mita (opposite of meta ;): Thoughts on BSG Resurrection Ship + a bit of Harry Potter ;)
'kay. I'm still at Beijing Bookworm BUT I finally managed to watch the episode thanks to Evil Jeff Guy :) I had headphones on so didn't disturb the other people here. :) My very rambly and Stupid Thoughts are below. I'm heading home now but thought I'd post this before scooting home. I might add more when I get home. Please forgive tYpOs.
I didn't bring my mouse - am using my notebook's think pad so I keep reaching out to my right in search of a phantom mouse that isn't there. Hee! How funny must I look?
I thought that this was a great episode which made me think of quite a few past episodes, Macbeth and Last of the Mohicans. What a fascinating character-based episode with lots of food for thought. It was a bit disappointing that there was only one Sharon scene but I have no doubt that there will be much more about her later and the scene with her was very good.
As usual I'm trailing behind everyone else, beyond tardy, beyond late and possibly voicing things that everyone's already mentioned, but here goes anyway.
Character-based comments
Cain and Kara
I went from hating Cain in Pegasus to now seeing her as a slightly more complex character this episode. I will never like her of course but I begin to see why and how she became the person she is today.
Adama is much older and wiser than Cain. He's battle-hardened and scarred and has experienced many things. He is also surrounded by people who dare to challenge and question his judgment - sometimes too much!
Most importantly, he had an 'independent' voice of counsel at his elbow in the form of Roslin at the time of the attack on the home worlds.
Cain was 'alone' throughout the ordeal and as far as I can tell, made all decisions on her own. It meant that she was unquestioned and unchallenged but it also meant that she had to seek all the answers from within herself.
Don't forget that neither Adama nor Tigh wanted to take on the civilian fleet in the mini series. If it wasn't for Roslin's intervention, both Tigh and Adama would have continued a futile fight even though Humanity had already lost the war.
Remember these exchanges from the mini series?
Adama: Ms. Roslin. My primary objective, at the present time, is to repair the Galactica and continue to fight.
Roslin: What we do know at this moment is that there are 50000 civilian refugees out there who don't stand a chance without your
ship.. to protect them.
And then later
Roslin: Firstly, I suppose I should thank you for deciding to bring us on..
Adama: Listen, you were right. I was wrong. Just leave it at that.
What does that tell us? Without Roslin - Adama would have left the civilians behind to 'continue the fight'.
If a 'slightly older' Kara for instance had been in charge of Pegasus at the time of the attack on the Home Worlds, I can see that she might have ended up a little like Cain. I doubt that she would ever have condoned some of the things that Cain has condoned but we would have someone who sometimes can be ruthless, not really see the consequences of her actions.
Kara icon by ashleyr388
If you see Kara in this episode, she's a very typical soldier. All she cares about is the mission and the fact that Cain has told her that she's willing to go back and free the Home Worlds from the Cylon occupation. She's prepared to throw in her lot (or at least pretend to throw in her lot) with someone like Cain if their objectives are aligned. It's an alliance of enemies but it says a little bit about Kara's character. I wasn't impressed with how little she appeared to care about her two shipmates. I'm hoping that she's playing it cool to try to get into Cain's good graces.
I'm also inclined to agree with raincitygirl's view that there were somewhat Sapphic vibes (whether intended or unintended) between Kara and Cain. It was a bit weird. The subtext was kind of as follows:
Cain: You're ruthless, goal-oriented and determined. I find that sexy
Kara: Thanks, I think you're pretty hot, too - but I need to go back to Caprica for my honey
Cain: Well he's over there and I'm over here ..... and forget about that pretty boy Apollo, have you seen the size of my command?
Blah blah blah. It was a little unexpected. I'll be very interested to see where they go with Kara and what she's got planned.
Apollo
Apollo icons by syliasyliasylia
We didn't see nearly enough of Apollo but he came across as being very caring and compassionate. I really liked him in this episode. From a shallow point of view, he looked extremely hot, but aside from that, he was also there checking on everyone. Checking up on the two guys in the brig, checking up on Kara.
Kara - well Kara was only looking out for herself and what she wanted. At least that's what it looked like. I like Kara though, so am going to still insist that she's faking it.
Gina
Random question. Presumably there aren't just Six doubles on the Resurrection Ship?
I've never liked Six and have always thought that she was a fairly morally bankrupt, corrupt, unscupulous character who most people wouldn't give the time of day to if she wasn't a beautiful, frequently getting naked, leggy, sexy and blonde creature. Gina however is extremely fascinating to me.
She could be downloaded into a new body, leaving behind this damaged, brutalised and broken shell - but she doesn't want to live with the memories anymore. She wants to die. I think that's fascinating. That's so human and fragile of her. When she says that she wants to die, especially after that confronting and very vicious attack on Baltar, I was feeling gobsmacked. It was the last thing I expected her to say.
Selfish? I don't think so. From her point of view - where were the 'others' when she was being raped and brutalised? She had a mission - to get information, kill humans and get out. When she wasn't killed, why didn't her 'people' extract her from that situation? Why did they allow the brutality to continue? Surely there were other Cylons onboard the Pegasus.
Also, to continue the Sapphic theme - the way Cain reacted to Gina was much more like someone towards a former lover or friend than towards a traitor. It seemed quite personal. I wonder what their personal/working relationship was before Gina showed her true colours.
Roslin/Adama
In past episodes I've been able to see the whole Rosin/Adama dynamic. In Home Part II and in parts of Pegasus there were definitely things that hinted at the possibility of a romantic relationship - assuming that Roslin doesn't die.
In this episode though, there was a really weird and freaky kind of Lady Macbeth / Macbeth routine going on. I could almost imagine Roslin mumbling: "Yet I do fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness" or "Screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail".
For me that was a bit scary rather than laden with UST and sizzling romance .....
This quote from Macbeth also seems rather fitting:
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgement here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return,
To plague the inventor; this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.
Adama's angst and hesitation were also very, very "Is this a dagger which I see before me"-esque. Maybe I'm the only one who sees that.
I'm not entirely sure why it was felt necessary to assassinate Cain. Surely capturing her and putting her into the brig is sufficient? It's not as if she's a 'popular' leader of the people whose incarceration is likely to lead to feverish insurrection from her supporters. If that was the case, killing her could also make her a martyr. If she's not popular, then there won't be much of a reaction. From what I can see the same end could have been achieved by simply imprisoning her.
Roslin's playing a dangerous game. It's interesting how many people seem to think that Cain is werry, werry, evil, wascally, bad and a monster while Roslin is a tough woman, a good leader who takes charge and does what needs to be done.
From what I can see, Roslin is pushing Adama to order the arbitrary execution of another human being. Actually, what she is proposing isn't an execution - it's murder as it isn't the result of a sentence handed down after a trial.
Roslin's falling back on the 'ends justifies the means' argument which as far as I know is certainly not endorsed by Colonial law. The law doesn't allow you to take the law into your own hands simply because you believe that you are right. The whole concept of a system of law is that you don't simply put it aside when you don't agree with it. In a way, Adama did that when he dissolved the tribunal in Litmus (more on that later) and now Roslin is doing it when she orders a hit on Cain.
Does the end justify the means? Maybe it does, but the problem is that Roslin is inconsistent. On the one hand, Roslin has in the past professed that she is protecting the idea of a civilised culture - the remnants of civilisation. By falling back on the "we club each other to death with nerf bats and whoever is left standing is the winner" - she's kind of erasing years of culture and development.
It reminds me of the point at which I started losting my love for The West Wing - when the president orders a hit on Kumari Defense Minister Abdul Shareef.
There are so many shades of grey. We can always say the ends justifies the means but if you look at how often political alliances and allegiences shift, can you really ever be so black and white about things? For instance, just taking the US position alone - today's enemy was yesterday's 'ally' who was being supported by the US government. I'm not singling out the US, it's just a more 'clear' example.
There are two quotes from the film version of Last of the Mohicans that frequently bounce into my mind when I think about Battlestar Galactica. Well they frequently bounce into my head anyway because I have a feverish love for Last of the Mohicans, but as I said, they do pop into my head in the context of Battlestar Galactica:
Hawkeye: And if English law cannot be trusted, maybe these people would do better makin' a peace with the French!
Heyward: That is sedition! Treason!
Hawkeye: That is the truth!
And
Ian: But we are under English military authority.
Jack: I believe if they set aside their law as and when they wish, their law no longer has rightful authority over us. All they have over us is tyranny, then. And I'll stay here no longer. No force on earth will keep me here ...
The line that very much makes me think of Roslin is 'set aside their law as and when they wish'.
She does this all the time.
I'm not as critical of Adama because he freely admits that he is flawed and biased. He is at least at all times consistent in his subjecivism. I can 'forgive' Adama because he never pretends to be more than he is.
In You Can't Go Home Again, Baltar sums it up when he says: "do you honestly think this is wise? You are compromising the security of the entire fleet while we search for one solitary pilot". He also says: "on one hand, I think of the pilot and then the other hand, I think of the thousands of defenceless women and children and men throughout the fleet".
Adama and Apollo in that episode were pretty open about allowing their personal feelings for Kara to influence how they reacted. You can imagine that if it hadn't been Kara down there, they would have used their normal "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" argument.
Apollo: [Adama's] pilots mean a lot to him, to all of us. We don't leave anyone behind.
Roslin: But we have left people behind, you know that.
Apollo: Not this time.
And
Roslin: All right... it's military, fine. And you're both officers and you're both honorable men and you're both perfectly aware that you are putting the lives of over 45,000 people and the future of this civilization at risk, for your personal feelings. Now, if the two of you, of all people, can live with that, then the human race doesn't stand a chance. Clear your heads.
And then:
Adama: Kara was family. You do whatever you have to do. Sometimes you break the rules.
Apollo: And if it was me down there instead?
Adama: You don't have to ask that.
Apollo: Are you sure?
Adama: If it were you... we'd never leave.
They never would have left - even though the lives of 45,000 others was at risk. Other people's sons and daughters.
In Litmus Adama promised Hadrian an "independent tribunal", a free hand, the authority to follow evidence wherever it might lead, without command review. Then he did an about-face and said:
Adama: You've lost your way, sergeant. You've lost sight of the purpose of the law, to protect its citizens, not persecute them. Whatever we are, whatever's left of us, we're better than that. Now, these proceedings are closed. You'll be transported back to your ships, and we appreciate your help.
Tribunal Member: Commander. This is an independent board. You have no authority to close our inquiry.
Adama: This is a witch hunt. I will not have it aboard my ship.
Yes Hadrian was a psycho and I personally agree with what Adama did, but the fact was, the idea of an independent tribunal is that Hadrian is not answerable to Adama. Cain rightly calls him on this in Pegasus
Cain: Commander, I am the senior convening authority present and they will be tried on Pegasus.
Adama: They're my men.
Cain: One of my men is dead.
Adama: Fine. We both have strong feeling about the case that only underlines the need for an impartial trial.
Cain: Oh You mean an independent tribunal? Because according to your logs Commander, you dissolved an independent tribunal when you didn't like the verdict. And if I'm not mistaken, Chief Tyrol was on trial there as well
Then also in Pegasus:
Cain: Let's just cut through it, shall we? After reviewing your logs, it is my judgment that having your son as Galactica CAG has been a grave mistake. He's been "insubordinate, even mutinous", and these are direct quotes from your logs, by the way. And I dare say he's not the only one with disciplinary problems. There's a Kara Thrace who "habitually strikes fellow officers and disobeys orders". This Lieutenant Agathon has "fraternised with and evidently impregnated an enemy agent". Let's not even discuss your XO. So... there is a complete list of the transfers.
Adama: I thought you said you had no desire to interfere with my command.
Cain: I'm saving your command, Bill. You're way too close to these officers, and it's blinding you to their weaknesses and to the damage that they're doing to unit cohesion and to morale.
Adama is flawed but as I said, I think he accepts that fact. That doesn't make it right of course, but as I said - he never purports to be anything other than what he is.
The problem with Roslin is that she purports to be an upholder the rule of law. Whereas I could accept an Adama ordering a hit on someone because he believed that it was necessary, it is harder to accept from someone who has used phrases like: 'duly constituted under the articles of Colonisation'. Roslin holds statutes, articles and the fleet's constitution in her right hand while holding an assassin's dagger in the left.
In Bastille Day, when they are discussing the fate of criminals, Roslin does not want to leave the prison ship Astral Queen behind. She says: "No! no! No we're not going to start that. They're still human beings, tell the captain I expect daily reports on the well-being of his prisoners. And, if there's any mysterious deaths, the Astral Queen may find herself on her own without the Galactica's protection." She also refuses to condone 'slave labour'. She says: "but these men are not slaves, and I will not have them treated as such".
Yet she is willing to condone the termination of a human life. As far as we know, Cain isn't a Cylon so killing her is murder even if you still want to debate what Cally did to Galactica Boomer until the cows come home (ie. it's not murder to kill a Cylon).
Zarek, despite being a bit of an evil, ruthless bastard has a lot of validity when he says the following:
Zarek: Who voted for Laura Roslin? You? Did you vote for her?
Apollo: She was sworn in under the law...
Zarek: The answer is - no one voted for her. No one! And yet she's making decisios for all of us, deciding who lives and who dies. Is that democracy? Is that a free society?
Apollo: What is it you want from me? You want me to say she shouldn't be President? We need a government. We need rules. We need a leader.
Zarek: We need to be free men and women. If we're not free, then we're no different than Cylons!
It's true that Humanity is in a dire situation. Rules are different when survival is at stake and notions of democracy may seem hollow when life has been reduced to its most basic. Nonetheless, words like civilisation, democracy and 'duly-constituted' are words that also fall from the lips of Roslin, so as mentioned - I find it harder to accept her 'ends justifies the means' actions.
I remember how narky Roslin got at Apollo when he acted in accordance with his conscience:
Roslin: You've committed me to holding elections within the year.
Apollo: Madam President, with respect, you're serving out the remainder of President Adar's term. When that term is up in seven months, the law says there's an election. I only committed you to obeying the law
Roslin: You are not authorised to make any deal...
Adama: You sound like some kind of a lawyer...
Apollo: I swore an oath... to defend the articles. The articles say there's an election in seven months. Now, if you're telling me we're throwing out the law, then I'm not a Captain, you're not a Commander and you are not the President. And I don't owe either of you a damned explanation for anything.
"Now, if you're telling me we're throwing out the law, then I'm not a Captain, you're not a Commander and you are not the President. And I don't owe either of you a damned explanation for anything". That line very much echoes the line from Last of the Mohicans.
I also remember these exchanges from the mini series:
Roslin: You planning to stage a military coup?
Adama: What?
Roslin: You plan to declare martial law? Take over the government?
Adama: Of course not.
Roslin: Then you do acknowledge my position as president is duly constituted under the articles of Colonisation?
Remember that she says: "If this civilisation is going to function, it's going to need a government. A civilian government run by the President of the colonies".
A civilised culture does not sanction murder. Even for a legal system that has the death penalty, a person is only executed after a trial has taken place.
I'm never going to forget this scene from Flesh and Bone. Whatever your view of what the Cylons are, do they have 'rights', is killing them 'moral' murder even if is not 'murder' within the letter of the law, this scene was so chilling:
Roslin: Do you know who I am?
Leoben: Yes.
Roslin: I apologize for what you've been through. Take his restraints off. Do it.
Leoben: Thank you.
Roslin: I can do more. I can guarantee your safety, I can order your release. We are running out of time, we have only four minutes left until your bomb goes off. I've come here to tell you that this conflict between our peoples does not have to continue. It can stop right here with us. We have to trust each other. Trust me. I think you know you can. Tell me what I need to know and you will live.
Leoben: The warhead doesn't exist. I made it up. The Lt. Was right, I was too far out. I didn't want to die, so when I got caught I made up a story to buy some time.
Roslin: I see. Thank you for the truth.
Leoben: Thank you, Madam President. Don't be too hard on Kara, she was just doing her job, the military... they teach you to dehumanise people.
Roslin: I'll take that into consideration. No ! Stand down !
Leoben: Laura, I have something to tell you. Adama is a Cylon.
Starbuck: Are you all right?
Roslin: I'm fine. The bomb?
Starbuck: Nothing.
Roslin: Put him out the airlock.
Starbuck: What? You can't do that, not after he told you the truth.
Roslin: Yes, I can. And I will. Lieutenant, look at me. You've lost perspective. During the time I've allowed him to remain alive and captive on this ship, he has caused our entire fleet to spread out, defenseless. He puts insidious ideas in our minds, more lethal than any warhead. He creates fear. But you're right, he is a machine and you don't keep a deadly machine around when it kills your people and threatens your future, you get rid of it.
Roslin is a clever woman. Like Adama, she is one of the growing number of humans who must have already realised that Cylons are far more complex than they originally appeared. She of all people would acknowledge that by permitting the torture of a prisoner of war, by lying to him and then ordering his summary execution without trail that she is has behaved in a manner that is possibly morally culpable if not illegal. She would be fully aware that the law does not necessarily equal morality and what is right.
That episode shows that Roslin herself knew that she has come dangerously close to crossing the line - if not already crossed it.
Adama: Hell of a risk you took today.
Roslin: Something I had to do.
Adama: Care to tell me why?
Roslin: President Adar once said that the interesting thing about being a president is that you don't have to explain yourself to anyone.
Adama: Something wrong?
Roslin: No... nothing at all.
It's very clear to me that at that time, Roslin already knew that she was crossing the line.
I mentioned the following when discussing the death penalty so I apologise for using it again. I mentioned that the 1987 Brian De Palma movie The Untouchables made me think about a society where we all take the law into our own hands when we feel wronged or believe that we are killing in the name of right.
At the end of The Untouchables, the 'good guys' notionally won, but that was just a matter of luck ...
"You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word". (Al Capone)
"Somebody messes with me, I'm gonna mess with him". (Al Capone)
"You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?" (Malone)
I don't think anyone believes that that kind of society is ideal. I think Roslin would be the first to acknowledge that.
I've said it before. Roslin is a rather bleak reminder of Friedrich Nietzsche's Aphorism 146 from Beyond Good and Evil:
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you".
I very much like Roslin as a character. She's wonderfully complex and I agree that she's very strong and she's ruthless. Remember when she bluntly and unabashedly said that they were going to use the "religion" card?
She's like a mirror image of Cain. Each of Cain and Roslin believes that what she is doing is right. Each is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that end. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost.
Adama comes off rather badly in this episode, looking a bit like Early Macbeth in his dealings with Roslin. I discuss him further in my Sharon comments below.
Colonel Fisk and Laird
I love these two. They show that breathing the filtered air of the Pegasus doesn't mean that you're immediately going to turn into a despicable human being without conscience. I was beginning to worry that it was going to be Galactica good, Pegasus is full of twirling moustachioed villains who tie people to train tracks.
Colonel Fisk is clearly haunted by the things that he has done. Military law and international law both require subordinate soldiers to obey the "lawful orders" of their superiors. The problem that a soldier at any level faces is deciding when an order is lawful. In many armies, soldiers who refuse orders are executed. Fisk knows that the "Nuremberg Defence" that he was "only following orders" is not going to ease his sleep at night. The actor playing him is just amazing - he looks haunted. He knows what he is done is wrong.
I also found that I developed a respect for the mini-mouthed Tigh. He also has morality and has lines that he believes should not be crossed. He's clearly appalled when he hears Fisk telling of what took place on the civilian ships and my respect for him grew.
Question - stripping civilian ships and leaving the passengers behind for dead when they could have been taken onboard the Pegasus. How much worse is that than abandoning civilian ships that do not have an FTL drive (mini series)? I appreciate that the circumstances were slightly different. Presumably, unlike Roslin and Apollo in the mini, the Pegasus probably had more time to rescue the civilians and they at least they didn't strip the ships but the end result was the same. Defenceless civilians who then died as a result of decisions made by those in power.
It comes down to weighing up collective good against notions of 'humanitarianism'.
In the mini-series, this was the decision to leave the non-FTL civilian ships behind.
Doral: Madam President, there are still thousands of people still on the sub-light ships. We can't just leave them.
Colonial 1 pilot: I agree, we should use every second to get as many people off the sub-lights as we can. We can wait to jump until we pick up a Cylon strike force...
Apollo: We're easy targets, they're gonna jump right in the middle of our ships with a hand full of nukes and wipe us out before we
have the chance to react.
Doral: We can't just leave them all behind, you'll be sacrificing thousands of people.
Apollo: But we'll be saving tens of thousands.. I'm sorry to make it a numbers game, but we're talking about the survival of our race here. And we don't have the luxury of taking risks and hoping for the best because if we lose, we lose everything. Now madam president, this is the decision that needs to be made right now.
Roslin: Order the fleet to jump to Ragnar immediately.
I won't extract the whole exchange but in the moments when the ships with FTL capacity are jumping to Ragnar, we hear the following over the wireless:
Cain took it one step further by shooting families of 'chosen people' who did not wish to go onboard the Pegasus but if you did a vox-pop of the now dead civilians who were left behind in the mini-series, I'm sure they wouldn't see much of a difference ...
Helo & Tyrol
I objected to Helo 'in a way' agreeing with Apollo about them being 'stupid'. I don't think Apollo was aware of what had taken place with Sharon so I can in a sense forgive him for the 'stupid' comment but Helo should have at least said: "Did you know that they were trying to rape Sharon?" I'm still not clear if Sharon was raped or not so I say 'trying'.
Something from Helo to that effect would have been enough. The way the scene played, it looked like Helo cared more about having a bonding moment with his superior office / ship mate than setting that shipmate straight.
Apollo's a fair and decent person - he wouldn't have thought that what theyhad done was 'stupid' if he knew that the men had killed to protect someone they loved.
Helo expressing doubts filled me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it felt like the writers were trying to say: "See anti-Helo people - Helo's smart, he's not dumb. This love is not blind. He does introspect, he does think things through - so stop bashing him".
It was a little contrived. I didn't need that for me to know that Helo's not dumb.
I can accept it more if the only reason he said these things is because Tyrol is the only person in the world who could understand him and his feelings for Sharon.
I've never been a huge fan of Tyrol but he has a steadfastness and a sincerity that I can't help admiring.
Also, it's got to be tough to be stuck in the Daggy Baggy Grey Jumpsuit of Uncool Dorkiness when Helo gets to strut around in the Funky Singlet of Sizzling Arm Porn.
Doc Cottle
I'm a Doc Cottle fan. I've always liked him. My unshippy, purely platonic love for him shows up in all my fics in which he pops up.
Adama What happened...
Cottle: ...was unforgiveble.
Yes, yes and double yes. Has anyone seen that episode of Scrubs when Turk's proposing to Carla and JD's running around like a dork waving sparklers in the air? That's totally what I wanted to do when Cottle set Adama straight! Hee!
Sharon
*sigh* What can I say. It's very, very Sharon that despite what has happened to her - her primary concern is still the fate of Helo and Tyrol. It's sad how the Cylon sometimes comes across as more human and steadfast than many of the humans sometimes......
Adama's apology was pretty lame but he's a guy. Alpha Males are bad at apologies. Every time I see Duncan apologising to Logan in Veronica Mars I want to laugh because it's just so 'boy'.
And really ... is there anything that Adama could have said to Sharon that would make it all right? He's a man who hasn't had it happen to him, whatever he says is going to sound trite and like a platitude. I think he meant well. He said 'she' in this episode. He's trying and Yoda aside, I'm going to give him points for trying. Don't forget, he doesn't have to apologise to Sharon. He doesn't have to say anything. She's the enemy, she's a machine, a copy of her shot him. The fact that he's saying anything at all is in a way a first step. I'm not going to be too hard on the old guy.
Last Thoughts
I loved the confrontation at the start of the episode. While I'm disappointed that it didn't play out as it did in my feverish imaginings (grin), the image of Viper against Viper, Cain against Adama, Pegasus against Galactica and CIC against CIC was just amazing. The stark 'music' was also very effective.
Also, I was very happy that they didn't have any more of that strange Cafe Del Mar-esque Someone Stole Jose Feliciano's Guitar-Yanni-Wannabe Reject music that they had in the Pegasus episode.
I don't like "to be continued"s.
They annoy me. :)
I didn't bring my mouse - am using my notebook's think pad so I keep reaching out to my right in search of a phantom mouse that isn't there. Hee! How funny must I look?
I thought that this was a great episode which made me think of quite a few past episodes, Macbeth and Last of the Mohicans. What a fascinating character-based episode with lots of food for thought. It was a bit disappointing that there was only one Sharon scene but I have no doubt that there will be much more about her later and the scene with her was very good.
As usual I'm trailing behind everyone else, beyond tardy, beyond late and possibly voicing things that everyone's already mentioned, but here goes anyway.
Character-based comments
Cain and Kara
I went from hating Cain in Pegasus to now seeing her as a slightly more complex character this episode. I will never like her of course but I begin to see why and how she became the person she is today.
Adama is much older and wiser than Cain. He's battle-hardened and scarred and has experienced many things. He is also surrounded by people who dare to challenge and question his judgment - sometimes too much!
Most importantly, he had an 'independent' voice of counsel at his elbow in the form of Roslin at the time of the attack on the home worlds.
Cain was 'alone' throughout the ordeal and as far as I can tell, made all decisions on her own. It meant that she was unquestioned and unchallenged but it also meant that she had to seek all the answers from within herself.
Don't forget that neither Adama nor Tigh wanted to take on the civilian fleet in the mini series. If it wasn't for Roslin's intervention, both Tigh and Adama would have continued a futile fight even though Humanity had already lost the war.
Remember these exchanges from the mini series?
Adama: Ms. Roslin. My primary objective, at the present time, is to repair the Galactica and continue to fight.
Roslin: What we do know at this moment is that there are 50000 civilian refugees out there who don't stand a chance without your
ship.. to protect them.
And then later
Roslin: Firstly, I suppose I should thank you for deciding to bring us on..
Adama: Listen, you were right. I was wrong. Just leave it at that.
What does that tell us? Without Roslin - Adama would have left the civilians behind to 'continue the fight'.
If a 'slightly older' Kara for instance had been in charge of Pegasus at the time of the attack on the Home Worlds, I can see that she might have ended up a little like Cain. I doubt that she would ever have condoned some of the things that Cain has condoned but we would have someone who sometimes can be ruthless, not really see the consequences of her actions.
Kara icon by ashleyr388
If you see Kara in this episode, she's a very typical soldier. All she cares about is the mission and the fact that Cain has told her that she's willing to go back and free the Home Worlds from the Cylon occupation. She's prepared to throw in her lot (or at least pretend to throw in her lot) with someone like Cain if their objectives are aligned. It's an alliance of enemies but it says a little bit about Kara's character. I wasn't impressed with how little she appeared to care about her two shipmates. I'm hoping that she's playing it cool to try to get into Cain's good graces.
I'm also inclined to agree with raincitygirl's view that there were somewhat Sapphic vibes (whether intended or unintended) between Kara and Cain. It was a bit weird. The subtext was kind of as follows:
Cain: You're ruthless, goal-oriented and determined. I find that sexy
Kara: Thanks, I think you're pretty hot, too - but I need to go back to Caprica for my honey
Cain: Well he's over there and I'm over here ..... and forget about that pretty boy Apollo, have you seen the size of my command?
Blah blah blah. It was a little unexpected. I'll be very interested to see where they go with Kara and what she's got planned.
Apollo
Apollo icons by syliasyliasylia
We didn't see nearly enough of Apollo but he came across as being very caring and compassionate. I really liked him in this episode. From a shallow point of view, he looked extremely hot, but aside from that, he was also there checking on everyone. Checking up on the two guys in the brig, checking up on Kara.
Kara - well Kara was only looking out for herself and what she wanted. At least that's what it looked like. I like Kara though, so am going to still insist that she's faking it.
Gina
Random question. Presumably there aren't just Six doubles on the Resurrection Ship?
I've never liked Six and have always thought that she was a fairly morally bankrupt, corrupt, unscupulous character who most people wouldn't give the time of day to if she wasn't a beautiful, frequently getting naked, leggy, sexy and blonde creature. Gina however is extremely fascinating to me.
She could be downloaded into a new body, leaving behind this damaged, brutalised and broken shell - but she doesn't want to live with the memories anymore. She wants to die. I think that's fascinating. That's so human and fragile of her. When she says that she wants to die, especially after that confronting and very vicious attack on Baltar, I was feeling gobsmacked. It was the last thing I expected her to say.
Selfish? I don't think so. From her point of view - where were the 'others' when she was being raped and brutalised? She had a mission - to get information, kill humans and get out. When she wasn't killed, why didn't her 'people' extract her from that situation? Why did they allow the brutality to continue? Surely there were other Cylons onboard the Pegasus.
Also, to continue the Sapphic theme - the way Cain reacted to Gina was much more like someone towards a former lover or friend than towards a traitor. It seemed quite personal. I wonder what their personal/working relationship was before Gina showed her true colours.
Roslin/Adama
In past episodes I've been able to see the whole Rosin/Adama dynamic. In Home Part II and in parts of Pegasus there were definitely things that hinted at the possibility of a romantic relationship - assuming that Roslin doesn't die.
In this episode though, there was a really weird and freaky kind of Lady Macbeth / Macbeth routine going on. I could almost imagine Roslin mumbling: "Yet I do fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness" or "Screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail".
For me that was a bit scary rather than laden with UST and sizzling romance .....
This quote from Macbeth also seems rather fitting:
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgement here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return,
To plague the inventor; this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.
Adama's angst and hesitation were also very, very "Is this a dagger which I see before me"-esque. Maybe I'm the only one who sees that.
I'm not entirely sure why it was felt necessary to assassinate Cain. Surely capturing her and putting her into the brig is sufficient? It's not as if she's a 'popular' leader of the people whose incarceration is likely to lead to feverish insurrection from her supporters. If that was the case, killing her could also make her a martyr. If she's not popular, then there won't be much of a reaction. From what I can see the same end could have been achieved by simply imprisoning her.
Roslin's playing a dangerous game. It's interesting how many people seem to think that Cain is werry, werry, evil, wascally, bad and a monster while Roslin is a tough woman, a good leader who takes charge and does what needs to be done.
From what I can see, Roslin is pushing Adama to order the arbitrary execution of another human being. Actually, what she is proposing isn't an execution - it's murder as it isn't the result of a sentence handed down after a trial.
Roslin's falling back on the 'ends justifies the means' argument which as far as I know is certainly not endorsed by Colonial law. The law doesn't allow you to take the law into your own hands simply because you believe that you are right. The whole concept of a system of law is that you don't simply put it aside when you don't agree with it. In a way, Adama did that when he dissolved the tribunal in Litmus (more on that later) and now Roslin is doing it when she orders a hit on Cain.
Does the end justify the means? Maybe it does, but the problem is that Roslin is inconsistent. On the one hand, Roslin has in the past professed that she is protecting the idea of a civilised culture - the remnants of civilisation. By falling back on the "we club each other to death with nerf bats and whoever is left standing is the winner" - she's kind of erasing years of culture and development.
It reminds me of the point at which I started losting my love for The West Wing - when the president orders a hit on Kumari Defense Minister Abdul Shareef.
There are so many shades of grey. We can always say the ends justifies the means but if you look at how often political alliances and allegiences shift, can you really ever be so black and white about things? For instance, just taking the US position alone - today's enemy was yesterday's 'ally' who was being supported by the US government. I'm not singling out the US, it's just a more 'clear' example.
There are two quotes from the film version of Last of the Mohicans that frequently bounce into my mind when I think about Battlestar Galactica. Well they frequently bounce into my head anyway because I have a feverish love for Last of the Mohicans, but as I said, they do pop into my head in the context of Battlestar Galactica:
Hawkeye: And if English law cannot be trusted, maybe these people would do better makin' a peace with the French!
Heyward: That is sedition! Treason!
Hawkeye: That is the truth!
And
Ian: But we are under English military authority.
Jack: I believe if they set aside their law as and when they wish, their law no longer has rightful authority over us. All they have over us is tyranny, then. And I'll stay here no longer. No force on earth will keep me here ...
The line that very much makes me think of Roslin is 'set aside their law as and when they wish'.
She does this all the time.
I'm not as critical of Adama because he freely admits that he is flawed and biased. He is at least at all times consistent in his subjecivism. I can 'forgive' Adama because he never pretends to be more than he is.
In You Can't Go Home Again, Baltar sums it up when he says: "do you honestly think this is wise? You are compromising the security of the entire fleet while we search for one solitary pilot". He also says: "on one hand, I think of the pilot and then the other hand, I think of the thousands of defenceless women and children and men throughout the fleet".
Adama and Apollo in that episode were pretty open about allowing their personal feelings for Kara to influence how they reacted. You can imagine that if it hadn't been Kara down there, they would have used their normal "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" argument.
Apollo: [Adama's] pilots mean a lot to him, to all of us. We don't leave anyone behind.
Roslin: But we have left people behind, you know that.
Apollo: Not this time.
And
Roslin: All right... it's military, fine. And you're both officers and you're both honorable men and you're both perfectly aware that you are putting the lives of over 45,000 people and the future of this civilization at risk, for your personal feelings. Now, if the two of you, of all people, can live with that, then the human race doesn't stand a chance. Clear your heads.
And then:
Adama: Kara was family. You do whatever you have to do. Sometimes you break the rules.
Apollo: And if it was me down there instead?
Adama: You don't have to ask that.
Apollo: Are you sure?
Adama: If it were you... we'd never leave.
They never would have left - even though the lives of 45,000 others was at risk. Other people's sons and daughters.
In Litmus Adama promised Hadrian an "independent tribunal", a free hand, the authority to follow evidence wherever it might lead, without command review. Then he did an about-face and said:
Adama: You've lost your way, sergeant. You've lost sight of the purpose of the law, to protect its citizens, not persecute them. Whatever we are, whatever's left of us, we're better than that. Now, these proceedings are closed. You'll be transported back to your ships, and we appreciate your help.
Tribunal Member: Commander. This is an independent board. You have no authority to close our inquiry.
Adama: This is a witch hunt. I will not have it aboard my ship.
Yes Hadrian was a psycho and I personally agree with what Adama did, but the fact was, the idea of an independent tribunal is that Hadrian is not answerable to Adama. Cain rightly calls him on this in Pegasus
Cain: Commander, I am the senior convening authority present and they will be tried on Pegasus.
Adama: They're my men.
Cain: One of my men is dead.
Adama: Fine. We both have strong feeling about the case that only underlines the need for an impartial trial.
Cain: Oh You mean an independent tribunal? Because according to your logs Commander, you dissolved an independent tribunal when you didn't like the verdict. And if I'm not mistaken, Chief Tyrol was on trial there as well
Then also in Pegasus:
Cain: Let's just cut through it, shall we? After reviewing your logs, it is my judgment that having your son as Galactica CAG has been a grave mistake. He's been "insubordinate, even mutinous", and these are direct quotes from your logs, by the way. And I dare say he's not the only one with disciplinary problems. There's a Kara Thrace who "habitually strikes fellow officers and disobeys orders". This Lieutenant Agathon has "fraternised with and evidently impregnated an enemy agent". Let's not even discuss your XO. So... there is a complete list of the transfers.
Adama: I thought you said you had no desire to interfere with my command.
Cain: I'm saving your command, Bill. You're way too close to these officers, and it's blinding you to their weaknesses and to the damage that they're doing to unit cohesion and to morale.
Adama is flawed but as I said, I think he accepts that fact. That doesn't make it right of course, but as I said - he never purports to be anything other than what he is.
The problem with Roslin is that she purports to be an upholder the rule of law. Whereas I could accept an Adama ordering a hit on someone because he believed that it was necessary, it is harder to accept from someone who has used phrases like: 'duly constituted under the articles of Colonisation'. Roslin holds statutes, articles and the fleet's constitution in her right hand while holding an assassin's dagger in the left.
In Bastille Day, when they are discussing the fate of criminals, Roslin does not want to leave the prison ship Astral Queen behind. She says: "No! no! No we're not going to start that. They're still human beings, tell the captain I expect daily reports on the well-being of his prisoners. And, if there's any mysterious deaths, the Astral Queen may find herself on her own without the Galactica's protection." She also refuses to condone 'slave labour'. She says: "but these men are not slaves, and I will not have them treated as such".
Yet she is willing to condone the termination of a human life. As far as we know, Cain isn't a Cylon so killing her is murder even if you still want to debate what Cally did to Galactica Boomer until the cows come home (ie. it's not murder to kill a Cylon).
Zarek, despite being a bit of an evil, ruthless bastard has a lot of validity when he says the following:
Zarek: Who voted for Laura Roslin? You? Did you vote for her?
Apollo: She was sworn in under the law...
Zarek: The answer is - no one voted for her. No one! And yet she's making decisios for all of us, deciding who lives and who dies. Is that democracy? Is that a free society?
Apollo: What is it you want from me? You want me to say she shouldn't be President? We need a government. We need rules. We need a leader.
Zarek: We need to be free men and women. If we're not free, then we're no different than Cylons!
It's true that Humanity is in a dire situation. Rules are different when survival is at stake and notions of democracy may seem hollow when life has been reduced to its most basic. Nonetheless, words like civilisation, democracy and 'duly-constituted' are words that also fall from the lips of Roslin, so as mentioned - I find it harder to accept her 'ends justifies the means' actions.
I remember how narky Roslin got at Apollo when he acted in accordance with his conscience:
Roslin: You've committed me to holding elections within the year.
Apollo: Madam President, with respect, you're serving out the remainder of President Adar's term. When that term is up in seven months, the law says there's an election. I only committed you to obeying the law
Roslin: You are not authorised to make any deal...
Adama: You sound like some kind of a lawyer...
Apollo: I swore an oath... to defend the articles. The articles say there's an election in seven months. Now, if you're telling me we're throwing out the law, then I'm not a Captain, you're not a Commander and you are not the President. And I don't owe either of you a damned explanation for anything.
"Now, if you're telling me we're throwing out the law, then I'm not a Captain, you're not a Commander and you are not the President. And I don't owe either of you a damned explanation for anything". That line very much echoes the line from Last of the Mohicans.
I also remember these exchanges from the mini series:
Roslin: You planning to stage a military coup?
Adama: What?
Roslin: You plan to declare martial law? Take over the government?
Adama: Of course not.
Roslin: Then you do acknowledge my position as president is duly constituted under the articles of Colonisation?
Remember that she says: "If this civilisation is going to function, it's going to need a government. A civilian government run by the President of the colonies".
A civilised culture does not sanction murder. Even for a legal system that has the death penalty, a person is only executed after a trial has taken place.
I'm never going to forget this scene from Flesh and Bone. Whatever your view of what the Cylons are, do they have 'rights', is killing them 'moral' murder even if is not 'murder' within the letter of the law, this scene was so chilling:
Roslin: Do you know who I am?
Leoben: Yes.
Roslin: I apologize for what you've been through. Take his restraints off. Do it.
Leoben: Thank you.
Roslin: I can do more. I can guarantee your safety, I can order your release. We are running out of time, we have only four minutes left until your bomb goes off. I've come here to tell you that this conflict between our peoples does not have to continue. It can stop right here with us. We have to trust each other. Trust me. I think you know you can. Tell me what I need to know and you will live.
Leoben: The warhead doesn't exist. I made it up. The Lt. Was right, I was too far out. I didn't want to die, so when I got caught I made up a story to buy some time.
Roslin: I see. Thank you for the truth.
Leoben: Thank you, Madam President. Don't be too hard on Kara, she was just doing her job, the military... they teach you to dehumanise people.
Roslin: I'll take that into consideration. No ! Stand down !
Leoben: Laura, I have something to tell you. Adama is a Cylon.
Starbuck: Are you all right?
Roslin: I'm fine. The bomb?
Starbuck: Nothing.
Roslin: Put him out the airlock.
Starbuck: What? You can't do that, not after he told you the truth.
Roslin: Yes, I can. And I will. Lieutenant, look at me. You've lost perspective. During the time I've allowed him to remain alive and captive on this ship, he has caused our entire fleet to spread out, defenseless. He puts insidious ideas in our minds, more lethal than any warhead. He creates fear. But you're right, he is a machine and you don't keep a deadly machine around when it kills your people and threatens your future, you get rid of it.
Roslin is a clever woman. Like Adama, she is one of the growing number of humans who must have already realised that Cylons are far more complex than they originally appeared. She of all people would acknowledge that by permitting the torture of a prisoner of war, by lying to him and then ordering his summary execution without trail that she is has behaved in a manner that is possibly morally culpable if not illegal. She would be fully aware that the law does not necessarily equal morality and what is right.
That episode shows that Roslin herself knew that she has come dangerously close to crossing the line - if not already crossed it.
Adama: Hell of a risk you took today.
Roslin: Something I had to do.
Adama: Care to tell me why?
Roslin: President Adar once said that the interesting thing about being a president is that you don't have to explain yourself to anyone.
Adama: Something wrong?
Roslin: No... nothing at all.
It's very clear to me that at that time, Roslin already knew that she was crossing the line.
I mentioned the following when discussing the death penalty so I apologise for using it again. I mentioned that the 1987 Brian De Palma movie The Untouchables made me think about a society where we all take the law into our own hands when we feel wronged or believe that we are killing in the name of right.
At the end of The Untouchables, the 'good guys' notionally won, but that was just a matter of luck ...
"You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word". (Al Capone)
"Somebody messes with me, I'm gonna mess with him". (Al Capone)
"You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?" (Malone)
I don't think anyone believes that that kind of society is ideal. I think Roslin would be the first to acknowledge that.
I've said it before. Roslin is a rather bleak reminder of Friedrich Nietzsche's Aphorism 146 from Beyond Good and Evil:
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you".
I very much like Roslin as a character. She's wonderfully complex and I agree that she's very strong and she's ruthless. Remember when she bluntly and unabashedly said that they were going to use the "religion" card?
She's like a mirror image of Cain. Each of Cain and Roslin believes that what she is doing is right. Each is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that end. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost.
Adama comes off rather badly in this episode, looking a bit like Early Macbeth in his dealings with Roslin. I discuss him further in my Sharon comments below.
Colonel Fisk and Laird
I love these two. They show that breathing the filtered air of the Pegasus doesn't mean that you're immediately going to turn into a despicable human being without conscience. I was beginning to worry that it was going to be Galactica good, Pegasus is full of twirling moustachioed villains who tie people to train tracks.
Colonel Fisk is clearly haunted by the things that he has done. Military law and international law both require subordinate soldiers to obey the "lawful orders" of their superiors. The problem that a soldier at any level faces is deciding when an order is lawful. In many armies, soldiers who refuse orders are executed. Fisk knows that the "Nuremberg Defence" that he was "only following orders" is not going to ease his sleep at night. The actor playing him is just amazing - he looks haunted. He knows what he is done is wrong.
I also found that I developed a respect for the mini-mouthed Tigh. He also has morality and has lines that he believes should not be crossed. He's clearly appalled when he hears Fisk telling of what took place on the civilian ships and my respect for him grew.
Question - stripping civilian ships and leaving the passengers behind for dead when they could have been taken onboard the Pegasus. How much worse is that than abandoning civilian ships that do not have an FTL drive (mini series)? I appreciate that the circumstances were slightly different. Presumably, unlike Roslin and Apollo in the mini, the Pegasus probably had more time to rescue the civilians and they at least they didn't strip the ships but the end result was the same. Defenceless civilians who then died as a result of decisions made by those in power.
It comes down to weighing up collective good against notions of 'humanitarianism'.
In the mini-series, this was the decision to leave the non-FTL civilian ships behind.
Doral: Madam President, there are still thousands of people still on the sub-light ships. We can't just leave them.
Colonial 1 pilot: I agree, we should use every second to get as many people off the sub-lights as we can. We can wait to jump until we pick up a Cylon strike force...
Apollo: We're easy targets, they're gonna jump right in the middle of our ships with a hand full of nukes and wipe us out before we
have the chance to react.
Doral: We can't just leave them all behind, you'll be sacrificing thousands of people.
Apollo: But we'll be saving tens of thousands.. I'm sorry to make it a numbers game, but we're talking about the survival of our race here. And we don't have the luxury of taking risks and hoping for the best because if we lose, we lose everything. Now madam president, this is the decision that needs to be made right now.
Roslin: Order the fleet to jump to Ragnar immediately.
I won't extract the whole exchange but in the moments when the ships with FTL capacity are jumping to Ragnar, we hear the following over the wireless:
- Colonial 1! For gods sake you just can't leave us here!
- Colonial 1 this is Picon 3 6.. I can't believe you want us to leave these people behind!
- Non-FTL ship captain: At least tell us where you're going... we'll follow at sub-light... Please!
Apollo: No! If they're captured, then the Cylon's know too.
- I've got 50 people on board, Colonial 1 do you copy this?!
- Don't leave us here! Show a little humanity! We don't have any weapons!
- Colonial 1..Please respond!
- May the lords of Kobol protect those souls we leave behind...
- I've got there the contacts! Inbound target, time is white
I see them too! Are they Colonials?
OH MY GOD! THEY'RE CYLON'S!! I HATE YOU PEOPLE What's Happening?
Cain took it one step further by shooting families of 'chosen people' who did not wish to go onboard the Pegasus but if you did a vox-pop of the now dead civilians who were left behind in the mini-series, I'm sure they wouldn't see much of a difference ...
Helo & Tyrol
I objected to Helo 'in a way' agreeing with Apollo about them being 'stupid'. I don't think Apollo was aware of what had taken place with Sharon so I can in a sense forgive him for the 'stupid' comment but Helo should have at least said: "Did you know that they were trying to rape Sharon?" I'm still not clear if Sharon was raped or not so I say 'trying'.
Something from Helo to that effect would have been enough. The way the scene played, it looked like Helo cared more about having a bonding moment with his superior office / ship mate than setting that shipmate straight.
Apollo's a fair and decent person - he wouldn't have thought that what theyhad done was 'stupid' if he knew that the men had killed to protect someone they loved.
Helo expressing doubts filled me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it felt like the writers were trying to say: "See anti-Helo people - Helo's smart, he's not dumb. This love is not blind. He does introspect, he does think things through - so stop bashing him".
It was a little contrived. I didn't need that for me to know that Helo's not dumb.
I can accept it more if the only reason he said these things is because Tyrol is the only person in the world who could understand him and his feelings for Sharon.
I've never been a huge fan of Tyrol but he has a steadfastness and a sincerity that I can't help admiring.
Also, it's got to be tough to be stuck in the Daggy Baggy Grey Jumpsuit of Uncool Dorkiness when Helo gets to strut around in the Funky Singlet of Sizzling Arm Porn.
Doc Cottle
I'm a Doc Cottle fan. I've always liked him. My unshippy, purely platonic love for him shows up in all my fics in which he pops up.
Adama What happened...
Cottle: ...was unforgiveble.
Yes, yes and double yes. Has anyone seen that episode of Scrubs when Turk's proposing to Carla and JD's running around like a dork waving sparklers in the air? That's totally what I wanted to do when Cottle set Adama straight! Hee!
Sharon
*sigh* What can I say. It's very, very Sharon that despite what has happened to her - her primary concern is still the fate of Helo and Tyrol. It's sad how the Cylon sometimes comes across as more human and steadfast than many of the humans sometimes......
Adama's apology was pretty lame but he's a guy. Alpha Males are bad at apologies. Every time I see Duncan apologising to Logan in Veronica Mars I want to laugh because it's just so 'boy'.
And really ... is there anything that Adama could have said to Sharon that would make it all right? He's a man who hasn't had it happen to him, whatever he says is going to sound trite and like a platitude. I think he meant well. He said 'she' in this episode. He's trying and Yoda aside, I'm going to give him points for trying. Don't forget, he doesn't have to apologise to Sharon. He doesn't have to say anything. She's the enemy, she's a machine, a copy of her shot him. The fact that he's saying anything at all is in a way a first step. I'm not going to be too hard on the old guy.
Last Thoughts
I loved the confrontation at the start of the episode. While I'm disappointed that it didn't play out as it did in my feverish imaginings (grin), the image of Viper against Viper, Cain against Adama, Pegasus against Galactica and CIC against CIC was just amazing. The stark 'music' was also very effective.
Also, I was very happy that they didn't have any more of that strange Cafe Del Mar-esque Someone Stole Jose Feliciano's Guitar-Yanni-Wannabe Reject music that they had in the Pegasus episode.
I don't like "to be continued"s.
They annoy me. :)