I find this episode and scene troubling for Lee's character. I don't feel like the show did a very good job of actually showing Lee's hatred for the cylons, although I suppose we are supposed to know that? And Lee seems so gleeful about the whole thing. :/
I agree that it felt startling for his character, but unlike Kara with Leoben or Adama and Helo with Boomer or even Gaeta and Gaius, Lee never had an arc that brought him into close enough contact with a Cylon to have to feel empathy for them. Not that that justifies how unilateral he is here (when else is Lee Adama ever unilateral about anything?) but it at least seems reasonable that from a military viewpoint he'd be on board for taking out all his enemies if he doesn't really think of them as alive/human in his sense. All of that's just rationalization, though, it didn't really work for me either :)
(Also: black t-shirts were a good look for him! /shallow)
*nod nod* I agree with all that you've said, and agree that it still doesn't play right. (And gets worse later). I'm not sure why they made Lee the hawkish figure, although it seems possible that he was simply there so Helo could be the voice of morality for the Fleet. I always felt that Lee would be closer to Helo's side than the other genocidal view.
I'm not sure why they made Lee the hawkish figure, although it seems possible that he was simply there so Helo could be the voice of morality for the Fleet.Yes, I think you're right about this, and also there's the whole plot arc they were planning for Lee where he was going to recommit to the army and become a lot more militaristic/ruthless/hardcore this season, in reaction to his "soft" stage with the weight problems and his disconnection from any 'warrior' mentality at the start of the season. But ultimately they scrapped that plotline, so his behavior in this episode no longer fits in with anything. It was intended as character development but then it never developed anywhere, so it just looks a bit random and out of character now. Rather like Black Market
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Lee never had an arc that brought him into close enough contact with a Cylon to have to feel empathy for them.
exactly. We don't know if he ever really was confronted with the details of the torture of Gina Six on Pegasus or even knew much about her at all, and even as of S3 he can barely tolerate Sharon enough to work with her .
But the ruthlessness/gleefulness is a bit weird to me too, can't explain it away even if you think he's only making a logical strategy suggestion.
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(Also: black t-shirts were a good look for him! /shallow)
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exactly. We don't know if he ever really was confronted with the details of the torture of Gina Six on Pegasus or even knew much about her at all, and even as of S3 he can barely tolerate Sharon enough to work with her .
But the ruthlessness/gleefulness is a bit weird to me too, can't explain it away even if you think he's only making a logical strategy suggestion.
(I second that about the black tshirt too!)
(and yay for the black tshirt!)
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