BSG 2.08 and Veronica Mars
Driving back to Munich from Bamberg, I promptly got into a traffic jam. Which drains energy in a major way. Still, quick reviews, for I have seen both BSG 2.08 and Veronica Mars until episode 15, the later only in parts because it's damaged. It's also the last VM episode I have, so I must pump monanotlisa for more again.
But, Final Cut, aka BSG 2.08. first, for it had Lucy Lawless. Having rewatched the third season of Xena some months ago, I was hit again by what an underappreciated actress she is, so it was good to see her get some work.
Final Cut was the equivalent of You are cordially invited on DS9, an episode after a longer arc what gives everyone the opportunity to take a breath. Like that DS9 episode, the narrative pattern was predictable; wedding episodes have bride and groom falling out and coming together again, unless they're on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, because that's Joss, and episodes which start out with a critical reporter intending to do a blistering tell it all end up with the reporter doing a positive or at least balanced report (whereas when the reporter starts out in a mild and friendly manner, a hostile report is guaranteed, see B5). However, predictadble narrativ patterns don't mean one can't enjoy the episode; I did, with two reservations. Picking an outside point of view was probably a smart thing to do, because there is no way you could do justice to all the emotional fallout from recent events and kick off the next arc with an inside pov. And though the episode followed the formula, it did throw in a final twist, showing the positive report to be of Cylon origin (and the main purpose of the reporter to get on board and check on whether C!Boomer and the kid were still alive). Plus there were several little gems - Gaeta and his tatto, Dee (Anastasia? No wonder she went by her last name and never talked to her father again), and the couple I decided to ship because I'm perverse this way, Saul and Ellen Tigh. No, seriously. They're just such an Edward Albee/Tennesee Williams pair, and I can see them either doing a "Get the Guests" game or Tigh scream "Elllllllen" a la Stanley Kowalski. Co-dependent, bringing out bad things in each other, sure, but that was real tenderness there when he rescued her, and real concern on her part earlier (not just for her XO's wife position).
My beloved Laura Roslin got only two scenes in this episode, but that's alright, she got plenty in previous episodes and I expect will get plenty more in subsequent ones, plus what she got was good - see, this is why Roslin is so far better at handling the media. Adama and Tigh would never have thought of co-opting a hostile reporter by embedding them, because they're not Machiavellian enough for that.
I understand there was a lot of delight for the sight of Lee Adama and his strategically placed towel. Kids, I went on vacation on a nudist's beach in Sylt for many years of my youth. I never understood what the big deal about nudity, or lack of same, on tv was. Also? Captain Mal got presented to us without a towel. Just sayin'.
On a more serious note, here are my two reservations: the big speech near the end, though I knew all the time that this was where the episode was headed towards (see above note about familiar narrative pattern), because while yes, the pilots are only human and screw up now and then and do a incredibly tough job given the circumstances, this kind of argument can easily be turned into "any critique of the military is ungrateful and unpatriotic". Incidentally, if D'Anna had been the genuine article, it would have been highly unrealistic that she would not only in the end agree to conceal a Cylon's presence, but also not pose a single question about everyone's behaviour during the military coup, save for that one dig. Since, however, she's a Cylon herself, and her true mission is not to investigate a story but to find out about Sharon, as well as presumably establish herself with the crew (I hope so, since I want more Lucy Lawless) these omissions of hers make sense.
The other, minor reservation is the use of Baltar as comic relief, or rather, as this particular kind of comic relief. Yes, we all know he does have an ego and loves the media attention, but the character development he got earlier this season made his scenes feel like a throwback to early season 1. It reminds me a bit of the way DS9 handled my darling Quark, who got character development but now and then was used in a one dimensional manner despite what season it was - you could always tell that someone storyboarding the episode must have said "oh, we need a laugh here, why not use him"?
All in all, the very last scene is what stuck with me the most, and not because of the "'D'Anna is a Cylon" reveal. Because of the open joy and delight the models of Six, Doral and Boomer showed when being presented with proof that C!Sharon was alive, and so was her child. Aside from the Sharon models telling G!Boomer they lover her in Kobol's Last Gleaming, this was the first time we saw the Cylons showing concern and affection for each other. If you think about it, this is something it would take them a while to develop, because of their basic non-individual nature - many models, and if one dies, it downloads into the next, and so on. However, both C!Sharon and G!Sharon have (had, in poor dead Boomer's case) progressed beyond that and became distinct individuals, sharing memories but no longer complete identities with their fellow Cylons. And so, it appears, has the Six-in-Baltar's head, whatever she is. Plus of course C!Boomer is now pregnant and hence doubly unique.
Regarding the progress of my Mars-a-thon (thanks, Joss): I continue to like Veronica most, then Wallace. Keith Mars is a bit too much the ideal father to me - not that I dislike him, but where are the flaws? The parental screwups? The occasional confusion of "what's best for my daughter" with "what feels best for my daughter continuing to love me best?" He somehow magically avoids all these traps. (His absent wife, otoh, does one of these annoying "in time, you'll understand, though I cannot trust you to be an intelligent being and tell you my good reasons now as the show would then be other" things that I basically just take from SpyMommy.) Give my Adama Senior with his very real affection for Lee and his very real lack of understanding of some crucial elements in his son. Give me Uncle Arvin and his struggle between selfishness, faith and real affection. They feel real, and more interesting.
Meanwhile, speaking of screw-ups: it was impossible not to notice while surfing friends' list these last months that Logan appears to be the hot thing of choice for the fandom. While he got very nice character development or rather character exploration from complete jerk to issues!boy acting like a complete jerk on occasion, he somehow still doesn't do it for me. Now I was impressed by Veronica helping him without hesitation despite all he had done to her earlier, though, and his breakdown on her shoulder was genuinenly touching. But I don't want to see her hook up with him. I hope she stays single and independent a while longer - she's delightful this way. Oddly enough, I do see some Logan/Duncan potential. Is there fanfic?
As for Duncan: if this show were patterned after Jane Austen, he'd probably be Wickham and Logan Darcy. (I.e. the character for whose charms the heroine falls first before she realizes his worthlessness and recognizes the worth of the character she originally disdained.) So far, thankfully, he manages to avoid that fate, and is three dimensional, though he's also my primary suspect for Lily's murder. His parents' behaviour would make complete sense this way; buying a dying man as an alibi for your daughter's killer, and the medication Celeste Kane is always pressing Duncan to take, and the amnesia he has (as I don't think he's aware of what he has done - he has successfully repressed it). The alternate explanation is that Duncan witnessed Lily's murder and thinks one of his parents did it while his parents think he did it. Which would also solve my one main problem with the Duncan-as-killer theory - i.e. his motive. Why would he kill his sister, unless he's Neptune's version of Commodus, which I don't think he is? Incidentally, talking of siblings - Duncan's and Veronica's relationship starts to assume a sibling-like shape, especially since she learned he might be her half-brother, then there is Aly Hannigan as Logan's sister (though with so little screentime in episode 15 that I still couldn't help but see her as Willow in disguise - strangely, I never thought "Xena!" when watching LL over at BSG), and Mac who is Veronica's double in some ways has both a biological and an "adopted" sibling. It's an interesting contrast to the Jossverse, where only children dominated the scene - here everybody seems to have a sibling.
But, Final Cut, aka BSG 2.08. first, for it had Lucy Lawless. Having rewatched the third season of Xena some months ago, I was hit again by what an underappreciated actress she is, so it was good to see her get some work.
Final Cut was the equivalent of You are cordially invited on DS9, an episode after a longer arc what gives everyone the opportunity to take a breath. Like that DS9 episode, the narrative pattern was predictable; wedding episodes have bride and groom falling out and coming together again, unless they're on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, because that's Joss, and episodes which start out with a critical reporter intending to do a blistering tell it all end up with the reporter doing a positive or at least balanced report (whereas when the reporter starts out in a mild and friendly manner, a hostile report is guaranteed, see B5). However, predictadble narrativ patterns don't mean one can't enjoy the episode; I did, with two reservations. Picking an outside point of view was probably a smart thing to do, because there is no way you could do justice to all the emotional fallout from recent events and kick off the next arc with an inside pov. And though the episode followed the formula, it did throw in a final twist, showing the positive report to be of Cylon origin (and the main purpose of the reporter to get on board and check on whether C!Boomer and the kid were still alive). Plus there were several little gems - Gaeta and his tatto, Dee (Anastasia? No wonder she went by her last name and never talked to her father again), and the couple I decided to ship because I'm perverse this way, Saul and Ellen Tigh. No, seriously. They're just such an Edward Albee/Tennesee Williams pair, and I can see them either doing a "Get the Guests" game or Tigh scream "Elllllllen" a la Stanley Kowalski. Co-dependent, bringing out bad things in each other, sure, but that was real tenderness there when he rescued her, and real concern on her part earlier (not just for her XO's wife position).
My beloved Laura Roslin got only two scenes in this episode, but that's alright, she got plenty in previous episodes and I expect will get plenty more in subsequent ones, plus what she got was good - see, this is why Roslin is so far better at handling the media. Adama and Tigh would never have thought of co-opting a hostile reporter by embedding them, because they're not Machiavellian enough for that.
I understand there was a lot of delight for the sight of Lee Adama and his strategically placed towel. Kids, I went on vacation on a nudist's beach in Sylt for many years of my youth. I never understood what the big deal about nudity, or lack of same, on tv was. Also? Captain Mal got presented to us without a towel. Just sayin'.
On a more serious note, here are my two reservations: the big speech near the end, though I knew all the time that this was where the episode was headed towards (see above note about familiar narrative pattern), because while yes, the pilots are only human and screw up now and then and do a incredibly tough job given the circumstances, this kind of argument can easily be turned into "any critique of the military is ungrateful and unpatriotic". Incidentally, if D'Anna had been the genuine article, it would have been highly unrealistic that she would not only in the end agree to conceal a Cylon's presence, but also not pose a single question about everyone's behaviour during the military coup, save for that one dig. Since, however, she's a Cylon herself, and her true mission is not to investigate a story but to find out about Sharon, as well as presumably establish herself with the crew (I hope so, since I want more Lucy Lawless) these omissions of hers make sense.
The other, minor reservation is the use of Baltar as comic relief, or rather, as this particular kind of comic relief. Yes, we all know he does have an ego and loves the media attention, but the character development he got earlier this season made his scenes feel like a throwback to early season 1. It reminds me a bit of the way DS9 handled my darling Quark, who got character development but now and then was used in a one dimensional manner despite what season it was - you could always tell that someone storyboarding the episode must have said "oh, we need a laugh here, why not use him"?
All in all, the very last scene is what stuck with me the most, and not because of the "'D'Anna is a Cylon" reveal. Because of the open joy and delight the models of Six, Doral and Boomer showed when being presented with proof that C!Sharon was alive, and so was her child. Aside from the Sharon models telling G!Boomer they lover her in Kobol's Last Gleaming, this was the first time we saw the Cylons showing concern and affection for each other. If you think about it, this is something it would take them a while to develop, because of their basic non-individual nature - many models, and if one dies, it downloads into the next, and so on. However, both C!Sharon and G!Sharon have (had, in poor dead Boomer's case) progressed beyond that and became distinct individuals, sharing memories but no longer complete identities with their fellow Cylons. And so, it appears, has the Six-in-Baltar's head, whatever she is. Plus of course C!Boomer is now pregnant and hence doubly unique.
Regarding the progress of my Mars-a-thon (thanks, Joss): I continue to like Veronica most, then Wallace. Keith Mars is a bit too much the ideal father to me - not that I dislike him, but where are the flaws? The parental screwups? The occasional confusion of "what's best for my daughter" with "what feels best for my daughter continuing to love me best?" He somehow magically avoids all these traps. (His absent wife, otoh, does one of these annoying "in time, you'll understand, though I cannot trust you to be an intelligent being and tell you my good reasons now as the show would then be other" things that I basically just take from SpyMommy.) Give my Adama Senior with his very real affection for Lee and his very real lack of understanding of some crucial elements in his son. Give me Uncle Arvin and his struggle between selfishness, faith and real affection. They feel real, and more interesting.
Meanwhile, speaking of screw-ups: it was impossible not to notice while surfing friends' list these last months that Logan appears to be the hot thing of choice for the fandom. While he got very nice character development or rather character exploration from complete jerk to issues!boy acting like a complete jerk on occasion, he somehow still doesn't do it for me. Now I was impressed by Veronica helping him without hesitation despite all he had done to her earlier, though, and his breakdown on her shoulder was genuinenly touching. But I don't want to see her hook up with him. I hope she stays single and independent a while longer - she's delightful this way. Oddly enough, I do see some Logan/Duncan potential. Is there fanfic?
As for Duncan: if this show were patterned after Jane Austen, he'd probably be Wickham and Logan Darcy. (I.e. the character for whose charms the heroine falls first before she realizes his worthlessness and recognizes the worth of the character she originally disdained.) So far, thankfully, he manages to avoid that fate, and is three dimensional, though he's also my primary suspect for Lily's murder. His parents' behaviour would make complete sense this way; buying a dying man as an alibi for your daughter's killer, and the medication Celeste Kane is always pressing Duncan to take, and the amnesia he has (as I don't think he's aware of what he has done - he has successfully repressed it). The alternate explanation is that Duncan witnessed Lily's murder and thinks one of his parents did it while his parents think he did it. Which would also solve my one main problem with the Duncan-as-killer theory - i.e. his motive. Why would he kill his sister, unless he's Neptune's version of Commodus, which I don't think he is? Incidentally, talking of siblings - Duncan's and Veronica's relationship starts to assume a sibling-like shape, especially since she learned he might be her half-brother, then there is Aly Hannigan as Logan's sister (though with so little screentime in episode 15 that I still couldn't help but see her as Willow in disguise - strangely, I never thought "Xena!" when watching LL over at BSG), and Mac who is Veronica's double in some ways has both a biological and an "adopted" sibling. It's an interesting contrast to the Jossverse, where only children dominated the scene - here everybody seems to have a sibling.