Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Fall of Centauri Prime” By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on June 29, 2026 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “The Fall of Centauri Prime”Written by J. Michael StaczynskiDirected by Douglas E. WiseSeason 5, Episode 18Production episode 519Original air date: October 28, 1998 It was the dawn of the third age… The joint Drazi-Narn fleet is bombarding the shit out of Centauri Prime. Mollari gets a badly injured G’Kar out of his cell before that entire building is destroyed. On B5, Garibaldi reports to Sheridan about the bombardment—including that the Centauri Prime defenses are either down or away—and also that Delenn’s ship never made it to Minbar. In hyperspace, Lennier is working furiously on the damaged White Star to try to get something working so they can be found. On Centauri Prime, Mollari finds the Regent—and then he is finally read in on what the hell’s been going on, as he meets a Drakh. They were servants of the Shadows, but they were left directionless when the Shadows buggered off beyond the rim and left homeless when Z’ha’dum was destroyed. They came to Centauri Prime because the Shadows used this as a base. They manipulated events to make the Centauri pariahs on the galactic stage, and also leave them in such terrible shape that they would need the Drakh’s help to rebuild. The Drakh have also borrowed a page from Mollari’s playbook: they’ve placed fusion bombs all over Centauri Prime. If Mollari doesn’t do as the Drakh wish, they’ll set off the bombs, killing billions beyond the millions who are already dying from the Narn-Drazi bombardment. Sheridan arrives at Centauri Prime with a fleet of White Stars, and demands that the Narn and Drazi stand down. Na’Tok refuses, and points out that the Centauri fleet that was sent away is on their way back. They won’t care if the attack was authorized or not, and Sheridan can either join the fleet or get caught in the crossfire. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The Regent informs Mollari that the Regent himself is the scapegoat that will allow the war to end. After the Regent dies, Mollari will become emperor and he can order the fleet to stand down, saying that the Regent is responsible for all the awful things that have happened. Just before the Keeper leaves his shoulder and he dies in Mollari’s arms, the Regent admits that he has failed in his duties and responsibilities. Mollari goes to G’Kar. He doesn’t share any information about the Drakh, but he does say that the Regent is dead and is responsible, and that Mollari is now emperor—which means G’Kar can no longer be his bodyguard. Mollari also warns G’Kar that he will hear strange things about the emperor in the coming years. G’Kar says he understands, and also forgives Mollari for everything he’s done. Then Mollari goes to the Drakh, who extracts a Keeper from his person, which attaches itself to Mollari. The new emperor then calls off the Centauri fleet and surrenders to Sheridan, and declares that the Centauri Republic is withdrawing from the IA. Sheridan, in turn, demands reparations from the Centauri. Sheridan also informs Mollari of Delenn’s disappearance. In private, Mollari begs the Drakh to spare Delenn. In public, Mollari meets with Sheridan and agrees to rescue Delenn, but it is a favor he is doing that Mollari will call upon to return some day. Mollari also claims that the Regent bought the Shadow tech used on the unstaffed ships that assaulted the cargo ships on the black market. In hyperspace, the White Star has drifted off the beacon. As a last-ditch Hail Mary, Lennier fires the last of the weapons, hoping that will work as a flare. A Centauri fleet sees that and finds them. Thinking they’re about to die, Lennier confesses his love for Delenn, who replies, “I know”— —and then the Centauri tow the White Star back to normal space. Lennier thumphers, and Delenn lets him off the hook, pretending she didn’t hear what he said. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Sheridan and Delenn are reunited on Centauri Prime. Along with G’Kar and Vir, they watch Mollari’s inaugural speech, in which he blames the Regent for the recent unpleasantness—but also excoriates Sheridan and the IA for their attack and their demand for reparations. After the speech, Mollari urges them all to depart. He officially appoints Vir the Centauri ambassador to the IA. Sheridan and Delenn are understanding of his need to project strong leadership in light of what’s happened. Delenn also says she senses a darkness about Mollari. Mollari then walks alone to his official inauguration. Back on B5, Sheridan, Delenn, Garibaldi, Franklin, G’Kar, and Alexander meet to discuss the Shadow tech that the Centauri used. Franklin talks about how weapons from the Soviet Union went on the black market after that nation collapsed, and were later used to destroy San Diego. He worries about history repeating itself. When Garibaldi suggests going to the Vorlon homeworld to see what they can scrounge, Alexander unexpectedly says that the Vorlon homeworld is off-limits to the younger races for another million years—and Alexander has no idea how she knew that or why she said it. Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan proves to be utterly impotent and useless, as everything that happens is despite his best efforts, not because of them. He also seems very upset that Mollari won’t treat him as a friend, but only as a fellow politician. If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Apparently, Mollari thinks highly enough of Delenn to beg the Drakh to allow him to rescue her. In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… The Centauri Republic ends the episode completely broken, utterly isolated, and under the secret control of allies of the Shadows. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. When G’Kar thanks Mollari for saving his life, the latter is dismissive, saying G’Kar would’ve done the same for him. G’Kar replies, “Yes, but I am the better person.” The Shadowy Vorlons. Apparently, the Vorlons left their planetary defenses on, and also left an embedded message in Alexander’s brain to assure folks that they should stay away from their homeworld until they’re ready. No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Lennier admits his love for Delenn when he thinks he’s going to die, and Delenn pulls a Han Solo and says she knows—then she lets him off the hook when they wind up not dying. It’s all rather tiresome…. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Looking ahead. More a “looking behind,” as the status quo on Centauri Prime that we saw in Sheridan’s jump forward in time in the “War Without End” two-parter is set in motion here, with Mollari being made emperor and receiving his Drakh Keeper. The Drakh also mentions wanting to do their work on Centauri Prime without interference from the IA or anyone else. At least one aspect of that “work” will be seen in A Call to Arms and Crusade when they unleash a plague. Welcome aboard. Back from “Movements of Fire and Shadow” are Wayne Alexander as the Drakh, Damian London as Virini, and Robin Sachs as Na’Tok. It’s the final appearance of all three in those particular roles. Alexander will be back as Lorien in “Sleeping in Light,” and also appear as a Drakh in the movie A Call to Arms and as Soul One in River of Souls. We’ll next see Sachs as Coplann in In the Beginning. Also Simon Billig makes the first of two appearances as a Ranger who’s there to give Sheridan someone to talk to; he’ll be back in “Objects at Rest.” Trivial matters. The first scene in The Long Night of Centauri Prime, the first book in the “Legions of Fire” novel trilogy by the late great Peter David, is the scene from this episode of Mollari getting his Keeper. The trilogy then continues the story of Mollari’s reign as emperor over the next several years. This episode has flashbacks to “Into the Fire” (Mollari using bombs to destroy Shadow ships, Morden rather prophetically swearing vengeance on the Centauri by the Shadows’ allies), “Born to the Purple” (Mollari and Adira in bed together), “The Parliament of Dreams” (Mollari getting very drunk), “The Coming of Shadows” (Mollari’s vision of him and G’Kar killing each other, G’Kar buying Mollari a drink), “The Long, Twilight Struggle” (Mollari watching the bombardment of the Narn homeworld), and “Darkness Ascending” (Delenn hugging a surprised Mollari). This is Damian London’s last on-screen appearance in anything. He turned 67 the year this episode aired, and he’d been acting since the age of 16, so he likely retired after this. He died in 2022 at the age of 91. Mollari first saw the Drakh in shadow when he stopped the prime minister from being assassinated in “In the Kingdom of the Blind.” The Shadows went off beyond the rim with the Vorlons and other First Ones in “Into the Fire.” Z’ha’dum was destroyed in “Epiphanies.” The Drakh’s animus toward Delenn was seen in “Lines of Communication.” In the framing sequence of the movie In the Beginning, which takes place a decade and a half after this episode, most of the windows in the palace are boarded up, so the emperor can’t see the devastation on Centauri Prime. Vir makes the suggestion to board the windows to Mollari here. In a rarity for this series, there was a “previously on Babylon 5” bit at the beginning to fill folks in, since the previous episode (a) ended on a cliffhanger, and (b) aired four months previous. In truth, the show should have done this on the regular…. The echoes of all of our conversations. “When we first met, I had no power and all the choices I could wish to make. Now I have all the power I could ever want—and no choices at all. No choices at all…” “Mollari, understand—I can never forgive your people for what they have done to our world. My people can never forgive your people. But I can forgive you.” —Mollari and G’Kar having a moment. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “I am still Centauri, and I am not afraid.” It’s funny, when B5 was ramping up in the early 1990s, the thing I was most dreading were the Centauri. Most of the aliens looked sufficiently alien and interesting, particularly the Minbari and Narn. But the Centauri looked like something out of a low-budget 1930s movie serial with their big eyebrows and ridiculous hair and outrageous accents. On top of that, the two actors playing the Centauri in the opening credits were the guy who played Sid the Snitch on Hill Street Blues and the guy who played Flounder in Animal House. And then “The Gathering” aired, and Peter “Sid the Snitch” Jurasik’s Londo Mollari turned out to be one of the absolute best things about it. His lament to Garibaldi at how far the Centauri had fallen was magnificently written and delivered. Here we are now toward the end of the series’ run and, contrary to my initial expectations and fears, the rise and fall of the Centauri Republic over the course of five seasons has absolutely been the best through-line of the series. Yes, they still look ridiculous, and yes, those accents are ludicrous (and inconsistently applied). But the writing and acting has just been superlative, from people you’d expect it from (Turhan Bey, Malachi Throne, Majel Barrett, Lois Nettleton, Jane Carr, Ian Oglivy, Gerritt Graham, Julian Barnes, Carmen Argenziano) and from actors whose performances were a pleasant surprise (Wortham Krimmer, William Forward, Blair Valk, Damian London, Fabia Udenio, and, of course, Jurasik and Stephen Furst). This aptly titled episode concludes the Centauri arc in magnificent fashion. Jurasik perfectly plays Mollari’s helplessness as the noose slowly tightens around his neck without him able to do a damn thing about it. The only thing he manages to accomplish is save Delenn and Lennier’s lives. (That is, by the by, the only part of the episode I dislike, as the entire Lennier-loves-Delenn arc has been oogy and reductive and tiresome. Delenn’s speech shouldn’t have been letting him off easy and pretending she didn’t hear him, she should’ve told him to grow the fuck up and get over his big self.) The real tragedy of Londo Mollari here is that in the end he does what he’s always done: what he thinks is best for the Centauri people. This makes him rare among the aristocracy on his world—most of the people we see in that sphere are opportunists who are interested mainly in improving their personal positions. There are exceptions besides Mollari—Emperor Turhan, Urza Jaddo, Lord Jano—but they are few and far between, and, more to the point, they’re all dead. Every decision Mollari makes is dictated by his desire to prevent loss of Centauri lives. The Drakh’s planting of fusion bombs is a masterstroke, especially since they got the idea from Mollari himself, and it cuts off Mollari’s attempts to negotiate with the Drakh at the knees. He isn’t Cartagia who assumes that the destruction of Centauri Prime will elevate him to godhood or Lord Refa who will do anything for more power. He’s a patriot, who does what he does for his home and his people. Sadly, the best he can do is mitigate the damage, as the Drakh’s plan is far too entrenched and subtle for Mollari to be able to do much about it at this late date. He does manage to keep his personal relationships with G’Kar, Sheridan, Delenn, and Vir in a decent place, though he is forced to utterly trash his political relationships with the former three. And in the end, he sits on the throne, alone. Back in “The Hour of the Wolf,” G’Kar mused that Mollari was the loneliest person in the universe, and this episode bears that out. There were really only two people on Centauri Prime he trusts, G’Kar and Vir, and he sends them both away. In truth, this is all his own damn fault. Back in “Signs and Portents,” he gave a good answer to Morden’s “What do you want?” query, and in “Chrysalis,” he agreed to let Morden’s “associates” destroy Quadrant 37. Every awful thing that has happened since then derives from that moment when Mollari agreed to let Morden do him that favor. And now he sits alone on a throne with great power and no power all at the same time. It’s a bravura performance by Jurasik, magnificently aided and abetted by J. Michael Straczynski’s script and another superlative, spooky turn by London in his swan song, as well as Wayne Alexander’s magnificently creepy Drakh. This season has been hit-and-miss—and a lot more miss than hit—but what’s worked has been the stuff with the Centauri. Indeed, that has been the case from jump. These silly-looking people with their absurd hair and dopey accents and huge eyebrows have provided a brilliantly complex and nuanced political thriller over the course of these five years. Next week: “The Wheel of Fire.”[end-mark] The post Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Fall of Centauri Prime” appeared first on Reactor.