A "working" episode, with
less of a plot of its own than as a means to continue
or wrap up some arcs. It's okay once or twice, guys,
but we need to start seeing more self-contained stories
soon. My best friend missed S1 and had heard so many
good things about it that he wanted to start watching
S2 -- "I'll just jump in somewhere in the middle," he
said, and I started laughing.
Tigh is much better in command here than
last week, because he's in familiar territory: facing
a known enemy doing predictable things on his ship.
This he can handle. And he does, very competently,
recognizing
the Cylon centurions' tactical movements and guiding
the teams who are checking in to get there first.
("Aft
Damage Control, RFN," Lee repeats -- Right Fracking
Now. hee hee hee) Good suspense on the ship without
making us insane, good follow-through on Kobol, and
a small but interesting character note on Caprica.
People
who were injured last week stay injured. Prisoners
return to prison after the crisis isover. Grudges
are still
held. Six continues her insidious brainwashing of Baltar.
(I'm betting that dream was either influenced or outright
fabricated by Six.)
Moogie thought it was veeeeeery convenient that the
Cylon virus managed to hit the main and auxiliary
power systems, and at the exact same moment,
especially when they are by definition supposed to
be on separate grids. Also, what if Six is doubly manipulating
Baltar so that not only is he hallucinating her, but
also zoning out and, say, writing computer viruses
to be activated later?
I love it that these strong, macho men and tough,
dignified women are boasting and swaggering and then
see a centurion and they all scream and run
for their lives. But they recover -- gasping and shuddering
-- and pull themselves together back into military
mode.
So Kara is from Caprica, and the
Museum is conveniently near her apartment. And she drives
a battered HumVee. I predicted she'd go searching for
cigars, but the paintings and piano were a surprise.
(The crayon-like scrawl and writings on the wall were
not -- something about "methodically smoking my
cigarette/every breath/breathe/[??] the day/with every
delicious sip/I drink away the night/stroking my hair
to the beat of his heart/watching a boy turn into a
Man.") At first I thought that maybe I'd misunderstood
about where the Tomb of Athena was, and thought she
was going there, until I realized she was rooting around
her old digs.
Helo starts to say "Sharon said..." and
then backs up to say "Cylon Sharon said..." Yeah,
I've been having that trouble myself! Galactica Sharon
and Caprica Sharon? Boomer 2.0 and 2.1? Sharon 1 and
Sharon 2? At least he seems to be convinced that Kara's
right about Sharon's inner nature -- until she flies
back and explains that she was being a decoy or luring
the troops off, or something... We know they
won't stay stuck on Caprica, since Kara is a major
character and has to rejoin the fleet. Hm, will they
have to land on Kobol or will the fleet get back there
first?
Sackhoff grew her hair a little over the break, it
seems. I kinda prefer it shorter.
I give Jerknose 2IC more credit this week; he looked
suitably nauseated when Tigh announced what the Cylons
were planning, and worked with the other two without
interfering. Gaeta is great -- I wish they could promote
him! I think he's filling the Omega role, roughly.
So Baltar is being told that
the Kobolians performed human sacrifice (hey, those
could be the
skulls of humans who were killed by Cylons) and that
all the scriptures are a lie. But in the same breath
Six says the Sacred Scrolls are a fairytale, and then
quotes the Kobolian belief that "all of this has
happened before and all of it will happen again." Buzzphrase
to catch Baltar's ear? Leftover from the Cylon evolution
from whatever their human masters made them? Crack
in the fundamentalist façade? (She also notes
the "true nature" of humanity is "brutality,
depravity, and barbarism." Nice words from a species
which is bent on genocide to the level of murdering
infants in the street.)
Okay, how impossibly does it suck that Tyrol and Cally
risk their lives, and lose a redshirt, to get a medkit
which still turns out to be too late to do any good?
Cally curses Tyrol out, they bust their asses getting
back to camp, and Tyrol still has to put his guy out
of his misery the hard way. (But why does he save the
redshirt's dogtags and not try to get his guy's?)
I was pleased at how the final firefight was choreographed.
Roslin's Corporal did the smart thing and stayed
put rather than running headlong into who-knows-what,
Roslin got Billy down on the floor to safety, Lee was
as nervous and shocky as anybody else, half of Lee's
team missed their shots, and the last shot which took
out the leaping centurion was messy and spectacular.
Realistic and not dumb. And the centurions do bleed!
Billy shoots one of them by accident and it's splattered
red.
I'm glad Billy and Dee made up; I like them together.
I could see how she'd be pissed both personally and
professionally, but they managed to get past it.
Kate Vernon, who plays Ellen Tigh, is listed in the
credits for this episode, but she doesn't appear in
it. Is it because they consider it a two-parter, or
was it just a flub? |
