I've been mildly chastised for not posting my usual, weekly Battlestar Galactica commentary. I suppose I thought it might be nice to not be so predictable for a change. But I also suppose this was a particularly egregious oversight, given how great this week's episode was.
It has taken seven weeks to finally put the pieces back together that were smashed by the first season's incredible finale. And what a wonderful journey it has been getting there. I have to say that so far this season, Battlestar Galactica has risen from being just "one of" my favorite shows to my very favorite show. I believe it's the best thing on television right now. Yes, folks, more than 24, Lost, Veronica Mars -- best show on television right now.
The show has top-notch acting and writing. It tells a twisting and often unpredictable story with realistic, sometimes-flawed characters. It can spark long and interesting conversations not just about "what might happen next" (though talking about that can be quite interesting), but about dramatic subtext in the writing, allegories with our present times and our history, and story structure.
This week, our heroes finally got their first true taste of Earth, as the Tomb of Athena did indeed provide a small clue to point the way. But more than that: Tricia Helfer turned in an awesome performance as a more "Starbuck-like" version of Six; Baltar seemed to confirm his hallucinations were exactly that, even as one gave him future information he could not possibly have any way of knowing if indeed he was hallucinating; Adama (and Edward James Olmos) went through a phenomenal 60-second roller coaster of emotion in a bittersweet reunion with his son, followed immediately by confronting the face of the woman who tried to kill him; and many more great moments. Even the moment of Boomer pretending to be against Adama, only to turn against Meier, was elevated from predictable cliche to truly great by the powerfully-written speech she delivered before handing her gun over, perfectly delivered by Grace Park.
So, once again... kudos to Galactica. And I promise the fans reading this, I won't miss another opportunity to praise it. Tune in Friday night for the next one.
7 comments:
I want to slow clap you now... since that's a sign of great appreciation and not sarcasm on the 12 colonies. Please keep reviewing the new shows!
I was very happy to have them address Baltar and the chip again. I don't need answers (though damn, have we gotten a lot lately), just to know that the writers have not forgotten the mysteries they used to hook me in the first place.
Do you consider casting news spoilerific? If so, lemme just say that I cannot wait for the mid-season finale (episode 10) and neither can you :)
I have been listening to the podcasts (though I haven't listened to either of the recent two-parter yet), but I'd still consider any contents there spoilerific. In fact, you're sort of hinting to me like they might be giving something away I'm not sure I want to hear myself -- I might just wait to listen for a few weeks.
And, BTW, I just checked, and it looks like there is no scheduled new episode this Friday. Perhaps they're breaking for the Labor Day weekend? For whatever reason, no BSG this Friday -- they're running a marathon of Stargate SG-1 episodes all afternoon and evening.
So say we all.
I particularly like the current mystery of whether or not Boomer has the killed Boomer's memories. it sure seems like she does. poor Chief, another brilliant convergence of storylines, that is one emotionally tortured guy.
maybe the cylon chip is not in Baltar's head? that was the only part that he scanned... but some kind of targeted signal would seem to be too powerful, as the cylons could theoretically manipulate the heck out of everybody.
dang this show is good. they're doing a great job of both answering questions and bringing new questions with each episode.
-the mole
DH: David Eicke did talk more about future episodes on the podcast than Ron Moore usually does, but this is news I got from the discussion boards. The BSG homepage confirms the next new episode is Sep 9 - bummer - and THAT's not the guest star I was talking about!
Mole: Brad pointed out that much of cylon technology is biological and wouldn't necessarily show up on the scans Doc Cottle ran.
Doctor, I concure!
It is the ONLY show I make time to watch.
It is the ONLY show I look forward to seeing.
It is the ONLY show I wouldn't miss.
Only once did I have to choose between this show and something tempting - and the show won.
Kosmo, that last assertion is ambiguous. I'm glad you clarified it.
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