TVSquad

Oh, come on! Did no one else notice how "Miami Vice"-like this ep was? Right down to Edward James Olmos giving the case to the detective!

This was not a good ep. Filler, filler, filler.

Also, it's a sad statement on the writers' sensibilities that they first (way at the beginning) changed the two black characters to different races, and then never had a *main* black character, and then they decide to have the pimpin' black market crime lord be... black!! Wow. Way to go!

Boomer and Tigh were two of the first strong black characters on TV who weren't thugs or hoodlums, or ex-thugs, or ex-hoodlums. Basically, good role models. Then the new series does this feldercarb. Nice.

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How many people did the other warship add to the fleet?

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For some reason, this didn't really feel like an episode of Galactica. Maybe it was the lack of cylon-related activity, or maybe the whole detective story tone.

Oh well, they can't all be winners. At least we got some insight on Apollo.

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I keep hearing that the show has 'jumped the shark.' It hasn't. It is having a weak run after the hiatus. This episode was simply OK. I was surprised that we really had such a Lee-centric episode. We didn't really see anyone else. It seemed odd that we only really saw the Black Market story through Lee's eyes with the exception of the set-up.

Last week's I found to be horrible. The show has established that, unlike Star Trek, there are consequences for injuries & actions. Roslyn's miraculous recovery went against the grain of that established credibility.

I also didn't like the abandonment of any reference to the timeline. In Resurrection Ship 2, we see Gina (Six's Pegasus Clone) just getting off the floor of her cell with welts all over her body from beatings. In the next week's episode she's an established leader of the resistance who has fully formed resistance cells who have had sufficient time to train, plan, and execute terrorist actions.

I also thought the resolution of the cliffhanger we bagan "Resurrection Ship Part 1" with was a cop out.

That said, BSG is still one of the best shows on TV. It's having a bit of a lull, but no way is it going away. I wonder how much the creative team that drove Season 1 have been pulled away by the studio/network to focus on other projects? Didn't we hear a big story about Ron Moore being signed to a big 2-year deal with NBC? Maybe he's not spending as much time on Q/A for the show as he was previously.

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There are many copies. The tortured Six and the resistance-leader Six are not the same Cylon -- they're copies. And apparently, not so much movement around the fleet that the surviving humans wouldn't notice the same person in two places at once.

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I'm glad you've come up with the same word I use for dead moments between story lines - filler. Today this was the case for the whole scifi channel lineup to the point that I pretty much fast forwarded through 98% of SG Atlantis and about 50% of SG1. I'm so happy with my PVR.

My girlfriend si a BSG afficionado and even she was dissatisfied with it. As I have stated before, the writing is just underpar, as compared to the first season and other shows like Rome, Surface etc.

I agree with whoever mentioned the issue of time. One episode we have 6 barely able to stand up, the next she has had time to organize a group of idiot peaceniks and has a warhead from the doctor. That takes time and we are not given the impression that time has passed at all. In fact, because of the president's condition you can say that very little has passed. I'm sure others, more observant than I, would be able to ascertain the time issue with more clarity.

By the way, did anyone bother to notice if they added the people that became part of the fleet when pagasus became part of the fleet to the total number of humans in the president's whiteboard?

There's also the reverse time episode thing, this is the third time they have pulled this one, first with Starbuck descending into the desert planet after ejecting, then with Apollo ejecting and floating in space while the battle occurred around him - I prefer that point of view to the one of him swiming - and now this one; are they running out of ideas?

The time issue also creates a sense of idiocity in this episode as we are made to think Apollo is suddenly so traumatised by the loss of the woman in Caprica he compensates by using a prostitute and her daughter. Again, time - wouldn't that have happened earlier? His "relationship" with the comm officer was all of what, two minutes? Her relationship with the President's gopher has been all of what, five minutes? What happened to his hugging and kissing Starbuck? A filler for BSG should be much better. I vote the current writers be fired before they mess up the show even more.

Killing the commander is something the mafia would not have done. That guy was the second in command of the fleet as Pegasus is second to Galactica. That would be like assasinating the person who's working with you over a bit of money, when other pressures can be brought to bear - like, hmmmn, leaking evidence of some impropriety, getting him to fall for a call girl and then threatening her, getting the call girl pregnant and saying the child is his - but those would have taken a bit of thinking.

Of course all this griping only comes because I'm expecting the show to be great and bring a smile on Friday nights. You won't see it for SG1 or SG Atlantis, those shows can be good, but a bit of meiocrity is expected from then ever two or three relatibly decent ones. If, however, the quality continues to be this lackluster I'll be happy when Dr. Who starts airing - as well as Deadwood and the Sopranos - and say, "Well, BSG had a great first season . ." Alas, it seems, the next episode promises to be just as crappy. Starbuck becomes an alcoholic? Come on people!

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You know, before this second half of season 2 started, the promotional materials promised that the "second half" was going to really get "ramped up" and be a "wild ride." Well, they're taking us for a ride alright.

Hey, I'm a jump-the-shark guy. I'm disappointed in the drop-off and the direction the show is headed. I, too, can't believe they started with the same "48 hours earlier." It is clear to me that the writers have abandoned what for one and a half seasons was impeccable timing and perfectly seasoned character development for simplistic characterizations--as if these characters are traveling from three-dimentional depth to two-dimensional superficiality. Baltar is no-longer a tortured soul traveling down an unknown road to a dark-side--he is suddenly bitter and evil. Meanwhile, Roslin is suddenly a hard-liner of a dictator, ordering assassinations, abortions, and now demanding resignations (where was the groundwork for that one?) I'm really actually quite appalled.

That said, I liked this episode, though I didn't think it was a great episode. The idea of the black market worked for me, and the corruption involved was a typical BSG touch. I liked this episode right up to the point of that cheesy, corny tear-filled speech by the prostitute at the end: "She wanted to give you a child, but you were afraid, so you pushed her away and then you ran, and you didn't stop running until it was too late. (Cut to scenes of Caprica being bombed to hell.) Well, I'm not her! And Paya is not and will never be your child!" Holy shit! Did someone actually write that and think it was a good idea for the show?!! I mean, I liked Apollo blowing away the bad guy--I thought that went against cliche to some extent. Then they follow it up with that turd of an exchange?

I never thought I would say this but I haven't seen dialogue this bad since Star Wars I, II & III. In fact, I haven't seen overall character development this bad (in the last few shows at least) since Anakin Skywalker. It's only been this second half of the season, but it's painful to watch. I repeat, I really think the writers are losing their way.

That said, let me address some other issues being raised in the comments:
(1) The timeline doesn't bother me. In fact, I thought there was some dialogue in the last episode that actually indicated several weeks had passed (but you know it was thrown in there to explain it). I'm more concerned with the illogical leaps in character development. Even so, I do question why the writers chose to skip ahead. I mean, wasn't the situation immediately after Gina's escape ripe with potential action, conflict and great storylines?
(2) Brendon, theories are always welcome, and your theory isn't beyond the realm of possibility, but its out there. If you watch the show, it follows a pretty tight logical thread that the resistance leader is the escaped Gina.
(3) I guess I can accept the insight into Apollo, though I have some questions about his motivations right now and his previous interactions with Starbuck, so I agree, its a little awkward. I can't help but think that a couple well written scenes here and there, say between Apollo and Starbuck, interspersed throughout the series, and in particular this episode, could make a lot of difference. So it all comes back to writing.
(4) I bought that Commander Fisk would get killed. I thought he was clearly portrayed as a rival, trying to take over parts of the black market in a kind of turf war. So him getting killed made some sense. Again, I just don't like the character development and then killing him off. I mean, here is a character, Fisk, who is portrayed over three episodes as really struggling with the moral issues serving under Cain, and he had that great scene where he stopped the beating of Helo and the Chief. Then suddenly in this episode, he's a corrupt buffoon and then he's killed off. I would have liked to see more of him as commander of the Pegasus.
(5) There are now 49,597 people in the fleet. I know at the beginning of Season 1, there were 47,973, so they have accounted for Pegasus to some extent. I, of course, haven't kept track as the number moved up or down, but I will say this--I would have thought that a Battlestar ultimately had more people than 1300 or so. I mean, the USS Ronald Reagan, a modern day aircraft carrier, has a complement of 3200. But, whatever, maybe they lost more along the way and the Pegasus did have more.

Finally, I don't think I'm a mean guy, and I've posted this before and got no response. But is anyone else out there bothered by Jamie Bamber's acting? I mean, at times I think its so bad that his acting, and sometimes his accent, completely pulls me out of the scene. Anyone?

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Hey, unless it is a show like '24' you have some filler shows just to calm everything down and to focus on one character. Not only was this a Lee-focused episode but it also featured a look into the Fleet that wasn't shown before.

It was also good to see the two Apollos sitting together for a conversation.

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Ok so the next person who says 'jumped the shark' should be put out the air lock seriously have people around here just spent a week on some kind of 'management buzz word' course? It's like the 'frak' of the real world.
If you listen to Ron Moore's pod cast he goes to great length to tell how unhappy he is with this episode and that's the difference he knows and admits when his work falls below par, does anyone think the makers of 'Desperate Housewives' realise that season II of their show sucks?
I've said it before and I'll say it again people (viewers) need to remember that in BSG an entire civilisation was wiped out, not a city not a country but 12 planets so people are not going to react to the norms of tv. Apollo is clearly weighed down with issues, with his past on Caprica, the death of his brother, the relationship with his father, his repressed feelings for Starbuck bla, bla, bla...call Dr. Phil. So when looking at him let's remember he is not down 'cause the Cylons should the 'Blackbird' from under his ass.
As for next week...people are surprised Starbuck is hitting the bottle?(Child abuse, Anders, Apollo, missing ovaries)
Ok we're in a lull, it will get better and people, watch season I again there were some ropey episodes in there too.
Let's all stop the shark jumping, relax, be patient and from 'Scar' onward we'll be back in business.

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I just wanted to get on record as to what my interpretation of "jump-the-shark" is, and I'm willing to bet it means different things to different people.

In my interpretation, "jumped-the-shark" means that the writers/producers relied on some storyline or plot device to advance the story or build/focus on dramatic tension, and that storyline/plot device is patently stupid--there's just no other way to say it. In my opinion, this show/the writers/producers "jumped-the-shark" only once--by having Roslin's cancer cured in the 11th hour by the miraculous, only-at-the-last-second-discovered curative properties of cylon blood. And did you notice how quickly it cured her, why it was almost immediate! Imagine that! People, that is jumping-the-shark. And its also put a major storyline into question (Is Roslin no longer the dying leader that will lead them all to earth? I guess we'll see.)

As for all my other criticisms, well I think it is perfectly valid to come on here and be critical. I think I commend the show as often as I criticize. But when I bitch about poor character development choices over the last several weeks, that is not "jumping-the-shark," that is just bitching about poor character development choices.

Again, to recap. Roslin+Cancer+Cylon+Cure=Have Shark, Will Jump. Don't even make me go into the medical technicalities of it.

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The 11th hour saving of Roslyn kind of bothered me, but I am hoping that the disease will keep coming back and she will need more and more of the cylon injections to keep it at bay. That would satisfy the "dying" part of the prophecy and also recreate a dependency between her and the child.

This was a building episode, IMO. They must need these shadier connections for episodes further down the season or for next season and they are just laying the foundation. Not every episode can be fantastic - Lost is proving that, too.

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The show hasn't jumped the shark, but it will when the baby is born. Think "V." It's going cheese out with Boomer nursing her red-glowing baby. Let's hope they put off the birth for as long as possible.

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Yes this episode was somewhat filler. Good points made for foundation laying though.

I am very interested in what will become of Roslyn now that she is a blood sibling with the cylon.

I think that she will either be shown to be a false prophet (rightly or not rightly) since she is no longer dying, OR she will get sick from a remission or conflict with the cylon blood.

If she ends up ok, its still very interesting, now that they Cylon has saved her life, will she be more sympathetic to the machines as she tosses this around in her head.

We don't even know if she knows she has cylon blood in her. It's very likely that she does, but it hasn't been explicitly stated. From this last episode we know that she knows that Gaius saved her, but not necesarily that she is a cylon by blood now.

Its obvious also that she has been thinking about her visions she had of Baltar, as that had to be her motivation for calling him to resign.

So there are still some really cool stuff going on.

I, personally, think the baby being born will be a rocking episode.

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I thought the episode was pretty good, myself. No, it did not necessarily play into the Cylon aspect of the show, but by god(s), that isn't the only interesting thing going on in the Galatica world. Moore has said on several occasions that this show will be more about the human side than the war side. There's only so many ways that you can show a space battle with the same ships over and over (and over) again.

Yeah, Apollo having the girl on Cloud Nine came out of left field. But, ask yourself this... Even if we never SAW it happen on the show, do we believe it could happen within the context of the characters? Yeah, I think so... If I had to hazzard a guess, I would say the relationship started not long after Apollo found about about Starbuck and Baltar (I mean, after he got out of the brig and all).

Another rhetorical question: Did anyone in the audience think that they would kill of Roslin? There's only two characters that I think are essential to the show, and the both happen to be portrayed by the biggest "name" actors on the cast. The only reason Roslin got "sicker" recently was so she could be cured, and the cure HAD to be Cylon. Now, would I have preferred it if Gina had snuck onto Galatica and into Sickbay, spoke threateningly to Roslin, injected her with something that we all assumed was an assasination attempt, just to have snuck away, savior apparent? Yeah, but that's just because I hate the baby plotline.

As for Bamber's acting and accent? I guess I don't pay attention enough, but I have heard the comment made several times (including on Moore's podcast). He's English, playing an American accent, he's doing the best he can. I'm sure I don't notice a American playing English poorly, so I'd assume that the Brittish viewers don't even notice. (How interesting of a choice would it have been to play Bamber's regular accent, and explain it as having grown up in a military academy?)

I think the show's not perfect, but its as good as anything on television right now. You can't hit it out of the park every week, but I didn't think this was nearly the subpar performance that everyone else (including Moore) did.

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I notice a lot of series are using the "insert time frame here" gimmick at the beginning of episodes. It does get tiresome.

Having said that, BSG needs episodes like last nights because it sets the tone for future arcs that have a greater impact. We saw Baltar maneuvering to position himself to run against Roslyn. We saw Garrick manipulate Apollo into taking out the black market leader to position himself into running it. We also got backround on how messed up Apollo is and how it is going to effect him in future episodes.

If anything, the part of the episode that made it worth it the most is the scene with the doctor. I love this guy. How many doctors would be examining a corpse with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth? His reply of "If I find anything else I can retire" when Adama told him to let him know if he finds anything else, after finding a gold cubit in the dead commanders mouth, was classic.

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Dorv, I think you make some valid points. Don't let it be said that I don't think this is one of the best shows on tv. If I didn't, then I wouldn't be here blogging like it was a 9 to 5 job. And I agree that the show is as much about the human interest stories as sci fi and cylons, etc. But that's why I'm so upset sometimes--I am afraid of the way they are handling some of these characters. As for "Did I think they would kill off Roslin?", if you go back to the comments from two weeks ago, you will see that I not only hoped or thought they would--I was advocating it, while at the same time (thanks to the previews) fearing what was destined to come--the baby-blood-cure. BTW, do you know what Moore podcast talks about Bamber's acting/accent. I just discovered those today and have listened to "Black Market." Very interesting. I would love to hear more--in fact I'm about to listen to last week's to see what he has to say about the cylon baby blood.

Wayne, and especially Emily, I like your ideas regarding the conflicts that may now arise out of Roslin's potential NEED for cylon blood. I may not like that it happened, but I guess I'm still an interested party in what happens next. Maybe Roslin while transform INTO a cylon herself (god I hope not)! The only problem I have with Roslin's resignation request, based on the "recovered" memory of Baltar with Six on Caprica, is how could she trust that! A memory that only came back to her on her deathbed??!! Soooo...she's basically asking for Baltar's resignation based on what she knows might be a hallucination? Moore's podcast even addressed this to SOME extent, when he said something to the effect of Roslin is asking for Baltar's resignation but she's got no proof of anything, can't support her decision, and has no evidence whatsoever against Baltar.

Let me ask you this. You're the President. You think you remember something about the Vice President that might make him a mortal enemy. But you remembered this thing on your deathbed, your life draining away, cancer devouring your body, who knows how much pain you are in, who knows what drugs you have been given, in addition to the extract you've been administering to yourself for months. Do you (A) tip your hand by asking the Vice President to resign, thereby assuring a conflict and possible power struggle or (B) confide in your closest associates, like say Adama, that you might have info on Baltar, and that he needs to be watched carefully, or perhaps investigated further? You decide. I think the logical choice is clearly (B) but that I can see hollywood writers saying, "excellent...conflict and power struggles...that's sexy...let's go that direction" even though its irrational.

And Dave, you are absolutely right--I am so scared of what happens with the baby. Bad things happen when you introduce baby. That whole "V" thing is looming out there, isn't it. By god, if they even think about the miraculous-cylon-baby-that-rapidly-ages-to-adulthood in only 4 episodes, then "Bring in the Sharks! We need more sharks!"

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I had no problems with this episode, and from what I was reading, I was expecting it to be bad. Sure, a couple things seemed to be kinda thrown in there, but it's dumb when people treat stuff on screen as the only thing that happens.

I did like this episode, I liked that it showed another side of the fleet. I sometimes find myself thinking the fleet is pretty small. I mean, 50,000 people is a lot, for some reason it just doesn't feel like it. I haven't seen the original BSG in some time, but the black market stuff made me think of some stuff in the original.

As for Jamie's accent, I don't notice it at all on the show. I don't think it's poor. I didn't know he was British until I saw him in an interview.

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You can't expect every episode to be on cloud nine (pun intended), some, in fact many, are sub standard compared to the really brilliant ones, but we need them as they set things up for the future great episodes (IMHO).

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This episode was quite important.

1) We saw Baltar get really upset with Rosalyn, after he saved her life and she now wants him to resign.... Nope he takes that really personally and the lines are now drawn that he will not always support her politically. Indeed he now seems to want, what 6 wanted all along, to replace her.

2) Apollo's character was deepened and he finally appears to be maturing. He sees his former mistakes and knows he must live with them, he confronts the low life and in a twist earns their fear and respect. He confronts and stands down the Exec Officer. His relationship wuth his father is more at ease, more man to ma of equals. He is looking more like a potential military leader to step into his father's shoes.

3) Rosalyn appears somewhat lost and her mixed blood will definetly become an issue in some way. I hear earlier thopught she was a Cylon sleeper, planted into the Gvt. Perhaps not.

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