Knives
Reviewed by Lady Keela Shanri
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WHOAH. What an episode for a "Centauri-phile"! Not being silly, not being cutesy, not showing how FUNNY they can be (except for a few stray smart-ass remarks, but hey, it's in their blood), but a really, truly, SERIOUS episode that digs deeply into the Centauri CULTURE. I don't think I've seen one before--or since!--that goes into as much detail. I'm tempted to watch it again just so I can pick up on the words I didn't hear properly the first time, and sit there writing stuff down...for someone like me, with a site like mine, what a resource! I mean, we finally learn some ACTUAL WORDS OF THEIR LANGUAGE here! Whooo...
Oh, and there was also something about the Captain going off his belfry, I suppose I better review that plotline first and then get down to the REAL stuff.
Okay, it seems that Captain Smiley is whacking baseballs in the Hydroponic area (I'm assuming) against a gorgeous "Hollow World" backdrop when Garibaldi comes along and makes the mistake of mentioning a portion of Grey Sector (what IS it with Grey Sector, first this, and later on we find out that an entire level of it is "missing"!) that is known to the Security force as "The Babylon 5 Triangle". Sheridan, being the intelligent, rational, even-minded kinda guy that he is, INSTANTLY decides to go down there and check it out. Alone. "But that's half the fun!"
Quicker than you can say "straightjacket", the good Captain finds a dead Markab (those pale dudes with the kinda cracked-looking patterned skulls and the red-and-orange robes), and, like a MORON, actually TOUCHES the guy. This weird glowing energy thingie comes out of the guy and slurps into Sheridan's head.
Not long after that, he's hallucinating up a storm and telling people he's "Okay, just a little tired." Yeah, I shoot at imaginary PTERODACTLYS every day, buddy!
Whacko...
The only real value of this plotline, besides the fact that Garibaldi gets to make a LOT of snotty remarks (but then again, when DOESN'T he?), is that we catch the good ol' Captain Nutball up on the Babylon 4 incident, and see the name "Sector 14" mentioned again. Otherwise...move over for the CENTAURI, buddy boy!
And now here's something we hope you'll REALLY like...how's about, Londo and Vir both SINGING. Centauri OPERA. We get to actually hear their language spoken for the first time!
No translation is given of what they were singing, but it was cool to simply hear more than one or two words of Centauri, strung together in one block. And my mom commented that it did indeed sound like a real language; they did a good job.
Anyway, an old friend of Londo's, Vocator Urza Jaddo, visits the station. They get completely sloshed and talk about the days when they were both champion swordfighters--young, full of vigor, and felt like they could rival the gods. Vir, wise beyond his years, points out to Londo that it is unhealthy to dwell too much on your glory days. "Why build a history if you can't learn from it?" Of course, Vir was NOT talking so much about Londo and Urza's glory days, but rather that of the Old Republic which Londo will do ANYTHING to get back, and Londo, of COURSE, just ignores him...
Sigh...
Okay, okay, let me get ALL the Centauri words that I remember from this episode listed right here, so I can go on and just describe the actual PLOT afterwards:
Coru Prido--Proud Knives. It's kinda OBVIOUS that "prido" must be "proud", so "coru" must be "knives" and they evidently do their wording in that "backwards" order...which is actually FORWARDS considering that almost EVERY language on Earth EXCEPT English does it that way...
Paso Liati--Londo's sword name. Urza says that Londo fought like "a crazed liati." A liati is some kind of ferocious Centauri animal, so I'm guessing "paso" means "crazy".
Brevari--a light red fine Centauri wine.
Valtoo--basically, "Cheers!". Already learned in "The Parliament of Dreams" but I thought I'd mention it again here for good measure.
Coutari--a really really shiny, short, fat-looking, but MEAN short-sword.
Vocator--speaker? Sounds like it. Urza is a Vocator in the Centaurum, which is their Senate. So...the Speaker of the House...?
Morago--a ceremonial duel to the death wherein the victor claims the loser's family and has to take care of them as if they were his own.
Now, while I found all this absolutely FASCINATING, what I REALLY would like would be to learn the Centauri words for "Hello", "Goodbye", "Yes", "No", etc. And when I said this out loud during a commerical, my mother put in: "Little things like...how to count to SIX..." (huge grin, waggles her eyebrows.)
I tell you now, our family dinners are something else...
Now, where were we? Ah, yes, the plot. This was pretty cool. On the surface, it seems to be a fairly simple story, but NOTHING is ever straightforward with the Centauri! (Gotta love it). What starts off as a lighthearted tale of two old friends very quickly turns sinister--and important to the arc!
Urza Jaddo is in great danger. He and his entire family have been marked for execution, because of being suspected TRAITORS! Londo is aghast. Who could possibly accuse him of that? What kind of evidence do they think they have? Urza's bitter answer is that, ever since Prime Minister Malachi "committed suicide" (bwahaha) and that "infantile puppet" Cartagia was put on the throne, it is now merely enough to ACCUSE someone of being a traitor. No evidence is needed--the accusation alone can bring DEATH to an entire House!
And guess WHO set up poor House Jaddo this way...?
LORD REFA!
Londo's frantic call to Lord Refa to try to get this fixed turns out worse than nothing ("Well, UNaccomplish it!") and the very mention of Refa's name to Urza COMPLETELY freaks him out. This makes Londo start to perhaps re-think his alliance...?
The best moments were those of Vir trying desperately to warn Londo back from the edge of the cliff, but of course he never listens, and despite Vir's touching wisdom, we see Londo plunge further and further into darkness...
It's so sad when you can SEE the tragedy building but KNOW you can't do anything about it....
In the middle of a GORGEOUSLY decadent banquet where we get our best real LOOK at Centauri-style decor yet, poor Londo is eventually forced to KILL his best friend in a dramatic sword fight. And I don't mean a white-gloved, pussy-footing around, dainty little fencing match, I mean a SWORD fight. As in, "HACK!" "THRUST!" "GRUNT!" "CLANG!" "SWIPE!" "THUD!" (Seeing as how my own character, Lady Keela Shanri, is a swordfighter with a Coutari, it was especially interesting and informative for ME to actually see them in action.)
As I may have said before...the Centauri do NOT mess around...
Dying, Urza begs Londo to promise to protect his family. With tears in his eyes, Londo does.
And so, all of House Jaddo becomes part of House Mollari--and since the injunction that would have put them to death only applies to House Jaddo, they are all now safe, and Londo has gained a whole lot of new in-laws.
But lost one of his very best friends...
This episode has SOOOO much right with it. We get practically immersed in a very detailed alien culture for about half an hour. We see important characters either mentioned for the first time, or re-mentioned. For example, we hear of Adira, the dancer from WAAAAY back in early Season One, again. Her name will become rather important in late Season Three, so it's a good thing we get a little reminder of her in-between. We see Londo starting to realise just how sinister Lord Refa IS. And we hear a NAME for the new Emperor--Cartagia, the "infantile puppet".
Well...infantile maybe...but PUPPET? BWAHAHAHAHA...
We see Londo's first indication that he can be a really TRAGIC character, in Urza's death scene, which contains some of Peter Jurasik's best acting to date and is Reason #1,234,567 why I am so MAD that science-fiction actors never win Emmys...
In short, this may seem like a quiet little episode where nothing much happens, but once you get past the "alien brain-eaters" part with Sheridan, the rest of it is really VERY good. Give it a look-see.
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