I LOVE this episode. I love how it's like watching tumultuous events from far away. Babylon 5 is a sideshow in this episode. All the important stuff is happening on Earth and at IO, and it's all the more enticing for how little we hear and see of it. You really feel it that this is a coup d'etat in motion, the episode doesn't just tell you, it makes you FEEL it.

Armed troop are storming the Senate. Can you imagine that, troops attacking the legislative body in your country? The chaos is so perfectly captured. The Senators doing everything they can, some calling for citizens to form a LIVING WALL around the Senate, others trying to get military units to defend them against the Presidential Guard. Can you imagine what must be going through the officers who hear that heads? They must have a hard time understanding what is even happening, who is trying to stage a coup, who is the legitimate authority when you are receiving contradictory instructions from two different arms of the goverment. If they choose wrong they will probably be shot.

I wonder what happened when the Guard broke into the Senate... We only hear that the Senate lost, but what did that look like? Did some military units join them? Did some citizens go out to defend democracy? How many Senators stayed at posts as the doors where broken down? How many fled? What happened to those that stayed?

And then there's the firefight at IO. Only shown to us in snippets from a news cast. I would just like to emphasize what just happend. Earth force vessel FIRED at each other. A battle between men and woman of the same uniform just too place, and oohh how I wish I could see or read that battle from the view of one of the ships that fought. How do they choose, between the President, their commander and chief, claiming to be combating an Alien infiltration of Earth, and the chief of staff, their de facto military commander claiming to be acting in defense of the constitution, when both are in essence launching a coup d'etat. Make no mistake what Hague was trying to do was launch a counter-coup.

We have so little information on what happened at IO. Some of this is conjecture, but my take on the events is that Hague tried to get to Earth, was stopped by Clark Loyalists, called for other ships to join him, many did and the battle broke out. He tried to push onto Earth, realized he didn't have the forces, maybe the Clark ships where reinforced. He made a break out to try and regroup and gather more support perhaps. It's a bit of a jump that he goes from managing to get away to losing all of his supporting ships, so my assumption is that he was ambushed. Maybe there was a Clark spy on one of his ships who gave information on where Hague was going. So when he jumps out he's immediately attacked by a Clark battle group. All the ships except his are destroyed, and he runs again.

Well that's my take at least. Episodes like this gives so much room for imagination.

Except, it seemed pretty clear that the ship went berserk. Clark didn't arrange this turn of events. He just exploited it to his full advantage.

If I remember correctly there is a cut scene of G'kar after his speech as he walks out of the council, and when he's alone he crumbles. He, much like Londo, is donning a mask in that chamber. Showing the Narn still defiant, and projecting hope of final victory, that he might not even believe himself.

And Vir gives the best answer to Morden's question in the entire show. :)
(Also, notice that Morden gives him the middle finger afterwords)

I'm not sure if you got this or not, since your comments about the 'massacre' is pretty vague. But I just want to make clear that what the shadows destroyed was the Narn military forces, both on the ground and in space, with probably a bit of collateral damage. Most of the civilian population is still alive, now under Centauri occupation. And just before G'kar states that war has been declared, you can see Londo trying to make up for what he's done by offering to influence his goverment to let the Narn civilians go free. It is of course to little to late. That's the great tragedy of all this, while I do agree that much of Londo's action comes from personal ambitions, I also think that it's mixed with the fact that he believes this war is inevitable, might as well throw the first punch.

If the Emperor had states his intent earlier, if G'kar had had that talk with Londo, before the attack was launched. I think he would have stepped back from the brink. Look at his face when G'kar talks of peace, and he realizes what he's done. The guilt is so perfectly expressed. And so the possibility of a beautiful friendship dies, before it even had a chance to blossom.

Edit. I missremembered the reasons for why Mollari let the Narn civilians go. Not very altruistic.

Can I just note how awesome that dialogue from Delenn was?

"We are star stuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out."

I have always loved that one since I first heard it. It is so spiritual and all encompassing, but without being the least bit religious. The same particles we are made comes from stars and beyond that from the beginning of existence at the Big Bang. That is a thought so awe aspiring, that doesn't need a God or Miracles to touch you to the core of your being.

Here is your Ivanova quote of the day, with added bonus from Franklin :):
"Figures. All my life I fought against imperialism. Now suddenly, I am the expanding Russian frontier."
"But with very nice borders."

I love how the solution to the Drazi situation is found in the glacial progress of bureaucracies:

"Rules of combat older then contact with other races, did not mention aliens. Rules change.... caught up in committee... not come through yet."

I find it incredibly humorous and awesome how Lightning Count further develops the Drazi system of goverment from what we learn about the Drazi in this episode:

"For the Drazi people strength was the defining characteristic of success, the strongest in their society were usually given the respect to rise to the top, though since reaching the stars strength of mind had been accepted as equal to strength of body. The Drazi government was comprised of highly intelligent people who were put forward as candidates based purely on merit and intelligence much like any other world. Of course that’s where the similarity ended, for rather than have candidates for the same job go before a public election they would instead hit each other until one of them fell over. The individual still standing would then be given the post in question and be recognized as both intelligent enough for the post, and deserving enough having gained it through right of combat.
It was the basic principle upon which Drazi society was built, constant tests of strength and skill among peers. To outsiders it looked needlessly barbaric, and the regular ‘Green versus Purple’ contests that turned and Drazi settlement into a massive excuse for a brawl was a complete anathema to the League. However it was not as random as it seemed, once the fighting was over and the winners of the Green or Purple groups sought to form a new leadership only the most qualified were able to compete for senior government jobs, many of whom had years of experience serving their people anyway. There were checks and balances in place to prevent anarchists and rebels, even if they were physically the strongest individual on the planet rising to positions of leadership through challenge and combat.

The system worked for the Drazi, and while it meant that usually the right people were in the right job it did frequently mean that when something dramatic happened the Drazi response could be painfully slow. Any action had to be approved by the council of leaders, a bill would be put forward, some delegates would support it and some would oppose it. Whether the bill passed or not depended entirely on whether the supporters were able to beat down the opposition in a mass brawl in the open space at the center of the high council chamber. Visiting Earth traders witnessing this had suggested the Earth Senate resolve debates in the same way claiming the population would love it. Sadly the Senate did not deign to comment on the proposal."

Garibaldi is shaken by the fact that his own second-in-command, a guy he trusted COMPLETELY (remember how paranoid Garibaldi is) betrayed him and shot him in the back. If he screwed up that royally that he put his trust in a TRAITOR and made him his second. How can he continue to be chief of SECURITY, when this is the sort of thing he is supposed to prevent?