yo, god? get the fuck out of my tv
So this is nearly a week late, but whatevs. I had a late start to watch it.
That was.... seriously not what I expected from BSG. And not in a good way.
WTF ANGELS. One of the things that I loved about this show, to start with, is how they dealt with religion. It was a prominent part of people's lives, because that's how people tend to be in our crazy little way, but there always seemed to be a fairly objective viewpoint. I watch sci fi specifically to enjoy shows that are a little more rational, and get away from all the Our God is an Awesome God shit. And I really thought that there was going to be some sort of interesting insight behind why the humans are polytheistic and the cylons have their one cylon god. But no, all the classical pagan aspects were simply thrown in because it's something from the previous version that looks shiny and different. Let's just handwave it all with one of those vaguely touchy-feely 'all religion really points to the same benevolent higher power' type messages.
The biggest reason that I liked Gaius and Head!Six so much was that they were so completely crazycakes. I mean. Instrument of God. He was narcissistic and weak and Head!Six took advantage of that to make him even more crazycakes, and never for a moment had I thought that he was actually supposed to be right about that shit. That's what made them so much fun.
Also, how was Gaius able to project the opera house? He's 100% human. Is this another 'handwaving with angels in the face of logic' thing? And Kara 2.0 was an angel all along too? Really fucking lazy. It looked like everything was setting her up to be at least part cylon. While I didn't particularly care for that idea either, it would have been infinitely preferable to this, in retrospect.
And Athena was at Helo's throat the other week for having sex with Boomer. Understandably. And all of a sudden they're playing happy families again? Did they just run out of time to let it play out the realistic way and cut to the chase of their (eventual) reconciliation?
And what was the point of killing Boomer. Really. Revenge? Because I love Athena, but that doesn't really endear me to her very much. How does killing someone who's hurt you make things any better.
Hera: so, so very adorable, but, um, so not black. Not only does making her this important evolutionary discovery fly in the face of logic (there's a lot of that in general this episode), it's also really, really insulting. Also, I'm so not going to go back and watch it to check, but I'm pretty sure that the natives had straight hair too. Way to go, CGI guys. I know next to nothing about Australia because I grew up in the US and we suck at being exposed to other cultures, but the girlfriend said that they reminded her a lot more of aboriginees. In Tanzania, they would have really fucking kinky hair. And be, you know, black.
I'd always suspected from the start that the show would be taking place sometime in our earth's past, where they eventually do run into us, but I had my money on landing in the Mediterranean to pull a Chariots of the Gods. Because that would actually make some level of sense. They would look more or less like the locals, and it could explain the sudden rise of civilisation and general knowledge and science. And, you know, that crazy religion. But not the paederasty, since there is remarkably little gayness in the BSG universe.
But instead, they decide to make really sweeping generalisations about how technology is actually a Bad Thing and must be purged in order for the humans to not destroy themselves again. Humans and cylons brought his on themselves through their behaviour - the nukes don't just land themselves.
There's one very awkward problem with this judgement. How are the Sixes, Eights, and Twos going to feel about how their very essence, their whole way of life being dismissed and done away with? Cylons are by design a technological race, and to say that both our futures are important, but the humans are clearly More Important is a really fucking conflicted message.
I have major issues with anyone who tries to romanticise older, simpler human cultures as somehow superior, because usually they are full of shit and have no idea what they're talking about. And it is an absolutely fucking terrifying social message to come all dressed up in the guise of science fiction. Religious nutcases are so not welcome.
I feel like I've been deceived.
So basically, the one thing this finale was good for was supplying my now insatiable desire for Caprica/Gaius cracky farming fic. Lots of it, plz.
Oh, and two words: Admiral Hoshi.
SPN got many of the same things wrong, but was at least more entertaining.
I reiterate: WTF ANGELS. What I liked about them from the start, too, is that they were not espousing all that warm and fuzzy Jesus Loves Me shit either. They were just warriors on the other side of a battle. Big, powerful, scary ones. And Uriel (I also know next to nothing about the bible, so for all I know they could be hugely screwing with the character contextually) as he was presented here, raised a valid point of opposition to the Winchesters that had its merits.
He may have been a very 'smite now and ask questions later' kind of guy, but he got the Job Done. This is an alternate point of view consistently raised by any black man who scores a recurring role (WHY? really, why?), but show never quite goes far enough to make this ethical dilemma clear to the viewers, I think. As usual, nevermind, he was just a big scary villain after all, and don't worry, he's dead now anyway.
One of the recurring themes is deciding what creatures need to be put down for the Greater Good, which are mostly harmless, and which are actually important and good and worthy of protecting. How many lives would have been saved if Gordon had just shot Ava from the very start? How many lives would have not been saved if he'd killed Sam? Or possibly saved, depending on where things are going with him. Smiting an entire town to save the entire planet is a good way to touch on the whole 'ends justifying means' argument, and it wound up going absolutely nowhere with Uriel. Sigh.
And now we get to spend the rest of the season with touchy feely Good Angels.
That said, I've been waiting for the Seriously Dark shit to hit the fan for a while now, and this hit the spot nicely. God-sanctioned torture! Demonic sex magic! Tastefully followed this week by Wacky Hijinks whenever the downloads finally come up. Stick with the crack, guys, it's what you're good at. Also, people always seem to go on about how Dean is so Pretty, and I squint and go 'bwuh' and can't really see it. I could totally see it last week. During the Torture. This may be a worrying thought.
And Chris Heyerdahl. ♥ I love Vancouver.
SCC, on the other hand, continues to stay classy.
When it was first announced in the press that Stephanie Jacobsen was coming in to play a love interest for Derek, I was worried. When they wrote that John was getting a new 'love interest' too, I was really worried. A lot of shows have a really bad habit of doing this *shifty eyes at SGA*, rather than fleshing out women who exist in their own right.
Miraculously, Jesse's story was really all about Jesse. And Derek wound up bumbling around for most of the season in relation to her. And in the end, we are left with the incredibly unsetting question of whether or not she was right. Cameron is a Killer Robot designed to Kill, and you can't ever forget that. When John breaks down, he cries in Sarah's lap while she comforts him. Cameron is distanced on the other side of the couch, with a blank expression because she has no empathy, because she is a Killer Robot. It's all really fucking creepy that these guys are the protagonists, when you think about it.
There are no straightforward heroes or villains in this show. Everyone has their own goals and motivations which are categorically neither right nor wrong. And now I'm even more curious than ever about Shirley's place in all this - the liquid style one on that sub clearly has a different Agenda to everyone else. Are they the same person? Are they related somehow?
I fucking love this show. So much.
This is a lot more than I usually have the patience to write. Huh. Also, I am still awake right now because a housemate was having very loud sex downstairs a bit ago. Possibly TMI, but if he really cared he could have made more of an effort to quiet the fuck down. Literally.