sholio: sun on winter trees (0)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote 2025-04-02 04:54 pm (UTC)

I too would love to know how Londo pitched this plan to G'Kar, among other reasons because I believe it to be their first linear-time interaction since the events of "Dust to Dust."

I know!! I think that, as well as this being their first post-"Dust to Dust" interaction, what really gets to me is the absolutely insane amount of trust that it took for G'Kar to willingly put himself in the hands of armed enemies who could easily kill him, all on Londo's promise that he was going to get out again. His part in this plan is wildly dangerous - he has to get himself smuggled to a planet where there's a warrant out for him (I did love that conversation with Garibaldi, where Garibaldi asks how big the thing is that he wants smuggled and G'Kar holds up his hands to indicate himself: "About this high and this wide") and then actually put himself and several members of the Narn resistance in the hands of a group of armed Centauri, all on Londo's say-so that they're being paid off to release him and Londo isn't just going to turn around and wipe out the other half of the paper trail that could lead back to Refa's murder, which he could easily have done. And all of this while being surrounded by tangible reminders of what the Centauri - and Londo, specifically - did to his world. It boggles me more the more I think about it. And yes, he's gambling hugely to get something that matters a lot to him (justice for the Narns re: Refa that wouldn't happen any other way, and the release of a lot of captive Narns) but it still requires putting a really astonishing amount of trust in Londo to keep his side of their bargain, not just on his behalf but on behalf of other people as well.

It is really wild, too, that so far the fallout from the absolute worst decision Londo has made this season (to fall right back into working with the Shadows and playing into Morden's hands after Adira's murder) is actually turning out fairly positively so far - Refa dead, and Londo working with the Narns to get what he wants. And 2000 Narns in safety who wouldn't otherwise be; in a way this really underscores how much power Londo has to make positive change that he isn't using, since it took Vir months of effort and personal risk to do what Londo did in an instant with a stroke of a pen. (Also kind of interesting that Londo uses Vir as his catspaw for this because of the reputation Vir has among the Narns due to his Narn-smuggling activities - which answers a question I had been wondering about, whether the Narns in general, and G'Kar, know about it, which apparently they do - but also, Londo himself is doing something similar in this episode to what he just came down on Vir for like a ton of bricks a few episodes ago; Londo, you absolute hypocrite! Of course, Vir was doing it out of sympathy and compassion, while Londo is motivated by revenge, and would just as easily have killed 2000 Narns as set them free if it furthered his goals. But the reasons doesn't matter so much to the people who have their freedom where they wouldn't have before.) I'm sure the other shoe will drop eventually, and drop hard, but in the meantime, the worst thing Londo has done all season also led to the best thing he's done this season, which I wasn't expecting.

Post a comment in response:

If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting