B5 - Episode 1x03 - Born to the Purple

[nymeria_dw]

This is one of my favorite episodes in the season, one that possesses many of the elements I love in Babylon5: an intriguing plot, a good sub-plot, great interaction and, of course, wonderful quotes.

Londo has fallen for a young, pretty dancer, but all she's after are some files on his computer - files that could damage the Centauri Republic and Londo's career. What's different in this almost classic story-line is that Adira, the dancer, is not your typical femme fatale: she has been forced into that role by her owner, because she's a slave, and she honestly cares for the Ambassador.  I always had the impression that Londo must have been the first man who treated her like a person instead of an object to be used, and that's the main source of her misgivings about the mission she's been sent to perform.

The exchanges between the two of them look and sound quite real: as a spectator, I sympathize with Londo, his need to engage in a relationship that is not dictated by duty, obligation or political needs - from his words, and his attitude, it's not difficult to perceive his essential loneliness, and his need for something honest and clean in his life.  On the other hand, I can feel Adira's turmoil, her falling for this man who is certainly not handsome - nor young - but possesses something she must have been craving all her life: decency.

Some of their exchanges are quite revealing about this side of the relationship:

LONDO: So it's my title you wanted all along?

ADIRA: I want no more than I'm getting.

In this Adira is more than sincere: to her this looks like a break from what must be a demeaning routine, which will become clearer once her owner, Trakis, comes on scene.  He looks to me something of a two-dimensional villain, and one of the negative sides of this episode, but on hindsight I think his pure malice serves to underline Adira's unease about the assignment, and her basic innocence despite the kind of life she's leading.

Real Londo, the man hiding under the Centauri Ambassador persona, can be seen in another exchange with the young dancer, one of the most beautiful moments in the season, and maybe the show. For the first time since the relationship began, the two are dining in public: of course Adira worries about possible damages to Londo's reputation if he's seen with someone like her. Londo eases her worries, first with a joke, then with a very serious and revealing sentence, one that says much about him and Centauri society:

LONDO: We Centauri live our lives for appearances, positions, status, title. These are the things by which we define ourselves. But when I look beneath the mask I'm forced to wear, I see only emptiness.

Under the appearance of the consummate politician, the shady dealer and womanizing party animal, Londo is a… romantic - I can't find a better way to describe him - someone who longs for a fulfilling, and maybe simpler life. This reminds me of a moment with Vir, in a later season (not a spoiler, of course!), when he tells his attaché that he envies Vir's innocence and the way the younger man can keep it about him.  Londo lost his own innocence long ago, and in this instance he's trying to recapture it through Adira.

Another sign of his basic decency comes once the plot to steal the Purple Files is uncovered: at first Londo is angry, of course, and quite besides himself, but as soon as he recovers his wits and understands how Adira was, to all intents and purposes, another victim, he first thinks about her safety and later asks her to stay with him.  The naked need in that request never fails to touch me deeply, and it takes all of Adira's hard-won good sense to make him understand how such a choice would lead to failure.  Yet she has managed to carve a niche in Londo's heart, and we know how her  (((cough  cough))) return later on will give way to an inescapable chain of events….

The episode's sub-plot is a good one, and it helps define Susan Ivanova in sharp detail: we learned in the first episode that her mother was a telepath who choose not to join Psi Corps, accepting the talent-suppressing injections instead, and falling prey to deep depression that led to suicide.  Here, in the course of a brief exchange with her dying father, we learn her brother died as well - during the Earth/Minbari war - and that she's now totally alone in the world.  

This will inform much of her future development, and will be at the basis of her psychological make-up.

Her interactions with Garibaldi are just wonderful: he's stubbornly pursuing what he believes is a criminal and Ivanova seems to enjoy their hide-and-seek game, as if searching for something to distract her from the imminent tragedy. Yet, when Garibaldi solves the mystery, he shows a deep sensitivity - in his own gruff way.  It will be a joy to witness once again the development of this friendship.

My only contention with this episode comes from a couple of scenes that feel… out of place. One happens when Londo and Sinclair are searching for clues on Adira's whereabouts: the action has an… "Abbot and Costello" feel that seems out of place for both of them, especially Sinclair.  The other happens after Londo has recovered the files and thanks G'Kar: the Narn's reaction is too childish, too peevish for him. 

But it's really nothing more than nitpicking in an outstanding episode…

Comments

[diarmi.livejournal.com]

Great Londo episode, first real sneak into how complex his character is. I like your assessment that he is romantic. But it's very.. realistic and mature type of romantic - he doesn't idolize Adira, in the end he accepts her and her past, he's grateful for the time that had together and he does what he can to make her life better.

As usually lots of many small comedic lines and situations, with Londo and Vir's interactions:

"What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?"

And the whole sub-sub plot with meeting and sending their aids by Londo and G'Kar: "Don't give away the home world."

My only contention with this episode comes from a couple of scenes that feel… out of place. One happens when Londo and Sinclair are searching for clues on Adira's whereabouts: the action has an… "Abbot and Costello" feel that seems out of place for both of them, especially Sinclair. The other happens after Londo has recovered the files and thanks G'Kar: the Narn's reaction is too childish, too peevish for him.

I'm not sure about Sinclair scenes because he's generally too stiff for such moments but I don't have problem with G'Kar's behavior, it suits how he was at the beginning (I think his change in later seasons may make seeing him now so... light a little strange...) and is one of so many bickering interactions of him and Londo I love:

"My dear G'Kar. How can I ever thank you? You have saved my career, and the honor of the entire Centauri Republic."
"What?" :)))

[nymeria-55.livejournal.com]

it's very.. realistic and mature type of romantic

Yes, you're perfectly right. He had his share of pain and betrayals and knows what is what. But at the same time he's still hopeful for that "something" that could change things - not in a big way, but in those small ways that make life more bearable.

Londo and Vir are always a joy to observe, and the interactions between the ambassadors and their aides are always on the fun side. There is always that beautiful mix of drama and fun in B5 (as in Farscape, for that matter) that shows a well-balanced writing.

Your intuition about G'Kar is correct: I tend to see him as the person he will become, so this... "lighter" version looks strange indeed, although his bickering with Londo always brings a smile on my face, like the elevator scene in a future episode, the one where they are so busy throwing accusations at each other, that the extra guy takes the car and they both tell the other "Look what you made me do!" :-)

**wave**