BSG 4.19 Daybreak Part I
Mar. 14th, 2009 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Moore takes up the pen again and we get nifty flashbacks, and some good current day action. It's tricky to talk about part I of anything, plus I'm not a little frustrated I'll leave on Monday and won't return to the land of tv watching for ten days, by which time all the finale discussion will be over. Still. Here are my preliminary and unspoiled ramblings on the start of the end.
Adama fans will be happy to hear I have nothing to complain about this week regarding him, save that I don't quite see the point of his mini flashback, but I expect this will be revealed in part II. But it's good to see he finally stopped his It's All About Me self pity party. Mind you, statetments like "you're my daughter" worked better in season 1 when they were confirmed by day to day interaction (when was the last time we heard Adama talk to Kara? When she got the Demetrius from him?), but hey. Glad to see he does something constructive when seeing the photo of Athena and Hera instead of using it as an opportunity to brood; that's an Adama I can take.
I'm not really happy that they made Athena the shattered one and Helo the one who still has hope; I'd rather prefer her to go mama bear. But the show isn't over yet, so maybe that's only a temporary complaint. This being said, this scene between them and Helo's earlier one with Tyrol was heartrendering, especially the later. It reminded me of their season 2 scenes, going from anger to the odd understanding and comradery they shared post-Pegasus. Now, Tyrol is too broken to believe anymore, and he says the worst things possible.
Other than showing us a happy Laura - with a call back to the water pool of her Epiphanies flashback - and the family talked about in Faith, I'm not sure what her flashback was about, but I'll take any Roslin sans Adama and not about Adama I can get, plus Mary McDonnell looked gorgeous. I suppose you could see it as the start of Laura closing herself emotionally?
The Kara, Lee and Zak flashback: oddly enough made me go "aw, how young they were" instead of "does that mean we'll go shippy again for the finale? Oh no!". I think one reason is in the Gaius 'n Lee scene in current day, when Gaius asks if everything has to be reduced to how Lee feels about Kara Thrace. See, that of course was my problem with how Lee Adama was written from the second half of season 2 onwards until Maelstrom in season 3, and the comment here is amusing instead of salt-in-wound because the writers finally got over that and made Lee an interesting instead of an annoying character again. (But then they reduced Laura Roslin to "it's all about X" level instead. *cue rant from last review* My grand theory of which 'ships I despise and which I don't really comes down to: I hate relationships that do not allow the participants to care for other people, causes and things utterly unrelated to that relationship.) This flashback is about both of them and the late Zak as much as it is about them, and that makes it okay.
The Anders flashback: hit me hard, and reminded me that I never quite figured out when I started to love Sam as a character, but I do. And also, go, Michael Trucco, with that double duty as Flashback!Sam - first time we see what he was like before the colonies were destroyed - and Hybrid!Sam. When he first showed upon the show, I'd never have suspected him of having that range as an actor.
Cylons: at long last, we see the Simons and Dorals again. But seriously, those models just don't have initiative. The argument between Cavil and Boomer is an obvious set up for the next episode, but it is the first time we've seen them argue at all, so even by itself, good to see.
The bare wall with only a few photographs left: hurt in just the right way. Oh, humanity.
Ellen Tigh has taken over for Laura Roslin in the "awesome middle-aged woman" (err, in an millennium old looking forty and thus not even middle aged kind of way) for me, due to, you know, initiative. I absolutely loved the way she handled Tory when Tory said "so you're making the decisions for all five of us now?". Also? Behold. Tory. Ellen. Two women. Having a scene. Which is not about whom either of them is involved with.
My unquestioned favourite scenes of the episode, though? The Gaius Baltar flashbacks and current day scenes. Back in season 3 the episode Dirty Hands had a scene which had what seemed a random throwaway bit of background - Baltar's "do you really believe this fleet will ever be led by someone NOT called Adama?" conversation with Tyrol, in which Tyrol went "you never knew what it was to be poor, you Caprican elitist" on Baltar and Baltar suddenly switched accents (i.e. James Callis did a Yorkshire one) and casually revealed that he's actually from one of the poorer colonies and made up his academic persona, down to the accent. Which is a very Gaius thing to do, but I hadn't expected the show to go back to this, as they never used it again. Until now. In a flashback that is also about several other things, most importantly how his relationship with Caprica Six went from one night stand to part-of-his-life. Hats off to Tricia Helfer, too. Recently I had a conversation about when Baltar started to think about Head!Six and Caprica Six as two different entities (my own take is he started to when meeting Gina but didn't really manage until meeting Caprica again). But Head!Six and the way Baltar sees heer is based on Caprica Six and how she appeared to him when they were together. And here, we get Flashback!Caprica Six who unites both the Head!Six manipulativeness and smarts, and flashes of the Caprica vulnerability; you can see both Head!Six and current day Caprica Six developing from this woman.
Baltar's argument with his father - complete with Lennon quote, at least that's what I took Gaius' "working class hero" remark to be - and the fact that he both takes care of him and resents it - makes him join the ranks of many another BSG character with parent issues, in an odd mixture of the Cylon brand of same (I hate that I'm from this background, I don't want to be this) and Kara Thrace's (why does my parent think I'm nothing? Well, might as well prove it). And I really love that this was Caprica Six' way in with him - not the undoubtedly spectacular sex, after which he still was ready to trade her in for the next woman, but that she came up for a solution for his father. BTW, did I hear correctly and his father's first name was Julius? I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE RON MOORE.
Meanwhile, in the present day, we have the scenes with Lee Adama, in which there is none too subtle set up for the finale when Lee says "did you ever do one heroic thing in your life which wasn't on some level for your benefit as well?" And then the show teases us with Gaius not crossing the line yet while watching Caprica Six the entire time. Again, I recognize set up when I see it. They'll either let him say on board Galactica in the last minute - i.e. when the last raptor leaves, he gets off it again in the last second, or they'll let him organize the retrieval of whoever survives Adama's Hera rescue mission, because while I think Adama & Co. are definitely, no pun intended, toast, Lee as de facto President and Hera as the symbol of the future have to make it out alive, and the Galactica sure as hell won't bring them back. So if Baltar doesn't remain on Galactica, I'll guess he'll be the one to persuade the rebel cylons on the basestar to face Cavil and retrieve Hera plus whoever survives the Galactica's rescue mission. As in one way or the other, we still have an opera vision to come true, plus there is a certain symmetry with Gaius originally making it to the fleet because Helo gives him his seat, and giving up safety in a non-benefiting Gaius Baltar act to save Helo's daughter.
Adama fans will be happy to hear I have nothing to complain about this week regarding him, save that I don't quite see the point of his mini flashback, but I expect this will be revealed in part II. But it's good to see he finally stopped his It's All About Me self pity party. Mind you, statetments like "you're my daughter" worked better in season 1 when they were confirmed by day to day interaction (when was the last time we heard Adama talk to Kara? When she got the Demetrius from him?), but hey. Glad to see he does something constructive when seeing the photo of Athena and Hera instead of using it as an opportunity to brood; that's an Adama I can take.
I'm not really happy that they made Athena the shattered one and Helo the one who still has hope; I'd rather prefer her to go mama bear. But the show isn't over yet, so maybe that's only a temporary complaint. This being said, this scene between them and Helo's earlier one with Tyrol was heartrendering, especially the later. It reminded me of their season 2 scenes, going from anger to the odd understanding and comradery they shared post-Pegasus. Now, Tyrol is too broken to believe anymore, and he says the worst things possible.
Other than showing us a happy Laura - with a call back to the water pool of her Epiphanies flashback - and the family talked about in Faith, I'm not sure what her flashback was about, but I'll take any Roslin sans Adama and not about Adama I can get, plus Mary McDonnell looked gorgeous. I suppose you could see it as the start of Laura closing herself emotionally?
The Kara, Lee and Zak flashback: oddly enough made me go "aw, how young they were" instead of "does that mean we'll go shippy again for the finale? Oh no!". I think one reason is in the Gaius 'n Lee scene in current day, when Gaius asks if everything has to be reduced to how Lee feels about Kara Thrace. See, that of course was my problem with how Lee Adama was written from the second half of season 2 onwards until Maelstrom in season 3, and the comment here is amusing instead of salt-in-wound because the writers finally got over that and made Lee an interesting instead of an annoying character again. (But then they reduced Laura Roslin to "it's all about X" level instead. *cue rant from last review* My grand theory of which 'ships I despise and which I don't really comes down to: I hate relationships that do not allow the participants to care for other people, causes and things utterly unrelated to that relationship.) This flashback is about both of them and the late Zak as much as it is about them, and that makes it okay.
The Anders flashback: hit me hard, and reminded me that I never quite figured out when I started to love Sam as a character, but I do. And also, go, Michael Trucco, with that double duty as Flashback!Sam - first time we see what he was like before the colonies were destroyed - and Hybrid!Sam. When he first showed upon the show, I'd never have suspected him of having that range as an actor.
Cylons: at long last, we see the Simons and Dorals again. But seriously, those models just don't have initiative. The argument between Cavil and Boomer is an obvious set up for the next episode, but it is the first time we've seen them argue at all, so even by itself, good to see.
The bare wall with only a few photographs left: hurt in just the right way. Oh, humanity.
Ellen Tigh has taken over for Laura Roslin in the "awesome middle-aged woman" (err, in an millennium old looking forty and thus not even middle aged kind of way) for me, due to, you know, initiative. I absolutely loved the way she handled Tory when Tory said "so you're making the decisions for all five of us now?". Also? Behold. Tory. Ellen. Two women. Having a scene. Which is not about whom either of them is involved with.
My unquestioned favourite scenes of the episode, though? The Gaius Baltar flashbacks and current day scenes. Back in season 3 the episode Dirty Hands had a scene which had what seemed a random throwaway bit of background - Baltar's "do you really believe this fleet will ever be led by someone NOT called Adama?" conversation with Tyrol, in which Tyrol went "you never knew what it was to be poor, you Caprican elitist" on Baltar and Baltar suddenly switched accents (i.e. James Callis did a Yorkshire one) and casually revealed that he's actually from one of the poorer colonies and made up his academic persona, down to the accent. Which is a very Gaius thing to do, but I hadn't expected the show to go back to this, as they never used it again. Until now. In a flashback that is also about several other things, most importantly how his relationship with Caprica Six went from one night stand to part-of-his-life. Hats off to Tricia Helfer, too. Recently I had a conversation about when Baltar started to think about Head!Six and Caprica Six as two different entities (my own take is he started to when meeting Gina but didn't really manage until meeting Caprica again). But Head!Six and the way Baltar sees heer is based on Caprica Six and how she appeared to him when they were together. And here, we get Flashback!Caprica Six who unites both the Head!Six manipulativeness and smarts, and flashes of the Caprica vulnerability; you can see both Head!Six and current day Caprica Six developing from this woman.
Baltar's argument with his father - complete with Lennon quote, at least that's what I took Gaius' "working class hero" remark to be - and the fact that he both takes care of him and resents it - makes him join the ranks of many another BSG character with parent issues, in an odd mixture of the Cylon brand of same (I hate that I'm from this background, I don't want to be this) and Kara Thrace's (why does my parent think I'm nothing? Well, might as well prove it). And I really love that this was Caprica Six' way in with him - not the undoubtedly spectacular sex, after which he still was ready to trade her in for the next woman, but that she came up for a solution for his father. BTW, did I hear correctly and his father's first name was Julius? I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE RON MOORE.
Meanwhile, in the present day, we have the scenes with Lee Adama, in which there is none too subtle set up for the finale when Lee says "did you ever do one heroic thing in your life which wasn't on some level for your benefit as well?" And then the show teases us with Gaius not crossing the line yet while watching Caprica Six the entire time. Again, I recognize set up when I see it. They'll either let him say on board Galactica in the last minute - i.e. when the last raptor leaves, he gets off it again in the last second, or they'll let him organize the retrieval of whoever survives Adama's Hera rescue mission, because while I think Adama & Co. are definitely, no pun intended, toast, Lee as de facto President and Hera as the symbol of the future have to make it out alive, and the Galactica sure as hell won't bring them back. So if Baltar doesn't remain on Galactica, I'll guess he'll be the one to persuade the rebel cylons on the basestar to face Cavil and retrieve Hera plus whoever survives the Galactica's rescue mission. As in one way or the other, we still have an opera vision to come true, plus there is a certain symmetry with Gaius originally making it to the fleet because Helo gives him his seat, and giving up safety in a non-benefiting Gaius Baltar act to save Helo's daughter.
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Date: 2009-03-14 12:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-14 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-14 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-14 08:19 pm (UTC)Re: the John Lennon bit, that was just ice on the cake, because I can just imagine young Gaius on Aerolon listening to that song. Also? Seeing him with Caprica Six reminded me again of what struck me in the miniseries, that she's so noticable taller than he is, and they never make an issue of it at all.
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Date: 2009-03-14 08:25 pm (UTC)Yeah, it might be a fun fanvid. Caprica Six is wearing heels, but you're right, she'd be a head taller than him even if she weren't.
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Date: 2009-03-15 01:11 am (UTC)I said the same thing to my boyfriend as we were watching it. He, alas, did not get it.
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Date: 2009-03-15 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 09:34 pm (UTC)