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After a long wait, an ultimately satisfying
restart to the complex story, opening new avenues of
questions and laying down some surprising character
work. I continue to wonder: since Moore & Co. can't leave the
show here on New Caprica, how is everyone going to
cope when they finally get back to the ships and get
on with their lives, on the trek to find Earth?
I should point out that I have not seen
the webisodes, the set of ten three-minute shorts which
were (still are, I assume) available on scifi.com for
American audiences. It sort of annoyed me that I would
be forced to go online to watch part of a, you know, television show,
so my comments will be uninformed by any of that backstory.
New teaser credits; I'd wondered. I believe
it's the same text over new imagery. Slightly altered
main credits as well, although they're still doing
the damn spoiler stuff IN the credits. Which is why
we always ffwd through them.
Ah, poor Lady MacTigh. Like everyone
else, she's forced to put her talents to a use she
hadn't quite intended when they came down to this benighted
planet. But ya make do with with whacha got, I suppose.
She's trying to keep Tigh alive and safe, and despite
the
poor judgment, she
does mean well. Speaking of Tigh, wombat61 asks, did
Brother Cy release Tigh so he (either directly or through
Lady
MacTigh)
could lead them to the insurgency? Did he deliberately
torture
Tigh
to
escalate
his rebellion
so his attacks on the Cylons would be correspondingly
violent, thus justifying the crackdown and executions
which the Cys wanted anyway? Similarly, did Brother
Cy order Cally rounded up to flush out Tyrol, to punish
Tyrol, or because he
thinks she's an insurgent leader herself?
So the Brother Cy models are the "priests" --
I put that in quotes because the characters repeatedly
do; they're somehow atheistic about the very god they're
preaching about -- but are also the most bloodthirsty,
lecherous, and facistic. They're the extremists, of
every trait. Does that seem odd to the other Cylons?
Do they have any Borg impulses, to make themselves "perfect" or
without flaw, or have they decided (maybe the Sixes
have) that the "next generation" will be
the perfect ones, so it's okay if they have a model
whose clones are a bit whacked? It's creepy to hear
the "priest" talk about "using any means
necessary" to bring god to the heathen humans
and "fear is a key article of faith, as I understand
it."
Was Roslin somehow praying in Braille?
She was running her fingers over calligraphied text
but then whispering with her eyes closed. I'm not thrilled
to see she kept the religious angle, but I suppose
it makes sense for the character -- for her, those
visions were not merely convenient plot contrivances,
but have now truly become a part of her, in a celebratory
way. Moore & Co. are good for the continuity,
at least.
Kara is living in some kind of apartment
building where Buckin' Leoben has her locked up, but
the layout (the open stairs descending into the room)
is exactly like the ones we saw on actual Caprica.
Why would the Cylons build a brand-new building to
look precisely like the old apartment buildings just
for Kara?
(and
other prisoners, I would imagine.) The Colonials sure
didn't build it if they're still living in tents and
huts.
I think the Brother Cy who tortures Tigh
and the other prisoners is just opportunistically sadistic;
he saw the marks and knew what they were, and just
threw in that line about messing up his calendar to
upset Tigh.
Kara's plan to murder Buckin' Leoben
with the fork was nicely done. She eats her meal with
great relish, so to speak, but then just...sits there.
And then we realize that she can't leave, and Buckin'
Leoben is just going to download into another body
and return.
(If that was the case, why didn't she kill him again
with the knife? Why not just keep whacking him?) Although
when Rebel Six downloaded into a new body, she and
Threena both commented that they felt clumsy trying
to adjust. Why doesn't Buckin' Leoben seem the least
fazed by having to regenerate nearly half a dozen times
in four months?
While Roslin's diary was a useful narrative
tool to catch the viewers up on the last four months
of show time, if the Cylons are essentially running
the place like Nazi Germany, complete with the jackbooted
SS, wouldn't she worry about her comments being found?
If people are being rounded up and arrested and detained
and disappeared for no reason, wouldn't she be concerned
about actually having a reason?
Roslin repeatedly talks about "the
city." Do all surviving 37,000-odd people live
in just that small area? In a year they hadn't spread
out and tried to find their own land? Even Baltar at
his most depraved -- remember, he was talking about
rounding up union leaders and holding them in detention
indefinitely -- didn't appear to be sealing city borders
and preventing people from leaving, or from going back
up to the ships. There was misery, but there was freedom
of movement and communications.
We're still only seeing the seven humanoid
Cylons we know, and the bulletheads. I know Moore can't
tip his hand (and likely hasn't decided on the identity
of the other models yet), but it's just too strange
to know we're only seeing half the population represented
here.
Cy's sneering, and Threena's dismissal
of the War Heroes' requests, show that the Great Plan
which they had originally come up with to live peacefully
with the humans isn't working. What was it? Why did "the
majority of Cylon" at first agree to go along
with them? If it's not working, why don't they leave?
Why don't the Cys and Threenas override the others
and just kill all the humans? (I know, I know, short
show.) Are the ones who argue in Baltar's office some
kind of high council? (Then why have several Sixes
and Dorals and Cys?) The two War Heroes still carry some clout
-- up until one of the Dorals plugs poor Rebel Six
-- so where did that support come from? Once again,
is there some level of groupmind connecting all the
Cylons,
or all the iterations of one model?
Threena asks Rebel Six if Baltar's love
is "worth losing all of this." Losing? How
are they losing? They have the humans pinned down and
suffering. They can execute nearly the whole race in
a few days if they put their minds to it. And for that
matter, what, exactly, are they in danger of losing?
I can't even think of a rhetorical example. They're
completely in control of the situation beyond some
minor bombings. What is at risk for them?
So in four months, do Rebel Six and Baltar
have a moment to talk? I assume from his expressions
and her defense of him that he knows who she is, or
was. Have they reconnected? (I mean emotionally, but
hey, physically too.) And let's take a moment for another
tip of the hat to Tricia Helfer, who gives Rebel Six
a subtle but unmistakable edge of vulnerability and
passion, so you know exactly who we're looking at no
matter how many Sixes are in the room. (The ultra-platinum
hair doesn't hurt either...)
I find it ridiculous that the insurgents
don't immediately realize that Gaeta is their inside
man. He was on Adama's bridge, and he's Baltar's primary
lackey. Who else would have access to such important
information and could be disposed to help them? (And
no, I don't think for a nanosecond that it could ever
have been Baltar; it's simply not in his nature to
behave in such a consistently secretive fashion or
to do something altruistic which could get him killed.
He would never risk his own neck like that.)
I was a bit surprised at Cally's sad
stoicism when Tyrol goes out on his dangerous runs,
but they've had a year under Weaseltar and four months
under the Cylons. She knows what her husband does and
what he's capable of, and she's not the hysterical
type.
Yes, Jamie Bamber is wearing a fat suit
and lopsided latex bloat on his face; in recent promo
shots he's normal-sized. Unless those Entertainment
Weekly shots were taken last year and poor Bamber
has gone totally Method over the summer to match the
fat suit he wore in March, it's not real. And the guy
on the phone was a body double (thanks to wombat61
for pointing that out). Although I would like to know
how on limited rations and nearly unlimited time to
exercise in the ship's gym a man can get that
fat. (and everyone really kept harping on him about
it! jeez, next thing you know Cottle will be rasping
about heart disease and diabetes.)
Adama is absolutely right, as Admiral,
to chastise Lee's command performance. Even if Lee's
beefs are legitimate -- which I don't think they really
are -- Adama's logic trumps that. They must get the
pilots back up to war footing to cope with the rescue,
and that means training in damned hard conditions.
While we haven't seen their interactions over the last
four months, Lee doesn't come at this like someone
who's patiently put up with increasingly difficult
orders and has finally had enough, which would be a
scenario where he'd be in the right. He's still in
a less-urgent frame of thinking, which Adama can't
afford.
The insurgent suicide bombings are a
hard thing to swallow, as Moore intends. If we're looking
at humans resisting Cylons, or the occupied resisting
Nazis, we mourn and cheer on the desperate martyrs.
But much of BSG2K is a reflection of current events,
and (while I generally don't bring current politics
or news into my commentaries) at the moment, U.S. troops
are facing Iraqi suicide bombers who target our occupying
forces. Those fall into the Bad category. Glen Larson's
Classic BSG had Mormon influences but established a
pantheon of The Lords of Kobol, and Moore kept that
and added monotheistic fundamentalist Cylons, turning
our Western identification with monotheistic religions
on its head. So we have a precedent of cross-loyalties,
and this is another layer. Is Tigh right to authorize
suicide bombings? It does frighten the Cylon leadership
and it will get their attention to allow Adama's reinforcements
to come in. But civilians do die. The secret police
grads, one might argue, had become The Enemy by joining
the Cylon side of the debate, but Tigh's next aim was
a marketplace, which is a purely soft target. How could
he afford to start killing off his own base? Roslin
stays true to her nature and decides not to support
the idea actively, but stays true to her political
nature also and doesn't take steps to stop Tigh from
continuing them either when she hears his reasoning.
So Sharon has found her inner peace.
Or appears to have, at any rate. She's back being Adama's
counsel, surprisingly for both of them. And we later
learn Adama has permitted her to marry Helo, and if
I'm seeing the set correctly, her conversation with
Adama -- the couch, the table, the lights, the coffee
-- is in her personal cell! A year is a long time.
And since the settlers have, well, settled, it is sort
of stupid to treat her as a prisoner. Either kill her
or trust her, but locking her up doesn't accomplish
much. If she's willing to be cooperative, they might
as well work with her.
Now, I wonder: it's been over a year,
and if she's been given lots of cozy amenities and
has married Helo, one imagines they have conjugal privileges.
Why isn't she pregnant again?
So Lee and Dee are married. Bleah. How
boring.
Lee is a soldier who needs a war? As
in, he can't be a soldier without a war? Or he's a
soldier deep down, and needs a war to be his best?
I had always seen him as doing poorly at the military,
and working hard to overcome his weaknesses and many
moral reservations.
Does Baltar have some hope that Roslin
will help get him out this hell he's created? He seems
to be treating her as a potential source, as a possible
ally. Or is that just his political nature never
to reveal his real feelings unless directly threatened?
Jammer used to be part of Tyrol's deck
crew, and now he's an SS officer sending one of his
own crewmates to her death. He's another one just trying
his best to make sense of the
mess
he's in. He clearly feels terrible about what happened
to Cally. But Tyrol doesn't give him an opening; he's
too fired up with anger and rebellion to take Jammer's
hint about how some of the SS might be "in over
their heads."
Okay, let's discuss this kid. First off,
no, she's not Kara's. Kara was kidnapped in "The
Farm," which was the middle of S2. Let's say
in round numbers it was six months since the Cylon
attack. Assuming the fertilization was immediate (which
seems highly unlikely given that the Cylons seem to
have had one success, period, which somehow
involved the emotions of the people involved), nine
months after
that would be six months into the Colonials'
first year on New Caprica, which would be about ten
months from this episode. Kacey looks to be about two,
two and a half. Babies learn to walk between nine and
twelve months, and that kid was running, jumping, dancing,
and playing. The ONLY possible way Kacey could be Kara's
genetic child would be for her to have been born during
or before the miniseries.
Dismissing that. Genetics does not make
family, and family does not make genetics. We can be
family to those who don't share our blood, or who share
it to lesser degree. Presenting a child who is your
genetic offspring does not immediately inspire an undying
bond of parental infatuation. (and not for anything,
I'd have demanded a DNA test. she's supposed to believe
that lying SOB? whose particular model Roslin warned
her about?) Buckin' Leoben was wrong to have assumed
that telling Kara Kacey was hers would automatically
win her affections for the child, and Moore was wrong
to write Kara beginning to behave that way (unless
it's a really elaborate ruse, which is possible, but
Kara is impetuous and transparent, and that would be
a long and sophisticated plot to pull off).
Separate from that, one can be affectionate
and care for a child who isn't one's own, and cheerfully
hand her back at the end of the day. Kara isn't mature
enough to think of it, but she easily could have played
with the kid, fed her, and handed her off to Buckin'
Leoben with no concern or attachment. Parenthood isn't
Pottery Barn; just because you burp it you don't have
to buy it.
So, is Kara playing Buckin' Leoben? They
are in a hospital setting, no longer in the apartment,
so is she doing this as a ploy to get her freedom?
Or is she starting to get Stockholm syndrome?
Is Adama right to take the final step
in trusting Sharon Agathon, and allowing her to join
the fleet and become a person rather than a prisoner?
He's apparently decided that his resources are slim
enough that a questionable ally is better than none.
And she must have worked at convincing him over 16
months. It's not a bad plan, so far as it goes if she's
trustworthy, because she is the only one who would
walk in among the other Cylons and not be detected
as a Colonial. (Other than Boomer, of course, but the
Colonials don't know about her resurrection yet. What
happens if Sharon meets Boomer? We have no hint that
they know one another. And will Sharon reconnect to
the groupmind if she returns to the proximity of other
Cylons?)
I like that Adama can be both commander
and father to Lee, and either one or the other as the
moment demands. Even when Lee is hopping mad, even
when he's desperate and afraid, their bond doesn't
break. And I think they both have a point. Lee is right
that the two thousand civilians left are the "safe
bet" and need to be protected, but while there
was never a chance to save many people after the attack,
there is a chance for Adama to do something
for the people clustered together on New Caprica. It
was hard enough to leave people behind the first time
-- uncounted innocents that he would never know --
and these are his friends, his soldiers, his staff,
his family. He can't do it a second time. Dividing
the battlestars and having Lee keep the rear guard
against a catastrophic loss is the most moral choice.
As dense as the show is, and as long
as it goes between seasons, I occasionally forget character
detail. Jammer appeals to Boomer to help Cally, and
my first thought is simply that they're all friends
together. Boomer goes into the cell where Cally is,
and Cally snarls at her, and I suddenly remember that
she's the personality Cally shot for shooting Adama.
Then Boomer says she's happy for Cally and Tyrol, and
I remember farther back that Tyrol had a relationship
with Boomer in the beginning! So much history in so
few
exchanged words.
Baltar actually has one moment of power
when the Doral has the gun to his head. At the moment,
the Cylons are choosing to play by the rules, and they
feel they must have his signature to validate the executions.
If he refuses, and they kill him, they have to go about
the bother of installing another president, who would
be an unknown quantity. They do need him to some extent
yet. Obviously, given his craven nature, he's not going
to take that kind of stand, but in a way it's a pity
he doesn't see that he has that sliver of an edge over
them. Until they decide to stop playing nicely, of
course.
Okay, Rebel Six is shot and Ghost Six
appears instantly on her cooling heels. We have no
way of knowing, of course, but we presume she hasn't
appeared since she murmured "Judgment day" in
the finale. I have no idea what it means.
Sharon speaks of "betraying my people." We
believe she means the Cylons -- which means she still
thinks of them as her people. And she says to Helo
that she will not betray the fleet and the Colonial
uniform. Interesting. Will we the audience ever be
able to take Adama's leap of faith? (I think not; Moore
wouldn't want us to be bored. Or we'll find out as
she dies.)
I can't fault Lady MacTigh for the sentiment,
but she is the wife of a soldier and an officer, and
should know better than to thwart his plans and orders.
She should know better than to place his personal well-being
above that of the species. In the heat of battle one
can act with the heart rather than the head and pull
someone to safety rather than let them die to hold
a bridge or whatever, but she knew the consequences
of what she was doing. This is more than servicing
a Cy to keep Tigh out of prison; it's sentencing others
to death.
Aha, I was wondering if Zarek would show
up. (and she called him "Mr. Vice President!" That
clears up that mystery, for what it's worth.) He says
he refused to collaborate with the Cylons, which is
quite in character, and has been in detention ever
since. When this is all over, I might be able to see
Roslin making a wary peace with him, especially if
Baltar is spirited off by an iteration of Six and doesn't
return to the fleet.
I keep forgetting that Sharon and Mr.
Underwear Model knew each other...
We know Roslin and Zarek won't die in
that barrage, but how many of that group will? And
will the survivors go hide in the hills and keep up
the fight from there? or bump into Sharon's group and
get back to Galactica?
Recycled Trek Actor Checklist: Rick
Worthy, who plays the Simons, was one of the Xindi-Sloths,
as well as Noah Lessing (one of the Equinox crew)
on VOY. I knew the actor name; I just couldn't place
the face.
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