
(S03E10) I have to ask -- why isn't anyone getting on Apollo for the short rations? It wasn't that long ago that he was a fat tub, and it's not like he was feasting on New Caprican grub. Can you imagine the thrashing he'd be taking if he was still fat? Alright, so it's a nitpicky point to bring up, but I know there are others of you who were a bit bothered that Apollo so easily lost all those stones of weight so quickly.
(By the way, check out writer Jane Espenson's answers to your questions regarding her experience writing this episode. I'll be asking a few more questions myself after tonight.)
Something that was sort of backgrounded in this episode, though when you're looking for it like we are, it stands out quite prominently: We're seeing Athena/Sharon taking some extraordinary risks for the human crew of Galactica. Not that she's had a lack of doing so in the recent past, but it struck me more this time, with her being the guinea pig for all of existing, known humanity.
Baltar's onto Number Three's suicide ways, though are we going to find that what we thought all along was right, that the more a Cylon downloads the crazier they become? So far she seems relatively unaffected, though the reaction of the other Cylons last week seems to indicate they know what tends to happen when one travels down that road.
And what of the drawings Number Three made of the visions she had from beyond? They're likely the "boxed" Cylons as some have surmised. What's initially weird to me is how Baltar seems to believe he may be a Cylon himself, though I'm not sure it was ever revealed that his Cylon detector from his days on Galactica was a farce or not. I guess if it wasn't a farce, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense at that time if he'd have tested himself, would it? Not unless he was asked to at least.
Gaeta's lack of applause for Saul reentering the bridge (do we call it a bridge?) spoke volumes. Clearly there's some unresolved issues that we'll see play out in future episodes. Though it's likely Gaeta never had total respect for Saul even before the events on New Caprica, so what happened recently doesn't help matters one bit.
I found it interesting how we got some insight into how the ships process minimal food resources from plants carrying life. Forms of algae are processed into a form of food that the crew can eat. It's almost a take off of the replicators from Star Trek:TNG, where I believe (if my I reach back into my nerd databanks) all sorts of materials, even waste, were used to make whatever the replicators made. Or maybe I'm just overthinking things and they just make a big sloppy gruel out of the mess.
Oh, by the way, you think The Lost Room premieres Monday or what? I mean, I like the show (I caught it early), but that watermark over the entire episode was obnoxious.
Hearing Jupiter being mentioned gives us a little look into how this seasons is certainly seeming to end up -- with everyone staring our solar system right in the face. "A connection between their gods and ours." "Five faces," and Jupiter is the fifth planet from our sun. If that's the case, it'll make for an interesting break once this season ends -- how will the next season play out if Earth is so close to their reach?
I'm not really sure what I feel about Kat's story. I don't feel a lot of remorse for what she went through, though I admire that she found it within herself to do what she had to to redeem herself, at least in her eyes. It was something that I'm not sure I needed to see, as Kat played what I consider a very background role since her days of taking over for Starbuck.
This episode really was all about sacrifice. Sacrificing oneself for the betterment of others. Sacrificing oneself for redemption. Sacrificing oneself for knowledge of what's beyond. Seemingly everyone's succeeding in one way or another at getting what they wish for.















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
12-09-2006 @ 12:59AM
dwacon said...
This episode seems like filler...
We had a climactic end to the previous episode that signaled the end of two relationships and the possible denouement of another... yet those aren't even mentioned.
And did the entire matter of the cylon virus go away? Yes, I like the continued dalliance of whether or not Baltar is a Cylon and his interaction with the hybrid... but we seem to be stalling.
And interesting that references to "Jupiter" in the dialogue read "Zeus" in the closed captioning...
--
dwacon
http://www.dwacon.com
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12-09-2006 @ 12:59AM
malren said...
The Jupiter thing is really irking me the more I think about it. Jupiter is NOT Hera's husband - Zeus is. If you're going to use the Greek mythology, get it right.
Other than that I truly enjoyed the episode, but that stupid little writer's trick/screwup going to sit badly with me because I suspect it does in fact signal a major plot point.
I look forward to learning more about SuiciD'eanna's experiences in the "in-between." I think she's projecting something that doesn't exist, as we know Cylons can do. I'd like to be wrong, though.
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12-09-2006 @ 1:01AM
malren said...
"This episode seems like filler..."
What? The last two were nothing BUT filler - something actually happened in this episode. The ships actually physically moved forward, someone died, circumstances changed, people changed, ships were lost...how is that filler?
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12-09-2006 @ 1:23AM
SenatorK said...
I missed the beginning. What was on the otherside of the radiation cloud that's edible? Space algae?
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12-09-2006 @ 1:25AM
Michael B. said...
I just enjoy the fact that they killed a character without having annoying commercials all week telling viewers that they were going to... ::cough:: LOST ::cough:: Heroes ... got to respect that.
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12-09-2006 @ 1:49AM
pinkpanda said...
I'll miss Kat, she was a really good background character and was a good adversary/rival for Starbuck. Also agree with Michael B. about them not doing the "ONE CHARACTER WILL DIE..." type promotions, thank god. Very honourable death.
Loved the Tigh/Adama scene. Saul really needed a good laugh.
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12-09-2006 @ 2:40AM
Akbar Fazil said...
I disagree on the whole Jupiter thing. I dont think the eye of jupiter is going to be the Jupiter in our solar system.
Gaetas lack of applause I read totally different. I thought it was more of a Gaeta not quite sure what to make of Tigh coming back. Not that he had any disrespect for him.
malren- dont get upset about the zeus/hera thing. There is no rule at ALL that says the mythology in BSG shares anything with earth mythology other than names.
In regards to filler/not filler BSG only has two main concepts to the show (not a bad thing, just laying them out)
Concept 1: Character Drama- Deep characters and their lives and how they cope with desperatley trying to find a new home.
Concept 2: Traveling through space to reach Earth and the hardships with that.
Sometimes the main story is a 1, sometimes a 2. Many times they cross over and interlap.
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12-09-2006 @ 3:04AM
SJ said...
I'm not really sure how I feel about this episode. We got to see (almost) everyone arrive near a new planet, and got some insight into D'ianna's actions, and why she is so conflicted.
Agreed with Akbar on the Gaeta/Saul thing. It was an extremely minor part of the story and I'm sure there are no hard feelings between them.
As for the Kat storyline, it was hit and miss. I didn't really care that she was not really who she was. She redeemed herself in the end, but similar themes have been done in countless shows, including BSG itself (the Boomer storyline was somewhat similar).
After the absolutely brilliant start to the season the show has fallen a bit flat in the last 2/3 episodes. They weren't bad episodes by any means, but just not upto the high standards of BSG. Here's hoping the writers wow us in the last few episodes (how many are left? 3?)
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12-09-2006 @ 3:15AM
Akbar Fazil said...
SJ, we have alot more than 3 left.
We have one more episode next week and then a month long hiatus and then the final 9 of season 3.
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12-09-2006 @ 3:26AM
SJ said...
Oh I guess it is more similar to season 2's structure, which also started out brilliantly, had a few "filler" episodes and ended strongly.
The thought of 10 more BSG episodes brought a smile to my face.
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12-09-2006 @ 3:31AM
Dorv said...
Akbar: I think he meant until the 'Fall Finale' as the term seems to be en vogue these days. I'm going to come back with more, after I listen to the podcast tomorrow at work, but I will say this. I'll be damned if Jane Espenson didn't make me care about Kat. Bitch.
(I say that out of love. I'm the guy that jumped up and down when her name was a toss away name in 24 this past season. I remember mentioning as such in the comments of that blog post here, and people saying, "Who's that?" Is this a TV blog, or will the idiots just shut up?) :)
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12-09-2006 @ 4:46AM
Tony said...
Saul/Gaeta - Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time they interacted, one of them tried to throw the other out of an airlock. I think there are still some hard feelings there. Personally, if I were Gaeta, I would have torn his other eye out.
I also thought that Kara refering to her comrades as 'good people' was fairly ironic. Do they really see themselves as 'good' at this point? The show has done so much to 'grey up' the characters, that most of them seem fairly unredeemable to me... except for Helo, of course.
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12-09-2006 @ 6:20AM
Scott Call said...
I think Keith missed the reason why the rations were low, which was not Apollo's previously buldging waistline, but some form of accidental contamination had been introduced into the food stock and had rendered most of it useless.
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12-09-2006 @ 7:44AM
greco the hutt said...
space is big, really big (to steal from Doglas Adams...) and spaceships can travel in three-dimensions... so, since the destination planet didn't seem to be in the radiation cloud, why couldn't they just take the long way around? Not bother going through the cloud at all? If it was a question of time, it couldn't have taken more time than five jumps back and forth.
and another things... did the writers forget raptors can attach themselves to other ships? why couldn't they simply have travelled as pairs, connected and therefore not risking losing sight of the other ship... assuming you dont have to be in free flight to jump, of course.
and another 'nother thing, did they run out of anti-rad? that stuff was all over the mini and first season.
my point is, the whole premise seemed lke a stretch, just to do a "sacrifice" story... at least when they did it in season 2 (the captain's hand) the need for a sacrfice, while also contrived, seemed plausable.
that's four pretty poor episodes in a row now. the preview for next week gives me hope, though. (if they're worried about their ratings, i bet it will be our jupiter they find at the end of the season. it'd make an interesting kick-off point in four, or an interesting place to end the show.)
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12-09-2006 @ 8:23AM
radwimp said...
greco, about the space thing, it was probably just the predicable 'going around would take years compared to going through' plot you see in sci-fi all the time. I wouldn't expect BSG to fall back on something like that... but I guess they needed something.
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12-09-2006 @ 8:30AM
FP said...
I agree that this episode was poor -- slow moving, and focused on a character that really had not been fleshed out before, so her demise was not that deeply felt. But last week's apollo/kara episode was very very strong. I guess many of us are split on that thought.
I kept thinking, so what was so great about this special episoe writer that everyone was so eagerly waiting for...this?
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12-09-2006 @ 8:35AM
greco the hutt said...
granted, radwimp, that it was a fall-back... it's just that I hate to see the writers, who are obviously able to come up with better and more plausable reasons for thing, get so lazy... and they've been getting lazier. i don't begrudge their desire to tell a good sacrifice type story, just that this one was so contrived. i expect better from the second best show on tv (sorry, Sorkin's back and Studio 60's running on all cylinders... and writing always wins the day with me...)
anyway, let's just hope the new caprica-reboot wasn't the dreaded shark jumping moment.
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12-09-2006 @ 8:41AM
CTSCo said...
The CC for last night show did indeed have the Jupiter - Zeus flip flop, they stated one, and then the other was on the screen.
I also like the way they dropped the attachment of the ships, as well as forgetting that jumping to a set of coordinates would - as stated in prior episodes - 'land' then exactly where they should be, in relation to each other. (Would have liked to see Adama's face when he liberated the camp, jumping into the ground, or just above it.) so assume that they have to be at least able to jump with a margin of 1 atmosphere, and then factor that by 10 due to stellar mass interference, you are still within our standards for radio contact vie radio/wireless, whatever.
OK, my peace is said, not the flaying may begin!
CTSCo
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12-09-2006 @ 8:59AM
Mike said...
I never understood how they discovered this algae planet in the first place given that it was hidden by a "radiation cloud." And isn't all of space filled with radiation anyway?
Jupiter/Zeus: seems like they are trying to do a hard tack on the whole pantheon of gods, pretending that gods were meant to represent planets in our solar system or something. So I guess the "eye of Jupiter," is the red hurricane spot on that planet.
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12-09-2006 @ 9:22AM
DustyT said...
Great episode for hard core fans like me. Maybe it felt like filler for the casual fans. However, my question for Jane becomes more relevent now. "Do you feel you got a fair edit?" -- as I suspected I think there was a about 2 minutes worth of episode shown in a different dimension that could have explained things a bit better....
I.E. -- Sharon finding the planet. More details about the food contamination.
HOWEVER -- I do feel that there were a couple of key scenes that did not get cut that helped the story.
I.E. -- Adama getting some time to sit by Kat's deathbed.
SCENES THEY COULD HAVE DONE BETTER -- The friction from Kara during her "apology" at Kat's bedside was weak....I think she (Kara) could have been more respectful of what Kat did for her salvation...The apology was a bit weak.
all in all -- a good episode. I was pleased...and it almost made me cry at the end.
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