BSG 4.13 The Oath

[selenak]

In which everyone has gotten over themselves and is awesome, and it only took a spoilery spoil to do it!



Seriously, how much did I love that episode? So much I can't write an orderly review (also, I'm real life busy), instead of squees over:

- Zarek and Lee, because Zarek pushing buttons with Lee has rarely been so well done, and I've always liked their scenes together

- Gaeta pulling of organizing a mutiny with fantastic skills (seriously, Gaeta, Roj Blake weeps with envy, thinking of the "how not to do a mutiny" in Spacefall)

- Laura Roslin getting her groove back (doing exactly what she should have done after returning to Earth, but hey, as I said, I do understand that if she was going to have a breakdown, it would have been then)

- The Roslin Wing/ Life of Gaius crossover scenes: always guaranteed highlights of the show! Oh how I love the parallels, the bitching, and the fact that yes, they can read each other that clearly! Should I have time to write a proper review later (which shall replace this one if I do it), I'll dwell on that at length

- Gaius/Felix: canon, y/y? (I mean, I can go with either interpretation, that there was sex on New Caprica and that there wasn't, but Baltar knows damn well Gaeta was in love with him and that the disappointment was additionally fueled by this.) That phonecall was made of win. And the thing is, there was a moment of uncertainty (and of course Gaeta had to take that call to begin with, he never can't NOT respond to Baltar, whether in hate or love) but then Baltar (go figure) overplayed his hand with the reminder of webisode events .

- Hug of awkward between Baltar and followers, and his instructions about packing: "no, Jean, you can keep the statue". Trust Gaius B. to provide the comic relief in such a situation.

- Starbuck doing her Bruce Willis in Die Hard act better than anyone, though Adama, even a Bill sceptic like me has to admit, came close

- Galen Tyrol, escape organizer extraordinaire, keeping his calm superbly

- the show shamelessly doing a Butch and Sundance with Tigh and Adama, when we know they won't die until the finale; it does work, though

Not made of win:

- Lee asking Tyrol "Why are you doing this?" (i.e. helping Adama.) Come on, Lee. He has known he's a Cylon about five minutes. He's probably spent more time with your father than you, due to serving under him for years.

Comments

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

Lee's question to Tyrol is particularly stupid because, seriously, who else is Tyrol going to side with? The guys who want to string him up just for being a Cylon?

Though I do agree that this was one of the show's strongest episodes in a while (when will the writers accept that they give great space battle and gunfight, and mediocre everything else?), it also featured a sudden and alarming spike in genderfail. I've gotten used to BSG's background levels of misogyny - killing Dee, making Cally retroactively unfaithful - but this was off the charts. Seelix selling Sam out because he rejected her romantically, the return of the rape threats against Sharon and the random accusations of promiscuity hurled at Starbuck. The fact that Roslin has come to her senses doesn't quite make up for that.

Along the same lines, I'd have been happier with the Baltar/Gaeta exchanges if the only acknowledged homosexual character in the show's history wasn't also the guy who repeatedly seeks out powerful, charismatic men whom he can follow unquestioningly. I did, however, like that Gaeta was more competent than most of the Galactica senior staff put together - not a particularly demanding yardstick, to be sure, but still fun to see.

My biggest problem with these episodes is that I'm still siding with Gaeta's position if not his methods - it is both foolish and morally galling to whole-heartedly accept the Cylons as members of the fleet (note that both the previouslys and the episode itself downgrade the Cylons' demand of citizenship to a demand for amnesty, which given the writing room we're dealing with smells like revisionist history) - whereas I get the feeling that the episode expects me to be on Adama's side, with Lee playing devil's advocate in his speech to Tigh.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, you reminded me: I should be mad about the fact that the only two gay characters on the show have been evil. (I don't really count Six, since it feels like that was her mission, to seduce Cain.)

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

My biggest problem with these episodes is that I'm still siding with Gaeta's position if not his methods - it is both foolish and morally galling to whole-heartedly accept the Cylons as members of the fleet (note that both the previouslys and the episode itself downgrade the Cylons' demand of citizenship to a demand for amnesty, which given the writing room we're dealing with smells like revisionist history) - whereas I get the feeling that the episode expects me to be on Adama's side, with Lee playing devil's advocate in his speech to Tigh.

Yup. And I say that as someone who LIKES the Cylons.

Also, Adama and Tigh's early in the ep idiotic talk about throwing the Quorum in jail and taking over civilian ships by force. Well, I can sort of see saying it in private. It's still an incredibly stupid idea (like throwing a match on something that's already been soaked in gasoline), but we all think stupid stuff, and say stupid stuff while brainstorming a response to a serious problem. But them talking like that openly in CIC was just dumb. Way to harden the resolve of mutineers who are doing it out of principle rather than mere bloodlust (i.e. people unlike Gage, who are just bullies).

Adama and Roslin CREATED this whole mess. Doesn't mean I approve of Gaeta's response (Zarek's disproportionate use of force against Laird should've been a big honking red flag to Gaeta that his new friends were scary people, and not just in it to save democracy), but I'm not going to give Adama and Roslin a totally free pass on this one, either.

On the bright side, we did have Racetrack's woobie face, Gaeta's cynical "We can fine-tune our rationalisations later" snark at Zarek, Lee's "It's the only option the Cylons left us with," and Kara's unhinged desire to summarily execute a prisoner (she's not so different from Zarek, even if she is on the 'right' side). Hopefully these are all signs that in future episodes the mutineers will NOT be presented merely as a faceless mass of evil enemies.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Adama and Roslin CREATED this whole mess.

Definitely, and I don't think the show wants us to think otherwise. Something we also got in the previouslies was Adama declaring the Quorum resolution re: individual captains of the fleet having the right to reject Cylon tech doesn't matter squat, because that's a military decision, and basically pulling a "my word is law" when Gaeta challenged him on that. And Roslin's speech just underlined that she knew very well how important it was to explain this alliance and its necessity to the people and still didn't do squat out of personal reasons (no matter how understandable, it still is a complete and utter failure of her responsibility on her part, and as I said in last week's review, no better than Baltar's withdrawal in depression, self pity and sex on New Caprica (before the Cylons arrived, afterwards the situation was too different to compare).

[selenak.livejournal.com]

when will the writers accept that they give great space battle and gunfight, and mediocre everything else?

I beg to differ. I don't really care about the space battles on this show one way or another. While what is probably my favourite 4.0 episode, The Hub, had one, what made it great for me were all the scenes with Roslin on the Basestar (with the Hybrid, with Baltar, with Three) and with D'Anna on the Resurrection Ship (especially the way she killed Cavil before she even left her tub). My favourite season 2 episode, Downloaded, had none at all.

if the only acknowledged homosexual character in the show's history wasn't also the guy who repeatedly seeks out powerful, charismatic men whom he can follow unquestioningly.

This is massively unfair towards Gaeta. While he crushed on Baltar through seasons 1 and 2, he didn't "follow him unquestioningly"; when he investigated the (fake) evidence in Six Degrees of Separation, he was clear that if he had found out Baltar was guilty, he would have said as much to everyone. When he noticed that Tigh, Dee and Tory were stealing the votes in s2, he did so despite of his affection for Dee and respect for Tigh and Roslin, and he didn't tell Baltar about it, he told Adama, i.e. acted in the interest of democracy, not because he liked the other candidate better. Once Baltar was the one in a position of power, Gaeta saw how very flawed and what a failure as president he was. He still tried to make the administration a success pre-Cylon arrival as best he could, going by the UB flashback, not for Baltar but because at that point New Caprica was the future of the human race. The entire New Caprica occupation arc presents Gaeta as heroic in his role as secret informant for the resistance, something he doesn't even once attempt to take credit for until his life is under threat in "Collaborators". And his current alliance with Tom Zarek isn't presented as something he took up because Zarek was so swell a guy, but because Adama and Roslin left him with no other choice. The previouslies also showed the scene where Adama decides the Quorum didn't have the right to give the captains in the fleet the right to decide for themselves whether or not they want a Cylon upgrading of their tech, Gaeta asks Adama "and you get to make that decision" and Adama says yes, which clearly points out that one of Gaeta's motivations is that he has seen Adama completely ignore a legislative order and that there was no way the fleet could have protested effectively and legally against Adama because Adama chose to override any such protests. Never at any point did I get the impression that Gaeta was presented as someone who "follows charismatic men unquestioningly".

Seelix selling Sam out because he rejected her romantically, the return of the rape threats against Sharon and the random accusations of promiscuity hurled at Starbuck. The fact that Roslin has come to her senses doesn't quite make up for that.

Roslin - and Starbuck (who had that accusation hurled at her in reply to her taunting Hot Dog about Cally first ) - have far more screentime being presented as strong and heroic in this episode than Seelix or the Sunshine boys have. (BTW, I agree that the return of the rape threat was superfluos, though, or rather of the same type as Adama successfully bluffing Zarek about having evidence of his corruption last week, something that's a cheap manipulative device to signal "there is badness on this side".) Obviously it's a matter of individual viewer perception, but for me, that meant the former outweighed the later.

Siding: did you read the interview with the episode's writer posted on bsg_blog? It has a lot of pro Gaeta remarks.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

"Downloaded" is a great hour of television, and "The Hub" is also very good, but I don't think even the most rabid Galactica fan would argue that either one of them is representative of the show and its overall strengths. As a rule, when Galactica does character drama, political intrigue, or issue stories, they are often padded and unengaging. Those occasions on which the show truly had me at the edge of my seat, those episodes at whose end I'd feel shocked that 45 minutes were already over, are almost invariably more action-oriented.

Or, to put it in a hopefully less contentious way, Galactica is a hell of a lot better at depicting crises than it is at showing us the path leading up to them.

Gaeta:

Yes, Gaeta is, overall, a positively portrayed character, even taking his recent choices into account. But you can't seriously argue that his infatuation with Baltar didn't cloud his judgment during the first two seasons, not when every other major character treats Baltar as, at best, a figure of fun, and at worst, a dangerous madman. Look at the people who ally themselves with Baltar over the course of the series - opportunists like Zarek Cylons, and groupies like the one god cult. Which one do you think Gaeta most resembled in his behavior towards Baltar in seasons 1 and 2? He's not as bad as the cultists, to be sure, but the fact is that when Gaeta gets a storyline it nearly always involves his service to a manipulative, amoral mentor whose flaws he takes an unreasonably long time to comprehend (he's not as blind about Zarek, but he's still following instead, of, for example, taking over for himself). And this is the only acknowledged homosexual in the fleet, just as Cain - a ball-busting sadist who had her girlfriend raped and tortured - was the only lesbian. I find this problematic.

Roslin - and Starbuck ... - have far more screentime being presented as strong and heroic in this episode than Seelix or the Sunshine boys have.

The thing about Starbuck, though, is that this is her (and the writers') standard MO. She's a disaster zone when everything's as close to normal as it ever gets on this show, and then a catastrophe happens (often because of the aforementioned disaster zone) and she leaps in like a superhero to save the day. It's fun to watch, but you know that next week she'll be back to screwing up her life and everyone else's, so my glee at her awesomeness this week is pretty mild (plus, the return of the romance that wouldn't die with Lee, and shooting at a fleeing man - the real Starbuck hasn't gone far). Roslin, meanwhile, has always been the show's one true shining accomplishment when it came to writing women, so her being awesome was pretty much to be expected. Which left me with all the other things this episode did to female characters, none of which were unusual in themselves, but which taken together - Seelix's motives being domestic rather than political and the casual rape threats and 'oh yeah! Well you're a slut!' (I know Starbuck struck first; I still don't like it when the writers go there) - made for a more than usually offensive hour on the gender front.

Siding: did you read the interview with the episode's writer posted on bsg_blog?

No, I'm trying to avoid reading interviews with the writers as much as possible - they generally just piss me off.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

The reiteration of the rape threats worked for me because otherwise I wouldn't have connected those men to the ones who attacked Sharon back in -- season 2, was it? I think it was repeated once too often in this episode, but I appreciated it being there for continuity's sake, as someone who doesn't remember all the details of a complex show that's been running for, what, 5 years now?

I also don't see how portraying Starbuck as someone who's a total mess except when heroism is called for is somehow anti-woman. That's just who she is, as an individual.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this episode genuinely rocked. I'm hoping Tigh might eat it, actually, but not really optimistically. He'll wiggle out of it.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Agreed on all points. (And also, Lee going on anti-Cylon rant re: Tigh seemed ill-placed; and I could have done without the Lee/Kara kiss but it's been established they're idiots when it comes to each other so I just rolled my eyes and went with it.

Overall, these recent eps are doing a phenomenal job of using all the layers of history that have been established among these characters, and positioning all the key ones for where they'll be as the story reaches it's conclusion.

Who is it who said that Baltar is a Looney Tunes character trapped in a Greek tragedy? Because it's so true.

(Also, I might have screamed "OH MY GOD ZAREK JUST CLOCKED A DUDE WITH A WRENCH, OLD GUYS ROCK!" Ditto Adama and Tigh with the guns)

What's the chance Racetrack is going to play a pivotal role? She has a history as a pilot with Lee, Kara, and Helo, more than with Gaeta or the people she's siding with, and I thought there were some pointed shots of her looking conflicted during the standoff.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

Well, if the show holds true to its past performance, it'll turn out Racetrack was only acting out of unrequited love for a more prominent male character, and once they die/reject her, she'll go completely off the rails.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I think that's unfair.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

Maybe a little on the reductive side, but you have to admit that being a minor female character on BSG is not a good career plan. Cally? Dee? Seelix? Kat?

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I guess, but that wasn't at all my point.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

What was it, then?

(Genuinely curious, not trying to be needling.)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I just meant that my original comment really wasn't on that issue so I'm not sure what you were getting at with your comment.

And I'm not taking up any more space on somebody else's post, sorry.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

I was responding to your suggestion that Racetrack might play a more prominent role in the conclusion to this story by pointing out that, in the past, when minor female characters have been brought to the forefront, it's usually been in a way that left them degraded and often dead.

But I seemed to have misjudged my tone and come off unpleasant. Sorry.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Lee going on anti-Cylon rant re: Tigh

I get that they wanted Lee to make the rant itself, because "it's all they've left us with" is an important point, but Tigh was so the wrong adressee. It would have been relatively easy to let Lee explode towars the Eight who shows up to pick Roslin & Baltar up only a few moments later, which would have made so much more sense.

Who is it who said that Baltar is a Looney Tunes character trapped in a Greek tragedy? Because it's so true.

Yes, that fits completely.

Racetrack: could be, especially it's too late to introduce new characters, and she's been a face the audience knows since season 1. (Although if you count the webisodes she does know Gaeta well enough to root for him and Hoshi, which reminds me, good old Hoshi obviously had no idea what was going on, and he, of course, could also play a role.)

Incidentally, now that I've had the time to look at some reviews, I don't get what the "Zarek wanting Adama dead proves his dire infamy" thing is all about, because as veteran of coups fictional and non fictional, Zarek was right about that one and Gaeta was wrong. Adama living was begging for more trouble and bloodshed later on, and if you're ready to commit mutiny to end his rule over the fleet, then really end, immediately. (As I'm thinking of B5 a lot in recent weeks: Sheridan? Knew he had to take Kosh II out, as in kill him, as soon as he knew he had to go up against the Vorlons in addition to being already up against the Shadows. He knew he could not afford an angry Vorlon on his station once the Vorlons found that out. And my guy Londo of course was planning assassination of Cartagia from the get-go, not imprisonment.)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I have to say, if you're going to be willing to kill a deck chief with a wrench, it's at least proletarian to think the military commander deserves the same fate. And, yeah, I think Zarek's general condoning of lethal force conveys, "Zarek takes this seriously as an act of revolution" not "Zarek is evil". Not that I'm approving of killing people, in general, but Zarek understands expediency.

I would even have understood Lee directing the anti-Cylon speech at Tyrol, rather than Tigh. . .

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

(Although if you count the webisodes she does know Gaeta well enough to root for him and Hoshi, which reminds me, good old Hoshi obviously had no idea what was going on, and he, of course, could also play a role.)

He does have the misfortune to be detained with the rest of the senior CIC officers, so I'm guessing he will get the uncharitable role of leverage against Gaeta, once Team Pro-Alliance has regrouped.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Lee asking Tyrol "Why are you doing this?" (i.e. helping Adama.) Come on, Lee. He has known he's a Cylon about five minutes. He's probably spent more time with your father than you, due to serving under him for years.

Not only that, but who should he side with instead? The Cylon-hating insurgents?

On the topic of presenting the sides fairly, I found Zarek killing Laird (who next to Hoshi was one of the few recognizable "good" Pegasus crew members) was a bit over the top. I know, Kara wanted to kill the running marine, too, but a) he was on the "bad" side, b) she didn't just murder him while he wasn't a thread, and c) she missed. Between that, the photogenic badassery, and the type of people who is on the mutineer side, I don't feel the presentation is exactly balanced. (Entertaining, yes. Although I worry about Team Cylon in the brig. Athena and Sam can only kick so much ass on their own.)

You know who I really miss? Head!Six.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

You know, I think as much as anything, Zarek wanted to impress on Gaeta how serious the situation was. Not that this is a *good reason* for killing people, but he wants to impress the stakes on the others. Given his character's background, it makes sense and I think it's there b/c it's true to what the character, as established, would do, not to paint him as a cackling villain. And I don't see that much difference from Starbuck's willingness to shoot the soldier, honestly.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

And I don't see that much difference from Starbuck's willingness to shoot the soldier, honestly.

Personality-wise, no. I just felt it was presented just a bit different. I don't think we're supposed to think of Starbuck as the sanest person in the world, but we are still supposed to see her as cool, while Zarek to me clearly is painted as the bad guy in this scenario. We'll see where it goes, from all I read in interviews, they/Verheiden meant to present it more balanced.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, you know, I read your reference to 'badass action movie moments' as being about Zarek clocking the guy with the wrench.

Because my brain is broken :) . Never mind!

[acaciah.livejournal.com]

I can't add anything coherent other than my fervent nods of agreement on all counts.

Also, my love of Gaius Baltar knows no bounds. James Callis, why so awesome?