BSG 2.05, The Farm
Aug. 14th, 2005 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThe short version? Galactica B-plot yay, Caprica A-plot hmmmm.
I was never really deep into X-Files fandom, though I did watch, and stopped watching even casually around the sixth season or so. And still I remember the ovaries of doom plot line. This being said, I wasn’t really surprised BSG would go there, not after all that emphasis on the Cylons being after hybrids and the obvious psychological scare value of the breeding facilities idea.
However, the execution requires a greater waving aside of logic than usual. Starting with the Cylons using a nuclear attack if they want to cross breed. Hitting a high, or low point with the “love is needed to procreate” theory. And ending with the “resistance” staying on Caprica. As Laura Roslin pointed out all the way back in the miniseries, the freakin’ war is lost. Nothing to gain on a planet that has been made inhospitable for humans without medication. Whereas they’re needed on Galactica. However, I’m willing to suspend disbelief here as I suspect there will be some shuttles to and thro in later episodes, hence all the set up with Anders; given all the lives lost in recent weeks, those 50 or so survivors will probably come in rather handy in a desperate emergency or the other.
Regarding Kara and Anders: no problem here. No big enthusiasm, either, but Kara’s impulsive, and I can see her falling for someone quickly, especially someone who has no baggage of a backstory with her.
And speaking of backstory: no, I don’t have a problem with the broken fingers. This was set up in season 1, Flesh and Bone, and ties Simon with Leoben. Both get (temporarily) under Kara’s skin by realizing this about her and her mother.
Also, the Mary Sue accusations are unwarranted here. Kara is not superwoman, escaping all on her own and dealing with a quip and a shrug; her horrible situation, and that of the other women, visibly scares her. She uses intelligence and her inner strength and successfully kills (one) Simon, but she’s clearly not up for a physical fight, has difficulty walking, and the Cylons would have recaptured her if the calvary hadn’t arrived.
You know what this episode reminds me of, more than any X-Files thing? The fourth season episode Prayer from Farscape. Which left me with the same dissatisfaction as far as the A-plot with Aeryn (captured by Scarrans, and ending up in, lo and behold, a breeding facility) was concerned – Claudia Black was great, but we didn’t really explore anything new about Aeryn, and “I love Crichton” as the final epiphany was as annoying as “chin up, Anders, I’m coming back for you” was for Kara here. But I loved the B-plot of Prayer which dealt with Scorpius and Crichton, and I did love the B-plot(s) of The Farm.
Firstly, Galactica. After weeks of just showing up to be comatose or enigmatic in dreams, E. Olmos finally gets something to do, and boy, does he come through. Adama, returned from his encounter with death more vulnerable and emotional, was great to watch. His scene with Tyrol and later with dead Galactica!Boomer (another Leoben tie) showed just why the crew has such strong feelings for him; he really does care for them in return, deeply. Adama wondering about the implication of Sharon having been a Cylon – what this means about the Cylons – contrasts with Baltar’s vision of him calmly drowning “the shape of things to come”; I’m very much looking forward to finding out how he’ll react to Caprica!Sharon and her offspring.
I’m not surprised he didn’t reprimand Tigh or change Tigh’s martial law orders; aside from Adama’s feelings about Tigh, he simply can’t afford to in the present situation. Much as he told Tyrol in Litmus, he needs a functioning XO at his side, and one the crew will listen to.
(Though the really smart thing would have been to negotiate with Roslin instead of declaring That Woman a fugitive, but hey. Adama is human.)
Same reason for giving Cally thirty days in the big for murder, I suppose. (On DS9, Garak got a few months for attempted genocide without the excuse of severely limited man and womanpower.) It still irks me somewhat, logic be damned. I mean, I like Cally. But I think murder warrants more than a slap on the wrist.
Meanwhile, poor Tyrol’s life continues to get worse by the minute. Because not only does he have to live with the memory of having loved Sharon and of Sharon loving him, but now Adama has pointed out to him there are lots of ghosts of his dead love around, and we know one is heading towards his direction right now. Tyrol will see Sharon again, indeed, but a Sharon who loves Helo, not him (though presumably she has the memories of Galactica!Boomer having loved Tyrol – not the same thing, though, despite Adama’s “thoughts = love” equation), and a Sharon who always knew she was a Cylon, as opposed to the one he knew. I’m looking forward to seeing this as well, in a masochistic GIVE ME PAIN way.
And naturally, I’ve saved the best for the last. To wit, my beloved Laura Roslin, Lee, and Tom Zarek. Who had only three scenes this week, but those were ever so good. Say what you want, but Zarek is clearly having the time of his life. He can mindmess with Lee and play a complicated game with Roslin, and they’re both ever so much more interesting than the prison gang.
On a less frivolous level: Zarek has a point about the propaganda value Lee’s broadcast would have had. Naturally it’s better for Lee personally that he didn’t go through with it, but it would have been great propaganda, and ensured that even if Adama won this particular confrontation, he’d remain tainted in the eyes of many, so if your end goal is a pure power struggle, it would have been good. If, otoh, you hope for an eventual reconciliation with the military – not so much, but then, does Zarek?
As someone who always said that Laura is a politician foremost and approached her conversion to faith from a practical side – they need to get to Earth, the prophecies appear to come true, therefore, using them makes sense – I was delighted by her “I’m going to play the religious card” and her later “This is not who I am” unease in the blessing scene. I can see how this would be confusing if you take the “Laura has become a religious nut who wants to sent up a theocracy” approach, but then, that was never my interpretation of the character. She has started to believe from Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part I onwards, yes. At the same time, she was constantly aware what a powerful force religion is, and the first episodes have only reaffirmed that to her. The alternatives “either cynical manipulative disbeliever or true believer/fanatic/ayatollah” are wrong and ignore pretty much the history of every major faith on this planet. Laura has come to see religion as something that is true for her, and as something that galvanizes people and enables her to motivate them at the same time. What I don’t think she realized in its full implications until the blessing scene, however, was that she cannot play “the religious card” without assuming a responsibility that goes beyond the fulfilment of the find Earth quest, which was her original motivation. Without becoming a religious icon in a way a political leader should not be.
As Elosha said, though, once you’ve said A, you’ll have to say B, and there is no way she can turn back now, so she has to go forward. And I think this will be where her problems will come from. The tomb of Athena may or may not yield the route to Earth. But people will expect her to give them miracles now, not just the one. They’ll want more. As is the case with all messiahs. And if she can’t provide any more miracles, how long before they scream for her crucification?
Meanwhile? I want Zarek/Roslin, Zarek/Apollo, and Zarek/Roslin/Apollo. Not necessarily in the sexual sense; UST and/or relationship exploration will do nicely. Now that we’ve done with Caprica until Kara makes that return trip, which hopefully won’t be until a few more episodes, can we get an A plot centring on these three, please?
I was never really deep into X-Files fandom, though I did watch, and stopped watching even casually around the sixth season or so. And still I remember the ovaries of doom plot line. This being said, I wasn’t really surprised BSG would go there, not after all that emphasis on the Cylons being after hybrids and the obvious psychological scare value of the breeding facilities idea.
However, the execution requires a greater waving aside of logic than usual. Starting with the Cylons using a nuclear attack if they want to cross breed. Hitting a high, or low point with the “love is needed to procreate” theory. And ending with the “resistance” staying on Caprica. As Laura Roslin pointed out all the way back in the miniseries, the freakin’ war is lost. Nothing to gain on a planet that has been made inhospitable for humans without medication. Whereas they’re needed on Galactica. However, I’m willing to suspend disbelief here as I suspect there will be some shuttles to and thro in later episodes, hence all the set up with Anders; given all the lives lost in recent weeks, those 50 or so survivors will probably come in rather handy in a desperate emergency or the other.
Regarding Kara and Anders: no problem here. No big enthusiasm, either, but Kara’s impulsive, and I can see her falling for someone quickly, especially someone who has no baggage of a backstory with her.
And speaking of backstory: no, I don’t have a problem with the broken fingers. This was set up in season 1, Flesh and Bone, and ties Simon with Leoben. Both get (temporarily) under Kara’s skin by realizing this about her and her mother.
Also, the Mary Sue accusations are unwarranted here. Kara is not superwoman, escaping all on her own and dealing with a quip and a shrug; her horrible situation, and that of the other women, visibly scares her. She uses intelligence and her inner strength and successfully kills (one) Simon, but she’s clearly not up for a physical fight, has difficulty walking, and the Cylons would have recaptured her if the calvary hadn’t arrived.
You know what this episode reminds me of, more than any X-Files thing? The fourth season episode Prayer from Farscape. Which left me with the same dissatisfaction as far as the A-plot with Aeryn (captured by Scarrans, and ending up in, lo and behold, a breeding facility) was concerned – Claudia Black was great, but we didn’t really explore anything new about Aeryn, and “I love Crichton” as the final epiphany was as annoying as “chin up, Anders, I’m coming back for you” was for Kara here. But I loved the B-plot of Prayer which dealt with Scorpius and Crichton, and I did love the B-plot(s) of The Farm.
Firstly, Galactica. After weeks of just showing up to be comatose or enigmatic in dreams, E. Olmos finally gets something to do, and boy, does he come through. Adama, returned from his encounter with death more vulnerable and emotional, was great to watch. His scene with Tyrol and later with dead Galactica!Boomer (another Leoben tie) showed just why the crew has such strong feelings for him; he really does care for them in return, deeply. Adama wondering about the implication of Sharon having been a Cylon – what this means about the Cylons – contrasts with Baltar’s vision of him calmly drowning “the shape of things to come”; I’m very much looking forward to finding out how he’ll react to Caprica!Sharon and her offspring.
I’m not surprised he didn’t reprimand Tigh or change Tigh’s martial law orders; aside from Adama’s feelings about Tigh, he simply can’t afford to in the present situation. Much as he told Tyrol in Litmus, he needs a functioning XO at his side, and one the crew will listen to.
(Though the really smart thing would have been to negotiate with Roslin instead of declaring That Woman a fugitive, but hey. Adama is human.)
Same reason for giving Cally thirty days in the big for murder, I suppose. (On DS9, Garak got a few months for attempted genocide without the excuse of severely limited man and womanpower.) It still irks me somewhat, logic be damned. I mean, I like Cally. But I think murder warrants more than a slap on the wrist.
Meanwhile, poor Tyrol’s life continues to get worse by the minute. Because not only does he have to live with the memory of having loved Sharon and of Sharon loving him, but now Adama has pointed out to him there are lots of ghosts of his dead love around, and we know one is heading towards his direction right now. Tyrol will see Sharon again, indeed, but a Sharon who loves Helo, not him (though presumably she has the memories of Galactica!Boomer having loved Tyrol – not the same thing, though, despite Adama’s “thoughts = love” equation), and a Sharon who always knew she was a Cylon, as opposed to the one he knew. I’m looking forward to seeing this as well, in a masochistic GIVE ME PAIN way.
And naturally, I’ve saved the best for the last. To wit, my beloved Laura Roslin, Lee, and Tom Zarek. Who had only three scenes this week, but those were ever so good. Say what you want, but Zarek is clearly having the time of his life. He can mindmess with Lee and play a complicated game with Roslin, and they’re both ever so much more interesting than the prison gang.
On a less frivolous level: Zarek has a point about the propaganda value Lee’s broadcast would have had. Naturally it’s better for Lee personally that he didn’t go through with it, but it would have been great propaganda, and ensured that even if Adama won this particular confrontation, he’d remain tainted in the eyes of many, so if your end goal is a pure power struggle, it would have been good. If, otoh, you hope for an eventual reconciliation with the military – not so much, but then, does Zarek?
As someone who always said that Laura is a politician foremost and approached her conversion to faith from a practical side – they need to get to Earth, the prophecies appear to come true, therefore, using them makes sense – I was delighted by her “I’m going to play the religious card” and her later “This is not who I am” unease in the blessing scene. I can see how this would be confusing if you take the “Laura has become a religious nut who wants to sent up a theocracy” approach, but then, that was never my interpretation of the character. She has started to believe from Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part I onwards, yes. At the same time, she was constantly aware what a powerful force religion is, and the first episodes have only reaffirmed that to her. The alternatives “either cynical manipulative disbeliever or true believer/fanatic/ayatollah” are wrong and ignore pretty much the history of every major faith on this planet. Laura has come to see religion as something that is true for her, and as something that galvanizes people and enables her to motivate them at the same time. What I don’t think she realized in its full implications until the blessing scene, however, was that she cannot play “the religious card” without assuming a responsibility that goes beyond the fulfilment of the find Earth quest, which was her original motivation. Without becoming a religious icon in a way a political leader should not be.
As Elosha said, though, once you’ve said A, you’ll have to say B, and there is no way she can turn back now, so she has to go forward. And I think this will be where her problems will come from. The tomb of Athena may or may not yield the route to Earth. But people will expect her to give them miracles now, not just the one. They’ll want more. As is the case with all messiahs. And if she can’t provide any more miracles, how long before they scream for her crucification?
Meanwhile? I want Zarek/Roslin, Zarek/Apollo, and Zarek/Roslin/Apollo. Not necessarily in the sexual sense; UST and/or relationship exploration will do nicely. Now that we’ve done with Caprica until Kara makes that return trip, which hopefully won’t be until a few more episodes, can we get an A plot centring on these three, please?
