Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:49:00
Battlestar Galactica - The Woman King
TiVo synopsis: “Galactica’s medical team struggles to curb an epidemic triggered by Sagittaron refugees.”
Is that a cough, soldier? DO NOT REPORT TO SICK BAY! Report instead to the spoilers that come after the jump, on my mark! Spoilers in 3...2..1...Mark!
- “Previously, on...” Mostly stuff about Athena/Sharon and Helo and Salty Sea Dog. Also, they showed a clip of Adama talking specifically about Helo being transferred and the refugees coming aboard - when the hell did they show that on TV? Was that web thing? I never saw it. Weird. Anyway, Helo isn’t number two any more. Looks like the One Eyed Moonshine Disposal Unit and General Bad Ass is back in CIC.
That’s an awfully long nickname. :)
- We start with Helo lying awake next to Athena, which is...you know...great for him, as lying next to Grace Park under any circumstances has got to be a good thing. He seems troubled. Likely a result of his new job we know nothing about, or - he did shoot his wife and all. Teased by the still-flying pilots on his way to work, the gist seems to be that this refugee thing is maybe a little beyond him. Tigh seems to see this as well, and Helo clearly resents his assistance. Thing is, Salty Sea Dog is good at EXACTLY this: making people follow basic instructions due to the threat of force he is always implying with every word. people just do what he says...maybe he’s actually the right guy for this job. I suppose we’ll see.
We learn that Sagittarons don’t believe in medicine, or military doctors or something, and will get violent to protect their privacy...and half the bay seems really, really ill. Here it comes.
I guess the lesson here is that when the safety of the fleet is at stake, religious practice can go straight to hell - as it should, since the whole point here was the Sagittaron pig-headed ignorance of proper medical procedure and refusal to be examined obviously leads to this epidemic.
Hey, I bet Dr. Baltar has a solution, or could find one in like, 1/32 the time it would take Doc Smokey to solve the trouble. :)
- 41,401 members of the fleet remaining. 2 down from the last count.
- “Melorak” sickness? Spelling is probably off. It’s spread through contact. Must be treated within 48 hours or it will kill you in 3-5 days. Of course we can’t actually do anything to STOP the infection from spreading for fear of offending the Sagittarons. The Powers That Be simply decide to let it ride and deal with the aftermath.
-Gaius will be tried - and Roslin simply stated that “...he will be found guilty.” Tom Zarek is literally spouting the arguments we heard about Saddam Hussein’s trial and subsequent execution. EVERY WORD that came out of his mouth was drummed into our heads my media and pundits dedicated to undermining *ANY* sense of accomplishment or success in Iraq. Tom wants martial law declared during the trial. I think he’s 100% wrong, I think the fleet will celebrate the idea of trying Baltar.
- Helo is listening to refugee complaints. A Sagitarron woman seems to be pissed that her son is dead and blames the doctor. Now she’s going to spread the word that the medicine can’t be trusted.
- Civilian Doc says the boy the woman lost was at least three days sick. Doc also let’s it slip that Tigh is checking up on Helo.
- Over to the bar, everyone’s chatting about the Sagittarons and the disease, and Chief spouts some seemingly bigoted stuff, but then Dee sort of confirms that it’s not really bigoted, it’s warranted. Of course when Lee kisses Dee we get a teeny moment of Battlestar 90210 as Starbuck gives them the evil eye.
- Caprica! Athena is chatting her up and BAM - HeadGaius shows up. He wants to know why she’s throwing herself on the mercy of humans. He seems to be here to convince her to not help the humans and to keep RealGaius’ secrets. Interesting point raised by her imaginary Baltar - he said ‘You’re here because you want to be human.”
That might be sort-of true on some level. In reality though, it’s not that she wants to be human, and it’s not that RealGaius wants to be a Cylon - it’s that the two of them want to be whatever will allow them to be with the other, because for all her hurt and scorn, she does love Gaius Baltar and he loves her. Of course, what neither of them are seeing is that there is a perfect example of a “mixed species” couple right in front of them - Helo and Athena are making it work, and if it doesn’t work it will be because they let problems fester instead of working them out - it will NOT be simply because she’s a Cylon and he’s a human. Gauis and Caprica Six are letting circumstances complicate what should be simple.
Heh...funny that Laura was watching Caprica Six make out with HeadGaius. I’d love to see more of people trying to figure out what the hell she’s doing, then maybe have them start catching RealGaius talking to and making out with HeadSix.
- Back in the refugee bay the “backward” Sagittarons are all worked up against CivilianDoc. Helo pulls a gun and shit calms down. Then we find out Doc has been immunizing against people’s will, and he’s making terrible choices given the fact that there is a VERY limited amount of this drug, and it throws his account of everything else into question. SmokingDoc makes the ONLY correct point so far - EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INNOCULATED AGAINST THEIR WILL. This is a closed-atmosphere ship and humanity is at stake. This is well beyond extreme, emergency circumstances. Anyway.
Adama literally rejects all of Helo’s concerns, and that is so fucking out of character. Every argument Helo made about CivilianDoc was on point, he didn’t say he was CERTAIN that Doc was doing things wrong, illegally or immorally, he raised valid concerns. Bill Adama has investigated things with far, far less evidence or reason. This is stupid. This is just bad writing.
SmokingDoc has ALWAYS had a good relationship with Bill. Bill has always listened to him. Bill always listens to Helo even if he disagrees. here comes this CivilianDoc, who we have never seen before, and we’re supposed to believe that Tigh and Adama are SO devoted to him that they reject totally reasonable questions from helo and the advice of Doc Cottle, who they have always trusted? No, this is just to set up that Helo is right and Tigh was wrong (and by extension Adama is wrong as well). This is just an asinine, lazy piece of writing to set up a conflict. It’s a pure Deus Ex machina and nothing more.
Helo leaves the room and Tigh follows him out to start yelling at him, until he gets Helo mad enough to punch him in the face. Looks like the writing is going to get worse and worse...Tigh is literally ready tp throw hands over Doc Roberts’ “good name.” Turns out he’s the guy that fixed Tigh’s eye on new Caprica. SO? That doesn’t mean he can’t be making huge mistakes here. It also doesn’t come close to explaining Adama’s deep and passionate defense of CivilianDoc instead of taking even a moment to consider what Helo was saying.
- Donna has a theory that CivilianDoc is killing Sagittarons intentionally because they didn’t help during the occupation. She may be right.
- Uh oh. Hera got sick and they sent her to CivilianDoc. Doesn’t make sense. SmokingDoc has clearance, and Hera is a military asset for fuck’s sake. She shouldn’t be within 20 feet of a civilian doctor. WHO WROTE THIS GODDAMNED EPISODE? WHAT THE HELL? This is so cheap and so lazy. This is just pathetic, it’s all to set up a conflict between Helo and Tigh/Adama to prove that CivilianDoc is a bad guy. It’s high-school-level creative writing. So sad. It doesn’t matter what the reason, Hera should never, ever be medically examined by anyone without full clearance to know exactly what she is. I’M NOT STUPID, WRITERS. I remember the fact that Hera is supposed to be important, and I will remember later, when you all of a sudden need her to be the lynchpin of a story again, how you treated her as just another baby in this episode. besides, her blood cured fucking cancer. ADVANCED, systemic cancer. You’re telling me her Cylon blood couldn’t kick this disease?
Watch your own show, writers. It helps.
When Helo returns the Sagittaron woman’s son’s bracelet, he asks her why she let the CivilianDoc treat her son if she was warned he was dangerous, and her answer kind of confirms Donna’s theory that the Doc may be doing all of this on purpose.
Helo goes back to his quarters and has a freak-out in front of a laundry-folding Athena. Sure. OK. Then he goes looking for CivilianDoc and when he finds an empty office, he rifles through charts and papers until he finds - predictably, I might add - the smoking gun, a report about how CivilianDoc killed dozens of Sagittarons back on New Caprica. Like that shit would just be lying around? It’s weak-ass writing when other shows do it and it’s worse when BSG does it.
SmokingDoc walks in and Helo shows him the evidence. Of course SmokingDoc doesn’t believe him either. A 90% mortality rate among only Sagittarons and the Doc doesn’t see anything wrong?
Either this is the worst-written episode of this show EVER or someone is covering something up.
- And now Dee is sick. She gets a shot - we think. Sure, of course a member of the military would go all the way to a civilian refugee station to be treated by a civilian doctor instead of going to, you know, THE FUCKING SICK BAY WHERE PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY ALWAYS REPORT WHEN ILL. The Sagittaron woman who lost her son came to warn Helo about Dee, because of course she saw her, since Dee came to the refugee station instead of, you know, GOING THE FUCKING SICK BAY WHERE PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY ALWAYS REPORT WHEN ILL. Some of the medicine would OF COURSE be held back by the military establishment to treat essential personnel. Of course we had that stupid moment where Dee, completely out of left field, talked shit about what a bad doctor Cottle was and how she’d never be treated by him. See that way we wouldn’t question why a member of the military wasn’t being treated by a military doctor.
Anyway, Helo and Sharon argue about it and it’s another out-of-character moment by shitty writers, because Athena is FAR more compassionate and understanding than most humans. She would never side with Adama and Tigh and the docs in favor of NOT listening to the Sagittarons.
After the break, Helo is with Dee, who seems to be about a minute or two from death. Helo is going to take her to Doc Cottle against CivilianDoc’s wishes. Shit goes haywire and security is about to lay the smack down on Helo. Just then, we see Saul and company coming down and as it turns out, they are backing Helo.
Doc Cottle outs CivilianDoc’s racist killing spree. He did the tests AFTER the confrontation with Helo and confirmed everything Helo said. CivilianDoc is claiming he did it for the rest of the fleet, and goes off on a racist tirade. Tigh then gives Helo the pleasure of arresting CivilianMassMurderDoc.
Oh look! Helo wins in the end, and Adama has to apologize to him. All of a sudden the Old Man is wise again. “You still have it.” Yeah. And if the writers were actually writing you in character, Bill, you’d have at least given his original complaint some thought. This thin “we allowed hate and also hated ourselves” shit doesn’t explain this out-of-left-field character shift just because the people at issue are Sagittarons. Helo is always right, and while Adama almost never sides with him at first, he has ALWAYS listened to him and thanked him for his input. he has always treated his opinions as important.
Hey, here’s another thought the lazy asses who wrote this episode never thought of - Helo knows Roslin is religious. he knows Roslin owes him, BIG TIME. Why not go to her? Well, that would involve A: actually writing logically in step with the previous happenings on the show, and B: Adama would immediately see the truth, because Laura always gets through to him. And that would’ve ruin the big dramatic ending.
I did not enjoy this episode. Everyone did a great job with what they were given, but the script and story were weak. Ultimately the Sagittarons were completely wrong to not trust medicine in general, but totally right to not trust that particular doctor. Nothing was accomplished, no one grew in accomplishment or stature. About the ONLY change I can see coming out of this episode is that Tigh may respect Helo a bit more. That’s it.
That’s my $0.02. How about yours?
Posted by JimK at 12:49 AM on February 12, 2007
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Comments:
#2 Posted by bgeek 
on 02/12 at 02:37 AM -
The writing in this episode was very sloppy. This was worse than sending a squadron of marines into an “abandoned” basestar without space suits. Also, how the hell is Hera getting sick when she cured the shit out of cancer?
#3 Posted by Christian on 02/12 at 04:36 AM -
This episode wasn’t the worse, that winner was the Return of Bulldog ep, but it certainly wasn’t good. I like Helo, and he deserves better than this. And what was up with the Chief being all KKK? The son of a Priest and he acts like this? WTF. ESPECIALLY if he knows that Mrs. Lee Adama is one of the Sagitarians. Its like making Black jokes, then realizing theirs one in the room.
The best moment is when HeadBaltar showed up. HOLY SHIT. I’m still trying to figure that one out. And why she’s here is simple: Baltar is here. She’d go across a mile of broken glass to be with that Genocidal freak. But why help with his trial? Why push for it? She must know he will be aired out an airlock as soon as possible. She’s got something up her not existant sleeve.
#4 Posted by Joe R. 
on 02/12 at 10:33 PM -
It sucked. Toss-up between this and the boxing episode for my least favorite to date.
#5 Posted by Joe R. on 02/12 at 11:33 PM -
Writers meeting: “Hey, we haven’t done a racism allegory episode. Well, except for all those where the humans hate the cylons. And the ones where cylons hate humans. But other than that, none. Why don’t we get that guy from X-Men to come on? That movie was a racist allegory too. He played a racist senator there. Why don’t we have him come play a racist doctor? He should be able to pull that off.”
Reminds me of the Simpsons episode..."We’re sorry for the clip show, have no fears, we’ve got stories for years, like...how ‘bout a crazy wedding? Where something happens, do do do do do...”
#6 Posted by Harley W Daugherty on 02/12 at 11:47 PM -
what crap…
#7 Posted by Harley W Daugherty on 02/13 at 12:03 AM -
please some time i want to see the self righteous person who goes on that “oneman crusade” proved flat wrong soem time..
Jess.
the only good part of this eps was seeing Head baltar.
#8 Posted by JimK on 02/13 at 01:10 AM -
the only good part of this eps was seeing Head baltar.
You are correct, sir. /edmcmahon
It was the only scene I cared a whit about in the end.
I did think of one thing that last night should have solidified - Helo is almost ALWAYS right. In fact...can anyone think of a time when Helo’s opinion or advice to Adama was wrong? Can we officially say that Helo is simply always right without the modifier?
Anyway, from now on whenever a character doesn’t take Helo’s advice they should suffer greatly or have to allow Helo to slap them at the end of the episode or something.
#9 Posted by miguelito on 02/13 at 03:17 AM -
Also, they showed a clip of Adama talking specifically about Helo being transferred and the refugees coming aboard - when the hell did they show that on TV? Was that web thing? I never saw it. Weird.
Oh good, it wasn’t just me.
Since someone already mentioned the Simpsons… it’s almost like the one where Homer was reciting when he’d done bad things and mentioned “the time I ruined Lisa’s wedding in the future. Remember that honey?” Or similar. About the same as that scene in the opening.
Either it was something cut and they f’d up, or it was so just lost in an episode that we just forgot.
#10 Posted by ignorant-american on 02/14 at 07:21 PM -
Just poor writing all around. I hope that this will be the last of the way too drawn out episodes. I love the show, but episodes like this make me fear it’s near cancellation. They need to advance the plot more in their next few episodes or the show may be toast.
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#1 Posted by Buzzion
on 02/12 at 02:22 AM -
Depending on where the deleted scene was supposed to come into play, it could explain Adama’s willingness to dismiss Helo’s warnings.