BSG 4x18: Someone To Watch Over Me
I've gotta say, I've been disappointed by fandom before, but the sheer negativity surrounding this episode for what wasn't in it while ignoring what was in it takes the cake. I mean, I don't blame people for being disappointed with "Deadlock" (which I did not like) and "No Exit" (which I did not dislike), but I don't understand how people who watch the show for the show itself can be so overwhelmingly negative about STWOM.
I mean, I have a clear A/R agenda. They're my favorite characters and I want to see more of them. I'll admit to a bit of disappointment that there wasn't more of them. But that doesn't take away from the fact that every moment of everything that was in this episode was deemed essential as loose ends are tied up and stories begin to end.
I've heard people talking about the Starbuck storyline and how predictable it was that Piano Man Slick was all in her head. Were there spoilers put out to that effect, because I didn't see it coming at all. But once the credits rolled, I realized that it was really the only logical conclusion, because there's no way they'd introduce a brand new, presumably important (taking into account the return of That Fucking Song and the circumstances surrounding its return) character at this stage of the game. So I was faked out, but I don't feel stupid at all for being faked out.
I've also heard people claim that what took an entire episode could have been dealt with in two scenes. And to those people I really have to ask if they've been paying any kind of real attention to the character of Kara Thrace throughout the series. I realize that we all have our favorites and some of us don't like Kara (I for one have spent a significant amount of time hating her guts throughout the series), but one thing that has always been hammered into us about Kara Thrace is that she takes her time going through her issues, if she ever gets around to them in the first place. I like that they're finally taking a good amount of care in developing the end of Kara's story and I really appreciate that she mostly focused on the happy memories of her father teaching her the piano. Kara's a person who has a lot of anger locked up and it would have been the easiest thing in the world to make it into yet another glimpse of Kara acting like a tool because she's got issues, but Thompson and Weddle went for some actual character evolution.
I liked that Slick was in Kara's head and going with the presumption that he is a manifestation of Kara's father, I think I understand where they were trying to go. Kara uses a lot of defense mechanisms to protect herself from threats, both from without and within herself. I think her subconscious didn't quite trust herself enough to be able to look her dad in the face and not completely unravel or shut down. She knew she couldn't shut down because she had to bring everything into the open and take a good hard look at where she is right now and deal with the fact that she has no fucking clue where she's going. She has no control and Head!Daddy helped her to accept it, even if she doesn't have to be happy about it.
I haven't liked Boomer since the New Caprica arc and it hurt to realize I didn't care about her anymore, because she's such a tragic figure up till then. Probably the most tragic figure in the entire BSG universe. I wasn't a Tyrol/Boomer fan. Everyone knows I loved Chief/Cally and therefore I really had to put my fanbase agenda on mute. Or I thought I had to, anyway.
I felt for both of them, very much. I do believe (and reluctantly, to my own surprise) that Boomer's returning Ellen to the Fleet was indeed a set-up cooked up by Cavil and herself in order to get close to Hera. But I don't think she expected Tyrol to come and see her, or make any attempt to reach out to her. I will admit that I was rolling my eyes a bit at the house on Picon and the wedding photo and the daughter, but this is one of the most important relationships either of these characters had. At the risk of having the Cally haters pointing and laughing, I will reluctantly concede that it's probably the most important relationship for both of them.
That being said, I do believe that Boomer loves the Chief and probably has all along, as much as she possibly can. I don't believe she knows the true meaning of love and commitment, but as much as she can, she does love the Chief. Unfortunately, there is a huge bug up her ass and that bug's name is Athena.
One of the things I love about this season is that karma has come full circle in many different and horrible, difficult to watch ways.
Lady Karma, in the guise of John/Cavil, pulled a major hatchet job on the Final Five. The Five helped to create the skinjob Cylons and Cavil in turn created the personae they operate under now.
I almost hesitate to say this, because I feel that it's in extremely poor taste. However, I've seen it posted in other places, so I'll just go ahead and say it with as few words as possible and get it over with. Caprica Six had her date with Lady Karma last week. She killed another woman's baby in the miniseries (one of the first times we ever saw her) and now she's carried a child of her own and lost it. I can't say I'm happy about it, but it's there.
As for Helo and Athena, karma finally got back around to both of them. I can understand Boomer's hatred and envy toward Athena. Despite the fact that it did take a long time for Athena to gain the trust of the crew and Bill Adama, the fact remains that she used the relationships Boomer had with all of these people as a foundation for the relationships and life she carved out for herself on Galactica. Not only that, but Boomer, pretending to be Athena, had sex with Athena's husband right in front of her face. Does that remind anyone else of something Athena did back when she was known as "Caprica-Boomer?" As for Helo, with his daughter now in the hands of the bad Cylons, one can't help but wonder how he feels about killing them all now.
I'm just sorry that the Chief is apparently such a moron that he couldn't see what everyone else could see. If he gets off scot-free, I'm gonna start wondering if Alessandro Juiliani had another job lined up before BSG wrapped, because that's the only way Gaeta's execution can be justified in the face of so many other people getting away with the array of shit they've all pulled for far less honorable reasons than Gaeta had. I'm sure that karma will get around to the Chief, but it'll be internal karma, because this is a guy who loves his guilt almost as much as the granddaddy of all who wallow in their own guilt, the one and only William Adama.
Which brings me to the matter that's been frustrating me most over the past day and a half. Bill and Laura. Adama and Roslin. The Admiral and the (in name only) President. Zeus and Athena. I've been fully briefed on the fact that there was an entire A/R subplot cut out of the episode. And I am disappointed about that, very deeply disappointed. But I'm not angry, I haven't lost my faith or respect for the show, and I'm not screaming complaining that the show is ruined, it's jumped over the shark, blah blah blah.
BECAUSE IT WAS A KICKASS EPISODE WITH OR WITHOUT A/R. It was a kickass episode before I found out about the cut subplot and it was a kickass episode after I found out about the cut subplot. I have faith in RDM, because I've been watching much of his work for the past decade and a half, probably more if you count the years of TNG he was involved with. RDM is the biggest A/R fanatic of them all. If anything, I was concerned that other characters and couples and plots wouldn't get their due because RDM is so in love with A/R. We all know it's true. I'm glad they're taking care of long-standing character arcs and plotlines leading up to the last three hours of the series.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that RDM went off somewhere by himself to rewrite the finale, which leads to believe there may have been a shuffling of events or a change of direction. Anyone think of that before they started screaming?
I have faith in Ronald D. Moore. End of story.
I mean, I have a clear A/R agenda. They're my favorite characters and I want to see more of them. I'll admit to a bit of disappointment that there wasn't more of them. But that doesn't take away from the fact that every moment of everything that was in this episode was deemed essential as loose ends are tied up and stories begin to end.
I've heard people talking about the Starbuck storyline and how predictable it was that Piano Man Slick was all in her head. Were there spoilers put out to that effect, because I didn't see it coming at all. But once the credits rolled, I realized that it was really the only logical conclusion, because there's no way they'd introduce a brand new, presumably important (taking into account the return of That Fucking Song and the circumstances surrounding its return) character at this stage of the game. So I was faked out, but I don't feel stupid at all for being faked out.
I've also heard people claim that what took an entire episode could have been dealt with in two scenes. And to those people I really have to ask if they've been paying any kind of real attention to the character of Kara Thrace throughout the series. I realize that we all have our favorites and some of us don't like Kara (I for one have spent a significant amount of time hating her guts throughout the series), but one thing that has always been hammered into us about Kara Thrace is that she takes her time going through her issues, if she ever gets around to them in the first place. I like that they're finally taking a good amount of care in developing the end of Kara's story and I really appreciate that she mostly focused on the happy memories of her father teaching her the piano. Kara's a person who has a lot of anger locked up and it would have been the easiest thing in the world to make it into yet another glimpse of Kara acting like a tool because she's got issues, but Thompson and Weddle went for some actual character evolution.
I liked that Slick was in Kara's head and going with the presumption that he is a manifestation of Kara's father, I think I understand where they were trying to go. Kara uses a lot of defense mechanisms to protect herself from threats, both from without and within herself. I think her subconscious didn't quite trust herself enough to be able to look her dad in the face and not completely unravel or shut down. She knew she couldn't shut down because she had to bring everything into the open and take a good hard look at where she is right now and deal with the fact that she has no fucking clue where she's going. She has no control and Head!Daddy helped her to accept it, even if she doesn't have to be happy about it.
I haven't liked Boomer since the New Caprica arc and it hurt to realize I didn't care about her anymore, because she's such a tragic figure up till then. Probably the most tragic figure in the entire BSG universe. I wasn't a Tyrol/Boomer fan. Everyone knows I loved Chief/Cally and therefore I really had to put my fanbase agenda on mute. Or I thought I had to, anyway.
I felt for both of them, very much. I do believe (and reluctantly, to my own surprise) that Boomer's returning Ellen to the Fleet was indeed a set-up cooked up by Cavil and herself in order to get close to Hera. But I don't think she expected Tyrol to come and see her, or make any attempt to reach out to her. I will admit that I was rolling my eyes a bit at the house on Picon and the wedding photo and the daughter, but this is one of the most important relationships either of these characters had. At the risk of having the Cally haters pointing and laughing, I will reluctantly concede that it's probably the most important relationship for both of them.
That being said, I do believe that Boomer loves the Chief and probably has all along, as much as she possibly can. I don't believe she knows the true meaning of love and commitment, but as much as she can, she does love the Chief. Unfortunately, there is a huge bug up her ass and that bug's name is Athena.
One of the things I love about this season is that karma has come full circle in many different and horrible, difficult to watch ways.
Lady Karma, in the guise of John/Cavil, pulled a major hatchet job on the Final Five. The Five helped to create the skinjob Cylons and Cavil in turn created the personae they operate under now.
I almost hesitate to say this, because I feel that it's in extremely poor taste. However, I've seen it posted in other places, so I'll just go ahead and say it with as few words as possible and get it over with. Caprica Six had her date with Lady Karma last week. She killed another woman's baby in the miniseries (one of the first times we ever saw her) and now she's carried a child of her own and lost it. I can't say I'm happy about it, but it's there.
As for Helo and Athena, karma finally got back around to both of them. I can understand Boomer's hatred and envy toward Athena. Despite the fact that it did take a long time for Athena to gain the trust of the crew and Bill Adama, the fact remains that she used the relationships Boomer had with all of these people as a foundation for the relationships and life she carved out for herself on Galactica. Not only that, but Boomer, pretending to be Athena, had sex with Athena's husband right in front of her face. Does that remind anyone else of something Athena did back when she was known as "Caprica-Boomer?" As for Helo, with his daughter now in the hands of the bad Cylons, one can't help but wonder how he feels about killing them all now.
I'm just sorry that the Chief is apparently such a moron that he couldn't see what everyone else could see. If he gets off scot-free, I'm gonna start wondering if Alessandro Juiliani had another job lined up before BSG wrapped, because that's the only way Gaeta's execution can be justified in the face of so many other people getting away with the array of shit they've all pulled for far less honorable reasons than Gaeta had. I'm sure that karma will get around to the Chief, but it'll be internal karma, because this is a guy who loves his guilt almost as much as the granddaddy of all who wallow in their own guilt, the one and only William Adama.
Which brings me to the matter that's been frustrating me most over the past day and a half. Bill and Laura. Adama and Roslin. The Admiral and the (in name only) President. Zeus and Athena. I've been fully briefed on the fact that there was an entire A/R subplot cut out of the episode. And I am disappointed about that, very deeply disappointed. But I'm not angry, I haven't lost my faith or respect for the show, and I'm not screaming complaining that the show is ruined, it's jumped over the shark, blah blah blah.
BECAUSE IT WAS A KICKASS EPISODE WITH OR WITHOUT A/R. It was a kickass episode before I found out about the cut subplot and it was a kickass episode after I found out about the cut subplot. I have faith in RDM, because I've been watching much of his work for the past decade and a half, probably more if you count the years of TNG he was involved with. RDM is the biggest A/R fanatic of them all. If anything, I was concerned that other characters and couples and plots wouldn't get their due because RDM is so in love with A/R. We all know it's true. I'm glad they're taking care of long-standing character arcs and plotlines leading up to the last three hours of the series.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that RDM went off somewhere by himself to rewrite the finale, which leads to believe there may have been a shuffling of events or a change of direction. Anyone think of that before they started screaming?
I have faith in Ronald D. Moore. End of story.