No Exit
I meant to write this on Saturday. And didn't. So I figured I'd write on Sunday. And then didn't. But at least I'm writing it now. You see, I was having the opposite problem with No Exit that I had with The Oath/Blood On The Scales. No Exit is such a talky episode that I wasn't really sure how I wanted to review it. And, to be honest, I don't have much to say about it. But I'm almost done with these reviews and I don't want to make it seem like I'm slacking off but . . . Seriously, I have so little to say about this episode that it might look like I'm slacking off. I've just found it's difficult to talk about the high octane action episodes and it's even more difficult (for me) to talk about the super talky episodes.
Sorry about that. I hope to rebound with Deadlocked (though I don't like that episode much either). Let's just get this over with, shall we?
Jump. Please.
1) No Exit begins with 39,556 survivors, a 47 person loss from The Oath. That's a lot of people to lose in the space of a few hours.
2) Time line alert! It's been eighteen months since Ellen's death, so, of course, it's been eighteen months since the start of the third season. That makes sense since it's been about a season and a half since then.
So . . . let me try to reason this out. If it's been a year and a half since Exodus Part II, and if the occupation occurred over four months, and if the humans were on Caprica for a year before the cylons came, and if the election took place about seven months after the initial attack on the colonies . . . Well . . . No Exit takes place about a month shy of three years after the miniseries.
Right?
3) There are three major stories that play out in No Exit. The first is between Ellen and Cavil. The second is between Sam, the other four cylons and Starbuck. These two stories are interlinked because, together, they give the audience the origins of the humanoid cylons and resurrection.
So . . . do I tell you the story? You've seen the episode. You know it. Basically, I guess, the Final Five were living on Earth and working as researchers. Together, they'd figured out how to create resurrection technology like there'd been on Kobol. They knew something bad was coming, some kind of attack from a cylon enemy, and Ellen managed to set up the technology to save herself, Saul, Tory, Anders, and Tyrol.
The only ones left alive after the nuclear attack (from a still unknown enemy), they decided to go find the other twelve colonies to warn them about the dangers of technology. It took them about two thousand years traveling at sub-light speed (they could resurrect but didn't have FTLs) but by the time they reached the colonies, the war had already broken out. They set up a deal with the centurions. If they ended the war, the Final Five would give them resurrection technology and help them to evolve. The centurions had been trying on their own but hadn't been successful beyond the hybrids. The Final Five thought it'd be okay because the centurions worshiped a loving god that they figured would help end the cycle of violence.
Boy were they wrong!
So, first they made Cavil. Or, as we learn, John, named after Ellen's father and, apparently, made in his image. Which is so gross. Then they made the others, including a cylon we've never heard of: Daniel, a sensitive artist cylon who Ellen loved but made Cavil jealous enough to sabotage the entire line.
I don't know if I'm in the majority or the minority on this, but I'm really not impressed by this origin story line. At all. It's not like I can say what I think they should have done instead, because I honestly don't know what I would have preferred. I guess I was okay with the origin story staying a bit mysterious. .
I do like the idea of Cavil jealously killing Daniel because if there's anything the scenes between Ellen and Cavil demonstrate it's that he's incapable of acting anything but a teenager towards her. What a jealous, whiny old coot.
But you see? I don't have much to say about this because they basically gave us all the answers. And I'm not impressed with those answers. I suppose I am intrigued by the thought of Cavil killing the Final Five and making them live among the humans to teach them a lesson about human frailties, but I don't really like his churlish and emo reasons for doing so.
And they still haven't explained why the Earth cylons were able to procreate the normal way or how Saul was able to age.
So . . . meh. This just didn't do it for me.
4) What I do like as it related to Cavil's ridiculous attitude is how Ellen keeps telling him he's exactly the thing he never wanted to be: Like humans. I mean, he's obsessed with annihilating the humans, which is such a human need. Even his reasons are human: He claims he's doing it out of vengeance for the enslavement the centurions suffered at the hands of their human creators. But what is more human than a sense of vengeance? I don't think giraffes hatch a plan to go ape shit crazy on a lion who's killed on of their own you know? She tells Cavil that he's plagued by the most petty of human emotions.
5) I also find Boomer's role in this interesting because she's had such a change since the miniseries. Hell, she's had a huge change since New Caprica. Now that she's hanging around with Cavil, she's turn into quite the robot, which is pretty much what Cavil wants. Boomer claims that Cavil is helping her develop into a better machine and teaching her to let go of her human constructs.
I really do love Boomer's evolution, especially in light of Athena's. I really do find it fascinating that the one that started off as human is becoming more machine like while the one who started off the cylon is becoming more and more human.
6) And one last thing about this joint story telling hour? I am so not okay with the casting of John Hodgman as the brain surgeon. So not happy. It was incredibly distracting. I don't mind a bit of injected levity into these episodes because they are incredibly dark, but I just got the sense that Ron Moore was like, "Hey, he's a fan and he's my friend so he should play himself in this role!"
Not happy.
7) The third major story of No Exit is centered around fixing the Galactica. As it turns out, the damage is even worse than expected. There are a bunch of hair line fractures in nearly all the beams.
Adama puts Tyrol in charge and gives him back his Chief title, which seems to mean a lot to Tyrol, because human or cylon, he's been the chief for so long, it has to feel good to be at it again. But the problem is that human technology isn't going to do them very good. The good news is that Tyrol knows of some cylon technology, an organic resin, that would be able to heal the cracks and fissures. The bad news is that Adama balks at the idea of using cylon technology on his ship and, even when he comes to the conclusion that it's the only thing that will keep Galactica going, tells Tyrol he can only use a human crew.
If it were completely up to Adama, I doubt he'd give a crap one way or the other. I mean, his XO is a cylon and so is his chief. But he still has to play to the bigots on his ship and within the rest of the fleet. They may have sifted out many of the dissenters due to the attempted mutiny, but he and Laura are still in a precarious situation when it comes to the alliance with the cylons. It's a shame that the humans can't get over their own prejudices to realize that this is exactly what it's going to take to allow their survival.
8) My favorite scene in No Exit is, unsurprisingly, the scene between Laura and Lee on Colonial One. Lee walks in and finds Laura sifting through pictures of the murdered quorum, trying to find good pictures of the delegates to put up on in the Memorial Hall. She tells him, "Sometimes I hated them but I knew every one of them and I wonder who we are without them."
Lee proposes that they set up the next quorum differently. Since people are somewhat newly defined more on the ship they live on than the planet they lived on, he proposes nixing planetary representation and setting up ship representation. Laura (and I) thinks it's a good idea and she tells him that he should go ahead and do it when he's assembling the representatives. And this is when she drops the bomb we all knew was coming eventually: She's going to retain the title of president as long as she's able, but she's basically giving up the heavy job to Lee. I think her health and her spirit just aren't up to it anymore.
She gives him a great compliment and a great piece of advice: "You are the right one, Lee. You have always been the right one. My only concern about you is that you're hellbent on doing the right thing that you sometimes don't do the smart thing."
And it's very true, but what I really like about this quote is how it flashes me all the way back to the first season to an episode like Water, where it's clear that Laura sees something valuable in Lee, sees his overall potential. And I think that back then, Laura saw bits of herself in Lee and I think it remains that way even into the current circumstances, because it took Laura some time to realize that her typical instincts, the "right things", weren't going to get the job done. It's a lesson she eventually learned and I'm sure it's a lesson Lee will also eventually learn. As much it pains me to say this (even though I do really like Lee in this half of the season), the two of them really are very alike. They're kind of like two peas in a pod.
9) Caprica's been sleeping in Tigh's quarters and, man, is she ever good for him! He hasn't had a drink in weeks. And how adorable is he when he feels the baby move within her? And when he starts talking, in his super gruff voice, that they need to get a crib and other baby stuff? I just want to hug him so hard. I like paternal!Tigh.
10) As Boomer is escorting Ellen to her brain surgery so Cavil can try to extract what she knows about resurrection technology, she does what is now becoming very common for cylons these days: She boards Ellen onto a raptor and helps her escape. Ellen asks her, "What are you doing?" And Boomer responds, "Forgiving you."
This could get interesting.
As I said, I don't really like this episode. Joss Whedon has said that television has kind of morphed into something like radio with images. Meaning, it's a bunch of people talking and the story telling is basically about the dialog and less about the visual construction. I agree with him, mostly. There are some shows that buck the trend, BSG being on of them, but No Exit does fall into that trap, I think. I know I should have been happy to have finally gotten the cylon origin story, but I felt the whole hour was basically just people sitting stagnant talking at each other. Honestly? I found it rather boring. So I'm going to give No Exit 2.5 out of 5 airlocks.
Sorry about that. I hope to rebound with Deadlocked (though I don't like that episode much either). Let's just get this over with, shall we?
Jump. Please.
1) No Exit begins with 39,556 survivors, a 47 person loss from The Oath. That's a lot of people to lose in the space of a few hours.
2) Time line alert! It's been eighteen months since Ellen's death, so, of course, it's been eighteen months since the start of the third season. That makes sense since it's been about a season and a half since then.
So . . . let me try to reason this out. If it's been a year and a half since Exodus Part II, and if the occupation occurred over four months, and if the humans were on Caprica for a year before the cylons came, and if the election took place about seven months after the initial attack on the colonies . . . Well . . . No Exit takes place about a month shy of three years after the miniseries.
Right?
3) There are three major stories that play out in No Exit. The first is between Ellen and Cavil. The second is between Sam, the other four cylons and Starbuck. These two stories are interlinked because, together, they give the audience the origins of the humanoid cylons and resurrection.
So . . . do I tell you the story? You've seen the episode. You know it. Basically, I guess, the Final Five were living on Earth and working as researchers. Together, they'd figured out how to create resurrection technology like there'd been on Kobol. They knew something bad was coming, some kind of attack from a cylon enemy, and Ellen managed to set up the technology to save herself, Saul, Tory, Anders, and Tyrol.
The only ones left alive after the nuclear attack (from a still unknown enemy), they decided to go find the other twelve colonies to warn them about the dangers of technology. It took them about two thousand years traveling at sub-light speed (they could resurrect but didn't have FTLs) but by the time they reached the colonies, the war had already broken out. They set up a deal with the centurions. If they ended the war, the Final Five would give them resurrection technology and help them to evolve. The centurions had been trying on their own but hadn't been successful beyond the hybrids. The Final Five thought it'd be okay because the centurions worshiped a loving god that they figured would help end the cycle of violence.
Boy were they wrong!
So, first they made Cavil. Or, as we learn, John, named after Ellen's father and, apparently, made in his image. Which is so gross. Then they made the others, including a cylon we've never heard of: Daniel, a sensitive artist cylon who Ellen loved but made Cavil jealous enough to sabotage the entire line.
I don't know if I'm in the majority or the minority on this, but I'm really not impressed by this origin story line. At all. It's not like I can say what I think they should have done instead, because I honestly don't know what I would have preferred. I guess I was okay with the origin story staying a bit mysterious. .
I do like the idea of Cavil jealously killing Daniel because if there's anything the scenes between Ellen and Cavil demonstrate it's that he's incapable of acting anything but a teenager towards her. What a jealous, whiny old coot.
But you see? I don't have much to say about this because they basically gave us all the answers. And I'm not impressed with those answers. I suppose I am intrigued by the thought of Cavil killing the Final Five and making them live among the humans to teach them a lesson about human frailties, but I don't really like his churlish and emo reasons for doing so.
And they still haven't explained why the Earth cylons were able to procreate the normal way or how Saul was able to age.
So . . . meh. This just didn't do it for me.
4) What I do like as it related to Cavil's ridiculous attitude is how Ellen keeps telling him he's exactly the thing he never wanted to be: Like humans. I mean, he's obsessed with annihilating the humans, which is such a human need. Even his reasons are human: He claims he's doing it out of vengeance for the enslavement the centurions suffered at the hands of their human creators. But what is more human than a sense of vengeance? I don't think giraffes hatch a plan to go ape shit crazy on a lion who's killed on of their own you know? She tells Cavil that he's plagued by the most petty of human emotions.
5) I also find Boomer's role in this interesting because she's had such a change since the miniseries. Hell, she's had a huge change since New Caprica. Now that she's hanging around with Cavil, she's turn into quite the robot, which is pretty much what Cavil wants. Boomer claims that Cavil is helping her develop into a better machine and teaching her to let go of her human constructs.
I really do love Boomer's evolution, especially in light of Athena's. I really do find it fascinating that the one that started off as human is becoming more machine like while the one who started off the cylon is becoming more and more human.
6) And one last thing about this joint story telling hour? I am so not okay with the casting of John Hodgman as the brain surgeon. So not happy. It was incredibly distracting. I don't mind a bit of injected levity into these episodes because they are incredibly dark, but I just got the sense that Ron Moore was like, "Hey, he's a fan and he's my friend so he should play himself in this role!"
Not happy.
7) The third major story of No Exit is centered around fixing the Galactica. As it turns out, the damage is even worse than expected. There are a bunch of hair line fractures in nearly all the beams.
Adama puts Tyrol in charge and gives him back his Chief title, which seems to mean a lot to Tyrol, because human or cylon, he's been the chief for so long, it has to feel good to be at it again. But the problem is that human technology isn't going to do them very good. The good news is that Tyrol knows of some cylon technology, an organic resin, that would be able to heal the cracks and fissures. The bad news is that Adama balks at the idea of using cylon technology on his ship and, even when he comes to the conclusion that it's the only thing that will keep Galactica going, tells Tyrol he can only use a human crew.
If it were completely up to Adama, I doubt he'd give a crap one way or the other. I mean, his XO is a cylon and so is his chief. But he still has to play to the bigots on his ship and within the rest of the fleet. They may have sifted out many of the dissenters due to the attempted mutiny, but he and Laura are still in a precarious situation when it comes to the alliance with the cylons. It's a shame that the humans can't get over their own prejudices to realize that this is exactly what it's going to take to allow their survival.
8) My favorite scene in No Exit is, unsurprisingly, the scene between Laura and Lee on Colonial One. Lee walks in and finds Laura sifting through pictures of the murdered quorum, trying to find good pictures of the delegates to put up on in the Memorial Hall. She tells him, "Sometimes I hated them but I knew every one of them and I wonder who we are without them."
Lee proposes that they set up the next quorum differently. Since people are somewhat newly defined more on the ship they live on than the planet they lived on, he proposes nixing planetary representation and setting up ship representation. Laura (and I) thinks it's a good idea and she tells him that he should go ahead and do it when he's assembling the representatives. And this is when she drops the bomb we all knew was coming eventually: She's going to retain the title of president as long as she's able, but she's basically giving up the heavy job to Lee. I think her health and her spirit just aren't up to it anymore.
She gives him a great compliment and a great piece of advice: "You are the right one, Lee. You have always been the right one. My only concern about you is that you're hellbent on doing the right thing that you sometimes don't do the smart thing."
And it's very true, but what I really like about this quote is how it flashes me all the way back to the first season to an episode like Water, where it's clear that Laura sees something valuable in Lee, sees his overall potential. And I think that back then, Laura saw bits of herself in Lee and I think it remains that way even into the current circumstances, because it took Laura some time to realize that her typical instincts, the "right things", weren't going to get the job done. It's a lesson she eventually learned and I'm sure it's a lesson Lee will also eventually learn. As much it pains me to say this (even though I do really like Lee in this half of the season), the two of them really are very alike. They're kind of like two peas in a pod.
9) Caprica's been sleeping in Tigh's quarters and, man, is she ever good for him! He hasn't had a drink in weeks. And how adorable is he when he feels the baby move within her? And when he starts talking, in his super gruff voice, that they need to get a crib and other baby stuff? I just want to hug him so hard. I like paternal!Tigh.
10) As Boomer is escorting Ellen to her brain surgery so Cavil can try to extract what she knows about resurrection technology, she does what is now becoming very common for cylons these days: She boards Ellen onto a raptor and helps her escape. Ellen asks her, "What are you doing?" And Boomer responds, "Forgiving you."
This could get interesting.
As I said, I don't really like this episode. Joss Whedon has said that television has kind of morphed into something like radio with images. Meaning, it's a bunch of people talking and the story telling is basically about the dialog and less about the visual construction. I agree with him, mostly. There are some shows that buck the trend, BSG being on of them, but No Exit does fall into that trap, I think. I know I should have been happy to have finally gotten the cylon origin story, but I felt the whole hour was basically just people sitting stagnant talking at each other. Honestly? I found it rather boring. So I'm going to give No Exit 2.5 out of 5 airlocks.