That is what made the series. That whole dichotomy and how it relates to reality. And perhaps some age old shadow societies on this planet. Actually did occasional work at the studio that did the Babylon 5 computer graphics, which was too notch back then. Had no idea what the show was about. Shame. They had some intelligent people working on it. Could of had some interesting conversations, no doubt.
As an aside, J. Michael Straczynski worked as a writer on one of the better cartoon series that came out in the ‘80’s, The Real Ghostbusters.
It was the first of three series, two of which were very good, and one of which, an effort to appeal to younger children, renamed ‘Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters’, was awful and hurt the franchise.
In any event, The Real Ghostbusters had darker, sometimes apocalyptic, themes that later showed up in B5. New York City was in decline, depopulated, and decaying. And while the Ghostbusters were winning battles, the feeling was they were losing the war.
The third series, Extreme Ghostbusters, didn’t have J. Michael Straczynski, but did keep his serious and developed dark story lines.