BSG, I am not happy with you

[igrockspock]

So the boy and I have been devouring Battlestar Galactica as quickly as we can, but halfway through season 2.5, I am beginning to run into problems liking my favorite characters...or, more accurately, my favorite characters are not acting like themselves. I think someone on the production team said, "we need Adama to show more emotion" or "Kara

Comments

[florahart]

There are more good episodes. There are some amazing arcs. But there's also a lot of unevenness in the whole middle chunk of the series.

The last episode, you will either love or hate the last five minutes of.

[igrockspock]

That's a relief! I feel like all of season two has been so uneven! I was riveted through the ep where the Centurions invaded the ship, and then the whole shitty prophecy thing happened, and I was afraid my love affair was over. But then Admiral Cain showed up, and I loved that arc (and kind of hate them for killing her), so I thought the show had recovered its footing...but now. Ergh. I didn't even find time in my rant to mention my outrage over killing Billy. Don't get me wrong - I respect a show that kills its characters. But I want them to do it well, not because they're looking for some kind of shitty drama.

[boosette]

Cain also has an arc exclusive to the webisodes that I strongly advise you to never watch ever because it will make you seethe and flail and not in a good way.

[igrockspock]

I will bear that in mind. I was rather fond of Admiral Cain, in a weird backwards kind of way. First I had to get over my kneejerk desire for all female characters to be positive characters, but after that, I liked what they did with her because it was clear she had crossed many ethical lines, but it was also clear exactly why she did it. When she and Adama both backed off their assassination plots, I thought we were headed for a very interesting story arc. Alas... I guess I will just let her rest in peace instead of seeking her out in further canonical material.

[boosette]

Oh man, there are things I want to say but can't because spoilers.

I do think you will have both moments of GLEE and moments of WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK IS THAT SHIT?? in the next season and a half.

[igrockspock]

I guess that is sort of inevitable when watching a whole series. I mean, it's not like Buffy didn't go through some serious dry spells...

[thistlerose]

I see you've hit the part of the show where I went OMGWTF??? quite a lot. Around about the middle of the second season, the show started to drag for me. It got angsty and it stayed angsty for a long, long time (with some moments of brightness). Actually, it started to feel claustrophobic. They all lived on this ship, and there was gloom and doom and ... yeah. But I was weirdly okay with the ending, so.

I agree, that episode with Lee made no sense whatsoever.

I don't remember enough of the middle Sam/Kara bits to comment on them, though I did ship them on and off - mostly because they actually had fun together that one time, and I could never get into Kara/Lee. Or Lee at all, really.

[igrockspock]

I liked Kara/Lee a lot at the beginning because it hit all my Pike/One UST buttons. It had all the same elements of two very controlled people letting themselves get involved, plus more sass. But then I discovered that Lee is not in fact a character at all...he is a cardboard cut-out who has nice muscles and wallows in the angst of the week. I can't say I find that very attractive.

[thistlerose]

I was just thinking - if you haven't seen it already, you might like "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." It only lasted for two seasons, but I really liked it. I bring it up because it's apocalyptic, and the protagonist is a kick-ass woman with a lot of issues (and a lot of weapons). There are some other strong women, though some of them are cyborgs (so I'm not 100% sure they count, though I think they do) and you don't need to be all that familiar with the Terminator movies, just the very basic concepts.

[katmarajade]

Yeah, things did get really messed up for awhile. I think that they got better (well, ok-- things get even more fucked up, but the STORY is better) and that the series has a lot of amazing highs and seriously wtf lows. I am seriously disappointed in the show's depiction of Kara. She's my favorite character (though I'm also fascinated by the 8s, even though they cheat her out of any decent storylines)

I like to think that Kara's dealing with her issues and that they're just not showing or telling it all. I like Kara/Sam (Lee bores me most of the time) but I do tend to think that a big reason she is so crazy over Sam and going back and rescuing and whatever is that it's her way of resolving her other issues. She can't fix what happened or how scarring or scary it was, but this she can fix. And a person like Starbuck needs something to fix, something to focus on, a cause. She needs something to do. And I think that focusing on Sam gives her that. But in reality, it's never really about him. I think she just needs to feel and

[wendelah1]

I stopped watching the show midway through season three due to my frustration with the writing. You may do better than that. I never had any urge to try to write for it, with one exception, and if I ever get back to that story, I don't need to finish the series to do it.