Hero
Hello again! Wow, can you believe how not having to go to school has freed up my time? Does it say sad things about me that my new free time is going towards writing about BSG or does it means I'm really awesome? Anyway, today is my first Monday without school so I'm going to celebrate. How am I going to celebrate? I'm going to review Hero so that I can watch Unfinished Business tonight. Score!
Jump the cut but please: I know this episode is called Hero that might bring to mind a few different songs, but there will be humming or singing of Nickelback on my blog. Youv'e been warned.
1) Hero begins with 41,421 survivors, a rare increase from the episode before. Bulldog, welcome to the fleet!
2) Laura and Tory are busy cleaning Colonial One of the gross vestiges of Baltar's presidency and it leads to a few revelations: First (and possibly the most important of those) is that Laura's shirt is buttoned so low, I can literally see her bra if she turns right. Laura, you saucy tease.
The second is that Adama has been in the military (on and off, I suppose) for forty-five years. Laura, sniffing an opportunity to shore up morale, decides she wants to have a ceremony in commemoration so she can pin a frakking medal on his chest.
Did I mention that I could see Laura's bra?
3) Back in the CIC, dradis picks up three enemy ship, but they're acting strangely. Two raiders are pursuing and firing at the third. Say what? Turns out that the damaged raider contains an escaped cylon prisoner Daniel Novacek, a lieutenant under Adama's command back when he was with the Valkyrie.
Turns out, Bulldog had been prisoner for three years (which at least tells us that it's been less than three years since the cylon attack and I'll grasp at any time line bits I can) and he was on the infected basestar from Torn and A Measure of Salvation.
4) Once Bulldog salutes and everyone is like, "What the frak? Who is this guy?", he gets to go see the president for a bit of debriefing.
As Adama tells it, Bulldog was a pilot working recon on a secret and delicate mission. Bulldog was told that the Taurons were mining beyond the armistice line that he was to scope out their illicit activity and report back. While he was doing this, he was shot down. Adama said that he thought Bulldog was killed because dradis indicated that he hadn't ejected and, so, Adama left him there to be captured, somehow, by the cylons.
Well, okay.
5) Back on the basestar, D'Anna, Caprica!Six, and Baltar are having threesomes. I don't have a problem with this in theory. Obviously, D'Anna was very effected by Baltar's confession of love last episode in A Measure of Salvation but I never detected any feelings at all (beyond D'Anna's jealousy at Caprica!Six's ability to know love) so that does seem random to me.
6) D'Anna, in a continuation of her story in Exodus Part II, is having strange dreams. She dreams that she's in Galactica and she's pursued by marines until she reaches and tries to escape out of a closed hatch that reads "End of Line". We'll get back to this later.
7) Back on Galactica, Tigh is still a mess. In a drunken stupor, it would seem he's been spending most of time laying in bed.
Question: If someone loses an eye, can you see through to their brain? I wonder because when Tigh was sans eye patch, it looked like a black mass was there, instead. Now, I realize this may just be the makeup, but it also could have been a trick of the light. Now that I think the makeup people would be so detailed as to show brain. But, now that I think about it, your brain probably isn't even that far down. Maybe the back of the brain.
I don't know. Why am I still typing?
8) Adama tells Tigh about Bulldog and Tigh gets a little pissed at Adama because Adama hasn't told Bulldog what he's about to go tell Lee (and what Tigh is about to tell Bulldog):
Adama was fully aware that Bulldog could have been rescued, but purposefully called off an attempt because he needed to protect the mission at all costs. They weren't trying to spy on Tauron mining operations after all. It was a black ops mission wherein Adama was supposed to acertain the likelihood of a cylon strike, by basically toeing the armistice line to see if they could make out any suspicious activity.
There are a few reasons why I think Adama was duped by the Admiralty. First of all (and I know this is just a plot hole): Why did they actually need to go over the armistice line to detect suspicious activity? Why not stay just before the line and avoid starting a war? I mean, ever heard of a telescope? Just a couple weeks ago, I went out with my friend and her telescope and we saw Saturn and Saturn's rings, and that was in my lit parking lot. Are you telling me that they can't see what's going on at much closer distances easier and less dangerous than going on this mission?
Also, Bulldog was "two clicks" over the armistice line. Now, call me a nerd, but I looked up the conversion to American miles. Basically, Bulldog was less than two miles beyond the line. Aside from the fact that being less than two miles beyond the line in the vastness of space means that that line is actually pretty literal, it means that we're dealing with really small distances. Seriously, people, consider a telescope! If the cylons were doing something suspicious two miles away from the line, you don't need to cross the line to know that.
9) But, regardless, Adama believes that he started the war because the cylons knew he had crossed the line. And, apparently, he's been harboring that guilt since the attack.
10) Lee has one of his smarter moments as Adama tells him all of this. He says, "You were one man", meaning that one man is unlikely to provoke that kind of devastation. Adama responds, "It only takes one."
I really like Adama, but has these issues with guilt that kind of annoy me. There's a kind of strange ego centrism to his guilt. Like, he's the reason the people on New Caprica suffered (remember how Sharon had to give him a pep talk?), and he's the reason billions of people died.
Dude, it's not always just about you.
11) So, back to D'Anna: She's coming a little unhinged and these strange dreams she's having are basically pointing her to one conclusion: Die. Now, cylons can't commit suicide because suicide is a sin, so she basically commits suicide by homicide and has a centurion shoot her. She wants to experience the space between life and death, where a clarity exists for her that isn't possible when she's alive. In that space, she sees herself in the Opera House
The last time someone had visions of an opera house, we were down on Kobol and Baltar was seeing baby cribs full of hybrid babies. So, something tells me that D'Anna's visions are on to something, though it does make a view ask what the connection will be between Baltar's vision and hers (since both include the Opera House).
12) Back on Galactica, Kara figures out that the cylons actually let Bulldog go and goes to tell Tigh, but not before Bulldog, full of rage after Tigh's confessions of Adama's sins goes to attack Bill. He roughs him up pretty good, too, before Tigh rushes in and kicks Bulldog's ass (Tigh's a total badass, seriously).
I don't remember what Tigh tells Bulldog that calms him down, but the importance of the scene isn't so much subduing Bulldog, but in Tigh coming to the revelation that he kind of hates himself for what he did to Ellen but that one day, it will get better.
13) Bill goes to Laura and tries to resign. As if, Adama. Laura basically says what we, the audience, have probably felt all along: Adama has little to nothing to do with the cylon attack. It wasn't one thing that caused the war. It was a thousand different things, good and bad, occurring over forty years, that provoked an attack that they never saw coming.
So, instead of letting him resign and understanding that he's content (and probably happiest) playing the guilty martyr, Laura concocts the perfect punishment: Attend the commemoration ceremony and play the hero.
14) Also? Laura looks really good in this episode. And not just because I saw her bra, earlier. Everything's working for her here, including the hair. In her scene with Adama at the end, he hair is simply fabulous.
15) So, Bulldog leaves. Bye, Bulldog. We hardly knew ye.
16) Tigh, meanwhile, gets an eye patch and shows up, in uniform, to Adama's quarters. Adama manages to surface from his self pity party to recognize that Tigh's finally ready to open up to him about what happened down on New Caprica and, because these two have the most epic bromance in all of television, they sit down together for a drink and personal revelation.
17) One last thing before I conclude: Bear McCreary's music is, as should be expected, awesome in this episode. We get to listen to the track "Wayward Soldier", which is one of my favorites from the season three soundtrack.
And there you have Hero, and not only Nickelback song lyric in sight. Horray, us! I liked this episode alright, I guess, but I was really annoyed by Adama's guilt. This episode also functions as a mostly stand alone episode, which BSG doesn't do too often, and I prefer my BSG mythology. It is for these reasons that I'm going to give Hero 3 out of 5 airlocks (aided by fabulous Laura looked in it).
I will leave you with Bear McCreary's "Wayward Soldier".
Jump the cut but please: I know this episode is called Hero that might bring to mind a few different songs, but there will be humming or singing of Nickelback on my blog. Youv'e been warned.
1) Hero begins with 41,421 survivors, a rare increase from the episode before. Bulldog, welcome to the fleet!
2) Laura and Tory are busy cleaning Colonial One of the gross vestiges of Baltar's presidency and it leads to a few revelations: First (and possibly the most important of those) is that Laura's shirt is buttoned so low, I can literally see her bra if she turns right. Laura, you saucy tease.
The second is that Adama has been in the military (on and off, I suppose) for forty-five years. Laura, sniffing an opportunity to shore up morale, decides she wants to have a ceremony in commemoration so she can pin a frakking medal on his chest.
Did I mention that I could see Laura's bra?
3) Back in the CIC, dradis picks up three enemy ship, but they're acting strangely. Two raiders are pursuing and firing at the third. Say what? Turns out that the damaged raider contains an escaped cylon prisoner Daniel Novacek, a lieutenant under Adama's command back when he was with the Valkyrie.
Turns out, Bulldog had been prisoner for three years (which at least tells us that it's been less than three years since the cylon attack and I'll grasp at any time line bits I can) and he was on the infected basestar from Torn and A Measure of Salvation.
4) Once Bulldog salutes and everyone is like, "What the frak? Who is this guy?", he gets to go see the president for a bit of debriefing.
As Adama tells it, Bulldog was a pilot working recon on a secret and delicate mission. Bulldog was told that the Taurons were mining beyond the armistice line that he was to scope out their illicit activity and report back. While he was doing this, he was shot down. Adama said that he thought Bulldog was killed because dradis indicated that he hadn't ejected and, so, Adama left him there to be captured, somehow, by the cylons.
Well, okay.
5) Back on the basestar, D'Anna, Caprica!Six, and Baltar are having threesomes. I don't have a problem with this in theory. Obviously, D'Anna was very effected by Baltar's confession of love last episode in A Measure of Salvation but I never detected any feelings at all (beyond D'Anna's jealousy at Caprica!Six's ability to know love) so that does seem random to me.
6) D'Anna, in a continuation of her story in Exodus Part II, is having strange dreams. She dreams that she's in Galactica and she's pursued by marines until she reaches and tries to escape out of a closed hatch that reads "End of Line". We'll get back to this later.
7) Back on Galactica, Tigh is still a mess. In a drunken stupor, it would seem he's been spending most of time laying in bed.
Question: If someone loses an eye, can you see through to their brain? I wonder because when Tigh was sans eye patch, it looked like a black mass was there, instead. Now, I realize this may just be the makeup, but it also could have been a trick of the light. Now that I think the makeup people would be so detailed as to show brain. But, now that I think about it, your brain probably isn't even that far down. Maybe the back of the brain.
I don't know. Why am I still typing?
8) Adama tells Tigh about Bulldog and Tigh gets a little pissed at Adama because Adama hasn't told Bulldog what he's about to go tell Lee (and what Tigh is about to tell Bulldog):
Adama was fully aware that Bulldog could have been rescued, but purposefully called off an attempt because he needed to protect the mission at all costs. They weren't trying to spy on Tauron mining operations after all. It was a black ops mission wherein Adama was supposed to acertain the likelihood of a cylon strike, by basically toeing the armistice line to see if they could make out any suspicious activity.
There are a few reasons why I think Adama was duped by the Admiralty. First of all (and I know this is just a plot hole): Why did they actually need to go over the armistice line to detect suspicious activity? Why not stay just before the line and avoid starting a war? I mean, ever heard of a telescope? Just a couple weeks ago, I went out with my friend and her telescope and we saw Saturn and Saturn's rings, and that was in my lit parking lot. Are you telling me that they can't see what's going on at much closer distances easier and less dangerous than going on this mission?
Also, Bulldog was "two clicks" over the armistice line. Now, call me a nerd, but I looked up the conversion to American miles. Basically, Bulldog was less than two miles beyond the line. Aside from the fact that being less than two miles beyond the line in the vastness of space means that that line is actually pretty literal, it means that we're dealing with really small distances. Seriously, people, consider a telescope! If the cylons were doing something suspicious two miles away from the line, you don't need to cross the line to know that.
9) But, regardless, Adama believes that he started the war because the cylons knew he had crossed the line. And, apparently, he's been harboring that guilt since the attack.
10) Lee has one of his smarter moments as Adama tells him all of this. He says, "You were one man", meaning that one man is unlikely to provoke that kind of devastation. Adama responds, "It only takes one."
I really like Adama, but has these issues with guilt that kind of annoy me. There's a kind of strange ego centrism to his guilt. Like, he's the reason the people on New Caprica suffered (remember how Sharon had to give him a pep talk?), and he's the reason billions of people died.
Dude, it's not always just about you.
11) So, back to D'Anna: She's coming a little unhinged and these strange dreams she's having are basically pointing her to one conclusion: Die. Now, cylons can't commit suicide because suicide is a sin, so she basically commits suicide by homicide and has a centurion shoot her. She wants to experience the space between life and death, where a clarity exists for her that isn't possible when she's alive. In that space, she sees herself in the Opera House
The last time someone had visions of an opera house, we were down on Kobol and Baltar was seeing baby cribs full of hybrid babies. So, something tells me that D'Anna's visions are on to something, though it does make a view ask what the connection will be between Baltar's vision and hers (since both include the Opera House).
12) Back on Galactica, Kara figures out that the cylons actually let Bulldog go and goes to tell Tigh, but not before Bulldog, full of rage after Tigh's confessions of Adama's sins goes to attack Bill. He roughs him up pretty good, too, before Tigh rushes in and kicks Bulldog's ass (Tigh's a total badass, seriously).
I don't remember what Tigh tells Bulldog that calms him down, but the importance of the scene isn't so much subduing Bulldog, but in Tigh coming to the revelation that he kind of hates himself for what he did to Ellen but that one day, it will get better.
13) Bill goes to Laura and tries to resign. As if, Adama. Laura basically says what we, the audience, have probably felt all along: Adama has little to nothing to do with the cylon attack. It wasn't one thing that caused the war. It was a thousand different things, good and bad, occurring over forty years, that provoked an attack that they never saw coming.
So, instead of letting him resign and understanding that he's content (and probably happiest) playing the guilty martyr, Laura concocts the perfect punishment: Attend the commemoration ceremony and play the hero.
14) Also? Laura looks really good in this episode. And not just because I saw her bra, earlier. Everything's working for her here, including the hair. In her scene with Adama at the end, he hair is simply fabulous.
15) So, Bulldog leaves. Bye, Bulldog. We hardly knew ye.
16) Tigh, meanwhile, gets an eye patch and shows up, in uniform, to Adama's quarters. Adama manages to surface from his self pity party to recognize that Tigh's finally ready to open up to him about what happened down on New Caprica and, because these two have the most epic bromance in all of television, they sit down together for a drink and personal revelation.
17) One last thing before I conclude: Bear McCreary's music is, as should be expected, awesome in this episode. We get to listen to the track "Wayward Soldier", which is one of my favorites from the season three soundtrack.
And there you have Hero, and not only Nickelback song lyric in sight. Horray, us! I liked this episode alright, I guess, but I was really annoyed by Adama's guilt. This episode also functions as a mostly stand alone episode, which BSG doesn't do too often, and I prefer my BSG mythology. It is for these reasons that I'm going to give Hero 3 out of 5 airlocks (aided by fabulous Laura looked in it).
I will leave you with Bear McCreary's "Wayward Soldier".
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