This review will be short and sweet. I LOVED it. It is quite
a rebound from the previous, “Black Market”, giving Starbuck and in consequence
to her, Kat (the “stim junkie”, needing uppers in order to stay sharp due to a
lack of Viper pilots at that point in time). Kat serves as a rival to Starbuck,
questioning her ethics and command skills as Captain when pilots are lost due
to perhaps her tactical advice. Starbuck is hung on Anders, back at Caprica.
Admiral Adama and Pres Roslin will not consider returning to Caprica, still
forwarding ahead on their mission to Earth. Katee Sackhoff became a sci-fi icon
for this series, and episodes like this are the reason why. With her dalliance
with alcoholism, guilt over not being able to return as promised to Anders (the
memory over and over again in her head as a painful reminder of this), the loss
of pilots, the Cylon pilot, Scar, that just keeps returning time and again
hiding within cluster of asteroids (the purpose of the episode is that there is
great ore available to build Vipers lost in the Cylon war). Scar is a menace to
pilots, preying upon them, surprising them, catching them off-guard, and giving
them little-to-no time to respond with counterattack. Kat and Starbuck vow to
kill Scar first, recognizing that maybe since the Resurrection Ship was
destroyed, once Scar is killed in space this time, there will be no return to
cause them a headache…and loss of more pilots. Kat continues to needle Starbuck
about her drinking, while Starbuck reminds her of her stim addiction and
reasons behind taking the drug (fear is her Achilles’ Heel). The episode seems
to indicate that Starbuck just brushes aside those lost, particularly in one
scene where a locker is being cleared out after a great pilot was killed by
Scar during a space fight…maybe a mechanism in order to get through the day
without wanting to commit suicide. But I really dug the final scene (well,
before she spars light-heartedly with Helo) where Starbuck holds up her bottle
and rounds off from memory each and every pilot they have lost during the Cylon
war, with Tigh especially moved by this. Adama being there, pride in his face
and eyes, is also a very emotionally potent moment in the episode. I like that
the series addressed the sexual tension between Starbuck and Apollo and now can
move past it as Anders remains her “reason to live”. Great “game of chicken”
where Starbuck flies right at Scar, eventually breaking so that Kat could take
the shot and put away this Cylon nuisance for good. If I had a beef with the
show—and it isn’t that big of a deal really—is that the “toasters” don’t quite
have the fun personality as they did in the old series. As a child, I just
thought the Cylons were neat, but I had a conversation with a friend of mine
who thinks they were lame. So I guess the newer generations consider anything
from the original too cheesy to take interest at all. My heart still has a warm
place for that show, even though this series is easily superior. Giving the episode an isolated adversary to overcome, both physically and symbolically, won me over...but without Sackhoff, this wouldn't have been nearly as impactful. Luciana Carro deserves special mention as Starbuck's "push", as Kat, a thorn in her side, challenging her to climb out of her gutter.
4/5
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