Babylon 5/Recap/S04/E05 The Long Night

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
< Babylon 5‎ | Recap‎ | S04
There is no choice. By the end of this day, either Cartagia is dead or Centauri Prime will be destroyed.
—Londo

This episode contains examples of:

  • Bizarre Alien Biology: We find out here that Centauri have two hearts.
  • Conspicuously Public Assassination: G'Kar causes a distraction in the main hall, while Londo drags Cartagia off to kill him, but they're still pretty exposed.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: As G'Kar is marched to his death, fastened to some kind of cross beam restraint, he stumbles, and takes the opportunity to offer comfort to his people.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: After killing Cartagia, Vir drinks to his health, several times. When he shows up at Londo's room, staggeringly drunk, he asks how many before he can't see himself in the mirror. Londo, in a rare profound moment, offers some rather touching comfort, telling him the pain will probably never go away, but that that's a good thing, as it means Vir still has a heart, and that his is a good one, and that Londo himselfs envies him for that.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The Shadow Planets Killers are brought into action, firing nuclear missiles deep into a planet's core and tearing it apart from the inside out.
  • Eyepatch of Power: G'Kar now sports one.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Ranger Ericsson and his crew.
  • Government Conspiracy: Londo, Vir and a collection of Centauri ministers, who have to face the unthinkable - they need to assassinate a sitting Emperor of the Republic.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: G'Kar refuses the Narns' attempts to make him their ruler because he does not want to become another dictator after fighting to depose one.
  • Kick the Dog: Not content with plucking out G'Kar's eye, Cartagia has the jester killed for mimicking him. As the body is dragged away, he swaggers around a corner and comments, "Humor is such a subjective thing."
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: The poison used to kill Cartagia is intended to mimic heart(s) failure.
  • Not Afraid to Die: The Rangers who allow themselves to be destroyed as part of a gambit to draw the Shadows to Coriana 6.
  • Retroactive Recognition: The captain of the above rangers on the White Star? Walter White!
  • Sympathetic Murderer: Vir, the last person you'd expect.
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