Kobol's Last Gleaming Part I
Oh, thank the gods for you, Kobol's Last Gleaming Part I. Thank the gods! They haven't forsaken me! Because after suffering through the travesty that was Colonial Day (hopped up on NyQuil or not), I lost the will to type. I lost the will to load my laptop with DVDs. I lost the will to take notes on my computer's sticky notes. Can you even imagine? But along comes KLGP1 and suddenly I'm less medicated, less tired, and more prone to long rambling points about Laura's sorry bangs.
Let's get 'er done, under the cut.
1) It is now 50 days since the cylon attack which places KLGP1 three days after Colonial Day.
2) I need to rave about the cold open for this episode. First of all, I need to sound an alert for Bear McCreary's musical genius. This is the introduction of the Passacaglia and, though effective just listening to it over and over on my iPod while waiting for the bus to come and take me to campus, it's a beautiful complement to the images it plays under.
We open with Lee and Bill sparring and then move on to Starbuck sleeping a mysterious man we're probably supposed to think is Lee and then we move to Helo running around in the saturated colors of nuked Caprica where he's eventually met by Caprica!Sharon, who he shoots. Meanwhile, Boomer's back in her bunk trying to get the nerve to commit suicide. And while Bill's kicking Lee's ass because Lee can't lose control, Starbuck moans out Lee's name while it's revealed she's been sleeping with . . . Baltar?!
3) This leads me to this question: What the frak is up with this whole random Starbuck/Baltar thing? I mean, I know that they've been playing up Baltar's attraction to Kara since almost the beginning, but they haven't really been playing up Starbuck in the same way. Yeah, as she tells Lee, she's a screw up. I get that and no, it's not anti-Starbuckian to sleep with Baltar but there's something that feels really forced about this coupling. I want to be like Regina George in Mean Girls: "Ron Moore, stop trying to make Balbuck happen! It's not going to happen!"
4) But I do love the moment just after Kara leaves Baltar's quarters. The camera pans over and we see head!Six sitting quietly in one of the chairs. She won't meet Baltar's eyes, just stares straight ahead because she feels so betrayed. I will take this moment to point out how, in the course of about twelve episode, head!Six has become an incredibly complex character in her own right. I don't know if it's the writing or Tricia Helfer finding the right notes to hit or if it's both, but head!Six has already come a long way and I don't know about you, but I'm loving it.
5) Now let's move on to the most important aspect of the episode. LAURA ROSLIN HAS CANCER, YOU KNOW?!
No, but really. I was thinking about this as I was watching the scene in which Laura tells Elosha that her cancer has moved to her lymphatic system. Elosha turns to her and tells her that Laura has made her a true believer, that she knows Laura is the one who will lead the human race to Earth.
But if you're Laura . . . You know that the only way to ensure the survival of the human race is by dying yourself. Laura would do anything for the fleet, of course, but there's nothing about her that screams, "I'm totally with dying so the fleet can reach Earth!" It must be a really strange existence when you want to live and be healthy but believe you need to die in order for your people to be safe.
I hope to get more into this idea when we reach later episodes (no intentional spoilers here, remember?) because I find it really intriguing.
6) I don't have anything "deep" to say about it, but I love the scene in which Baltar has to respond to both Laura and head!Six and comes off looking even crazier than normal. But it's that great kind of subtle things the writers do in scenes like that (and that James Callis does with his acting) where you can't really think, "Laura, this guy is totally off her rocker. He's talking to things that aren't there!" It's more like, "Wow, this guy is very strange." So he comes off crazy but not so crazy that he couldn't be VP. (Well . . . maybe not but you get what I mean.)
I love when Laura and head!Six say, simultaneously, "Play thing?"
7) So, head!Six knows something is about to go down aboard Galactica and warns Baltar to get off the ship. As she tells Baltar, she knows all that he knows, but she also knows things he couldn't possible know, even if he had the world's best intuition. So, once again, the question of what head!Six is comes to the front.
8) Oy with the Lee/Starbuck crap already! I don't like Lee so no, I don't like to have him paired with a character as dynamically interesting as Starbuck, and, much like the weirdness of the Kara/Baltar bit in the beginning of the episode, this almost comes out of nowhere. Maybe they reached some kind of understanding at the end of Colonial Day because Lee was practically drooling over himself when he saw her in that dress, but, let's be real. What gives Lee the right to be so angry that Starbuck slept with Baltar?
He's such an annoying little cub scout.
But what really bothers me is that Starbuck actually apologizes for hurting him! The frak? There's been nothing prior to Colonial Day that would even suggest they see each other as more than friends/siblings (which may be a lie because I don't have that great a memory) and now Lee can get huffy about Starbuck's love life and guilt her into apologizing for living her life, however screwed up it is?
Starbuck was right to hit him.
9) But speaking of that scene . . . I didn't know they had Nalgene bottles in space! For real, I have that exact bottle Starbuck drinks from except mine says stuff about Wellesley and feminism. Which fits, in a way.
10) So Boomer is looking to kill herself. She knows, more than just subconsciously, that there's something not right with her and I applaud her ability to correctly interpret the feeling that she's just going to haul off one day and hurt somebody.
I like the scene where Baltar pretty much talks her into going through with it. He heeds head!Six's warning. He knows Boomer is a cylon so if something's about to go down, it'll probably center around her. His motivations are two fold: First, he knows it's more than possible that a "switched-on" Boomer can be seriously dangerous for the safety of the men and women of Galactica and the rest of the fleet. Including Baltar. That's a no-brainer. But I'm willing to bet his second motivation is guiding him more: If Boomer goes off, does something very cylon-y, and it gets discovered that Baltar had tested her and came back with a "human diagnosis" well . . . He's out an airlock.
Persuading Boomer to kill herself gets Baltar off the hook so it's no wonder he pushes it.
11) But Boomer must be one awful shot. Blows a hole through her cheek (ouch!) but is unsuccessful otherwise. Though, one could argue that she's not meant to die, yet. She still has to carry out her mission which means she still has to play out her role in the cycle of time.
12) Okay, so . . . Why is it that I'm totally okay with Laura's sudden emergence as a religious leader?
I guess it's because I know she's right, as an audience member. The pieces of scripture are coming together in such a way that, at this point, not believing makes no sense. The fact that Laura was incredibly unreligious before her experiences also helps. I mean, she didn't even know Pythia. I'm an atheist and have very limited experience with the Bible, but I know the names of the important players so the fact that Laura doesn't, even living in a culture that still seems rather steeped in the religion, even if it has been secularized, makes her pretty damn unreligious.
But remember how Bush was convinced he was some messenger of god who was going to spread democracy throughout the world? That he got, like, called by god or something? Total bogus bullshit that made me feel disgusted and embarassed that this yahoo was America's representative. But his experiences seem to be the antithesis of Laura's so I'm totally okay with her going all "Sacred Scrolls" on me. It's hot.
But Laura can do anything and I'd love it.
13) Except her hair. Frak, woman, stop with the feathering! And improve your bangs! They're distracting me!
14) I was happy to see a scene between Laura and Starbuck. I don't even have much to say about it because it's all pretty straightforward, but it's great that Laura realized Starbuck was "gettable". The last time we saw them together, they were embracing all cute-like in Hand of God, so there's a bit of an established relationship that Laura felt she could tap into. She's also savvy enough to realize that Starbuck is just crazy enough to steal a raider and jump all the way to Caprica for a mythological tool that might just be the key to saving the human race. Laura also realizes how close Kara is with Bill and knows, full well, that she's about to fracture their relationship.
Collateral damage.
15) The last time we saw Socinus, he was lying his ass off for Chief in Litmus and got sent to the brig because of it. Now he's on a raptor that's falling fast towards the suface of Kobol. Bad end of the deal?
16) Here is our introduction to Seelix. She hasn't had lines yet, but she's also in the raptor that's falling towards Kobol.
17) This exchange always gives me goosebumps:
Tigh: Where did she go?
Adama: Home.
I think it's because they've been running from home since the beginning and that, while Starbuck is going home, it's not even really their home anymore. It's too damaged. So . . . it's their home but it's not.
Really articulate, right?
18) Things to look out for: Everything.
So there you have it. I can't wait to watch Kobol's Last Gleaming Part II (I'll hopefully get to it tomorrow but I can't guarantee it) because this was a really great set up episode where every character really got their time to do what they do on camera, which is nice. I'm going to go ahead and give Kobol's Last Gleaming Part I 4.5 airlocks out of 5.
Let's get 'er done, under the cut.
1) It is now 50 days since the cylon attack which places KLGP1 three days after Colonial Day.
2) I need to rave about the cold open for this episode. First of all, I need to sound an alert for Bear McCreary's musical genius. This is the introduction of the Passacaglia and, though effective just listening to it over and over on my iPod while waiting for the bus to come and take me to campus, it's a beautiful complement to the images it plays under.
We open with Lee and Bill sparring and then move on to Starbuck sleeping a mysterious man we're probably supposed to think is Lee and then we move to Helo running around in the saturated colors of nuked Caprica where he's eventually met by Caprica!Sharon, who he shoots. Meanwhile, Boomer's back in her bunk trying to get the nerve to commit suicide. And while Bill's kicking Lee's ass because Lee can't lose control, Starbuck moans out Lee's name while it's revealed she's been sleeping with . . . Baltar?!
3) This leads me to this question: What the frak is up with this whole random Starbuck/Baltar thing? I mean, I know that they've been playing up Baltar's attraction to Kara since almost the beginning, but they haven't really been playing up Starbuck in the same way. Yeah, as she tells Lee, she's a screw up. I get that and no, it's not anti-Starbuckian to sleep with Baltar but there's something that feels really forced about this coupling. I want to be like Regina George in Mean Girls: "Ron Moore, stop trying to make Balbuck happen! It's not going to happen!"
4) But I do love the moment just after Kara leaves Baltar's quarters. The camera pans over and we see head!Six sitting quietly in one of the chairs. She won't meet Baltar's eyes, just stares straight ahead because she feels so betrayed. I will take this moment to point out how, in the course of about twelve episode, head!Six has become an incredibly complex character in her own right. I don't know if it's the writing or Tricia Helfer finding the right notes to hit or if it's both, but head!Six has already come a long way and I don't know about you, but I'm loving it.
5) Now let's move on to the most important aspect of the episode. LAURA ROSLIN HAS CANCER, YOU KNOW?!
No, but really. I was thinking about this as I was watching the scene in which Laura tells Elosha that her cancer has moved to her lymphatic system. Elosha turns to her and tells her that Laura has made her a true believer, that she knows Laura is the one who will lead the human race to Earth.
But if you're Laura . . . You know that the only way to ensure the survival of the human race is by dying yourself. Laura would do anything for the fleet, of course, but there's nothing about her that screams, "I'm totally with dying so the fleet can reach Earth!" It must be a really strange existence when you want to live and be healthy but believe you need to die in order for your people to be safe.
I hope to get more into this idea when we reach later episodes (no intentional spoilers here, remember?) because I find it really intriguing.
6) I don't have anything "deep" to say about it, but I love the scene in which Baltar has to respond to both Laura and head!Six and comes off looking even crazier than normal. But it's that great kind of subtle things the writers do in scenes like that (and that James Callis does with his acting) where you can't really think, "Laura, this guy is totally off her rocker. He's talking to things that aren't there!" It's more like, "Wow, this guy is very strange." So he comes off crazy but not so crazy that he couldn't be VP. (Well . . . maybe not but you get what I mean.)
I love when Laura and head!Six say, simultaneously, "Play thing?"
7) So, head!Six knows something is about to go down aboard Galactica and warns Baltar to get off the ship. As she tells Baltar, she knows all that he knows, but she also knows things he couldn't possible know, even if he had the world's best intuition. So, once again, the question of what head!Six is comes to the front.
8) Oy with the Lee/Starbuck crap already! I don't like Lee so no, I don't like to have him paired with a character as dynamically interesting as Starbuck, and, much like the weirdness of the Kara/Baltar bit in the beginning of the episode, this almost comes out of nowhere. Maybe they reached some kind of understanding at the end of Colonial Day because Lee was practically drooling over himself when he saw her in that dress, but, let's be real. What gives Lee the right to be so angry that Starbuck slept with Baltar?
He's such an annoying little cub scout.
But what really bothers me is that Starbuck actually apologizes for hurting him! The frak? There's been nothing prior to Colonial Day that would even suggest they see each other as more than friends/siblings (which may be a lie because I don't have that great a memory) and now Lee can get huffy about Starbuck's love life and guilt her into apologizing for living her life, however screwed up it is?
Starbuck was right to hit him.
9) But speaking of that scene . . . I didn't know they had Nalgene bottles in space! For real, I have that exact bottle Starbuck drinks from except mine says stuff about Wellesley and feminism. Which fits, in a way.
10) So Boomer is looking to kill herself. She knows, more than just subconsciously, that there's something not right with her and I applaud her ability to correctly interpret the feeling that she's just going to haul off one day and hurt somebody.
I like the scene where Baltar pretty much talks her into going through with it. He heeds head!Six's warning. He knows Boomer is a cylon so if something's about to go down, it'll probably center around her. His motivations are two fold: First, he knows it's more than possible that a "switched-on" Boomer can be seriously dangerous for the safety of the men and women of Galactica and the rest of the fleet. Including Baltar. That's a no-brainer. But I'm willing to bet his second motivation is guiding him more: If Boomer goes off, does something very cylon-y, and it gets discovered that Baltar had tested her and came back with a "human diagnosis" well . . . He's out an airlock.
Persuading Boomer to kill herself gets Baltar off the hook so it's no wonder he pushes it.
11) But Boomer must be one awful shot. Blows a hole through her cheek (ouch!) but is unsuccessful otherwise. Though, one could argue that she's not meant to die, yet. She still has to carry out her mission which means she still has to play out her role in the cycle of time.
12) Okay, so . . . Why is it that I'm totally okay with Laura's sudden emergence as a religious leader?
I guess it's because I know she's right, as an audience member. The pieces of scripture are coming together in such a way that, at this point, not believing makes no sense. The fact that Laura was incredibly unreligious before her experiences also helps. I mean, she didn't even know Pythia. I'm an atheist and have very limited experience with the Bible, but I know the names of the important players so the fact that Laura doesn't, even living in a culture that still seems rather steeped in the religion, even if it has been secularized, makes her pretty damn unreligious.
But remember how Bush was convinced he was some messenger of god who was going to spread democracy throughout the world? That he got, like, called by god or something? Total bogus bullshit that made me feel disgusted and embarassed that this yahoo was America's representative. But his experiences seem to be the antithesis of Laura's so I'm totally okay with her going all "Sacred Scrolls" on me. It's hot.
But Laura can do anything and I'd love it.
13) Except her hair. Frak, woman, stop with the feathering! And improve your bangs! They're distracting me!
14) I was happy to see a scene between Laura and Starbuck. I don't even have much to say about it because it's all pretty straightforward, but it's great that Laura realized Starbuck was "gettable". The last time we saw them together, they were embracing all cute-like in Hand of God, so there's a bit of an established relationship that Laura felt she could tap into. She's also savvy enough to realize that Starbuck is just crazy enough to steal a raider and jump all the way to Caprica for a mythological tool that might just be the key to saving the human race. Laura also realizes how close Kara is with Bill and knows, full well, that she's about to fracture their relationship.
Collateral damage.
15) The last time we saw Socinus, he was lying his ass off for Chief in Litmus and got sent to the brig because of it. Now he's on a raptor that's falling fast towards the suface of Kobol. Bad end of the deal?
16) Here is our introduction to Seelix. She hasn't had lines yet, but she's also in the raptor that's falling towards Kobol.
17) This exchange always gives me goosebumps:
Tigh: Where did she go?
Adama: Home.
I think it's because they've been running from home since the beginning and that, while Starbuck is going home, it's not even really their home anymore. It's too damaged. So . . . it's their home but it's not.
Really articulate, right?
18) Things to look out for: Everything.
So there you have it. I can't wait to watch Kobol's Last Gleaming Part II (I'll hopefully get to it tomorrow but I can't guarantee it) because this was a really great set up episode where every character really got their time to do what they do on camera, which is nice. I'm going to go ahead and give Kobol's Last Gleaming Part I 4.5 airlocks out of 5.