I saw an odd parallel between the plot lines in this week's episode of Battlestar Galactica. The title is "Faith," but I almost feel like it should have been "The Crossing." Allow me to explain ...
Roslin hears a fellow cancer patient (Nana Visitor of Deep Space Nine) recount a dream about crossing "The River" into the land of the dead. It's all very Charon & the River Styx. Anyway, this metaphorical dream seems to be the result of listening to one too many Gaius Christ sermons ... and it's apparently contagious. By the end of the episode, Roslin herself is having the same dream, and the implication is that she's starting to buy into Baltar's "One God" brand of spirituality. And after she talks to Adama, we get the impression he might be too.
Meanwhile, over on the Demetrius, Starbuck narrowly averts a mutiny, but only after Anders shoots Gaeta in the leg. This buys Starbuck the time needed to talk Helo into letting her take a Raptor (and his girlfriend) to Leobon's jump coordinates. Helo gives Starbuck 15 hours. She, Anders, Leobon, Athena, and some Red Shirt all make the leap, and sure enough, arrive at the site of the Cylon massacre. What's more, Starbuck sees the Basestar, shooting around a planet like a comet ... which is exactly what she has spent weeks painting on the wall of her cabin.
On the Basestar, Athena's fellow Eights express to her that they've lost faith in the Sixes, and she scolds them about picking a side and sticking with it. One of the blonde Sixes remembers that the Red Shirt killed her in a past life, and returns the favor. Things get tense, and one of the less-blonde Sixes takes control of the situation, killing (after kissing) the blonde Six herself before things can escalate further. And Starbuck meets The Hybrid, who slowly and randomly dispenses the following bits of wisdom ...
"The children of the one reborn shall find their own country." (Who is this? Starbuck?)
"The obstinate toy soldier becomes pliant." (Adama?)
"You are a spark of God's fire." (Similar to what Leobon said last week.)
"Thus will it come to pass, a dying leader will know the truth of the opera house." (Clearly Roslin.)
"You are the harbinger of Death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end." (This is what the hybrid in Razor also told Starbuck.)
"The missing three will give you the five, who have come from the home of the thirteenth." This is of course the key bit of wisdom, and the writers don't leave to us to interpret. D'Anna (Number Three) needs to be unboxed, so she can reveal who the Final Five are, because they'll know where to find the Thirteenth Tribe (Earth). What's interesting about this is that I'm pretty sure we've never had it confirmed or even suggested that the Final Five came from Earth. Although it's certainly consistent with them knowing the words to "All Along the Watchtower".
Okay, so back to my original point. Roslin is previewing through dreams the journey "across the river" from life to death, where her friends and family await her on the other side, and this is a spiritual act for her. Starbuck is likewise trusting Leobon's spiritual entreaties to make a jump across the galaxy to a point in space that she has previewed in her paintings. Once there, she meets the "left for dead" Cylons and brings them back with her. And her reason for doing this is that several months before, she somehow jumped all the way to Earth and returned, and she's been using some subconscious knowledge of where the prophesied Promised Land of Earth is to try and lead the fleet there
So there's all this jumping and crossing going on, and it's all very spiritual, and it all involves death and the nearly dead and the living trying to avoid being dead, and the solution is always somewhere "over there," somewhere that can't be seen from here, somewhere we have to trust is there or we'll never try to find it. In other words, leaps of FAITH. So maybe the episode is aptly titled after all.
Apparently, the past isn't all that important. It's all about the future, baby! At least, that's what I took away from this week's episode of Battlestar Galactica.
For instance, Gaius Christ is helping his followers dismiss the past by convincing them that the twelve gods of the colonies that everybody's been praying to for thousands of years never really existed. What's more, worshiping the wrong god can lead to bad things happening -- you know, like Cylons killing your entire family. ("And the correct answer was ... Mooormon. Mormon. Everyone else goes to Hell. Sorry." - South Park) But if you worship Baltar's One True God, who as we learned last week loves you because you're perfect, then all will be well. Be sure to grab yourself a complimentary cup of Kool-Aid on the way out, courtesy of God.
Increasingly creepy Tory has mastered the art of Baltar-speak at this point, and uses it expertly to deflect Tyrol from questioning the exact nature of Callie's death. "Maybe it was God's will. We don't know why these things happen. But God does. He has a plan for us." She also seems to have bought into Baltar's wonderful philosophy of complete non-accountability. "Whatever has gone before, whatever I have done, it doesn't matter." But while I half-believe that poor deluded Baltar preaches such a concept with some sincerity, I'm not so sure about Tory. You may not have noticed, but she kind of lies a lot. And this makes me wonder if she has an agenda that the rest of the Semi-Final Four aren't aware of.
In spite of Tory's motivational speech, Tyrol decides that he can't live with his past, and goes so far as to shave his head and put a gun to it. He must be working through the stages of grief, because he seems to miss Callie now, after hating the memory of her last week, and he's pushing hard against his Cylon nature. Regardless, his Private Pyle moment passes (Full Metal Jacket? anybody?), he doesn't kill himself, and Baltar visits him to say, "Blah blah blah, I was once a man of science. Blah blah blah, I have committed terrible crimes. Blah blah blah, fate and redemption. Blah blah blah, let's hold hands and sing Kum Ba Yah." And they do. And Baltar has another Cylon convert under his belt.
Meanwhile, on the Demetrius, just as time is running out for Starbuck, she conveniently runs across Leobon, who is fleeing the recent Cylon Civil War massacre. He tells her that the Hybrid back on the Base Star also knows about Earth, and convinces Starbuck and Anders to jump to the site of the massacre to learn more. But when something goes wrong, Leobon starts working from last week's script. Starbuck tenderizes his face and he begs for more, the way Tigh did as Six smacked him around. Then Leobon remembers which week it is, and tells Starbuck that her past life of drinking, frakking, and fighting are now irrelevant. "You have to make peace with your past. Because that part of you is gone." She is now apparently "an angel, blazing with the light of God. An angel, eager to lead her people home." So ... she's got that going for her.
Unfortunately, what she does NOT have going for her is the support of her crew. Mutiny, anyone?
TO BE CONTINUED
"The pain is how I learn from the guilt. There's wisdom there. Clarity. You know yourself there.... When you're in pain, that's when you learn who you really are. That's when you focus. Sharp as the point of a knife." - Six to Tigh
So ... it's safe to say that pain was the common thread this week. In particular, the pain of guilt. Which Six schools Tigh about when he keeps visiting her cell, trying to learn how he can shut off the guilty pain he feels over killing his wife Ellen for being a Cylon collaborator (without revealing that he's a Cylon himself). Six is oddly sympathetic to his plight, and in Tigh's mind, she keeps morphing into the face of his dead wife. In fact, she's so sympathetic that she gleefully bashes his face in for his own good, and he lets her. But really, it's just foreplay, and the last we see of them, they're making out on the floor. Not sure how that's all going to end up, but as relationships go, it may just be THE most dysfunctional one on the show so far.
Elsewhere, Tyrol nurses the pain of Callie's death -- which everyone but Tory seems to have written off as a suicide -- and it transforms him into a bit of a bastard. The episode begins with him eulogizing her, but it doesn't take him long to find his own "focus". Adama sits down with him at the bar after an incident with one of the ships, presumably to gauge Tyrol's state of mind, and within moments, Tyrol is foaming at the mouth describing Callie as a "shriek" and telling the entire bar how he only settled for her after he learned that Boomer was a Cylon. Which ... you know ... DUH! We all pretty much knew that. But I guess he's only now piecing it together for himself, and realizing that his own ironic bigotry prevented him from being truly happy. The scene ends with Adama kicking Tyrol off his ship, and one suspects that this is exactly what Tyrol wanted to happen all along -- otherwise, he'd constantly be worrying if every "mistake" he made was really a subconscious act of terrorism.
No Cylon Base Star drama this week. Instead, Baltar is back, and Gaius Christ, what a strange plot line for him! How bizarre was that scene where Six held him up and pushed him forward? I replayed it over and over, trying to figure out if the actor was actually supporting his own weight. Because if Baltar has reached a level of delusion where he's physically manipulating himself like this, then he's truly gone right over the edge now, hasn't he? As if the crazy-eyed "God loves us all because we're perfect" speech didn't pretty much confirm this. In keeping with the pain theme this episode, he embraces his savior-ness, abandons the cowardice he displayed earlier in the episode -- when the Sons of Ares came calling -- and allows himself (with some urging from the Six in his head) to get the snot beat out of him by a soldier in an act of civil disobedience. Which "sharpens" him into a hero.
Meanwhile, the Quorum -- increasingly driven by young upstart Lee -- has decided that Roslin's fear of Baltar's potential influence is unfounded. But in those final scenes where Gaius Christ is proselytizing to the masses, we see that she may be right. Although Baltar has of course played the role of a frak-up at times, everybody knows that when he finds his focus, he becomes dangerous. And the pain has indeed focused him. He's now a symbol of the religious war brewing in the fleet, the One New God versus the Twelve Old Gods. Which of course mirrors the Cylon/Human war. Which of course parallels the civil war happening within the Cylon ranks. Bottom line, one gets the impression that we're building toward a showdown here of epic proportions. And Earth will either end up being the prize or the very thing that brings everybody back together again.
As for the title of the episode, my take is that it's a metaphor for what Six is saying. Pain and guilt send you into a nosedive. But if you ride it out, you reach a point where the dive stops, you find clarity, attain escape velocity, and pull back up again. Baltar has clearly done this. But Tigh and Tyrol are still working on it.
I know y'all are probably chomping at the frakking bit to talk about what happened on this week's episode of Battlestar Galactica, so I'll just say a few things and let you get to it ...
Lee has embraced his role as junior member of the Quorum, casting his lot -- for better or worse -- with VP Tom Zarek, exposing some of the more dictatorial aspects of Roslin's regime. Of course, Zarek tends to have his own nefarious agenda, and it remains to be seen if Lee is playing right into his hands.
Starbuck leads a small crew that includes Anders, Helo, Sharon, Gaeta, and a few others on a garbage scowl searching for Earth. After several weeks of changing course and doubling back, everybody seems ready to mutiny. Except Anders, who chooses instead to punish Starbuck by having angry sex with her.
No Baltar this week. But apparently, his semen has the power to make people evil. Because after Callie learns too much about her Cylon hubby and the other Semi-Final Four, Tory takes on the responsibility of flushing her out the airlock, coldly and efficiently, as if it's just one more item on her administrative to-do list. Which is ironic, since it's usually the Cylons who get the airlock treatment.
By the way, did any hardcore geeks out there catch the number on the weapon's locker that the Semi-Final Four met in -- "1701D"?
Now ... who's pissed and who's happy that Callie is dead? And what do you think her plan was before Tory found her? Was she going to kill herself and the baby? Or just the baby, because she knew it was half-Cylon?
Meanwhile, the Cylon Civil War rages on. At first, it looks as if there might be a truce. A regenerated Brother Cavil (who is apparently getting it on with Boomer) agrees to stop lobotomizing the Raiders, and agrees to un-box the D'Anna line. But it's all too good to be true. He leads the Six and Sharon base stars to a point in space beyond the reach of the Resurrection Ship, then attacks them with full force, leading to one of the most brilliant exchanges between two Cylons ever written for this show ...
Cavil: "Just remember. They started it."
Boomer: "But we're killing them. We're truly killing them. Our sisters."
Cavil: "They can trust their God to watch over their immortal souls."
Boomer: "And what about ours?"
Cavil: "We're machines, dear, remember. We don't have souls."
Okay, let's start with the title of the episode, because I think it pretty much sets the tone. I'm just going to go with the most obvious interpretation, that it refers to the idiom, "six of one, half-dozen of the other" -- a phrase used to describe a situation in which either of two alternatives is equally valid. This applies to the episode in several ways ...
Adama is faced with the decision of whether or not to change the fleet's course. On the one hand, he wants to believe Starbuck when she says she knows the way to Earth, and under different circumstances, we get the impression that he might just give her the benefit of the doubt. But on the other hand, Roslin is adamantly opposed to changing course, because she doesn't trust Starbuck (if that's even who she really is), and believes it could be a Cylon trap. Starbuck insists (with much screaming and gnashing of teeth) that if they jump more than another few times, she'll lose the trail entirely. And Roslin reminds Adama that if they don't reach Earth soon, she'll probably die before they get there.
In the end, Adama finds a compromise. He puts Starbuck on a garbage scowl with Helo, and tells them to go find Earth. If they do, then come back and lead the rest of them there. Presumably, Roslin won't be too thrilled about this, but at least it's a solution that doesn't jeopardize the entire fleet.
Over on the Cylon Basestar, the "Skin Jobs" have a much different dilemma. They're all a bit concerned that the Raiders walked away from the battle with the humans at the Ionian Nebula. Three of the six ruling Cylon models (Six, Sharon, and Leobon) believe -- rightly so -- that this happened because the Final Five are among the humans, and the Raiders knew this. But the other three models (Cavil, Doral, and Doc Simon) refuse to discuss the Final Five, believe the Raiders are thinking too much, and want to lobotomize them to prevent any further problems. The debate is heated, with Six insisting that this is a barbaric solution and Cavil insisting that it's the only way to win the war with the humans.
In the end, the deadlock is broken when one of the Eights, Boomer, betrays her line -- apparently the first time such a thing has ever happened. Unhappy with this decision, Six makes one last appeal. When Cavil refuses to stop lobotomizing the Raiders, two Centurions walk into the room, and Six reveals that she's removed the inhibitor chips that usually prevent them from reasoning. What's more, she's told them what's happening to their Raider brothers. And the Centurions are not happy about it. Which, as you might guess, results in something of a blood bath. The moral of the story: "DON'T FRAK WITH SIX!"
What's really interesting to me about this development is that I have to assume it mirrors a point in the history of the Twelve Colonies when humans similarly debated about whether the early Cylon models deserved basic rights. The Cavils of that time would think of Cylons only as machines -- in fact, he seems to think of himself as nothing more than a machine, defined by his coding. But the Sixes of that time would have seen the inherent humanity in a machine that had become so human-like, and would want to pursue that rather than deny it. Not surprisingly, unlike Cavil, Six tends to think of herself as more human than machine. Regardless, I can't wait to see how this little Cylon Civil War pans out (because yes, it kind of reflects a certain point in American history too, doesn't it?).
Also intriguing to me is that the numbering of the seven Cylons that "are known" seems to betray a hidden bit of Cylon history. Pay close attention. Cavil is 1, Leobon is 2, D'Anna is/was 3, Doc Simon is 4, Doral is 5, Six is 6, and Sharon/Boomer is 8. See what just happened there? What happened to 7? Why do we skip from 6 to 8? If these first 7 are part of some logical set, then why wouldn't Sharon/Boomer just be 7? The fact that she's not tells me that at some point in time, at least the first 8 were part of a unified group, and possibly all 12 of them. But something happened, and 7 was ousted, and the coding of the others was changed, so that they'd all forget him/her. Maybe he/she was "boxed" like D'Anna? Anyway, my guess is that 7 is the one we don't know yet.
Meanwhile, over on Galactica, the Semi-Final Four are just as interested as we are to figure out who the the Final One is, and they've decided that if anybody knows, it's Baltar. The three men volunteer Tory to seduce Baltar and find out what he knows. Tory scoffs at the idea, but has clearly underestimated the size of Baltar's mojo -- he bags her before the episode is over. But not before we get treated to one of the strangest moments in this entire series -- Baltar talking to a Baltar in his head. It seems to catch him completely off-guard to the point that he suspects it's really Six in disguise. Which means we now have to wonder if the Six in his head has really been Baltar in disguise all along. Talk about narcissism.
Oh, and Apollo -- or I guess we can only call him Lee now -- officially hangs up his flight jacket, and leaves Galactica to fill an empty seat on the Quorum of Twelve. Which for those who don't remember is basically their version of the Senate. And if Star Wars has taught us anything, it's that becoming a Senator is just the first step to becoming the evil Emperor of a totalitarian galactic empire. So he has that to look forward to.
Hey, did anybody notice that Battlestar Galactica is back on? I just happened to be flipping channels Friday night and ran across it. Funny how they didn't bother to hype the new season at all. But seriously, folks ... the final season is finally upon us, complete with new opening credits: "Twelve Cylon Models. Seven are known. Four live in secret. One will be revealed."
The episode picks up right at the moment that the season finale left off. Starbuck rolls up in her Viper, all smiling like she's drunk, and says, "What up, bitches? I found Earth! It's right over here, behind this cool triple-star thingie. Frak ... where'd it go? No, I mean my drink. It was right here a second ago."
It turns out that according to Starbuck, she's only been gone about 6 hours, even though to the rest of the fleet, she's been gone for about 2 months. And her Viper looks as if it just rolled off the showroom floor. And there are gaps in her memory. So the evidence seems to point toward her being abducted or something, and placed in that Viper for the return trip. Although why would the Viper be brand new like that -- as if it were plucked out of a previous point in time before it had a chance to get beat up? So my theory is she went back in time, and worked her way back up to the present again, picking up an old Viper (before it was old) along the way. And she just doesn't remember it, because she's a Human/Cylon hybrid, and did everything on autopilot.
So now I'm thinking ... what if Earth only exists in the past? Which means what Starbuck has to do is lead the fleet to some phenomenon -- like the mandala thing she passed through -- that will carry the entire fleet (including some Cylons) back in time to Earth. And Earth becomes the great-grandfather of the Twelve Colonies, complete with Earth mythology and some kind of genetic memory of what happened that gets passed on to a select few like Roslin and Baltar. And there you have the latest version of my pet time loop theory. Feel free to poke holes in it!
Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the way the 4 new human Cylons -- Tyrol, Tigh, Tory, and Anders -- have already started to hold little pow-wows, the way the first 7 models do. There's an irony in the fact that the humans have many gods, but believe in a chain of command in which one person makes decisions for many. But the Cylons, who believe in only one god, tend to make decisions in a very democratic fashion. I can't help but think of these groups of Cylons as something like "The Founding Fathers" in American history.
Anyway, so not long after Starbuck returns, the Cylons attack. But then Anders (call sign "Longshot", which just HAS to be a shout-out to the X-Men character of the same name, who was an artificial human with a glowy eye and the power to skew probabilities in his favor) goes out in a Viper to help defend the fleet, can't seem to make his gun work, comes face to face with a Cylon raider, eye contact is established, some infrared or Bluetooth signal gets exchanged ... and the Cylons just go away. Now there's a neat trick.
As for the now-free Gaius Baltar, you may or may not be surprised to learn that he's getting laid. Amazing but true. As a scientist, women threw themselves at him. As the despised president of New Caprica, women threw themselves at him. And now, as the Messiah for the crazy contingent, women are yet again throwing themselves at him. But they're also throwing their sick children at him, filling his head will all these icky feelings of guilt and humility. He makes an appeal to the Cylon God to take his life instead of an encephalitic child, and after a life-threatening scrape in which the Six in his head asks him if he really means it, the child's fever breaks. Another neat trick.
Oh, and Roslin and Six are finally bonding. I predict they'll be BFFs by the end of the series.
But mostly, the episode was a lot of Starbuck screaming, "We're going the wrong waaay!"
So did all the die-hard Battlestar Galactica fans out there catch the special two-hour episode this weekend? If you missed it, don't worry, it's being released on DVD next week. It's basically one big flashback, as well as a flashback within a flashback, and in one case, an even flashier flashback. Good stuff!
Mostly, we bounce back and forth between Admiral Cain's first weeks as commander of the stranded post-attack Pegasus and Apollo's first weeks as commander of the shamed post-Cain Pegasus. Through the eyes of a new character, Kendra Shaw, we see the vengeful monster that we already knew Cain became, one morally questionable action after another. And we learn that Cain and Gina-Six were lovers ... back before the torture and rape, that is.
Meanwhile, in the "present," through the device of a search and rescue mission that Adama hands off to Apollo, we learn a bit more about Cylon history that will most likely be relevant in the final season. Namely that many decades ago, back when some robotic Old-School Centurions called "The Guardians" were about to be retired, they escaped, and attempted to evolve by experimenting on and mutilating live human subjects -- their goal to create Cylon-Human hybrids. Papa Adama himself saw gruesome evidence of this on the final day of the First Cylon War, 41 years earlier.
The Old Centurions apparently succeeded in creating at least one viable Hybrid, a creepy old dude in a tub who speaks cryptically (thus proving that he must be at least part Cylon) and somewhat spiritually. He refers to the Old Centurions as his "children," claims they consider him God, and offers Kendra Shaw absolution for the sins she committed under Cain's command. The Old Hybrid also tells her that Kara Thrace will be the "herald of the apocalypse" and a "harbinger of death" -- that she will "lead the human race to its end" and that she should NOT be followed.
"All of this has happened before. And will happen again." This is the phrase the Old Hybrid repeats over and over during the final minutes before Kendra blows them both up with a nuke. But even though he seems to know that this will happen, he doesn't seem concerned, and seems confident that he (like a Cylon) will be born again at some important time. To me, this is reminiscent of the speeches that Cylon Leoben has given Starbuck in the past (future?). So much so that I dug up the bit of dialogue from when Starbuck was interrogating a copy of Leoben back in Season 1:
Leoben: "Each of us plays a role; each time a different role. Maybe the last time I was the interrogator and you were the prisoner. The players change, the story remains the same. And this time -- this time -- your role is to deliver my soul unto God. Do it for me. It’s your destiny. And mine. And I told you I had a surprise for you. Are you ready? You are going to find Kobol, birthplace of us all. Kobol will lead you to Earth. This is my gift to you, Kara."
So there you have it. At this point, I'm still comfortable sticking to my ongoing theories that: A) there's some kind of closed time loop in play here; and B) that Starbuck herself is a hybrid, which is why she didn't die last season. And that there's some strange connection between the Old Hybrid, Leobon, and Starbuck. What's interesting is that if Kendra had followed orders, then Starbuck would have stayed behind, and she would have met the Old Hybrid -- and then what would have happened? One detail changes everything.
Anyway, overall I enjoyed this episode, or movie, or whatever it was. The time passed too quickly, and it was nice to be tortured by these writers again. Even if we won't get any new answers till March.
Don't want to wait until November 24th to see the special 84-minute "Razor" episode of Battlestar Galactica? How would you like to see it in a movie theater on November 12th instead?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
"There must be some way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief.
"There's too much confusion -- I can't get no relief."
So go the opening lines to "All Along the Watchtower", a song written by Bob Dylan in 1967, popularized by Jimi Hendrix a year later, and recently performed by Prince at the Superbowl. It's a poem set to music, really, which expresses dissatisfaction with the status quo and portends a coming apocalypse. I'll reprint the rest of the lyrics at the end of this post, for those who have never read them.
But for purposes of our discussion today, the most important thing to note about this song is that IT'S A FRAKKING EARTH SONG. So why the frak are Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, and Tory hearing it? For me, the implications are even more profound than the fact that these four are Cylons. Which is huge in and of itself. But more on that in a moment. The fact that we're being exposed to an Earth song not only means that the Fleet is getting closer to Earth, which we already knew, but that either A) there's somehow a flow of communication from Earth to this point in space, or B) these four "sleeper" Cylons somehow have this Earth song hard-coded into them, and proximity to Earth has triggered it. If it's A, then who or what is pushing things like Hendrix songs out from Earth as a trigger for the Semifinal Four, and if it's B, then how did the song get into their programming in the first place? Any theories?
As for the Semifinal Four ... how about that, huh? We've got the President's chief aid, the Admiral's XO, the highest ranking NCO on Galactica, and ... you know, whatever Sam is these days, now that he isn't a star athlete or a rebel leader. It's clear that somebody or something intended these four to "awaken" at this specific point in space, presumably because of the proximity to Earth. But who or what? And why? Did the Cylons, or whoever created the Cylons, always know that they'd reach Earth someday? If so, how? Is this more prophecy playing out? Or is it all part of my "time loop" theory? Is reaching Earth perhaps the beginning of the story, and everything we've seen so far just "Version 2" (or 3 or 4) of what has already happened before?
What is somewhat sad is that the events in the last fifteen minutes of the episode overshadow Baltar's trial and verdict. Lee's speech alone was worth the price of admission. It worked both as excellent drama and as an outstanding summary of the complex morality portrayed by this show. Add to this Adama's unspoken humility at having been taught a lesson by his son, Roslin's barely contained contempt for Adama when she learns about this reversal, Romo and Apollo's almost homoerotic moment of mutual admiration in the hallway, and Baltar's dread at realizing that gaining his freedom only creates a new set of problems. With writing like that, you almost don't need Cylons.
But we have them. So what's up with the vision-bonding that Roslin, Sharon, Six, and Hera are experiencing? I'm guessing that Roslin has somehow tapped into the Cylon "party line" because of the infusion of Hera's blood that she received way back when to cure (albeit temporarily) her cancer? And perhaps proximity to Earth is boosting that signal? At first, I thought it meant that Roslin must be the fifth of the Final Five ... but that seems too easy. My guess is that the writers are going to hold off on revealing who the Final One is as long as possible. Maybe until they actually reach Earth.
Okay, now let's talk about the elephant in the room. Starbuck. Who was relieved and who was pissed to see her? I wasn't quite surprised, and was actually a bit gratified. You could sort of smell it coming when Apollo started to pursue a bogey that didn't seem to actually be there. As for what Starbuck is now, we haven't really been given enough information yet. She said, "It's really me," but that doesn't necessarily equate to, "I'm actually flesh and blood, and I am actually in a ship flying next to you." My theory is that she's in Apollo's head, in the same way that Baltar has a Six in his head (and vice versa).
If you think back a couple of seasons ago, we were told that the prophecy says something like, "The arrow of Apollo will lead the way to the 13th colony." This was taken literally at the time, and resulted in Starbuck retrieving the arrow from a museum on Caprica, which helped them find that map of the constellations. But I always assumed that it had something to do with Apollo the character as well. So ... what if Starbuck is in Apollo's head, telling him how to find Earth? Couldn't we then consider her the "Arrow of Apollo"? Just a thought.
Okay, I'm all out of theories and questions now. So I'll leave you with the full lyrics to "All Along the Watchtower," and you can decide for yourself if it has any relevance to events in the show ...
"There must be some way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief.
"There's too much confusion -- I can't get no relief.
"Businessmen they drink my wine, plowman dig my earth.
"None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."
"No need to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke.
"There are many here among us who think that life is but a joke.
"But you and I, we've been through that, and that is not our fate,
"So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view,
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance, a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
The Cylons are on the Fleet's heels. Tigh gets drunk, and admits to killing his wife. Roslin gets stoned, and admits that the cancer is back. And some of the crew -- Tigh and Anders included -- are hearing strange music. It's all a big build-up for next week's season finale. But the star of this week's show was Apollo, who asked me if he could take a moment to sing a little song for his father.
The following is sung to the tune of "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" from the Crossroads soundtrack ...
I used to think I had the answers to everything
But now I know
That life doesn't always go my way
Feels like I'm caught in the middle
That's when I realize ...
I'm not a CAG, not yet a lawyer
All I need is time, a moment that is mine
While I'm in between
I'm not a CAG
There is no need to protect me
It's time that I
Learn to face up to this on my own
I've seen so much more than you know now
So don't tell me to shut my eyes
I'm not a CAG, not yet a lawyer
All I need is time, a moment that is mine
While I'm in between
I'm not a CAG
But if you look at me closely
You will see it in my eyes
This CAG will always find his way
(I'm not a CAG) I'm not a CAG, don't tell me what to believe
(Not yet a lawyer) I'm just trying to find the lawyer in me, yeah
(All I need is time) Oh, all I need is time
(A moment that is mine) That's mine
While I'm in between
I'm not a CAG, not yet a lawyer, no no
All I need is time, a moment that is mine
While I'm in between
I'm not a CAG, ooh
Not yet a lawyer
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
I'm busy this week, so I'll keep it short ...
Everybody's grieving the "death" of Starbuck. Baltar's lawyer gets blown up, so now Badger is his new lawyer. (Any Firefly fans out there? Hello?) By the way, I'm going to keep calling him Badger, because the character's real name, Romo Lampkin, makes him sound too much like a hobbit. Anyway, much of the plot revolves around this new character, who as far as I can tell is a heart-broken orphan that used to be a thief, but was reformed by Joe Adama, the admiral's father. He's part klepto, part Columbo, swiping objects from people then discerning all sorts of behavorial and psychological details from those objects. Apollo is assigned to be his bodyguard, and one point, he jumps into a lake to save Badger's son when the boat he's on explodes, and they fall in love ... no wait. Sorry, wrong story. But seriously, Apollo does seem to fall a little bit in love with Badger, and with the idea of being a lawyer like his grandfather was. So against the wishes of his father -- who is one of THE FIVE (yes, five) that comprises Baltar's tribunal -- Apollo volunteers to be Badger's legal assistant.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
BIG TIME SPOILERS IN THIS POST!!!
So only read ahead if you've seen this week's episode of BSG already ...
Okay, so when Starbuck told Apollo where to put her picture on the death wall, I thought, "Hm." Now, I'd heard rumors that Starbuck might die this season. In fact, as recently as the BSG panel at the NY ComicCon a couple weeks ago, somebody from the audience tried to ask about this rumor, and was instantly booed by the crowd -- hard core fans don't like spoilers, yo!
When Starbuck gave Adama the figurine of the goddess Aurora, I thought, "Well that will make for a very touching scene later in the show if she does in fact die -- Adama gazing at the figurine, thinking of her." Still, I wasn't convinced. It was too obvious. The writers of this show just aren't that heavy-handed. And besides, what about the mandala? How does that fit in?
Then, when Starbuck sat with Apollo and asked how things were with Dualla, and seemed to have come to terms with their failed romantic relationship, I started to get a little twitchy. "Boy," I thought, "they're really laying this on kind of heavy. Too heavy. It must be a red herring. Those tricky writers!"
Then I saw Apollo and Starbuck flying wing to wing, looking across the open sky at each other. Just like in the old days, in the old show, when Starbuck used to be a man. "Uh oh," I thought, "that was just a nod to the hardcore fans. I wonder if they really ..."
Then Starbuck came to terms with her dead abusive mother. And still, I didn't believe it. Because there was all this talk of DESTINY. It can't be her destiny to just die, can it? I mean, it can be, of course -- it's everybody's destiny. But this is Starbuck. If she dies, it has to be in a blaze of glory ... and there's only ten minutes left in the show ... and there hasn't been any kind of setup for a big noble death.
And then it happened. Boom. Dead. And again, I thought, "Hm."
Bottom line: I'm not buying that she's dead. This isn't denial. Because I liked the character, but if she's dead, she's dead, I'm fine with that. It just seems like the writers spent too much time talking about that mandala and DESTINY for it to be that simple. So I'm not entirely sure what happened when that ship blew up, but it's something more complicated than just, "Starbuck is dead." For me, the only question is whether we'll found out what really happened in this season or next season.
My prevailing theory is that Starbuck -- not Hera -- was the first Cylon-Human hybrid. That her mom was a POW in the first Cylon War and got impregnated by a Cylon somehow. Maybe a human Cylon from the future. Because Helo was making comparisons between her mental state and Hera's. And if this is the case, then what happens when a hybrid dies? Is there some kind of reincarnation system in place similar (or even better than) the one the Cylons use? Just a thought.
What do you think? Is she really dead? And do you care? Chime in!
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Sorry, I got a bit behind last week. So to make up for it, I've written another song parody -- this one based, appropriately enough, on The Beatles' A Day in the Life. It sums up the events of the last two episodes. Please to enjoy!
I read a book today, oh boy
About a plucky lad from Aerelon.
He didn't like life on a farm,
And so he made a choice --
He had to change his voice.
When he got older, he left home,
And met a slinky blonde on Caprica.
He helped the Cylons blow it up
Because he liked the sex,
And now he isn't really sure
If Six is live or Memorex ...
He'd love to turn ... you ... on.
I saw a film today, oh boy
About an admiral who left his wife.
He cries about it once a year,
But I just had to laugh --
I saw the photograph ...
He'd love to bang ... La ... Roz.
Woke up, got outta bed,
Dragged a comb across my head,
Kissed my one baby son and argued with the wife --
Sometimes I wish that I had another life.
Overworked, and underpaid,
(What a mess those Toasters made.)
Found my way downstairs to a busted airlock,
Where me and my wife got ejected into space.
Ahhh-ah-ah-ah ...
I read the news today, oh boy
A Raptor almost killed the President.
And though she managed not to die,
She's asking Xeno why --
But he is pissed and threatening
To stop the Tylium supply ...
We've got to un-ion-ize!
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
So ... yeah. Great episode. But kind of self-contained, with no real impact on the other storylines or the mythology in general. A racist doctor is killing off refugee Sagittarons, Helo figures it out, nobody believes him at first, then they do, and the doctor is arrested. Presumably, the Sagittarons are the colony that nobody else likes, because of their hardcore fundamental beliefs, including a rejection of modern medicine -- which makes them kind of like Christian Scientists, I suppose. Says Papa Adama, "There's hate, and then there's allowing hate. Two sides of the same coin, really. We're guilty of both." Which I guess is the episode's object lesson. Whether or not anybody will actually remember this lesson in coming episodes remains to be seen. Particularly as regards Sharon.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Making your way in the Fleet today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all those Toasters, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away? ...
Tying a noose just to find out if you're one of the Final Five.
You wake up gooey, but then get sad, cuz you're really still alive.
Wouldn't you like to be a Cylon?
Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your shame,
And they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, the Boomers aren't all the same,
You wanna be where everybody knows your shame.
Singing the blues when your spouse leaves you is no way to live a life.
Lots more fun to shoot down Raiders than be a husband or a wife.
Time to get a new tattoo ...
The airlock threats get kind of old, when you're the President Elect.
But a girl's gotta do whatever it takes to earn Saul Tigh's respect.
Hope we get to Earth real soon ...
Sometimes you gotta go where everybody knows your shame,
And they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, the Sixes aren't all the same,
You wanna be where everybody knows your shame.
Everyone knows the Cylons blow, so let's not waste time with blame.
You wanna go where everybody knows your shame.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
As Battlestar Galactica returns from hiatus, we're treated to a few shocking plotlines that even the writers of Melrose Place would have to applaud ...
On the planet, Apollo's wife saves his mistress's life, while the husband of his mistress helps him defend the Temple of the Five. Meanwhile, up on Galactica, Helo's wife begs him to kill her (sort of), and he does. It's a bold move, but ends up being just crazy enough to work. Athena is reborn on the Cylon ship, and with Six's help, escapes with a constipated Hera back to Galactica.
Down in the Temple of Five, with the supernova imminent, D'Anna goes into some kind of fugue state and sees the faces of the Final Five ... and recognizes one of them. She says something like, "I had no idea." Which leads me to believe it must be somebody she's met, but who she dismissed as being insignificant. With this in mind, here are my Top 5 picks, in order ...
1. Oracle Selloi
2. Doc Cottle
3. Felix Gaeta
4. Jammer
5. Saul Tigh
Sadly, the other Cylons are not happy with D'Anna's growing Messiah complex. So much so that after she dies on the planet (presumably from rapture), and is reborn, Cavil informs her that her model is fundamentally flawed and has therefore been discontinued. Or as he puts it, "You've been boxed." So I suppose the next time we see Lucy Lawless, it will be whenever Baltar finds a way to unbox her.
But that may not be any time soon, because Baltar has been captured, and carried back to the Galactica in a body bag. Still alive ... but in a body bag. (Funny.) If he's really unlucky, maybe they'll put him in a cell next to Six. Because I'm sure she's still stinging about being rejected for D'Anna, and won't let him forget about it any time soon.
Meanwhile, it turns out that the Eye of Jupiter is actually the supernova that destroys the planet at the end of the episode. Which prompts the Fleet to look for other historical supernovas in the area. Which is the next breadcrumb in the trail leading them to Earth. Or something like that. And somehow Starbuck is connected to all this, because many years before, she painted the same supernova symbol that was found in the temple.
So ... yeah. Lots of info in one hour. Did I miss anything?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
This week's Battlestar Galactica was kind of broody, no? It seemed like all of the plotlines involved frustrating no-win scenarios. Apollo won't sleep with Starbuck any more unless she gets a divorce, and Starbuck is too "devout" to get a divorce. Tyrol is stuck spiritually somewhere between religious cynicism and the zealous devoutness of his father. Sharon is trying hard to remain loyal to the Fleet, but finding out that Roslin hid her baby from her is making that hard to do. After falling in love with Baltar, Caprica Six is being pushed away from him by D'Anna's spiritual quest to see the faces of the Final Five. Baltar learns that even with the Cylons, he's not safe, and that Cavil will happily use him as a bargaining chip. And Adama and the Cylons find themselves in a showdown that could involve destroying the very thing that both of them want so badly -- the mysterious "Eye of Jupiter," which points the way to Earth.
Oh, and the planet's sun is about to go supernova any minute now. So you know -- no pressure or anything.
So, with all the "coincidences" going on here, what are the odds that the "Temple of Five" has some relation to "The Final Five"? Any chance that there's a human Cylon model tucked inside each one of those five columns? I have no idea how exactly that would be the case, but it's hard to ignore the prevalence of the number five in this episode, when twelve usually seems to be the magic number on this show.
As for cliffhanger issues ... Is Starbuck dead? Probably not. Will Adama really blow up the temple with nukes? Probably not. Will either Apollo & Sam or Starbuck & Dualla end up getting into a jealous bitch fight with each other at some point in the near future? Probably. Will the guy who plays the drums during the tense cliffhanger scenes ask for a raise during the hiatus? Most definitely. Rumor has it that Mark Burnett has made an offer to have him play the drums over on Survivor.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
This week's Battlestar Galactica was hard core philosophical, yo! Almost couldn't keep up with all the darkness and soul-searching going on. But first ... did I miss the moment when Six and D'Anna agreed to start having threesomes with Baltar? It must have happened last week, while everybody on Galactica was busy beating the piss out of each other.
Anyway, the Fleet is back to starving again. And this time, the nearest planet with anything edible -- some kind of algae -- is on the other side of a huge hellish star cluster. For one reason or another, they can't go around, and the only way to get everybody to the other planet is by making two "jumps" that requiring stopping in the middle to regroup. But the conditions are so bad inside the cluster that a Raptor has to escort each Fleet sheep through, one by one. So literally (sort of), the Raptor pilots have to go through Hell and back 10 times -- 5 trips each way -- taking on more radiation and losing a bit of sanity each trip. In the end, two ships are lost, along with their skeleton crews, but other than this, the mission is a relative success.
It's all very spiritually metaphorical, and reminded of something Henrik Ibsen might have written.
Oh yeah, and Kat dies saving one of the ships. But not before we find out she used to be a drug runner, and that she stole the identity of somebody on Caprica who died during the Cylon attacks. Starbuck finds this out, and I think Adama suspects it, but in the end, they dismiss everything except the fact that she's a hero. Which is all very well written (by Buffy alum Jane Espenson) ... but I have to say, I've always had a hard time caring much about Kat as a character. So I'm kind of relieved she's gone. Is that terrible?
Meanwhile, over in Cylonville, Baltar is having threesomes with Six and D'Anna. Wait, did I mention that already? By the way, I would be more sophisticated and call it a "menage a trois", but since there was no France on Caprica or any of the twelve colonies, one assumes there was no French language either. So that phrase wouldn't make any sense. There's probably a fancy Capricese phrase for it involving some variation on the word "frak" ... but I couldn't find it on Wikipedia.
Between threesoming, Baltar discovers that D'Anna is killing herself over and over, and confronts her about it. Apparently, in the transition from death back to life, she is seeing the faces of what Baltar refers to as "The Final Five" -- the remaining five Cylon models, one of which Baltar believes he might be. He presses D'Anna for more information, but each time she is reborn, the details fade away. They go to the Hybrid (the woman in the bathtub) hoping to glean more information, and she gives them some gibberish about eyes and cows. Which they then put through their zany Mythology Translator, and decide it means they should go the same planet that the humans just busted their ass to get to.
Which sets us up nicely for a showdown during next week's hiatus finale.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
The first rule of Battlestar Galactica: Fight Club is that nobody cares about Battlestar Galactica: Fight Club.
This seemed kind of a disposable episode to me, like the whole black market episode last season. It filled in the gap of what the hell happened to make Apollo and Starbuck so awkward with each other in the season premiere, and it set up what will obviously be a point of emotional conflict in the weeks to come. But there were WAY too many boxing scenes, and the Apollo/Starbuck thing could have been handled as a side story using one third the time.
But hey, a show this great is entitled to a clunker now and then.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
I enjoyed this week's episode of Battlestar Galactica ... even though I'm not entirely sure what happened. Or more precisely, I know what things happened, but not really why they happened.
So the Cylons deliberately let Bulldog escape ... but why? Hoping he would kill Adama? To draw attention to the fact that it was the Fleet who precipitated the Cylon "9/11" attack, and that Adama was part of that? Or to just plain frak with the heads of the humans? After all, I doubt Bulldog was much use to them any more.
D'Anna is the one who let Bulldog escape. Is this relevant? Is it tied into whatever trip she's on lately -- the whole letting a Centurion shoot her in the head thing? Is this her equivalent of "flatlining" -- experiencing some kind of transcendental state between death and rebirth? And who is the white glowy person she seemed about ready to kiss when she was in that state? Was it maybe the Cylon's "God"?
Needless to say, I loved the moment when we found out that the Admiralty had advance intelligence about the Cylon "9/11" attack. With these writers, I guess we should have seen that one coming. I'm not buying, though, that either Adama or the Admiralty "caused" the Cylons to come out of hiding ... although the Cylons have done a great job of planting that seed of doubt in Adama's head. I'm guessing we find out later that it's all a lie -- that just as the Cylons used Six to manipulate Baltar's worst tendencies back on Caprica, they were manipulating the worst tendencies of other humans as well.
Adama asking Tigh at the very end, appropo of nothing, "What happened to Ellen?" was another poignant moment. We don't get to see the conversation, but I imagine it goes something like this: "Saul, I had to shoot down one of my pilots to protect a mission." "Oh yeah? I had to poison my wife to protect the Resistance." (long pause) "Seriously?" "Yup." "Damn. We suck." "Yup." "You want a drink?" "Is the frakkin pope Catholic?" (long pause) "Who's the pope? And what's Catholic mean?" "Never mind, Old Man. Just give me a drink before my empty eye socket dries up."
[guest posted by Geekboy]
Bold dramatic moves on Battlestar Galactica this week. Galactica boards the infected Cylon base star and learn about the virus. Once they determine that it can't hurt them -- Boomerthena included -- Apollo immediately jumps to the harsh idea of using the virus as a genocidal weapon. When did he get so cutthroat? This is an idea I would have expected from Starbuck or Tigh, not him. Does Apollo maybe hold the Cylons responsible for his weight gain during the occupation?
Anyway, true to increasingly cold-hearted form, Roslin loves the plan. And despite Helo's and Adama's protests about the morality of wiping out an entire race -- machine or no -- Roslin decides to move ahead with the it. Interestingly, Boomerthena doesn't protest, citing the fact that Cylons are designed to be loyal to their team -- in this case, the Galactica team. (And I can't help but wonder how this "loyalty" characteristic will play out over on the Cylon team.) Her boyfriend Helo, however, is not so loyal to Galactica as he is to the human race, and in the end kiboshes the whole plan by effectively euthenizing the Cylons before they can be used as a weapon.
Over at the Cylon camp, S&M takes on a whole new meaning, as the Six in Baltar's head uses sex as a way to keep him from focusing on the pain being doled out by Cylon D'Anna in the real world ... with some rather disturbing results that will probably have me in therapy for years to come. Meanwhile, is it just me, or did D'Anna's facial expression at the moment of climax indicate that she believed Baltar was pledging his love to HER ... and that she kind of liked it? Because if so, that could certainly make things interesting in the weeks to come.
Cylon Chick Slap Fight anybody?
[guest posted by Geekboy]
In this week's Battlestar Galactica, it's clear that the writers are still doing the math along with us regarding the 12 cylon models. We don't actually get an answer about the 5 remaining models, because Six gets interrupted just as she and Baltar begin talking about it. But the fact that the point was raised at all is promising. And I trust the answer must be interesting, based on Six's pained expression and the fact that she didn't seem to want to talk about it.
As for the rest of the episode, I'll keep it short, because I'm posting late this week ...
Galactica Boomer is now "Athena". After a confrontation with father-figure Adama, Starbuck has pulled her head out of her ass, while at the same time, Tigh just digs his in further. Apollo has finally lost his "Hiatus 30". Baltar seems to have an ability to "project" that is eerily similar to something the human Cylons do -- which leads us to believe that perhaps Baltar is a Cylon ... although probably not ... and yet it's clear that there must be some connection. We learn that Cylon base stars seem to use something called a "Hybrid" -- a woman in a bathtub -- as the supercomputer for the ship. It's just another in the line of creepy biotechnology that has resulted in the living Raiders and the human Cylons, I suppose. Anyway, all of them are subject to the virus that's discovered in the "lion head" nebula, which seems to have been created by the Thirteenth Colony on their way to Earth. It is so deadly that the Cylons are forced to abandon one of their base stars, and at the end of the cliffhanger episode, Boomer ... er, Athena ... is exposed to the virus, and begins talking gibberish.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
In this week's Battlestar Galactica, the last of the new "summer webisode" characters bit the dust. Alas, poor Jammer, I knew him hardly at all. His death comes at the hands of a secret jury called The Circle, who declares him guilty of collaborating with the Cylons on New Caprica, and shoots him out into space, just as they've done with a dozen or so other collaborators in the past few days. The Circle is a creation of de facto President Tom Zarek, and when Roslin and Adama find out, it's immediately shut down.
In one of the more convoluted shifts of executive power in science fiction history, Zarek makes Roslin his vice president, then steps down as president, thereby making Roslin president, who then makes him vice president as a reward for having ceded the presidency to her. Or something like that. Anyway, Roslin the Wise understands what a quagmire it would be to try any collaborators -- how fine the line between justice and vengeance is -- and as her first executive action, simply pardons everybody. Smart move.
Meanwhile, the Cylons have a similar dilemma. How do you solve a problem like Gaius Baltar? Apparently, the jury is deadlocked. Three of the "models" want to keep him around, and three want to get rid of him (death? expulsion?). The deciding vote is in the hands of Six, who seems to be having an identity crisis -- is she a Cylon, or is she in love with a human, and can she be both? What bugged me about this scene is ... what about the other five Cylon models we've been told exist? Why aren't they in on this vote? Are those other five part of a separate group that deals with separate Cylon issues? Were they killed off entirely at some point? And who are the three that voted to keep Gaius around?
In other news, Apollo is apparently dating a jump rope. Which would explain why we didn't see his wife. There were several notable faces missing this episode actually -- Dualla, Boomer, and all the Cylons except for D'Anna and Six. By the way, does anybody remember if Boomer (the one who is part of the fleet now) ever showed up back on Galactica at the end of the last episode? Or is she still out there, looking for Hera? We saw a lot of Agathon this episode, but not her.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
In this episode of Battlestar Galactica, Adama shaved off his mustache. Which can only mean one thing -- that he was successful in liberating the humans from Cylon-occupied New Caprica, and that everything is back to normal ... more or less. There are many losses along the way. Tigh is forced to poison his slutty wife for betraying both him and the Resistance. The Cylons are forced to give up New Caprica and whatever dreams of religious conversion they might have had. Starbuck is forced to give up her motherhood, when she finds out that Leobon has lied to her -- that her "daughter" Kacey is really just a stolen child. Baby Hera is lost by the humans and is spirited away by the Cylon D'Anna. And, most notably, the Pegasus is lost in battle ... but not before saving Galactica's ass and taking out a few Cylon base ships first.
So we're back to one battlestar, Adama in charge of the fleet, Laura Roslin back in the president's chair, Tom Zarek (presumably) the vice president, and Baltar and the Cylons who knows where. This was a gripping and satisfying episode, beginning to end, and wraps up what was essentially a four-episode arc.
Next week, we find out what happens to "Collaborators" ...
[guest posted by Geekboy]
With Battlestar Galactica, I sometimes wonder what exactly the criteria are for deciding whether two particular episodes should get the "Part 1" and "Part 2" tag. Because after last week's cliffhanger ending, this episode felt kind of like the "conclusion" to that one. And yet this week's episode, while it only just reached the point where the "Exodus" will begin, actually felt somewhat complete and satisfying to me by the final scene. It's all just semantics, I suppose, because this show has really been just one big multi-part roller coaster ride from the first episode. Anyway, on with the recap ...
The writers pulled a classic "one hour ago" sci-fi rewind on us, and let us see that the massacre we thought we were witnessing at the tail end of last week wasn't quite what it seemed. The Resistance was better prepared than the Cylons believed, and was able to turn around both the execution and the ambush at the rendezvous point. Thereby pissing off the Cylons so much that they now seem ready to just drop a bomb on the humans and be done with it, completely unaware that even bigger problems are looming just around the bend.
One intriguing detail we got this week was learning from the Cylon Cavil that each "resurrection" for them is increasingly more painful than the next. Which I imagine will really start gumming up the works for them, since pain and the fear of death are decidedly human traits that aren't usually a big problem for toasters.
We also learned where -- presumably -- the Cylon Leobon has been getting all of the spoiler info he keeps spouting to Starbuck, when the Cylon D'Anna starts having very detailed dreams about Boomer's baby. Androids may or may not dream of electric sheep, but the Cylons definitely dream about things they shouldn't know. Whether these are "echoes" from a previous time loop (my ongoing theory), or are something being "transmitted" to them by a greater Cylon power ("God"), it's hard to say yet. Unless you're a Cylon, of course -- in which case you probably had a dream just last night that showed you where the entire show is going. If so, please keep it to yourself. No spoilers here.
So ... is Amanda Plummer (aka Oracle Selloi) our eighth Cylon model?
Beyond this, there are a lot of goodbyes and moving morale speeches and kicking salt around. And Starbuck being a mom. And Gaius being impotent. Oh, and Boomer shooting Xena's kneecaps off! That was cool. Is it Friday yet?
[guest posted by Geekboy]
So Battlestar Galactica is back for Season 3 .. and how! Nothing subtle about the political undertones in these episodes, eh? For those who haven't read a newspaper in the past three years, here's the breakdown: New Caprica = Iraq; Cylons = U.S. "Liberation" Forces. Any guess which side the writers have made more sympathetic? Did NBC execs even bother to watch the season premiere when they made the decision to move this show to network TV? Then again, we're talking about a show that has "fooled" the FCC for two years now by using the word "frak" liberally and pretending it doesn't mean exactly what we all know it means. I guess it only takes a thin veneer to make the unacceptable acceptable?
Anyway, I won't bore you with a full recap of the entire two hours. But here are the salient points ...
Four months have passed. Tigh has one eye, and his wife is whoring around with the Cylon Cavil. Tyrol is married to Cally, and they have a baby. Apollo is married to Dualla, and is starting to morph into Homer Simpson. Starbuck is a love prisoner of the Cylon Leobon, and they have a baby together. Helo and Boomer are still together, and Boomer has just become the first Cylon to be sworn into the Colonial Fleet. Roslin is still teaching, Baltar is still a coward, Gaeta is riding a fine line between traitor and patriot, and The Resistance has finally pushed the Cylons' balls to the wall. They're desperate to keep order in New Caprica, to fulfill their divine destiny of bringing enlightenment to humans, and are willing to kill every last human to do it. But Adama and the Colonial Fleet are on their way to ... do something. I'm confident it will be brave and reckless and spectacular and will turn everything upside-down.
So I'm keeping count of the various Cylon "models" at this point. There's Six, Sharon, Cavil, Leobon, Xena, Kevin Spacey, and the new African-American model (have we seen him before?). That makes seven. Which leaves five more we don't about yet, right? We can assume that the writers plan to surprise us this season by revealing that at least one of the main characters is a Cylon. Any guesses who it will be? Should we start a pool?
Oh, and did I mention that I love this show? How about you?
Is Battlestar Galactica moving to NBC?
Geekboy's recap of the premiere of BSG will probably be late, as he hasn't had a chance to watch yet. Feel free to dish about the premiere in the comments.
[guest posted by the geekboy]
Okay, my arm happens to be hurting me this week, so I'm going to make the recap short and sweet.
In this episode of Battlestar Galactica ... Tyrol beats up Cally, and Father Dean Stockwell tells him it's because he really wants to kill himself, because he believes he's a Cylon like Boomer. Starbuck leads a rescue mission to Caprica, and the first ship she loses finds a planet capable of supporting life, thus providing Baltar with the "hand of God" miracle he was looking for. He and Roslin debate about whether colonists should be allowed to settle on the planet -- Roslin says no, Baltar says yes -- and with the introduction of this issue, the presidential election suddenly becomes much tighter. Meanwhile, on Caprica, Starbuck finds her man ... and they all get attacked by Cylons. Annnd ... cliffhanger.
Tune in next week for the dramatic 90-minute season finale! Please share your thoughts ...
[guest posted by the geekboy]
This week on Battlestar Galactica, we learned some Cylon model numbers. We already knew that Six was 6, but now we also know that Sharon is 8, Xena is 3, and Kevin Spacey is 5. And the weird thing is, no matter how many Cylons we saw in the outdoor walking scenes on Caprica, it was always 3, 5, 6, or 8, everywhere you went. So where do the other eight models hang out? I assume this is the writers' way of keeping the identity of the other Cylon agents secret from us for now, but I wonder if they have an internal logic for it as well. Because that's the kind of thing I think about.
Anyway, if you didn't love this episode, then I have to assume you are a Cylon, and should therefore jettison yourself out the nearest airlock. I mean, what was not to like? Finding out that Caprica Six has a Baltar in her head was priceless ... although for a moment there, you know the writers were trying to trick us into thinking that Baltar was a Cylon. And how about the writers calling us (bloggers) out by having Xena say, "They call you Caprica Six ... as if there was only one Six on the planet!" And Roslin duping the Cylons -- and Baltar -- into thinking Hybrid Baby Hera is dead? Priceless and brilliant. Although I shudder to think what a vengeful Galactica Sharon is capable of right now. Likewise for Caprica Sharon & Six, who have both clearly acquired a taste for human love, and will not go gently into that good night ... or into that "box" in this case.
Sorry. This post is all over the place. Because there was just SO much going on this week. I may have to watch the episode again, because I think I might have missed some details. I'm really hoping this marks the beginning of a roller coaster ride to the season finale. Speak out, and let everybody know your own thoughts and theories!
[guest posted by the geekboy]
This week's Battlestar Galactica once again reflected one of America's more controversial subjects ... interracial dating. Okay, not really -- it's Abortion. And unlike the situation with Cylon Boomer's unborn hybrid baby a few episodes back, there was no hiding behind the idea that the mother was a machine, a "toaster" with unequal rights. Instead, this mother was a 17 year-old human girl, and the same Gemenons who stood so squarely behind Roslin at the tail end of last season were in her face this time around, demanding that she "do the religious right thing" in exchange for their political allegiance. In the end, pro-choice Roslin folded, outlawing abortion in the name of survival of the human race ... but not before allowing the girl who started the whole controversy to exercise her still-legal rights.
How both of these decisions will play out for Roslin politically remains to be seen, especially with Baltar throwing his hat into the presidential ring as the (presumably) pro-abortion, pro-science candidate, backed by Tom Zarek and (presumably) the Cylon sympathizer demographic. And let's face it, if anybody's capable of tampering with the Diebold machines used by the Colonial fleet, it's Baltar and the Cylons. So Roslin better hope she and Adama find Earth before Voting Day.
Speaking of Adamas, it's left to Apollo to pull the Pegasus's ass out of the fire when chief-engineer-turned-commander Garner falls for the oldest trick in the book, and FTL-jumps the Battlestar directly into a Cylon trap. Oops! In the end, the Scotty-wannabe does a good Spock imitation, and sacrifices himself to save the ship. But Apollo does an even better Kirk imitation, going up against the Cylons balls-up, and emerging as the hero of the day, earning himself not one but TWO promotions in the same episode ... and command of his own Battlestar. At this rate, I expect Lee will be Admiral by the end of the season.
Loved this episode. Unlike some of the recent episodes, it really fired on all cylinders at once. And based on the previews, I think I'm REALLY going to love the next episodes. Looks like we might finally be getting that Cylon-centric episode we've all been hoping for!
[guest posted by the geekboy]
Somewhere in the middle of this episode of Battlestar Galactica, I finally realized something: Dualla is little more than a slightly modernized version of Uhura from Star Trek. I mean, think about it. She's the only black person (that I've noticed anyway) serving on the ship ... and she's the communications officer. She's always sitting there in the background, acting like she's concentrating really hard to listen to something we can't hear -- just like Uhura used to! Except in this episode, where she lets her hair down, and finds herself in the middle of a love triangle that goes REALLY wrong, and leaves me flashing back to the immortal words of Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods: "Billy, don't be a hero." So what are the writers and/or casting directors trying to say?
Meanwhile, could the 9/11 subtext have BEEN any thicker this week? Dana Delaney is mad because her husband died during the Cylon attack, and insists that it could have been avoided, that the intelligence was there, but not utilized. Adama retorts (paraphrasing), "We were all caught off-guard by the Cylon attack. It could not have been anticipated." Sounds very familiar. As does Billy's response to one of the terrorists (paraphrasing): "We all lost somebody. And they were all good people. Your grief doesn't make you special, or make your extreme response to the attack any more valid." Okay, that last part was mine, but it seems like what the writers were trying to say.
Of course, the most topical scene of the week has to go to Starbuck, who has a Dick Cheney moment and accidentally shoots Apollo. Seriously, how ticked would Adama have been if she was responsible for BOTH of his sons dying?
So ... what are the odds that Billy was a Cylon, and that we haven't seen the last of him yet?
[guest posted by the geekboy]
For some reason, throughout this episode of Battlestar Galactica, I kept half-expecting to hear Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone". The Maverick/Iceman moments were a bit overplayed, and I don't really like the Kat character much. But their interchanges -- as well as the "passing of the torch" (mug) -- did seem to flesh out Starbuck's character quite well. She has clearly evolved since the show began. Into what, I guess it remains to be seen.
I was VERY intrigued to learn more about the Cylon raider ships. Who knew that their "souls" could be recycled in the same way as the human-like Cylons? The idea that Scar was an angry, barely intelligent, yet battle-savvy soldier who had died and been reborn over and over again sent a chill up my spine. Partly because it made him/it a terrifying and insane opponent to go up against, and partly because it made him/it a sympathetic and pseudo-mythological "character" -- like Hector or Achilles from Homer's Iliad. Not just a machine.
Certainly this thought passed through Starbuck's mind as well, as she gazed sadly out the window at the smear of red on that asteroid. And perhaps it even resonated with her earlier observation of the too-human Sharon. The tension between Starbuck's sympathy with and hatred of Cylons has become palpable, and should make for some interesting stories in the future.
[guest-posted by the geekboy]
This was a somewhat quirky episode of Battlestar Galactica. The writers seem to be taking advantage of the lull in Cylon activity following the destruction of the Resurrection Ship to fill in some character and sub-story blanks.
Last week, we got a bit of Roslin's back story, and this week, we got Apollo's. Roslin's was better. The apparent point of Apollo's flashback -- as translated by the hooker with a heart of gold -- is that he's been holding a torch for a woman who dumped him because he didn't want to have kids, and who then died during the Cylon attack. Okay.
Last week, we learned about the insurgency movement, and this week, we learned about the black market. Which served as a handy device to get rid of the last recognizable Pegasus officer. (So who's driving THAT car now?) Beyond this, I didn't get the point of the storyline. It all seemed designed to make Apollo a more complex character following his near-death experience. Which it did -- but at the exclusion of everybody else's storyline. And with no Cylons or theological underpinnings. Still good TV ... but not great BG.
Next week, we get some drunk Starbuck.
[guest posted by the geekboy]
This week on Battlestar Galactica 90210 ...
Roslin. That scamp. Who knew she had it in her to carry on a secret liason with the President? Or to politically out-maneuver him? Here I'd been thinking all this time that she was rather weak before the fall of the colonies gave her a reason to be strong. But clearly, recent events have only brought out her true nature. I can only imagine what a terror she'll be now that she's been infused with Ultra Strength Cylon Baby Blood.
Oh, and just when you think Baltar might be showing signs of taking his job as potential president seriously, Roslin has to go and hurt his feelings in a letter. And since hell hath no fury like a coward scorned, his response is to send Gina and the sympathizers a lovely nuclear warhead. Seriously dude, if you're that determined get into her pants, maybe start with flowers first? Nothing says desperate like a WMD.
And the Emmy of the week goes to Boomer for her unsettling "You just TRY to take my baby!" scene. Gave me chills!
[guest-posted by the geekboy]
Okay, here's the rundown of confounded expectations from this episode of Battlestar Galactica: Admiral Cain has a change of heart ... but gets killed anyway ... but not at Starbuck's hand; Apollo almost dies ... and seems to have wanted to; Gina wants Baltar to kill her ... but she kills Cain instead; former adversaries Adama and Roslin are clearly in love ... but she'll probably die before anything can come of it; Helo and the Chief are finally free ... but will never use soap again.
Sometimes watching this show is like seeing 50 clowns walk out of a tiny car -- it leaves you wondering how the writers managed to tell SO much story in only 40 odd minutes. We saw very little of the actual "Battle to Destroy the Resurrection", and yet I didn't feel cheated, because the stories surrounding it were so compelling.
So ... am I correct in assuming we finally have confirmation that Sexy-Six has been a product of Baltar's imagination ever since he left Caprica? Because it seemed that by having him repeat verbatim the "I miss sports" speech to Gina-Six, then having a frustrated Sexy-Six disappear, this is what we were being told -- that Sexy-Six was only ever a substitute for the real thing. Which of course still raises the larger question of how Baltar knows all the things he knows, if Six hasn't really been in his brain all this time. I have my theories.
What are your thoughts?
I loves me some political metaphor in my sci-fi. So for me, the beauty of introducing The Pegasus to the Battlestar Galactica plotline has been the opportunity to get truly heavy-handed with the post-9/11 metaphor that the show has been toying with since the Cylons "terrorized" Caprica in the first episode. The writers seem completely unabashed at this point about ripping their stories directly from the headlines. If you don't see a bit of Cheney or Rumsfeld in Admiral Cain, with her "acceptable losses" approach to warfare and her Abu Ghraib treatment of prisoners, then ... well, then you're probably not a rabid liberal like me.
Politics aside, as Mama Cain and Papa Adama bring the colonial fleet to the brink of a showdown, it's the kids -- Starbuck and Apollo -- who save the day. Together, these two manage to steal the Blackbird, reconnoiter the Cylons, bring the colonial showdown to an end, supply Helo and the chief with a temporary stay of execution, and plan the destruction of the Cylon fleet. No big woop. Cain and Adama agree to put their fundamental differences about the inherent value of civilian (or Cylon) liberties aside long enough to play nice and carry this plan out, biding their time until one can assassinate the other. Among the ships to be destroyed is The Resurrection, a ship full of naked Six and Sharon bodies waiting for recycled souls -- the snapshot of which I'm sure made pubescent fan boys across the nation heave a collective sigh.
As a stand-alone episode, this one wasn't stellar. It does more wrapping up of the previous cliffhanger and setting up for the second part than anything else. But it does both well, and bridges the gap nicely. Next week on Battlestar Galactica: Will either Cain or Adama get their frakking head blown off? Can Baltar find true happiness with the battered Gina Six? And will Roslin get her hands on a hot new Cylon body before she dies?
[guest-posted by the geekboy]
Battlestar returns tomorrow, and this season Janet and the geekboy will be taking turns with commentary. TVGasm has a nice post about the show with lots of linky goodness.
Oh my, was that another jawdropping installment, although I am pissed at the SciFi blue monkeys (TM Save Farscape) for giving away a huge plot point in the promos. Honestly, Adama giving the command to cut throught the hull of Colonial One would have been just as enticing as showing Lee confroting Tigh - which was the climax of the scene. Hello! Plus, Lee is the President's advisor and thus a dubious dramatic choice to lead a coup, but it led to some fine moments. Is Adama quick on the draw or what? I admit I was a little rattled at "piss me off, coup you," but then again, it's been made clear all along that he considers himself in charge and Roslin is to fall in line, at least where military decisions are made.
I am impressed how well the Six/Starbuck - Boomer/Helo meetup on Caprica paid off. How great that Starbuck was beaten to a bloody pulp and still didn't need to be rescued. Best impalement since Dead Again. What a great emotional breakdown she has when she realizes Boomer is one of many, and preggo to boot. Is CapricaBoomer coming home? I hope someone knows where that arrow went to.
Speaking of Boomerage, Galactica Boomer was the best part. Those naked copies stopping by to say "Hi" were creepy as hell. And I didn't see the assassation attempt coming AT ALL. I actually gasped. Thank the gods of Kobol I know Olmos is under contract cause - geez. And the way they focused on Lee, personalizing the possible loss of his parent, was a brilliant choice.
There's spec that Gaeta had a hand in the assassination attempt - did you spot anything? And what was with that crib? Could corporeal CapricaSix have gotten pregnant before the genocide? Or was that a reference to Boomerbaby?
So. Is it "on plan" for Boomer to blow up the basestar and/or shoot Adama? Part of me says it all was, since I can see why the Cylons want plausible deniabilty to allow Baltar's rescue from Kobol. But the assassination struck me as spontaneous and impulsive, but that could have been the editing. I can see how it would work either way - and that's a good show.
All in all a fine way to cap off a stellar first season. See you in July!
[guest-posted by janet]
My jaw is aching from hanging open so much. What an amazing hour of TV. So it all boils down to: what do you believe?
I believe that was one of the most splendid opening sequences ever. I believe Starbuck when she says her frak session with Baltar was just that. I believe that poker room scene / hangar deck slaparama were two of the most uncomfortable scenes ever on this show. I can't believe Helo shot Boomer, or that Boomer shot herself because many a show wouldn't go that far. I know it wasn't fatal for either, but still. I wonder if Baltar would take his own advice. Confidential to Sharon: no one will believe you were cleaning your gun with your mouth, dear. I believe Pres. Roslin truly believes she is the prophesied leader, and she is starting to get freaky. I thought I believed that when Six warned Baltar off Galactica it was for his best interest, until I saw all the Cylons ready to eat him like a livasnap (note to self: best crash sequence ever).
I can't believe that Roslin went behind Adama's back and got Starbuck to fetch something important humanity left behind. Although if I were a betting woman, I suspect this is how we get Helo back to the Fleet. But still, I would rather fly into a Cylon basestar with a nuke than face the wrath of Adama. Unless, of course, I was a Cylon sleeper agent. Unless I was one with a deathwish. Yeesh.
I believe we have confirmation of the time loop - congrats, Geekboy! But who's path is the right one, Roslin's or Adama's? Which one ends the cycle or allows it to continue or whatever the frak is right? What do you believe?
[guest-posted by janet]
It's Colonial Day and time for the business of big politics. Pres. Roslin has called for an Interim Quorum of the Twelve Colonies (say that 5 times fast.) The meeting is on Cloud Nine, or as I like to think of it, a realistic reimagining of the Casino Planet from the original series. Our man Baltar is sent to represent Caprica; he shows his excitement by napping through the debates. Tom Zarek AKA Old School Apollo has graduated from bombing buildings to running for Vice President on a posteconomy radical social ticket. Once Pres. Roslin sees Baltar awake from his nap and on TV charming the pants off the press, she dumps her steady eddy choice from the ticket and convinces Baltar to run. In another effective bathroom scene, Baltar accepts and immediately charms the pants off a press, apparently with Six's blessing. Can't keep a good horndog down. Zarek vs. Baltar yields a tie vote (and damned if my sign didn't vote for Zarek); Roslin gets to decide and the slimiest excuse for a Vice President since, well, the current one, gets sent to the big show.
Meanwhile, cable TV punditry, like cockroaches, survives the holocaust; LoudEllen backs Zarek; shirtless!Apollo! cleanedup!Starbuck! Apollo and Starbuck keep the peace only to turn up a shooter; Starbuck's track record keeping prisoners alive stays at zero; human size air vents=classic plot device; Zarek claims no knowledge of the death, so whodunit. And in their six weekly minutes, Helo and Boomer try to escape when he sees more than one Boomer and, sensibly, runs away from them.
[guest-posted by Janet]
...You must have one of them new fangled back door man."
Baltar and Pres. Roslin are both getting information from the great beyond. God shows Baltar where the tylium ore processing units are, making me even more confused which side God is on, but Six would probably tell me there are no sides, there is only prophecy. Which is sort of like hoping for your own annihilation to bring about the end of days - a counterintuitive move if there ever was one. Meanwhile, Roslin sees snakes during a press conference, which is caused by A) kamala, her homeopathic breast cancer medicine; B) a vision from their book of prophecy; C) answering stupid questions at a press conference; or D) all of the above.
Although they may be God's instruments, neither one is told about Cmdr. Adama's supersneaky secret Vipers that save Galactica and win the tylium mine from the Cylons. He didn't tell me either, and I was dying! Plus: lots of great battle scenes; Adama/Adama bonding; scrambling; Chuckles is the new redshirt; Lee Adama channeling "Now let's blow this thing and go home;" Six leading a strange Cylon parade; Starbuck/Adama/Adama bonding; champagne popping; and Cylon-on-Caprica morning sickness. And can we assume this episode rules out Starbuck and Cmdr. Adama as Cylons, since only they knew about the back door plan?
guest-posted by janet
What a surprising amount of whimsy for such a gloweringly serious series. Which put me in mind of another hit show that mixes serious with a lot of fun.
Bree, the perfect front. President Roslin wastes little time telling Adama she thinks he's the Cylon. He behaves in the time-honored suspicious fashion of those under suspicion. Turns out he has an even more suspicious candidate to proffer, specifically Colonel Tigh's mysteriously-not-dead wife Ellen, channeling Jessica Lange in Blue Sky like nobody's business. So she's either a very blowsy human or a heavy-drinking Cylon hiding in plain sight. Baltar will never tell.
Gabrielle, the wandering wife: Baltar gets off invisibly getting off front of friends and co-workers. I reckon that the "11 hour Cylon test" is 2 hours work, 9 hours masturbatory fantasy. Loved the parental disclaimer before this ep -- torture and genocide::fine, robotfrakking::avert the eyes of the children.
Lynette, the domestic doldrum: Caprica. Helo/Boomer on the run. Same as it was last week and the week before that.
Susan, the loveable goof: Who's at the top of the Cylon test list -- whoever called you last, that's who. Lee Adama's expressions while fending off footsy. Deadpan Starbuck. Adama handing back the liquor. So many little moments add up to a big hee.
guest-posted by janet