Gooby Rastor, encouraged
by finishing the other review, finally catches up and
reviews Episode 4.06, a week late.
Wow, after last week's episode seemed determined to drag
plotlines, kicking and screaming, as far as they could in
~40 minutes of television (to mixed effect),
Battlestar Galactica really seemed content to let their
storylines float along a bit in "Escape Velocity," which
winds up being rather inaptly named.Not
that stuff wasn't happening, but it kind of felt like an
athlete running in place, and jumping rope, in preparation
(one hopes) for running the mile.Since
there's a little bit of movement in so many places, let's
just hop in and I'll try to keep the review from getting
too disjointed.
The Final Four, sans Anders, were up to a lot, this episode,
weren't they?We had to know that there
was going to be some fallout from Cally's death, and we get
to watch the (soon to be ex-) Chief beginning to lose it.And you know what?It works.Tyrol's irrational behavior
works for me in a way that Kara's doesn't this season.While
Tyrol lashes out and gets
himself thrown off the hanger deck by Adama, his motivation
is always crystal clear.The man's
hurting from a number of sources, including his wife and
Boomer (who knew he was carrying a torch?), the discovery of
his nature and the questions as to what happened with
Racetrack's Raptor.Was it just stress
that made him leave that relay in?Is
this how things started with
Sharon, too?All of this is conveyed with tremendous force by
Aaron Douglas.As an actor, he seems to
be getting the most mileage out of being a Final Five Cylon
of any of them, which is a compliment to
Douglas, not a slam on the
other actors.Though I should mention
that this quality is nothing new for Mr. Douglas.One of the things which the show has constantly been
able to rely on, is that it can put Chief Tyrol into a dark
place, and Aaron Douglas will chew up the scenery with it,
in a very good way.From what I
understand, he's a very "in the moment" kind of actor too,
which seems to serve him well.Bravo to
Douglas.
He's one of the supporting characters whom I hope this show
catapults to great fame and fortune; he deserves it.I could go on about all the ways I enjoy the Chief's
grief arc, but... oh all right, just a little bit.I loved it when Tyrol screamed at Adama, who honestly
has never treated
Tyrol all that well, I don't
know why.Chief's mention of Bill's
promise to take Cally and shoot her if
Tyrol and his men didn't
resume work (in "Dirty Hands"), was a welcome callback.Really, whether you agree with Adama's actions or
not, how does he think he can have a sympathetic chat with
the man after that?Though of course
Adama had to get Tyrol off of his hanger deck, and there's
no way he could have known all the inner turmoil of the man,
it did seem awfully presumptuous, the way he seemed
unwilling to let Tyrol grieve in his own way (despite his
opening line that "no one knows how they're going to react).When a man's wife has died, you let him say whatever
he wants to, you don't try to shut him up.Clean up the mess later."I'm
sorry if I'm not going to do this the way you want me to, or
the way you might."You tell him, Chief,
she was your wife.
Meanwhile, with Tigh's
scenes, we get a possible answer to a nitpick I had from the
season opener.Now that Saul is
hallucinating about dead Ellen, it becomes more possible, to
my mind, that he's engaging in a bit of toaster-style
projection.If that's the case, I'm
willing to forgive the lapse of documentary-style shooting
when Tigh dream-shot Adama in HTBiM.
Tyrol, too, seems to have been engaging in the same, when we
heard Adama casually mentioning
Tyrol's Cylon nature.Also of note, moving back to Tigh, is that he does
mention to Caprica that Hera is on board, so we KNOW that
the show hasn't completely... no, no, Gooby.You had your Hera rant last episode, and this time
they at least mentioned her.Stay on
topic.
Right, sorry.Tigh and his Six scenes.
Obviously, Tigh sees an opportunity in being a Cylon, just
different from the one Tory sees.Tigh's
got a hunch that being a toaster means that pain has now
become optional, if only Caprica can teach him the trick.Of course, this is also the time when Ellen's ghost
shows up to haunt Saul, spurring him on that much more.Ironic too, though not exactly out of character, that
the first tactic which the Six tries to help(?) Tigh is
beating him bloody.As an aside, I really
like that they have Tricia Helfer showing Six's glee at pummeling someone again.That model
really likes doing that, ya know?It's
not a lot that we get with these scenes between Cylons, but
they do seem to indicate where the character is headed, and
that's good.
Tory continues to have a
character-establishment arc, involving such notions as her
supplying Baltar's notion of being "perfect just the way we
are," adopting the charming idea of turning off her sense of
guilt, and possibly coordinating the attack on Baltar's cult
with the Sons of Ares.All right, I'll
admit that the last point is me extrapolating a bit, but
what gave with her staring down Gaius after the thugs left?So we also see where she's heading, but we knew that
last week.
Baltar, on the other
hand, I don't know where they're going with. I'll admit
however that right now, the Baltar storyline is the one that
intrigues me most about this show, perhaps because
I don't know where it's going, yet I feel certain that it's
going to go somewhere.This episode
wasn't just treading water with Gaius, either.At least, not as much as with the other plots.He rants à la Jesus in the
Temple, and give a
sermon which is sort of the opposite of Christian thinking,
regarding how we're all flawed creatures in need of God's
grace.Hm, if only there were a term
which described a Christ-like figure, only the opposite
thereof.Ah well.
Anyway, Baltar's
situation also gives us a glimpse into the incremental
movement of the political plot, where Lee and the quorum
refuse to roll over for Roslin, despite her invoking the
memory of nine-elev—New Caprica, I mean.
There's some notes of the current U.S. political situation;
with Roslin scoffing at the naïveté of the young idealistic
Lee Obama, but the pace of this storyline is still more
C-SPAN than anything else, and I don't know that I see it
changing anytime soon.
So let's take a quick
step back to a storyline that, as mentioned, seems full of
steam.Virtual Six continues to build up
Gaius' image to her own opaque ends, even lifting the poor
guy up and back into the tender mercies of an unsympathetic
soldier.If there's a Cylon on the show
who still seems to have a Plan, it's the devil in the blue
dress.The writers have promised us
answers to what exactly is up with Six, and at least she
seems to be a pretty integral part of the story this year.Virtual Baltar on the other hand, still goes woefully
underused.I'm starting to think that the
writers didn't really think through exactly how to use that
character, and just decided to stick him in wherever they
thought it would look cool... and that's a bleeding shame,
because when they first introduced him in "Downloaded," yes
it was cool, but it also seemed to enjoy a symmetry with
Virtual Six's actions.I'm pretty
surprised that the writers seem to have some block regarding
this character, but I don't know how else to explain his
disjointed, random appearances on the show.
And now the words I've
been waiting to type all season:
Starbuck wasn't in this
episode.
Okay, okay, we saw her
sleeping briefly.But no Crazy Kara to
distract us tonight.I never would've
thought it, but I needed a break from the girl.On the same note, nothing on the Cylon front to
report, but it looks like Leoben next week, so... that might
just have something to do with Kara.
Yippee.
Oh, and?That shot of Racetrack's Raptor taking off from the
Galactica was pretty good-looking; and the
crash was intense, though I didn't care for the way both she
and Skulls got off injury-free.It wasn't
utterly implausible, but it was a little... they did explode
a couple of times after all.(I didn't
really know where to put these observations.Sore Thumb Zone it is!)
"Escape Velocity" is a
bit of a step up from "The Ties That Bind," in that the show
gives us fewer WTF? moments, but then, it also seems to be
an episode content to tread water.(If
this were Top Chef, this episode would be taken to task at
Judge's Table for not cooking to win, but rather cooking not
to lose).Thankfully,
Tyrol's scenes were winners,
and while Baltar's were fairly safe and predictable, they do
keep me wanting to see more.I can't go
all the way up to 8/10, but I'll have fun with decimals,
instead.
7.7/10
"C.Shows improvement, but still not up to usual quality.I know you can do better, young lady."
Galactica Station's Review of The Road Less Travelled
Well folks, from the looks of it, we are about
to be thrown into the action of Season 4. "The Road Less
Traveled" focused solely on the Demetrius and Baltar
storylines, and although the focus made it seem slower in
terms of pushing the story forward, it appeared to be
preparing us for the season ahead. The episode was chock full
of emotion and was very effective in displaying the reactions
of every character featured. And as always, it left us with
more questions than it answered.
Let's begin with Baltar. As Season 4 began, we watched Baltar
rattle around uncomfortably, trying to figure out if he was
safe and if he had to remain with his lovely ladies for much
longer. It seems that Baltar has always wanted two things:
fame and belonging. Before the genocide of the Humans on the
twelve colonies, Baltar was a famous, powerful, coveted
scientist. After escaping the genocide, he was often portrayed
as the guilt-ridden loser who muddled into positions that made
things worse for the fleet. He continued this way until after
the trial in Season 3, when he was spirited away by the
mysterious women. This is classic Baltar. He stumbles into
dumb luck and follows whatever path is open to him.
By the current episode, we see Baltar fully stepping into his
role as a religious leader and I find myself wondering "Does
he really believe what he is saying? Is it possible that he
has transformed and is doing what he believes in, or is this
just another way for him to seize fame, glory, and belonging?
Baltar has been through a lot and has survived it all. He
could be realizing, just as he said in his speech, that "someone" out there loves him. But what persuades him that it
is Six's "One True God" who is seeing him through all of his
escapades? How does he know that the twelve colonial Gods do
not exist? Is the Six in his head that infallible? It also
baffles me as to why Baltar no longer questions his visions of
the Six in his head (off topic I know). More disturbingly, he
seems to have adjusted to seeing himself! Come on Baltar, do
you really think that's normal? Or are you just that special?
Sure beats me.
While we're on the subject of Gaius Baltar, I have got to
mention his new wardrobe. Ladies and Gentlemen, Baltar imposes
no limits on "dressing the part." This week, he's all decked
out in a long, dark, purple robe with gold trim that appears
to be made of velvet. When we first see him, he is wearing a
bright blue shirt underneath the robe, making the costume even
stranger. I think he should go back to the slacks and collared
shirts.
Enough about Baltar's outfit, let's talk about Tyrol. The
depth of the emotion exhibited by Tyrol in the episode is
absolutely stunning. Tyrol, recently demoted to specialist for
provoking Admiral Adama, appears to be feeling the full force
of his wife's death. He floats through the episode in a sort
of dazed state, but we can see that he is consumed with guilt
and the need to understand what had happened to Cally. When we
first see him, Tyrol is jumping rope rather determinedly in
his chamber. Nicky is behind him in his crib, and they are
listening to Baltar speech on the radio. Tyrol stops jumping
and cuts off the radio, only to receive a squeal of protest
from his young son. Tyrol turns the radio back on and
continues to jump, almost as if he would like to be left to
his own thoughts. I was really hoping we would get to see a
Nicky/Tyrol moment. Coupled with the fact that Nicky has just
lost his mother and is probably too young to process it, it
would have given us a glimpse of fatherhood according to Galen
Tyrol. Perhaps Tyrol is too distraught to reach out to his son
right now.
Later on, Tyrol interacts with Tory at the site of Cally's
death and he confides that he does not believe Cally would
have killed herself. Tory takes the opportunity to manipulate
Tyrol's fears and cover her own tracks – is that chick creepy
or what? It's open to interpretation I suppose, but you can
guess my feelings. Tory isn't the only FF Tyrol talks to. In a
scene that captures the depth of anger felt by Tyrol, Tyrol
tells Tigh that he can't forget things he's done as quickly as Tigh can. Tyrol then challenges Tigh on his spending time with
Caprica Six. Ouch, you do hit hard when you're hurt, don't
you, Tyrol? On one hand, this is not something Tyrol would
have said to Tigh under normal circumstances. However, he's
right; things have changed for all of them and no one is who
they used to be, including Colonel Tigh.
Later, Baltar comes to speak to Tyrol and something causes
Tyrol to accept his hand. Perhaps this isn't so surprising
when one considers that no one else has been shown to offer
plain sympathy to Tyrol. His employees need him at work, Adama
is done with him, and Tigh and Tory want him to start moving
past Cally's death. Baltar however, has nothing visible to
gain from Tyrol "feeling better" and maybe something about
that gets to Tyrol. However, Baltar reaching out to Tyrol is
something I can't explain. What motivates Baltar? There's no
love lost there.
On to Starbuck and the Demetrius. As the show opens, Helo
walks in to find Starbuck immersed in papers. He tells her
that he wishes to talk about their scheduled rendezvous with
the Galactica, but Starbuck insists on another course change
instead. When Helo returns to convey the directions to the
rest of the crew, they are extremely unhappy. I, for one, was
very pleased with how the Demetrius story was set-up and
executed. You have a person under suspicion by everyone around
her (Starbuck) who is being given one last chance by those who
desperately want to believe her (Adama and Helo) but is given
this chance to prove herself with a crew of people who could
not distrust her more. And why should they? They've watched
their families and friends die at the hands of the Cylons. So,
they see Starbuck, once a hero of the fleet, who mysteriously
"died" and returned and assume that she must be a cylon. Then,
they are put on a ship with her away from the fleet and
Galactica to follow (what they must think of as) her crazy
visions. Is it any wonder that they are jumpy? Starbuck is
either oblivious to or disinterested in her crew's feelings –
probably both. She is too absorbed in her maps and charts to
care; after all she has to find Earth, and it is this uncaring
attitude that lands her in chains at the end of the episode.
Leoben is a rare treat on Battlestar Galactica. Every time he
pops up, he manages to frak with the minds of Kara and anyone
else he encounters. They all want to believe he is lying but
his words hold a kernel of truth that makes each character
doubt him/herself. True to form, Leoben does the same on the
Demetrius. When he is first brought in, Starbuck appears ready
to imprison him, but stops when he makes references to Earth.
The next time we see Starbuck and Leoben, they are holding
onto each other and adding to the painting that Starbuck has
begun on her walls. Anders rushes in when he sees them and
begins to pummel Leoben. Starbuck screams at him to stop and
that Leoben knows about Earth. Helo and the guards rush in,
and the guards take Leoben away with Anders following. Helo
says to Kara what I had been thinking. Why was Kara listening
to Leoben after all he had done to her? Kara is convinced that
he can help them and the Cylons know about Earth. Ok, so we
know that Kara is impulsive and crazy, but what exactly did
Leoben say to her? If there's one big problem in this episode,
it's that we have no idea what occurred between Kara and Leoben this time around. I've always been able to place Kara's
actions with what was happening at that moment, but this time,
I've got nothing. Is she so desperate to find Earth that Leoben uttering the simplest detail convinced her of his
sincerity? Did he give her more substantial evidence of his
claim? Kara's relationship with Leoben has always been
inexplicably toxic, but at least we had more to go on in other
episodes. The only thing we know is that Leoben claims that he
received his information from the Hybrid and that he wants
Kara to see the Hybrid. I suppose we will have to wait until
next week. Darn.
Next, Anders confronts Leoben and asks him what he wants from
Kara. Leoben takes the opportunity to play mind games with
Anders. He alludes to the idea that Anders is more than he
appears which unsettles Anders and puts him on guard. Does
Leoben know Anders' secret, or just that Anders has a secret?
How much does Leoben know about the big picture? We don't
know… and he (and the BSG crew) has kept us guessing for 3
years now. Leoben then tells Anders that the Cylon are at war
and the war is between "those who embrace our nature and those
who fear it." This admission is quite interesting. We know the
bit about the war to be true but Anders does not; furthermore Leoben's statement implies that the nature of a Cylon is
destructive, at least from Leoben's standpoint. Is that what
all Cylons believe?
Certainly Athena may agree with Leoben. She has spent the last
few years working so hard to gain acceptance by the fleet and
has even gone so far as to choose humanity over the cylon.
Thus, it is not a shock that Athena is the first one to
suggest mutiny on the Demetrius. The crew argues back and
forth about mutiny, but two things happen that ultimately lead
to a decision. One, Starbuck announces that she's decided to
follow Leoben to his baseship in search of answers. The crew
is alarmed that it could be an ambush and that Kara is
determined to go anyway. Second, Sergeant Mathias is examining
Leoben's raider and is about to return when an explosion kills
her, which angers the crew. These are the catalysts that
ultimately force Helo to listen to the concerns of his crew
and commit mutiny by arresting Starbuck. It's hard to defend
Starbuck. Yes, the leader of a ship should expect to be
obeyed, but Starbuck is flying her own course without regard
to the well-being of her crew or the dictates of those above
her in rank. She brought the mutiny on herself.
In essence, "The Road Less Traveled" is incredibly impressive
in showing consistency between events and characters'
reactions to them. Starbuck is singly devoted to finding Earth
and all her actions are in line with that goal. The crew
distrusts Starbuck for legitimate reasons and moves to commit
mutiny. Helo and Anders are Starbuck's only supporters and Helo only defects when forced to it. Leoben is as devious,
manipulative, and mysterious as ever, Baltar is carrying on
with his newfound path, Tory is creepy as usual, and Tyrol is
full of raw grief and anger.
As said before, I think this episode would have benefited from
more insight into Tyrol/Nicky, Baltar's motivations for
reaching out to Tyrol, and Leoben/Starbuck. Again, I was left
with too many questions and not enough answers, but as
frustrating as that can be, I have to admit that the
uncertainty adds to the magic of BSG. All in all, I'm excited
to see what's in store for us, and I cannot wait to see how
things play out on the next episode.
Overall, I give this episode 8 out of 10. Pretty good, but
could have been better.
Gooby Rastor finally moves his arse to get the
review of episode 4.05 onto the blog.
A quick note:This review has been long-delayed, and I probably ought
to have sourced it out when real life started bludgeoning me
around the head for two weeks.All apologies
for the wait, and I'll try and do better next time. If it makes
a difference, the bulk (nearly all) was written before "Escape
Velocity," so it should be free of the influence of later eps. -Gooby.
Finally, the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica takes a step
back from Starbuck.Not that I don't love our
girl, but jeez, Kara's an antidote for Prozac these days.So in the interests, perhaps, of lightening the mood,
"The Ties That Bind" turns from Kara to... Cally.
Good Lord.Could you all please excuse me for a minute, while I put
on some Sarah McLachlan and cut myself some?
Thanks.Anyway, to the story.Cally is one of those characters whom I've have mixed
feelings about for quite some time.She's
been sort of an odd mix of a tiny, somewhat childish woman
combined with moments of pure rage.And while
it's often easy to sympathize with her and her emotions, just as
frequently, I'm a little freaked out by her.
Not that I wanted to stare into her frozen, asphyxiated corpse
eyes or anything, though.Among the most
freakish moments for Cally, to my mind?When
at the beginning of one two-part episode, she got her head
broken by a man, and by the end of it, she was married to him.I will grant, that the editing of the show, as well as
the Great Leap Forward, certainly had an effect on how creepy it
came off for me; but still, one of my Life Rules has been:"Don't marry someone who breaks your jaw."One nice thing about TTTB (3TB?) is that Cally actually
brings up how nuts it is to do just that.
But doesn't it seem like
just forever since we've seen Cally?I think
the last time I remember seeing her was in "Dirty Hands," right
after... oh that's it, right after she'd been shot out an
airlock.Trend noted.And
Adama threatened to put her against a bulkhead and shoot her.Times have been tough for the girl, yes?Still, there wasn't much of a head's up that things were
this bad, was there?To be quite honest, I
felt a little bit of difficulty getting into this episode's main
plotline, which may have something to do with my ambivalence
towards Cally, or possibly my being thrown off by the surreal
camera-work towards the top of the show.It
seems like BSG is straying more into the land of visual trickery
these days, and I for one wish they'd ease up on it a little
bit.To me, one of the reasons that season
3's Baltar subplot worked (well, to a degree anyway) was that it
was such a stylistic departure for the show, from that gritty
realism thing it does so well and consistently.I don't know; am I wrong about this?
Am I in the minority, wanting BSG to kinda hush up the "fiction"
part of science fiction, and remain a show, essentially
realistic, about hot killer robots who chase us around in our
spaceships when we're not all busy getting messages from our
respective deities?
Gah, where was I?Cally.Okay, so we haven't seen her
for a while, the camera-work is distracting and she was never my favorite character.Still, I certainly had a
level of interest in seeing what the show did with her, now that
we know she brought a toaster to term and all.Obviously, she represents the most significant
complication in the personal lives of the final four (Starbuck
doesn't count, because she and Anders are barely married at this
point, and besides, she takes a back seat this episode,
finally), so naturally we want to see how they use her.For me, I'll admit that the route they chose, using her
to showcase the emerging Cylon nature of one Tory Foster,
surprised me, but in a good way.For all
their uncertainty, the Final Four are Cylons, and it's nice to
know that at least one seems prepared to be a force for ill.They're still the bad guys after all, if only marginally.Tory's speech to Cally in the launch tube struck me as
everything we might expect to hear from a benign Final Five,
right up until she lay the super-powered smack on Cally.Even if I wasn't 100% invested in the path there, I felt
it was a good scene.
But Cally didn't own the
show.Lee's B-plot, I'm pretty sure I'll wind
up liking more than most people, but then, I think I like Lee
more than most people do.The storyline does
provide an interesting perspective on Roslin's government, and
how she's consolidating power.But what of
it? What is the deal with this Executive Order; why does Roslin
want secret tribunals?There's no hint of the
reason, here. If there's a fault in this plot (and there is),
it's that it's unclear where they're going with this.Quo vadis, Lee
Adama?Why should we care that you're now a
politician, and apparently buddying up to the other Apollo?This plot needs to go somewhere, if it's not going to end
up being just a place to stick Lee just because there's no other
place to put him.
Speaking of the crew of
Demetrius, I actually don't mind that goal (finding a place)
with many of these characters, simply because they've had
nothing to do, for so long. In particular, I refer to Helo and
Gaeta.Both are good characters, and each has suffered recently
from the writers not having any clue how to write for them
anymore.For Mr. Gaeta, it meant that an
already tertiary character drifted even more into the
background, while Helo had a new job every other week on board
Galactica.So I'm looking forward to them at
least getting out from the same-old, and hoping this opens there
characters up some more.With them are
Anders—interesting, more about him in a mo', Seelix, Hot Dog,
Barolay, oh hey, that tattooed fellow!Then,
some dude I don't know, and... Athena?WHAT?Okay, now I know they didn't take little Hera off on
their adventure across the stars, so what the frak gives?Does the show even remember that it wrote in a daughter
for these two?A child who, might I add, has
returned to her parents from the dead and from Cylon kidnapping?Where is she?Who's taking care of
her?How in the world would these two have
ever allowed her out of their sight again?
A couple of weeks ago, I
complimented the show on having its characters ask the tough
questions about Kara Thrace's return, and how it meant that we
the audience weren't being expected to take it all on faith
either.But here?No one
is asking the questions, and I think the expectation is that we
won't, either.Well no dice, show.You wanted me to pay attention to that kid, "shape of
things to come" and all, and now I am.And
I'm awfully, terribly sorry that you don't know what to do with
her anymore, but tough.Failure to mention
what her parents have done with her is just plain lazy, whatever
else you're trying to do.
Enough about Hera.Let's concentrate on characters who still exist.Anders' scenes with Kara, whom I'm becoming more
concerned with by the week, were maybe the last gasp of Season 3
Starbuck.You know, the one who looks at Sam,
claps her hands and says "oooh!Something to
hurt!"I realized, watching the scene after, with them talking
in bed, and recalling their scene at the memorial in the season
opener, that I'm losing my empathy for Kara, as well.At least last season, she felt sane, or what insanity she
had was caused by the visceral pain she had undergone.Now?This messianic urge of hers,
which has her holding the President at gunpoint and painting on
the walls, has stolen some of the humanity from Starbuck, and
that's a damn shame, because she was a beautifully human
creature, from the start.Her sense of
purpose, wherever it's coming from, is now causing her to ignore
the needs of the crew under her command, and it's an open
question, how long they'll put up with it.
Starbuck never had a problem bending the rules, of course, but
this seems more like a case of her forgetting that the rules
even exist.She doesn't seem to care about
anything much anymore, other than the chip in her brain zapping
her when she doesn't think about Earth.
But, like I say, she does
spare a moment to demean poor Anders, and rattle of some
identity crisis stuff that he will in no way relate to, so it's
not like she's a total loss yet.We'll just
wait and see what awaits us and this good ship.
The Cylons storyline
continues to... gah, Boomer kissing Al.
Sorry, I love Dean Stockwell, truly I do, but well... I don't
like seeing "gentlemen of a certain age" kissing.Sorry if that makes me shallow.
Anyway, Natalie may have fired the first shot, but Cavil seems
determined to fire the last one, no?And are
we to understand that all the Eights, Sixes, and Leobens (other
than Caprica, Boomer, and Athena) are on the Basestars that were
attacked?I didn't really think that's how Cylon society worked.Maybe this is a small
sub-set of Cylon society, but if that's the case, how can they
decide to "un-box" an entire model?I'm
confused.Normally, a bit of mystery around
the Cylons, I'd call a good thing.But it
just seems like the parameters of this conflict are really
stretching belief.
Well, looking over what I've
written, it seems like I didn't care for this episode all that
much.I feel like I enjoyed the episode
perhaps more than my tone infers, but when I start to think
about the various subplots and what their weaknesses are, the
episode really doesn't hold up that well to close scrutiny.I originally might have given this episode an eight, and
I still don't feel like this episode failed as an essentially
good hour of television, but the problems do add up, and serve
to bump it down, let's say to 7/10.
Ouch, that's a C-.But Battlestar
can do much better.
Just yesterday I posted about the casting announcement for
Amanda Graystone in the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica.
Now comes word that one of the most anticipated characters of
the series has been cast.
Esai Morales, who you may know best as Lt. Rodriquez on NYPD
Blue, or as Major Beck from ill-fated Jericho, has landed the
role of Joseph Adama, father to William, grandfather to Lee.
Joseph is described as "a man who has done a few crooked things
in his life" and is one to be feared. Remember, he knows a thing
or two about the law as well.
In looking back at photos of young Bill Adama from the Razor
vignettes, Nico Cortez, who plays Bill,
could easily pass as Morales's son. I wonder if
we'll be treated at all to some scenes from the future of the
Cylon war, where Cortez can reprise his role.
Paula Malcomson (Deadwood) has been cast as the female lead in
Caprica, SCI FI Channel's prequel to Battlestar Galactica, while
Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly will headline SCI FI's two-hour
pilot for Warehouse 13, a comedic SF drama to be directed by Jace
Alexander.
Malcomson will play Amanda, a surgeon who works as a double agent,
in Caprica, which is set 50 years before the events in Battlestar.
Caprica follows the evolution of the Cylon race and the fight
between two families.
Warehouse centers on two FBI agents, Myka (Kelly) and Peter
(McClintock), who work at the government's Warehouse 13, which
houses supernatural objects. They are assigned to retrieve missing
objects and investigate reports of new ones.
WASHINGTON - Now in the midst of its fourth and final season,
SciFi's "Battlestar Galactica" - a tale of humans nearly destroyed
by a race of machines called Cylons - is as bleak, allegorical, and
groundbreaking as ever. And the stakes seem especially high, as four
humans turn out to be sleeper Cylons, a pilot named Starbuck returns
from the dead, and Admiral Adama, the gruff commander played by
Edward James Olmos, tries more desperately than ever to find a
mythical place called Earth. We caught up with Olmos on the night he
received an award from CINE, an organization that promotes
excellence in video and film.
Q. I'm not sure there's ever been a show on TV that's so
relentlessly dark. Is it bleak on the set?
A. It is. I mean, we really do take it to heart. It is bleak. And it
is getting darker. This last season has gotten to the point where we
end up crying a lot. Emotional breakdowns. It's human drama. And
when you perform in it, you're inside of it. A lot of people are
dead. I'm not going to say who, because why ruin it for people, but
a lot of us die.
Q. This season?
A. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. [Laughs.] Not very many of us are going make
it to wherever it is that they're taking us. So we just mope along.
We open the script just like the viewer. We're all taking the
journey. Not only is it difficult because you lose the person inside
the story, but you also realize that person is no longer going to be
on the set. It's over. Unless they're a Cylon.
Q. That leads me to Starbuck's apparent death . . .
A. Oh, it was so sad. Because they didn't tell us that she was
coming back. I was angry.
Q. You were snookered like everybody else?
A. Of course, I was snookered. All we know is just what we're being
fed. She died, and then she was gone for awhile, and then she came
back. And that was so scary because we have no idea why and how she
came back.
Q. So you as an actor don't know?
A. Well, we've filmed something that started to explain it. And it's
not an uplifting understanding. [Laughs.] I will say that. It's as
dark as everything else. You sit there and you go, "Oh my God, you
guys are sick!" They're pushing the envelope. And the network is
allowing it.
Q. Has there been anything you know of that the network has not
allowed?
A. In the first or second season, the whole idea of suicides was
really tough for them to take. I put it in one of my programs that I
directed. The idea that people aboard ships were committing suicide.
Why wouldn't they? Are you kidding me? Suicide rates would have gone
right through the roof.
Q. Right, because what are they living for? And the living
conditions aren't pleasant.
A. Terrible. Terrible. We're eating green algae. We've been eating
green algae now for almost two years.
Q. And now, it seems that anyone could be a Cylon.
A. We're back to that.
Q. If you know who the final Cylon model is, I'm sure you can't tell
me . . .
A. I don't know, either. And no one knew when [the other four were
revealed.] You should have seen what happened. There was anger. Real
anger. The main one was Michael Hogan [who plays Colonel Tigh.] He
just couldn't get past it. He said, "I didn't sign up for this kind
of stuff." He was so hurt he was a Cylon.
Q. It does pull the rug out -
A. Right from under him. It changes everything. You see the way [the
actors] dealt with it. The confusion, the anger that Colonel Tigh
handles it with is true.
Q. Back to "Star Trek" and probably before, science fiction has had
diverse, expansive casting. Is that because of the nature of the
genre, or the kind of creative people who go into it?
A. I think both. One, the window is open and they allow it. And two,
it's the imagination of the people that are developing it. They
don't get tied down thinking about who would sell this the best.
They say, "This is a reality that I'd like to explore."
