“The Long, Twilight Struggle”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John C. Flinn III
Season 2, Episode 20
Production episode 219
Original air date: October 18, 1995
It was the dawn of the third age… On Centauri Prime, Refa has summoned Mollari to the throne room. Emperor Cartagia is out among the people being a nice figurehead, and Refa plays at sitting on the throne. Mollari, meanwhile, is peevish, still pissed at Refa for censuring Jaddo. Refa announces that they are making a final strike on the Narn homeworld using mass drivers. Mollari points out that mass drivers are forbidden by interstellar treaty, which Refa blows off without a thought. Intelligence has learned that the Narn are devoting a huge task force to attack Centauri supply lines on Gorash, leaving their homeworld less well defended. Refa wants to take advantage of this to attack Narn—but they can only do it if Mollari can get the Shadows to defend Gorash. Mollari reluctantly agrees, but also states that this is the last time he’s going to call upon the Shadows for a favor, a declaration that sounds incredibly self-delusional and unconvincing.
CnC detects an energy surge from Epsilon III, and holograms of Draal appear in both Delenn’s and Sheridan’s quarters. Draal explains to Sheridan—who hadn’t yet been assigned to B5 when Draal communed with the Great Machine—who he is and what he’s been doing. He invites Sheridan and Delenn both to meet with him on the planet.
A Narn WarLeader named G’Sten comes to B5. He is G’Kar’s uncle, and he informs G’Kar of the plan to attack Gorash. While the Kha’Ri have publicly been very rah-rah, the truth is, the war is going very badly for them. An attack on Centauri supply lines will force them to withdraw and give the Narn a chance to catch their breath. However, it’s risky, as it will leave the homeworld poorly defended, and he ain’t kiddin’…
Despite Garibaldi’s objections about the dangers of going to Epsilon III, Sheridan and Delenn head down. They are greeted by a holographic projection of Draal, and they also see Draal’s physical form in the alcove of the Great Machine. Draal explains that for the past year he has been acclimating himself to the Great Machine, and also observing Sheridan. He has come to the conclusion that Sheridan is trustworthy, and pledges the resources of the Great Machine to B5 as an ally. And based on what he’s observed of the galaxy in the last year, B5 is going to be a necessary component to an army of light that will be needed to combat the darkness. Draal also urges Delenn to introduce Sheridan to “the others.”
Franklin summons G’Kar to medlab, which is full of injured Narns. Franklin’s been hearing talk from his patients that the Centauri aren’t staying to secure worlds they’ve attacked like usual, but quickly moving on. Franklin, the son of a general, is worried that this is indicative of a big change in strategy. G’Kar agrees, and immediately contacts G’Sten, urging him to break off the assault on Gorash. But G’Sten says it’s too late for that, they’re committed.
Sure enough, G’Sten’s forces jump into the Gorash system only to be greeted by Shadow ships, which absolutely massacre them, with comparatively minimal casualties on the Shadow side.
Meantime, the Centauri are invading Narn. Refa brings Mollari with him on the cruiser Valerius, so he can observe the republic’s triumph personally. Mollari watches in horror as the mass drivers bombard the surface of the Narn homeworld.
When news of the invasion hits ISN, a fight breaks out in the Zocalo between Narn and Centauri. Ivanova and Garibaldi have to put the station on lockdown to keep more fights from breaking out.
The bombardment lasts for three days. G’Kar is informed by the Kha’Ri that they will have to surrender, and they make a difficult request of him: he must seek sanctuary on B5 so he may remain at large. G’Kar does so, and Sheridan sadly grants it.
Mollari arrives at B5 and requests a council meeting. At this meeting, he announces that the Narn Regime has surrendered and is once again a part of the Centauri Republic. To that end, all members of the Kha’Ri has been ordered to surrender for trial, with a new provisional government being put in place by the Centauri Republic. Sheridan’s request for Earth to send observers to those trials is denied. In addition, any death of a Centauri that is caused by a Narn will result in five hundred Narn (among them the killer and their entire family) being executed.
Finally, Mollari requests that G’Kar be turned over to him, as he is one of the Kha’Ri, and which is required by the terms of this new treaty agreement. Sheridan refuses, as G’Kar has been granted sanctuary on B5, which is owned and operated by Earth Alliance, who did not sign the treaty in question. Delenn backs him up, making it clear that Mollari isn’t going to win this particular argument, and so he relents.
However, G’Kar is no longer Narn’s ambassador, so he no longer has the standing to be on the council. No one can deny that, given the Narn’s surrender, and so G’Kar is dismissed from the council chambers, though not before giving a very impassioned speech.
Later, Sheridan apologizes to G’Kar and promises to do whatever he can to help the Narn regain their freedom. He is then summoned to a conference room by Delenn, and is greeted by, not just Delenn, but also Garibaldi, Kosh, and a whole mess of humans and Minbari all dressed in spiffy black robes. These are the Rangers, and as of right now, Sheridan is sharing duties as leader of the Rangers on B5. Sheridan repeats Draal’s sentiment that B5 will be a beacon of light against the darkness.
Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan gets to meet Draal, gain a mess of new allies and resources (Draal, the Great Machine, the Rangers), and also get to show up Mollari during his triumphant declaration of victory by denying him G’Kar.
The household god of frustration. Garibaldi meets Mollari when he returns to B5 and the tension between the two of them makes it clear that whatever repairs were made to their friendship in “Acts of Sacrifice” are now completely undone.
If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn is thrilled to see Draal, throws her (and Minbar’s) support behind G’Kar’s asylum request, and finally introduces Sheridan to the Rangers.
In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Privately, Mollari is appalled by what has transpired. He finds himself backed into a corner by Refa with regards to having the Shadows defend Gorash, and he watches in absolute disgust and horror as Narn is bombed back to the stone age. However, publicly, he does his job, representing the interests of the Centauri Republic with brutal efficiency.
Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. G’Kar’s brilliant and moving speech before departing the council chamber includes the phrase from whence this section derives. We see G’Kar discovering too late that the homeworld may be in jeopardy, watch him pray to G’Quan for his people to be successful, intercut with the battle at Gorash where it becomes clear that those prayers will go unanswered (or, perhaps, that the answer to those prayers was “no”), and be stripped of his diplomatic post and privileges.
We live for the one, we die for the one. The Rangers go from being a background element to being a foreground element, finally. We’ll be seeing much more of them in the soon-to-arrive third season, with a Ranger joining the opening credits and the group taking a much more active role henceforth.
The Shadowy Vorlons. We see a lot more Shadows defending Gorash than we’ve seen in one place before—obviously they’re increasing their presence bit by bit.
While he has no dialogue, Kosh is part of the meeting where Sheridan is introduced to the Rangers, tacitly showing Vorlon support for the endeavor.
Welcome aboard. The great John Schuck takes over the role of Draal from Louis Turenne, who played the role in the “A Voice in the Wilderness” two-parter. Schuck will return in the role in “Voices of Authority.”
The late great W. Morgan Sheppard, who last appeared as the titular character in “Soul Hunter,” plays G’Sten.
Rif Hutton plays the ISN reporter, and we have recurring regulars William Forward as Refa, back from “Knives,” next in “Ceremonies of Light and Dark,” and Joshua Cox as Corwin, last in “Divided Loyalties,” returning in “Comes the Inquisitor.”
Trivial matters. This episode marks the end of the Centauri-Narn War that started in “The Coming of Shadows.”
Mollari still holds a grudge against Refa for putting him in the position of having to kill his best friend in “Knives.” That episode also first named Emperor Cartagia, who is also referenced by Refa in this episode, indicated to be a mere figurehead for Refa’s consortium of aristocrats. Cartagia will prove to be much more than that when we finally see him in season four.
Mass drivers are a science fictional concept that has been used in a great deal of fiction—E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman books for one; Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress for another—and it’s basically shooting a rock from orbit. Okay, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s what it boils down to. It’s a simple, but effective way of causing mass destruction without much outlay of power.
We will later (in “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”) find out that Na’Toth was on Narn when the Centauri bombarded it. She will be presumed dead until “A Tragedy of Telepaths.”
In the council meeting, there is an empty seat intended for the Markab representative, but that species was virtually wiped out in “Confessions and Lamentations.”
Louis Turenne was unable to continue in the heavy-makeup role of Draal, and so was replaced by John Schuck, with the claim that the Great Machine made him younger (though Schuck is only seven years Turenne’s junior). As a make-good, J. Michael Straczynski created the role of Brother Theo for Turrene, a role in which he’ll appear in three episodes of the third season.
Draal is apparently aided on Epsilon III by Zathras, whom we saw in “Babylon Squared.” This will be explained in the “War Without End” two-parter.
The Rangers were introduced, and Garibaldi first learned of them (and was told to keep them a secret), in “The Coming of Shadows.” The “old friend” who told him to keep the Rangers under his proverbial hat is Sinclair, who is inexplicably not named, even though Delenn and now Sheridan share leadership of the Rangers with him.
The echoes of all of our conversations.
“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.”
—G’Kar’s speech following his being stripped of his diplomatic post.
The name of the place is Babylon 5. “We will hold that line, no matter the cost.” One of the first things I said in this rewatch is that an episode without Mollari and G’Kar doesn’t bear thinking about. This episode is a classic case of why I said that, because holy shit, do Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas just own this damn episode, aided by a great script by J. Michael Straczynski and superlative direction by John C. Flinn III (one of the show’s cinematographers and directors of photography).
One of the lasting images of the entire franchise is Mollari looking out the window of the Valerius watching in disgust and horror as the Narn homeworld is, basically, destroyed.
However, while he may be privately disgusted, in public, he takes to fascism like a duck to water. Indeed, the only thing that gives him pause is Sheridan standing up to him (literally, as Sheridan gets to his feet when he denies him the ability to arrest G’Kar). Aside from that minor setback, Mollari is a force of nature in the council chambers, and it’s a remarkable performance. That setback doesn’t set him back very far, either, as he runs right over Sheridan’s attempt to delay G’Kar’s removal from the council.
And then G’Kar gives a magnificent speech—on a show that is full of speeches, magnificent and otherwise—which is quoted above, and which Katsulas delivers with in a beautifully understated yet passionate tone, a speech of quiet, angry dignity. It’s almost impossible to credit that this is the same character as the cardboard-cutout villain of “The Gathering,” who wouldn’t know dignity if it bit him on his spotted butt.
Speaking of character changes, it’s really hilarious that they cast the bombastic John Schuck, who never met a line of dialogue he couldn’t shout and/or overenunciate, to replace the quiet, placid Louis Turenne. But Schuck is always a joy, and he plays the role of Draal with gusto.
The only part of the episode that falls flat is the very ending, as it feels like Sheridan is being introduced to the Rangers, not because it’s the right time in the story, but because it’s the right time of the season (there’s only two left after this). I dunno, the thing I’m getting most out of this rewatch is a frustration with how long it’s taking for things to be revealed that don’t need to be delayed.
Still and all, this is one of the high points of the series, a tour de force for Jurasik and Katsulas in particular, and an important episode for the overall storyline.
Next week: “Comes the Inquisitor.”
