Episode 2.17: Knives
No matter how often they do it, it still surprises me every time Babylon 5 decides to just screw it and do a Star Trek episode. Both plots in this one—even with all the Centauri politics—are pure Trek, up to and including the retcon of Londo being a master duelist with the Centauri bat’leth...er, I mean, the coutari.
Centauri dueling is less alien than you might expect, though I suppose the Centauri in general are fairly un-alien, so that makes sense. The coutari is basically a short sword, and fairly wide-bladed, like a Roman gladius, making the fight more visceral and less elegant than classic Earth fencing with an epee or rapier. I do always love the visual look of the Centauri, and their clothes and parties and such, and their dueling outfits continue this trend—everything about them looks opulent and regal, so kudos to the production designers.
The basic plot here is this: Londo’s old best friend we’ve never heard of, from his days in a super important dueling school that has somehow never come up before, shows up to drink and reminisce and, ultimately, ask Londo to support him against an accusation of treason. Turns out Lord Refa has been pulling shady shenanigans back on Centauri Prime, and Best Friend is too honorable a man to stand for it, so he’s on the outs. Refa assures Londo that supporting Best Friend will be political suicide, and I figured this would be a story about Londo betraying his friend to advance his own political career. And there’s hints that this might happen, but I missed the obvious coutari on the mantel: this is actually a story about Best Friend committing Suicide-By-Honor-Duel, using a loophole in the law to get himself killed by Londo before the treason verdict destroys his entire family. It’s kind of a win-win, under the circumstances: Londo kills the alleged traitor, keeping his reputation and evil contacts intact, plus he’s now responsible for all of Best Friend’s property and family, Barsoom-style, thus saving Best Friend’s family from being executed or exiled along with him. I still think the “betray your best friend” angle would have been nastier (ie, I would have liked it more), but it would have put Londo on the opposite side of the moral spectrum: here, instead of taking one more step down into the darkness, he has a moment where he realizes how far down into the darkness he’s already gone, and for the first time actually questions the many steps that have brought him here. That one moment is the only one in the entire episode that seems likely to matter to the ongoing story, so I’m glad we got it, plus it adds more dimension to Londo’s character. I still kind of cringe any time it becomes obvious that I’m watching a Londo episode, but this one really worked for me, and I think I might finally be coming around.
The other plot was about Sheridan investigating a haunted house and going crazy and eventually figuring out that he’s been possessed by an energy being who really just wants to go home. You can see the Star Trek fingerprints all over this one, from the “Sisko loves baseball” opening to the anomaly-of-the-week middle to the way-too-fast resolution at the end. How does Sheridan figure out that his hallucinations are actually caused by an energy being who just wants to go home? Well, because that’s what it says in the script. The flow of logic doesn’t really track from one point to another, though it’s only missing maybe one piece to make the mystery work, and honestly I love Star Trek so I’m happy to forgive this particular style of storytelling: an obvious set-up, a weird mystery, and a rushed deus ex machina to bring it all home. Yes, the place the energy being wants to go home to is the same place where Babylon 4 disappeared, and yes, that might be important in the future, but there’s no hint that this creature in particular is going to ever matter again. I kind of just suspect that this plotline was thrown in there to remind the audience—and to inform Sheridan in the first place—about the funky time-space business that stole Babylon 4, because B4 is going to come back soon and we need the details of it fresh in our minds.
And, um, that’s kind of it. The story worked well enough—I didn’t love it, but I certainly didn’t dislike it the way I have the last several episodes—and then it ended. I was not expecting a Star Trek episode at this point in the series, but considering how much the recent B5 episodes have rubbed me the wrong way, maybe it’s a good thing.
Now: there are only five episodes left in season 2. If something big is going to happen, it needs to do it soon. Also, it’s been a loooong time since this show has really used Ivanova for anything more than a line of dialogue here and there, so we’re due for a good Ivanova story as well. I think the last big scene she had was the stupid sex thing, so they really owe her something awesome. Will the show pull it together in time? Will the big slam-bang finish that everyone keeps assuring me is coming actually come? We’ll find out soon.
Centauri dueling is less alien than you might expect, though I suppose the Centauri in general are fairly un-alien, so that makes sense. The coutari is basically a short sword, and fairly wide-bladed, like a Roman gladius, making the fight more visceral and less elegant than classic Earth fencing with an epee or rapier. I do always love the visual look of the Centauri, and their clothes and parties and such, and their dueling outfits continue this trend—everything about them looks opulent and regal, so kudos to the production designers.
The basic plot here is this: Londo’s old best friend we’ve never heard of, from his days in a super important dueling school that has somehow never come up before, shows up to drink and reminisce and, ultimately, ask Londo to support him against an accusation of treason. Turns out Lord Refa has been pulling shady shenanigans back on Centauri Prime, and Best Friend is too honorable a man to stand for it, so he’s on the outs. Refa assures Londo that supporting Best Friend will be political suicide, and I figured this would be a story about Londo betraying his friend to advance his own political career. And there’s hints that this might happen, but I missed the obvious coutari on the mantel: this is actually a story about Best Friend committing Suicide-By-Honor-Duel, using a loophole in the law to get himself killed by Londo before the treason verdict destroys his entire family. It’s kind of a win-win, under the circumstances: Londo kills the alleged traitor, keeping his reputation and evil contacts intact, plus he’s now responsible for all of Best Friend’s property and family, Barsoom-style, thus saving Best Friend’s family from being executed or exiled along with him. I still think the “betray your best friend” angle would have been nastier (ie, I would have liked it more), but it would have put Londo on the opposite side of the moral spectrum: here, instead of taking one more step down into the darkness, he has a moment where he realizes how far down into the darkness he’s already gone, and for the first time actually questions the many steps that have brought him here. That one moment is the only one in the entire episode that seems likely to matter to the ongoing story, so I’m glad we got it, plus it adds more dimension to Londo’s character. I still kind of cringe any time it becomes obvious that I’m watching a Londo episode, but this one really worked for me, and I think I might finally be coming around.
The other plot was about Sheridan investigating a haunted house and going crazy and eventually figuring out that he’s been possessed by an energy being who really just wants to go home. You can see the Star Trek fingerprints all over this one, from the “Sisko loves baseball” opening to the anomaly-of-the-week middle to the way-too-fast resolution at the end. How does Sheridan figure out that his hallucinations are actually caused by an energy being who just wants to go home? Well, because that’s what it says in the script. The flow of logic doesn’t really track from one point to another, though it’s only missing maybe one piece to make the mystery work, and honestly I love Star Trek so I’m happy to forgive this particular style of storytelling: an obvious set-up, a weird mystery, and a rushed deus ex machina to bring it all home. Yes, the place the energy being wants to go home to is the same place where Babylon 4 disappeared, and yes, that might be important in the future, but there’s no hint that this creature in particular is going to ever matter again. I kind of just suspect that this plotline was thrown in there to remind the audience—and to inform Sheridan in the first place—about the funky time-space business that stole Babylon 4, because B4 is going to come back soon and we need the details of it fresh in our minds.
And, um, that’s kind of it. The story worked well enough—I didn’t love it, but I certainly didn’t dislike it the way I have the last several episodes—and then it ended. I was not expecting a Star Trek episode at this point in the series, but considering how much the recent B5 episodes have rubbed me the wrong way, maybe it’s a good thing.
Now: there are only five episodes left in season 2. If something big is going to happen, it needs to do it soon. Also, it’s been a loooong time since this show has really used Ivanova for anything more than a line of dialogue here and there, so we’re due for a good Ivanova story as well. I think the last big scene she had was the stupid sex thing, so they really owe her something awesome. Will the show pull it together in time? Will the big slam-bang finish that everyone keeps assuring me is coming actually come? We’ll find out soon.
On my most recent re-watch, I sort of "re-discovered" this episode. It wasn't a favorite before, but it is now. I always thought of it as "the energy alien from the temporal flux" episode, which doesn't do much for me. The Londo story, on the other hand, really works for me. Londo knew what he was doing in "The Coming of Shadows," but the cost wasn't really personal yet. This drove it home.
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