Hangin' out by the cliff
That was my first experience of just being able to watch a single episode of BSG in one sitting. When I'm watching the disks, I generally arrange it so that I can watch both halves of a cliffhanger, so having to wait a week is a slightly new experience.
I know it was the first part of a cliffhanger, but it really seemed to me like not very much happened. The Final Four...just go back to work, nervously. The Cylons attack, inexplicably. Gaius...well, Gaius gets a change in status, but he's still pretty much in a room, segregated from the rest of the cast, looking ferrety. At least he got a decent shave. The sick child subplot reminded me of a conversation I had with jacquilynne last week...did anybody not see that coming? Call it TV Trope #1137: When the unbeliever prays, sincerely, his prayer is answered, no matter how many devout people have been praying for the same thing, no matter how long. I was also slightly reminded of a twist from "The Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin: The good guys are polytheistic, and range from devout to agnostic, but their gods never do anything. The "bad guy" is monotheistic, but his/her prayers work. Why? I don't know yet.
And then there's Starbuck. Thing is, nothing really unexpected happened there, either. We all knew she was coming back, so that was no shock. We can be reasonably sure that she really found Earth, because "Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny" have been headlining at the local bar for two seasons now. And honestly, everybody else's skepticism is mostly expected too, although Roslin's taking an unusually hard line. You'd think that at some point, the counterargument would be, "Hey, Madam President? Remember when you sent me off, solo, to find the Arrow of Apollo, because you had a dream about it? Worked out pretty well, didn't it? So how's about taking a chance on me this time, huh?" I get why they don't want to take the whole fleet, but surely it's worth a scouting trip in a Raptor? If anything, the part that's got me most intrigued is where the shiny new Viper came from. So far, they're treating that as a plot point, rather than just hanging a lampshade on it, so hopefully we'll learn more soon.
So, on the whole, not as strong of an opener as I would have wanted for the final season. But then, on this show, the second halves of continued episodes are usually the stronger ones, right?
I know it was the first part of a cliffhanger, but it really seemed to me like not very much happened. The Final Four...just go back to work, nervously. The Cylons attack, inexplicably. Gaius...well, Gaius gets a change in status, but he's still pretty much in a room, segregated from the rest of the cast, looking ferrety. At least he got a decent shave. The sick child subplot reminded me of a conversation I had with jacquilynne last week...did anybody not see that coming? Call it TV Trope #1137: When the unbeliever prays, sincerely, his prayer is answered, no matter how many devout people have been praying for the same thing, no matter how long. I was also slightly reminded of a twist from "The Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin: The good guys are polytheistic, and range from devout to agnostic, but their gods never do anything. The "bad guy" is monotheistic, but his/her prayers work. Why? I don't know yet.
And then there's Starbuck. Thing is, nothing really unexpected happened there, either. We all knew she was coming back, so that was no shock. We can be reasonably sure that she really found Earth, because "Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny" have been headlining at the local bar for two seasons now. And honestly, everybody else's skepticism is mostly expected too, although Roslin's taking an unusually hard line. You'd think that at some point, the counterargument would be, "Hey, Madam President? Remember when you sent me off, solo, to find the Arrow of Apollo, because you had a dream about it? Worked out pretty well, didn't it? So how's about taking a chance on me this time, huh?" I get why they don't want to take the whole fleet, but surely it's worth a scouting trip in a Raptor? If anything, the part that's got me most intrigued is where the shiny new Viper came from. So far, they're treating that as a plot point, rather than just hanging a lampshade on it, so hopefully we'll learn more soon.
So, on the whole, not as strong of an opener as I would have wanted for the final season. But then, on this show, the second halves of continued episodes are usually the stronger ones, right?