{"id":7143,"date":"2019-01-04T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T21:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7143"},"modified":"2018-12-25T16:56:29","modified_gmt":"2018-12-26T00:56:29","slug":"mark-watches-babylon-5-s04e05-the-long-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2019\/01\/mark-watches-babylon-5-s04e05-the-long-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Babylon 5’: S04E05 – The Long Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth episode of the fourth season of Babylon 5<\/i>, help me. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Babylon 5<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of torture, genocide<\/b>.<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how to handle this. How is this barely<\/i> the fifth episode this season??? EVERYTHING IS ON 100% ALL OF THE TIME.<\/p>\n

The Fall of Cartagia<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a moment near the end of this episode that is chilling in its ability to force us to reflect on the nature of G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization. At the start of Babylon 5<\/i>, G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar was understandably obsessed with revenge, with wanting to punish the Centauri, with the notion that violence was often to answer. And I say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153understandably\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because the show made the case that the Centauri occupation of Narn had never truly been dealt with, at least not in any meaningful sense. So when G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lorn, who was helping to trash the secondary Centauri palace on Narn, tells G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for them to get their vengeance, I was brought back in time. Years prior to this, this is exactly<\/i> what G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar would have wanted and what he would have fought for.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t who he is anymore. Not by a long shot! His transformation over the course of this show has been so fascinating to me because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like his fire has ever been dulled. He might not be obsessed with vengeance anymore, but that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean he has no anger. No spark. No fire. Rather, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s directed elsewhere. He was one of the first people to begin seriously warning of the return of the Shadows, and his work to resist the second Centauri occupation was history-making. But he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a character who has learned from his past, who has seen the mistakes in his actions or his beliefs, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s has ACTIVELY CHANGED THEM. So, when G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lorn questions what G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar has endured, that very notion is… well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s laughable. How could you possibly assume anything else? Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the immediate past to reference: G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar, a figure portrayed like Christ in Golgotha, withstood Cartagia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s torture so that he could help free Narn from Centauri control. The very thing that G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lorn is celebrating is due to what G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar endured! So how can G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Kar even entertain that question without laughing?<\/p>\n

There are two very<\/i> different reactions to Cartagia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s murder in this episode, and on the other end of spectrum is Vir, who… lord, what do I even say? Just minutes before his fate unfolded onscreen, Londo was teasing Vir about how no one could ever believe he would do something sneaky or immoral. But then, after Cartagia attacks Londo at the exact worst point, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left with the weapon that will poison the emperor.<\/p>\n

And he does it.<\/p>\n

HE ACTUALLY KILLS SOMEONE.<\/p>\n

I appreciate so much<\/i> that this act is given such weight within the narrative because Vir is certainly not the person we would expect to do this. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s significant because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largely kept himself detached from the more seedy aspects of his empire. Even when he was helping Narn refugees, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a direct thing; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all been through something or someone else. Here, though, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no distance. Literally<\/i> so. Vir must witness someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life leaving their body because he<\/i> killed them. So it made sense to me that pretty much immediately afterwards, he got drunk. It dulled the pain. It put that distance back between him and what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done. And if this is how Vir reacts in the hours after this, how is it going to change him in the distant future? What happens before we see Vir take over the throne? Because oh my god, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still on that path! Londo is Prime Minister now, one step closer to being emperor. HELP.<\/p>\n

Fighting Back<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still trying to wrap my mind around the escalation that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m experiencing here. Just a couple episodes ago, the main concern was a pre-emptive strike against Z\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122dum. By the end of this episode, that plan is scrapped for one that feels so huge, so monstrously important, that I genuinely do not understand what the rest of season four is going to do to me. And the reason that decision is even made is because the Vorlon and Shadow War has gotten so unnecessarily intense that Sheridan feels compelled to finally air this shit out RIGHT NOW. After countless worlds were destroyed by the Vorlons, we get to witness the Shadows fight back.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it at all surprising that they fight back in such a dirty way? The whole Death Cloud thing is… look. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like the Vorlons have a strong moral ground here, either. Both sides are horrific for what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that extra twist of awful in the construction of the Death Cloud, which doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just destroy a world. It makes the people living there suffer extensively while it happens. It traps them, then bores bombs down to the core, triggering explosions that eventually make the place completely uninhabitable forever. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so exceedingly cruel just for the sake of it. Look, I know Garibaldi is grumpy and weird now (what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on???), but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not wrong. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no way to stop either side when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got weapons of that magnitude.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the impetus for what is set in motion here, but going back to a point I made in the last review, Babylon 5<\/i> does not shy away from portraying the notion of cost. Here, the price to be paid comes in the form of Ericsson, the commander of one of the White Stars, played with a dutiful sadness by Bryan Cranston. It is not uncommon for stories dealing with warfare to have plots like this, where someone is asked to make a sacrifice for the greater good. However, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stark honesty to it here, particularly in how \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Long Night\u00e2\u20ac\u009d portrays Sheridan asking for Ericsson to give his life. It does not happen in a closed room in front of a few generals or command staff. Sheridan asks Ericsson this in front of the entire<\/i> room of the League, and there is a gut-wrenching moment when everyone there realizes that Ericsson has not put two-and-two together. And for what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, I respect that Sheridan did this in the open, to make it clear he understood what was going on and what he was asking of that ship.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so intense, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and I imagine that will remain one of the most haunting images from this entire show. Lord, the Shadows took the bait, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to be a showdown at Coriana. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not ready. I TRULY AM NOT READY.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Long Night\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"