"A View from the Gallery" is an episode from the fifth season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5

Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...

. The episode is unusual in that it is told from the viewpoint of two maintenance workers (Mack and Bo) as they witness the station being attacked.

Synopsis

Unknown forces attack the station; a pair of maintenance men go about their duties.

Telling the story from the point of view of two members of the maintenance crew makes for a humorous and funny episode that has several in-jokes and moments of poignancy. We get to see how Captain Lochley deals with being in a pressure situation, and we get to visit many other members of the main cast.

One of the most memorable scenes from this episode comes from Delenn's interaction with the two maintenance workers. Sheridan orders them to put Delenn in a life pod, but since Delenn does not want to go, Delenn talks her way around the two men, Bo and Mack, while earning their adoration. Later on, Delenn's ability to see honor in the every day life of people further earns their respect as she remembers their names and says hello to them in passing.

The scenario of two comic yet philosophizing minor characters meandering in and out of the lives of the main characters is reminiscent of Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...

's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Byron

Byron (Babylon 5)

Byron Gordon, played by Robin Atkin Downes, is a fictional character from the television science fiction drama Babylon 5, introduced in the fifth and final season.- Fictional Biography :...

's quoting of Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

during the first enemy boarding party's attack reinforces this similarity.

Arc significance

A View from the Gallery is a standalone episode in the sense that it doesn't advance the prevailing storyline of the season, but instead provides an outsider's look into how the station operates and how two civilians deal with issues commonly faced by the station's military and diplomatic personnel. Events from the episode are also self-contained, in that the alien attackers are of a previously unknown alien race that is not mentioned again.