Further complexities (BSG)
Battlestar Galatica
2.10 Pegasus, 2.11 Resurrection Ship (part 1) and 2.12 Resurrection Ship (part 2)
These three episodes worked out to be a good batch to watch in one go.
I found the music a tad much in the opening of ‘Pegasus’, though finding another battlestar of human survivors was a Big Deal. Still, the balance between music and dialogue was particularly off in this episode. I had a few questions that weren’t the story that was being told - how was the Pegasus not hacked being the main one. But anyway, enter Admiral Michelle Forbes with her amazing bone structure (in all seriousness) (in less seriousness, if this is the season when BSG embraces its SFFness in the casting, I approve.) A few seconds later, we realised…Admiral, so she outranked Adama, who commanded a museum piece of a ship. And the Pegasus seemed pure military, with the At War mentality, no Roslin to her Adama. Indeed, she had the tyical dismissive attitude towards Roslin, who was quick to hear the wrong note, but it gradually revealed itself to us and the rest of the characters.
The previouslies had mae it clear that this was going to be Tyrrell-Caprica!Sharon-Helo heavy, but the way it played out was in service to the new developments. The post September 11th metaphor was loud and clear. I will say that although I was backing Our Flawed Heroes, I did nnot forget that time Kara tortured her Cylon prisoner, even if rape wasn’t part of the repertoire.
So, we had Baltar meeting not!Six, who had been clearly, horribly traumatised, and I thought he was naïve about what the best outcome could be (although I salute the wiriters for what the outcome would be in three episodes’ time). ‘It’, as they called her, obviously physically and sexually abused, and the Pegasi bragging about it (er, did we see any other female in uniform other than the Admiral?) disgusting Kallie et al, and that’s Kallie who shot Sharon dead. Tyrrell and Helo rushed to stop the ‘interrogation’ (because whereas Adama had TOLD the Admiral they’d got intel from Carpica!Sharon, her Cylon prisoner was mute, so it’s not like they were going to get more), (and the ethics of it seems so obvious), The interrogator’s name being Thorne was Very Subtle. Anyway, he got killed in the melee and it was the ensuing threat to two of his guys that made Adama act.
I had wondered before they got transferred how he’d like it if the Admiral took Apollo and Starbuck and lo she did. Of course, it was Apollo being a good captain, using Kara and the Blackbird to get leverage for later and to stop civil war, horrifying civil war, that saved them. (For all their fancy ship, the Pegasi seemed far less effective.) Meanwhile Tigh had been hearing horror stories from the other XO. (and that’s Tigh who instituted martial law and created the atmosphere for civilians to get killed by his soldiers.)
LOVED Madam President dealing with the two military chiefs. I LOVED ROSLIN SO HARD in this ep, even as I observed there was a bit of the Iron Lady in her. I mean, assessing that Admiral I’ll Kill To Get My Way, Dehumanise My Enemies and Winning the War Comes First, Who Cares About Civilians needed to be killed was stone cold.
Before that, Admiral I See Me In You promoted Kara over Lee and, more temptingly, said they’d go back to Caprca to rescue their people ad take the fight to the Cylons. Kara wanting revenge for the farm and all bought into that. (Big picture, I’m with Roslin, although I think they should try harder to mount a rescue.) But anyway, this raised the stakes, as if Adama asking his daughter (and tactically it had to be her, not Apollo, although it was always a given that he’d have her back in whatever) TO ASSASSINATE SOMEONE. Not as a sniper, not as a pilot shooting a combatant, bt to carry out mutiny and murder in cold blood, and although she knew about the threat to Helo and Tyrrell, she didn’t know all his reasoning.
Meanwhile, Helo and Tyrrell’s execution got stayed, Helo showed that his brain hasn’t entirely been turned into mush by love and a baby. The Pegasus XO saved them (lots of disappointed sighing of ‘oh, boys’ as it was all testosterone driven, although the worst was Admiral and how she treated not!Six and let her men treat her). Though he was clinging on to military regs (because like Tigh, we knew what he’d witnessed was awful and had some idea of how bad letting them act on their worst impulses was for his men) he also denied the Cylons personhood. (Which Hero, Tyrrell and the Doc don’t, and even Adama and Roslin to an extent.)
Weird transition from seeing bare-chested Adama, starin at his scar, to talking to Caprica!Sharon.
Six had all kinds of FEELINGS about Gaius havin all kinds of FEELINS about not!her in the flesh. The question of the identity of each copy when some of them download their consciousness and some don’t, while they have separate experiences is fascinating, though it would be more fascinating if this weren’t chiefly told through female Cylons.
But the relationship that captivated me the most was Adama and Roslin’s. The personal and the philosophical wove around each other in all their scenes, the use of first names, Bill finally seeing how ill she was, the sense of conversations we haven’t seen on sceen as well as the weight of the ones we have, and the daily contact, mixed with the use of titles, the civilian leader discussing the military leadership. GUH! And the flirting! And the sense that he’s giving her and himself this even though he knows it’s going to cause him pain when she dies. And the not giving up hope - I don’t want to, either.
And how facing her mortality tied into the Resurrection ship revelation.
Nice intercutting as both Adama and Cain made their mirroring plans with their assassins. Utterly tense. I liked how they made the Admiral more human at this point. Her almost inviting Kara to kill her via her advice, and all the while, we were aware of what cost to Kara of pulling the trigger would be, which Lee realised. And so did his father, ultimately.
What happened with Lee didn’t quite work for me. I got obsessed with where his dream goggles went, and the revelation that he had lost the will to live - I don’t know, his disappointment at his father didn’t seem to be enough motivation, or was it being let down by Roslin suggesting the kill? Neither seemed to land quite hard enough when they happened. He hadn’t seemed to be as worn down as most of the fleet, and he was there on Kobol when they saw the map to Earth, so…and, okay, have Dee eavesdropping because he fancies her now. I know she was the voice trying to get him to respond, though that still seems slight caompared to the gravitational pull of Lee/Kara.
But anyway, Gaius’s interaction with an also suicidal not!Six (isn’t murder as much a sin as suicide? and the interesting thing is where does all this fit in God’s plan as related by Six? She didn’t see the Pegasus or her copy coming. Destroying the resurrection ship seems like a win for humanity and their gods. Anyway, the second Gaius said ’justice’ I realised where the story was headed. Elegant storytelling!
Which makes Adama admiral, and gives them a fancier ship to play with (though I would be relieved if Gaeta went over their computers) and not!Six floating about somewhere.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/445530.html.
2.10 Pegasus, 2.11 Resurrection Ship (part 1) and 2.12 Resurrection Ship (part 2)
These three episodes worked out to be a good batch to watch in one go.
I found the music a tad much in the opening of ‘Pegasus’, though finding another battlestar of human survivors was a Big Deal. Still, the balance between music and dialogue was particularly off in this episode. I had a few questions that weren’t the story that was being told - how was the Pegasus not hacked being the main one. But anyway, enter Admiral Michelle Forbes with her amazing bone structure (in all seriousness) (in less seriousness, if this is the season when BSG embraces its SFFness in the casting, I approve.) A few seconds later, we realised…Admiral, so she outranked Adama, who commanded a museum piece of a ship. And the Pegasus seemed pure military, with the At War mentality, no Roslin to her Adama. Indeed, she had the tyical dismissive attitude towards Roslin, who was quick to hear the wrong note, but it gradually revealed itself to us and the rest of the characters.
The previouslies had mae it clear that this was going to be Tyrrell-Caprica!Sharon-Helo heavy, but the way it played out was in service to the new developments. The post September 11th metaphor was loud and clear. I will say that although I was backing Our Flawed Heroes, I did nnot forget that time Kara tortured her Cylon prisoner, even if rape wasn’t part of the repertoire.
So, we had Baltar meeting not!Six, who had been clearly, horribly traumatised, and I thought he was naïve about what the best outcome could be (although I salute the wiriters for what the outcome would be in three episodes’ time). ‘It’, as they called her, obviously physically and sexually abused, and the Pegasi bragging about it (er, did we see any other female in uniform other than the Admiral?) disgusting Kallie et al, and that’s Kallie who shot Sharon dead. Tyrrell and Helo rushed to stop the ‘interrogation’ (because whereas Adama had TOLD the Admiral they’d got intel from Carpica!Sharon, her Cylon prisoner was mute, so it’s not like they were going to get more), (and the ethics of it seems so obvious), The interrogator’s name being Thorne was Very Subtle. Anyway, he got killed in the melee and it was the ensuing threat to two of his guys that made Adama act.
I had wondered before they got transferred how he’d like it if the Admiral took Apollo and Starbuck and lo she did. Of course, it was Apollo being a good captain, using Kara and the Blackbird to get leverage for later and to stop civil war, horrifying civil war, that saved them. (For all their fancy ship, the Pegasi seemed far less effective.) Meanwhile Tigh had been hearing horror stories from the other XO. (and that’s Tigh who instituted martial law and created the atmosphere for civilians to get killed by his soldiers.)
LOVED Madam President dealing with the two military chiefs. I LOVED ROSLIN SO HARD in this ep, even as I observed there was a bit of the Iron Lady in her. I mean, assessing that Admiral I’ll Kill To Get My Way, Dehumanise My Enemies and Winning the War Comes First, Who Cares About Civilians needed to be killed was stone cold.
Before that, Admiral I See Me In You promoted Kara over Lee and, more temptingly, said they’d go back to Caprca to rescue their people ad take the fight to the Cylons. Kara wanting revenge for the farm and all bought into that. (Big picture, I’m with Roslin, although I think they should try harder to mount a rescue.) But anyway, this raised the stakes, as if Adama asking his daughter (and tactically it had to be her, not Apollo, although it was always a given that he’d have her back in whatever) TO ASSASSINATE SOMEONE. Not as a sniper, not as a pilot shooting a combatant, bt to carry out mutiny and murder in cold blood, and although she knew about the threat to Helo and Tyrrell, she didn’t know all his reasoning.
Meanwhile, Helo and Tyrrell’s execution got stayed, Helo showed that his brain hasn’t entirely been turned into mush by love and a baby. The Pegasus XO saved them (lots of disappointed sighing of ‘oh, boys’ as it was all testosterone driven, although the worst was Admiral and how she treated not!Six and let her men treat her). Though he was clinging on to military regs (because like Tigh, we knew what he’d witnessed was awful and had some idea of how bad letting them act on their worst impulses was for his men) he also denied the Cylons personhood. (Which Hero, Tyrrell and the Doc don’t, and even Adama and Roslin to an extent.)
Weird transition from seeing bare-chested Adama, starin at his scar, to talking to Caprica!Sharon.
Six had all kinds of FEELINGS about Gaius havin all kinds of FEELINS about not!her in the flesh. The question of the identity of each copy when some of them download their consciousness and some don’t, while they have separate experiences is fascinating, though it would be more fascinating if this weren’t chiefly told through female Cylons.
But the relationship that captivated me the most was Adama and Roslin’s. The personal and the philosophical wove around each other in all their scenes, the use of first names, Bill finally seeing how ill she was, the sense of conversations we haven’t seen on sceen as well as the weight of the ones we have, and the daily contact, mixed with the use of titles, the civilian leader discussing the military leadership. GUH! And the flirting! And the sense that he’s giving her and himself this even though he knows it’s going to cause him pain when she dies. And the not giving up hope - I don’t want to, either.
And how facing her mortality tied into the Resurrection ship revelation.
Nice intercutting as both Adama and Cain made their mirroring plans with their assassins. Utterly tense. I liked how they made the Admiral more human at this point. Her almost inviting Kara to kill her via her advice, and all the while, we were aware of what cost to Kara of pulling the trigger would be, which Lee realised. And so did his father, ultimately.
What happened with Lee didn’t quite work for me. I got obsessed with where his dream goggles went, and the revelation that he had lost the will to live - I don’t know, his disappointment at his father didn’t seem to be enough motivation, or was it being let down by Roslin suggesting the kill? Neither seemed to land quite hard enough when they happened. He hadn’t seemed to be as worn down as most of the fleet, and he was there on Kobol when they saw the map to Earth, so…and, okay, have Dee eavesdropping because he fancies her now. I know she was the voice trying to get him to respond, though that still seems slight caompared to the gravitational pull of Lee/Kara.
But anyway, Gaius’s interaction with an also suicidal not!Six (isn’t murder as much a sin as suicide? and the interesting thing is where does all this fit in God’s plan as related by Six? She didn’t see the Pegasus or her copy coming. Destroying the resurrection ship seems like a win for humanity and their gods. Anyway, the second Gaius said ’justice’ I realised where the story was headed. Elegant storytelling!
Which makes Adama admiral, and gives them a fancier ship to play with (though I would be relieved if Gaeta went over their computers) and not!Six floating about somewhere.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/445530.html.