* SPOILERS (duh) *
No As and Bs and Cs, really — there's just one big plot, all tied into What's Going On with the Centauri (http://goo.gl/H78sJR). Their emperor is coming to B5 (http://goo.gl/13l1qO). Refa is coaching Londo to engage in PR to bring their faction to power after the failing emperor dies. G'Kar is planning on killing Emperor Turhan (http://goo.gl/sEZPON), whose father was the last murderous tyrant to oversee the Centauri occupation of the Narn homeworld.
And things go rapidly downhill (in a glorious, spectactular, gob-smacking way) from there. And by the time the dust settles (or the episode ends), Londo has sold another hefty chunk of his soul, G'Kar has gone from fury to determination to shame to giddiness to fury to despair (http://goo.gl/IYbK9c), the Shadows have made a big appearance (http://goo.gl/YtBKYe), Emperor Turhan is dead (http://goo.gl/RkpsfB), Kosh has said something ominous … and the Centauri and the Narn are once again at war (http://goo.gl/kNFCvp).
Oh, and the Rangers have been revealed, the spy network being run by Jeffrey Sinclair ("Hello, old friend") from Minbar … and by Delenn from B5 …
Whew! And, oh my God. And, whew!
Oh, and it won the 1996 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation (against Apollo 13 and Twelve Monkeys as the main competitors).
WHAM!
Knowing that this season of B5 was named after this episode had assembled fandom in a froth even before the ep aired. Not only did everyone walk away satisfied, but the goings-on had folks chattering and speculating for years … not the least of which was Londo's prophetic dream.
A word about that dream, with a description from the Lurker's Guide synopsis (http://goo.gl/E2cHrF):
Londo is asleep. As he is dreaming, he hears himself say, "Keep this up, G'Kar, and soon you won't have a planet to protect!" He sees a contigent of Narn fighters destroying the space station at Ragesh 3. Within seconds, that dissolves, and …
… He sees a great, fiery star with a hand emerging from it, reaching toward something (http://goo.gl/kY3f2n) …
… He sees Centauri Prime from orbit …
… He finds himself standing on the dusty or sandy surface of a planet ( http://goo.gl/WfEIJV), shielding his eyes from the sun as a group of Shadow ships fly overhead (http://goo.gl/XYD4Hd http://goo.gl/MnKJSS) …
… He stands, dressed in ceremonial clothing, his head bowed, as a crown is placed upon his head (http://goo.gl/CccOmL) …
… He sits on a large throne, dressed in elaborate white clothes. He is aged, decrepit, and ill. (http://goo.gl/S5aZ5h http://goo.gl/ocbqi1 http://goo.gl/B2ZPBP) Surveying his surroundings, he sees a Narn, his face aged and wrinkled, wrapped in a dark cloth. It is G'Kar (http://goo.gl/2D4gqg) …
… Londo once again sees the great hand, stretching further and further from the star, grasping at something …
… He is back in the throne room, in a struggle with G'Kar. They are both trying to strangle each other. (http://goo.gl/C1c3kg http://goo.gl/ATBt7F) Londo begins losing the struggle, and he begins to fall back, as …
… he wakes up.
Diabolical (http://goo.gl/QFrt3x). Londo mentioned dreams in passing in the very first episode of the series, "Midnight on the Firing Line" (the Ragesh 3 episode that established the Narn/Centauri dynamic, and painted the Narn as the aggressive and sneaky bad guys, the Centauri as the sympathetic, not-really-bad guys — a very conscious reversal of this episode). Londo said he knew he was destined to die, locked in struggle with G'Kar, and that such death dreams by Centauri always come true.
Now we've seen the dream, or the bits he was referring to. We've seen Londo as emperor, aged and failing. We've seen a ghastly, one-eyed G'Kar in the shadows come forward and strangle him. Yup, we've seen the entire end-game of that major plot thread of the show …
And what that plot thread will do is demonstrate that, just as with a flash-forward or future framing sequence in a novel, knowing the future isn't nearly as important as knowing how you get there. Moreover, in the limited glimpses you get, seeing the future isn't nearly as important as knowing what's actually going on at that moment.
Peter Jurasik gives a top-notch Londo performance. Here's a man who's wanted glory for his people forced to do things he knows are wrong (http://goo.gl/O5OVKD) in order to net that glory. Here's a man who's wanted recognition from the court dreaming of being crowned — and confessing he really prefers the safety of being behind the throne, not on it. Here's a man whose high points in life have been the conviviality of a shared drink, suddenly filled with horror (http://goo.gl/MA5Lyl) as G'Kar buys him one and toasts his health in the few brief moments between hearing that the Emperor came to B5 to apologize to the Narn and hearing that the Centauri have destroyed Narn's largest colony. Here's a man who's told by his dying emperor that he's damned, and who very much doesn't take it with a flippant jest the way his co-conspirator does (http://goo.gl/9VMBFI). Impressive.
He's aided in all this by Stephen Furst, coming into his own as Vir. Suddenly the cuddly, befuddled teddy bear of an assistant has become Jiminy Cricket, aware of how he and his people are stained by what Londo is doing, but unable to do anything but play Cassandra (http://goo.gl/USd7qL), with as much luck (http://goo.gl/6yOG5b).
Jurasik also aided by Andreas Katsulas, who turns in an amazing job as G'Kar. He hits the heights and the depths here — both grim determination (http://goo.gl/39w9ZK) and elation (http://goo.gl/9eaSqR), fury (http://goo.gl/rzskKA) and numb despair (http://goo.gl/jcuiAL). His abortive revenge-seeking on Londo, mere minutes after buying him drink, is a thing to see.
Bruce Boxleitner abruptly comes into his own as Sheridan. The jovial jarhead who gets jerked around by events on the station both gives G'Kar early on a major dressing down for missing an opportunity for peace (http://goo.gl/3C5oEL), shmoozes adeptly with Emperor Turhan, and reaches out to G'Kar afterward in determined compassion. He demonstrates his diplomatic chops as well, winning a minor victory in the council chambers over Londo, though even that is snatched away by the word that war has been declared.
Jerry Doyle's Garibaldi gets as close to a B-plot as there is, being tracked, turning on, then finding the secret of the guy who's been stalking him on B5 (http://goo.gl/SKxwYg). He's a Ranger, one of the Human/Minbari agents that Sinclair and some others have been running from Minbar, watching for signs of the Shadows' return. Sinclair has gotten the okay to bring Garibaldi into the conspiracy (http://goo.gl/xvykzU) and, through him (without spilling any secrets) Sheridan and Ivanova. It's not as well-handled of a narrative thread, even with a recording from Sinclair (hey, everyone, remember him?) to lend the Ranger's tale credence, but it's a small ray of hope and a not-insignificant widening of the scope of the battle to come. And, unlike so many threads we've seen of this sort, it will actually turn into something significant.
The only other member of the cast to get much face time (besides Delenn looking worried a lot) is Richard Biggs as Franklin. He not only gets to do his normal doctorly set piece thing, but the Emperor uses him to carry a message to G'Kar. He does so, in the rather smugly superior fashion that marks every Franklin appearance (http://goo.gl/WUBiX0). Alas for the people living in that universe, it's a message big enough to get G'Kar's attention, and too late to make any difference except crank up the Poignant Irony Meter to 12.
Kosh plays supporting role as the Most Disturbing Thing to Wake Up To on Your Death Bed, Looking Down at You (http://goo.gl/iKMNIf). He's there to tell the Emperor how things will end (for the war? for the Centauri?), and his reply "In fire" is appropriately understated in its unusually plain-speaking way.
Guest star-wise Turhan Bey rocks the hell out of the Emperor (who was retroactively named after him), speechifying beautifully on lost dreams and being pushed around by events, an old man at the end of his life and making one last attempt to make a difference (B5 – Emperor Turhan and Sheridan). He's perfect. William Forward as Refa returns as the perfect sniggering bad guy that everyone wants to see come to a bad end (http://goo.gl/4IDsVI), and provides the necessary contrast to his ally/pawn Londo. Only Fredric Lehne as the Ranger seems drawn from B5's usual stock company of people who can say their lines and that's about it.
The only key player missing here is Mr. Morden, who orchestrates the war-starting attack on Londo's behalf. His appearances are always great fun, his absence is appropriate — Morden has (apparently) become a tool in Londo's arsenal; the ambassador needs to be seen as responsible for that tool's use.
And that's the key to this whole episode (if not the series): the confluence of events and free choice into what later gets labeled as destiny. The characters here are all being swept along by buffeting currents, but at a moment where their own decisions make the most impact, almost all of them (save, too late, the Emperor) turn away from taking responsibility, saing "It's not my choice. The decision was already made." And there's enough truth and enough self-delusion in those statements to lend an air of epic tragedy to the proceedings. G'Kar turns down the opportunity for peace in favor of the simple calmness of becoming an assassin and weapon of racial vengeance. Londo is plainly aware of the warning signs, red flags, and klaxons at each step he takes, but takes those steps regardless, desperately telling himself he had no choice (http://goo.gl/QykK26). Now that the Narn and Centauri are at war, everyone else is going to have to make decisions, including whether to take sides — and those decisions in turn, driven by the current of events, will determine the much bigger game at stake here.
Overall, it's damn fine episode and justified the fans' faith that the show was worth the time investment. The next episode, "GROPOS," wouldn't be nearly as good — nothing could be — but the events of the Shadow War are, at this point, well under way.
Most Dramatic Moment: G'Kar races off to kill Londo, and is stopped by Sheridan. "They're doing it again." (http://goo.gl/gmPE9M)
Most Amusing Moment: This episode is rather devoid of humor, but G'Kar menacingly approaching Londo (http://goo.gl/AwhkvR), only to turn around, buy him a drink, and toast to his and his emperor's health would be the closest to it … if it weren't so damned tragic.
Most Arc-ish Moment: Well it's all dripping with arc. if I had to narrow it down Londo's prophetic dream (of which I find only scattered images, not a full visual analysis, let alone a video — one of the disadvantages of reviewing something from 1995, where limited Internet coverage and subsequent bitrot have taken their toll on the historical record …)
Overall Rating: 4.9 / 5 — This is an episode that people talking about hooking their friends on B5 about; I'm not so certain it stands alone so well, but it's one of the best of the series nonetheless, marred only by a few passinly weak moments. Triffic stuff.
Lurker’s Guide: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/031.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_Coming_of_Shadows
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517697/
AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-the-coming-of-shadows-95462
Noise2Signal: http://noise2sig.nl/2012/07/22/babylon-5-a-race-through-dark-places/
I'll note the episode was good enough that Kay expressed an interest in watching the next one. I demurred, since the next one ("GROPOS") isn't as good. We ended up finishing off the 4th season of "Big Bang Theory".