Since the big twist revealing Colonel Saul Tigh (Hogan), Sam
Anders (Michael Trucco), President aid, Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma), and Chief
Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) were revealed to be four of the mysterious five
Cylons, the series certainly threw us one hell of a curveball but opened so
much possibility for great melodrama. Case in point: Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace
(Sackhoff) returns from earth—or so she claims, with photographs from orbit but
her ship is clean and seemingly brand new and she has no memory of how she got
there or returned, much less how she seemed gone for a few hours while the crew
of Battlestar Galactica tell her she’s been away for six months!—tells Anders
that if she knew he was a Cylon she’d shoot him between the eyes (Anders tells
her that he wouldn’t if it the roles were reversed!). There is a lot to absorb
in the first episode—the BG Creative team sure tries to fit in a lot within
about 45 minutes. Like Dr. Gaius Baltar (Callis) found innocent and helped to
go “in hiding” by a cult of “worshipers” (seemingly all female) who believe he
and God are tight…he gets help from Head Six (Helfer) in trying to steer
conversation about God with some of the beautiful women, all devoted to his “cause”.
He is nearly killed by a member of Galactica who blames him for the death of
his son back when they were colonized (and he was President) in the restroom
during a “close shave”, helped by one of his followers and a trusty lead pipe.
But Gaius does call on God to take him instead of the son of his devotee,
Jeanne (Keegan Connor Tracy), burning of a viral infection, needing to somehow
fight it off…and the child gets better. The plot is so loaded, that this Gaius
plot, any other time, could very well be a bigger subplot, but the Starbuck
return and subsequent doubt that she is who she says she is can’t be denied its
place as the main A story. This episode even included the destruction of a
fleet ship carrying 600 colonists when the Cylons seemed to locate the total
fleet before they could ever even build up enough to jump, with Anders, in one
of the Vipers, unable to fire upon one of the “Toasters” who turns to confront
him only for the red light of its visor to “lock on” his eyes, as if passing
off information or some sort of order. And there are plenty of scenes where the
Tigh, Anders, Foster, and Tyrol are privy to conversations between the likes of
Admiral Adama (Olmos), Starbuck, President Roslin (McDonnell), Lt Gaeta
(Juliani), and Helo (Penikett) discussing what to do about the Cylons and how
they wish to formulate plans to either avoid or destroy them…so that conflict
is ever present no matter when the four are on screen with human crew looking
to decide how to get to earth and what to do about the Cylons when encounters
are possible again. There is a particularly noteworthy “vision” where Saul
shoots Adama, realizes the horror of it, then “awakens” back to Adama ordering
him to call on all hands that can operate Vipers to help in fighting off the
Cylons…flashbacks to Sharon shooting Adama certainly give this vision serious
punch. And when the four are together, that turmoil of knowing they are Cylons
who could be “triggered” at any moment while still performing their “human
duties” on Galactica is quite palpable. This is just great content and such a
kick in the pants as it leaves that never-leaving idea that all of those
onboard Galactica could be targets at any given moment…and the four that are
Cylons and wish not to be carry that knowledge with them like an albatross.
Starbuck refusing to allow Roslin to push Adama to move the fleet through jumps
based on the “eye of Jupiter” instead of her “feeling/intuition” (each jump
causes Starbuck pain and she gradually is losing the position of earth) sets up
the next episode, a gun pointed at the President because Admiral Adama just
couldn’t side with her since there are no position offered to set a course. All
Starbuck knows is that their jumps take them further and further away. I like
when this show is able to get so many characters involved and yet not feel so
convoluted that we can’t keep up or understand. 4/5
Comments
Post a Comment