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This episode is all about communications lag. Or a knowledge gap. The knowledge exists, but it never quite reaches the right person at the right time, and the characters are constantly playing catch-up. For half the episode they don’t even realise they’re in a race, and by the time they do, it’s far too late to catch up.
‘Chrysalis’ is a jam-packed episode. We get a return of the Narn-Centauri tensions, which have been simmering quietly in the background but haven’t been a major plot point for quite a while. Delenn’s mysterious plan gets put into action and is weirder than we could have expected. Sakai and Sinclair decide to get married (good timing). Morden returns with his shadowy associates.
That would be enough for most episodes, but none of those things are the main plot here. Instead we get a murder conspiracy for Garibaldi to investigate, referencing all the way back to ‘Survivors’, which this time leads to the actual assassination of the Earth President. In retrospect, having ‘Survivors’ earlier in the season is a small piece of genius, because it predisposes us to thinking that this is going to be another attempt on the President’s life that the B5 crew will foil in the nick of time. The expectation has been set, which makes their utter failure all the more shocking.
Let’s talk about that moment, when Earth Force One explodes and the newsreader desperately tries to think of what to say. When it cuts back to Sinclair, Ivanova and the rest of the C&C crew staring is stunned distress, unable to comprehend what’s just happened. Back in the mid-90s, in my mid-teens, I didn’t have a reference point for this. Watching it now, I immediately think back to 9/11, and watching the news unfolding in real time.
When 9/11 happened I was a fairly immature 20 years old. I remember that I’d invited a friend over to watch Fight Club, as she’d never seen it, and it was my favourite film. We were about to start the film when my dad messaged me from London, telling me to put the news on. The towers hadn’t fallen at that point. I remember saying to my friend, rather needlessly, “this is how wars start.”
Michael O’Hare and Claudia Christian nail that feeling in ‘Chrysalis’. O’Hare playing Sinclair as a man who has failed as profoundly as anyone can ever fail, his disappointment in himself rivalled only by his anger at what has just happened. Christian shows Ivanova to be visibly upset, and wrestling her emotions under control so that she can still do her job: notably, she turns back towards her control console, which acts as a kind of safety net. She is in charge when she’s at her console. The world is right when she’s in charge. At that moment, it’s the only thing that makes sense to herself.
Sinclair’s line that “nothing’s the same anymore” is so simple, but perfectly encapsulates those moments of seismic change, when the world pivots from one reality to another. And that suspicion that it had always been like that, and you just somehow hadn’t noticed.
That this episode was made in 1994. I wonder what JMS had in his head when he was writing it. What O’Hare and Christian and the extras were thinking. I’m not familiar enough with pre-1990s American history to know what the closest cultural/historical reference point would have been. But it’s a scene that feels real in the worst kind of way. That it reminds us of anything is in itself tragic. If only it were all fiction.
On top of all that we have Garibaldi crawling along the floor using only his nails. The drama in those sequences is unlike anything we’ve seen in the show so far: the ratcheting up and down of the music, the shots emphasising the enormous distance between Garibaldi and the elevator, the slow inevitability of Earth Force One approaching the Io jump point (some of the most beautiful VFX shots we’ve had so far), then Garibaldi desperately trying to tell Sinclair in time — and it all being too late. All of it is juxtaposed with the new year’s eve celebrations, and the brief moment of happiness for Sinclair and Sakai. I love how they play Sinclair’s reaction to Sakai accepting his proposal: turning his back, unable to face her. He can face down an Ikaaran killing machine, but Sakai accepting him is too much.
Then there’s the whole Narn-Centauri side to the episode. I actually gasped when Morden showed up on the comm to Londo, as I’d entirely forgotten that he was in it. I only remembered the Earth plot. We’ve had hints of G’Kar being more interested in peace and diplomacy than we might have originally thought; similarly, we’ve had episodes in which we’ve seen a more heroic side of Londo, as well as his usual fun antics in the casino. That tragedy of ‘Chrysalis’ for him is not that Morden tricks him, or somehow forces him into an arrangement against his will, but that Londo knows, instinctively knows, what he is doing. He knows this is bad news, that it’s going to have consequences. But he does it anyway, because he can’t resist the promise of power and respect. In fact, it might not even be power he’s after at this point: it’s recognition.
Even he is shocked by Morden’s total solution to the Quadrant 37 issue. Londo is horrified by the death toll, yet is also trapped by it. He’s well and truly committed to the path, in a way that he wasn’t prior to this episode.
If it isn’t obvious, this episode has always been one of my favourites. It succeeds because it takes nearly every major and minor plot thread from season 1 and brings them back for a single episode. It has an inevitability throughout, yet remains surprising at every turn.
It’s also far more consequential than you might expect. That Garibaldi’s fate is left unknown, and Jack the double-crossing security officer is still in play, and there’s no resolution to the assassination plot. What’s going to happen to the Narn-Centauri cold war now? Where has G’Kar gone? What is Sinclair going to do now, and will the marriage be called off?
A lot of shows do cliffhangers, and pretend to change. In B5, when Sinclair says “nothing’s the same anymore”, he means it, and the show means it.
Next time, remarkably, we are moving on to SEASON TWO. It’s zipped by. We will begin with ‘Points of Departure’.
‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️
Quite a lot of stuff here, then.
Londo commits to his tragic path. I’d thought that moment was in ‘Signs and Portents’, but he could still have turned away from it, I think, up until this episode.
G’Kar is off to investigate the new race he suspects is on the game board.
This is the event that roots a paranoia in Garibaldi that will cause his undoing in season 4 — or, at least, open up that weak point for Bester to manipulate.
It seems crazy that this is the last time we’ll see Sinclair as commander of B5. The character and the actor had their ups and downs, but by this point in the season I find myself with a growing respect for both. The cerebral diplomat, and the caring father figure aspects were really starting to shine. There’s also that real sense of trust between him, Ivanova, Garibaldi and Franklin. Because it’s been a long while since I’ve watched the show, I can’t quite fathom the idea of Sheridan taking over.
Here we get our first proper look at the Shadow ships, as well as their firepower. We also get confirmation that there are LOTS OF THEM. Taking out one raider mothership is one thing; obliterating an entire Narn colony and orbital military outpost is quite another.
It’s barely more than a footnote in the episode, but we also get Clark coming to power. It’s underplayed here, but I love that the hints are there from the start: the VP conveniently being off the ship during the explosion. The immediate doubling-down on Earth-first principles.
Oh! And we have Delenn going into chrysalis, from which she’ll emerge half-human and with awkward hair. Perhaps even more critically, we have a MASSIVE tease of Kosh and the Vorlons, in the form of a sound effect. I love that detail of the flapping of wings, entirely off-screen. Clever, clever, and sets up the season 2 finale so perfectly.
Interesting, also, that Delenn’s doubts are assuaged by seeing Kosh. Presumably he appeared in the form of a Minbari deity. It implies that Delenn is, at this point, entirely convinced by the Vorlons’ schtick, and is being fairly easily manipulated by them. It will be some time until Sheridan unpicks that, and they reveal their mean side.
Babylon 5 is really good, innit?
Oh yeah. This episode. Whew. So much foreshadowing, so much unravelling. What a fantastic setup this was. I know that it's an impossible ask, because something like this episode needs the buildup to really land in all the ways that matter - but, if Babylon 5 had a pilot episode that packed a punch like this one...? But then, as solid as it was in many ways, "The Gathering" lacked some impact (IMHO) just because its characters were so fresh, and to throw them into such calamity and disarray immediately just...didn't (doesn't?) quite work? I don't know. This is why I want to try writing fiction, to learn how naive my critical opinions are about this stuff. But it does make me realise that so many great pilot episodes show everything falling apart and introducing characters as wannabe survivors of the times they live in, and what a terrific hook that can be when it's done well (and efficiently, because successfully going high-emotional-stakes in just one episode means you're doing a lot of character work very quickly)...
But - yeah. This episode. What confidence in its storytelling, to throw absolutely everything up into the air like that. May everything we write, fiction or non-fiction, have a little of this bravery and wisdom and exciting glimpses of things to come.
And we're back!
Oof! This episode is utterly fantastic, and, if anyone is keeping track of production numbers, it's 112 - meaning it was shot halfway through the season. Now, "Signs and Portents" was production number 116, meaning the scenes in this episode between, say, Londo and Morden, where they refer back to "Portents" were shot before that episode. Must be fun for actors on an arc show to shoot continuations or resolutions before introductions and set-ups. Pity the continuity person who had to keep track of the various stages of completion on Delenn's "jigsaw puzzle" (Chrysalis machine) all year.
Most of the episode plot points I remembered - the surprise for me being Delenn walking into Sinclair's quarters, holding up a triluminary, and talking about the Battle of the Line. I'd forgotten that!
The episode structure just works so well. A tense opening with Petrov being stabbed, then a bit of awkward happiness with Sinclair's terrible proposal - "Look, do you wanna get married, or not?" then a bit of a slow build with Garibaldi's investigation, one comic relief moment with G'kar's *ahem* "dates," then Londo's chat with Morden...a big action sequence with the attack on Q37 - which really shows their power, since all of B5's battles so far have taken a full act. For the entire Narn outpost to be taken out so decisively, and so quickly, really drives home that those creepy spider-ships - only two - are vastly more powerful than anything else we've seen in the show. But here's the fun trick. The episode climax - Garibaldi shot and Earthforce One exploding - is halfway through. The entire back half of the episode is all about aftermath and set up for season 2!
The sequence with the destruction of Earthforce One is just so well staged, animated, and edited it's jaw-droppingly powerful. It's a fantastic choice to show the initial explosion of Earthforce One from the front, only seeing the lights flicker and sparks floating out from behind the centrifuge, before cutting to behind EF1 as it tumbles. Director Janet Greek gets great reactions from her extras and day players, while Claudia and O'Hare absolutely nail it. Everyone in C&C is utterly about to lose it, and Sinclair is only barely able to hold himself and the crew together. Even Maggie Egan, by far the most used ISN anchor, absolutely brings the horror.
Garibaldi being shot in the back remains utterly shocking. Again, due to impeccable shot choices (pun intended) and editing from Greek, not to mention Security Officer Jack has been floating around all season. He's not just some random actor brought in this week. His familiar face really makes the betrayal land... If anyone reading is a first time watcher, on a re-watch you'll see how when Jack is around, well, he's in a position to cause problems... Let's use "Sky Full of Stars" as an example. Who do you think helped Knight One throw Benson's body out an airlock without being caught on camera or having the airlock access logged? Oh, the NUMBER TWO GUY IN SECURITY!
I'd forgotten about the Londo scene in Medbay. It's a nice empathizing moment for Londo after we've seen him do something tragic and horrible.
As a historical note, B5 is among the first "arc shows," and likely the first with a multi-season arc planned in advance. At the time (in the US) TV live action SF was Trek: TNG, Gerry Anderson's Space Precinct, and the 6-episode Space Rangers. Space: Above and Beyond would come next year. I guess we can count Brisco County Jr. Hercules and Xena, though all three were more fantasy. And none of them were arc shows. When Sinclair said at the end of "Chrysalis," "Nothing's the same anymore..." He MEANT that, and so did JMS in a way American SF just didn't do then. It was mind blowing to have the show pull the rug from under us like that. Changes? Hah! Wait for season 2!
Final note - that last shot of Lennier holding the candle and sitting vigil for Delenn... The makeup looks SO good. I don't know if the appliance was thin enough for Bill Mumy to wrinkle his brow and emote like that, or if a special appliance was sculpted with some "extra emotion." Also, it's always fun to see G'kar's chest.