"Not conscious thought? Not poetry, or art, or music, literature? Murder. Murder is my heritage. Is that the lesson I'm supposed to pass on to our child?"
SO SAY WE ALL: Waiting for rescue, the Raptor crew on Kobol must disable the Cylons' capacity to shoot down their rescuers.
REVIEW: Let's get those folks off Kobol with a war movie sequence. I'm going to say it, there's a lot of convenient plotting at work as the rescue ships come in just in time to save Tyrol's butt as he's about to be blown to bits by Cylons, ships that can come in because the Cylons' radar tower was destroyed in the nick of time as well. But we'll let that go as everything leading up to that is a right clusterfrack. Panicky Crashdown went to officer school, but hasn't actually been in the field, and here is going "by the book" in the extreme, unable to acknowledge that his misfit team - which includes the universe's ultimate screw-up, Gaius Baltar - doesn't have the skills or temperament to carry out what the book demands. Obviously, Crash and Tyrol clash again, but to his credit, the Chief puts the others in their place when they try to turn this into a democracy. Military integrity aside, Crash is still leading them to their deaths, and it's Baltar, quite outside the chain of command, who kills Crash before things go too far (i.e. before the Lieutenant kills Cally for disobeying a suicidal order). It's part of a confounding prophecy on Six's part that one of their number would betray the others, but that could be anyone. Cally for freezing, Crash for putting a gun to her head... it might even be Baltar's cue to kill Crash (his role in BSG is as the Judas without whom humanity is not saved, after all). To BALTAR's credit, he still tells Apollo Crash died a hero, which come to think of it may NOT be to his credit. It's a nice gesture, but at the same time, he's probably trying to cover his ass. It's still murder. Just one more death on his conscience, though technically his first murder. Six says he's now a man, which leads to probably my favorite part of the Kobol storyline, in which Baltar questions Man's contribution to the world.
On Galactica, Tigh is losing it. His friend is again being operated on, his life far from saved. His wife is planting all sorts of ambitious seeds in his head. He's drinking on the job and his closest subalterns know it. He's forgetting details of conversations he's already had and flying off the handle at anyone he feels is questioning his authority. He's finally calling Galactica "his" ship. A clear mirror to what's happening in terms of bad leadership on Kobol. After Ellen sees a very confused President Roslin in kamala withdrawal, she suggests Tigh allow the Quorum of Twelve and the press access to her, but the plotting here also gets convenient and Roslin has had a dose of kamala just in time. She reveals it all. Her illness, how it connects to the prophecies, and I think even Zarek who sort of gave the hyper-religious Gemenon delegate the floor, would agree she should lead after this point. (To him, Tigh and the military would be the enemy at this point.) Though now everyone would be on Roslin's side in regards to Starbuck's special mission (which is what her imprisonment is about), Tigh doubles down, dissolves the Quorum, and declares martial law, something he knows Adama would be against. Where's Baltar to put a bullet in HIS back?
ALL THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN: Tyrol's last stand, pointlessly firing a pistol at oncoming Cylons before a Raptor shoots a missile at them pays tribute to similar circumstances in Saving Private Ryan. The episode's director was an assistant director on that film.
HUMAN DEATH TOLL: The opening titles say 47,862, which is a very small loss of 12 considering what Valley of Darkness implied. Maybe the Colonials did a better job than expected evacuating the deck, or they're all in sickbay, who knows. This episode has a net loss of 1, Crashdown, killed by Baltar to prevent him from shooting Cally.
VERSIONS: The dream Roslin wakes up from in a panic is presented as a deleted scene. It would have had Billy betraying her and plunging a knife in her chest.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - The plot gets a little too convenient at times, but both stories examine the dangers of bad leadership in an exciting way.
REVIEW: Let's get those folks off Kobol with a war movie sequence. I'm going to say it, there's a lot of convenient plotting at work as the rescue ships come in just in time to save Tyrol's butt as he's about to be blown to bits by Cylons, ships that can come in because the Cylons' radar tower was destroyed in the nick of time as well. But we'll let that go as everything leading up to that is a right clusterfrack. Panicky Crashdown went to officer school, but hasn't actually been in the field, and here is going "by the book" in the extreme, unable to acknowledge that his misfit team - which includes the universe's ultimate screw-up, Gaius Baltar - doesn't have the skills or temperament to carry out what the book demands. Obviously, Crash and Tyrol clash again, but to his credit, the Chief puts the others in their place when they try to turn this into a democracy. Military integrity aside, Crash is still leading them to their deaths, and it's Baltar, quite outside the chain of command, who kills Crash before things go too far (i.e. before the Lieutenant kills Cally for disobeying a suicidal order). It's part of a confounding prophecy on Six's part that one of their number would betray the others, but that could be anyone. Cally for freezing, Crash for putting a gun to her head... it might even be Baltar's cue to kill Crash (his role in BSG is as the Judas without whom humanity is not saved, after all). To BALTAR's credit, he still tells Apollo Crash died a hero, which come to think of it may NOT be to his credit. It's a nice gesture, but at the same time, he's probably trying to cover his ass. It's still murder. Just one more death on his conscience, though technically his first murder. Six says he's now a man, which leads to probably my favorite part of the Kobol storyline, in which Baltar questions Man's contribution to the world.
On Galactica, Tigh is losing it. His friend is again being operated on, his life far from saved. His wife is planting all sorts of ambitious seeds in his head. He's drinking on the job and his closest subalterns know it. He's forgetting details of conversations he's already had and flying off the handle at anyone he feels is questioning his authority. He's finally calling Galactica "his" ship. A clear mirror to what's happening in terms of bad leadership on Kobol. After Ellen sees a very confused President Roslin in kamala withdrawal, she suggests Tigh allow the Quorum of Twelve and the press access to her, but the plotting here also gets convenient and Roslin has had a dose of kamala just in time. She reveals it all. Her illness, how it connects to the prophecies, and I think even Zarek who sort of gave the hyper-religious Gemenon delegate the floor, would agree she should lead after this point. (To him, Tigh and the military would be the enemy at this point.) Though now everyone would be on Roslin's side in regards to Starbuck's special mission (which is what her imprisonment is about), Tigh doubles down, dissolves the Quorum, and declares martial law, something he knows Adama would be against. Where's Baltar to put a bullet in HIS back?
ALL THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN: Tyrol's last stand, pointlessly firing a pistol at oncoming Cylons before a Raptor shoots a missile at them pays tribute to similar circumstances in Saving Private Ryan. The episode's director was an assistant director on that film.
HUMAN DEATH TOLL: The opening titles say 47,862, which is a very small loss of 12 considering what Valley of Darkness implied. Maybe the Colonials did a better job than expected evacuating the deck, or they're all in sickbay, who knows. This episode has a net loss of 1, Crashdown, killed by Baltar to prevent him from shooting Cally.
VERSIONS: The dream Roslin wakes up from in a panic is presented as a deleted scene. It would have had Billy betraying her and plunging a knife in her chest.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - The plot gets a little too convenient at times, but both stories examine the dangers of bad leadership in an exciting way.
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