(S04E14) It is impossible to have a bad episode of Battlestar Galactica. Even a bad episode is better than most of the other crap on TV. Fortunately, this was the opposite of a bad episode.Obviously, there was no question about how this entire coup was going to end. Our heroes have way too much spunk to let little worms like Gaeta and Zarek control their ship for long. This is actually a rare case on the show of a neat wrap-up of a plot-line (and since we only have six episodes left, we'll probably see more wrap-ups, some of which might be neat).
It's nice to see the return of Romo Lampkin (as played by Mark Sheppard). Who knew that Lampkin had such talent with a pen?
What happened with Anders? Did Lampkin help Starbuck get him to Cottle? The following is a spoiler for next week based on the coming attractions, but if Anders does die, is that the event that brings back Ellen Tigh?
Leave it to the crewman with the most humanity, Tyrol (who is, ironically, a Cylon), to pull everyone's fat out of the fire at the last minute. Also, what was the damage that Tyrol found with the ship towards the end? Galactica has pretty much been going non-stop for four years. The ship itself is probably due for either extreme maintenance or the scrap heap. Given the few episodes left, I'm banking on the latter.
Mary McDonnell was utterly fantastic and should win an Emmy for her performance. She went from pleading to commanding to fury to tears over the course of a single episode.
Despite knowing how Gaeta and Zarek's treachery was going to end, it was still interesting to see how it got there. You could see control slowly slipping through the fingers of the two men. Zarek was an ignorant, arrogant nutjob with only a tenuous grasp of reality, but Gaeta struck me more as a good officer who went through some bad times but at his core was still decent and honorable (and kudos to Alessandro Juliani for pulling that off convincingly. Another winner of my own personal Emmys). When Baltar met with him, it took me a moment to realize that it was for his last rites. I also liked how his itching stopped the moment before he and Zarek were executed, as if his conscience were cleared.
More than the action, what drives the show is the complexity of the characters. In this episode we're shown the complexity of Baltar, Gaeta, Roslin and even Zarek to a degree. I can only begin to postulate why Zarek and Gaeta smiled to each other right before their execution. Anybody have any thoughts on that? Was it a case of getting caught in the cookie jar, or was the entire coup just a big suicide attempt?
Who had the biggest stones in this episode? Adama, for standing up to Zarek and Gaeta? Gaeta, for staging the coup? Zarek, for executing the Quorum? Roslin, for her verbal smackdown of Gaeta and company? Apollo, for starting to act more like Starbuck? I haven't a clue. I only want to tune in next week for more.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
2-07-2009 @ 1:28AM
Usama said...
GREAT EPISODE. What a send off for Gaeta. Great acting Mr. Juliani. Hatch did a good job too. McDonnell was brilliant as per her usual.
I was expecting Anders to die and then resurrect or something (although I realize that probably isn't possible due to the distance from the closest Resurrection ship, if any) but yeah that is interesting that they left that bit out. And the thing about Galactica's damage.
I am of course ignoring the improbability of Lee and Starbuck sneaking around the ship and subduing the guards around the brig, and that the FTL drive can be disabled so easily, but hey that's OK, it's sort of like that episode where someone (was it Tyrol?) ran all the way to the airlock to stop Starbuck, Tigh and the others from executing/killing Gaeta when he could have just called it in, yeah? All devices to build the drama.
Regarding the damage on Galactica.. do you think Tyrol's going to say, "wow one more jump and this ship would have blown up!" or something almost as bad like, "well we can't refit Galactica with the cylon FTL drives because the ship's hull can't handle it what with these [whatever he found]"?
Anyway once again, great episode, writing, acting. I must admit that although the show still carried depth in season 3, I thought at times it had lost its way in terms of the overall story. Now with the show winding down each episode is a concentrated dose of top notch television. Last year I said goodbye to The Wire and this year I'll be sad to see BSG go.
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2-07-2009 @ 1:35AM
Hector said...
Superb episode. Flawless. I'm starting to feel sad that we only have 6 more episodes. I am going to miss this wonderful series.
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2-07-2009 @ 1:38AM
Clayton said...
Can you guys get someone new to do the review/recap of Battlestar? I can't stand the way this guy writes, it is very obvious they are not a fan of the show.
http://makeasitcom.com
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2-08-2009 @ 3:49AM
KenMo said...
Wha?
2-07-2009 @ 1:39AM
Tom said...
Brilliant.
It took two episodes to set up this week, but it was clearly worth the wait. This weeks episode achieved and at once surpassed what they did at the beginning of this year with "Sometimes a Great Notion."
The last episode of Cheers. The pilot movie for Miami Vice. M*A*S*H. This episode had me thinking of other great moments in television. This episode was on that level, and its not even to the finale. How this show doesn't sweep the Emmys this year, I'll not be able to comprehend.
In 1972, Nicolas & Alexandra was nominated for an Academy Award. Its the story of the last czar of Russia, and the movie ends with his entire family being executed. Several years later, it played on TV, and I saw it as a small child. The execution of the czar's family was shocking to me--it rocked me, an innocent 6 year old, to the core. In the many years since, I've become desensitized to violenece on TV; we all have. Nothing fazes me. But that moment when Zarek instructed his goons to shoot the Quorum--that was shocking to me in the same exact way. I literally felt sick to my stomach.
Anders dying in Starbuck's arms, shot point blank in square of his back. Tyrol crawling through tunnels the entire episode to arrive--quite literally--at the belly of the beast. Gaeta realizing his transgression. Laura Roslin's tour de force of emotion.
Brilliant.
Kudos to Mary McDonnell. I have not been one of her fans overall, but this was clearly her moment, and as an actress she deserves to be recognized. And a nod to Richard Hatch, a driving force for many years behind even the prospect of making this series a reality. His was a character arc that was conceived of, executed, and fulfilled, and never strayed from the truth of that character. I am going to miss this show and these people when they are gone.
Only 6 more episodes left. Enjoy them like an old friend you don't know if you'll ever get the chance to see again.
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2-07-2009 @ 12:14PM
bsgfan2003 said...
What Zarek did to the Quorum messed me up too.
2-07-2009 @ 1:44AM
Malren said...
How about this:
"FTL = Galactica's heart. This mutiny broke her heart"
Seems like as good a metaphor as any...
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2-07-2009 @ 1:45AM
Malren said...
Damn, link fail. I pulled that quote from here; http://tinyurl.com/bz5b7x
2-07-2009 @ 12:12PM
bsgfan2003 said...
I like that Malren.
2-07-2009 @ 2:27AM
Ryan said...
"No Exit" is next week's title, which leads me to believe that maybe the Chief discovered that Galactica's FTL system is permanently fried or something, thus giving them 'no exit'... just a thought.
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2-07-2009 @ 5:53PM
Joey Michaels said...
I was thinking "No Exit" was a reference to the Sartre play - the theme of which is "hell is other people." In light of the hell that Tight and Ellen have put each other through - perhaps through many generations - it seems appropriate.
2-07-2009 @ 2:28AM
Willmore2000 said...
Brilliant episode. Not a line of bad writing in the whole thing. And even if there was, you couldn't detect it because of the great acting. I'm sad this show is ending, but I can't wait for Caprica, to see what they can do in an urban setting. It might be bad, but if it's good, there's 3-4 more years of great TV ahead of us.
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2-07-2009 @ 2:37AM
Man said...
Roslin needs a hug.
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2-07-2009 @ 2:57AM
Matt said...
"I can only begin to postulate why Zarek and Gaeta smiled to each other right before their execution. Anybody have any thoughts on that? Was it a case of getting caught in the cookie jar, or was the entire coup just a big suicide attempt?"
I didn't think there was really anything that significant about it...really just a sort of a "well, we had a good run, see you on the other side" kind of moment, a sort of subtle recognition of their fate as well as a goodbye.
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2-07-2009 @ 5:03AM
Tom said...
I saw it as less of an acknowledgment, and more of a juxtaposition. Here's Zarek, a psychopathic narcissist by all accounts and actions, and he smirks a Gaeta because when the time came he couldn't do what "needed to be done" in the situation. On the other hand, here is Gaeta, who smiles smugly because, flawed and all, when the time came, he realized there was going to be a reckoning, and he did the right thing in the end, if only at the end. But he could look at Zarek and smile with that knowing nod that said, "in the end truth prevailed, and for better or worse, I'm not you."
So in the end, the both looked at what had just transpired and each saw it the complete opposite way--one as a complete failure, and the other as truth prevailing. And I think that was also what was significant about Gaeta's itch going away.
"No — Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men."
Though I don't believe that Gaeta is WORTHY of comparison with Jay Gatsby, who can blame the writers for making this nod to Scott Fitzgerald? Writers have a way of doing homages to their favorite writers and/or literary works, and I think it's fairly obvious that in ending Gaeta's story this way, its intended to echo the demise of the late, great James Gatz.
I wonder if this comes out in the commentary to the episode?
2-07-2009 @ 8:14AM
B-Dizzle said...
You've got a great site going here. Check out mine if you get the chance @ http://morehardball.blogspot.com
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2-07-2009 @ 8:17AM
Cincinnati Mike said...
Galen and the damaged hull: didnt he and Callie have some near death experience together repairing the hull?
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2-07-2009 @ 9:24AM
Kevin said...
Metal Fatigue, in another couple jumps the FTL Drive would disappear and Galactica would be left behind without it.
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2-07-2009 @ 9:39AM
Dorv said...
I'd like to see that special effect :)
2-07-2009 @ 10:19AM
Frank Wrench said...
It's heartbreaking to go back to the miniseries when Gaeta was a young, kindhearted, good officer. I never would have expected that he would die by one of Adama's firing squads.
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