“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.”
The establishing shot of the Centauri palace featured in this episode looks somewhat better than the one used in The Coming of the Shadows.
Amusing little fakeout on the shower, with it initially being implied that it’s going to be Ivanova, but turns out to be Sheridan.
Riffable moments
Draal: I’ve been watching you for quite some time, Captain.
Hey, I read those for the articles.
Draal: You do not take custody of a planet. The planet takes custody of you.
(in faux Slavic sounding accent) What a planet!
John Schuck playing BOMBASTIC to the back row of the Rose Bowl.
That shot of Londo’s reflection as the bombardment devastates Narn. It’s made more so, I noticed for the first time, as the shadow (of the planet?) moves downward and erases that reflection. The intercutting between G’Kar praying and the attack on Gorash is also very effective.
I’ve enjoyed John Schuck going all the way back to McMillan and Wife. He brings a puckish sense of humor to Draal that was hinted at by Louis Turenne’s performance, but not explicitly shown. I especially liked the way he interrupted his grand speech to ask more conversationally if Sheridan would like him to go away and come back once Sheridan is dressed and then goes right back into bombastic mode when Sheridan says no.
Was anybody else bothered by the way everyone says “mass drivers”? It’s mostly Jurasik and Forward, but Claudia Christian does it a little, too. To me, it should be stressed just like “truck driver,” but they all emphasize the first syllable of “driver” extremely firmly.
Finally, Refa’s dismissal of treaties as “ink on paper” hit pretty hard this time.
Haven’t seen this episode in years, but I remember the mispronunciation. For whatever reason though when I think of mass drivers and B5, I think about G’Kar’s indignant shout in the council chamber from an earlier episode, “And Now for a Word,” where he says he has proof the Centauri were transferring illegal weapons at B5, including mass drivers. Emphasis on MASS.
Every single time I encounter the scene. It’s a longstanding peeve.
It read to me as if the charactes (or actors) think of “mass” as a modifier (perhaps a particularly heavy form) for a weapon class called a “driver.”, the way you’d say “cruise missile” or “light artillery”, rather than it being a device for driving mass.
I almost felt embarrassed to say that the “mass driver” error was the thing that’s stuck with me most vividly over the years about this episode, when there’s so much other important stuff happening in it. I’m very relieved to learn that I’m not the only one bugged by it.
Absolutely, the mis-emphasis of “mass driver” has always driven me crazy, no pun intended. They’re pronouncing it as though “mass” were an adjective, as in “mass murder,” but it’s a noun, the thing being driven, so the stress should be on “mass.”
While we’re at it, that comma in “The Long, Twilight Struggle” probably shouldn’t be there. There is no comma in the official transcript of JFK’s inauguration speech at his presidential library site. https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/inaugural-address-19610120
The mass driver thing didn’t bother me, but the comma really really did.
Seriously, there’s no need for a comma there. It’s silly! It’s pointless!
But it’s part of the title, so I didn’t edit it out, even though every instinct was for me to do so.
At least the filename on my computer doesn’t have the comma, as you can’t use commas in filenames, so I have that at least…..
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Actually, I use commas in file names all the time.
A few thoughts I had in the course of watching this episode:
Sheppard is completely unrecognizable in that makeup, but I knew who he was as soon as he spoke.
It would be interesting to keep track of how many episodes Franklin’s in where he doesn’t violate medical ethics.
The Shadows’ attack on the Narn fleet is my favorite space battle yet, intercut as it is with G’Kar’s prayers.
Schuck’s Draal is unrecognizable as the same character, but this new Draal is just as entertaining to watch.
If being complicit in planetary genocide isn’t enough to pull Mollari back from the brink, I don’t know what will be.
The council scene is easily the best of the show so far. Jurasik and Katsulas are incredible.
Between conspiring against two different governments, when will Sheridan find time to run the station?
I found myself wondering if W. Morgan Sheppard shaved his beard off for the Narn makeup, since I’ve rarely seen him without it. On reflection, though, I have seen him clean-shaven in a few roles, like in Max Headroom (which was probably the first thing I saw him in).
And yes, I did wonder about the ethics of Franklin giving G’Kar what could be considered military intelligence. But I guess his concern was to save lives.
The space battle is interesting because it keeps the two fleets far apart as in a realistic space engagement, rather than the usual modern practice of having battleships clumped together like cars on a freeway. It shows that you don’t need to put the ships unrealistically close together to have effective space action. (The Expanse, which I’m currently rewatching, is another good example, usually.)
I have several B5 episodes that I consider favorites. This one always makes the cut for consideration and usually wins out. G’Kar’s speech, Londo’s watching the bombardment of Narn. G’Kar praying as the Narn fleet is utterly destroyed, all these scenes are so strong and have stayed with me ever since I first saw B5.
I do agree the introduction of The Rangers to Sheridan is not the best timing. For one thing, Sheridan gives a good speech about fighting against the armies of Darkness, but it is overshadowed by G’Kar’s speech about freedom. It might have worked better at the end of
I don’t entirely agree. Having Sheridan’s introduction to the Rangers be part of this episode is structurally important. It goes along with Draal’s offer of access to the Great Machine to create the good news half of a bad news/good news pairing. While the situation in the galaxy is getting drastically worse, and that only seems to be accelerating, the response to that is also now beginning to mobilize. Sheridan’s speech about finding allies and seeing hope for the first time in a while has to come here.
On the other hand, what might have worked would be to flip the order of the episodes. (The B-plot in Inquisitor would have to be pushed to another episode to make that work, though. It has to take place after the fall of Narn.)
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.
I didn’t see it quite like that. Sure, there is no way they could possibly rekindle their past friendship by this point, but I don’t think Garibaldi was necessarily disgusted by Londo during his arrival at the station. Garibaldi usually knows what’s going on with everyone in the station, and I’m pretty sure he knows Londo has been backed into a corner by the likes of Refa and Morden. If anything, Garibaldi has both pity and worry for Londo’s future. That’s what I got from that scene.
———————–
Babylon 5 is at the top of its game when it comes to these pivotal, arc defining episodes. “The Long Twilight Struggle” is one of its best, for more than obvious reasons. Even 30 years later, it still packs the same punch.
It’s not just the way G’Kar evolved past the cardboard villain from the pilot episode. It’s how the tables have turned. Even in late season 1, G’Kar ruled the council meetings, dancing around Londo’s inaction with an elegance and confidence no one else could match. And now we have Londo driving the council, barking orders and confronting Sheridan, carrying an edge to his voice that’s frankly terrifying.
When he proclaims that the Centauri have the right to murder 500 Narns in retaliation over a single Centauri casualty, no one in that room even dares to open their mouth and question the lack of logic in that new constitution. Back in “The Gathering”, I never would have imagined boisterous gambling drunk Londo would become the spearhead of what can only be interpreted as a fascist movement.
And then there is G’Kar’s quiet and restrained, but still determined response. Katsulas deserved an Emmy for that scene alone. The way he goes from looking ashamed at being forced to resign, run and seek asylum to then confront Londo with a clarity of mind, lacking any visible anger – just a quiet, fierce determination coupled with a speech that’s a hallmark of JMS at his best.
And after a season of Drazi killing Drazi, Narn fighting Centauri in corridors (and doing battle just outside the hull), we get the definitive Zocalo brawl. It goes without saying that that moment signified the end of the Babylon project. Babylon 5 was their last, best hope for peace. This was the very moment where it all failed forever. Instead of treaties, alliances and compromise, we get that loud siren that’s usually heard when a nuclear war is going on.
Which is why it’s the perfect moment to bring the Rangers out to the open. The real war is almost upon them.
One last thing worthy of note: Christopher Franke’s brutal score for the equally brutal battle at the Gorash system (with the added bonus of the iconic Shadow battle screams). A score so impactful it became the opening theme for season 3. Intercut with G’Kar’s desperate prayer, it’s one of the scenes I rewatch the most. A perfect marriage of sound and VFX.
And then we get the slaughter at the Narn homeworld, framed by Londo’s disgusted look. Another iconic shot that was readily incorporated into the season 3 opening titles, also scored to perfection by Franke.
One has to wonder who books passage to witness a slaughter of innocent people with so much glee in their face? This is the one episode where Refa is not masquerading or playing politics. This is Refa at his most honest murderous self. From the way he angrily pushes back at Londo for being hesitant to commit genocide to then asking him to come along for the ride as if they were going on a pleasure cruise to Hawaii. I love Londo and Vir, but this is the episode that convinced me that Kosh was right, and there was no hope left for the Centauri.
One more noteworthy emotional scene: the brief moment between G’Kar and G’Sten (a new character we’ve just met, mind you). It’s a testament both Katsulas and Sheppard how they manage to create a rich, layered backstory with few words, but driven by the meaningful glances and a sense of love and respect between the two of them. That embrace gets me every time. Before it’s all torn apart by the Shadows.
G’Kar’s speech is almost too topical, watching this episode in 2025.
So much of what’s going on with the Earth Alliance makes for uncomfortable viewing, too.
I saw this episode on original broadcast, and my first reaction was “Hooooollleeeey SH*T!!!”
And it’s only gotten better over the years.
So many, many transcendent scenes. “Ink on a page.” The battle against the Shadows, when the Narns proved that they actually could be hurt. Londo’s horrified view. The council scene. I could hardly breathe by the end. Even the lesser scenes mostly resonated. The only real discord for me was Shuuk’s Draal; he does a great ham sandwich, but cheerful bombast really doesn’t fit the tragic, somber tone for the rest of the episode.
At the end of the season, I honestly thought this ep felt more like the grand finale to the year, not the actual season ending. (“Comes the Inquisitor” holds its own, quietly; but “The Fall of Night” always felt like something of a letdown to me. Though I suspect this time’s viewing will resonate rather more…)
This comment brought back a memory of a page on TV Tropes called “Holy Shit Quotient”, which I had thought was actually named after a quote by J. Michael Straczynski himself, but no, apparently not.
He referred to episodes such as this as WHAM episodes on GEnie, all those years ago.
Ah. Also had a TVTropes page, I believe.
“cheerful bombast really doesn’t fit the tragic, somber tone for the rest of the episode.”
So much the better. Something so dark needs a few moments of lightness here and there. Shuck is way over the top as Draal, but Minbari do have a tendency to declaim dramatically, and Draal is linked to an immensely powerful machine and constantly receiving far more sensory input than the humanoid mind is accustomed to, so maybe he feels a need to shout over the noise inside his head.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the second season. As Keith said, this episode is full of great moments with G’Kar and Londo. G’Kar’s speech is one of the most memorable and chilling scenes of the entire series. I can watch this episode time and time again and it still hits hard.
My only real quibble is something that I think Keith and I would disagree on. He says that Sheridan is finally made co-leader of the Rangers and the growing “Army of Light”. But in a way, I think it actually happens a little abruptly. Sheridan asks Kosh to start teaching him how to fight the Shadows…and then we never see any of that process. There’s more regarding Sheridan’s movement against the Clark administration, but practically nothing on the fight against the Shadows. And now he’s made co-leader of the Rangers on B5 along with Delenn, without much lead up. I feel like there should have been a step or two that we missed.
But that’s a minor nitpick, because so much else in the episode works for me that I find it easy enough to overlook.
Besides being horrified by sheer planetary destruction of Narn, Londo is also being completely terrified, because this is one of the exact moments he had dreams about. When all those dreams come to pass, his most feared future – old him as Emperor being strangled by old one-eyed G’Kar will come true.