posted
Well, I'd say they made up for the last few episodes with this one. No flashbacks, tight drama, and real body count. I was so proud of Billy for growing a pair, and then he gets capped trying to be a hero. Idiot. Good ploy with Boomer's corpse. I was hoping the producers would remember they had it. Nice to see Ellen Tigh is still a stupid wench. Nice to see the sort of chaos that can unfold in a real firefight. No space battles or Cylon stuff -- this was pure human-weakness-driven drama.
Can't wait to see where they go from here (I don't watch the teaser for the next ep, not since "Yesterday's Enterprise"). I like writing (and acting) that shows the consequences to these bigger events.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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That's a good question, about what the other Cylon replicants look like and how many are in the fleet. So good I wonder why Adama hadn't asked it before.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Adama understands her position. He's not asking her to murder innocent people. Most Cylons don't know they are.. though it WOULD be worthwhile intel.
-------------------- joH'a' 'oH wIj DevwI' jIH DIchDaq Hutlh pagh (some days it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps in the morning) The Woozle!
Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
I agree, this episode completely makes up for the last two! (Not that I exactly had a huge problem with the last two... it always makes sense for people to stop and take a look around and see what's happening. 'Course, there were the big plot holes too, but I can excuse the best show on of making a few small missteps every once in a while...)
So, I'm not exactly shocked that they killed Billy. I wasn't expecting it, mainly because I've stopped trying to anticipate what the writers do with this awesome show. In retrospect, they kinda foreshadowed it with Billy finally growing a pair of stones in front of the Commander Admiral, then proposing to and getting rejected by Dee. (Kinda the same way I was expecting them to kill off Pendergast in SG-1 last week after they told us his first name...) Regardless, it's definitely a shame Billy's gone, because he provided a wonderfully sweet and gentle counterbalance to just about everyone else on the cast � someone who's not in the military, isn't in a position requiring cold-hearted decisions every day, and not a raving bitch who belongs on the cast of Desperate Housewives.
Still, it's not Battlestar Galactica if they're not making controversial and series-changing decisions that affect a great many members of the cast. So now they've reduced the Love Trapezoid (Billy/Dee, Dee/Apollo, Apollo/Starbuck) back to the classic Love Triangle instead. Did anyone notice that Starbuck was hanging around Lee's sickbay bed, in a too-similar fashion to how Dee was hanging around outside the pilots' barracks after Lee's unscheduled spacewalk in "Resurrection Ship"?
Moving on, I did anticipate Adama using the old corpse of Sharon Mk. I as a ploy against the terrorists, from the second he suddenly decided to cave. Knowing his character and his interactions with Sharon Mk. II so far, it made little sense for him to so suddenly, without any outward (to the camera) indication of conflicting feelings or angst, decide to kill Sharon (and her baby) just to satisfy a bunch of whack-job terrorists. Because I have the feeling that Adama's character has absolutely zero respect for anyone who resorts to terrorism to get what they want. And of course, there's the subtle message buried in there that the terrorists are really just striking out in some way because they're angry and pissed off at The Establishment for whatever reason. Because after all, a dead husband is really a pretty lousy excuse for taking hostages and trying to gun down Colonial marines...
Going back to Sharon, it really kills me some times how harshly they keep treating her, even though it makes perfect and nearly indisputable sense for them to be so fearful. After all, Sharon has rather clearly stated that she means no harm to the fleet, and demonstrated on numerous occasions that she wants to help protect them as well. I don't think that all of her actions can truly be justified by self-preservation alone, even though that's what Adama seems to desperately want to believe, in order to keep Sharon listed under the "Enemies" category.
Based on his great speech in the miniseries, it's obvious that Adama had already arrived at a very similar conclusion to the one that the Cylons apparently came to, the cause for them wiping out all the Colonies. Heck, I've had some similar thoughts about the problems of society myself. The key difference is: is it right to thoughtlessly wipe out millions or billions of people just for the opportunity to start over? What kind of a new beginning is that if it's achieved by genocide, anyway?
Getting back to the point, I think that Adama seems to be gradually realizing that Sharon is not the enemy... and maybe, also, that the Cylons as a whole might only be the enemy because they're still hunting the fleet. We'll have to see where exactly this leads as time goes on. It'll probably all come to a head when it's time for Sharon to give birth to her (and *snicker* Baltar's) daughter. I'm guessing that might be around this season's finale, depending on how much time it takes...
It's great to be back on the road, after the last two potholes. I also look forward to next week, when we see more of the Pegasus!
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
The staff's title of this episode must've been "Billy Don't Be A Hero".
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Dang. Why do they always kill off the characters I really like/identify with? I personally thought his character was the embodiment of Hope in the show.
Who was the actress playing the head of the terrorist group? I know I know her, it's just not coming to me. I hate getting old....
posted
No kidding. I agree completely with your take on Billy's presence. I guess they thought there was only room for one Bill in the RTF. *heh* It's going to be interesting seeing how this "death of hope" (literally) affects the mood of the show/survivors.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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Additional: Who the frack is commanding the Pegasus these days? I would presume on Galactica Gaeta would be next in line, but I don't remember ever meeting Pegasus' First Lieutenant...
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
While I liked the episode in general, there were weaknesses:
First, you suspected Billy could die as soon as he grew a pair, and this suspicion was reinforced with every scene. It could be rose-colored glasses, but I seem to recall the first season as always being full of surprises.
Second, the relationships have just sort of popped up. Billy and Dee and William's son, I mean (and yes, that does make Billy-Dee-William's). Sure, Billy and Dee were flirting back in the day, but we haven't seen that in ages . . . she had some sudden hots for Lee while he was sleeping with a hooker and then started back with Billy AFAIK. As such, the marriage proposal was out of the blue, and then the drinks with Lee and the "what to make of us" business was just completely out of left field for me. I could fill in the blanks, but I still felt like I'd missed a half-season or so.
Third, I realized that my enjoyment of BSG might be doomed as of this episode. That proposal scene was just such a soap opera cliche. I've had a love-hate relationship with television (and fiction in general, to some extent), but I've been known to watch certain small exceptions that are interesting because of their ideas. If BSG is going to become "The Young and the Restless" + Space + Shooting, then I'm afraid I'll be putting it down soon.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
posted
Why, when Adama asks "Who do we have aboard Cloud 9?", does Gaeta mention Apollo, Starbuck, and the marines, but not Dualla?
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posted
I don't remember who Captain Kelly is, but Apollo and Starbuck are both part of the air wing, and thus not trained to command a Battlestar, probably. I'll keep it mind as a maybe, though...
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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Oh bullshit Jonah. Just because Gaeta's on the CIC he's gonna get dumped into command? Hell no. He's a junior officer with no command experience. Thrace and Adama might not have experience commanding Battlestars, but they do have experience as commanders of Galactica's air-wing, which makes them more qualified. Besides, if the Colonial military works the way the US navy does, only former-Air Wing members can command Battlestars (Adama and Tigh both are ex-Viper pilots). That qualification alone, Gaeta flunks -- he's not a pilot.
I don't know the Chain of Command on Galactica, but Thrace and Lee are both Line Officers, like Gaeta. They both outrank Gaeta, as does Captain Kelly. Just because of where Gaeta works doesn't indicate his position in the CoC.
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