This is probably the episode I revisit most often from Season 2.  Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are absolutely amazing in every scene, two legendary scifi guest actors nail their scenes, several huge pieces of plot get resolved or moved forward, and it has one of the top three space battles of the show.  All in all a great episode that is also emotionally devastating.

We start the episode in the cramped throne room of the Centauri Republic.  Our favorite sleazeball Refa is in high spirits, summoning Londo to the throne room, and casually showing off his connections by draping himself on the throne itself and hinting that the emperor lets him call the shots. After the events in “Knives” Londo is in no mood for his bullshit.  Refa brushes off his rudeness, and excitedly tells Londo that the Narn-Centauri War is about to end, and Londo will get much of the credit for ending it. 

Back on the station, Delenn gets visited by an old friend and poor Lt. Corwin is concerned with power fluctuations, coming from Epsilon 3.  Before anyone can warn him, Capt. Sheridan also gets a visit from Delenn’s old friend Draal, now played by John Schuck, who just appears in his quarters.  The change in actors from the previous season is explained away as the Great Machine restoring some of his youth, and he invites Sheridan down to the planet for a visit, telling him he can bring one other person.  

G’Kar gets to receive a cataclysmic briefing from his uncle, War Leader G’Sten, played by W. Morgan Sheppard. He reveals that the government has been lying about how the war is going, even to its own members, and that the Centauri have pushed the Narn military back on every front.  G’Sten lets G’Kar in on the plan he has to reverse the trend.  A planet called Garash 7 contains the main Centauri military depot that is supplying all of their advances.  He plans to commit nearly all of the most powerful Narn ships to one all out strike to cut this line, which will cause the Centauri to have to pull back from their attacks and give the Narn a chance to reorganize their forces.  G’Kar points out that this plan is risky, but G’Sten responds by bluntly stating that without a change in strategy the Narn will lose the war.  The two share a sweet moment where they talk as family members instead of people with titles, and G’Sten leaves to prepare the attack.  

Meanwhile Londo gets a parallel briefing.  Refa lets him know that the Centauri have learned of G’Sten’s plan and know when and where he will attack.  Londo is impressed, but quickly becomes alarmed when Refa indicates that the Centauri Navy will not be protecting the supply depot. Instead he wants the Shadows to protect the supplies while the majority of the Centauri Navy launches a strike on the Narn home world. He also reveals that they plan on bombarding the planet from orbit prior to invasion. Londo is horrified by the plan and tries in vain to come up with an excuse not to do it, but Refa rounds on him, putting the responsibility for the entire thing on Londo’s shoulders, and telling him that the whole plan hinges on his support. It is deeply shitty, and openly manipulative but Londo relents to it anyway, and agrees to make sure the Shadows ambush the Narn fleet. 

Delenn, Sheridan, and Garibaldi are arguing over whether or not they should take Draal up on his offer.  Garibaldi offers a bunch of concerns, but Delenn trusts Draal, and Sheridan is too excited to get to see the machine and they decide to go despite the security chief’s objections.  They shoot on down to the planet where they get to meet Draal in person.  He formally puts the Great Machine at their disposal, and even lets Sheridan know he has been watching and knows Sheridan’s secrets, and he approves of how Sheridan has been handling himself. 

The dueling briefings have set up the coming tragic battle pretty well, but we also get a scene with Franklin and G’Kar that just twists the knife.  Franklin lets G’Kar know that a batch of Narn colonists have escaped to Babylon 5, mostly due to the Centauri abruptly breaking off their attack and withdrawing their ships.  He also lets G’Kar know that the Centauri had captured one of the refugees and tortured him for information on the Narn home world defenses.  G’kar runs to let G’Sten know this new information, but G’Sten insists that he cannot call off his operation without solid proof.

The battle between the Narn ships and the Shadows is gorgeous.  The staging emphasizes the huge distances between the ships, which is rare for TV scifi even to this day.  This the most openly we have seen the Shadows move, and they are just as deadly as they usually are, though notably in this fight we get to see that they are not invincible when the Narns manage to concentrate their fire and disable one of the Shadow’s ships.  G’Sten makes the sensible decision to get the fleet the hell out there, and the Shadows reveal a new trick when they collapse the jump points on top of the Narn ships and obliterate them.  The whole thing is interspersed with shots of G’Kar frantically praying, which adds to the sense of doom.  All in all an amazing set piece and it feels kind of like the effects department showing off how much they have learned over the past two years in terms of what they can accomplish with the computer imagery.

Draal is escorting Sheridan and Delenn around the machine, when he detects disturbances coming from Narn.  He asks that the Captain and Delenn return right away, and that means they miss the reveal that Zathras, the mystery alien from Babylon 4 apparently lives on the planet with Draal. 

Back on the station ISN breaks the news that the Centauri are attacking the Narn home world.  This promptly starts a riot as the station as Narns begin attacking any Centauri they can find.  The show moves from this pretty low stakes violence to show the bombardment and even with the limited special effects, it looks pretty awful.  Londo is watching through a window and he looks appropriately horrified by everything that he has personally made possible.  It is a pretty good contrast with how jubilant Refa was earlier.  

An ISN talking head, played by Rif Hutton, lets us know that the Centauri have continued the bombardment for four days and completely destroyed every Narn city.  We even get the asshole senator from “And Now for a Word” name dropped as saying the Narn are being bombed back into the stone age.  The Narn government contact G’Kar and let him know they plan on surrendering because they cant fight back anymore.  They let him know he is the only government official that is currently safe, and they command him to ask for sanctuary on Babylon 5. 

Londo arrives back on the station and very imperiously requests a meeting be called for him to make an announcement. The meeting commences and we get an amazing scene.  Londo is vengeful and superior, listing off the horrendous conditions under which the Narn surrendered, and he moves on to full fury when Sheridan and Delenn deny his demand that G’Kar be sent home to be killed. I will stop describing it and just invite you to watch for yourself. One small detail I have always appreciated is that there is still a seat marked “Markab” though it is obviously now empty. 

There is nice short scene afterward where Londo is enjoying the news that his people are at least happy with the great victory, and his happiness is immediately ruined by Earth’s media reporting on the Centauri making plans to go to war with several additional worlds.  Sheridan swings by G’Kar’s quarters in the aftermath and offers his help in regaing his world. G’Kar accepts, though he is still clearly devastated. 

Delenn calls Sheridan to a secret meeting, with Kosh, Garibaldi and the Rangers that we first saw back in “The Coming of Shadows”.  Delenn offers him co-command of the Rangers in the region, as a resource to begin fighting back against the Shadows.  Sheridan delivers a short rallying speech and we end the episode. 

This is one of my all time favorites like I mentioned.  I still get chills when G’Kar does his quiet speech in the council chambers, and the battle scene is still one the best scifi battle scenes I have seen in terms of staging.  If you are new to the series you can take in everything I just said, and then hear this: the show still manages to top this one.

Next week we get a slightly less weighty episode, where the interweaving conspiracies around the Earth government are front and center.  Shocking revelations abound in “Divided Loyalties”.

As always, a reminder that you can watch the episodes on Tubi with ads. 

Where do I know them from?

• John Schuck for me will always be the asshole Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV and VI.
• W. Morgan Sheppard is also of Star Trek, playing the warden or Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI.  He is also Lane Pryce’s awful father on Mad Men, and fun fact he is the father of actor Mark Sheppard, who is also much beloved by scifi fans.  He was also the soul hunter way back in season 1. 
• Rif Hunter was in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, which I watched with some other Avocadans. Other nerds may know him for a recurring role in Dougie Howser, M.D. 

The Good

• This is one of the all time great episodes, I think everything works really well.

The Bad

• Sorry, nothing comes to mind for this one.  Just Babylon 5 confidently hitting it’s stride.

Arc Points (Spoilers Ahead)

• The Rangers, which will be huge parts of the series in the remaining seasons, get a larger introduction here, and Sheridan is brought into the loop.
• Babylon 4 is teased here with the mention of Zathras, indicating that there may be a link between the Great Machine and the temporal disturbances in this part of space.
• This is the last episode that G’Kar is referred to as Ambassador G’Kar, from now on it is “G’Kar” or “Citizen G’Kar”.  
• All of the clues about mass drivers come together here and it is brutal.
• Londo is now entering a phase where he is tightrope walking between trying to keep his prominent position and trying to move his people out of the Shadow’s orbit. 
• Draal and the machine will factor in some crazy plots, but overall they dont go to the “magical machine on the planet” well too often which is good. 
• W. Morgan Sheppard was also a finalist for the role of G’Kar, which would have made for a very different character.