Babylon 5 Rewatch: Movement of Fire and Shadow/The Fall of Centauri Prime
Aka the one which always makes me cry my heart out and the one building up to it. Also, if The Fall of Centauri Prime is not on your "Best B5 episodes of all time" list, you are wrong.
Movement of Fire and Shadow
Wherein Sheridan finally asks the key strategy question - where's the Centauri goal and strategic benefit in all this? -, while the rest of the Alliance doesn't care, they just want revenge for the raids; emotionally understandable, but still showing the Alliance is far from stable and Sheridan's authority is paper thin. Incidentally, rewatching this episode after 9/11 is a different experience than before, because now I remember various posts demanding to bomb someone "back into the stone age" in retaliation, and the way today a considerable number of people seems to believe that's what the second Iraq War had been about (when it really wasn't).
For an episode building up to a tragedy, this one still has a lot of humor in it, in several of the storylines; Franklin refusing to ask someone about the way and insisting he can read the map is just such a guy thing (I feel for you, Lyta), and of course there's G'Kar's method to provide Londo with a face saving excuse to leave their prison cell, not to mention his earlier sarcasm about the prospect of the Centauri getting indignant on Londo's behalf. It's what makes this show what it is that you get this, the beginning of the bombardment of Centauri Prime and, lest we forget, Lyta making a Drazi shoot himself in the same episode. Speaking of the last one, as in my last rewatch, it strikes me again that after Byron's death, we only see Lyta wearing black (like a certain Psi Cop), and her making the Drazi who attacked her and Franklin shoot himself (instead of just disarming him) is certainly exactly what Bester would have done in a comparable situation. Not to mention the resolve in not providing Our Heroes with any freebies anymore; from now on, she wants to be paid for her help. Though when Vir asked "has she changed" and Franklin confirmed that, I felt tempted to ask, gee, Stephen, I wonder why?
The first time I watched this episode, the reveal that the smarmy Centauri Minister of Defense had, in fact, not been lying to Londo but had spoken the truth in as far as he knew it because other than the poor Regent and the Drakh, the Centauri really did have no clue what was going on, there were no Centauri in those ships and they were completely framed was one of the biggest surprises. When I say "framed", btw, I don't mean "innocent" in the larger sense. Part of the tragedy of Centauri Prime in general and Londo in particular is that the framing would not have worked if the Centauri had not, in fact, shown themselves very guilty indeed in the previous war(s) with the Narn. (Just imagine the Minbari had been the one to get framed in the same way, leaving aside the difference in fire power. Methinks Sheridan would have had an easier time to hold back the Drazi and the Narn from a retaliatory strike at Minbar itself, at least long enough for the key information about those Shadow devices to be discovered.
The conversations between Londo and the Regent in this and the subsequent episode are absolutely heartbreaking. The Regent is one of those minor supporting regulars who has been around for several seasons, first as little more than Centauri Court background noise, then in s4 with two character scenes (when filling in Londo on the rumors about Cartagia, and a few episodes later with "I'm thinking - pastels!"), and now in these two episodes with two scenes he owns, despite Peter Jurasik simultanously being incredible as Londo. It's yet another reason why I love this show so much, because it has time for minor characters like the Regent and doesn't let us forget the individual in all the mass horror going on.
The Fall of Centauri Prime
Like I said, I can never watching this one without crying. One reason why I don't watch it often. But it's perfect, as is Londo's arc culminating in it. If arc tv, which back then was only beginning and now is present far too much, needs just once justification for existing, then Londo Mollari and his story and G'Kar and his story and their shared story are it.
When the dvds were realeased in the early 2000s, yours truly was absolutely furious about the fact this episode of all episodes was shortened in it - for some reason, they cut the opening scene with Londo saving G'Kar during the bombardment, because hey, clearly it's not important that Londo when his worst nightmares about his beloved home planet come true still thinks of saving his past and future nemesis/frenemy/friend first. Grrr. Argh. So I'm very relieved the remastered streaming version has that scene back again. Also, their later exchange about this - "You saved my life while risking yours" - "Bah, you would have done the same" - "Yes, but I am the better person" - is the most G'Kar and Londo thing imaginable. Save, of course, for the Best Scene Ever, about which more in a moment.
First, there's the Regent's death scene, which is so full of sadness and genuine pathos. See above the loving this show and its willingness to care about minor characters. The Regent has a tragic dignity here - "I am still Centauri" - and a self awareness that goes far beyond his last year in hell. "I should have spoken when I remained silent" refers not to the under-the-control-of-the-Drakh days but before.
The Drakh are - or rather, the one Drakh we see is - genuinely scary here in a way they weren't in s4 with the blurry effect when Delenn met them. Granted, this time it's Wayne Alexander under the mask, in his third B5 role (after Jack the Ripper and Lorien), and he does have presence. But it's also the Keeper still being one of those sci fi things that most disturb me - that it turns out to be a body part of the Drakh makes even worse - , and the way takes one of Londo's rare triumphs (over Morden and his "Associates" in s4) and turn it into an instrument of his entrapment. The last time I rewatched this, I remember there was some discussion as to whether Londo should not have chosen to defy the Drakh and sacrifice however many Centauri would have died with them pushing that button since this would still have been better in the long term than the Drakh secretly ruling Centauri Prime and continuing to plague the galaxy this way. Maybe, maybe not, but I don't think Londo, knowing the Drakh would never have come to Centauri Prime in the first place if he hadn't made his Faustian deal with Morden, could have done it. Millions of voices crying his name, indeed. He was wrong, though, he did have a choice, and he choose to take the worst fate imaginable on himself to save as many Centauri as he could in the only way available to him at the time, and he did it with bravery and dignity and love.
There's also some debate as to what the last possibility at redemption Lady Morella predicted was, this or fifteen years later asking G'Kar to kill him; to me, it's definitely this. By the time Londo asks G'Kar to kill him, he's long since stopped fearing death, death will be a mercy, he's only afraid the Keeper will make him ruin this last chance for Centauri Prime if it wakes up before Sheridan and Delenn have escaped. But here, I think watching the Regent's fate, facing the Keeper and the utter and complete horrible powerlessness, with even the control of one's own body taken away, that means being united with that thing means for him - that is Londo's worst fear made form, and that this is his moment of redemption.
(Incidentally: this episode also shows why not killing the one who was dead already - Morden - would have saved him. Morden clearly knew about the Drakh and their Keepers, and if he'd lived beyond the Shadow withdrawal from Z'Ha'dum and realized they were simply living him behind to face the music like a used toy, he might have been either angry enough to warn Londo or eager to bargain with that knowledge.)
Before Londo takes the Keeper, he and G'Kar have The Best Scene Ever. It is a scene which really needed all five seasons to be earned. Which could have gone wrong so many ways, but doesn't. If Londo's "I'm sorry, G'Kar" in "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" in 5.02. was the thing he needed to say, and mean it, for G'Kar it was "I forgive you". Not, and it is really important the episode clarifies this, that G'Kar can or does offer absolution in the name of the Narn, neither to Londo or the Centauri. It would be presumptuous for any one individual to do that, even a Narn who has suffered so much via the Centauri as G'Kar did. But what G'Kar can give is personal forgiveness, from him as a person to Londo as a person, and he gives it freely here, as he could not have done before this point, and now I'm crying again. It's also this scene that makes this heartbreaking episode the opposite of grimdark.
Meanwhile, in the Minbari subplot: "I love you"/"I know" to a far different effect than when Han and Leia had that exchange (both times). The road to hell is really paved with good intentions sometimes. Undoubtedly Delenn means well and thinks she's helping Lennier save face with her instant "nothing did happen!" as soon as it's clear she and Lennier won't die after all, and it's hard to say what a "right" reaction would have been ("so, about what you just said, well, I love you too, just not like that"? I don't think that would have improved matters), but now it's been said out loud, and can't be unsaid.
"What have we lost": oh, Delenn. So much. In two storylines.
Only a month or so after this episode was broadcast for the first time, JMS published a short story about Londo in the aftermath of this episode, "The Shadow of his Thoughts", in "Amazing Stories". (He followed it up with a short story about G'Kar and Spoiler, "Genius Loci", and one titled Space, Time and the Incurable Romantic about Spoiler and Spoiler which We Do Not Talk About. But "The Shadow of his Thoughts" is perfect and better than the entire Centauri trilogy by Peter David, I'm sorry to say. Anyway, when I feel in need of consolation after being put through the emotional wringer by watching the episode, I am rereading the tale, and will do so now. On the non-JMS short story front, here are links to some effort by yours truly which I can now link as I couldn't before, since they contain spoilers for Londo's entire arc:
Not in Words: Being married to Londo Mollari: the life and times of Timov.
Presences: Sandman crossover, in which Londo in the course of his life meets each of the Endless.
White Lies: The story of the four Centauri telepaths who serve the Emperor, and why we didn't see them again after Turhan's death.
The other episodes
Movement of Fire and Shadow
Wherein Sheridan finally asks the key strategy question - where's the Centauri goal and strategic benefit in all this? -, while the rest of the Alliance doesn't care, they just want revenge for the raids; emotionally understandable, but still showing the Alliance is far from stable and Sheridan's authority is paper thin. Incidentally, rewatching this episode after 9/11 is a different experience than before, because now I remember various posts demanding to bomb someone "back into the stone age" in retaliation, and the way today a considerable number of people seems to believe that's what the second Iraq War had been about (when it really wasn't).
For an episode building up to a tragedy, this one still has a lot of humor in it, in several of the storylines; Franklin refusing to ask someone about the way and insisting he can read the map is just such a guy thing (I feel for you, Lyta), and of course there's G'Kar's method to provide Londo with a face saving excuse to leave their prison cell, not to mention his earlier sarcasm about the prospect of the Centauri getting indignant on Londo's behalf. It's what makes this show what it is that you get this, the beginning of the bombardment of Centauri Prime and, lest we forget, Lyta making a Drazi shoot himself in the same episode. Speaking of the last one, as in my last rewatch, it strikes me again that after Byron's death, we only see Lyta wearing black (like a certain Psi Cop), and her making the Drazi who attacked her and Franklin shoot himself (instead of just disarming him) is certainly exactly what Bester would have done in a comparable situation. Not to mention the resolve in not providing Our Heroes with any freebies anymore; from now on, she wants to be paid for her help. Though when Vir asked "has she changed" and Franklin confirmed that, I felt tempted to ask, gee, Stephen, I wonder why?
The first time I watched this episode, the reveal that the smarmy Centauri Minister of Defense had, in fact, not been lying to Londo but had spoken the truth in as far as he knew it because other than the poor Regent and the Drakh, the Centauri really did have no clue what was going on, there were no Centauri in those ships and they were completely framed was one of the biggest surprises. When I say "framed", btw, I don't mean "innocent" in the larger sense. Part of the tragedy of Centauri Prime in general and Londo in particular is that the framing would not have worked if the Centauri had not, in fact, shown themselves very guilty indeed in the previous war(s) with the Narn. (Just imagine the Minbari had been the one to get framed in the same way, leaving aside the difference in fire power. Methinks Sheridan would have had an easier time to hold back the Drazi and the Narn from a retaliatory strike at Minbar itself, at least long enough for the key information about those Shadow devices to be discovered.
The conversations between Londo and the Regent in this and the subsequent episode are absolutely heartbreaking. The Regent is one of those minor supporting regulars who has been around for several seasons, first as little more than Centauri Court background noise, then in s4 with two character scenes (when filling in Londo on the rumors about Cartagia, and a few episodes later with "I'm thinking - pastels!"), and now in these two episodes with two scenes he owns, despite Peter Jurasik simultanously being incredible as Londo. It's yet another reason why I love this show so much, because it has time for minor characters like the Regent and doesn't let us forget the individual in all the mass horror going on.
The Fall of Centauri Prime
Like I said, I can never watching this one without crying. One reason why I don't watch it often. But it's perfect, as is Londo's arc culminating in it. If arc tv, which back then was only beginning and now is present far too much, needs just once justification for existing, then Londo Mollari and his story and G'Kar and his story and their shared story are it.
When the dvds were realeased in the early 2000s, yours truly was absolutely furious about the fact this episode of all episodes was shortened in it - for some reason, they cut the opening scene with Londo saving G'Kar during the bombardment, because hey, clearly it's not important that Londo when his worst nightmares about his beloved home planet come true still thinks of saving his past and future nemesis/frenemy/friend first. Grrr. Argh. So I'm very relieved the remastered streaming version has that scene back again. Also, their later exchange about this - "You saved my life while risking yours" - "Bah, you would have done the same" - "Yes, but I am the better person" - is the most G'Kar and Londo thing imaginable. Save, of course, for the Best Scene Ever, about which more in a moment.
First, there's the Regent's death scene, which is so full of sadness and genuine pathos. See above the loving this show and its willingness to care about minor characters. The Regent has a tragic dignity here - "I am still Centauri" - and a self awareness that goes far beyond his last year in hell. "I should have spoken when I remained silent" refers not to the under-the-control-of-the-Drakh days but before.
The Drakh are - or rather, the one Drakh we see is - genuinely scary here in a way they weren't in s4 with the blurry effect when Delenn met them. Granted, this time it's Wayne Alexander under the mask, in his third B5 role (after Jack the Ripper and Lorien), and he does have presence. But it's also the Keeper still being one of those sci fi things that most disturb me - that it turns out to be a body part of the Drakh makes even worse - , and the way takes one of Londo's rare triumphs (over Morden and his "Associates" in s4) and turn it into an instrument of his entrapment. The last time I rewatched this, I remember there was some discussion as to whether Londo should not have chosen to defy the Drakh and sacrifice however many Centauri would have died with them pushing that button since this would still have been better in the long term than the Drakh secretly ruling Centauri Prime and continuing to plague the galaxy this way. Maybe, maybe not, but I don't think Londo, knowing the Drakh would never have come to Centauri Prime in the first place if he hadn't made his Faustian deal with Morden, could have done it. Millions of voices crying his name, indeed. He was wrong, though, he did have a choice, and he choose to take the worst fate imaginable on himself to save as many Centauri as he could in the only way available to him at the time, and he did it with bravery and dignity and love.
There's also some debate as to what the last possibility at redemption Lady Morella predicted was, this or fifteen years later asking G'Kar to kill him; to me, it's definitely this. By the time Londo asks G'Kar to kill him, he's long since stopped fearing death, death will be a mercy, he's only afraid the Keeper will make him ruin this last chance for Centauri Prime if it wakes up before Sheridan and Delenn have escaped. But here, I think watching the Regent's fate, facing the Keeper and the utter and complete horrible powerlessness, with even the control of one's own body taken away, that means being united with that thing means for him - that is Londo's worst fear made form, and that this is his moment of redemption.
(Incidentally: this episode also shows why not killing the one who was dead already - Morden - would have saved him. Morden clearly knew about the Drakh and their Keepers, and if he'd lived beyond the Shadow withdrawal from Z'Ha'dum and realized they were simply living him behind to face the music like a used toy, he might have been either angry enough to warn Londo or eager to bargain with that knowledge.)
Before Londo takes the Keeper, he and G'Kar have The Best Scene Ever. It is a scene which really needed all five seasons to be earned. Which could have gone wrong so many ways, but doesn't. If Londo's "I'm sorry, G'Kar" in "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" in 5.02. was the thing he needed to say, and mean it, for G'Kar it was "I forgive you". Not, and it is really important the episode clarifies this, that G'Kar can or does offer absolution in the name of the Narn, neither to Londo or the Centauri. It would be presumptuous for any one individual to do that, even a Narn who has suffered so much via the Centauri as G'Kar did. But what G'Kar can give is personal forgiveness, from him as a person to Londo as a person, and he gives it freely here, as he could not have done before this point, and now I'm crying again. It's also this scene that makes this heartbreaking episode the opposite of grimdark.
Meanwhile, in the Minbari subplot: "I love you"/"I know" to a far different effect than when Han and Leia had that exchange (both times). The road to hell is really paved with good intentions sometimes. Undoubtedly Delenn means well and thinks she's helping Lennier save face with her instant "nothing did happen!" as soon as it's clear she and Lennier won't die after all, and it's hard to say what a "right" reaction would have been ("so, about what you just said, well, I love you too, just not like that"? I don't think that would have improved matters), but now it's been said out loud, and can't be unsaid.
"What have we lost": oh, Delenn. So much. In two storylines.
Only a month or so after this episode was broadcast for the first time, JMS published a short story about Londo in the aftermath of this episode, "The Shadow of his Thoughts", in "Amazing Stories". (He followed it up with a short story about G'Kar and Spoiler, "Genius Loci", and one titled Space, Time and the Incurable Romantic about Spoiler and Spoiler which We Do Not Talk About. But "The Shadow of his Thoughts" is perfect and better than the entire Centauri trilogy by Peter David, I'm sorry to say. Anyway, when I feel in need of consolation after being put through the emotional wringer by watching the episode, I am rereading the tale, and will do so now. On the non-JMS short story front, here are links to some effort by yours truly which I can now link as I couldn't before, since they contain spoilers for Londo's entire arc:
Not in Words: Being married to Londo Mollari: the life and times of Timov.
Presences: Sandman crossover, in which Londo in the course of his life meets each of the Endless.
White Lies: The story of the four Centauri telepaths who serve the Emperor, and why we didn't see them again after Turhan's death.
The other episodes