Flight of the Phoenix
Three in a row! Is this a new record? I think it might be! And I couldn't be more excited to recap this particular episode because it contains my all-time favorite Laura Roslin scene. And when one has as much Laura Roslin love as I do, that really does mean something. So, let's no belabor this more than we have to. Jump the cut and let's do this!
1) Flight of the Phoenix begins with 47,853 survivors. That means there were no deaths between this episode and Final Cut. Since the title credits have been keeping track of the survival numbers, this is the first time there's been no change in the numbers.
2) Cally is released from the brig in this episode. I'm kind of bummed. I could have handled never seeing her again.
3) I love the scene were Chief is examining the damaged Viper. The way he caresses it, listens to it, cares for it is very interesting when it's set up against images of him doing the same, in flashback, to Boomer. Sadly for the Chief, the Viper and Boomer are unserviceable scrap. He can't do anything to save them from the junk pile.
4) I really love the stuff that goes on between the Chief and Helo. They're both outcasts because of this relationship they have (or had) with a Sharon. (Though Chief is more of an outcast by choice. No one blames him for getting suckered by Boomer like they blame Helo for his relationship with Sharon.) They're the only two people in the fleet that could possibly understand each other. Chief is in denial that he ever had real feelings for Boomer, and I think Helo makes him uncomfortable because this is a guy who knows his Sharon is a cylon but loves her anyway. If Helo can love a cylon, than maybe Chief did (and still does) love a cylon.
Instead of commiseration, the two are at odds (mostly because Chief doesn't like what Helo makes him realize about himself and his relationship with Boomer) and they just go at it. Chief obviously has a lot of unreserved issues surrounding Sharon and he's channeling the rage he feels at her and at himself towards Helo. Helo, on the flip side, sees Chief as a competitor. His Sharon has all of Boomer's memories and Helo knows that Boomer was in love with the Chief. If Sharon has Boomer's memories, does she also share her feelings? One can have memories and no longer feel the feelings those memories are associated with, but Boomer still loved Chief, up to her death. There's little separation between the memory and the feeling, so what does that mean for Helo's relationship with Sharon?
Helo's pretty content with Sharon's "you're first in my heart", and he should be. I think it's pretty obvious that Sharon loves him. But I'm really glad this episode ends with Chief visiting Sharon in the brig. It may not be his Boomer, but it's almost his Boomer, and it allows him to get a little closure on everything and I think the Chief really deserves it.
5) The cylon virus first mentioned in Scattered is back. Love the continuity. Love when shows finish threads they start.
6) Flight of the Phoenix picks up the thread of Laura's cancer. Though it was a force behind much of the Kobol arc, the show hasn't acknowledged it directly since Fragged. And it's about time we get an idea of how sick she is.
The scene between Laura and Doc Cottle was rather moving. Doc Cottle is, uncharacteristically, not gruff. He's direct with her, but moved by her obvious difficulty with the news. And why shouldn't she be having difficulty? I can't imagine what it must be like to be told you only have a month to live (if that) and to know that the cancer could go to your brain and know what that would mean for you in your last days.
Death has been following Laura throughout her journey on the show. Our first moment with her is her getting her diagnosis. Aside from the miniseries, this is the first time Laura seems to really process her mortality and I find it makes me feel even more connected to the character because I really feel for her in that moment and I see her humanity, possibly stronger than I've seen it before.
7) I think it's a great small touch that the shooting targets have Boomer's picture on them.
8) Whenever I watch the scene where Lee and Kara (and Hotdog) are at the shooting range, it almost causes me slight discomfort to watch them gasping for breath, knowing their oxygen is running out.
9) Sexual tension between Dee and Lee? I'm not down with this.
10) Books! The books are back! Sadly, Laura is giving her book (Dark Day by Edward Prima?) back to Bill. I think Bill understands the meaning behind the gesture. It feels like Laura is going about getting her estate in order. She's not just giving Bill back his book. She's signaling to him that it's about time for her goodbye.
11) Interestingly, it's Laura who believes that cylons and humans can meet on common ground. Acknowledging that cylons were made by humans, it implies that Laura believes the cylons contain humanistic tendencies that would allow them to compromise with humans due to shared goals.
Considering where Laura goes in her journey, this insight is kind of startling to me.
12) These lines, said by Sharon in the CIC as she attempts to fight off the cylon virus are really great and indicative of the strange position she holds in the fleet:
"Dee, do you still carry your father's pocket knife?" and
"Sometimes you got to roll the hard six, right, Commander?"
She knows these people. Because Boomer knew these people. Along with these quotes (that demonstrate a past relationship with Dee and Adama), Gaeta is very familiar with her, too. She's Boomer. But she's not. She's their friend. But she isn't. She's human. But she's a cylon.
13) Sharon saves the day! Again! Suck it, Lee. (Lee has nothing to do with this. I just wanted to tell him to suck it.)
14) But, actually, how was Sharon able to avoid the virus? If the virus is in Galactica while she's wired into it, and if she's transmitting it to the raiders, how does she avoid it entering her? Is this one of those plot holes I should try to ignore?
15) I. Love. The. Black. Bird. I love it. I love everything about it. I love Chief's single-minded enthusiasm. I love his ingenuity. I love that no one thinks he can do it but how they start to come around. I love that Tigh helps Chief out by getting him so old engines in exchange for some cheap alcohol. I love that Dee works on communication. I love that Starbuck agrees to fly it. I love that Helo comes up with the idea of carbon composites and everyone loves him after that. (Well . . . likes him a little, at least.) I love that Lee doubts it and is proven wrong. I love that they all sign it with a white Sharpie.
16) But what I love most? I think you all know. Yes, that's right, I love how they name is "Laura". The moment where the name is revealed to Laura and she's taken aback to the point where she has to compose herself (a nice parallel echo to the scene in sickbay with Doc Cottle), I love the character more than I've ever loved her.
Coming off of Home Part II, where Laura is surprised to hear Adama's appreciation of her decisions and basically tells her that everyone owes their lives to her, the dedication of the Black Bird is another acknowledgment to Laura for what she means to the fleet. This is the first time the military has, in bulk, acknowledged her in a positive way. As I said in my recap for HP2, I don't think Laura gets a lot of positive feedback from anybody but Lee and Billy. It obviously means a lot to her that, from the near-miracle of building this stealth ship, these people would choose to dedicate it to her. She's visibly moved and I'm moved for her.
Gods, I love that scene.
So, there you have it. Easily one of the best episodes of the season. I'd even go as far to say it's one of the best of the series. I love Helo, I love Chief, I love Bill, I love Sharon, I love Starbuck, I love Laura. Hell, I don't even really dislike Lee in this episode, either. Everything in this episode works for me and, for that, I'm going to give Flight of the Phoenix five out of five airlocks.
1) Flight of the Phoenix begins with 47,853 survivors. That means there were no deaths between this episode and Final Cut. Since the title credits have been keeping track of the survival numbers, this is the first time there's been no change in the numbers.
2) Cally is released from the brig in this episode. I'm kind of bummed. I could have handled never seeing her again.
3) I love the scene were Chief is examining the damaged Viper. The way he caresses it, listens to it, cares for it is very interesting when it's set up against images of him doing the same, in flashback, to Boomer. Sadly for the Chief, the Viper and Boomer are unserviceable scrap. He can't do anything to save them from the junk pile.
4) I really love the stuff that goes on between the Chief and Helo. They're both outcasts because of this relationship they have (or had) with a Sharon. (Though Chief is more of an outcast by choice. No one blames him for getting suckered by Boomer like they blame Helo for his relationship with Sharon.) They're the only two people in the fleet that could possibly understand each other. Chief is in denial that he ever had real feelings for Boomer, and I think Helo makes him uncomfortable because this is a guy who knows his Sharon is a cylon but loves her anyway. If Helo can love a cylon, than maybe Chief did (and still does) love a cylon.
Instead of commiseration, the two are at odds (mostly because Chief doesn't like what Helo makes him realize about himself and his relationship with Boomer) and they just go at it. Chief obviously has a lot of unreserved issues surrounding Sharon and he's channeling the rage he feels at her and at himself towards Helo. Helo, on the flip side, sees Chief as a competitor. His Sharon has all of Boomer's memories and Helo knows that Boomer was in love with the Chief. If Sharon has Boomer's memories, does she also share her feelings? One can have memories and no longer feel the feelings those memories are associated with, but Boomer still loved Chief, up to her death. There's little separation between the memory and the feeling, so what does that mean for Helo's relationship with Sharon?
Helo's pretty content with Sharon's "you're first in my heart", and he should be. I think it's pretty obvious that Sharon loves him. But I'm really glad this episode ends with Chief visiting Sharon in the brig. It may not be his Boomer, but it's almost his Boomer, and it allows him to get a little closure on everything and I think the Chief really deserves it.
5) The cylon virus first mentioned in Scattered is back. Love the continuity. Love when shows finish threads they start.
6) Flight of the Phoenix picks up the thread of Laura's cancer. Though it was a force behind much of the Kobol arc, the show hasn't acknowledged it directly since Fragged. And it's about time we get an idea of how sick she is.
The scene between Laura and Doc Cottle was rather moving. Doc Cottle is, uncharacteristically, not gruff. He's direct with her, but moved by her obvious difficulty with the news. And why shouldn't she be having difficulty? I can't imagine what it must be like to be told you only have a month to live (if that) and to know that the cancer could go to your brain and know what that would mean for you in your last days.
Death has been following Laura throughout her journey on the show. Our first moment with her is her getting her diagnosis. Aside from the miniseries, this is the first time Laura seems to really process her mortality and I find it makes me feel even more connected to the character because I really feel for her in that moment and I see her humanity, possibly stronger than I've seen it before.
7) I think it's a great small touch that the shooting targets have Boomer's picture on them.
8) Whenever I watch the scene where Lee and Kara (and Hotdog) are at the shooting range, it almost causes me slight discomfort to watch them gasping for breath, knowing their oxygen is running out.
9) Sexual tension between Dee and Lee? I'm not down with this.
10) Books! The books are back! Sadly, Laura is giving her book (Dark Day by Edward Prima?) back to Bill. I think Bill understands the meaning behind the gesture. It feels like Laura is going about getting her estate in order. She's not just giving Bill back his book. She's signaling to him that it's about time for her goodbye.
11) Interestingly, it's Laura who believes that cylons and humans can meet on common ground. Acknowledging that cylons were made by humans, it implies that Laura believes the cylons contain humanistic tendencies that would allow them to compromise with humans due to shared goals.
Considering where Laura goes in her journey, this insight is kind of startling to me.
12) These lines, said by Sharon in the CIC as she attempts to fight off the cylon virus are really great and indicative of the strange position she holds in the fleet:
"Dee, do you still carry your father's pocket knife?" and
"Sometimes you got to roll the hard six, right, Commander?"
She knows these people. Because Boomer knew these people. Along with these quotes (that demonstrate a past relationship with Dee and Adama), Gaeta is very familiar with her, too. She's Boomer. But she's not. She's their friend. But she isn't. She's human. But she's a cylon.
13) Sharon saves the day! Again! Suck it, Lee. (Lee has nothing to do with this. I just wanted to tell him to suck it.)
14) But, actually, how was Sharon able to avoid the virus? If the virus is in Galactica while she's wired into it, and if she's transmitting it to the raiders, how does she avoid it entering her? Is this one of those plot holes I should try to ignore?
15) I. Love. The. Black. Bird. I love it. I love everything about it. I love Chief's single-minded enthusiasm. I love his ingenuity. I love that no one thinks he can do it but how they start to come around. I love that Tigh helps Chief out by getting him so old engines in exchange for some cheap alcohol. I love that Dee works on communication. I love that Starbuck agrees to fly it. I love that Helo comes up with the idea of carbon composites and everyone loves him after that. (Well . . . likes him a little, at least.) I love that Lee doubts it and is proven wrong. I love that they all sign it with a white Sharpie.
16) But what I love most? I think you all know. Yes, that's right, I love how they name is "Laura". The moment where the name is revealed to Laura and she's taken aback to the point where she has to compose herself (a nice parallel echo to the scene in sickbay with Doc Cottle), I love the character more than I've ever loved her.
Coming off of Home Part II, where Laura is surprised to hear Adama's appreciation of her decisions and basically tells her that everyone owes their lives to her, the dedication of the Black Bird is another acknowledgment to Laura for what she means to the fleet. This is the first time the military has, in bulk, acknowledged her in a positive way. As I said in my recap for HP2, I don't think Laura gets a lot of positive feedback from anybody but Lee and Billy. It obviously means a lot to her that, from the near-miracle of building this stealth ship, these people would choose to dedicate it to her. She's visibly moved and I'm moved for her.
Gods, I love that scene.
So, there you have it. Easily one of the best episodes of the season. I'd even go as far to say it's one of the best of the series. I love Helo, I love Chief, I love Bill, I love Sharon, I love Starbuck, I love Laura. Hell, I don't even really dislike Lee in this episode, either. Everything in this episode works for me and, for that, I'm going to give Flight of the Phoenix five out of five airlocks.