Babylon 5 (TV Series) The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari (1998) User Reviews

A great episode; surreal and interesting

[InfiniteJesterII · 8/10 · 12 August 2022]

In this one, we venture into the mind of Londo Mollari when he is in a coma due to a heart failure. We see him as he interacts with a veiled woman, Sheridan, and G'kar in sequences that are reminiscent of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

My favorite scene of this episode would be the scene in which Londo's mind re-enacts the scene from Season 4 in which G'kar is being whipped under the advisement of Emperor Cartagia, though, instead, G'kar and Londo's positions are reversed. Instead, Londo is being whipped, G'kar the observer. In this scene, he is told to apologize by G'kar, but Londo says that he has never apologized in his life. However, when it is the thirty-ninth whip, he says that he is sorry, pounding against a piece of glass shielding pulsing red material, which is his visualization of his heart. He then comes back into consciousness and, crying, he says to G'kar that he is sorry, and G'kar smiles. That has to be one of the most satisfying moments between Londo and G'kar of this show; it almost had me in tears.

Also, in this episode, Lennier is leaving the station to train with the rangers. He has a conversation with Vir before leaving, talking about the shirley temple, which Vir is drinking, saying that he's never heard of this temple before and that he wishes to visit it. That scene was pretty funny.

Overall, this was a wonderful episode with many great moments.

Very good, but....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 1 April 2007]

This is a very good episode where Londo is dying of heart failure and while in a coma he has a series of visions or dreams. In these dreams, he is slowly confronted for the evil slug that he is and is pushed to accept himself and change. This is VERY reminiscent of Dickens' "Christmas Carole" and I almost expected one of the apparitions to announce that he was the ghost of Christmas Future! And, once Londo regained consciousness, I half expected him to give some money to the first kid he saw and told him to buy the goose in the butcher shop window! While all this worked well and was very entertaining, one problem does exist for this episode. While Londo DOES swear to turn over a new leaf and apologize for his evils, just two episodes later he's back to being a self-centered jerk. This really tends to undo some of the impact of this episode and reduce it more to "filler" status.

Another filler that focuses on the series' buffoon

[Mischief810 · 3/10 · 23 September 2014]

If you've read my other reviews, then you already know what I think of this ridiculous buffoon of a character. He should have been killed off and written out early in the series.

To have an entire episode dedicated to this knucklehead is part of what got this series canceled. To me, the episode is unwatchable. A napoleonic buffoon with a Transylvanian accent and a stupid hairdo deserves about five minutes in every other episode or so.

This character appears to have an epiphany of sorts. So what? He's immaterial to the overarching theme of the series and especially to the theme of this final season. Wasting precious episodes in season five of a five season run on this knucklehead was a waste of money, production time, direction and acting talent. Skip this.

Filler Episode

[philiplsmith-84308 · 4/10 · 15 April 2024]

The main problem with Season 5 and particularly the first half of the season is that is that the story of Babylon 5 was rushed to its inclusion in Season 4 as a decision on whether to make Season 5 was delayed.

This means that the Shadow War and war with Earth are over and the writers had to produce a lot of filler including this episode and the whole tedious Byron plot line.

In this episode Londo has a heart attack and has to face his demons before having an epiphany. A similar episode with Gkar took place earlier in the show and was handled much better. The other issue here is that Londo's character doesn't change dramatically afterwards in the way that G'Kar's did.

This is an episode that could be easily missed. The only other thing of note is Lennier's departure which is at least handled well.