BSG 4x08 Sine qua non
Well, I had some technical trouble watching this latest episode, so my impressions may be marred by that. I feel like I missed half of the major points though I did get to see some scenes about ten times... :P
- I am pleased to see that my "faith" in Lee Adama has come to bear fruit, seeing him slide into the position of president so suddenly. Had not anticipated this move of RDM's at all, then again had not spent much time on contemplating the consequences of Roslin's jump away from the fleet, either.
During the Lee scenes where he considers the presidential question, with Zarek as well as with Lampkin, I did have some misgivings about Bamber's acting, though. All the time I was actually wondering whether he is secretly counting on being elected due to good connections to the military, to put it that way, or is he genuinely naive. To be honest, my first impression was that he was playing coy (especially that one line where he says he hasn't anybody in mind yet for the position) - which annoyed me because it's so out of character.
Well, all in all I wasn't too happy with the way the transition was handled. Too awkward to have Lee alone (i.e. as the only member of the quorum) debate the issue and turn out to become the new president himself. It would have been more graceful and democratic (huh!) to include the quorum in the decision. Anyway, I do wonder what will happen once Roslin gets back in the picture (or will she?).
And then there's the Leland-issue. WTF. Lee was such a nice, fitting name - short, precise, clean-cut and good honest down-to-earth.(no pun intended). Leland? Like he needs a new name to go with his new position? That is so pretentious. And sorry, Lee/Leland-fans, this guy is going down on the scale for me *momentary shudder*, although I still have some hope left... I mean, it's just a _name_ but still, Lee was a nice part of that hunkadorious pilot who always maintained a soft core in the midst of rough circumstances. Leland the president will have to prove what he is capable of (and I have faith that it will be great deeds done but it sure doesn't appear that way right now convincingly).
- Lampkin kind of puzzled me - but that may be due to the technical difficulties I mentioned above. Why did Lee turn to him in the first place? And what's that thing with the dead cat? How did the freakin' cat die? Weeks ago?? *scratch head*
- Did Adama get a haircut before setting out to find his Laura??
- In the entire controversy military vs. politics, the role of Laura Roslin's character and its development has suddenly again become clear to me. It had been obscured by Roslin's bitchiness during the first S4 episodes. Recent developments on the political floor again point to the mantra they have lavished on us during the first 3 seasons but have used sparingly in recent episodes: This has happened before... Well, during SQN I have taken it to read "nothing ever changes" - statically instead of the rather dynamic cyclical interpretation. There is still the standoff between politics and the military, and it was only Roslin who took this seeming clash of interests one step beyond. There is still the mistrust towards Zarek, of course, and the confusion among the civilian fleet as to WTF is going on.
- Kara had but a brief appearance and to tell the truth, I really couldn't read her at all. After the raptor door shuts on Admiral Adama, she turns toward Lee and her look is - what? *clueless*
Besides, I'm a bit thrown off about how calm and quiet everything has suddenly become about her. No more talk about her special destiny, about finding earth and all that jazz. That was such a big obsession in the first three or four episodes but once she realized her vision was all about the cylon baseship (which is pretty amazing and needs to be digested a bit), things got pretty quiet around her.
And Kare/Lee seems to be history, pretty much? Both Kara and Lee gave me the impression of having matured over night, somehow. No more frakking around, just lean determination. It gives the show a new clean (as in clear! Don't want it to become too clean, now, do we) edge but it takes the marrow from it, too. The previous seasons - maybe S3 had some hangers in this respect - all managed to mix the plot and the squee rather well. Here, the squee is falling on short. Shippers are being forced to savor the briefest glances... it's a bit of a let-down after the shippers' blast of S3, if you ask me!
- Tigh and the Admiral. That was quite a fight. The more astonished I was when Adama just sort of leaned back after the last blows had been distributed and continued with the agenda. Seemed a bit weird to me but then, whaddaya know. Tigh and pregnant Six caught me unprepared. And kind of grossed me out, too. It's so out of character with Tigh! Of course, just like Tory before, he has the Final-Five Cylon blank check, so any sort of behavioral inconsistency can be explained away by that. I feel like that arc was just pressed into the show because it's the last season, and obviously has some grand bearing on what's to come. BTW, I liked how we had two twangy chords of F5-cylon resurrection music after Adama had handed him the wings! Harbinger of great things...
Comments welcome!
- I am pleased to see that my "faith" in Lee Adama has come to bear fruit, seeing him slide into the position of president so suddenly. Had not anticipated this move of RDM's at all, then again had not spent much time on contemplating the consequences of Roslin's jump away from the fleet, either.
During the Lee scenes where he considers the presidential question, with Zarek as well as with Lampkin, I did have some misgivings about Bamber's acting, though. All the time I was actually wondering whether he is secretly counting on being elected due to good connections to the military, to put it that way, or is he genuinely naive. To be honest, my first impression was that he was playing coy (especially that one line where he says he hasn't anybody in mind yet for the position) - which annoyed me because it's so out of character.
Well, all in all I wasn't too happy with the way the transition was handled. Too awkward to have Lee alone (i.e. as the only member of the quorum) debate the issue and turn out to become the new president himself. It would have been more graceful and democratic (huh!) to include the quorum in the decision. Anyway, I do wonder what will happen once Roslin gets back in the picture (or will she?).
And then there's the Leland-issue. WTF. Lee was such a nice, fitting name - short, precise, clean-cut and good honest down-to-earth.(no pun intended). Leland? Like he needs a new name to go with his new position? That is so pretentious. And sorry, Lee/Leland-fans, this guy is going down on the scale for me *momentary shudder*, although I still have some hope left... I mean, it's just a _name_ but still, Lee was a nice part of that hunkadorious pilot who always maintained a soft core in the midst of rough circumstances. Leland the president will have to prove what he is capable of (and I have faith that it will be great deeds done but it sure doesn't appear that way right now convincingly).
- Lampkin kind of puzzled me - but that may be due to the technical difficulties I mentioned above. Why did Lee turn to him in the first place? And what's that thing with the dead cat? How did the freakin' cat die? Weeks ago?? *scratch head*
- Did Adama get a haircut before setting out to find his Laura??
- In the entire controversy military vs. politics, the role of Laura Roslin's character and its development has suddenly again become clear to me. It had been obscured by Roslin's bitchiness during the first S4 episodes. Recent developments on the political floor again point to the mantra they have lavished on us during the first 3 seasons but have used sparingly in recent episodes: This has happened before... Well, during SQN I have taken it to read "nothing ever changes" - statically instead of the rather dynamic cyclical interpretation. There is still the standoff between politics and the military, and it was only Roslin who took this seeming clash of interests one step beyond. There is still the mistrust towards Zarek, of course, and the confusion among the civilian fleet as to WTF is going on.
- Kara had but a brief appearance and to tell the truth, I really couldn't read her at all. After the raptor door shuts on Admiral Adama, she turns toward Lee and her look is - what? *clueless*
Besides, I'm a bit thrown off about how calm and quiet everything has suddenly become about her. No more talk about her special destiny, about finding earth and all that jazz. That was such a big obsession in the first three or four episodes but once she realized her vision was all about the cylon baseship (which is pretty amazing and needs to be digested a bit), things got pretty quiet around her.
And Kare/Lee seems to be history, pretty much? Both Kara and Lee gave me the impression of having matured over night, somehow. No more frakking around, just lean determination. It gives the show a new clean (as in clear! Don't want it to become too clean, now, do we) edge but it takes the marrow from it, too. The previous seasons - maybe S3 had some hangers in this respect - all managed to mix the plot and the squee rather well. Here, the squee is falling on short. Shippers are being forced to savor the briefest glances... it's a bit of a let-down after the shippers' blast of S3, if you ask me!
- Tigh and the Admiral. That was quite a fight. The more astonished I was when Adama just sort of leaned back after the last blows had been distributed and continued with the agenda. Seemed a bit weird to me but then, whaddaya know. Tigh and pregnant Six caught me unprepared. And kind of grossed me out, too. It's so out of character with Tigh! Of course, just like Tory before, he has the Final-Five Cylon blank check, so any sort of behavioral inconsistency can be explained away by that. I feel like that arc was just pressed into the show because it's the last season, and obviously has some grand bearing on what's to come. BTW, I liked how we had two twangy chords of F5-cylon resurrection music after Adama had handed him the wings! Harbinger of great things...
Comments welcome!