Battlestar Galactica - Black Market

Great episode for Bamber’s Apollo who continues to revisit the trauma of his ejection from the steal fighter created by the likes of Tyrol and Helo during “off-time” to help with the enduring emotional challenges the crew have encountered since the Cylons attacked the human race. In “Black Market”, a moderately interesting investigative plot involving the death of Fisk (who took over the lead of the Pegasus after the death of their admiral), where Admiral Adama assigns his son to find out who killed him, connects to an illegal trading-for-supplies-and-goodies black market among the fleet. Sure enough, it appears the sinister Bill Duke (Phelan) is the mastermind behind the major black market enterprise (his ship, Prometheus, a hub), putting an end to Fisk because he was a “pig who wanted to renegotiate” their current agreement. What gave the episode its emotional resonance is a haunting memory that anguishes Apollo: his decision to pull away from a beauty who wanted to have his child, later killed on Caprica by the Cylon attack. On the Cloud 9, where the Quorum often conduct “political business”, Apollo has been seeing a prostitute with a sick child named Shevon (Claudette Mink). Eventually it is revealed that she works for Phelan and he’s peddling kids for sick sexual deviants. To assure that he won’t do that with Shevon’s child, Apollo gives Phelan a choice: be shut down or operate under certain restrictions. A gun pointed at Phelan by Apollo sets up the episode and gives us something to think about as the plot unfolds. I didn’t think the results were all that surprising, but I did really appreciate Bamber’s work. He’s tormented by regret and admitted to Starbuck that his near-death experience would have been a welcome departure from life’s further conflict. What that was all about is further elaborated in this episode. It identifies, over and over, a cyclical repeated separation between Apollo and, presumably considering his pain, the love of his life. Not surprisingly, at the end, Shevon refuses to be her “replacement”, leaving him instead of agreeing to join him on Battlestar Galactica. The show, in one of my least favorite developments because it felt a bit shoehorned, had established a brief sexual tension between Apollo and Dee, although Dee and Roslin’s assistant, Billy, had been quite well considered a true couple. It felt more like a soap opera angle that couldn’t really muster much heat, and I was glad Apollo more or less implied Dee “wasn’t the one”, only to convey disappointment in his choice much later, although she realized he was in the room while doing sit-ups with Billy in the workout quarters. Apollo discovering a bracelet linked to Tigh’s wife and later visiting him about it while investigating Fisk’s death just did nothing for me…it just felt like a need to revisit the tensions between Apollo and Tigh. The black market intrigue didn’t light my fire, either, quite frankly. In all honesty, it reveals that Zarek (Hatch, always welcome on my screen, may he rest in peace) pretended to be a victim of Fisk’s “embargo” only later to be seen walking inside the Prometheus, as if Apollo was a dope who just did his dirty work “removing” Phelan from the equation. Roslin just okaying Apollo’s “monitoring” of the Prometheus and Admiral Adama leaving it in his son’s hands would indicate that black market criminality is “alright” as long as children weren’t being bought and sold…felt a bit uneasy about all that. Apollo mentions that he realizes the black market is indeed a necessary evil in order for goods to move about the fleet, with trade (conducted “fairly”) invited as long as medicinal supplies are parceled about where needed effectively. The subplot I continue to enjoy is the antagonistic relationship between Roslin and Baltar, with Six remaining a voice in Gaius’ head, continuing to stir and rile him up when needing the Cylon agenda to survive intact. She offers a chance to him for resignation, as word about his comfortable alliance with Fisk made it to her after a contentious “interrogation” by Apollo on the Pegasus (cigars shared and pleasant conversation clearly indicated the two were quite chummy). Baltar, furious that she would challenge him in such a fashion, continuing to feel as if she is emasculating him despite saving her life, feels even more emboldened to serve as Vice President. This adversarial rivalry has legs to it, as the fleet’s political landscape will most certainly be shaped by how this intensifies going forward. All that said, the garroting of Fisk, and his body on Cottle's slab is quite well done in its viciousness and Apollo's near-death through a similar attack certainly introduces Duke impressively. I had to say more of Duke as a villain could have given the show quite a nemesis to fear...his quick dismissal was a bit unfortunate. Nonetheless he was meant to just serve as a temporary nuisance to be removed in order for the black market operation to "go legit". 2.5/5