A Day in the Life

An unfortunately rather poor episode of Battlestar Galactica tonight, I thought. Aside from a number of good scenes in the final act, I found the episode ranged from ordinary and predictable at best to downright laughable at worst.

The Tyrol-and-Cally-in-jeopardy plot was disappointing, standard television fare. From the moment they stepped into that airlock, arguing with one another, you knew every single beat that was going to take place in that story, all the way to the end of the episode.

And then there was the plot involving Bill Adama's memories of his ex-wife. I thought it a failure on absolutely every level. The concept of a parallel, imagined conversation taking place in a character's head, in an entirely different location, is an interesting one. And probably great on some other show. But on this show, this is a character device for Baltar, and Baltar alone. Sure, it's been a long, long time since we saw Baltar imagining himself back in his house on Caprica, but it's still a vivid and fresh image in the minds of every Galactica fan (and not just because we see the house destroyed every week in the opening credits). Unless this was deliberately intended to tweak that tiny portion of the fan base that's still entertaining the crazy notion that Adama is actually a Cylon, there was no reason to do it.

Then there was the woman they cast to play the ex-wife. Her performance was so outrageous, it was practically comedic. I think she can't be held solely responsible for it -- she'd been handed some incredibly over-the-top dialogue, and no doubt was coached in this wild behavior by the director of the episode. But no matter who is to blame, I couldn't take the finished product seriously.

I can't be sure but I think even the props department dropped the ball on this aspect of the episode. It sure seemed to me like half the time we saw that old wedding photo, it had the corners clipped off, while the other half, it didn't. Not that these things typically get to me, but since I certainly was not being pulled into the scene as a viewer, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to these sorts of other details.

As I said, at least there were some good moments in the final 10 minutes or so that saved the episode from being a total loss. Among those last few strong and touching character moments: Tyrol and Cally's reunion with their son, Lee receiving the box of his grandfather's law books from his father (and the note inside), and Laura and Bill's final scene together looking back ("hypothetically") at the good times on New Caprica.

All told, a definite low point of the season for me. But I suppose some episode would have that unfortunate distinction, even if all 20 for the year were great.