Nov 16, 2006 17:59
"A Measure of Salvation" rating: 3.5 stars out 4 (GOOD)
So,"A Measure of Salvation" is the second part of "Torn". At the end of "Torn", the Colonials stumbled upon this Cylon Basestar and cut to "TO BE CONTINUED". "Salvation" picks up shortly after this, the raptor has reported back to Galactica and the Galactica has arrived on scene (is it really that wise to leave to the civies unprotected? Whatever, Adama knows what he's doing) and has sent another raptor with several Viper escorts. Lee, whome I presume is now the CAG again, leads a team to investigate, a process that recieves as little airtime as will pass because this is a story about characters, not plot.
There is a nice moment when Lee calls to Sharon (now with callsign "Athena") and says "Sharon...'Athena' I mean" (or something along those lines) which just goes to show how the new changes aren't fully realized and accepted yet; they will take some getting used to.
Of course with Sharon having been on the Basestar, she is now infected. The team is called back after the dying Cylons are found and several of them are brought back as "samples". Doc Cottle eventually identifies the virus as a strain of a virus from 3000 years ago when the 13th tribe left Kobol and that humans eventually built up an immunity. This means that whatever DNA the human Cylons have is either fabricated, or more than 3000 years old... just wanted to point that out. Another continuity error is that in "Kobol's Last Gleaming prt 1", we learned that the colonies left 2000 years ago and since there is no evidence to the contrary, I don't think the 13th tribe left 1000 years earlier.
Now, Sharon, yes, what the last paragraph was supposed to be about. She has the immunity to the virus as well, something to do with her Human-Cylon hybrid child with Helo gave her the immunity. A nice, something like "Our little girl is saving me even after she's gone" came during this scene, granted it had a lot more eloquence than my impromtu line.
The Colonials realize what the Cylons learned in "Torn", that this virus would spread when the Cylons downloaded upon death (if this is an organic virus, HOW can it download? Little discrepencies like this are a small part of why this is a 3 star episode) and a good chunk of the episode is moral debates about whether or not they should use this to whipe out the Cylons.
Argument for killing them: They killed us, and they are machines. Our surivival depends on it.
Arguemt for not killing them: We'd be just as bad as them, it is inhuman, and they'd be losing a bit of their soul.
Adama even gives this pause, but Roslin gives the order to do it. It's interesting "how bloody-minded [she has] become" to call back to "Resurrection Ship prt 1". Galactica goes to a major Cylon travel-lane thing to wait and be found (one has to wonder how Galactica found it, WHAT the Cylons could be doing with transport lanes so far out, etc, but hey, it's just a minor detail). A Cylon fleet shortly arrives an a brief, albeit very very nice and with great effects and strageties, battle ensues. A Resurrection Ship is detected and the order is given to execute the Cylon hostages to infect the enemy.
This is the part where I realize I forgot about Helo's story. He's been the advocate for not killing them, namely because he wife is a Cylon. Even Sharon isn't as hardcore about this as he is, "I swore an oath, and I'm not going to break it" along those lines again. He manually cut the O2 feed (or something like that) to the cell room and the Cylons suffocated before the battle took place... no downloading for them.
At the end, Adama and Roslin sort of know it was either Sharon or Helo that did it, but Adama won't look into the matter, my guess is that he is secretly relieved that they didn't do such a terrible thing.
Before I wrote this review, I gave the episode a 3 star rating. I thought that, while it had wonderful character development and story-telling, it had very little plot. Now I realize that it had a little more plot than I thought and that the character stuff was really all that's needed. I now give "A Measure of Salvation" a 3.5 rating, draw backs are the minor tats I have throughout this review and the fact that it could have had a little more plot.
HERO PREVIEW
Not a whole lot to guess for this particular episodes, not too many predictions, but here are the issues:
-When will they reach Earth? End of the season? When? "Torn"/"Salvation" had a huge step towards finding earth and the race btwn Cylons and Colonials is on to find it, but then it seemed we would find Earth not too too long after "Home", or at least further the search, but, alas, that did not happen.
-Hera: we haven't exactly seen a whole lot of her lately... scratch that, we haven't seen her since "Exodus". While it's good and all to see the Cylon Basestar story-arc unfold from Baltar's point of view, it would be nice to see what exactly the Cylons are doing with Hera, given that she is UBER (that word is so...weird...that it is fun) important.
-Starbuck: why is she in the fight in "Salvation"? Last week Adama was beating her ass for her and Tigh bringing down crew morale and for creating a rift between those who were on New Caprica, and those who weren't. I also want to see some more with her and Kasey, as I have now learned that it is spelled.
-LAURA THE PROPHET!!!: Elosha said "a dying leader will lead us to earth"- She was dying, even though she isn't dying now it could still be her, it doesn't say she has to still be dying when they reach earth. She also said that the prophet would die before they reach earth. Now, given that the scriptures have never been wrong on battlestar (unless it is a minor oversight), I think that this prophecy will come true. Seeing as how none of our characters are dying at the moment, I still think this is Laura. Perhaps she will die in the first half of the episode where they find Earth. I cross my fingers.
And I'm spent.