s1e13: Signs and Portents

Let me buy you a whole fleet of drinks!

We’re watching the pioneering 90s TV show Babylon 5. If you want to join us, hit subscribe then go to your account and turn on the Let’s Watch notifications.

Here we go. After half a season of establishing the setting and characters and dropping crumbs here and there, Babylon 5 finally lays its cards down on the table.

‘Signs and Portents’ is a significant departure from what’s come before, in that it is primarily a long arc episode and is also not afraid to have a real lack of closure. Back in ‘And the Sky Full of Stars’ there was a lot of mystery and unanswered questions, but the central story of Sinclair being kidnapped and interrogated was resolved, and we learned a lot of new information about the Minbari War and Sinclair’s role in its conclusion. In ‘Signs and Portents’ we get something quite different: we think the episode is about one thing, then it turns out to be about another and we have no idea what the hell just happened.

The setup is fairly typical of what we’ve come to expect: an A plot focusing on some Centauri scheming, a B plot about the raiders (as they’ve been used in a couple of other episodes so far), with a quirky sort-of-comedy C plot featuring some random businessman who is pestering the ambassadors.

The A and B plots eventually intersect, as is also fairly typical of B5, and we get treated to the biggest space battle and VFX sequence in the series to date. It’s rollicking stuff, and the quality of the space battle is so far beyond what we’ve seen in ‘Midnight on the Firing Line’ and ‘And the Sky Full of Stars’ that it makes my brain hurt. Pulling off the scope and scale of the battle must have been insanely difficult in CG on a 1990s budget and schedule. That it still holds up today as an exciting sequence is remarkable: there are a couple of wide shots in there of the station that wouldn’t look too out of place in a 2023 show, with really beautiful lighting. A hint of things to come (both for B5 and the capabilities of CGI generally for this sort of thing).

In the background is that weird businessman C plot, as he goes around asking a silly question about what each ambassador wants. It is daft and nonsensical, reminiscent in some ways of the ‘Vickers’ character that gave Talia Winters so much hassle a few episodes back. Most of the scenes are played for laughs, before twisting unexpectedly — G’Kar’s chilling dreams of revenge laid bare, or Mollari’s nostalgic desire for conquest.

The big moment comes during the battle, when the businessman fella finally bumps into Kosh, the one ambassador he seems to have been avoiding. Kosh is evidently not pleased to see this guy, but it’s the man’s response that is utterly confounding and frightening. Up until now the Vorlons have been unknowable and all-powerful. They stay out of the affairs of others, until they wade in with dangerous unilateral action, like blowing up Deathwalker’s ship. The Vorlons are uniquely placed, it seems, to behave badly and cause what would be major diplomatic incidents from anyone else — and get away with it every time. Everyone is terrified of them and doesn’t dare criticise.

And then this guy just stares down Kosh and smiles.

At this point in Babylon 5 we don’t know what this means, or how, or why. We know only that Kosh’s suit sustained some damage during the battle. It’s such an exciting injection into the story, because it upends everything we know so far.

Then, of course, there’s the thing at the very end, wibbling into existence and destroying the raider vessel. It comes out of nowhere and has no explanation whatsoever. And then the final bit of genius: the sudden and unexpected linking of the C plot into the A and B plots. Up until the moment the Eye is returned to Londo, we had no reason to think that there was a connection. It’s a startling moment.

There are also no answers. It’s an entirely new mystery, separate to the Sinclair/Minbari one the began from the pilot, and hints at something much larger going on behind-the-scenes. Is it going to come back in a later episode? What is going on? ‘Signs and Portents’ was structurally mind-blowing in the mid-90s, because there weren’t really other shows doing this type of long-form storytelling — certainly not in the scifi arena

So many rugs are pulled here that all we’re left with is bare floorboards.

Next week its’s ‘TKO’ which I’ll bet

Mike Miller

is thrilled about.

Actually, the Master List over on the Lurker’s Guide has ‘Grail’ as the next episode, which is different to the order on the blu-ray. So we’ll go with that!

‼️ SPOILER STUFF ‼️

I mean, where to start?

Morden has arrived! It feels consequential within the episode itself, but on a re-watch it’s especially unnerving, seeing him walk through the docking bay (another great virtual set). His arrival is the beginning of a major plotline that won’t conclude until halfway through season 4. It’s gutsy stuff.

We have overt mentions of the Shadows, although we don’t understand the context yet.

Immediately we see the rivalry between the Shadows and the Vorlons.

This is also a huge, pivotal episode for Londo. It’s quite horrible watching this and seeing his glee and elation at the end, knowing what this actually signals for him. While he’s lamented his diminished position, he would have been generally quite content bimbling away on Babylon 5 and then retiring to his estate on Centauri Prime, I’m sure. Instead, he’s now on a tragic path that will cause the deaths of billions and the subjugation of his own people.

The raiders are pretty much done for now. I don’t think we see them again until season 5, in fact. They’ve been the main persistent threat through season 1 so far, and this episode definitively clears the deck to get ready for the second half. We’re a long way from season 3’s seceding, but this is the last time the B5 universe feels even vaguely stable.

We also get a really good look at Delenn’s triluminary in this one. It’s been in the background, I think, but it’s front and centre in this one: although the scene quickly shifts its focus to Morden, so it’s easy to forget all about it.

Exciting stuff.