Spoilers for Babylon 5 by the way.
Babylon 5 is a show that aired from 1993-98. For any who, like me, didn’t watch it at that time or in the intervening years, the basics are it’s a space station set up by Earth to be neutral ground for aliens from across the galaxy to meet and discuss and interact.
I finally got around to watching it this past month or so and while it’s not really blazing new ground for me like it did for the science fiction community in general upon its original release, and while its CGI is… early, and while it had fun moments like a person reading a paper newspaper in the first episode, I’ve really enjoyed and been drawn in by it. And the main reason is the way the show portrays character.
I don’t want to and don’t have the time to dive into all the ways this is played, so I’m going to be going into one episode in particular and on two characters within that episode. Set in Season 2 about 1/3 of the way in, the episode is called The Coming of Shadows and begins with the Centauri emperor about to come visit Babylon 5.
A brief history lesson on the world of Babylon 5- Many centuries ago, the Centauri, a very Renaissance-coded people with a love of pomp and circumstance and double-talk, invaded the Narn homeworld. As I understand, this was before the Narn began going to space much if at all. Under the pretense of bringing civilization to the people, the Centauri subjugated and enslaved them. A century ago at the time of the story, the Narns rose up in rebellion and cast off the Centauri but their culture had been changed. Where before they were described as peaceful and agrarian, they were now fierce fighters with strong codes of honor and dedication to battle.
And now we get to the two characters I want to discuss. They’re both ambassadors of their respective races and both are deeply flawed people. First we have Londo Mollari- if you look at the picture at the top, he’s the one who looks like someone’s grandpa with some sort of comb-forward ran smack into a giant bank of snow that brushed their hair back into a giant corona. Londo starts the show as a washed-up politician, sent to Babylon 5 because his government didn’t take it seriously and thought it a great joke to play on Londo and Babylon 5 at once to subject them to each other. Londo is an old traditionalist and misses the “glory days” when his government used to rule the stars! But he’s not old enough to remember what it took to get there, not connected enough to be a huge schemer, and just ambitious enough to be dangerous to himself and everyone around him.
Then there’s G’kar. In the above picture, he’s the one I affectionately call Turtle-head. (And may I say, the prosthetics in this show are another part I really admire.) A loyal subject of the Narn and a faithful believer in his people’s religion and part of their ruling body, G’kar is still a very polarizing figure. He isn’t very subtle in what he wants and how he feels about others, and he and Londo are often at each other’s figurative throats. He can be hot-headed and lash out in anger. This doesn’t give him a great reputation on the station, to the extent that Captain Sheridan in frustration at him at the beginning of the episode exclaims “If this bothers you, I suggest you stay in your quarters, stick your fingers in your ears, and hum real loud until it’s over. Unless you’d like to try something as breathtakingly rational as trying to open up a dialogue!”
On then to the story. But mostly to why I find the characters so fascinatingly well-done.
G’kar starts the episode by complaining that the Centauri emperor is visiting. He finds it an affront to his people that the heir to the bloodline that was responsible for so much suffering of his people should be welcomed and honored. Sheridan’s insistence that, as the emperor himself is not personally responsible and that it will do good for the station as a whole and, as above, that he could take advantage of the situation to open dialogue between Narn and the Centauri, is dismissed as a lack of understanding. So we as viewers are aware of his views on the Centauri nobility at present and how deep that anger and hurt and distrust runs.
Meanwhile Londo Mollari is entertaining Lord Riva, a rat-weasel Centauri noble who is encouraging Londo to make public speeches that make the emperor look weak and incompetent, garnering public favor for the side of the traditionalists in court. At this point, Londo is aware that he’s being used as a pawn in the games of others and expresses to his aide, Vir (and one of the best characters, love that guy), that the whole situation is making him uncomfortable. As viewers, we can see the slime-bucket Riva is and so Londo playing along with him but also setting himself at odds with his views helps us sympathize with him even if not empathize.
As the Centauri emperor comes aboard and is welcomed, we see G’kar in his quarters talking to the other members of his government back home. It becomes clear that he’s planning to assassinate the Centauri emperor. He makes peace with the fact that, after this day, he will be dead or in prison after he makes the attempt, successful or not. The wonderful thing about this moment is one of the things that makes the political conflicts in this series wonderful- the moments of seeing the plans of others and the dramatic ironies are played brilliantly for poignancy and tension. Right now we see G’kar, who we’ve come to like over the series, preparing to make a big, fatal choice that we do not want him to make. We’ve seen moments of the Centauri emperor that make him sympathetic to us, an old man coming to the end of his life and looking at what he is leaving behind and wanting to leave better. We go back to G’kar dictating a statement absolving all others but himself of responsibility for his intended actions. So even as he makes a bad choice, we can acknowledge his desire to limit the danger to those around him.
But before G’kar can strike, the emperor has some form of medical emergency and is transported to sick bay. Riva and Londo discuss how this must accelerate their plans and Londo strikes on a terrible idea.
A truly terrible idea.
In an earlier episode, Londo was approached by Mr. Morden, a truly evil character. He just wants to give people what they want. Provided what they want generates war and chaos. Londo says what he wants is for the Centauri Republic to take back their glory. And so Mr. Morden says “pick a target.” Londo realizes at this moment that there’s a colony of Narn near Centauri space and says he can “take care of it.” As Vir begs him to change his mind he says he has no choice.
This episode is the turning point for Londo. Before now, he was a harmless scheming man who we could sigh and shake our heads at but laugh with when he does something fun, sigh for when he pines for a young woman who breaks his heart but he helps her anyway and she promises to come back, and have our heart go out to him as he realizes that the strictures he grew up with that hurt him in his youth are not so important that he has to pass on the hurt to others. “My shoes are too tight,” he remembers his father saying, “But it is all right, for I have forgotten how to dance.”
But after this moment, there is no turning back.
(pardon my screenshot interference.)
But Londo insists and goes for it anyway.
With all that we’ve seen from him, we know Londo could have made a different choice. We know he could have listened to Vir in that moment and chosen to not put his trust, and the fate of both his people and the Narn’s, in the hands of the Shadows and Mr. Morden who hardly have anyone’s best interests at heart beyond their own. But we see the tragedy building and it comes toward us now.
And then to increase the sense of heartbreaking misunderstanding, G’kar gets a visit from Dr. Franklin, relaying the Centauri emperor’s words to him. “I’m sorry.” He came here to neutral territory specifically to find G’kar, to find a Narn, so he could apologize and try to make things right. But that this chance, the “only choice [the emperor] made in his life” on his own, was taken from him. And we see it register on G’kar’s face- all that he almost did and all that could be.
And then we see it fall- the Shadows come and tear the colony apart.
And just as Londo finishes telling Lord Riva, who leaves him to take care of “one last thing” (which Riva won’t tell Londo about, because he still doesn’t respect him and is just using him), G’kar comes in, brimming with goodwill to all and especially to Londo. He buys him a drink and toasts their future, saying he used to think Centauri brought only pain, leaving the audience and Londo with the bottoms dropping out of our stomachs as we know what’s coming. What’s already happened.
I’m skimming a bit but this is already long and the point of this post isn’t to tell you the plot of the whole episode (though there’s not much left but the sweeping up at this point) but to talk about the characters. G’kar, when he finds out, goes berserk and tries to launch a bare-handed assault on Londo’s quarters but is talked down. During the aftermath, Sheridan uses some maneuvering to talk Londo out of the official Centauri position of “never give up prisoners.” And we close on the deep events of the series opening up and the unraveling of the ties that bind.
What I love about this episode is that, in it, Londo and G’kar’s faults are both on full display. They’re both proud. They’re both ready to make bad decisions to further their cause that they think is just, and that they think their bad decisions will aid them in. But we also see their human moments (so to speak). The writing cuts them to their core and we can see what makes them tick. So in an episode where both of them are pitted against each other’s best interests, and their own, in a very real sense- we still appreciate and feel for both of them.
And that’s the writing advice I want to take away from this analysis. If you want people to feel for your characters, make them understand your characters. Not throw-away “oh I had it rough so I’m justified in [insert general crime-itude here].” No, give us their ugly sides but show us their beautiful side, no matter how small. Make them a whole person. And then use their flaws against them so we can see how much harm they’re doing themselves. (Assuming you’re writing that kind of story.)
Signing off now on our last, best hope for… um… posting again next week?
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