Overall, I liked tonight's Battlestar Galactica. I say that up front, because I'm about to heap on a bunch of quibbles and complaints I had with the episode -- I'm focusing on the bad for a moment.
The Lee Adama material tonight felt rather unpolished to me. The dialogue in the opening scene between he and Dualla had a tinny falseness in my ear that is very uncharacteristic of the show. Unusually heightened, unusually self-conscious.
I love when Galactica portrays the "hard choices," but Colonel Tigh's storyline tonight was rough to take. He killed his own wife? He did that, knowing that rescue was coming at any moment? Was that really necessary? It seems to me like it would be nearly impossible for the writers to ever redeem his character from this point on. But, then again... Baltar is responsible for genocide many times over, Roslin has ordered the deaths of people (it's too easy to say "they were just Cylons") and kidnapped a child from its parents, and so on. Maybe they're all just as flawed.
The loss of Pegasus? Telegraphed from too far away. I guessed I'd hoped that since they writers had thwarted expectations once by not destroying the Pegasus in the episodes that first introduced it, that they'd do so again this time. Though I suppose this does give Lee's character an interesting road for future episodes.
And speaking of thwarted expectations, I guess I'm a little disappointed that after season one's cliffhanger took six or seven episodes to resolve, this vastly more epic cliffhanger from season two was wrapped up so quickly.
Was anybody else bothered by the coincidence that the real mother of Starbuck's "child" just happened to be right there on the flight deck next to her?
Actually, all these thoughts are more than quibbles, really. But, on the other hand, other stuff in the episode was really terrific.
The visual effects were mind-blowing. The in-atmosphere jump of the Galactica, the collision and destruction of the Pegasus... each image was more amazing than the last.
Baltar running off with Six at the end should prove interesting territory for the future. Baltar truly among the Cylons, as in the original 1970s incarnation of the show? Well, not exactly, of course. But what twists will the writers put on it?
Lots of good performances from the cast, particularly Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck, Alessandro Juliani as Gaeta, and Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh.
I guess it's now "back on the road" for Galactica and the fleet. I'm eager to see what happens next.
2 comments:
I know I've never responded to any of your blogs, but I felt I had to add a big issue I had with the last few episodes.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I found Starbuck becoming so immediately attached to the girl a little forced. Especially a child that's introduced by a Cylon that's:
A) holding her captive and
B) Trying to get her to love him.
As far as the coincidence of her real mother being there on the deck, if she was evacuated in a shuttle - then she would be on the Galactica deck. A stretch, but a better stretch than above.
Just MHO - Dave
I agree, it was tough to understand Starbuck's reaction, based on what we saw in the episodes. I justify it in my head in two ways:
1) She's been in captivity for four months, being subjected to mental head games the whole time, deliberately designed to wear her down. She's in a more fragile state than "regular" Starbuck.
2) She may not be entirely sure about whether she can even HAVE children, after what may or may not have been done to her in "the farm," so she might be desperate to grasp at any lifeline that says she can.
As long as we're justifying stuff to each other. :-)
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