(S03E01/S03E02) I felt like Col. Tigh this summer, making hash marks on a dirty cell wall, waiting for the new season to finally start. 134 days on New Caprica, according to Roslin. Right off the bat you had to be excited as hell for this episode. The haunting music, the quick shots of people we can't quite make out ... and some we can make out pretty well. Saul, as we see, has come under some pretty tough times, sporting not only some significant facial hair but also a patch, as he's sans one eye. And as it seems, he's also sans wife, though he doesn't know it quite yet.
It's the scene with Saul's wife, Ellen, that made me spoil to you weeks ago that I felt this was pretty clear proof that she is not a Cylon, one yet to be revealed to us. You've got to admit she was suspicious ever since she reappeared, though it seems it's not due to being a toaster. We see later how clearly she loves her husband and at what cost she'll go through to make sure he's no longer harmed.
It's one hell of a creepy atmosphere, here on New Caprica. Starbuck also seems to be one forced to be fraking a Cylon, and one has to wonder how many times she's "killed" him, only to have him come back every time.
The Cylons clearly have a few agendas in mind, one in particular being forcing the Humans to believe in only one god. Brother Cavill wants to take an approach that's very hard handed, suggesting even to start mass executions. Though you had to love his first idea, to kill Baltar as a way of getting the masses to comply. The more intelligent of the bunch quickly shoot that down. Speaking of Baltar, it's also funny (though understandable) how much the Humans want that slime dead.
An odd observation ... I wonder what the Cylons do to dispose of all those dead versions of themselves. Leoben just stepping over his old shell was just surreal.
134 days have done more than change New Caprica. Adama's still got his 'stache and Apollo has gained so much weight that his own father calls him a "fat ass." It's another surreal moment as we scan over the empty hallways and flight decks of Galactica, which in the previous season was teeming with guys and gals ready to put the smack down on the Cylons.
What's perhaps more surprising to see is how much Adama confides in Sharon, sitting alone with her and discussing things he may have only talked about with Tigh. This is a version of a woman who tried to kill him a season ago, and now it's his best friend.
The best tense moment of the episode comes when Baltar's talked into not attending the police graduation ceremony, one where he was clearly going to be offed. I'm not sure if I should've easily guessed that Gaeta was the one helping the insurgents with inside info, but it made the most sense. Another intense group of scenes here.
What made all of the police officers want to take on those jobs? Did the Cylons really convince them that they'd be looked upon as heroes in the future? They're caving in to the Cylons and are going against their friends and families. There's hell to pay for that when Galactica comes back for their rescue mission and people have some explaining to do. And Tyrol's going to be there first, making those nooses tight.
Now for the biggest shocker of the episode: Kacey. Did Leoben really use one of Starbuck's ovaries to make a child between them? And supposedly the birth mother, the one who carried Kacey to term, died in childbirth. Was it really that simple? Right away Starbuck reacts to the child as a "thing," something that couldn't possibly be considered human. It doesn't matter how cute the kid is -- to Starbuck she's a toaster. Later we see how quickly this changes as what seems like the unbelievable might happen -- that Starbuck might fall for a Cylon.
A side note -- was it just me or was that scream Kacey gave out when she fell on the stairs one of the most frighteningly weird things you'd ever heard? Holy hell, that was not human.
It's great to hear the mention of the search for Earth again. I'd been afraid before that maybe that part of the story would be pushed aside too easily.
With all the suicide bombings going on, the Cylons resort to the only thing they can think of to get everyone in line -- round up the insurgents and just kill them all. What's interesting here is how the Cylons are actually afraid of their god, that they'll have to carry the burden of killing them all and need Baltar's signature to say it's all OK. Baltar retreats into that safe place beside the Number Six in his mind, who tells him to sign the order so that he can fight another day. I can only hope that this means in a future episode we'll really see him come forth and do something to make himself worthy of being a Human.
Sharon coming back into the fleet is another surprise development. One has to wonder how the rest of the Humans will react to that once everyone is reunited, though already the insurgent group seems quick to accept the news. Hey, these guys are desperate to get the hell off that planet, so whatever Adama says is just fine with them.
Finally, the unbelievable cliffhanger ending. Is the Sharon with the insurgents the cause of the ambush on them? Are the writers actually crazy enough to mass kill so many main characters to the series? Is it possible at all that they can actually get out of this? Could I sound any more like a corny radio announcer at tne end of a serial? Stay tuned!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
10-06-2006 @ 11:11PM
Todd said...
"Finally, the unbelievable cliffhanger ending. Is the Sharon with the insurgents the cause of the ambush on them?"
-duh, clearly Ellen was the cause of the ambush on the insurgents, or do you not remember her stealing the plans right from under Tigh's nose.
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10-06-2006 @ 11:22PM
Josh said...
They ruined the cliffhanger by showing Roslin in the previews. Such a great show.
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10-06-2006 @ 11:27PM
Jamus said...
Good episode(s). It gets under your skin a bit.
However I don't like it when sci-fi gets a bit too cozy with current political topics. I like my sci-fi to help me forget about the real world for a bit, not grab you by the back of the neck and shove it in your face.
Still thought it was a well done episode, I just didn't care for how they portrayed some of it.
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10-06-2006 @ 11:46PM
Keith L. Dick said...
"However I don't like it when sci-fi gets a bit too cozy with current political topics."
Agreed, other than that it was very good...
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10-06-2006 @ 11:47PM
Jen said...
There is no way Starbuck is falling for the Cylon or her supposed child. For me, when she called Casie, "Honey," when the hybrid child opened its eyes, that was a dead giveaway. Even if she were a devoted mother, I can't see Starbuck calling the kid, "Honey"-- let alone that fast. But I think she is an opportunist and the way to get to this Cylon is through this kid.
Also, re: The preview for next week, I agree-- showing Roslin was a poor move on their part. Would a little suspense kill them? Not like Lost suspense, but you know, a little suspense?
The suggestion is raised that Baltar is a cylon. No fucking way. I have a list of reasons why that just doesn't make sense, but I'll not bore you here.
I was not disappointed with this episode in any way, though-- it was a great season premiere.
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10-07-2006 @ 12:38AM
Humzai said...
I loved the episode the next one seems to be een more hectic. Did anyone else notice that the pilot helmets seemed to be a bit more streamlined?
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10-07-2006 @ 12:03AM
FrakYou said...
It really struck a nerve with Starbuck. Remember, her mother abused her when she was a child.
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10-07-2006 @ 12:17AM
adhonus said...
I'm tired of people saying they want their sci-fi to be removed from current events. The reason this show is as good as it is is because it is informed by what we do as human beings. This show forces you to question what it means to be human, what it means to condone the slaughter of your fellow human beings to death for various purposes. The great thing about Battlestar Galactica is that it doesn't direct the viewer into one particular line of thinking. Instead, it "stirs up the anthill" and makes you think about who you are, what you would do in these situations if it was you. Sure, you could draw parallels between this show and the situation in Iraq - but you'd be wrong. This show is about forcing you to think. Would you be Duck, killing yourself to avenge the death of your wife? Would you be Felix Gaeta or Gaius Baltar, forced to be painted as a collaborator but believing deep down you were doing the right thing? Would you be Jammer, driven by a motivation to just stop the violence?
I don't know. But, stop thinking of the show as a direct parallel to Iraq. It's not. It's fiction. It's pointing out that we live in a gray world, where it's not easy to make distinctions between right and wrong. The real world is like that, as well, but we've been conditioned to think that right and wrong are simple directions you can look at on a map.
This show is so excellent because it reminds us that life is not simple. We could ascertain that by reading deep into the news stories about the world around us. But, fiction and art have a way of explaining meta-truths much better then looking at the real world.
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10-07-2006 @ 12:46AM
Nick said...
I didn't really think Ellen was a cylon. Maybe in future episodes they will prove me wrong but when I first started watching the show, I was scared that they were going to make us wonder who was and wasn't a cylon, but so far they haven't really done that(every cylon so far has been revealed within one episode of their introduction).
However I have a few minor complaints, mainly why haven't they revealed the other cylons? I mean its kinda stupid that we never see a cylon until its revealed, for example in Downloaded, only cylons we knew were cylons were in that ep, and then once new ones are revealed, suddenly they are everywhere (if Lucy Lawless and Brother Cavill were so high up, why weren't they there to rescue the Kevin Spacey looking guy at the end of the mini-series? And where was Cavill in Downloaded? The black guy I can understand because he hasn't seemed that high up so far anyway - the white cylon always bringing the black cylon down!) I understand they didn't want to tell us who the cylons were and so they just didn't show a cylon with other cylons until they were ready to reveal they were cylons, but are we really supposed to believe that they only brought the cylons that humans knew were cylons to New Caprica?
I guess thats my question, where is the show going if they still feel a need to hide who is a cylon? I think falling back on a 'who is a cylon' storyline would be kind of lame at this point.
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10-07-2006 @ 1:11AM
Humzai said...
I agree it would be kind of strange but tactically it makes sensce to not have everything in plan sight. We don't know anythin about internal security and perhaps that is where the rest of them are. It wouldn't make sense for them to reveal them all anyways as that is the whole point anyone could be a cylon, maybe they do't put them into full production until the unit is revealed?
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10-07-2006 @ 1:36AM
Jonny Rice said...
"However I don't like it when sci-fi gets a bit too cozy with current political topics."
That's funny, because commenting on current events is what good science fiction does. Have you never read anything by Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin or Ray Bradbury? Sure, Star Wars (or whatever floats your boat) is fun stuff, but George Lucas' scripts don't hold a candle to those authors. Galactica, however, is coming awful close.
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10-07-2006 @ 1:39AM
Nick said...
I don't thinks the whole 'full production thing' is right, Sharon was in full production before the humans knew she was a cylon, same with Lucy Lawless.
I understand that the whole point is that anyone could be a cylon, but really I don't think that is the point anymore (it seems deeper now). Plus, the Cylons came looking for peace (yes, i know thats all a lie, but they seem to want peace.. they just want it their way) so why would they need to keep the cylons hidden? I just don't get their motives, and I hope the show doesn't go back to a paranoid 'who is a cylon' mode, and I don't see any other purpose to keeping the other cylons hidden.. unless they just couldn't think of a good way to reveal a whole bunch of cylons at once.
Also, I hope they don't go back to the whole 'sleeper agents' thing. I always thought that was a little lame. It also made me wonder who was the leader of the cylons, how they differed from each other (which models were considered superior if any and how different were models from each other, and how many different 'people' there were to a model and how differnet were these 'people'), who programmed them and made decisions (they seemed to vote in this one) could they really think or where they just programmed to think they could think and how many layers does that go. I think its best if they don't explain alot of that stuff, because the more they try, the more holes they will make. I always hate when people try to explain something that is unexplainable.
Again, this is a somewhat of a minor complaint, but for a while now it has been bugging me. Also, does anyone know how Caprica Sharon (or now Galactica Sharon - or Helo's Sharon) got the other Sharon's memories of being on Galactica? I thought that they only got memories when other cylons died, and maybe I have the timeline messed up, but didn't Helo's Sharon already leave the cylons by the time Boomer was shot?
Maybe they have other ways of transferring memories...
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10-07-2006 @ 2:07AM
Lucas said...
I don't see how any of you people can praise this banal show. It's obviously anti-American propaganda. True, it's very poor propaganda because its statements are illogical and confuse all the viewers, but it's still propaganda. It's obviously commentary on the war against the Muslim Arab fascists, and it's obviously sympathetic towards the Muslim Arab fascists. This is nothing new because the previous seasons were also. "Insurgents", suicide bombers, "detainees" being tortured for information and not being given a "fair" trial. Everyone knows this is about current events. And the fact that the commentary is incoherent doesn't make it deep and intellectual. You know what this is about. So stop lying and saying it isn't what it is.
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10-07-2006 @ 2:25AM
Humzai said...
Perhaps the models have a collective mind a la borg but a bit different in that they remember what happened to the other model 6s but in a detached sort of way like secondary knowledge.
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10-07-2006 @ 3:01AM
FrakYou said...
Gina knew when they had blown up the Resurrection Ship. Also, their memories have to be transmitted and stored somewhere else in order for them to be resurrected. I think, when the Cylons are in range of the receivers, their memories are being downloaded and stored.
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10-07-2006 @ 3:34AM
Dorv said...
My show is back!
First, let me counterpoint:
Jamus: Yeah, sorry dude. BSG has been (at least this version) has been a show that is more political commentary than scifi from day one. Why, at this point, would you expect something different?
Nick: I'm with you, I'd like to see more Cylons, but, at the same time, I don't think I could stand for one of the main characters magically becoming a sleeper... Its not that realistic... If the Cylons had gamed it out that acurately that the Galatica would survive, then they would have eliminated differently in the original attack.
adhonus: I like your perspective, but seriously, there are some direct corollaries to Iraq in the show. I just disagree with others and think that its a good thing.
Lucas: Banal? Thought I knew what it meant, but didn't understand your use, google gives me, "repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse." I don't agree. Nor do I agree that its blatent Anti-American propaganda. Its Anti-Evil propaganda. Could the NCP uniforms look much more like those of the SS?
I thought that the show was pretty good. I had already started to hate Jammer's character during the Webisodes, but I guess his saving Cally saved him a bit in my eyes (My love for Cally is rivaled only by another commenter friend's love for a certian Cylon).
I hope that Starbuck connects with Casie. I know what we saw in the end of the episode, but that was obviously a ploy (as someone here has already mentioned). She doesn't, nor will she ever love Leoben... She obviously loves Lee. I mean Sam. Damnit.
Is the Colonel going to far? Are suicide bombings inexcuseable? My opinion is that everything hinges on collateral damage. Civilians should be left out of it, but then one could easily argue that in this case (or in many, many others), there really are no true civilians.
Ellen, Ellen, Ellen. Well, at least we know for sure that you're not a Cylon. I don't think anyone really thought you were anymore, just a slut. In this reality, I think that sleeping with the Brother once (i.e., the Twist) to get Saul out is viable. Going back for seconds (i.e., the Swirl) and then giving up the meeting? Not so much. But, hey, Kate Vernon is a beautiful woman. And I can come up with no witty quip here that doesn't just sound disgusting.
I have always wanted to hate Gaeta, but now I really can't. The fact that he could take getting berated by the Chief knowing he was in the right, but couldn't tell him the truth. I probably would have done the cheap thing and said, "What am I doing? Just flipping over dog food bowls, you mother fraker!"
Lee needs to bend over and pull the ice cream sunday out of his ass. I can make fun of his weight all I want, because thats what I look like in the mirror (Minus the tan, which brings up another continuity question... I guess the Beast came with tanning beds).
Was that Tatoo on Starbuck new? (read, was it in the coda at the end of last season?) I see that Anders has a matching one on the opposite arm. Speaking of phyiscal changes, Helo's new hair sucks. Just saying.
Yeah, so, why would the 'Cylon Council' met in front of Baltar. The second meeting, leading to him Baltaring out (stealing a little TWOP-esque quip) with the death list, I can get, but not the first time around. Why discuss that level of policy in front of him... What's the upside?
There's more, but people are already tired of reading this comment. Hopefully I haven't said anything yet to make Akbar call me an idiot (I may disagree with you a lot, but you always make me think), and I didn't say anything (necessarily) bad about Boomer, so I should be safe when Tim checks in.
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10-07-2006 @ 3:45AM
Akbar Fazil said...
Dorv! I am so glad you are back. I am looking forward to more wonderful debates. I am glad I made someone think ;)
I feel bad, I havent gotten a chance to watch the episode yet (I have a house guest who is only halfway through season 2!) but after reading your comments and knowing what I do about the premier I tend to agree with you.
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10-07-2006 @ 3:52AM
Nick said...
I didn't mean that I wanted them to be sleepers (as I said, I think that whole part is a bit lame anyway). I just wish they would reveal them so we could move on from that part of the story.. and so I won't have to roll my eyes everytime they reveal a new model and suddenly they are everywhere.
Also, should I watch the webisodes? I mean, I watched The Office ones and felt like they were really stupid (and I love The Office) so I just decided not to waste my time with these..
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10-07-2006 @ 3:58AM
Humzai said...
I think the cylon council impilcitly trusted Gaius Baltar to be the perfect puppet his prior actions supported their trust in him.
The tatto is something that Katie Sackhoff discussed in interview with Ign
"Like the tattoo thing [Kara and Anders have] was Michael Trucco's and my idea. The seed was planted by Ron Moore, but the actual artwork and the way it came together was done by Michael and I, and our friend, with a little bit of input from the makeup artist. "
It's an interesting interview and can be viewed at http://tv.ign.com/articles/737/737584p1.html
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10-07-2006 @ 4:08AM
Jacqueline said...
Another theory is that it is a parallel to Vichy, France, in World War 2 and not necessarily about modern day Iraq.
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