because of having watched the show in its entirety, which means I know the implicaton of the Vorlons using a serial killer (and let's face it, Jack the Ripper is probably the serial killer you can rely on most of your audience recognize by name at once when mentioned) was entirely intentional.
Back in the day, my problem with the episode was something else, which was that I didn't see how Delenn willing to sacrifice her life for Sheridan should work as a test of her prioritizing the lives of others over her own sense of destiny, of her - and Sheridan - doing "the right thing for the right reasons". (Sidenote: I wonder whether JMS had read T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" before writing tihis? Because Becket's last temptation is sacrificing his life but for the wrong reasons, i.e. gain eternal fame as a martyr, and resisting this is far harder than resisting going back to his privileged position as Henry's friend etc.) Delenn's willingness to be with the dying Markab in order to help them, regardless of her not knowing whether or not she will be infected as well, two episodes earlier: that proved she qualified. If she had died there with the Markab, it truly would have been "in the dark", leaving her a footnote to history. But she and Sheridan have befriended and are now ever more obviously in love with each other. Sacrificing your life for a friend or lover is something a good many otherwise villainous characters would also be capable of. So to me as a first time watcher, the narrative pay off and justification for the torture wasn't there, because I thought Kosh should have known from Delenn's Markab related actions already, and I must admit I did not ask what in retrospect is the obvious question: what does it say about the Vorlons that they preserved a serial killer to "interrogate" their potential allies, and that they expect them to put up with this? So the entire main plot felt a lot like h/c shippery fanfiction to me back then.
Now, even then, I did appreciate that the depiction of the torture was as non-gratitioius as you can make it while being clear on the fact it is torture. Especially given Sebastian's identity. It doesn't feel like torture porn - Delenn remains fully clothed, you never get a sense of male gaze, or that the staging would be different for male character. Moreover, in addition to introducing the central Vorlon question - "Who are you?", which is their catch phrase as "What do you want?" is the Shadows' - it does provide some Delenn character investigation, and not in her ability to withstand torture - how central is her sense of destiny to her being? When she says "if I fall, others will take my place", I think it's not something we've heard Delenn say before, certainly not when her colleagues in the Grey Council questioned her need to fulfill the prophecy herself. So while we've already seen Delenn's willingness to sacrifice herself for strangers in a non-destiny-related way two episodes previously, we haven't yet seen that Delenn's belief in herself comes with awareness she's not the only one able to fulfill the role she sees herself fulfilling, if the necessity arises.
What hasn't changed from my first watching to my rewatching now: my choice of "best and most devastating scene in this episode": it's, of course, Vir and G'Kar in the elevator. "Dead dead dead...." I can't think of another show which does something comparable. Because on the one hand, Vir apologizing shows himself as the good person we've gotten to know him as. But on the other, the show refuses the easy emotional pay off, because we're past "I'm sorry" (the one thing the late Emperor Turhan wanted to tell G'Kar) now, and the enormity of what happened and still happens means actions are required in addition to words. (BTW: Vir the Centauri being the one non-Narn person in the Zocalo who truly hears G'Kar's speech and decides to act on it is also a beautiful narrative irony.) And the gesture of G'Kar cutting into his hand, the blood drops, it's a perfect, gut wrenching visual. Now think back to the start of the show, with bumbling Vir the comic relief and G'Kar the somewhat smug also often comic relief villain in Midnight at the Firing Line - would any first time viewer have predicted a scene like this for them?
Trivia: in the version of the episode as originally broadcast, JMS committed a famous gaffe in his script by letting Sheridan name the London West End instead of the East End. This was redubbed by Bruce Boxleitner later on, but the first DVDS that were released evidently used the original episode print, and thus the last time I rewatched tihs episode, on dvd, it had "West End", whereas the remastered version on Amazon Prime has "East End".
Lastly, a bit of spoilery speculation regarding Sebastian.
Who
are
you?
The next episode will reveal what the Vorlons look like to the younger races, and s5 will tell us the Vorlons did indeed genetically condition the younger races to see them that way. Given that Sebastian is presented as a (warped) religious person, it's therefore just about believable that seeing Angels reprimanding him and giving him a new mission would work (as in, him doing their bidding instead of him contiuing to carve up women the first chance he gets), but "maybe now they'll finally let me die" (as opposed to him wanting to continue as the Vorlons' chosen inquisitor) could be genuine repentance, since this isn't something the "seeing the Vorlons as higher beings" effect would produce.
Also: Kosh II, aka Ulkesh if you use the tie-in media information, abusing Lyta in early s4 looks pretty similar to what Sebastian does to Delenn here, and as I recall Delenn does find Lyta after such an event, but while Delenn is appalled, she doesn't make the connection, which it now strikes me is a missed chance.
The
Chosen
One
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