Someone To Watch Over Me

[innibis]

I apologize to most of my flist for my current Battlestar Galactica obsession - I'll be better at the end of March when this is all over. Or be crying in a corner rending my garments, so either way, you won't have to hear about it.

Comments

[innibis]

I really liked the contrast of Kara finding a small moment of simple pleasure, playing something that her father had taught her but unaware of the great implications, being confronted by a harshly belwildered FF. Like the mandela pattern that she has been drawing since she was a kid having harshly broader implicatoins. Besides, Tory, Tigh and Ellen are three charcters that are pretty immune to wonder and that song holds significance for them and, at least for Tigh and Tory, that significance brought on an identity altering shock, so I can't really blame them for being all "what the hell? What now

[innibis]

Actually there is a third gnommen that I should mention - Lee. You feel his absence because his challenge in the face of status quo is missing. This was a lot about people wallowing in old habits, and that is not Lee's style.

[workerbee73]

**Le Sigh** Thank you, my dear. Thanks to you, I'm feeling much better about life in general than I was last night (although I still maintain my points on the Poetry issue-- they need to fix that pronto pup

[innibis]

You are welcome. I am happy to spread the zen around.:)

I'll have to look into that Sci-fi Laura. (Although I don't want her to die just to go away.)

Thanks. I am always so in tune with Boomer for some reason. I don't even like her all that much, but I understand her and feel terrible for her and think that she's been one of the most abused people on the show. I thought that the under-lying Eight plot in this episode was magnificent, which is coloring how I view the rest of this episode.

Ha! I'm re-reading Paradise Lost right now:).

I don't know if I can think all that more profoundly on Sam as Dead Man Shield, let alone meta it, but I will try. (You are the only one who reads my BSG stuff, so I like to keep you entertained:)) I'm hoping that since Kara was told twice (by Cottle and Dad) to let it go, and that they were listening to the chasing the car music in sick bay, that she's getting ready to do that.

[workerbee73]

Well, you totally just got a shoutout from me on ye olde LJ. More people need to read this.

There's a beautiful pic of our boy on the front page. I'll let you figure out the context.

Yay religious poetry!! Woo-hoo fallen Lucifer!! (I just adore sympathetic bad guys... ; )

I'm thinking about a meta about how their Dead Folks Issues are keeping their relationship stagnant. I dunno, maybe it's a fanwanking retcon dream, but it sure would help.

[innibis]

Oh, well thank you.:) (I hope I didn't come off like I was complaining about it - I like talking to you.:))

Um, yes, that picture looks all funeral-like, doesn't it? But Lee! Go govern, my darling. But first, go kiss Kara!

I think the Dead Folks Issues is legitimate, but it goes along with individual emotional maturity - they can't fix this for each other, they have to do it for themselves. Pilots have got to learn to let it go:).

[workerbee73]

I like talking to you too, my dear-- and it wasn't anything you said-- i just think it would help folks to read this. Really put things into perspective for me. : )

Kisses before Quorums! But if that is the case, he's walking into a big fat mess. First thing I'd do is make his dad resign. Dude's not fit to command.

Well, yeah, it's something they've got to get over before they can be togethah. Doesn't this mean you've got a little meta percolating?.... ; ) **is hopeful**

[innibis]

Doesn't this mean you've got a little meta percolating?

Maybe. There's a lot pinging around my mind right now, so we'll see what shakes out.

[dionusia]

Poor Boomer. That was revenge (although Helo was persistent enough that it was probably easier to just give in). Boomer suffered terribly as a sleeper agent, she shot Adama before she even realized what she was doing, she had depression and uncertainty enough to try to kill herself, she was ridiculed and locked up and murdered on a ship she thought of as home by people she thought of as friends. And then Athena supplants her. She gets to rescue Helo (who Boomer wasn't in love with, but she did love), she gets to have the baby, she is accepted and trusted on Galactica. Other sleeper agents, like Galen and Tigh, are allowed to keep their positions. Caprica Six isn't in jail. Only Boomer ever had to truly pay for something that was not her fault. So she showed Athena - showed her that they are still interchangeable to humans. Like when Tyrol could bash a nameless 8 over the head and throw her in the brig as a substitute - they're all the same, right? You want to punish an 8? Punish this 8. You want to sleep with an 8? Sleep with that 8.

[innibis]

What Boomer did to Athena was brutally cruel and absolutely her own choice, but she was treated cruelly as well. The grief and the rage and the isolation broke that girl, which does does not excuse her actions, but I understand her.

I also agree with you. I think Boomer could have been redeemed if there had been even the hint of welcome or compassion beyond Chief. (And I personally think that Athena owes her an apology.) Everyone else has been forgiven. Why not her? At the very least by the Galactica crew or Adama? Why didn't Tigh go to bat for her? He invoked her name a couple of times, saying that she didn't know what she was so she couldn't control her actions. I would have loved it if she had found some measure of peace and acceptance.

The Eight story of this episode is phenomenal; personal identiy, perceived identity, racial identity. I love that they went there with Helo, especially given the fact that he was in love Boomer and transferred it over to Athena and I think it's a legitimate struggle - what makes Athena unique?

[indigo419]

Here via dionusia! Late to the party, but anyway... :)

I was thinking about this too. When Kara came back from the dead, she had a loving reception from Lee and Sam. Adama had marines pointing guns at her, but he spoke to her, directly, as a person, and came to speak with her in the brig. And then he gave her the benefit of the doubt and outfitted her with a ship and crew for her fool's mission.

...whereas Boomer never even got the time of day from either Roslin or Adama. She was tainted, evil. Even Chief did not immediately embrace her. First he reported her to his superiors. If Boomer had had a kind word directed to her, might she have given the humans another chance?

[innibis]

Hi!

I really liked the contrast they drew between Boomer and Kara in this episode. What happens when a person, even a fundamentally good person, never is given a chance AND never lets go of her past? Boomer lives her life in the literal projection of what could have been as opposed to moving on, and she is so twisted and dark because of that. She hangs on to a doomed love, a dead planet, a house and a child that never existed. .. . It is so wretchedly sad. (Like Kara clinging to Sam and a marriage that was never that much of a marriage).

I like to think that Boomer could have been saved had she been shown even a hint of compassion. It's funny, but I never liked her so much as I did in this episode, when we were confronted with just how damaged, just how human she was. She may be the most tragic figure in the BSG universe.

[csm37]

Hi. *waves* Here via workerbee and having seen your comments out there on LJ … great meta and discussion you've generated here. I haven't mastered friending yet - I spend most of my LJ time on other people's pages and not my own. So much more fun! BUT I have bookmarked yours for future visits.

I enjoyed your take on Boomer and your perceptive comment: The Eight story of this episode is phenomenal: personal identity, perceived identity, racial identity" b/c that's Kara's story as well (although perhaps a bit more subtly) and it's interesting to see how both their stories have developed so differently … free will, the choices you make, destiny, support … how Athena's struggle and uniqueness relates to this … I feel like I should end with a profound thought about it all but it was really just me stopping by to compliment you on your analysis.

[innibis]

Hey! Welcome and thanks for stopping by.

Absolutely. There has been a definite parallel in the story lines of Boomer and Kara. Two women in identity crises who have been physically and emotionally brutalized. In this episode especially, you see Kara's quiet turn towards acceptance and letting go and Boomer hanging on to that dark history. I think what they have done with Boomer has been some of their best story-telling this half season. I am so hoping for redemption because I think she is at heart a good person who has been so incredibly lonely that she had been living in a house in her mind for years. It's so sad.