BSG 3.14 and travel announcement
My Aged Parent, bless, has decided to on an impromptu visit of Venice during the Carneval, and actually got a hotel from Thursday to Friday, which, if ten years old memories are anything to go by, are the best days to observe the Venetian carneval. Expect photos and a report when I'm back.
Also, re: BSG 3.14,The Woman King - firstly, it took me a day before I could figure out how the hell the title related to the episode (i.e. via the character of Mrs. King). Secondly...
I've seen this one called this season's Black Market, and I can see why, though I'd call it this season's Litmus as well. Because as with the season 1 episode Litmus, aka Adama Senior Does Not Like MacCarthyism, you don't really have a moral dilemma and the writing privileges. The audience knows the entire time that Helo is right and everyone else is wrong. You know, the much bashed Star Trek did this type of episode a couple of times, but it usually did it better. Usually, not always, because I definitely recognized something here - established characters are given a prejudice not previously associated with them so they and we can see the error of their ways via the point of view character. As when, for example, Ensign Ro in the episode sharing her name transferred to the Enterprise, and Riker, who had no problem through several seasons with Worf wearing his Klingon regalia over the Starfleet uniform, suddenly turns pendantic and intolerant and tells Ro she must abandon her Bajoran earring. So when I saw Chief Tyrol and Tigh suddenly blathering on about Saggiterrans when they never did before, I definitely had a case of deja vu.
Mind you: Saggiterrans (bear with my spelling, I'm writing by ear) have been established as somehow underprivileged by the rest of the Colonies before (via Bastille Day, and I'll get to a glaring point of omission very soon). But we never saw prejudice against them on display, and for the record, there was no previous indication they had tradition-based objections against medical treatment. (I was going to add Geminon was the planet established as fundamentalistic, but then The Woman King at no point says textually the objections of the Saggiterrans are based on their religion, so I'll let that slide.) So the anti-S-prejudice really comes across something solely whipped up so Helo can be the lone voice against it.
Note: the lone voice. Given that they had Richard Hatch for the episode available, and Zarek has been established as not only from S. but fighting against the exploitation of his home planet by the other Colonies from his first episode onwards, you'd think it would have occured to someone in the writing staff to let him be involved in this. Actually, I can see why they couldn't use Zarek for the plot as presented, because this would have made for a very short episode, given that Zarek is Vice President now. Mrs. King and other Saggiterrans suspect Dr. Robert, they go to their representative at the Quorum of Twelve, Tom Zarek (he still has that job, I assume, in addition to being VP, but even if he hasn't, he'd be the obvious choice), being Vice President, he can order Cottle to perform an autopsy immediately, end of story. And no chance for Helo to display lone heroism (or any type of heroism) at all. So Zarek couldn't be involved. Okay, but then at least couldn't we get an explanation why he wasn't? If, for example, the point of Zarek's one scene with Roslin in this episode was to show that - much like Roslin and Adama in other matters - he's been brought to a point where he is arguing/suggesting the very thing he fought against once (martial law, in his case) - this could have been tied to a scene where Mrs. King suggests trying to reach the VP and one of the other Saggiterrans says "no, Zarek is no longer one of us, he's one of them now, he won't listen". Which would have solved the problem and added to the substance.
Speaking of that scene, I did like it, despite Zarek taking the anti-civil liberty stance, because like I said - with Roslin stealing elections (something the Laura of bygone days would have been apalled by), Adama making military coups (s1/early s2) and treating Baltar exactly like the Circle had treated the people it executed (down to being willing to do the silent assassination thing in the end, if Roslin had said yes), Tigh killing Ellen and attacking Adama in front of others, I can see a theme of the older generation being brought to a point where each of them does what they once would have considered unthinkable. Also, it fits with yahtzee63's theory that Laura Roslin is Zarek's new cause, ever since New Caprica, and I'm on board with that. Lastly, the scene answered a question open since Collaborators - did Roslin keep her deal with Zarek and did she make him VP after he stepped down in her favour? Because back then, I saw a lot of people arguing that Zarek's action re: Circle nullified that deal. Am very happy to find out that this wasn't the case, that she went through with it, and that Laura's final words to Tom Zarek in Collaborators meant what I thought they meant instead.
The other scene that made me happy was Caprica Six first with Athena and then with Head!Gaius. (Btw, given that James Callis is clean-shaven hear, does that mean the beard he sports as real!Baltar is fake, or will be from this point onwards, or that he'll be shaven as real!Baltar as well? *shallow*) We've still too little female-female interaction on this show, and this Sharon bonding with Six as well could be a really interesting relationship - it also means we get to see Athena interact with another Cylon in a non-hostile manner for the first time since her very early days on Caprica (the planet). The fact she calls her "Six" and not "Caprica" is interesting, especially since she does so casually, not as to make a point about Caprica Six not having a right to the name.
As for Head!Gaius, here's one thing I noticed: before Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six met in the flesh again, their respective imaginary friends only used the first person singular - for example, when Head!Six in Resurrection Ship I talked about going to the Pyramid Games on Caprica and buying two tickets, one for Baltar and one for herself, despite knowing he'd never join her, the "I" she talks about is clearly meant to be Caprica Six. Also, when Head!Gaius in Downloaded asks, after Three said something about the trial Caprica Six went through, "does she mean committing genocide or sleeping with me, because I thought you rather enjoyed sleeping with me", "me" is clearly meant to be Gaius Baltar. After Baltar and Caprica Six met again, however, the entities in their heads start to differentiate between themselves and their bodily counterparts, i.e. now, in this episode, Head!Gaius saying "you came to save him". On the other hand, real!Gaius and real!Six still have them all mixed up in their heads - in Taking a Break, Gaius says "she saved me, Caprica Six, shielded me with her body, she chose me of all men, but is she angel or demon, is she my own voice or..." he is talking of both Caprica Six and Head!Six at the same time, intermingling them, and Caprica Six clearly does a similar thing with the Baltar in her head and the one currently in another cell.
Meanwhile, the entities in their heads, while on one level based on how Baltar and Six were at the time of the miniseries, clearly have by now more in common with each other than with their physical counterparts - the unrelenting sarcasm, the mixture of cruelty and caring both Head!entities display, and the sharp diagnosis of what real!Baltar and real!Six respectively want. Which to my mind really does argue that they are both really one, and a third entity, for lack of a better term the Cylon God, who uses their images to communicate with Six and Baltar respectively.
Lastly: thank you, Lords of Kobol, for no more quadrangle of doom. Now can we please get on with the trial for Baltar? That's the plot I'm interested in.
Also, re: BSG 3.14,The Woman King - firstly, it took me a day before I could figure out how the hell the title related to the episode (i.e. via the character of Mrs. King). Secondly...
I've seen this one called this season's Black Market, and I can see why, though I'd call it this season's Litmus as well. Because as with the season 1 episode Litmus, aka Adama Senior Does Not Like MacCarthyism, you don't really have a moral dilemma and the writing privileges. The audience knows the entire time that Helo is right and everyone else is wrong. You know, the much bashed Star Trek did this type of episode a couple of times, but it usually did it better. Usually, not always, because I definitely recognized something here - established characters are given a prejudice not previously associated with them so they and we can see the error of their ways via the point of view character. As when, for example, Ensign Ro in the episode sharing her name transferred to the Enterprise, and Riker, who had no problem through several seasons with Worf wearing his Klingon regalia over the Starfleet uniform, suddenly turns pendantic and intolerant and tells Ro she must abandon her Bajoran earring. So when I saw Chief Tyrol and Tigh suddenly blathering on about Saggiterrans when they never did before, I definitely had a case of deja vu.
Mind you: Saggiterrans (bear with my spelling, I'm writing by ear) have been established as somehow underprivileged by the rest of the Colonies before (via Bastille Day, and I'll get to a glaring point of omission very soon). But we never saw prejudice against them on display, and for the record, there was no previous indication they had tradition-based objections against medical treatment. (I was going to add Geminon was the planet established as fundamentalistic, but then The Woman King at no point says textually the objections of the Saggiterrans are based on their religion, so I'll let that slide.) So the anti-S-prejudice really comes across something solely whipped up so Helo can be the lone voice against it.
Note: the lone voice. Given that they had Richard Hatch for the episode available, and Zarek has been established as not only from S. but fighting against the exploitation of his home planet by the other Colonies from his first episode onwards, you'd think it would have occured to someone in the writing staff to let him be involved in this. Actually, I can see why they couldn't use Zarek for the plot as presented, because this would have made for a very short episode, given that Zarek is Vice President now. Mrs. King and other Saggiterrans suspect Dr. Robert, they go to their representative at the Quorum of Twelve, Tom Zarek (he still has that job, I assume, in addition to being VP, but even if he hasn't, he'd be the obvious choice), being Vice President, he can order Cottle to perform an autopsy immediately, end of story. And no chance for Helo to display lone heroism (or any type of heroism) at all. So Zarek couldn't be involved. Okay, but then at least couldn't we get an explanation why he wasn't? If, for example, the point of Zarek's one scene with Roslin in this episode was to show that - much like Roslin and Adama in other matters - he's been brought to a point where he is arguing/suggesting the very thing he fought against once (martial law, in his case) - this could have been tied to a scene where Mrs. King suggests trying to reach the VP and one of the other Saggiterrans says "no, Zarek is no longer one of us, he's one of them now, he won't listen". Which would have solved the problem and added to the substance.
Speaking of that scene, I did like it, despite Zarek taking the anti-civil liberty stance, because like I said - with Roslin stealing elections (something the Laura of bygone days would have been apalled by), Adama making military coups (s1/early s2) and treating Baltar exactly like the Circle had treated the people it executed (down to being willing to do the silent assassination thing in the end, if Roslin had said yes), Tigh killing Ellen and attacking Adama in front of others, I can see a theme of the older generation being brought to a point where each of them does what they once would have considered unthinkable. Also, it fits with yahtzee63's theory that Laura Roslin is Zarek's new cause, ever since New Caprica, and I'm on board with that. Lastly, the scene answered a question open since Collaborators - did Roslin keep her deal with Zarek and did she make him VP after he stepped down in her favour? Because back then, I saw a lot of people arguing that Zarek's action re: Circle nullified that deal. Am very happy to find out that this wasn't the case, that she went through with it, and that Laura's final words to Tom Zarek in Collaborators meant what I thought they meant instead.
The other scene that made me happy was Caprica Six first with Athena and then with Head!Gaius. (Btw, given that James Callis is clean-shaven hear, does that mean the beard he sports as real!Baltar is fake, or will be from this point onwards, or that he'll be shaven as real!Baltar as well? *shallow*) We've still too little female-female interaction on this show, and this Sharon bonding with Six as well could be a really interesting relationship - it also means we get to see Athena interact with another Cylon in a non-hostile manner for the first time since her very early days on Caprica (the planet). The fact she calls her "Six" and not "Caprica" is interesting, especially since she does so casually, not as to make a point about Caprica Six not having a right to the name.
As for Head!Gaius, here's one thing I noticed: before Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six met in the flesh again, their respective imaginary friends only used the first person singular - for example, when Head!Six in Resurrection Ship I talked about going to the Pyramid Games on Caprica and buying two tickets, one for Baltar and one for herself, despite knowing he'd never join her, the "I" she talks about is clearly meant to be Caprica Six. Also, when Head!Gaius in Downloaded asks, after Three said something about the trial Caprica Six went through, "does she mean committing genocide or sleeping with me, because I thought you rather enjoyed sleeping with me", "me" is clearly meant to be Gaius Baltar. After Baltar and Caprica Six met again, however, the entities in their heads start to differentiate between themselves and their bodily counterparts, i.e. now, in this episode, Head!Gaius saying "you came to save him". On the other hand, real!Gaius and real!Six still have them all mixed up in their heads - in Taking a Break, Gaius says "she saved me, Caprica Six, shielded me with her body, she chose me of all men, but is she angel or demon, is she my own voice or..." he is talking of both Caprica Six and Head!Six at the same time, intermingling them, and Caprica Six clearly does a similar thing with the Baltar in her head and the one currently in another cell.
Meanwhile, the entities in their heads, while on one level based on how Baltar and Six were at the time of the miniseries, clearly have by now more in common with each other than with their physical counterparts - the unrelenting sarcasm, the mixture of cruelty and caring both Head!entities display, and the sharp diagnosis of what real!Baltar and real!Six respectively want. Which to my mind really does argue that they are both really one, and a third entity, for lack of a better term the Cylon God, who uses their images to communicate with Six and Baltar respectively.
Lastly: thank you, Lords of Kobol, for no more quadrangle of doom. Now can we please get on with the trial for Baltar? That's the plot I'm interested in.