BSG 4.18 Islanded in a Stream of Stars

[selenak]

Before I get to the episode: I always enjoy reading composer Bear McCreary's blog, as he usually has interesting things to say about the episodes, and because he mentions cut scenes. (Any regular BSG watcher knows the show has an annoying tendency to cut scenes important for continuity on occasion.) There was another one of those in this episode, or rather, there wasn't, dealing with Chief Tyrol. Check out the blog to read what it was about.



I enjoyed a lot in this episode, but first I must vent my ire about something I felt a kind of numb (because by now, it wasn't surprising anymore) hate for. It seems I must now accept Laura Roslin's storyline in BSG has essentially ended with Revelations. Now she's simply around anymore to cause Bill Adama angst or to advise him to accept the obvious. Laura Roslin, one of the few mature, strong-willed, multi-dimensional and powerful female characters on tv is nothing more than Bill Adama's love interest. I can't tell you how much lines like "both your women" (about her and the Galactica) or "I never felt anywhere at home except for these last weeks with you" grieved me, and not in the sense the writers intended them to. It's official. Adama/Roslin has surpassed Kara/Lee as my most hated 'ship on this show. Kara and Lee these days behaving like mature people when with each other is helping with that distinction, but mostly it is because of that that ship did to one of my all time favourite characters. Oh Laura, Laura, Laura. I wish Boomer had succeeded in killing Bill Adama in the s1 finale, I truly do. Can't think of any storyline or scene thereafter that wouldn't have been improved by his absence. And it would have saved you from this degredation.

Mind you, even if the Roslin and Adama scene hadn't underlined the above made observation, I would have continued to loathe Adama in this episode, as he once again proved his matchless ability to make it All About Him. And to be a hypocrite, uniting both in the scene with Helo. The same Bill Adama who risked the fleet twice waiting and searching for Kara, the same Bill Adama who essentially abandoned the fleet to go on a suicide mission when Roslin disappeared tells Helo to get over it and uses the death of his son - who died unambigiously, and also years ago - not any of the earlier named examples - as a way to do it.

Incidentally, that scene had some great acting by Tamoh Pennikett, who while being stalwart through these years never really had impressed me acting-wise before. But here his grief was really visceral. And Grace Parks, who in the first season often was called the weakest link, continued to blow it out of the water, just like last episode. And with this I'm in the part of my review where I praise. I loved GP's performance both in her short scene as Athena, and in her scenes as Boomer, and may I say, I'm really relieved we got some character scenes for Boomer showing us what goes on inside of her instead of going from her departure from Galactica directly to her arrival chez Cavil? Of course, if they hadn't cut her scenes with baby!Hera in season 3 her scenes with Hera now would have had even more resonance but even so: well done, show. They showed both Boomer's doubts and reluctant bonding with Hera, and pointed out that Hera like Cylons can project, which I presume will be important before the show is done. Also, note that if you take those cut season 3 scenes into account, when Boomer tried to be Athena Hera rejected her, but when she was herself with Hera and admitted to her own sense of loss and lost-ness Hera accepted her - Hera cries out for Boomer in the end, by name.

The show continued to make me happy by finally remembering Baltar and Caprica Six are on the same ship and actually have a history together. It's not that I wanted them to fall into each other's arms, but the complete not-speaking and non-contact was even more baffling than Roslin and Lee Adama not exchanging a single word after Home for nearly two seasons. At least, thought I, give us a definite confrontation/break-up/SOMETHING to clear the air. And finally, the show did. While I don't think that was the last the characters see of each other, I think it was right and a good choice from a Doylist and Watsonian pov both for Caprica to not believe and reject Baltar's offer of help here. As Bear McCreary notes in his blog, the irony is that Gaius is actually genuine in intent here - this isn't about sex - but because of their past and because of who he still is, selfishness ongoing, and because she did change and doesn't want to go back, she rebuffs him. If they ever become a couple again, it would have to be on different terms than those of the past, and after a lot more proof of change on Baltar's part. If they never become a couple again, that's also good BECAUSE WE FINALLY GOT A SCENE, in which they had a genuine conversation, and Caprica Six got to speak her mind.

One more thing about that scene, or rather, about the earlier part: as McCreary also notes, Baltar does one his confessions-without-actually-spelling-it-out things here, because on one level, he tells the entire fleet he sees Head!Six... but framed in a way that doesn't name her. When Kara asks him point-blank, he withdraws behind "not all the time" and of course doesn't name whom he sees. As to whether Baltar's explanation for what he sees - that everyone makes their "angel" look like their nearest and dearest - is also the show's - I suppose we'll find out soon. (It might work for Baltar and Caprica Six immediately after Caprica was nuked, and their respective head!people who then emerged, but Kara saw Leoben and Laura saw Elosha, which, err, doesn't quite fit so well.)

Kara and Baltar didn't have a scene together since the s1 finale (no conversation, I mean, they were in the same room with other people a couple of times), and her telling him her secret is something I saw as on one level another deliberate letting-go gesture, because even if she couldn't know Baltar would out her to the entire fleet, she by this gesture had told someone who had no reason to keep it confidential. (Also, leave it to Gaius Baltar to go from "Kara died and is still around, but is not a Cylon" to "zomg, this could mean eternal life for all of us!") It's odd about Kara; I've found her an interesting character throughout the show, even during the months of the horribly written quadrangle times; I've sometimes liked her, and sometimes less so, but she never was a favourite. So it surprised me how touching I find her story now, especially in the last episode and in this one. Oh miracle of miracles, I even enjoyed the relationship stuff on two fronts: the scenes with Sam, and the one scene with Lee. Her scenes with Sam had me actively rooting for him to wake up one more time as his old self, so they could say goodbye, and Katee Sackhoff really sold me on Kara loving Sam, despite all the missteps on the way; that "my Sam" killed me. Conversely, she also sold me on Kara's love for Lee when Lee told her "you're Kara Thrace"; whether she loves him in a sometimes incestous sisterly way or in a romantic-having-faded-back-to-familiar way really doesn't matter anymore, all the drama is done, and the only important thing is that they have each other's back when it counts now.

And lastly: really liked the short scene between Tigh and the Eight in sickbay, and the scene with Tigh and Ellen later. Defining himself through his human bonds was and is Tigh's choice, and it made complete sense because he can't remember, except for brief flashes, anything about being Cylon, and until a few months ago, he had no relationships with any other Cylons. Ellen, by contrast, because she died and was resurrected, can remember, and that is both a gulf between them and something that enables her to offer him hope. I've always thought Tigh would go out with Adama (and the Galactica), but now I wonder whether the show will go for the irony of letting him survive. Because the scene with the Eight brought home to Tigh that the Seven see him as their father, just as they see Ellen as their mother (and btw, Cavil in his one scene underlined that once again, telling Boomer he's so sorry he couldn't see Ellen's face when she figured out he set her up - because it's still all about Showing Mom How Much Better He Is), and for a brief moment, he did accept that responsibility, and was with her when she did, much as Sam Anders grasped that other dying Eight's hand.

I'm also feeling a wistful grief for the Galactica, but that is somewhat marred by Adama emoting over her every single episode and making it all about himself, so my ode to the old ship cannot be written. I don't want to get into another rant again.

Comments

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of similar feelings to you about this episode: hating Adama, glad to have a Baltar & Six scene and loving the Kara story. I've always found her a fascinating character, though difficult to like. I could always intellectualise why I found her destiny arc really interesting - because it did dare to put her into a frenzy to find out her own purpose, even if it got other people hurt or killed. I loved that finally - finally - she was able to let go and feel at peace, even if she doesn't have all the answers. Lee might have put the words to that (he didn't care what she was, just as long as she was there) but the scenes with Sam put the heart into it, even if those scenes were hard to watch.

Agreed about Tahmoh's performance - that was his best work of the series, even though he's always been a reliable supporting player. And Grace Park - I will never understand the criticisms of her in the early seasons, but now she is doing things that equal anyone else on the show. Thank Whoever she got to have nearly a whole episode as Boomer again - and yet still completely sell the single scene she had as Athena. And, frankly, as the dying Eight in Sickbay and the Eight in the Sam/Hybrid scene. Grace Park is never going to have this opportunity again. (I love Tricia Helfer's work, but I'm not sure there was another Six quite as complex as Caprica. Perhaps Gina and maybe Natalie would have gotten there. But there's nothing really like Grace's work as Boomer and Athena. I hope Grace Park gets to play against herself in the finale!)

And yes, I shall miss the Galactica heself, but hate that it's so tied to Adama's breakdown and losing Roslin. Especially now that's been made explicit in the text. Urgh.

I have a small hope that Roslin - driven by Opera House visions - will have at least one more revelatory moment that doesn't involve her relationship with Bill. If not, I'll be grieving the loss of her characterisation, too.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Nice to see that Baltar is still capable of being a total dick. I was worried he was becoming a bit too saintly.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

It seems I must now accept Laura Roslin's storyline in BSG has essentially ended with Revelations.
Yes. In terms of the character, I can't begrudge her some rest now, especially with her hopes dashed as they were, but for the show... she was always such a part of the planning and I find I do miss scheming Roslin.

Mind you, even if the Roslin and Adama scene hadn't underlined the above made observation, I would have continued to loathe Adama in this episode, as he once again proved his matchless ability to make it All About Him.

Yes. I'm often infuriated by him. You might find this set of Adama macros (http://beccatoria.livejournal.com/82879.html?style=mine) amusing, by the way. (And this earlier one (http://beccatoria.livejournal.com/75126.html?style=mine) as well.)

Like you, I loved seeing Caprica and Gaius interact.

Her scenes with Sam had me actively rooting for him to wake up one more time as his old self, so they could say goodbye, and Katee Sackhoff really sold me on Kara loving Sam, despite all the missteps on the way; that "my Sam" killed me.

As someone who has really liked Sam (ever since he was 'cylonized' because I can't resist that whole outsider theme, especially considering how he fought against the very things he helped make...), I'm hoping he'll wake up. Whether he does or not, I really appreciated the acknowledgment of what he has meant to Kara. Too bad she couldn't find the words when he was alive, but that's typical Kara.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I've always found her a fascinating character, though difficult to like.

Yes, me too. And I was okay with that. Because at no point, even during the direst quadrangle days, it looked like all there was to Kara was "will she end up with Lee or Sam?" She was always the heroine of her own story, and I appreciated that, even if I did not always like her. Coming around to loving her near the end was unexpected, but nice boon.

Lee might have put the words to that (he didn't care what she was, just as long as she was there) but the scenes with Sam put the heart into it, even if those scenes were hard to watch.

Yes, they did. Really good tv.

I love Tricia Helfer's work, but I'm not sure there was another Six quite as complex as Caprica. Perhaps Gina and maybe Natalie would have gotten there.

I thought they were both fully realized individuals, but I would agree that neither got as much detail as Athena and Boomer, storywise. Though Tricia Helfer pulls off selling me on different Sixes every single time even if she has just five minutes to do so; I remember the first time I realised how much she can do with body language, when Head!Six messed with Baltar by turning into Starbuck in his head.

All of which isn't meant to refute that Grace Parks does amazing work, and I'm really glad the show lets her.

Opera visions: yes, I do have that tiny hope for Roslin, but I'm trying not to cling to it too much, because I can't trust the show won't let me down on this account. At least Bill has never ever been in any of the opera dreams. Phew.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

In terms of the character, I can't begrudge her some rest now, especially with her hopes dashed as they were, but for the show... she was always such a part of the planning and I find I do miss scheming Roslin.

I'm trying to figure out whether I'm unfair, but it's really not the fact she's dying and shutting down - the show prepared us for that from the get go, and a second miraculous cure would be cheap. But she always, always was about so much more - she was a leader, for God's sake - than just providing angst for Adama. Perhaps what it comes down to is this: compare the Adama/Roslin and the Tigh/Ellen scenes in this episode. In both cases, you have a man in emotional turnmoil and a woman trying to get through to him. In both cases, the people in question are in love. But in the Roslin/Adama case, Roslin is only allowed to talk about how he feels and will feel when both Galactica and she are gone. Show concern only about that. Whereas Ellen, with no less strong emotion for Saul, clearly has the welfare of what's left of the Cylons on the mind as well, and gets to talk about them. In other words, show concern for her people, whom she feels responsible for because she and the other FF created them.

All the other female characters in this episode had more agenda than Laura Roslin, and that grieves me to no end. (That Laura has none, not that everyone else does - I'm glad about the later.)

As someone who has really liked Sam (ever since he was 'cylonized' because I can't resist that whole outsider theme, especially considering how he fought against the very things he helped make...), I'm hoping he'll wake up. Whether he does or not, I really appreciated the acknowledgment of what he has meant to Kara. Too bad she couldn't find the words when he was alive, but that's typical Kara.

I've liked Sam before, but becoming a Cylon added another dimension to it, and scenes like the one he had with the Eight on the Basestar really used that instead of making "oh, let's turn Anders into one of the Final Five" just into a gimmik. And yes, Kara not finding the words when he was alive and well is very Kara. Their scenes together were incredibly touching.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Adama: Goodness. The hyperbole. The ridiculous overacting. Maybe EJO should be kept from directing material he also stars in - I liked the way the funeral was set, and a lot of the conversations were great, but the scene in his quarters where he breaks down with the paint was truly embarrassing to watch.

We do agree about the rest, mostly, although I am at a point with the show where I really want it to be over.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: Overacting - when praising Grace Parks, I was tempted to add that if she grew as an actress by leaps and bounds during the show (I didn't find her bad in s1 at all, but I wouldn't have singled her out for praise or named her among the best actors then), EJO really grew worse. There is no subtlety left in his Adama now. But then again, it could be I'm biased and let my dislike of the character spill over. Otoh, I think back to his performance in "Blade Runner" - where he has nearly no text - or his stint in "West Wing" for two episodes, and think yes, he used to be better.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

I'm hardly neutral on this, too. It's not just that I dislike the character, I'm getting incredibly irritated at the way both mainstream and fan reviews I've read constantly shower EJO with praise for his "powerful" performances, where I usually think that less would really be more. I think the last time I bought emotionally into one of his "large" performances was when he broke down over Tigh and Lee comforted him, and that was partly because I thought Jamie Bamber was balancing him out really well with his own performance.

All of that said, I would agree with you. I think he used to be better, and he especially used to be better on this show, as well.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

As for Grace Park, I'm guilty as charged here, because I thought she wasn't all that good in S1, but she really grew with the challenge. I guess her talent just needed a bit to unfold. (There is also the point where I could be biased because I disliked both the Caprica and her Tyrol plot, and because I have issues with Boomer as a character, which probably isn't exactly news. *g*)

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I've nearly arrived at the same level of loathing for Adama as you now. That scene with the paint and the emoting over his ship was so AWFUL it made me laugh, which completely ruins what might otherwise be an emotional moment. The only scenes with Adama that I still enjoy are those he shares with Tigh, and only because Tigh in S4 has become one of my favourite characters - quite unexpectedly.

Gaius and Caprica almost made me squee, though, because I seriously didn't expect them to have a resolution. The relationship between Baltar, Caprica and head!Six is complicated - are the two the same for him, and if not, what does each Six mean to him? "Nearest and dearest" is more than I expected from Gaius after S3, to be honest. Also, I like the contrast between Caprica, who has grown so much (and become much less Other) and newly re-appeared head!Six, who in comparison is quite sinister. Also, I thought it was cute that Gaius tried to play the provider for Caprica - it's one of his sweetest moments of complete fail.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That scene with the paint and the emoting over his ship was so AWFUL it made me laugh, which completely ruins what might otherwise be an emotional moment.

Yes indeed. I'm all ready to mourn for the Galactica, as similar demises (the original Enterprise! the Liberator (and Zen)! the TARDIS in Turn Left!) tend to make me very mushy inside; but with Adama as the mourning pov, and EJO overacting and hamming it up so awfully, it just doesn't work the way I want it to. Oh, for Michael Keating and the subtlety of "I have failed you".

The relationship between Baltar, Caprica and head!Six is complicated - are the two the same for him, and if not, what does each Six mean to him?

I think this kept changing throughout the show. At first, he certainly related to Head!Six as Caprica Six, i.e. the woman he had known. To me, the turning point - where he started to see them as two different entities, though not all the time, but definitely the point where it started - was during the Pegasus arc, when he met Gina. Not that he saw Gina as being the same, her terrible condition emphasised the individuality of the Sixes, if anything; but when he told Gina about his past, he spoke in the past tense - "she loved me, and I think - I loved her" (first time he says this to someone other than the Six in his head, and to her previously he said it when he was afraid of the latest catastrophe) - and this while Head!Six is present and appalled because he also uses the memory she told him about to wake up Gina. So I think this is where he starts to differentiate between the Six in his head and the woman he had a relationship with on Caprica. What drives it home is when he meets Caprica Six again, and she's far from being the manipulative seductress in his head. (Not that she has never been this, but she's not anymore, and as we know, her Head!Baltar is far closer to this chararacter than Caprica herself is at this point.) So in s3, you have them mutually failing each other when being confronted with the reality (and I do think it's a mutual failure; for all that Baltar dumps Caprica in order to figure out whether he's one of the final five, she handed him over to D'Anna and torture first; also, there was the tragedy of New Caprica before that), and at that point he certainly thinks of Head!Six as a different entity (and the one he trusts more). Yet they're never entirely disconnected; during the waterboarding interrogation by Adama and Roslin, when he's drugged up and hence not able to lie, he talks about the Six in his head and not knowing whether she's angel or demon, but he calls her Caprica Six - merging them into one again. Leaving aside all Doylist explanations, I think you can produce a Watsonian one about Baltar not seeing or talking to Caprica until this current episode - it's the responsibility issue again. Which he ran away from until the mutiny; facing Caprica means facing their past and her likely rejection, and it was just easier not to, and that's his default option.

Also, I thought it was cute that Gaius tried to play the provider for Caprica - it's one of his sweetest moments of complete fail.

Well put. It makes one headdesk in a fond way.

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

Oh thank god! I was starting to feel like no one in the wider fannish world (outside myself and about three other people with whom I have talked rather extensively about Laura's characterization) was as ragey about those scenes as I was. Those scenes broke my heart and I think ultimately must lead me to the conclusion you also reach: It seems I must now accept Laura Roslin's storyline in BSG has essentially ended with Revelations.

I find this particularly frustrating because until this season I've always really enjoyed the relationship between Roslin and Adama. But any affection I ever felt for Bill has been pretty soundly swept away of late, while at the same time the show has trivialized Laura and turned her into a stereotype. I am so very disappointed.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I know you used to enjoy it (as I participated in the Bill versus Baltar poll some weeks back). In fairness, the reason why I turned against the relationship far earlier wasn't because I thought it was damaging to Laura's characterisation in earlier seasons, but because I couldn't see them balance each other anymore post-Home, with Lay Down Your Burdens as a kind of last hooray; I saw the relationship as without challenge and with mutual enabling plus skeevy political implications, so I didn't enjoy it, and liked Laura's scenes with other characters far better. Plus, of course, I simultanously lost more and more of my sympathy for Bill as a character (not just in the Laura context, in his interactions with pretty much everyone), so I didn't think he was worthy of her. Now, though, it's ever so much worse because Laura doesn't have her own storyline anymore and only exists to further Bill's, and that's absolutely crushing.

I've seen it happen to Cordelia Chase in season 3 of Angel, I've seen it happen to Aeryn Sun in season 4 of Farscape. I just never thought I'd see it happen to Laura. And you know one of the biggest ironies? The writers in the very same episode prove they still know how to do it differently. As I said to another comment: compare the Adama/Roslin and the Tigh/Ellen scenes in this episode. In both cases, you have a man in emotional turnmoil and a woman trying to get through to him. In both cases, the people in question are in love. But in the Roslin/Adama case, Roslin is only allowed to talk about how he feels and will feel when both Galactica and she are gone. Show concern only about that. Whereas Ellen, with no less strong emotion for Saul, clearly has the welfare of what's left of the Cylons on the mind as well, and gets to talk about them. In other words, show concern for her people, whom she feels responsible for because she and the other FF created them. And look at Starbuck. Though the episode does deal with her relationships to Sam and Lee, none of these scenes imply that all Kara is about is whom she's in love with, or that what Kara needs to do to find her peace is to have her man. Caprica Six rebuffs Baltar not because she's now with Tigh but because she doesn't want to go back to something she's outgrown. All the other female characters in this episode had more agenda than Laura Roslin, and that grieves me to no end. (That Laura has none, not that everyone else does - I'm glad about the later.)

[acaciah.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I was so very very happy that the writers finally, finally remembered that Caprica and Gaius have a history together and that they might want to talk about it some time!

I'm having issues too, with Roslin just fading away. WTF? My grandfather had pancreatic cancer, and aside from being in a lot of pain, was sharp till the day he died.

Also, I love io9 (http://io9.com/5165920/the-men-who-make-battlestar-galactica-feminist)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, not every cancer patient is the same. But just think of how they portrayed Roslin in the last stages in season 2, before she got miracle-cured! During the Pegasus arc and in Epiphanies, she wasn't just sharp but active, working for her people. And she wasn't better off then than she's now. Only now, all they let her be concerned about is bloody Bill Adama.

Thanks for the link! *goes to read*