(no subject)
BSG 4.13 - "The Oath"
I thought it was telling--or at least I hope it was telling, and not just an excuse to menace Athena with rape again--that several characters from the Pegasus surfaced prominently in this episode. The mutineers are angry and frightened, and they have Cylons among them, and as far as they're concerned, nobody has paid sufficiently for their suffering yet. In fact, the pact with the Cylons that Adama wants to impose on them means that there might never be payment. That's what breaking the cycle would mean--giving up on the idea of revenge. They are brutal to the Cylons in their power, as a stand-in for all Cylons. The darker impulses that made the Pegasus such a hellhole were never that far below the surface, because they are a part of human nature; better leadership got people to listen to their better angels instead. Now, what Gaeta is leading is a Cain mutiny--a return to her vision of total war, damn the costs, even if it means killing your own when they get in the way. And the mutineers are taking advantage of their access to Cylons to take out their anger in violence; that's part of the plan.
I've had some sympathy for Gaeta up to now, and some understanding of Zarek's position, even though I think he's incredibly dangerous. But what they did to Laird was unforgivable. He'd survived the massacre of his family because he had skills, survived all that time on the Pegasus because he kept his head down and he had skills, and finally found a place where he could do his work and feel like a human being--and they killed him for doing his job right. On the other hand, Gaeta chooses Gage, the rapist, to help him on CIC. (asta77 and I were trying to figure out how we felt about the fact that he was apparently seamlessly integrated into the crew. On the one hand, it's plausible that Adama is just that oblivious. On the other, there is no way his presence wouldn't have creeped the hell out of some of the female crew, or that his experiences of exercising violent power over a female Cylon couldn't have informed the way he related to other women. Callie didn't want to have anything to do with him, and she couldn't have been alone. So it's kind of frustrating to see him just pop up here, without any hint of how that worked.) In fact, Gaeta makes a conscious choice that eggs must be broken, after Zarek kills Laird, and by the end of the episode, he's ordering Laura's raptor shot down.
So everyone is drawing lines now: those who see working with the Cylons versus those who would rather go it alone, even if it means the destruction of the human race. This is definitely Zarek's conspiracy: the potential for destruction, the eggs getting broken along the way, the abstract cause that justifies anything for its realization. I think this is the worst human-on-human violence we've seen in the fleet itself on the entire show, maybe with the exception of when the Galactica marines opened fire on some rioting civilians. (New Caprica was its own thing.) Kara, interestingly, seems to be the only one who draws her lines in a completely different way. The other pilot doesn't want her touching him--they don't even know what she is anymore, and their lines are based on human vs. Cylon. Hers are based on personal loyalty and personal relationships, as always--anybody who betrayed Adama is on the wrong side, and she's ready to be just as ruthless. I have huge problems with Adama's behavior probably 80% of the time he's on screen, most of which amount to finding his self-absorption hard to take, but at least he gets it here as he's consistently gotten it for a while--when they kill each other, nobody wins.
The mutiny's brutality is disturbing, but even more disturbing is the Underpants Gnome quality to their planning, which seems to look something like this:
1. Take Galactica
2. ????
3. No more Cylons!
Do they even know that the rest of the fleet will follow them, or are they just hoping? What if the fleet falls apart instead; doesn't that seem much more likely? And what about the giant frakking basestar in their midst? They couldn't even secure Roslin; she found Baltar's wireless, and knew all too well how to get his help, because he wants above all else to come out of it alive. Whether or not the fleet takes her side, they at least know there are alternatives, that Galactica is in chaos. That doesn't seem like a good start for a takeover.
Zarek was introduced at the beginning of the first season, trying to play Lee off Adama to get what he wanted, willing to play a very dangerous game of chicken to advance his own power under the cover of democratic ideals. The scale of his ambition has changed, but nothing else has. Lee seems a little less willing to believe bad things about his father this time, twigs that something's wrong a little sooner, and in an episode full of people showing their worst sides that does count as some kind of progress.
* * * * *
In other space show news, there's been some wrangling recently about a possible new museum in the Presidio, and this post looks at the Presidio (and San Francisco in general) in science fiction, and "our duty to preserve the Presidio so future generations may use it as the site for Star Fleet Academy." Heh.
Also, it turns out that if you forget to put coffee in the coffee maker, it will only brew you a pot of sad hot water. Noted!
I thought it was telling--or at least I hope it was telling, and not just an excuse to menace Athena with rape again--that several characters from the Pegasus surfaced prominently in this episode. The mutineers are angry and frightened, and they have Cylons among them, and as far as they're concerned, nobody has paid sufficiently for their suffering yet. In fact, the pact with the Cylons that Adama wants to impose on them means that there might never be payment. That's what breaking the cycle would mean--giving up on the idea of revenge. They are brutal to the Cylons in their power, as a stand-in for all Cylons. The darker impulses that made the Pegasus such a hellhole were never that far below the surface, because they are a part of human nature; better leadership got people to listen to their better angels instead. Now, what Gaeta is leading is a Cain mutiny--a return to her vision of total war, damn the costs, even if it means killing your own when they get in the way. And the mutineers are taking advantage of their access to Cylons to take out their anger in violence; that's part of the plan.
I've had some sympathy for Gaeta up to now, and some understanding of Zarek's position, even though I think he's incredibly dangerous. But what they did to Laird was unforgivable. He'd survived the massacre of his family because he had skills, survived all that time on the Pegasus because he kept his head down and he had skills, and finally found a place where he could do his work and feel like a human being--and they killed him for doing his job right. On the other hand, Gaeta chooses Gage, the rapist, to help him on CIC. (asta77 and I were trying to figure out how we felt about the fact that he was apparently seamlessly integrated into the crew. On the one hand, it's plausible that Adama is just that oblivious. On the other, there is no way his presence wouldn't have creeped the hell out of some of the female crew, or that his experiences of exercising violent power over a female Cylon couldn't have informed the way he related to other women. Callie didn't want to have anything to do with him, and she couldn't have been alone. So it's kind of frustrating to see him just pop up here, without any hint of how that worked.) In fact, Gaeta makes a conscious choice that eggs must be broken, after Zarek kills Laird, and by the end of the episode, he's ordering Laura's raptor shot down.
So everyone is drawing lines now: those who see working with the Cylons versus those who would rather go it alone, even if it means the destruction of the human race. This is definitely Zarek's conspiracy: the potential for destruction, the eggs getting broken along the way, the abstract cause that justifies anything for its realization. I think this is the worst human-on-human violence we've seen in the fleet itself on the entire show, maybe with the exception of when the Galactica marines opened fire on some rioting civilians. (New Caprica was its own thing.) Kara, interestingly, seems to be the only one who draws her lines in a completely different way. The other pilot doesn't want her touching him--they don't even know what she is anymore, and their lines are based on human vs. Cylon. Hers are based on personal loyalty and personal relationships, as always--anybody who betrayed Adama is on the wrong side, and she's ready to be just as ruthless. I have huge problems with Adama's behavior probably 80% of the time he's on screen, most of which amount to finding his self-absorption hard to take, but at least he gets it here as he's consistently gotten it for a while--when they kill each other, nobody wins.
The mutiny's brutality is disturbing, but even more disturbing is the Underpants Gnome quality to their planning, which seems to look something like this:
1. Take Galactica
2. ????
3. No more Cylons!
Do they even know that the rest of the fleet will follow them, or are they just hoping? What if the fleet falls apart instead; doesn't that seem much more likely? And what about the giant frakking basestar in their midst? They couldn't even secure Roslin; she found Baltar's wireless, and knew all too well how to get his help, because he wants above all else to come out of it alive. Whether or not the fleet takes her side, they at least know there are alternatives, that Galactica is in chaos. That doesn't seem like a good start for a takeover.
Zarek was introduced at the beginning of the first season, trying to play Lee off Adama to get what he wanted, willing to play a very dangerous game of chicken to advance his own power under the cover of democratic ideals. The scale of his ambition has changed, but nothing else has. Lee seems a little less willing to believe bad things about his father this time, twigs that something's wrong a little sooner, and in an episode full of people showing their worst sides that does count as some kind of progress.
* * * * *
In other space show news, there's been some wrangling recently about a possible new museum in the Presidio, and this post looks at the Presidio (and San Francisco in general) in science fiction, and "our duty to preserve the Presidio so future generations may use it as the site for Star Fleet Academy." Heh.
Also, it turns out that if you forget to put coffee in the coffee maker, it will only brew you a pot of sad hot water. Noted!