Lennier delivers some bad news, Vir drinks too much, and Londo channels his inner Scrooge. Welcome my friends. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2262. The place: Babylon 5.
Spoilers ahead.
1. Becoming a Monk: 23rd Century Style
Say it isn’t so! Don’t tell me Lennier is leaving the show. I refuse to believe it. Mostly because there’s no way that he’ll be gone for too long. He’s still got a credit in the opening after all.
I’m actually really interested in seeing where we go from here with Lennier. With him leaving the station to become a ranger, Delenn is now without an attache and a vital friend. She has Sheridan, yes, but he doesn’t understand Delenn in the same way Lennier did. It makes for a heartrending B plot despite it being so low-key.
It’s plots like these that make me appreciate JMS’ writing. It could have been easy to make Lennier’s departure from B5 the source of immense tension or huge emotions. Instead, every scene is understated in only the way Bill Mumy could do. He isn’t bitter, and he isn’t angry, and he isn’t ashamed. You can see how much it hurts him to leave but also you can see the determination in his eyes, the certainty that this is the right move because he is no longer needed in the way he once was or in the way he hoped he one day could be.
I also appreciate how Sheridan respected this as something for Delenn and Lennier only. He had a mature conversation with Delenn about it, sure, but he got out of the way when it came time for Delenn to see Lennier off and didn’t go storming off to talk to/confront Lennier. I also want to point out that in the course of that conversation we find out that if Sheridan had been just a bit more poly, he may have come around to being in a throuple, though that is contingent on Delenn, who also didn’t see Lennier in romantic terms like she saw Sheridan.
So bon voyage Lennier. May your path bring you back soon.
2. Sheer Heart Attack
Can we all stop to appreciate how Londo starts the episode by being his most annoying self? Griping about customs stopping his special booze for the first time while Vir tries to be diplomatic with Zack? Such a great way to open and the perfect catalyst for the heart attack that subsequently kicks off the A plot.
You know what’s even better than that, though? The medical explanation for why this heart attack is so damaging. It’s been established before that the Centauri have two hearts but it turns out that the two hearts do different things. I mean, they both pump blood but the right heart is more like a traditional heart i.e. muscle that pumps blood, while the left heart is more like a combo Kidney/Heart.
I was enraptured by this explanation. There’s not a lot of time spent on it but it’s demonstrative of the thought Straczynski put into the show, both in terms of how to express why things were so dire but also create a believable sci-fi reason that wasn’t too complicated or farfetched. Seriously, this episode was nearly perfect from top to bottom and this is one of the reasons why. God I love this show.
3. I’ll Drink to That
The ever suffering Vir can’t be given a break, even in a new season. First he thinks Londo was poisoned, which considering how many enemies he has as both a person and emperor-elect isn’t too much of a stretch, then he finds out Londo’s heart attack was in the LEFT heart and so he goes to drink his sorrows away. I really love the conversation he and Lennier have about endings. It’s somber but also funny, which is kinda the mood of the episode.
As always, Mumy & Furst play off each other wonderfully. Even though it’s only a short scene, much like many of the others, it’s impactful and while not directly important, it is thematically resonant. Any excuse to see the two be sad together is fine by me too.
Continued below4. What Do You Want?
The A-plot of the episode, as mentioned above, is Londo’s heart attack. It’s so serious that he’s unconscious for the vast majority of the episode and ends up having death visions. To balance the heaviness of all that, “The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari” takes the time to have some levity, both intentional and not. Sheridan takes some cracks at Londo never shutting up, some cards bleed Kool-aid, and the visions & Londo have some great lines to each other. However, the crux remains Londo’s slow
death and the reckoning that must come from it.
To wit, the central question of Londo’s visions seems to be “do you want to live?” Obviously the answer ends up being yes but Londo takes a little to get there. Why? Well, because he is tired. On some level he knows that his life is not what he wanted it to be and it is easier if he goes out now. But he also has a deep desire to continue on, to become the emperor and finally live up to all the stories he told about himself.
To get the chance to keep going, in spite of the stress and the past.
This is a noble goal but this is Londo Molari we’re talking about; noble is not who he truly is. Sure, he’s not evil either but he did not get to be where he is through honor and kindness. Because of this, an answer of yes is not enough to keep his heart from failing. He must do what is most difficult for a man such as Londo: look back.
5. Every Now and Then I Get a Little Bit Londo
What does Londo see when he looks at his past?
Blood. Death. Destruction. He sees his interpersonal failings. He sees what he gave up to climb in his society. Importantly, he doesn’t see the deal with Morden anymore. But that isn’t all. What he sees and what he is damned for most?
Silence.
Silence in the face of oppression. Complicity. And a selfishness to his acts of goodness. G’Kar in his vision confronts him with all this, showing the hypocrisy in Londo’s claims he has changed after helping Narn become independent again. It’s not that Londo is disingenuous or schemes to do bad through doing good but his motives are born from wanting to protect his homeworld rather than from a greater sense of justice. What he failed to do, what he failed to grasp until confronted by it, was recognize the hurt he was a part of.
He denies culpability throughout the episode for the horrible deeds of others he helped enable nor for the prejudices that started him on the path of aligning himself with genocidal emperors and armies. Yes he may not have had much choice by the time things got truly heinous but he still had a voice and, as G’Kar points out, an obligation to try.
He was not some cog in a machine. He held some power. He was in direct proximity to these horrors and he simply stood by. Horrified, yes, but silent.
Then, when the horrors were over and he finally spoke up and did something, he still remained silent on his own actions’ consequences. His pride would not let him admit personal wrongdoing. He would rather die. And he almost does.
In order to live, the Londo that was must die. It’s a pretty harrowing scene, him taking the place of G’Kar on the post and refusing to cry out just like him until right before the 40th lash, though less so than the original. However, once he relinquishes his pride, he is able to begin changing. He apologizes to G’kar, first in the vision and then in reality. It is not enough, yes, but it is a start.
It is enough to live.
That about does it for now. Join me again in a week for telepaths, principled clashes, and the return of Lyta Alexander on the station that questions your wants.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Continued belowBest Lines of the Night:
1. Londo: “Leave me alone.”
G’Kar: “No.”
2. Londo: “People are not being very charitable around here.”
Vision Sheridan: “There’s a time for charity and a time for truth. You’re almost out of both.”
3. Vision G’Kar: “You want to believe you’ve changed. You want to feel good about yourself. You’re not sorry for what you did! You’re just sorry that you got caught! That you almost destroyed your Homeworld because of it.
Londo: “That’s not true.”
Vision G’Kar: “Well, then prove it. Just a word, Mollari. That’s all it takes.”
Londo: “I’ve never apologized for anything in my life.”
Vision G’Kar: “Yes, so I see. It’s your life, Mollari. Make of it what you will.”
