Faith

Overall, I'd have to say I didn't really like this week's Battlestar Galactica. But there was one element seeded throughout the hour that I really did like -- the stark and harsh depiction of death.

Again and again in this episode, death was shown without glamour. There was death without dignity, death without purpose, slow and painful death, sudden and jarring death... every color of a very dark rainbow. Unplugging the hybrid, a Six taking revenge on a human, another Six executing the first, a "Sharon" getting caught in the crossfire, and the wasting death of a cancer patient (with Roslin sitting by to see a glimpse of her future).

All these elements played like some sort of poem, a narrative concept that gave a lot of heft to the proceedings. By no means would I call it entertaining to watch, but it was very effective and affective.

The story itself wasn't very compelling, however. Things in the fleet were on total pause this week, as most characters remained off screen, waiting for Starbuck's story to "catch up." (And allowing Roslin time off for her treatments.) The Cylon plot was considerably more engaging, but still didn't end up anywhere other than exactly where you knew it would by the end of the episode.

There was the revelation that apparently, the final five Cylons have actually been to Earth, and have the knowledge of its location buried in their subconscious somewhere. Important in the grand scheme of things, I suppose.

Yet I would much rather have seen what would have happened if Anders really had put his hand in that Cylon goo computer terminal thingie.

Perhaps in a future episode.