Story: The Fall of Centauri Prime
Written By: J. Michael Straczynski
Season: 5
The episode begins with Centauri Prime being blown all to hell by the Drazi/Narn forces, Sheridan can’t stop it, Londo can’t get the defense grid up (it’s too late)....and Delenn and Lennier are still adrift in hyperspace. Things are...shitty. After the attack Londo learns exactly what the meaning behind all of this was. The Regent is being controlled by a Keeper, which is a part of the Drakh, who are the allies of the Shadows left behind on Z’ha’dum. The Drakh are fulfilling a promise made by Mr. Morden when Londo blew up that island with all the Shadows on it. The Shadows have allies, and they will get their revenge on the Centauri...and they have. But they wish to remain secret, hidden from the universe. So they concocted this scheme to have the Centauri get the blame so they could be attacked, and with control of the Regent they made sure they were unable to defend themselves. The Planet is left in ruins, Sheridan demands reparations for starting this war, which decimates their economy and makes the Centauri rely on the Drakh to rebuild their world, in their way. It is a pretty brutal way to exact revenge for Londo killing those Shadows...especially since it takes out that whole world.
With the War over, the Centauri Forces find and take in Delenn’s ship, thus saving her and Lennier (who finally says aloud that he loves Delenn when he assumes they are about to die). Londo, now the Emperor of the the ruined Centauri Republic, gives a speech about the state their planet is now in, and then he encourages Sheridan and Co. to leave with Vir, who will now be the ambassador to the station. On the station, the group discusses the repercussions of War, and the episode ends with a shot of poor Londo sitting on his throne in his burnt kingdom.
This was another excellent episode that fulfilled promises made years ago and setting the stage for the end of the series. I’d like to take a moment to praise the performance of Damian London as the Regent, because I don’t think I have and I loved how wonderfully odd and strange he was. The guy put all his effort into the part and it shows. I think Peter Jurasik also gives a great performance, and I loved the editing choice to include a small montage of images whe nLondo is looking back on his time leading up to this moment, and even a shot of things he knows are still to come (namely G’Kar strangling him to death). And excellent episode, and it leaves this season with just a few episodes to go until the end of the series.
NEXT TIME: Season Namesake
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