The Coming of Shadows

Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri

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Well, what can be said about this one except...
WOW!!!!!!
This has got to be one of the BEST episodes B5 has ever done! This is the type of thing that gets people hooked! This is the type of thing that wins awards! (a Hugo, to be precise.) It was full of plotting and scheming, character development, cultural information, "arc" advancement, philosophy, suspense, twists, great sadness, and even humour. If they were capable of this all the time, B5 would be the best show ever made!
Erm, sorry, got a bit carried away there. But only a BIT. It really was THAT GOOD. Really. Now, let's see if I can stop my hearts pounding long enough to write a semi-coherent review:
It seemed to have several plot elements, although unlike some other episodes, in this one, they were all part of the same thing. You see, this isn't one of those episodes that just sets up things for later, although it DOES do that, too. This one RESOVLES, or advances, anyway, many things we've seen earlier. While of course bringing up whole NEW questions in true B5 fashion.
And, of course, like ANY episode worth it's salt, it heavily involves the Centauri. You see, it seems the Centauri Emperor, Turhan, wants to travel to Babylon 5 even though he is in really bad health, and try though he might Prime Minister Malachi cannot prevent him from going. So, accompanied by a bunch of those really FUNKY-looking purple claw warships, two Centauri female telepaths veiled from head to foot in white, (there are four of them altogether; they are linked telepathically from birth. Two go with the Emperor and two stay behind, as sort of a mental message relay network, neat, huh?) and a phalanx of guards, he sets off on his journey. G'Kar, since Sheridan (being wonderfully SNOTTY) refuses to keep the Emperor from coming to the station, then vows to assassinate Turhan at the formal reception dinner. He thinks that the Emperor is "a monster, a fiend!" Wait until you see his SUCCESSOR...
He is shown getting his affairs in order and recording the fact that it was HIS idea alone, and that no-one else was responsible, to his computer. This was a nice touch; it seems more realistic when you have the characters willing to do drastic things, yes, but also being aware of the consequences. In fact, I would say that's the theme of this entire episode--consequences. And the chance of whether you can live with them or not. G'Kar can. Londo, I suspect, cannot...
Meanwhile, Lord Refa, the auburn-haired alien Cassius, shows up again on the station and is involved with deliciously "I, Claudius"-esque connivings with Londo. After the Emperor dies, and he will soon, everyone says, Refa is ready to move in and make sure HIS (and Londo's) views will be the ones shaping the policies of the new government, no matter what, and he wants Londo's help NOW, to impress everybody with their power. Londo's answer to this proposal...oh, GREAT MAKER. Let me get my Kleenex...
He tells Vir to go get Mr. MORDEN and have him "take care of" the problem in Quadrant 14--a HEAVILY-populated Narn colony. He KNOWS that it has over 250,000 people living there--and he orders Morden to have it attacked ANYWAY. Unlike the outpost in Quadrant 37, this one is on PURPOSE.
This marks the true ending of the old, silly Londo...in this episode, his dark side truly comes out and starts to take him over. But he is still not COMPLETELY a villain. Witness the difference between him and Refa, a REAL villian. Londo is bothered by his conscience and hurt by the last words of the Emperor (which I'll describe in a bit). He is doing this for what he thinks of as PATRIOTIC reasons--he wants to help his entire PEOPLE. Refa, on the other hand, merely wants personal glory.
This scene is WONDERFUL. Wonderfully written, acted, and directed. Not only was I cringing, sadly shaking my head, and yelling at the screen, "NO, LONDO, DON'T DO IT!!" but Vir gets a great part here, too. He stands up to Londo. I mean really STANDS UP to him. There is no hint here whatsoever of the nervous little hand-wringing sidekick--the Vir in this scene is angry, assertive, and absolutely RIGHT. He warns Londo that once he starts down the dark path he will never be able to come back, and says that after this is all over, he will remind him of this conversation.
Londo simply shakes his head and says yes, he DOES know what he is doing, with a very regretful look in his eyes...
DAMN. They don't come any more powerful than that.
As if this wasn't heavy enough, after G'Kar was so eager to kill the Emperor, Turhan has Dr. Franklin relay a message to G'Kar for him, as Turhan is lying in Medlab dying and can't tell him himself. The message?
He's SORRY. That was why he came here. He had, as he told Sheridan, never had a single CHOICE about anything in his life, and for once, he wanted to make his own decision about something. He wanted to come directly up to a Narn, in neutral territory, look him in the eyes, and APOLOGISE for his government's action, say that the Centauri Republic was WRONG. When Franklin is done relaying the Emperor's message, a very changed Narn is standing there. He now realises that sometimes, your enemy can be decent and honourable, too.
G'Kar goes out, all gleefull, to tell Londo about this and how he is willing to make PEACE.
Unfortunately...the Shadows have JUST BARELY smashed the Narn colony, on LONDO'S orders! So when G'Kar accosts him in the Zocalo, Londo almost jumps out of his skin with guilty nervousness. (The line, "MOLLARI!! I am going to GET you...a drink!" was deliciously evil). Heart-rending irony. Londo sips the drink that G'Kar offers him reluctantly, feeling absolutely awful, as indeed he should. The Narns were just about to MAKE PEACE with the Centauri--and they were too late by something like HOURS!
Then Lord Refa visits Londo again and says that re-taking that colony was EXACTLY the type of thing they needed to grab their place in the government, but he has "one last detail back home to take care of...an...obstacle, to be removed." When Londo asks what it is, Refa tells him "It is best you do not know."
And back on Centauri Prime, Prime Minister Malachi is stabbed in the gut and left bleeding all over the throne room...
When G'Kar DOES find out about the colony, he snarls, wrecks his quarters, and goes after Londo in a towering rage, an eerie parallell of the scene in "Midnight on the Firing Line" where Londo tried to assassinate HIM. Naturally, he is stopped by a wall of security guards with PPGs. Oh, and by the way, one of the guards happens to be ZACK, our old friend, again, hi Zack!
Not to mention, we get our first look at the Centauri homeworld! Let me tell you, when the words "Centauri Prime" flashed on the screen, boy, I sat forward on my seat and set my gaze to "heavy stare".
Emperor Turhan FINALLY gets his wish to see a Vorlon "in or out of its shell" that he's had all his life, as he looks up to see Kosh standing over him in Medlab. "How will this end?" the dying ruler despairs.
"In fire."
Remember this line...you'll hear echoes of it from both Turhan's successor AND President Clarke...
Is this enough plot for you? Is this heavy enough for you? But wait, there's more! (announcer voice) This guy shows up on the station--he is wearing all brown and black, with a CLOAK and a GREEN JEWELLED PIN. Yes, indeedy, we see our first RANGER! And that's not all--Garibaldi ALSO gets a mysterious message from the guy, and when he plays the data crystal, who's familiar face should appear on the screen but:
COMMANDER SINCLAIR!! You remember him! Or, more accurately, AMBASSADOR Sinclair. He seems to have gone up in the world. Not only is he the first Earth Ambassador to Minbar, as we already knew, but he somehow seems to be in CHARGE of the Rangers. And he mentions that there is only one other person on the station who knows about all of this...and it's DELENN.
HHMMNN...
And we get that infamous line about the "great darkness coming" and how we should watch out for Shadows, because "they always seem to move when you're not looking."
One of the MOST important elements to this hugely important episode might just be something that DIDN'T happen--yet. Londo's dream. This dream is PACKED with foreshadowing. We see our first glimpse of him as the EMPEROR, (which at the end, he tells Vir he does NOT want), we see "the great hand reaching down out of the stars" that Elric mentioned, we see Shadow ships passing overhead on a nice, clear, sunny day, we see entire planets being blown up AND that famous scene of Londo and G'Kar strangling each other as old men--and G'Kar has only ONE EYE!
If all this wasn't ominous enough, just before he actually dies, Turhan says something to Londo that only he can hear. When the others in the room ask what it was, Londo says "Continue. Take my people back to the stars."
But when Refa corners Londo in the hall and asks what did Turhan REALLY say, Londo answers, "He said, 'You are both damned.'".
While Londo looks truly guilt-stricken, Refa just laughs it off. "It is a small price to pay for immortality..."
And at the VERY end, Lord Refa and Londo are discussing the shape of Centauri politics to come. It seems that with the Emperor, his son, AND Prime Minister Malachi gone, all the different noble families went into a frenzy grabbing for the throne. In the turmoil, Turhan's nephew, a "nice young man" whose name is not said yet, emerged the winner. Refa assumes that they will be able to play this new young Emperor as a puppet for their own purposes.
Wanna BET?! BWAHAHAHAHAA....
This is, indeed, one of THE very best episodes of any show I've EVER seen. It DESERVED to win a Hugo. Heck, it deserved to win an EMMY or several for acting, writing, directing, etc, but "it's ONLY science-fiction", which means any award it could win would be of the technical variety. Mumble mumble mumble...
If you only watch one Babylon 5 episode this year, make it THIS one!

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