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So the Sharon who was on Galactica
is dead, and the Sharon who was on Caprica is now on
Galactica. I guess we can drop to Sharon for
now, or Pregnant Sharon for clarity.
I didn't mind that Adama and Co. were
looking over the maps to figure out where Roslin's group
was, but the cutting back and forth and the got-it-in-one
guessing was too pat for me. I guess some things have
to be compressed in the name of dramatic movement. (Or
maybe it's another tick in the "Gaeta's a Cylon"
column, since he's the one who leads most of the convenient
assumptions.)
The Kobolian scriptures are calligraphied?
by hand? They have the printing press, for pete's sake.
Or was that just the font traditionally used? Or are
they copies of the original scrolls as written?
Interesting that both Roslin and
Adama are willing to work on the principle of "I
don't necessarily believe X, but the person I'm trying
to outwit does, so I'll behave the same way in order
to use that against the person."
I like Adama more all the time. He shows
his leadership here again. He points out to Tigh, correctly,
that the current political/military crisis is founded
in a disagreement between himself and Roslin. If that's
resolved, the crisis is resolved. So he'll take the
minimum necessary staff and go, himself, to put an end
to the whole mess. He's not afraid to admit his mistakes.
I'm not happy that he continues to insist that he doesn't
second-guess himself, but at least that doesn't mean
he's unwilling to reverse a decision if he later
thinks it's the right thing to do. His relationships
with his son and his foster daughter are strong enough
to transcend whatever tactical disagreements they have.
He embraces Lee and even chokes up a little, because
this is his son, dammit, and their argument can be settled
some other time. Same with Kara: yes, she disobeyed
him, but he loves her and at that moment he's only glad
to see her alive. Courts-martial can wait.
What did Sharon mean by "we know
more about your religion than you do?" Do they
have access to older literature, or are these more "revelations"
from the Cylon god?
I commented earlier that Six's clothing
coverage might be reflective of her tactics or her plan
at any given moment -- she dressed more conservatively
on Kobol because she was championing motherhood, and
at that point Baltar was in no condition to be seduced
by flimsy dresses. If she was completely naked, was
she revealing something crucial, or making herself vulnerable?
The Starbuck Look was definitely a costume to distract
and rattle Baltar while getting his attention at the
same time. (and kudos to Makeup and Wardrobe for such
a frighteningly good job. I did a real double-take;
for a moment I thought Six had actually changed faces!
Kudos also to Helfer, who mimicked Sackhoff's delivery
and mannerisms beautifully.) He announces that Six (the
Siren) is no longer his fantasy woman, but brings up
Kara again, so Six changes to look like Kara until he
rejects the idea that the Kara-Six image represents.
When she shows up as the Siren again, he's ready to
re-accept the message which goes with that look, and
so she reclaims her position as his ideal.
She's still rampaging with doubletalk,
though. I'm a woman, I'm a Cylon, I'm a chip in your
head, I'm your psychotic guilt manifesting itself, I'm
a guardian angel. No wonder Baltar is trying to chuck
it all and walk away. I hardly believe anything she
says any more. I'm still thinking he has an implant.
She deliberately encouraged him to get a brain
scan. What if the chip is somewhere else?
Speaking of other sleeper or hidden agents,
note that Billy was the only one to be whisked to Starhenge
who had no comment, no purpose, and nothing to contribute.
When the Cylons find out about the route to Earth, as
they inevitably will, will it be because Billy is a
Cylon and told the groupmind? Roslin was happy to take
him back, even though he didn't support her mission
to Kobol. (The actor wasn't available for a few weeks;
it wasn't just plot-related.) That allows him to hear
(and pass on) all manner of secrets again.
Nice flapping cheeks on Adama and Billy
as the Raptor goes through the atmosphere...but why
didn't Roslin's group hear the sonic boom? When the
rescue teams came down for Chief's survivors, there
were two booms for the two ships.
Clear symbolism to Roslin's group settling
down for the night: Lee and Kara, Helo and Sharon, Zarek
and Goon, Roslin by herself with the Scriptures. (The
extra Goon was on guard duty.) No doubts about whose
loyalty lies with whom in this batch.
Lee makes a good point to Kara: "Sharon
was a friend of yours too." Almost anyone could
be a Cylon, a traitor, a murderer waiting to strike.
That's what's so insidious about the humanoid Cylons.
Their very existence creates paranoia, because until
someone declares him- or herself as a Cylon,
you don't really know if s/he is or not. Not even being
in the credits is proof against that. Hell, I'm doing
the same thing here in my commentaries, wondering who
could be a hidden agent!
Once again, the Cylon provides an opening
for intelligence gathering, and once again, the least
intelligent Colonial whiffs the ball. Pregnant Sharon
wasn't the one on Galactica, but she "remembers"
everything Galactica Sharon did. So, how? How
much? Does she remember shooting Adama? Does she remember
dying? She clearly remembers Chief -- she whispers "I've
got to see you" -- and so, we presume, some of
their pre-genocide romance. Helo just doesn't want to
look that closely, or he'll have to face being in love
with a toaster, and I don't think he can handle the
absolute truth of that.
I was glad to hear that Roslin was being
literal when she said she couldn't think about Caprica
"right now." She did bring it to Adama promptly,
even before getting off Kobol. She was not blowing Kara
off. (Does that mean another trip back? Are we
ever going to move on from this stinkin' system already?)
Even though Baltar claims that he's tired
of Six's games and secrets, he says "god has a
plan for me." So does he, in fact, actually believe
in the Cylons' god? He did believe Six after all? Is
he just so egomaniacal that he'll follow whatever dogma
offers him the most personal glory?
While I don't demand that everything always
be spelled out, I was disappointed that we didn't get
a little more of the conversation between Roslin and
Adama settling the issues of mutiny, betrayal, sedition,
arrest, military coup, martial law, and dissolving the
government. He forgave her, but did she forgive him?
What did they tell the public? Are Lee and Kara facing
any punishments?
I know it's for the suspense of the audience,
but this "Trust me, Helo" crap is getting
old. If Sharon wants to be trusted, she's got to stop
being mysterious. What purpose did it serve for Helo
not to know what was going to happen? Is he really so
stupid that Sharon thought he would tear off and shoot
Zarek's goons before they revealed themselves? And why
did she deliberately use the same stance as Galactica
Sharon? That's not attention-getting, that's asking
to be shot. Was she trying to cancel out what the other
Sharon did by mimicking her actions but ending the standoff
the other way? Does anyone besides Helo really believe
that she has no ulterior motives or no possible anti-human
programming?
And Sharon whines that the humans think
she's "not a person." Well, her species started
as machines, they still behave a lot like drones, at
least 1/12th of their breeds look like machines
-- what does she expect? If the Cylons wanted to be
treated as equal, sentient beings, genocide was not
the best opening approach. I think she's using this
as a ploy to keep Helo on the hook.
Zarek's back to walking the line again.
His goon was much too eager to commit a political assassination;
I'm getting the feeling that while Zarek isn't loathe
to use violence, he does think of it as a lesser resort:
"Getting blood on your hands is a lot harder than
washing it off." He prefers to work either within
the system or to overthrow the system by voice, not
force. He is a revolutionary in a more literal sense.
Winning people's hearts and minds -- making converts
who choose to walk with you -- is more powerful, and
more lasting, than terrorizing people into following
you.
Any symbolism to the idea that the Archer,
Sagittarius, needed the Arrow to display Starhenge,
and the Sagittarons are Zarek's rebels?
I thought the sundry constellations of
our zodiac are available only during specific times
of the year, which led to the dates being associated
with the signs. I guess Starhenge was completely representative?
Certainly those constellations in the sky were as artificial
as fireworks.
So martial law has been officially lifted,
right? It'd be nice to hear the words....
SCI-FI has every right to be proud of
their original series like BSG2K and the Stargates.
The movies of the week, though, leave several IQ points
to be desired. Mansquito? Pterodactyl?
Giant sentient eels? Homicidal nanobots? Surely they
could acquire the rights to more series if they really
needed to fill the holes in the schedule...
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