Escape Velocity

[narfna]

4X04 -- Escape Velocity

• The episode opens on Cally's funeral. How depressing. But it's made even more depressing by two things: 1) Roslin is wearing her ugly wig, and 2) She tells the Admiral that she likes the service, you know, so he'll know when it comes time for hers. JEEZ.
• I always forget that Chief is a preacher's son. Or, at least, was programmed to think he's a preacher's son. Hmmm, that's interesting to think about.
• ??? = Were the Cylon's backgrounds deliberately chosen for a reason? How far back do their "real" memories last? Did they replace real people? Or were they made from scratch?
• You guys, I just don't have words for how much I hate Tory. She shakes the Chief's hand like it's nothing, like she didn't just throw his wife out an airlock.
• Caprica Six! I love her! And Tigh is intrigued by her, judging by how many times he's come to see her. This is probably for many reasons, not the least of which is that he's now a Cylon himself.
• It always bugs me when they refer to her as "it." Can't they see? More importantly, it's hypocritical. They accepted Athena a long time ago into their midst. Have they forgotten she's a Cylon, too?
• Okay, so Tigh's nuts. He's seeing his dead wife Ellen's face on the body of Caprica. But really, this is about guilt. He's identifying himself with the enemy now, and questioning all his past actions, including the murder of his wife for consorting with Cylons. Whoops, Tigh!
• Tigh changes the baby's diaper. HA HA HA.
• What Tory says to Gaius, after practically raping him: "We're made to be perfect, we don't need guilt." But that's exactly what the Cylons are missing, and why Caprica and Athena are ostracized from the Cylon ranks. They feel that guilt. They allow themselves to be human.
• Between her and the shriners, Baltar is going to be sexed to death. I'm sure that's how he always wanted to go.
• Baltar is hilarious, as usual, but let's add Tory-Who-Loves-Pain to the list of nutjobs in this episode.
• Baltar never changes too much. He's the same guy, who hides in fear when bad men come looking for him.
• Then he goes kind of nuts, too! He leads a raid on a temple, calling Zeus a serial rapist. Ha, but also, why is everybody so frakking nuts?
• Bill brings his favorite book to read to Laura: Searider Falcon. He's never finished it, because he likes it so much he doesn't want it to be over. Hmmm. Let's apply this phrase elsewhere in his life, eh?
• Let's dissect the scene where he picks her up from sickbay:  She holds onto his arm and calls him Bill as he carries her bags and takes her to his quarters. A worse person would think they were up to something, but it's just me, and I know they're both too emotionally retarded to let themselves be happy enough to get it on.
• Tigh asking Caprica if there's a switch to turn off the pain, you know, because she's a machine and he is too, or so he thinks. The great part about this scene is that neither one of them are talking about the same thing -- she doesn't know he's a Cylon -- but they somehow manage to understand one another.
• I think the whole "thing" between Caprica Six and Tigh is the most creepy awesome new development of the entirety of season four, but we'll get back to it later.
• Compared to their past altercations, the scene when Roslin visits Baltar in the brig is positively cute.
• At Joe's, the scene between the Admiral and the Chief is just INTENSE. Chief is letting his guilt, and his despair, overwhelm him, and he's telling the truth out of context. He calls Cally "the best of limited options," and laments the loss of his one true love, Boomer. And then he says that Cally had "dull, vacant eyes" and that he hated the "boiled cabbage scent of her." Ouch and OUCH. Poor dead Cally. Also, add Chief to the list of nuts in this episode. The Admiral totally demotes his ass.
• SPECIALIST Tyrol.
• You know what? Everybody is just a bastard, why can't we escape?
• Okay, so Tigh is totally watching Caprica sleep. Her line upon waking is priceless: "Should I get used to waking up to this face?"
• What she says to him this time is really interesting: "Pain is how I learn from the guilt. There's wisdom there, clarity." If the Eights are love, then the Sixes are compassion.
• EYE SOCKETED!
• Up in the hallway near the shriner's domain, Roslin's new law has prevented Baltar from entering his quarters, so Angel Six has to make him take a stand. She literally just like throws him around. He looks possessed. Lee comes to the rescue, having gotten the Quorum to appeal the law, and Lee tells Baltar: "I don't do these things for you."
• Which brings me to my next point. Roslin and Adama are talking about Lee and his pathological need to always do the right thing. Roslin thinks it's naive, but you can tell that Bill is proud of his son. He reads to her from Searider Falcon: "I'm getting into the part I haven't read yet." Aren't we all, Bill?
• Okay, so after she feels up his eye socket, Caprica totally starts beating the shit out of Tigh. And you know what? He LIKES it. Feels like he deserves it, and just when we're about to add Caprica to the list of crazies, she stops. And she understands that being beat up isn't what he needs, what he needs is love, and to be forgiven. So she makes out with him. And, SPOILER, they totally have sex, but we won't know that 'til later.
• Speaking about love, Baltar is preaching to a surprising amount of people, including Tory and Lee. He says two very interesting things, the first of which is that you have to love yourself, or how can you love others? This is true, and surprisingly insightful. This is also one of the reasons I love Baltar's character, because he's a total narcissistic ass,  but then he has these thoughts that are just right.
• I mean, his followers look like mindless idiots, but he makes some good points.
• And before I make a joke that will completely undermine the message of this episode, let's talk about perfection. I think this is a slippery line that Gaius is walking. What he's saying is true to a certain extent, but it's also not. Being perfect doesn't excuse you from culpability. Six is the one that has it right. You mess up, you live with the pain, and you learn from it. Yes, you don't hate yourself, but you must also be the best person you can be. It's people like Tory who will take Baltar's message and use it to shove people out of airlocks and not think one more minute of it.
• And now for the undermining. Does no one else find it as funny as I do when Baltar says "You are perfect, just as you are?" I mean, come on. BRIDGET JONES!!!! James Callis is totally in that movie, and he totally says that exact line.