| Episode: | 42 | | | Writer: | J. Michael Straczynski | | | Air Date: | 18-Oct-1995 |
This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing The Long, Twilight Struggle, the antepenultimate episode of Babylon 5's second season! The last few episodes have been a bit miserable but if that title's anything to go by I expect this is going to be the one that really turns things around.
Here's some entirely useless facts for you: according to IMDb, John C. Flinn III was the director of photography for 102 of 110 Babylon 5 episodes, and this is one of the 8 he skipped. It's also one of the 9 he directed, and if you suspect there's probably a lot of overlap between those two lists... you'd be wrong. It's just this one. This was the third episode he directed after TKO and Soul Mates, so he's got the bottom and the middle of the ratings scale covered already, but was this his first really great episode? I'll tell you what I think later, though if you've seen it and remember which one it is I expect you already have your own opinion.
I nearly didn't show this screencap of the title because it spoils a character's surprise reappearance. But then I realised that the role was recast and this actor has never actually been in the series before, so all it really spoils is that a Minbari shows up at the start of the first act. But there will be massive SPOILERS below this point for both this episode and the ones leading up to it, as I'll be going through it one screencap at a time, writing about what happened and what I think about that.
Though actually this isn't exactly the same shot as before, as this time the Centauri Royal Palace has the lights on inside and there's vampires walking around outside (the lack of a reflection is a dead giveaway).
I think this is the second time we've ever seen Londo off Babylon 5, and he's currently pissed at Lord Refa for getting his friend disgraced and killed (especially as it was Londo who had to do the killing). Though he's not as pissed as I thought he'd be, as he seems quite willing to keep working with the guy.
Emperor Cartagia is out right now basking in the phony adulation of the public at the moment so they haven't had to cast an actor for him yet, but Refa doesn't really consider his absence a problem. The court's running things better without him and this way he gets to sneakily sit on his throne. I can't tell whether we're supposed to infer that the guy is ambitious enough to go for the chair for real, or if he's just wallowing in the power he already has, but right now his main concern is that war they started six months back. Turns out that he summoned Londo here because they're about to finish it!
Speaking of Epsilon III, C&C detects an energy surge coming from the planet, for the first time since the events of A Voice in the Wilderness at the end of season one. Last time it meant that the Great Machine hidden inside was going to blow up and kill them all, but Delenn's old friend Draal pulled a Spock's Brain and plugged himself in to make sure that wouldn't happen again, so they're probably fine. Probably.
It's still a bit of concern, so Corwin decides to call Ivanova, and the episode cuts to someone's quarters with the sound of a running shower and some weird-ass music.
There's no way that wasn't J. Michael Straczynski (or the director) trolling all the people eager for a glimpse of whatever amount of skin Claudia Christian would be allowed to show on TV at this time of day. Probably best that it wasn't her though, seeing as this really isn't 'I'm in grief over losing the woman I loved last episode' music playing right now.
Turns out that Corwin's already spoken to Ivanova by this point as she's the one who informs Sheridan about the unusual signals. But then there's interference and suddenly the holographic projection of a Minbari appears in his quarters.
ACT ONE
Act one starts with the mysterious Minbari introducing himself as Draal, while "Guest starring John Schuck as Draal" appears on the bottom of the screen. He assumes that Sheridan has no idea who he is, but Sheridan actually knows all about him (I guess Earthforce didn't confiscate those logs while they were confiscating all the Babylon Squared logs). Though Sheridan doesn't recognise him, as Draal seems to have regenerated in the meantime.
The Great Machine has revitalised Draal, giving him back his appearance of 30 years ago... or so he claims anyway. The original actor, Louis Turenne, wasn't available at the time due to illness, and the guy they brought in to replace him is only 6 years younger. He's also John Schuck, famous for yelling at people with alien makeup on in Star Trek. He was in Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI as the Klingon Ambassador, he played a Cardassian in Deep Space Nine, a Delta Quadrant alien in Voyager and then he played a Klingon again in Enterprise.
I like Schuck, he's very... theatrical, and that suits the character perfectly. In fact Draal's so into what he's saying that it's a while before he even seems to realise that Sheridan's standing there in his dressing gown and asks him if this is a good time for him to drop by. And he barely gives him a chance to answer before jumping right back into his performance.
He's projected himself here to invite Sheridan and one other down to the planet for a visit whenever it's most convenient for him. And he assures the captain that it's most convenient for him basically now.
Though the Narns have had plenty of tragedy of their own these last six months, and his uncle, Warleader G'Sten has just dropped by to tell him that everything's far worse than he's been told. I guess the Kha'ri figured he'd be much better at spreading their propaganda if he believed it.
So many of their outposts and colonies have been conquered by the Centauri now that they've basically only got the one hope: they're going to fly over to the Centauri supply world at Gorash 7 and hit it with every ship they've got. This will trick the Centauri into thinking they're about to go on the offensive, giving the Narns enough time to bolster their defences to the point where they can drag the war on past their enemy's capacity or interest to fight it.
It's a better plan than 'keep doing the same thing and inevitably lose', but G'Kar points out that sending everything they've got would leave them with nothing protecting their homeworld. G'Sten figures the ships won't be gone long enough to matter, but the ominous music and their emotional farewell says otherwise. G'Kar actually wants to go with him, but he's told to stay put and keep working on getting them alliances, support, sympathy and etc.
Refa explains to Londo that they intercepted a coded transmission from the Narn Strategic Command revealing their plan to strike Gorash 7 and leave their homeworld wide open. So they're going to send their own ships over to conquer their planet and win the war in one move. This reminds me of Sheridan's conversation a few episodes back about Churchill allowing an attack on Coventry to achieve a greater strategic objective, though really there's no comparison as Refa has a plan to make sure Gorash is protected at the same time.
The plan is: Londo brings in his Shadowy friends to ambush the Narn fleet at Gorash, saving the base and making sure none of their ships return to attack the Centauri fleet at the Narn Homeworld. Refa's putting a lot of faith in the unstoppable forces of darkness here, plus he's putting Londo in a tough spot.
Londo's pretty shocked by Refa's plan, because even he isn't so nostalgic for the 'good old days' that he thinks an invasion of Narn wouldn't be a massive blood bath for everyone involved. So I guess he never actually intended for the Centauri to conquer Narn then, just take back enough territory to reclaim their empire and self respect.
Refa assures Londo that he doesn't have any interest in invading Narn either, he just wants to flatten it from orbit with mass drivers. Hang on... is the Narn Homeworld called Narn? I never picked up on that before.
This straight up horrifies Londo, as mass drivers are outlawed by every civilised planet for being really nasty weapons. But he must have known about them already, as And Now For a Word was all about the Narn trying to stop the Centauri transferring support equipment for mass drivers and other weapons outside of B5. Did he think they were lying when they said they had found evidence.
Refa cunningly uses Londo's attempts to grow a conscience against him, pointing out all the Centauri lives that will be lost in the war if they don't end it now by nuking the enemy's capital. Londo actually seems more troubled about calling the Shadows in again than the planetary bombardment he'd be enabling, as they're an unknown force of incredible power... but he gives in and agrees. On the condition that this is the last time they call for their help. That seems to suit Refa just fine; after all, there won't be any more need for them once the war is over.
ACT TWO
Garibaldi's turning his paranoia up a notch this episode, as he's worried that the holographic message Sheridan got from Draal was a fake (the fact that he looks like a different person would be a bit of a giveaway). He's worried that Sheridan and Delenn will get into a shuttle, fly down, and be destroyed by the planetary defences, getting rid of two powerful figures in one move. But then Ivanova comes in and reveals that the message has been proven genuine so that settles that.
Back on Centauri Prime, Londo and Refa are also about to take a trip, as Londo gets told he's going on a surprise trip to the Narn Homeworld of Narn aboard the Valerius to watch the end of the war first hand. It's funny how G'Kar wished he could go out with the fleet and was denied, while Londo would rather relax in his quarters and is getting a front row seat.
Turns out that Franklin didn't call G'Kar down here as a doctor, he called him because he's passing on intel from one of the formerly wounded (now dead) Narns. Franklin tells him about the Earth-Minbari War, that the Minbari went right past their colonies on Mars and Io to hit Earth itself, and that it looks like that's what the Centauri are up to now. In the last scene we saw that the Centauri knew that the Narns knew about their supply base. Now G'Kar knows that the Centauri know about about what the Narns know, so there's a chance he can avoid his world being bombed to ruins now!
I wonder if Franklin would be passing information on to Londo if this place had been full of wounded Centauri instead. If it'd stop a world getting invaded, I'm thinking... probably.
Also the Great Machine interior has had an upgrade since season one and looks a lot better than it did when it was rendered by Amigas back in season one. Maybe they were still rendering with Amigas at this point in the series, I don't know, but it does look better. Still no handrails, but at least there's air to breathe and they're not being killed by traps now.
 |
| Babylon 5 1-18: A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 1 |
G'Sten seemed like a pretty smart and sensible guy earlier, but ignoring intel about an imminent attack is a really stupid thing to do. It's not like G'Kar's been crying wolf this whole time, this is the only time he's ever warned them of an attack on Homeworld!
This whole situation seems very unfair to G'Kar. He could really do with his own Morden and his own secret associates, someone he can call in to help at times like this (except not evil). But he's got no one.
Draal can't come out of the machine to talk to them unless he replaces himself with a semi-convincing waxwork dummy... I mean unless he projects himself as a hologram, but once he's appeared it's hard to get him to shut up. He likes Delenn's new look though, which is cool; I'm glad she's finally found a Minbari who appreciates the weird bone tiara thing she's got going on. He also compliments Sheridan on his vast patience... and is then annoyed when he doesn't wait for him to finish before saying 'thanks'. You can tell these last few episodes have been grim when a Minbari is getting the funniest lines in ages.
Turns out that the Great Machine is a lot like Google, as Draal has all of their personal information now. He knows about their alliance against the Shadows and he knows about Sheridan's 'conspiracy of light' aimed at his own government. But there's three miles of rock and inevitable death in between him and anyone who would try to take his secrets, so they shouldn't be too concerned. Man it's lucky Londo wasn't the one who took over the machine back in season one.
A Voice in the Wilderness ended with Draal sending a message that Epsilon III was to be left alone until the time was right. Turns out they didn't have to wait all that long as it's time already and his resources are now at Sheridan's disposal! He also drops the episode title, quoting JFK's inaugural address as he talks about the "long, twilight struggle which lies ahead of us." But he believes that there's the still the possibility of hope, which is nice to hear because we've had a string of downer endings and barring a miracle G'Kar's about to have his homeworld bombed.
Thankfully G'Sten's not a complete idiot, so when he spots the Shadow ships he knows it'd be best if they were to go somewhere else very quickly. But they can't escape until their jump engines recharge (I guess there isn't a jumpgate handy), so all they can do right now is attack. It's the entire Narn fleet versus four Shadow ships!
The Narn ships make the first move, firing energy mines which hit the Shadow vessels and makes them stay visible.
Turns out that they were right to be concerned as the Narn manage to cut off one of a Shadow ship's spines with concentrated fire from three ships! Seems they can lock on to them, which is better than than Earth Alliance managed against the Minbari. Though the Shadows are still effortlessly slicing up the Narn vessels with a single shot each.
I was trying to get a shot with both Shadow and Narn ships in it, but they're fighting at such a distance here that they're never on screen together.
It shows that the Shadows can theoretically be beaten in conventional combat, you just need the entire firepower of significantly more ships. Sadly they now have significantly less ships.
G'Kar seems to sense this catastrophe without needing to be told, and he snuffs out the last remaining lit candle on his table.
Once they're gone Draal calls out to one of the many caretakers living on the planet, who were all mysteriously absent during A Voice in the Wilderness, when there was an urgent need for someone to plug themselves into the Great Machine to stop the planet blowing up. I guess it wouldn't have been much of a two-parter if the problem had been solved in five minutes.
He yells for 'Zathras', which actually a pretty massive reveal... if you've got a really good memory for alien names, or the Lurker's Guide bookmarked. That's that weird dude from Babylon Squared who was working with Future Sinclair and Future Delenn to steal Babylon 4!
Garibaldi responds with an expertly delivered "Oh no" that could be read as either 'Oh no, those poor Narns' or 'Oh no we're about to have a riot.' Right now the Narns and Centauri on the station are hanging out in the same bars without trying to murder each other, possibly because the Narns don't know how badly they're losing, but once the news gets out there's going to be carnage.
The camera zooms into a window, revealing Londo Mollari standing very still and looking less than happy with his ultimate victory over the Narns. The episode never explains what mass drivers do (they fire asteroids), but it's obvious enough that this an armageddon scenario for the Narns.
This is the Narns' version of the Battle of the Line at the end of the Earth-Minbari War, except all their ships got blown up before the could form a line, so we're getting to see what could've happened to Earth if the Minbari hadn't surrendered.
Plus it reminds me of the conversation Londo had with Morden in Revelations, where he jokingly asked if he could eliminate the entire Narn homeworld and was taken aback by his answer of "All in good time." Turns out that the Centauri were perfectly capable of eliminating the planet by themselves, and Londo's horrified by what they're doing. What he's made happen.
I don't think any of those billions of people down there are calling out Londo's name right now, but the technomage in Geometry of Shadows was right about one thing: they're definitely his victims. The extinction of the entire Markab race seemed like it was going to walk away with the award for the 'Biggest Avoidable Tragedy of 2259', but we've got a new contender!
ACT FOUR
At least Earth's government joined the Minbari in filing an official protest against the use of mass drivers against civilians, so they're not that far gone. Even the Vorlons filed one, and those guys hate filing. Turns out that official protests don't provide much protection from asteroids hurled down from space though.
Man, that seemed like it pained him as much as it must pain Sheridan to look down at his paperwork with that light from his desk shining into his eyes.
It's funny, when they last visited Epsilon III Londo did something unexpectedly heroic to save a planet from exploding. This time the exact opposite has happened.
Fortunately the Narn have managed to avoid their own extinction by finally surrendering to the Centauri, but life under occupation isn't going to be much fun for them. Especially for the members of the Kha'Ri, who are going to be arrested for war crimes. Man, it takes some real nerve to use illegal weapons of mass destruction on a planet and then accuse them of war crimes. Sheridan does at least try to send observers to their trials, which is the one victory he got during the council meeting at the start of the war, but this time Londo shuts him right down.
Oh plus the penalty for the murder of any Centauri by any Narn will be the execution of 500 Narns, including the perpetrator's family. Man Refa must have had a lot of fun coming up with this list. Londo doesn't look entirely distraught by it either, though he does cough a little, just like he did in his prophetic dream a while back. He's still on the right track to a bad end.
He's also back in the purple coat her wore in the dream again, which I guess is his council coat now.
He can't save G'Kar from being kicked out of the council chambers though, as he represents a government that no longer exists. But before G'Kar leaves he gives a little speech, delivering maximum shame with maximum dignity:
"No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free."Damn G'Kar! Uh, I mean damn Andreas Katsulas and J. Michael Straczynski!
ACT FIVE
He brought the Shadows in because Refa used the 'it'll save Centauri lives' argument on him, and now Centauri lives are being spent in other conflicts. Plus Refa will no doubt come up with a reason to bring the Shadows in again now, after promising him they were no longer needed. This is exactly what Londo wanted, for the Centauri to be what they once were, but I think he's finally starting to get why his friend Urza Jaddo wanted to avoid history repeating.
He also tells him that he'll use every resource and contact he has to help him win back his world, which seems like a pretty bold promise. I'd be worried about him dragging Earth into a war, but really his only resource is his Starfuries and there's no way he'll be sending them. I'm fact I'm not sure what he's actually offering him here.
G'Kar points out that last time he offered someone his hand they were at war 24 hours later, but then he accepts Sheridan's friendship regardless. Then Sheridan's asked to go meet Delenn in the conference centre, but when he gets there he finds it's pretty crowded.
Up to this point the Rangers I've spotted have all looked like they were auditioning for the role of Aragorn in a Lord of the Rings TV series, but it turns out that most Rangers in the area are much less conspicious. You'd think they'd all be wearing their uniform to this official gathering though... whatever it's about.
As usual Delenn has given Sheridan absolutely no information about what he's walking into, so he's a bit surprised to see a room full of human and Minbari agents, especially when Garibaldi reveals he's been working with them for eight or nine months now. Oh plus Delenn's giving him joint command of all the Rangers in this area.
So Sheridan now is one of the leaders of the Army of Light (which is separate and distinct from his Conspiracy of Light) and they'll be using the station as their Fortress of Light to fight Shadows. I feel like there's maybe some kind of theme going on here (plus I get the feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more candles in later episodes).
It's definitely a more hopeful ending than you'd expect from an episode like this, as with Epsilon III and the Rangers at his disposal Sheridan now has some powerful associates to call upon. Hang on, does this mean G'Kar's finally got his own Mr Morden... and it's Sheridan?
CONCLUSION
It's a shame that The Long, Twilight Struggle wasn't interminable, gloomy and challenging to sit through, because then I could say that the title was very fitting, but no they went and made it good instead. Though it is pretty dark, in both senses of the word.
The last few episodes have been failure after failure, with Londo stabbing his friend, Sheridan nearly throwing his career away to get answers about his wife, the entire Markab race dying, Talia's personality being annihilated, and now in this episode the Narn Homeworld has been glassed. After a run like that viewers may have started to get the impression that there was no light at the end of this tunnel, but the episodes also manages to bring back hope that this can all somehow work out. Plus it's fairly monumental as well.
I wouldn't say it's as good as Chrysalis, but it's got that same feeling that nothing's the same anymore by the end. The Narn-Centauri War is over! G'Kar's position as ambassador is over! In fact the entire Narn homeworld is halfway to being over, just like Londo jokingly asked for in Revelations last year. With the help of the Shadows, Londo's finally got everything he wanted and he is utterly miserable. And that's just the A plot! It almost feels like this episode should've been the season finale, except for the way the B plot doesn't actually have a plot.
Sheridan and Delenn get called down to the planet to meet with Draal and get some exposition, then they come back and go to a council meeting, then they go to see the Rangers. There's not really a story there, just a series of scenes that they were in. Plus there's three occasions in this this episode where Sheridan offers or accepts resources, but it was never all that clear what was being promised. It takes scenes that should be triumphant and makes them a bit unsatisfying.
- Draal offers Sheridan access to the full capabilities of the Great Machine, which is great but what does that actually mean? He can project holograms and spy on people?
- Sheridan gives G'Kar his support, but what support did he intend to give? It wasn't going to be Starfury air support.
- Delenn gives Sheridan joint control of the Rangers. Who even are the Rangers? Sheridan has no idea, but he gives a speech about stopping tyrants and drawing a line in the sand anyway.
G'Kar and the Narns aren't exactly blameless here. The pilot movie was about him smuggling an assassin on board to kill Kosh and frame Sinclair, the first episode of season 1 was about them taking over a Centauri colony, he was continually pushing the Centauri to give over territory, and he tried to murder their Emperor! The nice one! But when the Centauri decided they weren't going to take it any more they snapped back so hard that everything the Narns did now seems trivial by comparison.
But despite G'Kar's total defeat and Londo's ultimate victory, by the end G'Kar kind of seems like the happiest out of the two. G'Kar's final scene shows him grateful to receive Sheridan's support and determined to win his planet back. Meanwhile Londo's final scene shows him feeling powerless and horrified that Refa manipulated him into enabling the destruction of a civilisation by telling him it would end a war that he has no intention of stopping.
The morals of the story: Don't get pressured into become an accomplice to planetary bombardment. Listen to your nephew when he tells you to bring your ships back to Homeworld. There's always hope as long as you have a lot of vaguely defined alien resources.
COMING SOON
Thanks for reading. Leave a comment if you're into leaving comments (and if you're not, this could be a great time to get into the habit).
I feel like John Schuck is in everything, but I suspect it's just because I've watched a lot of Star Trek.
ReplyDeleteI just checked IMDb and yeah he's been in everything. 95 acting credits spanning five decades. He was in Mash, Mission: Impossible, Matlock, Murder, She Wrote and McGyver. St. Elsewhere, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law and two Law and Orders. He did voice acting for Rugrats, Freakazoid, Hey Arnold and Wing Commander III. And he was Herman Munster in 73 episodes of The Munsters Today.
DeleteHerman Munster! Of course! And I'm happy that my feeling about him being in everything is not incorrect.
DeleteI've long wondered if Delenn's bone tiara is supposed to be attached to her skull anywhere but at her temples. I applaud her stylist* if it is, in fact, attached all the way around.
ReplyDelete*Probably poor Lennier.
I've often wondered how it works. Does her hair go under it? Or does she have two separate bits of hair, one on top and one in the back?
DeleteI was always confused by that as well, so I looked it up and jms explained online that a Minbari's head bone grows out from the sides of the head and fuses in the middle. Delenn's head is smaller after the transformation so now there's a gap for her to thread the hair through. Slowly, with great patience.
DeleteAlso in my head she always drags Ivanova down from C&C whenever she wants to try a new style, as she's the only expert on human hair that she trusts. Lennier had only ever seen hair in photographs until he was in his twenties so it's probably best he sticks to cooking the flarn.
You're right about his lack of experience, but my trimmer set came with a small manual describing how to do various haircuts, and we know Lennier is an ace with manuals.
DeleteYou're right about the Draal and Ranger subplots. They do seem to suffer from a bit of "the characters know what the writer knows even though they shouldn't" which makes them not question what they're doing or being promised, because they subliminally know what's in JMS' outline. I probably didn't notice it the first time I watched this episode, since of course I also knew some things the characters shouldn't have known, plus I knew JMS was foreshadowing.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do like the idea I just had, which is that Sheridan makes his "line is drawn" speech whenever he's given some control over a group of people. It killed when he was put in charge of decorating for junior prom.