SPOILER TIME

* I really, really enjoyed this storyline. Like I’ve said, I was hoping that the discovery of Earth would really reveal major cracks in what’s left of the humans’ civil society, and this sort of thing was exactly what I meant. Zarek had been a terrorist long ago, but in this episode he seemed to be showing a level of barbarity that surprised even him–that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. It’s what I want from Battlestar Galactica.

* I don’t get the notion–which to be fair I’ve only seen expressed by other people who don’t get it–that the storyline is pointless and that the resolution we saw last night represents a return to the status quo ante. If Battlestar Galactica does anything well it’s showing how long-lasting the consequences of old storylines can be–I mean, half of the lead mutineers here were Pegasus refugees, Gaeta’s motivations can be traced back to New Caprica, and his relationship with Baltar is one of the oldest, if quietest, running gags on the show. I can’t imagine that at this stage in the game, a briefly successful coup that resulted in the death of virtually the entire government except a President who is herself dying is going to get swept under the rug.

* I like when the show does action and gives its action heroes action hero stuff to do, so seeing Starbuck and Apollo run around with guns like the old days was a real treat.

* On a related note, even though I wish the commercials hadn’t spoiled this for weeks, Roslin completely going nuts gave me chills like crazy. It was very very clever of Mary McDonnell to riff on Hillary Clinton’s trademark strident vocal pitch, but the way it seemed to vomit out of her, as opposed to Clinton’s rather robotic rallying cries, was really frightening. A great, show-defining moment.

* You know one thing that does bother me about the show? It’s never ever fleshed out the marines, or made them anything other than thugs. It’s a weird dropped ball.

* Attention to detail alert: the little puddles of water and urine beneath the urinals.

* Attention to Freud alert: Starbuck braining a dude as he’s draining the lizard.

* The scene between Baltar and Gaeta was one of my favorites in the entire history of the show. It gave James Callis more to do than he’s had to do in the season so far. It followed up on a long-established relationship that hadn’t been at the fore of the show in a long long time, which is the sort of thing I always appreciate in long-running serialized dramas. It was probably Alessandro Juliani’s finest few moments as an actor. I think there was something moving about how these two have sinned against so many people, and each other, and yet in that brief moment managed to forgive themselves and each other and take comfort in one another. As a Deadwood fan, I’m a sucker for when grown men cry because they love each other.

* Maybe even more moving? Zarek managing a smile for Felix, and Felix smiling back. They’re human, after all. Somehow, showing that made the show simultaneously more uplifting and more depressing. And again, that’s what I want from Battlestar Galactica.

* I suppose that if you held a gun to my head I’d have to tell you I thought that the itch in Gaeta’s stump going away right before he gets executed was a little much, but only if you held a gun to my head.

* I know people didn’t like the Chief’s tunnel-crawling, but I thought the endless nature of it all just showed how far he was willing to go for this. It helps that Aaron Douglas is sort of the heart of the show–it fits that his Chief saved the day.

* Ending the arc with the Chief discovering literal cracks in the heart of Galactica herself–well, that’s no accident.

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