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Only one episode and it exceeded the max char count? Yeah, and I know I could have cut it down but to be honest, this episode is so crucial and so pivotal that I really didn't want to do that, so for the first time I've had to split a single episode into two. I've kept the quotes and questions part for the second post: that'll show you just how much is going on in this one, and how much has to be discussed and explained.)
1.12 "Signs and portents"
And finally the arc begins its slow journey across the topography of the storyline! With our last major arc episode being "And the sky full of stars", which really posed more questions than it answered, we're given more clues in this episode as to what's happening, or what may be happening.
New character: "Mr. Morden" played by Ed Wasser
Although he is only introduced in this episode, and we will not see or hear of him again until deep into season two, the enigmatic Mr. Morden will be a pivotal figure around whom the second, third and fourth seasons will all revolve. He will orchestrate dark plans, betray and dupe people, and be directly responsible for the deaths of millions.
So, then, the episode...
Let's just, for the moment, leave aside the main plot involving the raiders, shall we? Although these space battles added excitement and special effects, and ensured the show didn't drag for those who can't sit easy unless there's a big colourful explosion lighting up the screen every five minutes, in essence they turn out to be side-avenues, dead-ends in fact which in my opinion merely serve to pad out the episodes they're in without being important or adding to the overall story. In the end, they come across to me as unimportant, and while they're well-written, they can all (there are a few of them in a sort of ongoing subplotline for a while) be described as "raiders threaten Babylon 5 and its borders and the station's fighters go out to, well, fight them." The end.
In fairness, if that were all there was to this episode I'd be writing another few-liner synopsis a la "Infection", and leaving it at that. But it's not. Oh, Great Maker, no. It's far more than a shoot-em-up-get-out-of-our-space thing, and looking behind the raiders story, there's so much more going on. Get comfortable, because from this point on the story begins to begin to unfold, if you understand. No-one is saying everything is going to become clear in a few episodes, or even in this season --- in fact, the next episode is a real throwaway in one sense --- but things do start to move slowly towards the first major revelations, and a shattering climax at the end of the season.
Londo meets with a man who claims to have recovered a long-lost Centuari relic, known only as The Eye. The man he is meeting is returning the artifact to him, having received payment for same from the Centauri government. Londo is unaware as he takes possession of The Eye that he is being watched. The man, who calls himself Morden, visits G'Kar and asks him "What do you want?" G'Kar is annoyed at the vagueness of the question, but eventually admits that what he wants is to wipe out the Centauri, every last one. But when asked what then, he shrugs, says it doesn't matter. As long as the Centauri are gone and his people's safety thus forever assured, he can't really think of anything else he wants. Morden leaves, looking less than impressed at the answer.
Linking back to "And the sky..." Sinclair takes Garibaldi into his confidence. The events that were revealed to him, the memories that came back when he was in the virtual reality cybernet, have been weighing on his mind, and he asks his friend to help him find out more about what happened.
Londo meanwhile greets Lord Kiro and his aunt, Lady Ladira, two nobles from the Centauri court; Ladira is a seer, and seems to be very troubled by Babylon 5, screaming that the place will be destroyed; she sees fire, death, destruction. Worried for her, Londo asks Kiro if her predictions are accurate, and the noble laughs that when he was young, she prophesied that he would one day be killed by shadows! Kiro wants to see The Eye, which he is conveying back to the Emperor on Centauri Prime. As they leave, the two are followed by someone who makes a report about locating his target.
Morden visits Delenn, asking her "What do you want?" but she feels faint, and a silver triangle appears on her forehead. When she turns again to look at Morden, she sees only darkness, as if the man is nothing more than a shadow. She demands he leave, which he does, and when he has departed she says to the air "They're here!" There is no disguising the fear and dread in her voice.
Kiro and Londo look at The Eye, and Kiro complains that as the artifact originally belonged to his family it should be his, not the Emperor's. Londo counsels him against such thoughts of usurping power; these are not the old days, he reminds the younger Centauri. Meanwhile Ambassador Kosh returns to the station --- this is the first time we've seen him for a while --- and Morden ducks behind a corner, as if afraid or reluctant to face the Vorlon. He does however meet Londo, and asks his question. When Londo, after some irritation, declares that he wants the Centauri Republic to rise again, for everything to be as it was when his people ruled the galaxy, Morden smiles and seems satisfied, as if this is the answer he came for. He leaves.
In complete fairness, this time the raiders story is tied in to the main plot, as it seems they've been trying to lure Babylon 5's fighters away from the station with decoy raids, in order to be able to attack Kiro's ship when it leaves and take The Eye. As they prepare to depart, Ladira has another vision --- well, the same, but clearer and more urgent --- and she screams "The shadows have come for Lord Kiro! The shadows have come for us all!" Kosh, meanwhile, has discovered the presence of Morden on the station and warns him off, though Morden does not seem afraid of him.
In Sinclair's office, Ladira has another vision, which shows us that Kiro, having had a deal with, and rendezvoused with, the raiders, has been betrayed as the raiders now intend to ransom The Eye back to the Centauri Republic, and Kiro will also fetch a decent price. However, as they prepare to imprison Kiro, a huge, alien, spiderlike spaceship emerges from a jumpgate and immediately destroys their ship.
Londo, when he hears of the tragedy --- more that The Eye is lost again than that Kiro is dead --- believes his career is over. He was the one responsible for getting the ancient artifact back to the homeworld, and he has failed. However just when all seems lost, Morden turns up with a box which happens to contain The Eye! He offers it to Londo as a gift, but when Londo, opening the box and unable to believe his eyes (pun intended!) turns back to thank the man, he is gone. He calls out after him down the corridor, asking how can he ever thank him, and a disembodied voice assures him that when the time is right, Morden will find him.
As a coda to the story, Garibaldi meets Sinclair and tells him that he has done some checking, as requested, and found out that Sinclair was a long way down the pecking order for the post of commander of the station. He only got the job because the Minbari demanded it. For some reason, Garibaldi tells his CO, they wanted him, and only him. Later, Sinclair is allowed to see the vision that the Lady Ladira had, and he sees the station explode. He is shaken, but she tells him this is one of many possible futures, and she hopes it may yet be changed.
Important Plot Arc Points:
Morden
Arc Level: Red
Although when he arrives at the station Morden is nondescript, and seems nothing more than a functionary --- in some ways, that's what he is, but with very powerful friends --- it is he who will set in motion a chain of events which will plunge the entire galaxy into war. He has come to Babylon 5 to ask the question he always does, and when he finds someone who gives him the answer he wants, he allies himself to that person, making them in fact beholden to him. When Londo Mollari "passes the test", he helps the Centauri ambassador out of his difficult predicament by recovering The Eye for him. He knows that Londo is now indebted to him, and you can be sure he will collect on this debt, many times over. But he also helps him because he knows that if he does not, Londo will lose fae and power, possibly his position and therefore be of no use to the strange man and his dark allies. He, and they, need Londo to be exactly where he is, and to have the power he has --- and more --- in order to properly benefit from their association with him.
The strange spider ship
Arc Level: Red
This is the first time we ever see this odd alien ship. It looks almost alive, a huge, twisting, rippling thing through which stars and the darkness of space seem to leak, and from which light seems to bounce off and bend away. In shape like nothing morel than a massive spider, it's obviously got superior armaments, as it cuts through the raiders' ship like a hot knife through butter, and there is no communication from it, no demand to return The Eye, no call for surrender, and no identification of any sort. It appears suddenly, and vanishes as quickly, like a predatory beast used to roaming space. This is not the last time we will see this ship, in fact, by season three it will be a familiar and terrifying sight all over the galaxy.
"What do you want?"
Arc level: Red
Yep, another one! I told you this episode was arc-heavy! There's little arc-wise in this episode that doesn't impinge heavily on further seasons, and in many ways it's the first real major turning point for the storyline. The question is a simple one, but never qualified or contextualised, so in that manner hard to answer. If someone were to stop you on the street and ask that question, your first reaction would probably be what do you mean? What do I want in what way? Without knowing the context in which it's asked it's a very leading and open question, and G'Kar breaks it down, trying to get Morden to clarify, but he will not. All he will say is "What do you want?" It's Londo of course who gives him the answer he wants, the answer he has come for, and in doing so makes something of a deal with the Devil, even though he does not as yet realise that.
"Leave this place!"
Arc Level: Red
When Morden meets Kosh, the Vorlon warns him to leave. Morden refuses, and some time later Garibaldi mentions that the ambassador has asked for tools to repair his encounter suit, though he will not say how it got damaged. Whoever Morden works for, whoever his allies or, as he calls them himself, "associates", are, it's clear they bear no love for the Vorlons! And vice versa.
Lady Ladira's vision
Arc Level: Red
What the Centauri seer saw was an attack on Babylon 5 and the eventual destruction of the station. Although it's easy to dismiss this, don't be so hasty, as it will impinge very much on the station's fate in the years to come, and will not be as clear-cut as we're led to think it may. Other things she saw and spoke of will also become more clear when season two gets going.