BSG 2.13, Epiphanies
Jan. 23rd, 2006 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakSo, Epiphanies. You know, I have a great fondness for the B5 episode of the same name which also comes directly after a big narrative arc has finished and tends to get not much fannish attention as a result, and a love-hate relationship towards the AtS episode Epiphany. This BSG example is decidedly a mixed bunch. I liked aspects and disliked others, but it didn't evoke either passionate hate or love or fuzzy feelings for the underdog of fannish regard.
Firstly, the solution to Roslin's cancer was actually something that did work for me. Because starting with Fragged (aka the third episode of this season), she has stashed her political credibility on playing the religious card. On declaring herself to be the dying leader of the prophecy. It was, literary, her get out of jail free card. It was also one of the reasons why her temporary alliance with Tom Zarek worked - why bother getting rid of someone who'll die anyway? - and it is the foundation of much of her status in the fleet. Roslin, as Zarek pointed out back in season 1, is not an elected President. No one voted for her. She's serving the rest of Adar's term, and there will be elections very soon. What I'm getting at: miracle cures work for me if there is a price to pay, and it looks like the price Laura Roslin will pay is going to be heavy indeed.
What also works for me is that the miracle cure in question is due to a) a Cylon/human hybrid, and b) good old Gaius Baltar. Forget about the science, this makes just delicious twisted emotional sense and is juicy storytelling. Because not only does Roslin now have Cylon blood in her body but she owes her life to the man she has just put together had been involved with a Cylon on Caprica. Doesn't matter what motivated Baltar, the fact is, he's the reason why Laura Roslin isn't dead, she knows it, and so does everybody else. Now I think Laura is pragmatic and ruthless enough not to let the fact Baltar just saved her influence her if she has divined he has at the very least a dodgy past in terms of loyalty. She'd get rid of him anyway. If she (or she and Adama and her inner circle) were the only one that knew about that pesky life-saving thing. But it's public, and as I said, her own status is going to get wobbly very soon. She simply can't afford to ditch Baltar or accuse him right now. Undoubtedly she'll come up with something sooner or later, but it will be difficult, and I love difficult.
On the other hand, what really didn't work for me was the entire Cylon Sympathizers/Peace Party/Terrorists thing. Not only because we never heard of them before, though that doesn't help, but because they're so obviously in the wrong and made to look stupid, and so unlikely to exist at all that it's just bad storytelling. I remember RM saying in interviews his problem with the original series pilot was that everyone trusting the Cylons who never did anything but conduct war against them and conveniently assembling in one spot to be wiped out made the humans look stupid. Well, yes. So does this. And this show can do better with people who have opposing point of views to our heroes. When Zarek shows up (as he will next week, something I'm very much looking forward to), he might not be a good guy, and his motivations aren't exactly pure, but he usually makes a couple of valid points, from Bastille Day onwards, and the show acknowledges he does. This group, otoh, is just badly written. Sloppy, sloppy storytelling.
(But I liked the banter between Kat and Starbuck.)
Speaking of sloppy storytelling, there was no reason why Roslin should justify her "abort the hybrid" demand with "anomalies show up" (well, duh), other than to give Baltar an opening for his rescue of Sharon's baby later on by latching on the "anomalies", rather than the hybrid itself, as the thing everyone is worried about. Given that Roslin was dying and during the last episodes was increasingly motivated to leave things as settled as she could, it would have made sense for me if she had given the order without any of this "Cottle suddenly worries that..." thing. But more about the sprog and Baltar in a moment.
And while I'm complaining, I'm not a Lee/Laura 'shipper in the romantic sense (not that I have anything against the pairing, au contraire, it would be more interesting than Starbuck/Apollo), but the relationship between these two used to be an important element of the show right until the end of Home, and while I can see how scenes between them wouldn't have fit in the ensuing episodes for reasons of space and other things to tell, this one really demanded one, and we didn't get it.
Back to things I enjoyed: the flashbacks to Laura Roslin, secretary of education, were neat. Her intelligence and ability to conduct power plays even then came across. I didn't have a problem with her having had an affair with Adar or with Adar turning out to be less than admirable, either; it makes her less than perfect and human, but doesn't take away from her strengths. (Loved how she skewered him in their showdown.)
Baltar's part of the plot mostly worked for me, except for the last twist. Not because I can't see our Gaius being that petty but because he has heard far worse things from both Roslin and other people about himself in the past than what she wrote in that letter. But I suppose I can fanwank it into this coming hard on the heels of his saving her life and in combination with the disdain Adama has shown him since Adama woke up making an emotional impact far out of proportion. Anyway. Otherwise, I continue to appreciate the way he's written this season. All the way back to Valley of Darkness, with his dream of Adama drowning the baby and his impulse to save it, his actions in Epiphanies was prefigured, and being Gaius Baltar, he has the usual mix of motives, both ego-driven and not. I guess he's still not keen on being anyone's father, but he does try to keep the Sharon/Helo sprog alive even before the President-related jitters set in, and I don't think it's for scientific reasons. For good or ill, he has become invested in the Cylon/Human hybrid and has bought into this being his destiny. And as opposed to your avarage tv villain, he's really not interested in power. Mind you, I think he's dead on when he tells Six that even if he becomes President, Adama and the military boys aren't going to let him be anything other than a figurehead anyway (can you see Adama actually taking orders from Baltar the way he did from Roslin?), but Six and Gina are of course quite right, he could use the position regardless. And he just doesn't want to. Because he doesn't want the responsibility, yes, but also because power just isn't his drug of choice. (Which makes him more interesting than old school Baltar, imo.) And speaking of Six and Gina, that's continuing to be an interesting triangle, even more twisted because Six and Gina both are, and are not two different people to Baltar. And naturally he's clueless and libido driven enough for that attempt to kiss Gina which she rightly rejects. The woman has been gangraped for months, Gaius.
Sidenote: I liked how the sight of his blood after Gina pushes him back in combination with the clipboard he's been working on throughout the episode helps Baltar figure out the way to save both Sharon's child and Roslin, and how we're not knocked over the head with it.
Meanwhile, Gina's disguise is proof that this show's makers read too many Superman comics, but you know, as has been said of Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, this works for me while watching, because she looks just barely different enough with her glasses and the different hair style and body language. (As opposed to Shelley Godfrey, who presumably is the reason Adama has a pic of Six in her usual platinum blonde look.) That she managed to infiltrate a movement in a few weeks does not, but, see above, this entire organization is baaaadly written. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to find out what she'll do with that little gift Gaius sent to her at the end, and continue to admire Tricia Helfer's work. As usual!Six, too, still wounded by Baltar's sort of rejection on Resurrection Ship but set on saving the sprog.
So, in summation: several missteps, could have been vastly improved, but also contains some really good set-ups for the rest of the season. Next week: bring on Tom Zarek!
Firstly, the solution to Roslin's cancer was actually something that did work for me. Because starting with Fragged (aka the third episode of this season), she has stashed her political credibility on playing the religious card. On declaring herself to be the dying leader of the prophecy. It was, literary, her get out of jail free card. It was also one of the reasons why her temporary alliance with Tom Zarek worked - why bother getting rid of someone who'll die anyway? - and it is the foundation of much of her status in the fleet. Roslin, as Zarek pointed out back in season 1, is not an elected President. No one voted for her. She's serving the rest of Adar's term, and there will be elections very soon. What I'm getting at: miracle cures work for me if there is a price to pay, and it looks like the price Laura Roslin will pay is going to be heavy indeed.
What also works for me is that the miracle cure in question is due to a) a Cylon/human hybrid, and b) good old Gaius Baltar. Forget about the science, this makes just delicious twisted emotional sense and is juicy storytelling. Because not only does Roslin now have Cylon blood in her body but she owes her life to the man she has just put together had been involved with a Cylon on Caprica. Doesn't matter what motivated Baltar, the fact is, he's the reason why Laura Roslin isn't dead, she knows it, and so does everybody else. Now I think Laura is pragmatic and ruthless enough not to let the fact Baltar just saved her influence her if she has divined he has at the very least a dodgy past in terms of loyalty. She'd get rid of him anyway. If she (or she and Adama and her inner circle) were the only one that knew about that pesky life-saving thing. But it's public, and as I said, her own status is going to get wobbly very soon. She simply can't afford to ditch Baltar or accuse him right now. Undoubtedly she'll come up with something sooner or later, but it will be difficult, and I love difficult.
On the other hand, what really didn't work for me was the entire Cylon Sympathizers/Peace Party/Terrorists thing. Not only because we never heard of them before, though that doesn't help, but because they're so obviously in the wrong and made to look stupid, and so unlikely to exist at all that it's just bad storytelling. I remember RM saying in interviews his problem with the original series pilot was that everyone trusting the Cylons who never did anything but conduct war against them and conveniently assembling in one spot to be wiped out made the humans look stupid. Well, yes. So does this. And this show can do better with people who have opposing point of views to our heroes. When Zarek shows up (as he will next week, something I'm very much looking forward to), he might not be a good guy, and his motivations aren't exactly pure, but he usually makes a couple of valid points, from Bastille Day onwards, and the show acknowledges he does. This group, otoh, is just badly written. Sloppy, sloppy storytelling.
(But I liked the banter between Kat and Starbuck.)
Speaking of sloppy storytelling, there was no reason why Roslin should justify her "abort the hybrid" demand with "anomalies show up" (well, duh), other than to give Baltar an opening for his rescue of Sharon's baby later on by latching on the "anomalies", rather than the hybrid itself, as the thing everyone is worried about. Given that Roslin was dying and during the last episodes was increasingly motivated to leave things as settled as she could, it would have made sense for me if she had given the order without any of this "Cottle suddenly worries that..." thing. But more about the sprog and Baltar in a moment.
And while I'm complaining, I'm not a Lee/Laura 'shipper in the romantic sense (not that I have anything against the pairing, au contraire, it would be more interesting than Starbuck/Apollo), but the relationship between these two used to be an important element of the show right until the end of Home, and while I can see how scenes between them wouldn't have fit in the ensuing episodes for reasons of space and other things to tell, this one really demanded one, and we didn't get it.
Back to things I enjoyed: the flashbacks to Laura Roslin, secretary of education, were neat. Her intelligence and ability to conduct power plays even then came across. I didn't have a problem with her having had an affair with Adar or with Adar turning out to be less than admirable, either; it makes her less than perfect and human, but doesn't take away from her strengths. (Loved how she skewered him in their showdown.)
Baltar's part of the plot mostly worked for me, except for the last twist. Not because I can't see our Gaius being that petty but because he has heard far worse things from both Roslin and other people about himself in the past than what she wrote in that letter. But I suppose I can fanwank it into this coming hard on the heels of his saving her life and in combination with the disdain Adama has shown him since Adama woke up making an emotional impact far out of proportion. Anyway. Otherwise, I continue to appreciate the way he's written this season. All the way back to Valley of Darkness, with his dream of Adama drowning the baby and his impulse to save it, his actions in Epiphanies was prefigured, and being Gaius Baltar, he has the usual mix of motives, both ego-driven and not. I guess he's still not keen on being anyone's father, but he does try to keep the Sharon/Helo sprog alive even before the President-related jitters set in, and I don't think it's for scientific reasons. For good or ill, he has become invested in the Cylon/Human hybrid and has bought into this being his destiny. And as opposed to your avarage tv villain, he's really not interested in power. Mind you, I think he's dead on when he tells Six that even if he becomes President, Adama and the military boys aren't going to let him be anything other than a figurehead anyway (can you see Adama actually taking orders from Baltar the way he did from Roslin?), but Six and Gina are of course quite right, he could use the position regardless. And he just doesn't want to. Because he doesn't want the responsibility, yes, but also because power just isn't his drug of choice. (Which makes him more interesting than old school Baltar, imo.) And speaking of Six and Gina, that's continuing to be an interesting triangle, even more twisted because Six and Gina both are, and are not two different people to Baltar. And naturally he's clueless and libido driven enough for that attempt to kiss Gina which she rightly rejects. The woman has been gangraped for months, Gaius.
Sidenote: I liked how the sight of his blood after Gina pushes him back in combination with the clipboard he's been working on throughout the episode helps Baltar figure out the way to save both Sharon's child and Roslin, and how we're not knocked over the head with it.
Meanwhile, Gina's disguise is proof that this show's makers read too many Superman comics, but you know, as has been said of Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, this works for me while watching, because she looks just barely different enough with her glasses and the different hair style and body language. (As opposed to Shelley Godfrey, who presumably is the reason Adama has a pic of Six in her usual platinum blonde look.) That she managed to infiltrate a movement in a few weeks does not, but, see above, this entire organization is baaaadly written. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to find out what she'll do with that little gift Gaius sent to her at the end, and continue to admire Tricia Helfer's work. As usual!Six, too, still wounded by Baltar's sort of rejection on Resurrection Ship but set on saving the sprog.
So, in summation: several missteps, could have been vastly improved, but also contains some really good set-ups for the rest of the season. Next week: bring on Tom Zarek!
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 10:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 03:21 pm (UTC)You know, I wish they had continued the concept of civilians agitating against a perceived military dictatorship, using supply stoppages, and other non violent means of protest. I think it would have been far more beliveable and interesting then this cylon peace movement that uses violent sabatoge. I ended up with a big "huh?" It made no sense to me.
It would also play to Zarek's talking points re: oppression, throw in rumors about what happened to civilians with the Pegasus and you have wonderful political tension.
I really don't understand why they took this route.
That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the blackmarket storyling previewed for next week. That would be a very believeable scenario. In fact, I would be very interested in seeing how the civilians on their smaller ships are coping, living, thinking.
Anyway..loved your point about Roslin's conflict with Baltar..her memory of Baltar and Six vs. his public saving of her life. Looking forward to seeing that confrontation/conversation.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 03:46 pm (UTC)And after Baltar had been so very cautious and so very insightful with Gina on the Pegasus, what are the chances he would force a kiss on her now? I hated that.
This episode, intended to be portentous, seemed to me to be built on a flimsy "moral quandry" and to undo a lot of good character work in past episodes, particularly with Baltar. I don't know what they were going for with this one.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 03:48 pm (UTC)OK, now you've got me curious: how come?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 04:44 pm (UTC)That said, I love a lot about this episode, most of all the Angel-Kate scene near the end, and of course I do like Angel reuniting with the team. I hurt for Darla - which caused several stories - but Angel was IC there, so that wasn't a cause for complaints.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 07:51 pm (UTC)Given the way the 'peace faction' was written and the fact that we haven't heard of them until now makes me thing that Gina is the one who started the movement in the first place. She's had a few weeks to do it, and it's just the kind of thing a Cylon agent would want to have happen in the fleet.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 07:56 pm (UTC)Very good point. I was going to forgive this one, anyway, in terms of narrative necessity, but this is an interesting way to look at it.
Now the important thing -- scenes from next week.
I'm just seeking reassurance that on-the-edge Apollo isn't going to end up offing Tom. Samantha insists that Richard Hatch has done too much for the BSG franchise to be despatched at this point, so I'm clinging to that. (Also, that Moore would be very silly to get rid of such an intriguing political antagonist -- but then, he did make short work of Cain!).
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 08:47 pm (UTC)I thought the realization that the fetus was the solution to her cure was quite brilliant on Baltar's part, something that came literally out of left field. It ties Roslin to Baltar and the Cylons in ways that are going to haunt her I'm sure. That scene where she watches Sharon making the classic gesture of impending motherhood (hand gently protecting her belly) was interesting to me, because she is now connected by blood to the baby.
I was a little unconvinced by Baltar's sudden fit of "omg, they don't like me, I'm going to get even". It's not like Roslin wrote anything he didn't know. I agree, it would be more likely that she'd write WTF? are you on drugs? 'Cause he sure acts like it, mumbling away to the air.
The underground movement did kind of come out of nowhere, but I can believe that it was there, possibly nourished by Zarek's group as a way to destabilize Roslin's administration. I think Gina took control and encouraged the increasing frustration and tendency to violence...they did say several weeks had passed, enough for a strong leader to do a lot of damage. I was quite surprised by how little Gina actually looks like Six. It's not just the hair colour, it's her body language.
I would have liked a little Lee/Roslin scene too.
Agree with your summation.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 04:04 am (UTC)I was glad, though, that we finally, after all this time, found out why Six wanted Baltar to do the Cylon testing and procure that atomic weapon last season. We were just discussing this in my LJ the other week, weren't we?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 06:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 07:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 12:46 pm (UTC)yes. absolutely spot on.