Battlestar Galactica 4.01
Apr. 6th, 2008 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOr, that other season opener.*g*
The good: coming from someone who likes Kara but isn't a particular fan (i.e. Starbuck isn't among my top five favourite characters on this show) - I liked how they played out her return. That she thinks only six hours passed. Her certainty and joy over having found earth passing into horror as she realizes the sheer amount of wrongness. Everyone else's reactions to her, which all seemed to be absolutely in character. So far, Lee continues to be his interesting late s3 self and has not relaped into the quadrangle of doom era; the conversation between the Adamas was one of my favorite scenes, and incidentally, it contained one of several season 1 callbacks in this episode and used it well - Zak, and Lee asking his father and himself a question which some fans debated back then. What if Zak had gotten out of that cockpit? To conclude that it wouldn't matter, that he'd continue to love his brother and want him back even if Zak had been a Cylon from the start is a big, big step from the "death to all Cylons" attitude of yesteryear, and everyone's original (and understandable) reactions to Boomer and Athena. Also loved that Lee didn't go back to the military but sticks with the civilian life. That was on my wish list, after all.
Speaking of: a Roslin and Six scene! Yeeeeeees. Loved it. Roslin used to be absolutely consistent in referring to Cylons as "it" and to address them as machines, but here she's treating Six definitely as a person. Not a friend, of course, but a person. No idea whether Six is telling the truth when she says she has been programmed not to think about the Final Five or whether she's playing for time, but I think it's probably true, the Seven are all evasive on the subject. Except for Three, whose looking for answers on that subject got her boxed.
Another callback to s1 - Tyrol bringing up Boomer, and her shooting of Adama against all her wishes because she was programmed to. I was waiting for Tyrol to think of Boomer with his new knowledge, and this was good. However, this brings me into the region of:
The mixed: all the guilty glances of the newly self aware four were a bit too much. Also, Tigh's speech about how Boomer didn't know what she was but they did and they would never betray the humans, complete with gun, had me wondering for a moment whether he would do what Boomer tried to in Kobol's Last Gleaming, i.e. try to commit suicide and/or shoot the others in order to prevent them and himself from damaging the human cause against their will. And then I thought: why doesn't he? Seriously. Tigh has been shown willing to make any sacrifice, he's been shown willing to kill fellow humans (not so fellow anymore, but you know what I mean) if necessary and he definitely isn't that fond of his life, and it doesn't even occur to him to at least try this dead-certain method of preventing himself from doing damage? Is he really that sure he could overcome a hidden programming? Tigh, who is an alcoholic and thus knows what it's like to be out of control?
And then there was the cult. Which just happens to consist mostly of young women (though I was glad to see at least two or three men), all pretty, and all apparantly despite the general post-New Caprica even more apocalyptic situation in possession of lipstick, make-up and eye-liner. Yes, I was rolling my eyes something fierce. What saved this whole thing from ending up firmly labelled "bad" in my mind is that Baltar's reactions so far are blessedly Season 7 Crazy Dukat!free and make sense - first he's weirded out and tries to say goodbye as quickly as possible, then after getting a reality check and the unwelcome reminder that one one else would have him and most other people hate his guts realises he's in a better prison than before, but still in a prison, and then we get another s1 callback, only this time played out with everything else that happened to Gaius Baltar since then in mind. Remember, in s1, there were at least three occasions when head!Six pulled off miracles that might or might not have been extremely timely coincidences for him, and each time he had to abandon more of his original scepticism and accept her belief; every time his life was at stake. By s3, the stakes are amped to a point where he makes a suicide attempt in a desperate gamble to find out whether or not he's a Cylon. And now he comes to a point where he offers his life not for a truth about himself or a miracle for himself but for the life of an anonymous child. The lines could be better written, but I did buy it, partly because of Callis' performance and partly because it ties to a number of previous elements in Baltar's overall storyarc, such as the vision he had of Adama drowning Hera and himself trying to save her, the fact he did later save her on New Caprica because he heard a child cry in the middle of his own escape, his vision of burned children symbolizing the guilt he has to face and always will during the s3torture interrogation session Adama and Roslin conduct, and the fact that while he's an incredibly self-obsessed man, Baltar has been shown to be capable of compassion (see his conversation with Boomer at the start of Kobol's Last Gleaming or his help for Gina on the Pegasus - he didn't start to become selfish with Gina until he saw her again free later).
That, and as mentioned, he just exchanged one prison for another. Though this one offers sex and someone who shaves the Beard Of Self Loathing And Depression of him. (I bet James Callis petitioned Ron Moore more than once about that one.) I don't think this is leading to a redemption storyline - not with a cult and Head!Six apparantly trying to use Baltar to convert people to monotheism - but maybe it won't end up as a Charles Manson storyline, either, and I'm curious to see where this is going. But still shaking my head over the gender and visual presentation issues of the cult members.
Cliffhanger: I think Lee better look into those law books from his grandfather again, because it looks like Kara could become his next client.
The good: coming from someone who likes Kara but isn't a particular fan (i.e. Starbuck isn't among my top five favourite characters on this show) - I liked how they played out her return. That she thinks only six hours passed. Her certainty and joy over having found earth passing into horror as she realizes the sheer amount of wrongness. Everyone else's reactions to her, which all seemed to be absolutely in character. So far, Lee continues to be his interesting late s3 self and has not relaped into the quadrangle of doom era; the conversation between the Adamas was one of my favorite scenes, and incidentally, it contained one of several season 1 callbacks in this episode and used it well - Zak, and Lee asking his father and himself a question which some fans debated back then. What if Zak had gotten out of that cockpit? To conclude that it wouldn't matter, that he'd continue to love his brother and want him back even if Zak had been a Cylon from the start is a big, big step from the "death to all Cylons" attitude of yesteryear, and everyone's original (and understandable) reactions to Boomer and Athena. Also loved that Lee didn't go back to the military but sticks with the civilian life. That was on my wish list, after all.
Speaking of: a Roslin and Six scene! Yeeeeeees. Loved it. Roslin used to be absolutely consistent in referring to Cylons as "it" and to address them as machines, but here she's treating Six definitely as a person. Not a friend, of course, but a person. No idea whether Six is telling the truth when she says she has been programmed not to think about the Final Five or whether she's playing for time, but I think it's probably true, the Seven are all evasive on the subject. Except for Three, whose looking for answers on that subject got her boxed.
Another callback to s1 - Tyrol bringing up Boomer, and her shooting of Adama against all her wishes because she was programmed to. I was waiting for Tyrol to think of Boomer with his new knowledge, and this was good. However, this brings me into the region of:
The mixed: all the guilty glances of the newly self aware four were a bit too much. Also, Tigh's speech about how Boomer didn't know what she was but they did and they would never betray the humans, complete with gun, had me wondering for a moment whether he would do what Boomer tried to in Kobol's Last Gleaming, i.e. try to commit suicide and/or shoot the others in order to prevent them and himself from damaging the human cause against their will. And then I thought: why doesn't he? Seriously. Tigh has been shown willing to make any sacrifice, he's been shown willing to kill fellow humans (not so fellow anymore, but you know what I mean) if necessary and he definitely isn't that fond of his life, and it doesn't even occur to him to at least try this dead-certain method of preventing himself from doing damage? Is he really that sure he could overcome a hidden programming? Tigh, who is an alcoholic and thus knows what it's like to be out of control?
And then there was the cult. Which just happens to consist mostly of young women (though I was glad to see at least two or three men), all pretty, and all apparantly despite the general post-New Caprica even more apocalyptic situation in possession of lipstick, make-up and eye-liner. Yes, I was rolling my eyes something fierce. What saved this whole thing from ending up firmly labelled "bad" in my mind is that Baltar's reactions so far are blessedly Season 7 Crazy Dukat!free and make sense - first he's weirded out and tries to say goodbye as quickly as possible, then after getting a reality check and the unwelcome reminder that one one else would have him and most other people hate his guts realises he's in a better prison than before, but still in a prison, and then we get another s1 callback, only this time played out with everything else that happened to Gaius Baltar since then in mind. Remember, in s1, there were at least three occasions when head!Six pulled off miracles that might or might not have been extremely timely coincidences for him, and each time he had to abandon more of his original scepticism and accept her belief; every time his life was at stake. By s3, the stakes are amped to a point where he makes a suicide attempt in a desperate gamble to find out whether or not he's a Cylon. And now he comes to a point where he offers his life not for a truth about himself or a miracle for himself but for the life of an anonymous child. The lines could be better written, but I did buy it, partly because of Callis' performance and partly because it ties to a number of previous elements in Baltar's overall storyarc, such as the vision he had of Adama drowning Hera and himself trying to save her, the fact he did later save her on New Caprica because he heard a child cry in the middle of his own escape, his vision of burned children symbolizing the guilt he has to face and always will during the s3
That, and as mentioned, he just exchanged one prison for another. Though this one offers sex and someone who shaves the Beard Of Self Loathing And Depression of him. (I bet James Callis petitioned Ron Moore more than once about that one.) I don't think this is leading to a redemption storyline - not with a cult and Head!Six apparantly trying to use Baltar to convert people to monotheism - but maybe it won't end up as a Charles Manson storyline, either, and I'm curious to see where this is going. But still shaking my head over the gender and visual presentation issues of the cult members.
Cliffhanger: I think Lee better look into those law books from his grandfather again, because it looks like Kara could become his next client.
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Re: Tigh
Date: 2008-04-06 06:03 pm (UTC)After this scene, I turned to
I don't think the fact that Tigh has not (yet) chosen the suicide route has to be explained by programming (and I will be disappointed if that turns out to be so). I simply don't think he's reconciled himself to his new identity; I don't think he's convinced of its inevitability. Why should he be? He remembers the horrors of the first Cylon War and still carries all the attendant emotional baggage. He remembers going to the fullest lengths to resist the Cylons on New Caprica; the fact that Ellen no longer shares his bed is a constant reminder. As the oldest and most invested of the Fabulous Four, he's not going to accept this fully until he does put a bullet through Adama's eye - after which, for him, the logical course will most assuredly be death.
But I don't want this to happen, even though it would be a perfectly sensible direction for the plot to take. In my perfect world, Tigh, by virtue of being the most devoted, will be the one who defies destiny - the one who throws off whatever programming exists through sheer force of will. Oh, how I long for a triumph!
Re: Tigh
Date: 2008-04-06 06:49 pm (UTC)But yes. If due to some inherent programming he does hurt Adama in any way, he'll never forgive himself and won't even hesitate. In any case, the scene from the season 2 opener where Tigh interrogates and beats up Boomer could not have a harsher irony now...
Re: Tigh
Date: 2008-04-06 09:15 pm (UTC)