Babylon 5 5-02: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari

Episode:

90

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

David J. Eagle

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Air Date:

28-Jan-1998

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the second episode of Babylon 5, season 5: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari. More like the very long title of Londo Mollari...

The episode made history when it aired as it's the only episode of television to ever have the words "Londo" and "Mollari" in the title. Though it's not the first to have The Long Night in it, as B5 already did that last season. It's not the first to have a character's name in the title either, but unlike Vir and Garibaldi, Londo was blessed with having his full name immortalised on episode lists.

Here's some more title trivia for you: there was going to be an episode called The Very Long Night of Susan Ivanova in season 2. Creator jms dropped the idea in the end, but reused the name when this came around. They've also reused this shot of the station as I remember seeing it under the title of season 3's Exogenesis!

Alright I'm going to recap the whole episode and throw my opinions and observations in along the way. That means that there will be SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't watched the series up to this point. I won't say a thing about anything that happens afterwards though.

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The episode begins with Delenn and Sheridan asleep on her sloping bed. They've been alternating between their quarters every night, so that's 178 nights a year spent lying at an angle. Delenn's woken by her beeping BabCom unit and gets up, revealing that she's inherited the responsibility of wearing sexy sleepwear from Ivanova. It also reveals that Sheridan's always thinking tactically even in his sleep, as he unconsciously seizes the opportunity to claim the covers.

Turns out that it's a Minbari on the phone and he's eager to help her replace her assistant right away, seeing as Lennier has quit his job to return to Minbar. He's even willing to send her three assistants, one from each caste, seeing how... egalitarian she is. I was listening carefully to hear if he gave any of his own feelings away in the way he said 'egalitarian', but nah, he seems like a good guy.

This is the first that Delenn's hearing about this and she's not happy. I'm sure it'll be fine though. I mean the last time an ambassador's assistant went to live on Minbari he was back on B5 within 10 episodes.

Meanwhile, over in Impound Area 32, we've get the return of shouty Londo! Man, I don't think we've seen this side of him since... season 3 maybe? He's even getting some sick burns on Zack Allan, saying he's got that vacant look that says "Hold my head to your ear, you'll hear the sea."

Basically he doesn't want his bottle of Brivari quarantined and shoved into a hot little room for three days, as the temperature would ruin the flavour. Wait, why would it be a hot room? Though I suppose a cold room isn't going to be any good for his drink either.

Vir decides to take over and see if a bit of diplomacy can get them better results than yelling insults alone, and Londo sees his chance to take a sneaky drink while the flavour's still good.

Then the whole situation's rendered moot as the bottle of Brivari hits the floor, soon followed by Londo himself in a pretty convincing stunt. If it was Vir on his back after a single swig that'd be expected, but this is Londo, and Zack's concerned enough to call Medlab.

So Lennier's going back home and Londo's been poisoned! I guess that's one way for the producer to reduce costs when their episode budget takes a cut.

ACT ONE

What the hell Franklin? I know Vir's the undisputed expert when it comes to Game Boy games, but this is a terrible time to ask him for advice on how to beat the Elite Four.

This scene is only about 30 seconds long and pretty much exists just to establish that Londo's in Medlab, Vir's sure he's been poisoned, and Franklin is on the case. It's pretty impressive though I reckon as it's a single take that starts with Londo being wheeled around out in the corridor, and features a lot of extras running places and looking busy. It's all very well choreographed.

Though Franklin requests a toxology report instead of a toxicology report, so it seems he might suspect archery instead of poison. It's possible he just misread the line, but I'm not about to correct a space doctor on his jargon.

Things are less frantic in Delenn's quarters, as Lennier comes in to discuss Delenn's schedule and discovers that she knows.

He planned to break the news to her after dinner, possibly because it's easier to convince someone they don't need you when you're not assisting them with their work. He tells her that she has Sheridan now and he feels like he's just in the way. I don't doubt he's feeling something, but redundant probably isn't it. I'm not actually 100% sure what her job is these days, but she still has one and I'm pretty certain it requires an assistant who isn't busy being the President of the Galaxy.

Lennier admits he's not comfortable here anymore, for reasons that he's not comfortable explaining, but she says she knows. Though we can't really know that she really knows without her saying it out loud and she's not going to do that. Anyway, he's going to run off and join the Foreign Legion the Rangers to replace Marcus and earn her respect. To be more of what she might want him to be. Man, I don't even know how Delenn was supposed to take that, or how she could've responded to it. Other than to say "I'm not going to leave my husband for you just because you've become a badass soldier like him."

She's mostly just sad to see him leaving like this, and it's a very awkward and emotional scene. But he says that it's the calling of his heart and she's got no counter to that.

I’m always surprised to see the Zocalo so populated in a season 5 story, because my memory is that the budget problems were really obvious. They're even still paying for the search lights! I suppose they're saving money just by hanging around the standing station sets again instead of jumping between a bunch of different ships and planets like in season 4.

Vir's lashing out a bit at the world right now (or the people trying to have lunch at least), as he's getting a bit sick of people assassinating people all the time. But Garibaldi tells him that it actually wasn't poison after all! Londo had a heart attack, a bad one, in the left heart.

There's a jump cut to Franklin explaining the Centauri bi-pulmonary system, explaining that the right heart wouldn't be so tricky to fix, but the left heart's a lot more complicated and near impossible for him to unblock with surgery. The word 'pulmonary' usually refers to the lungs, rather the heart, so he probably should've said 'bi-cardial', but I'm still not going to correct a space doctor on his jargon. Also Franklin mentions that the left heart kind of functions like a kidney, so who's to say they can't function as lungs as well?

The good news is that an artificial heart will arrive in 3 days, the bad news is that Londo's going to be dead in a day unless his body sorts the problem out on its own. So I guess now we know that Centauri Prime is 3 days away from the station.

ACT TWO

Act two begin with Sheridan talking about how strange it is for Londo not to be pacing around and eating the scenery. It's not often that anyone's able to have a quiet conversation in the same room as him like this. Delenn admits that she does like Londo… sometimes, and would be sad if he went away.

Then Sheridan literally says "Speaking of going away, I got your message about Lennier." Damn man, you do not segue from the death of one friend into the departure of another like that! Sheridan does at least have the sensitivity to suspect it might be because of him, which Delenn confirms. He says "Three is a crowd," she counters with "Three is sacred," and he replies "I don't think I'm ready to handle that one." What is even happening with this conversation!

They are still worried about the guy dying in front of them, but Sheridan says that medical science can only go so far. Time to get out the alien healing machine then I guess! Actually they're going to leave Londo to fight for his own survival, a fight which is going to play out in his subconscious.

Delenn wishes Londo good luck and he hears it in his dream, so he goes wandering through an imaginary Down Below looking for her. He eventually finds her at a card table, or at least a table with cards on it. Seems that she's got a whole set of Londo Mollari Collectable Trading Cards here.

Londo assumes that they'll tell him his future (he's always hearing about his future), but she explains that these particular cards will tell him his past. They also leak a bit of blood, but that's to be expected I suppose.

The two of them talk about the fact that he's dying, but he's not actually that bothered about as it gives him a chance to spite fate. He's been having that same dream about his death for 20 years now, which means he's seen himself with G'Kar's hands around his throat up to 7300 times by this point. I'm a little surprised it's only been twenty years, but that at least means he had a G'Kar-free childhood.

Londo suspects that no one on Centauri Prime cares if he lives or dies and Imaginary Delenn confirms it with a line he overheard the real Delenn say a moment ago.

But the question is whether he cares. She asks him "Do you want to live?" for a third time and she's not allowed to ask again. Londo's subconscious is very strict about these things I guess. Also three is sacred.

Here's a screencap from the HD version, with the perspective corrected and the contrast increased so you can properly appreciate all Imaginary Delenn's beautiful art. I mean I assume Imaginary Delenn draws her own cards; they look a bit homemade.

The first card on the top left is Londo and G'Kar with spaceships flying overhead that I can't identify. The next card's easier, that's obviously Londo being in love with Adira. The next is Londo looking at a giant drink to take his mind off the Shadow ship hovering in the background.

On the bottom row there's Londo and Vir in front of an arrow and an hourglass (time's arrow?). Then there's Londo standing in front of something ending in fire (maybe the bombardment of Narn or the bombing of Selini). And finally there's Londo, Lord Refa and Emperor Cartagia with some more fire, plus some lightning bolts just to make things more interesting.

Londo does want to live, but that's not enough. He also requires a word. She shows him a card, but there's too much blood on it to make out the picture. If that wasn't weird and unhelpful enough she points him to the other side of the room, where he sees a hole in the floor leading to a giant heart.

I mean seriously, this is a massive heart, and it glows! The prop moves as well, it's a pretty well done effect. It's a bit strange that he didn't hear it beating until now, but it's even stranger that he immediately puts his hand on it. Somehow this is still less cryptic than a Kosh dream.

Londo claims not to understand, then he finds himself in a black void with G'Kar… and the episode cuts back to a shot of him lying in Medlab to remind us of what's really going on before the commercial break.

ACT THREE

Act three starts with Vir and Lennier at a bar, which is fairly unusual. Well it's unusual to see them anyway. We last saw them sitting together like this in the season 2 finale The Fall of Night (yet another episode with 'night' in the title), and they implied they do this every day.

Then Vir does something that always winds me up when I hear it. One of my least favourite recurring things on B5 is for someone to start a line with "As Mr Garibaldi would say..." It seems so unnatural, especially coming from someone who barely knows the guy. Then they try to one-up each other, with Vir saying "It's been one hell of a year," Lennier saying "A hell of a five years," and so on.

The conversation shifts to Vir's drink. He explains that it's called a 'Shirley Temple' and it's really good. Lennier says he'll make a point to visit it next time he visits Earth, which I guess implies that he assumes the drink is named after an actual temple and the quality of the temple must be related to the quality of the drink. Either that or he's telling a joke?

Vir gives him the traditional Minbari hand gesture to wish him farewell, then goes and gives him a hug as well. Which is totally not okay for Minbari, but Lennier thinks it’s okay.

Then the camera follows Vir as he walks out of the crowded Zocalo and into a busy corridor. He steps into a lift, the door closes, the camera goes askew, the colours change, and suddenly we're with Londo in his empty dreamworld. One of the few times I've ever seen a seamless transition from reality to another person's imagination in one 50 second unbroken take.

I love scenes like this, where you know that everyone behind the camera is rushing around like crazy to get the set looking ready before it turns back around.

Then it switches to one of those cameras that's strapped onto the actor, so we get a fixed close-up of Londo, with the background swaying behind him as he walks around. Director David Eagle got very experimental and weird with this episode, I like it. Though it seems like a waste to get the rig set up for just five seconds of footage.

Londo sits down at a bar, and starts talking to an unseen Sheridan…

… who is revealed to be wearing an Earthforce uniform! He's also sitting in front of a row of empty bottles, which Londo doesn't appreciate. He feels the metaphor's getting a bit thick, and I'm feeling a bit thick too because I don't get it.

The two have a chat about Sheridan being dead for a while on Z'ha'dum, and all the times Londo's died himself. He was dead to his first wife after he divorced her, but he had to otherwise he would've been dead to his family. We heard about Londo's first wife in A Voice in the Wilderness, but I think this is the first time we've heard what happened to her.

Suddenly Sheridan's in his Severed Dreams look, with his Earthforce shirt on but not his jacket. Seems like we're getting multiple stages of Sheridan's life here, and they completely skipped right past the one that had a mullet and rode a horse!

4-22 - The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

I suppose it wouldn't have been practical to bring the horse into the studio. It's a pain to work with animals.

The way the scene is staged I figured that they were going to get clever and have the camera pan away from Sheridan, then pan back to reveal he's in his next outfit. But nope, they just use a cut.

This time it's Army of Light Sheridan.

Londo mentions that they both know they're going to die, but Sheridan points out that's true for everyone, even the people who weren't brought back by a First One or given prophetic dreams. What matters is what you do with the time you spend waiting around in the meantime, and he feels Londo hasn't done very well there.

Next has to be President Sheridan, right?

Hey they've skipped President Sheridan and gone to Ranger Sheridan! Zathras did say that Sinclair is the One who was, Delenn is the One who is and Sheridan's the One who will be. I guess this is Sheridan as Ranger One.

Sheridan tells him that if he doesn't want to die he's going to have to turn around, and he means that literally. The scene cuts to a shot of what's behind Londo and it's just a wall, but Londo's still not keen on the idea. He can't do it!

The camera pans over a little bit and…

Oh. Well that makes more sense now.

Sheridan reiterates that if Londo doesn't turn around he really will die. Then he changes into his final outfit:

Uh… he becomes a choir singer? Wait, is this a superhero costume? Does he become the White Arrow?

Londo doesn't want Sheridan to leave him alone, but Sheridan's out of time at this point, and transforms into a being of pure energy. Though not in a goofy Jason Ironheart glowing Poser model kind of way, more in a Star Trek: The Original Series glowing ball kind of way. Centauri typically only have prophetic dreams about their own fate, not other people's, but this isn't a typical dream.

The episode cuts back to Medlab, and Londo's not doing well. All the machines are beeping and Franklin orders his people to stab Londo in the chest with the biggest needle they have.

We rejoin dream Londo lying in a void, begging the Great Maker not to let him die. Seems his bravado's starting to fade as his time runs out.

Imaginary Vir offers a suggestion: if he doesn't want to die then maybe he shouldn't die. Actual real-world Vir is giving him the same advice, speaking to him in Medlab.

Well that's creepy. Vir floats down to hover over Londo as he's lying on the floor.
 

Or maybe he's just walked up to Londo as he's leaning against a wall, I suppose it depends on your perspective. It's just a shame that the camera shakes around a bit as it's rotating.

Vir explains that Londo's heart can't bear the weight of his conscience anymore. Londo protests, saying that there's nothing wrong with his conscience, but he immediately proves that to be a lie when he refuses to turn around and face G'Kar.

So Londo tries logic instead, saying that he saw his death as an old man, therefore he can't die here. Dream Vir replies with "Prophecy is a guess that comes true. When it doesn't, it's a metaphor. You could put a gun to your head tomorrow and pull the trigger and then the dream is just a dream," which is a great line. I'm a bit confused about the part where a guess that doesn't become true is a metaphor, but whatever. I've already demonstrated that I'm rubbish with metaphors.

Vir spells out his situation: he needs to let go of this pain or he will die here alone now. And he, at least, will miss him. So Londo finally turns around.

It's all beeping and dramatic music in Medlab, and Franklin orders a trauma team stat. Though it's G'Kar who walks in the door. Not the kind of trauma he was after.

Back in the dream world, G'Kar tells Londo that now they end this.

ACT FOUR

Londo finds himself in the Centauri Royal Palace, next to the throne he doesn’t want. Glad they're still getting some use out of that prop.

G'Kar wonders why he doesn't want it. Maybe it's the dream that he'll die here, maybe it's because he feels he's not worthy, maybe it's because he's scared of failure. G'Kar's leaning towards option #2, saying he doesn't deserve it.

Then the episode turns into a clip show! It's a really grainy, washed-out looking clip though, plus they've taken the original 4:3 footage and cropped it for widescreen instead of going back to the original film and giving us more on the sides.

This is flashback to The Long Twilight Struggle in season 2, when Refa told Londo they were heading to the Narn Homeworld to end the war. G'Kar reminds us what happened there, how they came in ships and bombed the planet from orbit, killing countless innocents. Londo protests that it wasn't his idea and it wasn't his fault.

And we do get to see the iconic shot of him standing there at the window of a Centauri ship, clearly horrified by what he's witnessing. But G'Kar points out that he didn't say anything.

Weirdly this shot actually looks better than it originally did on my season 2 DVDs. The quality of these clips is all over the place!

Then they're in back in season 4, the episode The Summoning, in the scene where Emperor Cartagia had G'Kar chained to a pole and whipped until he screamed.

Once again Londo was there, and once again he said nothing. Though I think Dream G'Kar's being kind of unfair to him this time as Londo was walking a tightrope with the fate of two worlds on the line. Cartagia was a lunatic and going against him could've messed up the plan. Then they would've been dead and Narn would've still been enslaved.

Londo does defend himself, saying that speaking out would've changed nothing. But Dream G'Kar says he had an obligation to do it anyway! A word was required of him the first time, and a word is required of him now.

Then we get to see the scene play out again, except with G'Kar in the role of Season 4 Cartagia and Londo in the role of Season 4 G'Kar. Also Season 4 Londo is still there in the role of Season 4 Londo, looking on in silence. Honestly I think G'Kar suits his new outfit more than Londo suits G'Kar's rags.

Incidentally Vir was there as well and he never said a thing either! It's maybe not the ideal moment to call back to if you're looking at Londo's bad choices, but it's perfect otherwise.

G'Kar wants to hear one word and he's going to keep whipping him until he gets it. Londo's already in pain due to his heart attack so this really isn't any fun for him right now. In fact he's going into cardiac arrest, so he's lying on his bed with his shirt open and tentacles in full display as Franklin begins defib. Being struck by the sight of Londo nude is exactly what Sheridan was afraid of last episode.

The drums in the soundtrack are close to drowning out G'Kartagia voice at this point as he counts up to 40, but after 39 lashes Londo finally screams. G'Kar didn't want a scream though, he wanted a word.

This has helped drag Londo away from the brink of death, but he's still dangerously close to the edge and he's been driven to tears by the ordeal. He wants to know who Dream G'Kar even is, and the guy offers up some suggestions, saying that he might be a delusion called by a lack of oxygen, or he might be a piece of himself left behind during the telepathic assault in Dust to Dust. Or maybe he's Londo's conscience, here to tell him that even though he believes he's changed, he's not sorry for what he did, he's just sorry he got caught.

Londo says he's never apologised for anything in his life, and I'm sure that's not literally true, but I can believe he's never apologised like this before. Never said 'I really fucked up on an epic scale these last few years and I'm genuinely sorry'. But he does here, both in the dream and reality. When he opens his eyes and sees G'Kar there the first words out of his mouth are "I'm sorry." It was as tough for him to do it as it was for G'Kar to scream, but he did it.

ACT FIVE

Then in act five Londo's back to complaining about things again, just with slightly less yelling.

Londo tells Vir he was doing some reading in bed (presumably off that scroll he's holding), and came across a Centauri folktale about how a Centauri spirit can choose to kill its host and depart if it finds itself in a body that's not worth of its presence. Vir's heard that story, and knows that it only happens if the spirit is really angelic, and the body is a real monster. Just nasty and corrupt and disgusting and…

Anyway, the important thing is that if the person survives they're supposed to be permanently changed by the experience. And a second important thing is that Vir knew about the story and Londo didn't. At least the scene makes it seem like it's important somehow. Is the episode implying that Londo would've turned out as a more moral person if he'd heard cautionary folktales like Vir did as a kid?

The episode ends with an army of Rangers pouring into the Customs Area to make Lennier's departure just that little bit more ceremonial. I guess they arranged in advance to be able to come in like this without security checking all their Identicards.

Delenn turns up just before he leaves, and the two of them get to say their farewells in a scene that's very similar to the one in Parliament of Dreams when he first arrived. They're both standing in roughly the same places and the camera angle is pretty close as well. The main difference is that they didn't have seven Rangers standing there waiting for them in silence back then (and presumably more of them lined up in the docking bay).

Lennier tells her that he's hers forever in heart, body and soul, and hopes to be a better person next time they meet. Delenn would never discourage self-improvement but she feels he's pretty good already. He leaves for his shuttle (an atmospheric shuttle not a space shuttle for some reason), and we see that Sheridan had been waiting around the corner to not ruin the moment. The two of them walk off in silence, the shuttle flies to a White Star… and then the bold and heroic season 5 theme starts playing.


CONCLUSION

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I'm starting to miss C&C now. It seemed like we used to be in there every episode and now we never see the place.

The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari is mostly about Londo, the title kind of gives that away, but Lennier also gets a bit of a B plot. Well, really it's Delenn's B plot, she's the one who gets all the screen time, but Lennier does at least have a chat with Vir when she's not around. Londo and Lennier are both pressured into making a change by their hearts, with Londo's heart forcing him to face his guilt, and Lennier's heart causing him to run away from his love.

Lennier has decided to go off to train to become a badass action hero to make himself more attractive to Delenn. He basically says that outright. In Ceremonies of Light and Dark he admitted to Marcus that he's in love with her, but has accepted that she's meant for another, and I think he still believes that. He comes across like someone who's genuinely determined to stick to a diet and is just moving a huge box of chocolate bars to his desk to make some room in the cupboard. He's making justifications to himself to explain why his subconscious is pushing him to do something that's clearly going to be unhealthy in the long run. It's a bit childish, though to be fair it has only been four years since he was naive wide-eyed Lennier, straight out of temple with no experience of the world outside. Unfortunately he and Delenn can't have a straight conversation about it because it wouldn't be proper, so she can't say "I'm not going to leave Sheridan for you just because you've trained to expertly wield your extendable fighting pike, so get that fantasy out of your mind". Maybe getting some distance from Delenn will do him some good, but I'm reminded of what Lennier said about Londo in Dust to Dust: "A darkness in the heart cannot be cured by moving the body from one place to another."

The episode actually has a bit in common with Dust to Dust as both stories are about G'Kar getting into Londo's head. This time though he's his conscience in disguise... perhaps. It's hard to tell with a dream really. G'Kar spends a lot of the episode lurking in the background though, waiting for Londo to finally face him. The rest of the dream is about Londo discussing his issues with people, and I guess he subconsciously sees Delenn, Sheridan and Vir as the best people to go to for advice. It's all in his own head, so both sides of their conversations are coming from him, and it's clear he's been giving some thought to the prophecy of his death and all the terrible things he's done. Londo's mind has apparently identified 'being a bystander' as the worst of his crimes, not that time he told Morden to send his allies to wipe out Quadrant 14 or anything like that, and I think he's actually being a bit hard on himself there. Speaking up against Cartagia wouldn't have been futile, it would've been suicidal, and Londo was currently in the middle of a plan to save two worlds that had 'being alive' as a crucial element.

Dust to Dust ended with G'Kar coming to an epiphany in his dream and going through a change, and here it's Londo that gets the epiphany and goes through the change. He doesn't change all that much, as he was already pretty much a good guy for the last season or so, but he does admit blame for his mistakes and he does apologise to G'Kar. Vir would be so proud of him!

Meanwhile in Lochley's story... oh wait, she didn't get one. She didn't appear at all in fact, which is really strange considering she's new to the station and this is only the second episode of the season. Babylon 5 had moved to a new network for its final year so there would've been a lot of new viewers checking it out, but this doesn't just sideline their audience surrogate, it goes deep into the events of the four seasons they hadn't seen yet. Maybe not the wisest move. Or maybe new viewers would've been drawn in by Peter Jurasik's performance and eager to learn what crimes he believes he's committed, I dunno! I was definitely drawn in, though it does feel like it's bringing the character to a place he already reached in season four. It's like the missing puzzle piece to explain why he and G'Kar are halfway friendly now, it's just arrived a few episodes late.

The most important question remains: which is worse, season 5 or season 1? It'll be a while before I can really answer that, but I can at least say that The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari is a hell of a lot better than Soul Hunter. Better title as well.

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NEXT EPISODE

Next on Sci-Fi Adventures, more Babylon 5 with The Paragon of Animals. 20 episodes remaining.

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