BSG - The Son Also Rises
I LOVED this episode.
The writers have made it up to me for Black Market with this one. And I don’t think I’ve ever felt the need to say ‘Oh Lee!’ quite so many times during one episode.
Cue a lot of rambling…
There were so many little touches I loved in this episode:
- stealing the President’s glasses - LOL!
- Kara’s birthday card to Adama - I knew she wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to mock the pornstache - good for her. :)
- Laura and Lee were in a scene together!
- Zak was mentioned!!
- Sam acting out his grief in a very Starbuck way on top of the viper. And the understanding between him and Lee in this episode was lovely.
Lampkin is a great character, and I look forward to seeing more of him. Yeah, he’s a liar and a manipulator and a thief, but all in a good cause (in his opinion anyway). And I like ambiguous characters like that, where you’re never quite sure if anything they say is the truth. At the beginning of the episode I was thinking it seemed an unlikely coincidence that he was taught by Joseph Adama, but now I think it was all just bait to hook Lee, in which case, good work by the writers.
Every scene he had with Lee was great - I have to watch them again. It’s good to see Lee being challenged by someone, and by someone who’s perceptive enough to pick up very quickly how Lee works - I think Roslin is the only other character I’ve seen who’s understood Lee so quickly. I loved the ‘everyone staring at you like you’re bleeding’ comment and the ‘serial contrarian’ comment made me laugh out loud. Please someone, make an icon of Lee saying serial contrarian, pretty please!
The way Lampkin drew Lee in - talking about his grandfather, getting him to attend the interviews, appealing to Lee’s rebellious side by challenging him to go to Colonial One, letting Lee see his games with the pen and think he was in on the inside, telling him personal information about his childhood and marriage (true or not) to get Lee to feel close to him, the final challenge with the delivery to Baltar - just brilliant. Made me want to applaud.
Truth is I have a soft spot for fictional characters who are good at manipulation and getting other people to do they want without them having a clue what’s going on - I know it’s not very admirable behaviour but I love that kind of character all the same.
And despite the fact that Lampkin is obviously taking advantage of Lee’s personal crisis for his own ends, I did get the feeling that he genuinely likes Lee and enjoyed talking to him. And I think Lee desperately needs someone he can talk to at the moment who’s removed from Galactica and didn’t know Kara, so I think he’ll benefit from this as well. I’ll be interested to see how this develops, because I think when Lee’s thinking more clearly he’s going to catch on that Lampkin’s manipulating him. And I think that Lampkin probably doesn’t know Lee quite as well as he thinks he does either - because Lee is a serial contrarian, and never does quite what anybody predicts he will….
The scenes between Bill and Lee in this episode were great as well. Classic examples of Adama Miscommunication in which you want to bang both their heads together, because if either of them would just say what they mean instead of getting angry and snapping at each other they wouldn’t be arguing!
In the scene where Bill didn’t want Lee flying, and wanted him to stay on Galactica, and Lee was firing up about ‘you don’t think I can do my job’, I was yelling internally (I do a lot of that in these scenes) ‘No Lee, he’s worried he’s going to lose you too, you idiot!’ and ‘Bill, just tell him you don’t want to lose him as well!’. Why don’t they listen to me, hm?
The bit where Bill’s all ‘Don’t tell me your loss is greater than mine’ and Lee’s ‘You have no frakking idea’ - again, I was shouting ‘Lee, just tell him!’. Because I don’t think Bill has ever really understood just how much Kara meant to Lee, and he won’t unless Lee tells him. But of course Lee shuts down as usual. And Bill - I think Lee’s loss is greater than yours. Sorry.
And then the last scene where Lee doesn’t want to go back to being CAG. My interpretation is that Lee can’t face being a pilot again with all the memories of Kara, now that he’s had a break from it, and I think he needs the distraction and different surroundings of the trial. I think it’s also that he’s been discontented in the military for a long time now, and he’s been spending all this time with a civilian who is showing him another possibility, a possibility that interests him, and he’s now seeing his life in the military as a trap, particularly without Kara. But of course he won’t say any of this, and Bill of course takes the worst tack possible by telling Lee who he is (‘you’re a pilot’) playing right into Lee’s old childhood resentments (‘a man isn’t a man until he wears the wings of a viper pilot’ etc) and telling him what he should do (when has ordering Lee around ever worked, Bill? You’d think he would have learnt by now) and then Lee hits back by bringing up Zak and Kara and Bill’s relationship with his father - there were some very nasty low blows there. I see more Adama angst coming up…great!
Finally, I liked how they treated Lee’s grief in this episode because it really fit in with his character. I liked how there was no breakdown or emotional outpouring, just little points throughout the episode that showed you just how devastated he is inside. And while the scenes at the memorial wall were touching, the scene that really got to me most was his face while Lampkin is talking about how he was determined to get over losing his wife, and if he could get over that he could get over anything, and I just felt from Lee’s expression that for the first time he’d seen a light, a possibility that he could get over this.
I also liked the indications throughout the episode that Lee’s carrying on with his usual control but it’s not quite working - the slip-ups at the briefing, carrying around the photo, defying everyone by getting on that raptor, losing his temper with Lampkin and his father - it gives the impression that he’s feeling very lost and desperately needs an outlet for his grief and anger, and I think at the moment rebelling against his father (falling back into familiar patterns) is providing that outlet.
Wow, that was a lot of rambling (and gushing)! Sorry, a whole episode about Lee’s psyche is just too much for me. :) Plus Lampkin - I have a feeling I’m going to end up writing fic about him, he’s such a fascinating character…
The writers have made it up to me for Black Market with this one. And I don’t think I’ve ever felt the need to say ‘Oh Lee!’ quite so many times during one episode.
Cue a lot of rambling…
There were so many little touches I loved in this episode:
- stealing the President’s glasses - LOL!
- Kara’s birthday card to Adama - I knew she wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to mock the pornstache - good for her. :)
- Laura and Lee were in a scene together!
- Zak was mentioned!!
- Sam acting out his grief in a very Starbuck way on top of the viper. And the understanding between him and Lee in this episode was lovely.
Lampkin is a great character, and I look forward to seeing more of him. Yeah, he’s a liar and a manipulator and a thief, but all in a good cause (in his opinion anyway). And I like ambiguous characters like that, where you’re never quite sure if anything they say is the truth. At the beginning of the episode I was thinking it seemed an unlikely coincidence that he was taught by Joseph Adama, but now I think it was all just bait to hook Lee, in which case, good work by the writers.
Every scene he had with Lee was great - I have to watch them again. It’s good to see Lee being challenged by someone, and by someone who’s perceptive enough to pick up very quickly how Lee works - I think Roslin is the only other character I’ve seen who’s understood Lee so quickly. I loved the ‘everyone staring at you like you’re bleeding’ comment and the ‘serial contrarian’ comment made me laugh out loud. Please someone, make an icon of Lee saying serial contrarian, pretty please!
The way Lampkin drew Lee in - talking about his grandfather, getting him to attend the interviews, appealing to Lee’s rebellious side by challenging him to go to Colonial One, letting Lee see his games with the pen and think he was in on the inside, telling him personal information about his childhood and marriage (true or not) to get Lee to feel close to him, the final challenge with the delivery to Baltar - just brilliant. Made me want to applaud.
Truth is I have a soft spot for fictional characters who are good at manipulation and getting other people to do they want without them having a clue what’s going on - I know it’s not very admirable behaviour but I love that kind of character all the same.
And despite the fact that Lampkin is obviously taking advantage of Lee’s personal crisis for his own ends, I did get the feeling that he genuinely likes Lee and enjoyed talking to him. And I think Lee desperately needs someone he can talk to at the moment who’s removed from Galactica and didn’t know Kara, so I think he’ll benefit from this as well. I’ll be interested to see how this develops, because I think when Lee’s thinking more clearly he’s going to catch on that Lampkin’s manipulating him. And I think that Lampkin probably doesn’t know Lee quite as well as he thinks he does either - because Lee is a serial contrarian, and never does quite what anybody predicts he will….
The scenes between Bill and Lee in this episode were great as well. Classic examples of Adama Miscommunication in which you want to bang both their heads together, because if either of them would just say what they mean instead of getting angry and snapping at each other they wouldn’t be arguing!
In the scene where Bill didn’t want Lee flying, and wanted him to stay on Galactica, and Lee was firing up about ‘you don’t think I can do my job’, I was yelling internally (I do a lot of that in these scenes) ‘No Lee, he’s worried he’s going to lose you too, you idiot!’ and ‘Bill, just tell him you don’t want to lose him as well!’. Why don’t they listen to me, hm?
The bit where Bill’s all ‘Don’t tell me your loss is greater than mine’ and Lee’s ‘You have no frakking idea’ - again, I was shouting ‘Lee, just tell him!’. Because I don’t think Bill has ever really understood just how much Kara meant to Lee, and he won’t unless Lee tells him. But of course Lee shuts down as usual. And Bill - I think Lee’s loss is greater than yours. Sorry.
And then the last scene where Lee doesn’t want to go back to being CAG. My interpretation is that Lee can’t face being a pilot again with all the memories of Kara, now that he’s had a break from it, and I think he needs the distraction and different surroundings of the trial. I think it’s also that he’s been discontented in the military for a long time now, and he’s been spending all this time with a civilian who is showing him another possibility, a possibility that interests him, and he’s now seeing his life in the military as a trap, particularly without Kara. But of course he won’t say any of this, and Bill of course takes the worst tack possible by telling Lee who he is (‘you’re a pilot’) playing right into Lee’s old childhood resentments (‘a man isn’t a man until he wears the wings of a viper pilot’ etc) and telling him what he should do (when has ordering Lee around ever worked, Bill? You’d think he would have learnt by now) and then Lee hits back by bringing up Zak and Kara and Bill’s relationship with his father - there were some very nasty low blows there. I see more Adama angst coming up…great!
Finally, I liked how they treated Lee’s grief in this episode because it really fit in with his character. I liked how there was no breakdown or emotional outpouring, just little points throughout the episode that showed you just how devastated he is inside. And while the scenes at the memorial wall were touching, the scene that really got to me most was his face while Lampkin is talking about how he was determined to get over losing his wife, and if he could get over that he could get over anything, and I just felt from Lee’s expression that for the first time he’d seen a light, a possibility that he could get over this.
I also liked the indications throughout the episode that Lee’s carrying on with his usual control but it’s not quite working - the slip-ups at the briefing, carrying around the photo, defying everyone by getting on that raptor, losing his temper with Lampkin and his father - it gives the impression that he’s feeling very lost and desperately needs an outlet for his grief and anger, and I think at the moment rebelling against his father (falling back into familiar patterns) is providing that outlet.
Wow, that was a lot of rambling (and gushing)! Sorry, a whole episode about Lee’s psyche is just too much for me. :) Plus Lampkin - I have a feeling I’m going to end up writing fic about him, he’s such a fascinating character…