Bo & Mac take us on a tour of the station’s hottest broken panels, Byron continues to be mondo creepy, Lockley is back, and SPOO! 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. Bo & Mac Aren’t Dead
Another banger of an episode wow. Season 5 is firing on all cylinders, taking risks, and proving that a change in network hasn’t changed it all that much. We’ll see if that holds but for now I’m loving it. “A View From the Gallery” also wears its influences on its sleeve as JMS is 100% doing a riff on the absurdist play(‘s film) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. If you haven’t seen it, the basic premise is “What if ‘Hamlet’ but from his bros’ perspective?” It’s a little more odd than this episode – seriously, there’s an entire scene where they play badminton in an echoey, empty court trading witticisms before being interrupted by the actual play and then going back to dicking around – but the episode captures the same feeling of passing in and out of the “true” narrative.
What works best, too, is while things are obviously meta, with these two characters able to provide color commentary on the action, Straczynski keeps things earnest and doesn’t break the fourth wall. Oh the whole crew is clearly in on the joke, like how we don’t get nearly as many music cues beneath big moments, but none of them ever make it clear that they know we know. Take the scene where Garibaldi and Lockley are fighting in the elevator.
Everything about it is exactly how it would play out in a normal episode, with the sole exception of Bo & Mac’s uncommented upon appearance in the background, thus transforming Garibaldi’s one-liner at the end from serious to hilarious. Sure they give each other a look and comment on the fight but they don’t lampoon the ridiculousness of a real person saying the end scene stinger line to themselves. By providing an in-universe audience to what are normally audience-less scenes, JMS can play up the inherent silliness of TV’s conventions in a way that’s engaging, fun, and not obtrusive to the show.
2. Richard Bigg’s Boyhood Dream
Franklin gets all the good lines, doesn’t he? I’m still thinking about that speech he gives to Bo in the med lab about why he will save anyone and everyone he can. Have I heard it in various forms a million times before? Yes. Would I listen again? Abso-fucking-lutely I would. Not only does Richard Bigg’s have the perfect presence but the argument about the value of life has rarely been made more cogent than here.
It helps that it’s coming from a doctor and not, say, Batman but still.
3. Thou Art a Nave and a Charlatan
Byron continues to be super skeevy and living up to his namesake. I don’t know why I don’t trust this guy. He’s supposed to be representative of the new telepathic society and inspired by, I presume, the hippie movement but each successive appearance of him gives me serious cult leader vibes instead. He leads a commune. It’s very exclusive and hostile to outsiders. And he promises big things and is charismatic…or at least very good with words, if not tone.
Why I’m conflicted is I don’t know if it’s intentional or not. Take the moment when Bo is telepathically put into the mind of a Star Fury pilot. It’s supposed to be a moment of connection and wonder, and it is, but it carries with it an air of addiction. Like Byron is giving Bo a taste of product. Like he’s channeling Morden.
I don’t think this is the vibe Straczynski is going for, per say, but I also think he’s playing up the mysterious figure angle to keep everyone unsettled. Byron has a lot of promises and hopes, some of them benign and others more dangerous. He seems to be a radical hiding behind the face of a moderate and so it’s hard to gauge what he actually wants and what he’ll do to get it. I’m curious and afraid and wondering how right he may actually be, however distasteful some of that correctness is.
Continued below4. So Whaddya Think of the President?
Can I stop to appreciate the banter that Mac & Bo have throughout the episode? It still feels scripted, sure, but it also feels more working class, water cooler than I’m usually accustomed to. I’ve also become so used to TV where every line is in service to a narrative or emotional arc, it’s nice to have two characters just shoot the shit and pass rumors back and forth as they go about their day.
It also gives us insights into what regular people think about the crew while, once again, allowing them to mirror the audience. What do they think about Lockley? Confusion about whether or not Sheridan died? Commenting on the strange relationship between Londo & G’Kar, who hate the other yet talk so intimately and openly with one another others think they must be married. Even the price of a good sandwich!
It’s all there. It’s all relatable. And they’re not afraid to get philosophical too. I wish I could have conversations like these, that go from surface level to deep and back and forth with ease. I know it’s TV and scripted but still, it’s a skill and a privilege to have people one can talk to that easily.
5. Rules? Where We’re Going We Don’t Need Rules.
I could talk about any number of things in this episode for my final thought. The mysterious instrument that goes boop that never comes back. Garibaldi getting dunked on. Londo getting dunked on. The absolutely heartbreaking scene of Franklin checking each body in the main boarding area. Mac’s declaration at the end that Lockley is “alright in my book.” Instead, I want to talk about Delenn getting out of going onto a life pod ship.
Actually the Franklin one gets a quick mention because fuck was that a gut punch. And it lasts so long too, I thought the episode would end right there. It doesn’t, instead ending on a note reinforcing the hope at the core of the series, but damn was that effective.
OK. Delenn: the Ultimate Rules Lawyer. I love this scene. It’s fun, it’s the kind of thing we’d see from Delenn’s point of view in other episodes, and it drives home just how clever she is, especially when it comes to standing for what she believes in. Her wanting to stay on the station is symbolic, yes, but it is also born from knowing she can help here rather than be stuck helpless out in the pod AND from her desire to stay by Sheridan’s side. He doesn’t get to go down with the ship without her, Valen dammit!
And the kicker to the whole thing is that she remembers Mac & Bo later, two characters who would normally just be extras in the background thanks to the realities of TV (and real life.) I love it all. I laughed, I smiled, I got another reason to respect Delenn. All in all, a great set of scenes.
5.5. SPOO!
That about does it for now. Join me again in a week for a Zack attack, reports from the rangers, and Lockely’s secrets on the station where nothing is the same anymore.
This is Elias. Signing out.
Best Lines of the Night:
1. Bo: “I heard he was dead.”
Mac: “Well…nobody’s perfect.”
2. G’kar: “You did not grow up. You grew old.”
