The Long Night | For the Second Time

] The year is: 2026

[0:52] Welcome to Babylon 5 for the second time. My name is Brent Allen. And my name is Jeff Akin. Brent and I used to be Star Trek podcasters, and then we watched Babylon 5 for the first time, and everything changed. So now we're watching this incredible series for the second time because Babylon 5 is a series that you get to watch for the first time twice.

[1:17] That's right. We have watched this show for the first time. This is our second time. And that opening, that intro, all lines from the first time. One of the things we're doing this time is we are looking for messages. And I know what you're thinking, but guys, that's what you did the first time. And we're like, yeah, but there might have been some things that we didn't catch the first time. And that includes messages. So we're still looking for them. We're looking for things that hold up a mirror to society, things that give us hope. Life will be better in the future, or maybe they just show us how to be better human beings to one another. Now, as we have said multiple times, this is not our first time. This is our second time going through this series. Jeff and I have seen it all the way through. And therefore, anything from any point in the timeline, anywhere in the franchise, in-universe, out of universe, in the show, out of the show, in books, in comic books, in cons, random stuff that people say on Reddit, whatever. It is all fair game for Jeff and I to talk about and to touch on. So if you have never been through this show for the very first time, we beg you stop, stop, just press pause, scroll back up, go to our first watch, which is completely spoiler free, because this is your one and only spoiler warning. Why are you still here? Go, go.

[2:28] This week, Brant, we're watching the long dark. No, I hate this episode. I know. Why do we keep coming back to this episode? It's just that it has its own gravitational pull, and we have to keep hitting it. It just keeps sucking us back in. Now, we're watching the sequel to The Long Dark. It's called The Long Night. Well, then. No. We played a game the first time when we watched this where we predicted what the episode was going to be about, and I'm pretty sure I made some jokes about that then, so I'll stop making those jokes now. But for The Long Night, I predicted that Shadow, probably not Morden, but maybe Morden, was going to come on to Babylon 5, and the result of that was going to be a temporary alliance.

[3:09] Between Babylon 5 and the Shadows to take on the Vorlon. What did you predict for this one? I would like to read the transcript. Good luck. This is like the penultimate episode, and for those who don't know, penultimate means the next to last, the one right before the last. This is like the penultimate episode, maybe like four of six or five of six or something like that for when the big battle is happening. Now, I wasn't talking about this being a penultimate episode, although that's what it is for this arc. But what happens in a penultimate episode with a big battle? You get something like the Battle of Helm's Deep or something like that, where the battle has to fight all through the night. Game of Thrones did a whole episode that basically was this. You see this all the time in literature, and we know that JMS is certainly pulling from a lot of literature. So I said that this would have big battle scenes, lots of epic stuff happening, maybe an all-out war probably between the Vorlons and Babylon 5 since we just killed Kosh 2. But basically it's that like you just have to survive until Gandalf comes over the hill is basically is what we're waiting on. We're just we're waiting on those reinforcements to come. All you got to do is survive. He's going to come over at light on the third day or whatever. First light on the third day. And I said this also might be the episode where Lando and Viren act their plan to assassinate Cartagia.

[4:36] I am pointing out, I said that prior to ever seeing the episode, and I had not read show descriptions, I had not read spoilers, never saw a trailer for it, nothing. Not even thumbnails for the show. Not even thumbnails. I tried to avoid those as much as I could and didn't remember them even if I did see them.

[4:55] Well, you want to know what we actually talked about when we watched it the first time? I would love to know what we actually talked about when we watched it the first time. I would too. Let's watch this thing. Let's do it. Previously on Babylon 5 for the first time. The Long Night. So let's talk about Londo. Yeah. Fear, Cartagia, Jakar. Your heart is empty, Malari.

[5:17] I thought a lot about that. Londo, who was, I forgot how to dance. Our favorite Londo. He let that Londo die to get back into his political scheming. That moment he let that Londo die is when his heart emptied. Londo is Centauri. And he makes his decisions. He does the hard things the Centauri way, including taking out the Emperor. Yeah, he didn't really do it. Veer did. Veer might be a top three interesting character when you really look at the journey he has taken and where he's finding himself. Veer had this in his hand and he made the decision, I'm stabbing you with this. He kills Cartagia, he's been drinking, and he just lays into Londo. Like that is Veer and maybe even Stephen First's like crowning moment. But you know what's different about him and Londo? Veer has a heart. He cares. It hurts. I'm watching them like tear up the throne set and all that kind of stuff. And I'm like, are they doing this because they're not going to use it anymore?

[6:27] Jakar says, I did not remove one dictator from the throne just to become a dictator myself.

[6:36] If we talk about Midnight on the Firing Line, that Jakar probably would have taken that deal. When that dude looks at him, it's like, we've all been here. What have you done? Midnight on the Firing Line Jakar would have punched him in his pouch. This Jakar just laughed and walked away. Like that moment when he literally said, they're already dead and we should pity them. That's enlightenment. That is growth. That is wisdom that only comes from enduring. It was great. It was powerful. Vanova comes in. She and Sheridan are having a little chit chat. You know, she's talking about like, you know, hey, we just had another 10 ships join and we've never seen anything this big. Has Sheridan created a federation? Of planets that are united this is how star trek gets started this is such a better story than the one they gave us an enterprise well those fighting words tricky right it's true though it's absolutely true yeah it is true listen all all love and due respect to enterprise this is the better story and it's really not close because you know what they don't have an enterprise or star trek at all Wando, Jakar, JMS. They also don't have pouch punches. That was funny.

[8:00] Wando does the hard thing. The Centauri way that carries true literally till his dying breath. Yeah. He does it. The Centauri way. He has a Centauri through and through all the way to his dying breath. He calls himself at one point, a Patriot. And yes. And, and I tell you what, and he is a it's an ouchy pouchy pouchy i like that from ben that's from ben that's ben.

[8:31] Uh uh jeff i said something there and i'm going to stand by it right now veer is a top three most interesting character for his arc, In fact, I would put those, and probably in this order, Jakar, Londo, Veer. Well, I think – I don't disagree, but I also think – well, yeah, maybe like that's a thing. When you look at them in episode one and then season five, episode 22, who has undergone the most change?

[9:01] And, I mean, you could make a case for it being Veer. I don't think I have to make a case. He made the case. And, you know, definitely Veer. I mean, certainly Londo as well. People have often said that Babylon 5 is the story of Londo Malari, and I don't disagree with that. Jakar's transformation, though, from episode one to the end is when he's walking off the station with Lita to go off on their little side adventure. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's just something else. But Veer, the growth that he has. And the thing about Veer's growth is it wasn't linear. No he said it was up and it was down and he had backslides and he went up and then he went back and and he was it was it was it was a true honest growth it's something we can relate to as viewers it's real yeah you know i think sci-fi fantasy some of these other you know types of genres paint these fantastical pictures that just are beautiful to watch but aren't relatable to people in the real world. And so when you have these, it's not, he's a, I'm going to say a flawed hero, but not flawed in that like he does bad or wrong things. He's flawed in that he's human, even though he's Centauri.

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