SPOILER WARNING – LOOK OUT
* With the mythology-based guessing game finally out of the way, we have an episode that focuses entirely on the breakdown of both the body politic and people’s psyches in the face of calamity, which is exactly what I come to this show for. I thought it was a pretty magnificent episode.
* I gave some thought to how Felix’s sudden transformation into anti-Cylon extremist would play for people who didn’t watch the webisodes (which I won’t spoil for you if you haven’t seen them yet, but suffice it to say that they bear directly on this point and see them you should) and decided that it probably works fine thanks to Anders shooting his leg off last half-season. The show made sure to pay a lot of attention to that bone of contention (pun intended) during the episode, too.
* I’ve been waiting for an officer to lead a coup for a couple seasons now–I had myself convinced it was going to happen in the Season Three finale–so I’m pretty excited about this. I also love Tom Zarek as a character, so I’m excited about him playing a major role again–and also being crooked, which I think fits. He’s a natural revolutionary, not a natural politician. And hey, nice callback with the first big mutiny taking place on the Tylium ship, or as I like to call it, Harlan County, Colonial Fleet.
* Baltar was doing his best Jim Jones, huh? Having watched an MSNBC documentary on Jonestown during its anniversary a couple months back, that’s really all I could think of during that sequence. I hope the “cult of Gaius” storyline is headed somewhere at least that bleak. It always seemed a bit of a random development to me, to be honest, but in this episode I finally bought that Baltar has basically lost it and this is the result. Maybe the next Baltar-centric episode will reveal that he’s still the craven opportunist he’s always been and barely believes any of this stuff, I dunno. I wonder how his personal Six will feel about him giving the One True God the middle finger?
* Throw in plot points that necessitate envisioning both Nikki Clyne and Mary McDonnell having sex and you’ve got a winner!
Not having seen the webisodes, Gaeta’s anti-Cylon feelings came across just fine. I could totally see the validity in not so totally welcoming with open arms a group trying to annihilate me just a week ago, and the possibility of such being a last straw for him. Especially coming in conjunction with the big Earth let down, the residual bitterness about New Caprica that he’s shown the past season and a half (not to mention his actions during Baltar’s trial), and for sure the leg thing. His reactions don’t seem sudden to me at all.
The thing with the Chief and Cally’s kid came a bit out of left field and seemed like a cop out to get out of a potentially sticky plot point. I don’t think the audience was ever led to believe their marriage was anything less than rosy on New Caprica.
Tigh’s reaction to his unborn baby at the beginning, and how chummy he was with Caprica Six, also seemed a bit off. But these are minor quibbles to an otherwise great episode. I’m also glad the show is back to examining society coming apart at the seams.
There’s also that matter of what happened between Gaeta and Baltar on New Caprica, right? Hinted at when Felix visited Baltar in his cell, whispered something and then tried to kill him? They’ve never revealed that, have they? I do note that one of the teaser hints at (http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/youwillknowthetruth/) has what sounds like Baltar saying something like “your dirty little secret, Felix”.
hmmmmmm….
They revealed it in the webisodes. But what they revealed was actually sort of a back-up plan, because the initial storyline the whisper was supposed to refer to was cut from that season.
Carnival of Battlestar
* First, this seems like as good a place as any to collect the links to all my Battlestar Galactica posts for this final half-season. * Episode 4.5.1: Sometimes a Great Notion * Episode 4.5.2: A Disquiet Follows My Soul…