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selenakOr, the one where Callis goes for the Emmy nomination nobody on this show will get because it's sci fi.
Seriously, though. I always thought he does good work, whether the show uses him as comic relief as in most of season 1 or whether he's used seriously, but episodes like this illustrate why he's probably the only one of the younger crowd you can put in a room with Mary McDonnell and E. J. Olmos and have him share audience attention as opposed to the "might as well be the wallpaper" effect, as Bruce Boxleitner said about scenes with Peter Jurasik or Andreas Katsulas on another show.
The quadrangle of doom subplot wasn't as annoying as I feared it would be, and due to that one spoiler I didn't avoid I can even see why Lee with Dee was intercut with Baltar 'n Gaeta, but still, if they had exercised all those scenes and put the Roslin and Six scene there instead? If this had been a Lee and Kara free episode the way Downloaded was last season? It would have made a good episode a classic.
Two things I found interesting about the quadrangle subplot: Lee's scene with Tyrol, because finally, finally someone brings up Boomer to Tyrol again. Tyrol's reaction is one of those "does he mean what he says or is the way he says it clear indication he means just the opposite and is unwilling to deal with it" things.
And thing two: Anders bringing up Leoben and the destiny thing to Kara. Though that begs the question - how does he know what Leoben told Kara? Did she tell him? In any case, Sam Anders for the win. Also, just in that instance, writing for the win because Kara clearly isn't sure whether his "do you love him?" refers to Leoben or Lee, and how screwed up is that? (Interestingly screwed up, I mean, as opposed to the Unfinished Business dreariness.)
But now to the A-plot, and yay, it was the A-Plot in all sense, and in terms of screentime, too. Loved everything about it. Baltar's suicide attempt - to put it to the test whether or not he is a Cylon and because he's at that point where he was at Exodus II, where his natural survival instinct really is almost overwhelmed by the self-loathing - but not completely. And Gaeta's screwed up relationship with Baltar is back full force, too; whether Gaeta did originally show up early on to kill Baltar, as Roslin guesses at the end, or whether he had an inkling about the suicide possibility, he did end up saving his life (again), whereas at the end of the episode, when he's sent in to manipulate Baltar, Baltar expertly manipulates him into (almost) killing him instead. Gaeta hates Baltar for having believed in him once (and think back to season 1, he downright idolized him then), for being the embodiment of collaboration guilt, but I think what he hates Baltar most for is that he still also loves him.
"Conspiracy requires intent." And there you have the vexed question of Gaius' original contribution to the deaths of millions (billions?). What Roslin wants is a straight forward admission of guilt, but as Adama says, that's what Baltar can't and won't give her - both for the reason Adama names, that he sees himself as the victim, not the criminal (and he needs to, to survive), and because as opposed to many of Gaius Baltar's later sins (starting with framing the Doral model whom he had no reason to believe was actually a Cylon all the way back to the miniseries), the intent was, indeed, lacking. He didn't know. The question of his amount of guilt for all things New Caprica is almost as convoluted; he did have a gun pressed to his head (during the execution order scene), literaly, but not all the time; he had no choice but to surrender, but he could have chosen to resist after, if not openly - as the one time he tried that ended with the gun pressed against his head and Caprica Six shot in front of him - , then in secret, as Gaeta did; he took the benefits of occupation. Are the burned bodies he sees in his last hallucination those of Caprica or New Caprica? Both? Who knows.
The interrogation sequence is a parallel/contrast to the one on the Cylon basestar; in both cases he's accused of working with the enemy and asked for something he can't provide (the enemy's in question intentions, an admission of guilt), in both cases the interrogator ends up frustrated and foiled in her/their intentions. Roslin's reactions to Baltar throughout also remind me of Baltar's scene with Roslin in Precipe, which we got a flashback to in case we missed the point. Both are a startling contrast to the first time these two had a scene together in jail, back in season 1 during the Shelley Godfrey episode. Back then, it was so clear cut; Roslin had the moral highground, Baltar was a guilty weasel. These days, Baltar is still guilty as hell, but Roslin no longer has the moral highground, not even in that scene in Precipe when he's the president of the collaboration and she's the temporarily locked up resistance (co-) leader, because when he asks her whether she seriously condones the suicide bombings, he makes her look away for the first and only time anyone does that to Laura Roslin. (Compare her reaction then to her reaction to Helo's accusation last episode.) And now, when he's the war criminal and she's the President again, he again has the ability to make her lose that higher ground, and not just because she and Adama order the interrogation, because he is, as she admits in the end, right with his observation that she wants to see him suffer.
For those of us who were wondering whether Adama's anger at Roslin because of the Hera revelation would last: obviously not. And just for compare and contrast: last season, she had to do some persuading to make him go for the Cain assassination plan; these days, he offers to kill her enemies without being asked. And Baltar isn't an accute danger to the fleet the way Cain had been. Ah, Adama, where is your indignation about Zarek and the Circle now? Because of course that is exactly what he offered to do, in the end. Get rid of the moral inconvenience that is Gaius Baltar via secretmurder execution. (And if Baltar had given them that straightforward admission of guilt, would Roslin still have said no, let him have his trial? I don't think so.) Now that's the kind of thing I want BSG to let me ponder on, as opposed to the romantic woes of its pilots.
Seriously, though. I always thought he does good work, whether the show uses him as comic relief as in most of season 1 or whether he's used seriously, but episodes like this illustrate why he's probably the only one of the younger crowd you can put in a room with Mary McDonnell and E. J. Olmos and have him share audience attention as opposed to the "might as well be the wallpaper" effect, as Bruce Boxleitner said about scenes with Peter Jurasik or Andreas Katsulas on another show.
The quadrangle of doom subplot wasn't as annoying as I feared it would be, and due to that one spoiler I didn't avoid I can even see why Lee with Dee was intercut with Baltar 'n Gaeta, but still, if they had exercised all those scenes and put the Roslin and Six scene there instead? If this had been a Lee and Kara free episode the way Downloaded was last season? It would have made a good episode a classic.
Two things I found interesting about the quadrangle subplot: Lee's scene with Tyrol, because finally, finally someone brings up Boomer to Tyrol again. Tyrol's reaction is one of those "does he mean what he says or is the way he says it clear indication he means just the opposite and is unwilling to deal with it" things.
And thing two: Anders bringing up Leoben and the destiny thing to Kara. Though that begs the question - how does he know what Leoben told Kara? Did she tell him? In any case, Sam Anders for the win. Also, just in that instance, writing for the win because Kara clearly isn't sure whether his "do you love him?" refers to Leoben or Lee, and how screwed up is that? (Interestingly screwed up, I mean, as opposed to the Unfinished Business dreariness.)
But now to the A-plot, and yay, it was the A-Plot in all sense, and in terms of screentime, too. Loved everything about it. Baltar's suicide attempt - to put it to the test whether or not he is a Cylon and because he's at that point where he was at Exodus II, where his natural survival instinct really is almost overwhelmed by the self-loathing - but not completely. And Gaeta's screwed up relationship with Baltar is back full force, too; whether Gaeta did originally show up early on to kill Baltar, as Roslin guesses at the end, or whether he had an inkling about the suicide possibility, he did end up saving his life (again), whereas at the end of the episode, when he's sent in to manipulate Baltar, Baltar expertly manipulates him into (almost) killing him instead. Gaeta hates Baltar for having believed in him once (and think back to season 1, he downright idolized him then), for being the embodiment of collaboration guilt, but I think what he hates Baltar most for is that he still also loves him.
"Conspiracy requires intent." And there you have the vexed question of Gaius' original contribution to the deaths of millions (billions?). What Roslin wants is a straight forward admission of guilt, but as Adama says, that's what Baltar can't and won't give her - both for the reason Adama names, that he sees himself as the victim, not the criminal (and he needs to, to survive), and because as opposed to many of Gaius Baltar's later sins (starting with framing the Doral model whom he had no reason to believe was actually a Cylon all the way back to the miniseries), the intent was, indeed, lacking. He didn't know. The question of his amount of guilt for all things New Caprica is almost as convoluted; he did have a gun pressed to his head (during the execution order scene), literaly, but not all the time; he had no choice but to surrender, but he could have chosen to resist after, if not openly - as the one time he tried that ended with the gun pressed against his head and Caprica Six shot in front of him - , then in secret, as Gaeta did; he took the benefits of occupation. Are the burned bodies he sees in his last hallucination those of Caprica or New Caprica? Both? Who knows.
The interrogation sequence is a parallel/contrast to the one on the Cylon basestar; in both cases he's accused of working with the enemy and asked for something he can't provide (the enemy's in question intentions, an admission of guilt), in both cases the interrogator ends up frustrated and foiled in her/their intentions. Roslin's reactions to Baltar throughout also remind me of Baltar's scene with Roslin in Precipe, which we got a flashback to in case we missed the point. Both are a startling contrast to the first time these two had a scene together in jail, back in season 1 during the Shelley Godfrey episode. Back then, it was so clear cut; Roslin had the moral highground, Baltar was a guilty weasel. These days, Baltar is still guilty as hell, but Roslin no longer has the moral highground, not even in that scene in Precipe when he's the president of the collaboration and she's the temporarily locked up resistance (co-) leader, because when he asks her whether she seriously condones the suicide bombings, he makes her look away for the first and only time anyone does that to Laura Roslin. (Compare her reaction then to her reaction to Helo's accusation last episode.) And now, when he's the war criminal and she's the President again, he again has the ability to make her lose that higher ground, and not just because she and Adama order the interrogation, because he is, as she admits in the end, right with his observation that she wants to see him suffer.
For those of us who were wondering whether Adama's anger at Roslin because of the Hera revelation would last: obviously not. And just for compare and contrast: last season, she had to do some persuading to make him go for the Cain assassination plan; these days, he offers to kill her enemies without being asked. And Baltar isn't an accute danger to the fleet the way Cain had been. Ah, Adama, where is your indignation about Zarek and the Circle now? Because of course that is exactly what he offered to do, in the end. Get rid of the moral inconvenience that is Gaius Baltar via secret
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 06:19 pm (UTC)Hard to see how he will ever find an impartial jury, given his actions.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 07:18 pm (UTC)I think what gets Roslin about Baltar isn't so much the self preservation above all - he's hardly unique in that - but the collection of issues that brought Baltar into a position - her position, no less - where those character flaws brought terrible damage on humanity. For one thing, Baltar would never have entered politics if she hadn't chosen him as her VP because she didn't want Zarek as Vice President. (Ah, irony.) And she didn't just have her doubts about him then, she very clearly saw him as self-serving and not exactly brave. Add to this that at the time, she had a lethal illness, so whoever she chose as VP would actually HAVE to succeed her, and you have Roslin making a choice to ensure victory in the short term which posed a terrible risk in the long term.
Then there's Baltar becoming President which interestingly enough she doesn't see happened because the people elected him - which they did - but because she listened to Adama and ever stealing the election recanted, i.e., again her responsibility.
And then there's the fact he was President - a democractically elected President, which she still isn't - and he failed that responsibility which is first and foremost in her heart so terribly. Again, not by surrendering, but by not resisting after the surrender.
All of which makes Baltar and his crimes personal to Roslin in a way collaborator X is not. Or even the Cylons aren't. I don't think Roslin hated Leoben when she airlocked him, or Sharon A. when she was about to do the same to her, or any given Cylon on New Caprica, down to the Cavil who was about to get her executed, because not only are they the enemy but they aren't really people to her. But Baltar is. And so she can hate him.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-09 04:27 pm (UTC)And since we have the benefit of hindsight now, all we have to do is fast-forward to Roslin/Baltar confrontation in... "Six of One", I think (or was it the episode after that?), where Roslin is suitably menacing but Baltar is just.not.afraid. Because whatever little moral high ground she occupied post-New Caprica she lost after the torture and the trial, where she (and Adama) were convinced that the only possible result in a 'fair' trial would be a 'guilty' verdict. This season in fact, Roslin has been dangerously nearing Cain in some ways (which is why Razor was aired when it was, I think) - if she had let Baltar die, if she had not recognised that he, as much as everyone else, deserves to live, she *would* have been Cain.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-10 03:38 am (UTC)This season in fact, Roslin has been dangerously nearing Cain in some ways (which is why Razor was aired when it was, I think) - if she had let Baltar die, if she had not recognised that he, as much as everyone else, deserves to live, she *would* have been Cain.
That`s a good point about the airing of Razor. Which essentially makes Baltar the equivalent of Gina as far as Roslin and Cain are concerned - no, of course there isn't the element of a betrayed sexual relationship, but in both cases you have the respective leaders in a position where they can blame one person for the major disaster that happened to their people, and because there is no one around they have to be accountable anymore can act on their hatred towards that one person. Roslin pulls back at the very last second, so to speak.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-10 09:41 am (UTC)Which essentially makes Baltar the equivalent of Gina as far as Roslin and Cain are concerned - no, of course there isn't the element of a betrayed sexual relationship, but in both cases you have the respective leaders in a position where they can blame one person for the major disaster that happened to their people, and because there is no one around they have to be accountable anymore can act on their hatred towards that one person.
Yes, exactly. And 'love' in "The Hub" serves as a counterpoint to Cain's 'anger' (which she tells Kendra to hold on to, and let it guide her).
no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 05:23 pm (UTC)