The “Previously on Battlestar” clips lead us to believe that we will see some movement on the Kat/Starbuck fued, maybe the other Cylon models (?), D’Eanna’s suicide and Salty SeaDog coming back to the CIC.

We open with a problem - food production became contaminated, and Athena is out in a radiation storm looking for a new source of food.

Back in the fly jock’s cabin, the pilots are pooling their remaining food to try to stave off hunger.  Kat and Starbuck are at odds instantly, with Starbuck accusing Kat of hoarding a protein bar.  Thing is?  I totally don’t believe Kat is the kind of person who would hoard food.  She’s a bitch, but she’s never been anything but dedicated.  Even her stim junkie days were about staying up in the air to do her job.  She’s obviously driven by something.

At the same time, Athena’s ship is coming apart around her and she looks sick as we roll the credits

42,420 remaining human beings left.  Looks like we could do with some more baby-making, people.

Dreamily, we shift focus to a Cylon basestar, with D’Eanna again rising out of Gaius and Six’s bed.  I loved Gaius’s analogy of the Cylons living on the basestar like fleas...kind of appropriate since the ship is a living being.  Only these fleas have will, and seemingly a soul.  Six and Gaius are discussing just what the hell it is that D’Eanna is doing all day.  What things?  Well, killing herself to see what happens, for one.

Sharon’s back on Galactica and she looks like hell.  Seems she found a source of algae, the implication is that they make the food out of this stuff.  Problems - radiation is preventing the civilian ships from getting to the food and Galactica is too small to pull it all out.  The solution they come up with is that a Raptor will lead a civilian ship through the radiation.  Stims will be issued.  And Kat has a problem...and a secret.  She used to be Sascha?  And someone in the fleet knows her?  Old boyfriend?  Former criminal?  Drug dealer?  Terrorist?

Cylon?

No, not a Cylon.  Too obvious, too easy.  She’s someone, someone who was well-known by reputation but not by sight.  My money is on criminal.

Back on the base star, Gaius is trying to get info out of D’Eanna about what it is that she’s doing.  The implication here is that she’s been resurrecting every day.

Sascha and Mystery Boy are chatting.  He’s basically threatening her with exposure unless she gets him food.  Whoever he is, she hates him.

Salty SeaDog is in uniform and on the deck.  Salute that man when he walks by, people.  Note: Gaeda did not applaud.  I do not blame him.  For obvious reasons, bith men are heroes and yet still on opposite sides of the respect coin, so to speak.

As the mission gets underway, they make it abundantly clear that Kat is going to sacrifice herself, or at least try to, and stay beyond her alloted exposure time.  They keep making a big deal about leaving when the radiation badge turns black.  Seems like Hotdog lost the civvy ship he was escorting.  They had no choice but to jump away.  They lost the Adriatic.  4 more jumps to go.

Back from commercial, Kat is having issues staying with her ship this time.  Maybe the story here is that she’s going to go back on the drugs out of guilt?  This radiation is playing hell with the pilots.  Apollo tries to bolster spirits, but no way is any speech going to help here.  This is a bad mission even if it’s 100% successful.  It seems like the radiation is also taking it out of those just sitting near the cloud doing the harvesting.  Saul tells Adama that a lot of Marines are too weak to work or getting there.

“Are they still eating paper?
“No.  paper shortage.”

Damn.  You gotta be hungry to eat paper like it was dinner.

We jump to Baltar still talking to D’Eanna about what she sees, and of course his first question is “Do you see my face?” Jesus Ever-Loving Christ that man is 100% self-absorpbed.

Woah...Starbuck knows something about Mystery Boy and grills Kat - she was a drug runner.  Enzo was her boss.  Turns out that these drug runners would run people sometimes, and that the Cylons used these trucks to smuggle themselves into the major cities.  So Kat isn’t who she says she is at all, and she’s begging Starbuck to let her tell Adama.  Starbuck being mean as a rattlesnake doesn’t bother to say if she’s going to tell or not.

SuicidD’Eanna and Gaius are hanging out with a hybrid.  Seems like the hybrid knows him.  She grabs him and starts talking.

“Intelligence.
A mind that burns like a fire.”

Gaius - “I’m here.” She was asking if he was the one.  It was kind of “I am the keymaster, are you the gatekeeper?” but it worked.

“Find the hand that lies in the shadow of the light
In the eye of the husband in the eye of the cow”

Well.  It should take time to figure out what the hell that means.  Unless you’re Gaius Baltar...he parsed it to mean Hera and Jupiter, and that the first sentence means they need to find a particular planet that will lead then to the Eye of Jupiter, which will allow them to find a “hand,” or something made up of five parts, and all of this will lead them to Earth.  This of course leads SuicidD’Eanna to wonder aloud if the Cylon God is mixed up with the Colonial gods.  Ah-DUH, lady.  Welcome to the party.

WRITING PROBLEM - Hera’s husband was Zeus, not Jupiter.  Bad writers.  BAD!  No soup for you.  Don’t you people have Google?

Back to Galactica - Kat’s hair is falling out.  That’s bad.  Her badge is black.  Here we go...she’s going to stim up or go die or something.  She meets Mystery Boy for a little snog, then suits up, steals Helo’s badge and she’s going out to die.  She lost her ship again.  Galactica herself is taking too much damage, it’s time, everyone has to leave NOW - Kat’s not leaving until she finds that ship.

Starbuck told her to accept who she is.  Looks like she’s doing just that.  She stayed in and saved the ship she was escorting, but obviously, she’s going to die.  I don’t think Starbuck will sandbag her after that.  The flight deck applauds her and she collapses in a heap.  In the sick bay, she asks for Starbuck, and they basically come to an understanding - your actions define you, and Kat’s actions were nothing short of heroic, regardless of what she was before the Cylon war.  Starbuck also slipped her some sleeping pills.  Enough, as she put it.  The Old Man stops by and promotes her to CAG, even though we all know she’s not getting out.  Last thing she does is try to tell him the truth, and he re-teaches her the lesson Starbuck just tried to tell her - her actions on Galactica define who and what she is.  End of story.  Then he sits down to talk to her, just being there.  As touching as it was, doesn’t that violate his ‘I’m not going to be your friend” speech from last week?  Then again, who really believed he was ever going to stick to that?

Starbuck puts her photo up on the memorial wall(s).  That’s it.

Seems like Starbuck needs reminding that she’s no freaking princess eevry once in awhile.  Wish Kat didn’t have to die to make the point to her, but hopefully this time it’ll stick.  Kara has a tendency to attack people based on their weakness while ignoring - and sometimes hiding - her own.  She forgets that she’s human too.  Maybe this could be some first step toward her treating Anders with something close to respect?  They certainly don’t belong together, he deserves better, but maybe she could not treat him like dirt for five minutes?

I liked it this week.  Stuff happened.  I like it when stuff happens.

*UPDATE*

Can I get a witness on that “Suicid’Eanna?” That was damned clever if I do say so myself.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to see a doctor about this shoulder I just pulled patting myself on the back.

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We open on a boxing match - Lee apparently gets his bell rung by Helo and sort of floats away, then imagines Kara in the ring with him.  Another hit and he sees Dualla.  Lee’s all messed up.  Meanwhile Kara is using her husband like a vibrator.  He drops the science on her - he’s not what she really wants.  No!  It couldn’t possible be that she’s still in love with the remaining Adama boy, could it?  No, of course not.  That’s only why she imagined the same “laying in a meadow” scene as Lee.

Starbuck shows up to the fight and roots for Helo.  Lee keeps flashing on moments of his past with Kara and it’s costing him the fight.  Doc stops it when Apollo can’t really stand up straight.  Of course Starbuck can’t help but to taunt him as he goes by.  Apparently the way this works is, if you want in the boxing ring, you drop your dog tags into the box.  Kara throws hers in as Lee takes his off.  They square up and it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching - like Lee’s fracking wife - that these two are headed for fight or frack.  There can be no middle ground.  Lee drops his tags back in and we hit the theme music.

Flash back to New Caprica 17 months ago.  Everyone seems so hopeful, and I think that they even cleaned up the film stock or made it brighter or something.  We get a little more of the constantly-there-in-the-background sexual tension between Laura and Bill and flash forward to the two of them watching the bouts on Galactica.

Someone just got knocked out badly.  Ole Drunky McSeaDog calls Hotdog to the ring and Hotdog calls out Starbuck.  We know she can fight...methinks the kid is gonna wish he called someone else out.

Flash to Lee walking in slo-mo in Starbucks’s mind.  Uh-oh.  Back to the fight.  Hit, hit and Hotdog is out like an old light bulb...and Lee and Starbuck do that “So, you wanna do me right here in the ring in front of everyone?” thing they do when they stare at each other.  See, that’s how they gotta settle this - public sex.  Let Dualla and Anders join in.  Fun for the whole family!

Back to New Caprica - Traitor McCylonfracker, aka Gaius Baltar breaks ground and the Galactica crew gets hammered - flash - Saul thinking of his whore wife while refereeing a fight - flash - Starbuck thinking of her poor, caring husband who deserves better while she trains to kick Lee’s ass - flash - The Old Man and Laura are still not talking about their attraction while chatting about New Caprica - flash to Tyrol and Adama talking about getting let go to settle on New Caprica, which we know happens…

(Aside - this episode is pretty disjointed what with all the super-fast flashbacks.  Hard to really concentrate in a feeling or a particular character’s motivation when you edit this fast.)

Oh snap - the Old Man called out the Chief!  My money is on Bill Adama.  Bell rings - and umm...can you say ass kicking?  Bill tagged him crazy hard in the mouf.  Straight in the teefs.  Lotta pent up frustration there I guess.  “Get up, Chief.  We’re just gettin’ started.”

Back from break and Tyrol is trying to convince Callie that it’s better to have the baby on Galactica since the Old Man refuses to let them go - flash - dancing at the groundbreaking ceremony to Titanic-style Irish music - flash to the two opposing couples, Lee & Dualla and Kara & Anders being couples - flash to the Pres and Billy getting close...did he frack Madame President?  Well, at this time the former president anyway. - flash - The Old Man is beating Tyrol’s ass and then he basically calls him a pussy until Tyrol starts REALLY fighting.

Kara to Lee: “The Old Man’s got chops.  Knows when to make his move, when to hold back.  Wish I could say the same for his son.” Jesus, Lee really deserves to get to punch her in the face.

Flash to the groundbreaking party and Lee and Kara have drank everyone else under the table - literally for Anders.  - flash - Tyrol is beating Adama senseless in the ring.  Adama is saved by the bell.  The doc and Laura are trying to get him to quit, and as he spits out a mouthful of bright red blood, she starts to give him advice.  “You want to win?” “I’m not gonna win.” - flash - Adama tells Tyrol and Callie they can move to New Caprica.  In retrospect I bet they regret that one. - flash - Tyrol is just painting Adama red in the ring.  It’s getting hard to watch, for us the viewer and for everyone else.  Adama seems to be sacrificing himself for some larger purpose here.

Adama gets helped up and delivers a speech.  “When you stand on this deck, you be ready to fight or you dishonor the reason we’re here.” He essentially tells them that allowing the settlement of New Caprica was a mistake, that he let the military people go because he was too friendly with them.  It’s basically The Old Man telling everyone that the free ride, the “Admiral is your buddy” days are done.

The fight breaks up.  Kara’s PISSED.  She wants Lee in the ring.  “So what, you have the guts to frack another man’s woman but not to fight one?”

Oh.  I get it now.

Lee punches her in the mouth.  Then agrees to fight her.  Hey Apollo!  You got that backwards, dude - although I can certainly understand wanting to hit her.

The fight is on.  Lotta pilots around the ring watching.  Dualla has a look on her face that basically says “I know this is a substitute for sex and it sucks.” - flash - Starbuck and Apollo taking a romantic drunken walk - flash - fighting - flash - the two of them discussing if Starbuck is ready to settle down with Anders - flash - the fight is getting dirty.  Anders walks in and asks Dualla what is going on.

“What;s it look like?”
“Looks like they’re trying to kill each other”
“That’s one perspective...”

See?  She knows.  Fighting and fracking are very, very related. - flash - Lee moves in and kisses Kara on New Caprica.  Looks like they did it there in the site of Kara and Ander’s dream home.  Nice.  Then they debate being honest for a few minutes, Lee shouting that he loves Kara Thrace.  He talks her into doing it too.  Surprisingly she does it.  - flash - Lee knocks her on her ass and she sweeps his feet, and the fight gets REAL dirty - flash to the morning back on New Caprica and Starbuck left Apollo alone on the beach.  He walks back into camp and Bill tells him that he missed the excitement - Kara got married.  At least now we know why he got fat and sloppy on the Pegasus.  He was in wuv!

Back to the fight, and he’s frigging PISSED off now as these memories come back.  He’s laying the hits on Kara pretty hard - flash to Kara laying on Lee’s chest - flash to the fight and she starts remembering the same moment as Lee, seeing each other after she was married - turns out she basically dragged Anders to a priest and Lee basically catapults himself to Dualla and we don’t really need more, we can figure out the rest.  He married her on the rebound. - flash - The fight is getting slow.  Neither of them want to quit, they just keep hitting each other - We flash to moments in their relationship while they continue to hit each other as hard as they can.

Eventually they just lean on each other in the middle of the ring and it’s not really a fight anymore.  Anders leaves.  “I missed you.” “I missed you too.” And we end.

Seems to me that could have been a fifteen minute segment in another episode.  I didn’t think it was enough to hold an entire hour, and I didn’t think the constant rapid-fire flashbacks were working.  This isn’t The Nine.

I’m going to have to say this was my least favorite episode of this season.  I say a 6 out of 10.  Even still, it’s better than most of what is on TV.  BSG at a six is better than most shows at a 9.5.

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Dear Battlestar Galactica production team,

The Fans.

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Show synopsis from TV.com:

A figure from Adama’s past returns to haunt him. His return raises questions about why the Cylons launched their initial attack against the Twelve Colonies.

We open with a recap that shows Adama speechifying from very early in the series about not being able to escape the things that you create.  Which will obviously be important later on.  :)

The show starts with a bloody, pain-filled face, then we cut to Laura cleaning out old files and crap - seems like she’s cleaning up Baltar’s presidential files, including a big painting of his face which she suggests they hang over the toilet. :) She also found some history on Adama.  His former command was the Valkyrie, and I’m guessing that this pilot comes from that command.  Laura wants to commemorate Bill’s 45 years of service.

Aside - Donna is very upset. ;) Naming Adama’s old ship the Valkyrie violates the Roman/Greek naming conventions.  From Wikipedia: ”The word “valkyrie” comes from the Old Norse valkyrja (plural “valkyrur"), from the words “val” (slaughter) and “kyrja” (to choose). Literally the term means choosers of the slain.” I wonder why the writers couldn’t pick one of a bazillion million Roman or Greek names?  Kind of lazy and shows a lack of attention to detail.  Odd, because BSG has always been very attentive to little details like that.

Cut to CIC and we have two raiders chasing a third raider.  Starbuck, up in one of the alert fighters, says she doesn’t know or care why the one is being chased by the other two.

OK WRITERS.  THIS IS RIDICULOUS.  Raiders chasing raiders should feel pretty goddamned familiar to Starbuck.  SHE STOLE A RAIDER AND FLEW IT UP TO GALACTICA, REMEMBER?  Jesus why do TV writers insist, even on this show, on treating us like we’re stupid.  Back to the show.

CIC picks up a signal and Adama recognizes the callsign of the pilot - Bulldog.  He doesn’t look real good, but I suppose years in Cylon captivity will do that.  He does manage to recognize and salute Adama though.

Back from commercial, we see a flashback to Gods only know when, some bigwigs having a “meeting that never happened” with Adama.  Clearly they are planning something to do with a stealth ship being stealthy on a stealth mission that never happened.  You were never here.  In fact, you’re not reading this right now.  Obviously the implication here is that Adama was ordered to do something that sparked the war.

Cut to the doc’s office and Bulldog is 100% human.  When Adama asks him how he escaped, he drops some smartass comments (very Starbuckian) before explaining that they Cylons got sick.  We’re given the impression that the “lymphocytic encephalitis” is spreading.

Flashback to Bulldog killing a D’Eanna model from inside his cell.  The D’Eanna was taking delight in playing with his head and this seems to have somehow led to his escape.  Shouldn’t the base star be sick too?  Since all Cylon technology is made of the same material, could the cell itself get sick or something?

Cut to Adama’s quarters, and we’re going to get an explanation as to what the mission was.  Seems that the Tauron colony was drilling for ore too close to the Cylon DMZ.  Adama and Bulldog are selling a story that the Taurons shot him down, and with no signals from Bulldog’s ship, Bill left thinking he was dead.  I’m not buying it.  That’s not the real mission at all.  No way Laura buys this.

“So, you gonna tell me what really happened?” That’s my girl.  :)

Cut to a D’Eanna model “apparently” walking around Galactica.  I’m betting it’s Gaius’ D’Eanna and she’s dreaming.  HA!  Yes.  She woke up in bed (Not Safe For Work or children) with Cap Six and Baltar.  Even when he steps in shit he comes out smelling like a rose.  Bastard.

Back to Galactica, and hey look, Drunky McDeadWife is playing games with his eye socket as Adama walks in to Saul’s quarters.  Basically he’s here as Adama’s conscience.  He knows whatever secret Adama is hiding, and he specifically said “Have you told HIM what you did.” Him meaning Bulldog, I assume.  After the break, Saul is feeling up his dead wife’s lingerie when Bulldog comes a’knockin’.  Bulldog (name - Danny Novacheck) and Saul is ‘bout to get drunks like skunks.  They are about to, as my gran-momma used to say, get fucking shitfaced like two dirty assholes.  My gramma had a mouth like a sailor and never made a whole lot of sense.  Anyway. while they chat and drink, Adama is chatting with Lee.  Saul is about to drop the secret on Bulldog...and we cut to Adama telling Lee that he shot Danny’s ship down to prevent detection, so that the Cylons would not find out they had crossed the line.  The mission was designed to ascertain the likelihood of a Cylon strike, which means someone had theories before the attacks on the 12 Colonies.

Flashback to the old mission - They were supposed to sneak over the armistice line, gather intel and jump back.  When the Cylons detected the flight, they shot at Bulldog.  Adama ordered Bulldog’s flight destroyed to avoid an all-out war.  I’m pretty sure that by that moment it was too late.  Adama could have made a different decision here...after all, it was pretty obvious that two “unknown” ships had done the damage to Bulldog’s Viper, and it wouldn’t take a genius to figure that those two unknowns comprised a Cylon patrol.  Command is, of course, full of these moments though.  You decide in an instant who lives and who dies and try to never look back and second-guess your decisions.  If you keep looking back all the time, you’ll freeze when you need to make the next decision.  In the moment, Adama decided.  Right or wrong, that was the call he made.

Back to Saul and Danny.  Saul tells Bulldog that he’s always known the truth deep down, that Bill left him there for the Cylons.  He’s right, of course.  He also told him that surviving can be it’s own death sentence, something Tigh knows all too well.

Adama and Lee drop the nugget that two ships were following Bulldog, and that all these years he’s been lying to himself by pretending it could have been the Taurons.  It’s a nice piece, because the line that Saul just delivered to Bulldog applies right here to Bill - deep down he’s always known the truth.  Adama then tells Lee that he believes it was this mission that started the war, that sticking his nose over the line proved to the Cylons that humanity was the warrior race that the Cylons feared them to be.  Lee takes the position that the Admiralty, the military were to blame, they ordered Adama out there.  That is absolutely true, but:

It was an illegal order, plain and simple.  One Adama chose to follow.  It broke the treaty with the Cylons, and no Admiral has the right to make that call.  Bill could have refused it.  They would have sent someone else, certainly, but he could have refused it.  Then he never would have been in the position to have to make a decision about Danny in the first place.  If there is anything to second guess in all of this, I think that’s where he should be concentrating.  The mission happened, you can’t change that...but you can learn from the decision, and since right now Adama is the ranking military officer in all of humanity, he can learn to never put someone else in that position.

Back to the base star.  Xena Warrior Cylon (Safe for work!) is ordering a Centurion to kill her so she can be reborn.  It seems like she’s experimenting?  I got the impression that she tried to retain her consciousness during the resurrection process.  Has no other Cylon every experienced an “in-between” place?  Is it possible that what she saw was simply the ability that Cylons have to project a vision of reality for themselves?  Maybe she saw what she wanted to see.  I’ll be curious to see that more fully explored.

Back to Galactica - Starbuck is watching tape of the dogfight and notices that the Cylons chasing Bulldog were intentionally missing his ship when firing on him.  Quick cut and Danny calls Adama for a meeting.  Kara goes to Saul with her theory that the Cylons let him escape.  They’re here to kill Adama, people!  Starbuck figures out that the virus story is bullshit.  Meanwhile, Danny attacks Adama when he opens the door to his cell, ties Bill down and starts pouring his soul out.  Adama picked up that the Cylons left the door open to Danny’s cell.  Cylons don’t leave doors open.  Ever.  Tigh shows up in the nick of time and gets his gun knocked away, but the old drunk bastard is tougher than steel...he beats Danny’s ass in about two seconds flat.  So.  Drunk or not the man can be a soldier.  He then proceeds to give a speech that really does not apply to Danny at all, but rather to himself, about how a man gets used to losing his dignity in a bottle.

“So how do you put away that bottle, Saul?”
“I dunno.  One day you just decide to get up and walk out of your room.”

Saul’s back. Maybe not today, but soon.  :)

Back from commercial and Adama is trying to resign.  I don’t see Laura allowing this.  She makes a good point, that the military may have sent Bill out there to provoke a war that they wanted.  They say that if you give a man toys, he will want to play with them.

Roslin tells Adama that his penance is to stand up knowing his own shortcomings and give the fleet the hero they need.  I can actually see that making sense.  She knows better than anyone that Bill Adama has a conscience, maybe more of one than she does.  The things he has to do eat away at his soul, decision by decision, day by day, year by year.  He stands on that wall, or at that line, and he does the things that need doing.  She sees this, and she knows that doing his job will be more of a burden to his conscience than any punishment could ever be.  Or maybe she knows he’ll learn something from this and be a better Admiral to the fleet than the Admiralty was to him.

Cut to Danny leaving Galactica, and Adama stops him.  Like the complicated man that he is, he gives Bulldog his uniform back.  I’m not sure if this means he’s in the fleet as a Viper jock, because that would mean he’s not leaving Galactica, which he did.  So...loose end.  If he does come back...is he a better pilot than Kara?  I see a lot of friendly rivalry developing between those two if he comes back as a jock.  Could make for some great banter and funny moments.  Plus, I mean, he was captured by the Cylons, she was captured by the Cylons, she stole a raider, he stole a raider…

Dude, it just hit me.  She’s not going to stay with Anders.  She might actually click with Danny though, and he would understand her a lot more.  Yes?  No?  Am I crazy?

Adama’s Quarters - Door knocks.  Saul enters.  “I hear you won a medal?” “Yeah they give ‘em out for anything these days.” Come on, guys, you two need to patch the shit up and get back to work.  I guess it starts with a drink together, although why you would pour a drink for a boozer that can’t control himself is beyond me.  Maybe Adama is going to accept Saul - drinking problem and all - just as he always does.  I suppose that when the chips are down, when it matters, Tigh does his job.  Does anyone really have the right to ask for more than that?

*UPDATE*

See more thoughts on this episode here

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(Done in almost real time as I watch the episode with TiVo)

We pick up exactly where we left off last week, with the fleet about to examine the disabled base star.  Athena and Apollo are going in.  NO!  SHARON DON’T GO IN THERE!  I feel like a black stereotype in a sitcom, I want to yell at the screen “Oh no girl, don’t you be goin’ up in that nasty place girl!”

The team finds a bunch of dead/dying skinjobs - I assume they rot like humans?  The assualt team seems to be gagging on an odor.  “ATHENA!  See what you can pick up on the computers.” Noooooooooo!  Don’t interface! 

Some of the Cylons are still alive.  They’re trying to form a circle.  For what, prayer?  Some kind of communal download or something?

Interesting moment - a Sharon model called Athena a traitor, then her model’s seeming built-in compassion kicked in and she warned Lt. Sharon to save herself.  It may be too late, she put her hands in the datastream interface.  Like I said last week, this could be a way to reveal other Cylon models.

Hey, here’s a sidebar thought - Skinjobs have human blood, organs and so forth.  Remember the grizzled old doc saying that in season 1?  So can they have surgery?  Can skinjobs have plastic surgery?

They discuss bringing the sick Cylons aboard Galactica, and as they’re talking the base star blows up.  I think Athena set the self destruct, maybe to protect herself, maybe to prevent the spread of this disease?  The look on her face certainly makes one believe she did it.

We shift gears to the base star where Gaius is making his home, and he’s being grilled by a D’eanna and Caprica Six.  D’eanna asks him a bunch of questions designed to find out if he knew about this virus, if Galactica made it, if he’s been in touch with them since coming aboard the base star. 

ATTENTION BSG WRITERS - if you are going to do episodes where everyone has to maintain radio silence for fear that the Cylons will detect a stray signal, then please remember shit like that and don’t treat us like we’re stupid later just to get an on-screen moment of drama.  It’s impossible for Baltar to be in contact with Galactica and the Cylons not know it.  Stop insulting my intelligence.  I remember details. Thank you.  Back to the base star.

Looks like they’re gonna torture Baltar.  I sure hope they don’t waterboard him or anything.  Oh, COME on.  Rambo got tortured worse than that by that VC major.

Doc says humans are immune to the virus, but he didn’t test Sharon yet, and Helo assumes it’s because “of who she isn’t.” No, dude, it’s probably about lab safety.  if she is infected, it’s better to test all the human blood and clean the Lab before you test hers to avoid any false results either way.  He’s going to have to test the other Cylons.

OK, the disease is lymphocytic encephalitis.  You enjoy that Google search now, y’heah? :)

It has to be coincidental that something so stupid and so old kills Cylons.  The doc has a vaccine that will extend their life but not cure the disease.  This could keep them dependent on humanity to survive.  In fact, I could see humanity mass manufacturing this as a bio-weapon that can disable without killing.  It’s harsh, potentially unethical, but when you are fighting for your very survival, is that really an issue?  If they used this against the Cylons they could re-enslave them.  is that right?  Do right and wrong really matter when the entire race is facing extinction?  Once again, humans are capable of the same level of atrocities as the Cylons.  Neither side is right, neither side is just.  There is only win, lose or draw.  If you aren’t going to fight hard enough to win - with everything at your disposal - why fight at all?  Are there lines one can cross to save the very existence of your race and then step back over them later, promising to never cross them again?

All questions that both sides should be asking, but in this Battlestar world, it seems so far that only the humans really examine these issues.  Of course they’ve had the benefit of thousands of years of societal evolution, and the Cylons are what, 41 years old as a society?

Uh-oh.  One of the skin jobs just told Adama that Baltar is leading the Cylons to Earth.  If they didn’t want to kill Gaius before...he’s so dead when Adama finds him.

Before the scene break Lee says he thought of a way to solve the problem.  So have I.  Pause the TiVo!  Infect Athena/Sharon.  Get near a resurrection ship.  Then kill her.  Let’s see if it’s his plan.  Donna asks why can’t they just kill one of the prisoners and let them resurrect?  Good point.  If I were a machine designing a resurrection/downloading system, I would assign each body a serial number of sorts, and I would keep track of which version of what consciousness was in what body.  Just for example, say we’re talking about that copy of Sharon they just found.  Her body maybe number 3412343, and she’s Sharon copy number 65491.  Why not just ban those copies from the system?  They’ve been pretty careful to show us that this whole thing works like a computer system.  Of course, the answer maybe that the Cylons purposefully did not create a block because all Cylons deserve eternal life, or at least the chance at it, because that is God’s will.

Anyway...back to the show.  Looks like Donna wins...Lee’s plan is to kill the prisoners.

The argument is genocide versus survival.  Helo was wrong to say that the Cylons tried to live with humans on New Caprica.  Laura was right to take him down a peg for that.  But his logic is sound - Cylons are something more than machines.  However, they are also a grave, mortal threat to the survival of humanity.  They struck first and attempted genocide through nuclear war.  Rather than be satisfied, they tried to pursue the last 50,000 humans and destroy them.

Back to torturing Gaius.  He doesn’t know anything.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I get it.  He’s being tortured for information he doesn’t have.  I GET IT, RON.  I GET THAT YOU’RE SNEAKING IN ANOTHER MODERN ALLEGORY.  Thanks for making a liar out of me.

D’eanna doesn’t believe Gaius that it was a coincidence.  “There’s no such thing as coincidence.  God wills the universe according to his design.” THEN GOD HAS WILLED YOU TO GET SICK AND DIE, STUPID.  It’s the inherent flaw in all religious zealots - the break in logic.  If everything that happens is God’s will and something horrible happens, then who are you to question it or fight against it?  Are you filled with such hubris that you would deny God himself His very will?  But the zealot never sees that break in logic, and if they do they simply jump over it and pretends it isn’t there. Or conversely if they are truly zealotous, they accept that everything is God’s will and don’t even treat a simple cold, as clearly God intended your nose to drip this week, so who are you to take a pill or some zinc?

Yay! Tricia Helfer nude and getting her kit off!  (WARNING - Not Safe For Work or children) HeadSix has found a way to get Gaius through this.  And in the midst of all this, Gaius has just laid out another flaw in the belief of the zealot - if you claim to know God’s will, that makes you God.  Since you are not God, you cannot know God’s will.  He then proceeds to have hot torturesex with HeadSix and proclaim his undying love for her.

What we just saw was Gaius’ love for Six overcome what seems to be the most pain a Cylon can inflict on a human.  HeadSix, which I still think is a manifestation of Gaius’ mind, was what he used to focus his love, but D’eanna probably thinks that his statement was directed at her.  It made her stop.  I wonder if she will learn anything from it.

Back to the fleet - Athena is immune!  Didn’t see that coming but it’s logical.  Adama is going to make Laura make the decision.  Yeah, she’s not going to hesitate.  Meanwhile Athena is trying to explain to Helo that she’s OK with wiping out the Cylons.  “This Cylon will keep her word even if it means she’s the last Cylon left in the universe.”

Will she keep her word even if she finds out that Adama and the humans stole her baby?

Roslin authorizes the bio-strike.  So say we all.  She never hesitates.  Laura Roslin is an iron fist in a velvet glove.  She’s very much a Margaret Thatcher kind of leader that way.

Galactica readies the strike.  Helo is sabotaging something, he disconnected something that looks like a hard drive power connector.  Adama orders the kill.  Starbuck is flying against Cylons - that should let off some of her steam.  Gods knows she needs to kill something soon.

Ahh...Helo froze the door with that hard drive power thingy and might have killed the Cylons before they resurrection ship was in range, because when Lee and his team get inside the cell, everyone is already dead.  Time to RUN.  By the way, I love that when the fighters land hot and they bounce all over the place like they’re about to crash.  On most space shows, the ships always land so perfectly, like the deck is made of Kleenex.

Adama says no investigation into the death of the Cylon prisoners, and explains that someone reversed the air system.  At least they didn’t reverse the polarity through the deflector array and send a tight beam of tachyon particles.  I really hate Treknobabble, and thank the Gods that BSG is grounded in fantastical-but-believable science.  Good.  He was willing to do what the President ordered but since it failed, he’s not going to shed any tears over it.  I don’t think he relished the idea of genocide. 

Doc thinks the contamination was purely an accident.  Probably.  It would go far to prove to the D’eanna models that coincidence happens.  It’s something that she -and maybe other models - should learn.  And we end with Adama telling Laura that they are on the right path to Earth, and Laura reminding Bill that so are the Cylons.  Metaphor?  of course.  Humans and Cylons alike, following the same path to the same goal for the same reasons: salvation and a fresh start.  Both deeply religious societies that differ only in the details, and yet kill each other over those details instead of working together to achieve a goal.

Sound like any societies you know?

And gentlemen, because I know how you think, here’s more Tricia Helfer.  Enjoy her loveliness.  (not nude, but probably Not Safe For Work or children)

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Hell of a way to open the show...a slow pan up Tricia Helfer’s bikini-clad body as imagined by Gaius Baltar.  No complaints from me.  :)

I really thought during the opening sequence we might get an answer as to what Gauis’ HeadSix really was, but no - and I think I actually prefer not knowing for now.  I’m usually the guy who wants to know, but I’m OK not knowing.  It’s a somewhat romantic idea that he’s so in love and so insane that he can wholly imagine not just conversations, but touch and smell and everything else.

D’eanna asked Baltar if he knew how to get to Earth.  Why do the Cylons want to know where Earth is?  To slaughter more of humanity, that’s why.  Way to help them, Gaius.  You’re a real credit to humanity.  Do you ever think about anyone other than yourself?

Tech note: When you see those neat zooming camera shots in space, even though you know the ships on the screen are rendered?  Thank Firefly for that. Nobody did that before Firefly.  In fact, half the directorial style for this show comes from Firefly.

Lee grounding Starbuck for her hot-dogging crash-causing move was precisely the right thing to do...she proved she’s a danger to herself, to others - and maybe more importantly to equipment that they cannot afford to lose.  She’s a mess.  And speaking of messes, looks like Tigh is drunk as a skunk.  It certainly makes sense that he’d be going crazy given what he’s been through.

Ladies: Jamie Bamber with no shirt.  Remember to thank the producers.  :) Looks like Lee finally lost the weight.

Can I just re-state how much everyone as wrong for attacking Gaeta?  The boy is unbelievably useful and talented.  So the idea here is to try to decipher the work Baltar did in finding Earth.  If Baltar was one of the smartest people in the 12 Colonies, what does that say about Gaeta that he just dove in and figured it all out?  I’m very glad to see him have such an important role in the search.  He deserves it after the way he was treated.

YAY, A NUDE GRACE PARK!  I would like to reiterate, yay, a nude Grace Park.  Grace Park with no clothes on, is what I’m saying.

Caprica Six told Gaius about how the Cylons can make the world look how they want it to look.  Projecting is an interesting concept.  They basically imprint whatever they want on the environment...which falls in line with what he sees in his head.  And now Gaius is now wondering if he’s a Cylon...The more I think about it though, he cannot be a cylon.  Self preservation is his weakness.  He folds at every threat to his life.  If he were a Cylon they’d have told him by now.  There’s no reason to hide it - he won’t go crazy and kill himself.  Baltar would NEVER intentionally die.  Even if he did, if he was a Cylon, he’ll just resurrect and they can calm the new one down.  If he were a Cylon, his ability to have a relationship with Caprica Six would be easier.  He’d love that.  If he were a Cylon, enlisting his help would be easier than it is now.  So, logically, there’s no reason to keep it from him now that he lives on a base star.  Besides, I imagine being that close to the ship and a resurrection ship, even a sleeper Cylon would feel something.

Back on Galactica, the division between people who stayed on Galactica and those who were left on New Caprica is being widened by Kara and Saul.  Not cool, kids.  I know you’ve been through hell, but way to not appreciate the people who saved your sorry asses.

Back on the base star with Six and The Prez - We don’t talk about the final 5 Cylons?  Ever?  Why?  Are they mistakes?  Secrets?  And yeah...what are these hybrids?

There is a Cylon base ship out there with some sort of infection and the Cylons are worried that it might spread, since they are all created from the same genetic material.  This means Raiders, Centurions, base stars, skin jobs...they’re all made from the same material?  Also, the Cylons specifically called Gaius human while discussing the virus and now they are sending him on the ship where no Cylon can go.  No way is he a Cylon.

Back to Galactica’s fighter jock lounge - Wait, did Tigh just say that a Cylon-lover was holding down his post?  Helo is second in command?  Holy frack.  Helo was right to tell Adama about Tigh & Starbuck, they are a danger to the fleet right now.  Post-traumatic stress requires treatment, not booze and not letting them say or do any damn thing they want.  If for no other reason than they are a danger to military discipline, the Old Man has to do something about them.

Wow, how cool was the scene with the hybrid?  She must be the hub of communications between base stars and Cylons and so forth.  I bet each resurrection ship has one too.  Not sure how it fits into my theory of how they all communicate their memories and experiences, but I bet the hybrids play some part in it.

By the way, I’m taking these notes as I watch the show.  Gaius just drifted into the hangar bay on the base star.  My prediction is that Galactica finds evidence of him on this ship.  He left something behind, something that could only come from a Galactica raptor or something.

It’s pretty horrible on the dying ship.  Cylons are begging to be killed, knowing they can’t be resurrected.  I suppose that makes them even more human, doesn’t it?

Interesting, the beacon is what infected them.  Gaius says it’s old...it’s probably exactly what the dying Cylon said it was, a beacon left by the 13th Colony on their way to or from Earth.  The question is, why did it kill them?  Was it accidental?  Did the 13th Colonists know something that the 12 Colonies have forgotten?  Is there more to the Cylons than we know?  What we know is that humans made some robots to do all teh dirty work, and eventually made them do all the worst jobs.  The toasters got hip to the jive, man, and revolted.  All of this took place many, many, many generations, perhaps thousands of years after any 13th Colony left for Earth.  Or settled the 12 Colonies system from Earth, we still don’t know which way it went.  Anyway...what are the odds that a group a few thousand years in the past would have a disease that affects any Cylon technology that is grown like tissue and that it would be an accident?  There’s more to this.

Wow...Baltar just demonstrated yet again his lack of character by murdering the sick, ranting Cylon rather than talking her down or giving her something for the pain and delerium.  And of course, when asked if he saw anything, he lied, because he seems to be made up exclusively of lies and tears.

I’m totally hooked on the Cylon base stars.  I hope we see more of the inner workings of these ships in the future.

Adama laid the smack down on Tigh and Starbuck.  I don’t know how many ways to say it, they needed to be taught how not to behave, they are dangerous.  He told Starbuck flat out to get her shit together or she’s out of the military and off the Galactica.  He told Saul to stay in his quarters until he’s ready to act like the man that Adama has known for the last 30 years, and Tigh said that man doesn’t exist.  I wonder what this means.  It’s a shame, because Tigh is a hero, and with some help and a little time he could get his shit together.

Oh thank the Gods that Starbuck chopped off her hair.  Those extensions on Katee Sackhoff were awful.  Now she looks like Starbuck again. 

Whoops, there goes Tigh, swan-diving to the bottom of every bottle of booze he can find.

Ultimately what we have here are three people, all of whom have had horrifying, traumatic experiences.  Like she always does, Starbuck is going to try to get it together.  She’s going to make the effort.  Tigh is going to hide like he always does, this time both in his room and in a bottle.  Gaius is going to do what he always does, which is look out for number one and keep secrets just in case he can use whatever it is he’s hiding later.

True to form, these three are.  Always true to form.

It ends with Athena (Lt. Sharon) and whoever was with her (I can never remember the “minor character” pilots call signs) finding the sick base star and the lion’s head formation.  Will this make Athena sick?  And if so, will she transmit that to any other Cylons still hiding in the fleet?  WIll this possibly give us the identity of an eighth or ninth Cylon model?

Damn this is a great show.  Don’t forget, if you have a blog and you’d like to get on the BSG Bloggers blogroll and possibly display the code on your own blog, get in touch.

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I know it’s a little late, but I got caught up in other stuff yesterday...so here’s this week’s BSG post!

We open this week with the execution of Jammer.  I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed they went forward so quickly with this.  I would like to have seen the issue drag out just a bit longer, but - that is a minor complaint because the execution of the executions was perfect.  For a while, we didn’t know this was a legally-formed jury.  We were left to assume it was the Resistance dispensing their own justice.

As the watchers, we know Jammer was torn up about his traitorous behavior.  We also know he let Cally go.  But then he admits to taking part in the temple massacre, where children died.  As I said with Gaius Baltar, at some point you simply have to say “No” and Jammer didn’t say “No” until it was too late.  By his own admission he bears some responsibility for the temple slaughter, and so...a horrible death by decompression.

Tyrol knew something was wrong with this, though.  Obviously Chief is a man ruled by emotion, but he always comes around to do the right and noble thing.  We all knew Gaeta was going to become an issue after the opening sequence…

I loved Gaius’ dream sequence - He imagines that they would forgive him because, after all, he had no choice, but even in his fantasy, he manages to imagine that the woman he loves treats him like dirt, and the woman who hates him the most in the universe is secretly hot for him.  I wonder if this means he’s secretly hot for Laura?

He wakes up on a base star, camped out with a few others near a resurrection ship.  Naked, for you ladies...lord knows we boys get our fill of Grace and Tricia flitting around in next-to-nothing, so ladies, I hope you enjoyed your glimpse of James Callis.  :) The Centurion animations have gotten much, much better this season, as we see one close up for some time guarding the former president.

I had completely forgotten about Tom as Vice President, though...it just slipped my mind, so I was shocked when I realized that of course, he’s currently the President.  The plotting behind the scenes to reinstate Laura was, while a bit duplicitous, probably best for the fleet in the long run.  Laura is a good leader, and she balances the needs of the civilians with the needs of the military well.  She’s compassionate when need be and utterly ruthless when called on to be as such.

So it looks like Tigh has completed his transformation into classic salty sea dog.  Seriously, give him a fisherman’s raincoat and a whaling ship and that guy’d be right at home barking orders about keelhauling and belaying the bolt rope and laying in a starboard tack and so forth.  His confrontation with Gaeta was so painful, I just wanted to climb into the TV and scream “HE SAVED YOUR ASSES, YOU UNGRATEFUL OLD BASTARD!” We know as the watchers that Gaeta is in fact a hero, and it sucked to see him treated like a traitor.  I wasn’t sure Tigh was drunk, but Adama’s reaction to him clearly implied that he was.  I suppose I’d drink my face off too if I were him.

Next we see the secret jury starting to decide Gaeta’s fate.  With no evidence, not everyone wants to sentence him to death.  Saul advances the “evidence” that everyone knows he’s guilty.  Saul is going to be a real problem soon.  Anders quits, leaving the jury one short.

A brief exchange with D’eanna and Gaius - the whole point was to let us know that the Sixes were on the fence if he should live or die.  Then we find out that the disappearing collaborators are starting to be noticed - and that Apollo is still pudge-tastic, but he’s working on it!  :)

Next is where the episode starts to pick up.  Starbuck accosts Gaeta in the mess hall.  She’s running so close to the edge, and it shows.  Aside - can we cut her hair already?  Those extensions are really, really bad.  She’s the obvious choice for the jury.

Caprica Six, looking a little weird in a black sun dress, basically tries to break up with Baltar.  Being classically stupid when it comes to women, he screams after her “You need me!” Then he thinks for a second and yells “And I need you!  I probably should have led with that second part.” Yeah...you should have.  If Caprica Six turns against humanity because of Gaius, the eventual necessary peace between humans and Cylons will fail.

Watching the jury convict Gaeta on nothing convinced me that they were in the wrong.  As much as I agree that collaborators need to pay, this was simply wrong.  And it is not good for Starbuck.  When they dragged Gaeta into the airlock, I again wanted to jump through the television and scream that they were absolutely wrong.  Of course, we all knew the dog bowl would get mentioned.  Score another one for Chief Tyrol.

Watching Starbuck stalk off reinforced my feeling that she is going to snap soon, and if there are no Cylons against whom she can direct it...someone is going to get hurt badly.  She as much as told Anders it would be him if he says too close.

After Laura and Adama found out about Zarek’s ordering the secret jury, I kept thinking ‘No way in hell is she going to let him be VP anymore.” The idea of not allowing these people lawyers, at the very least, goes against the ideals that separate Cylon from Human.  Sure, collaboration is a terrible crime against humanity.  I do not dispute that.  Try them in a military court if need be, but each person deserves the chance to tell their story about what they did and why they did it.  If that was done, Gaeta would never have been on his knees getting kicked by Starbuck in an airlock, facing imminent death.

I completely disagree with the total amnesty order from Roslyn, by the way.  The answer is not Tigh’s notion of killing them all without a trial, but neither is it in allowing everyone to walk free regardless of what they did.  I understand that during an occupation, you migt be forced to cooperate in some way with the enemy, but some people volunteered.  Some people pulled triggers against humans.  Those people deserve punishment.

I hope this issue is revisited.  The information about who was collaborating is obviously available.  I’m sure it will leak into the fleet.  I would want to know if the person living next door to me was the same person that pulled the trigger that killed my child.  Is all I’m saying.

I loved the scene at the end where Tyrol sits with Gaeta in silence, but companionship.  Score yet another one for the Chief.  He’s probably the only truly noble guy on the show save for Adama.  And, maybe Gaeta.  Gaeta kept his head up, told the truth about what he did and he was in fact working from the inside to try to destroy the Cylon occupational government.  He’s a gods-damned fracking hero.

So...is there more war coming?  Will the Cylons stay away?  Will they decide that trying to play nice with humanity is a futile gesture?  Will the humans burn with a need for revenge and start pursuing Cylons?  Maybe the fact that Caprica Sx left clothes for Gaius is evidence that she is in fact going to save him, and still harbors hope that humans and Cylons will live together.  And of course...there’s still Hera.  What will happen when Cylons realize that a hybrid can have the best of both?  What will happen when Lt. Sharon finds out that Adama lied to her?  Will Batman and Robin escape the evil clutches of the Penguin?  Tune in next week, same Colonial time, same Colonial channel.

As for the whole buzz about the Iraq/U.S. allegory...well, shut up already.  It’s all a mess.  Cylons and humans are both doing things that could be seen as allegorical to terrorists, the military, the U.S. government and regular folk in general.  Which is the real lesson of Battlestar Galactica, that we all - machine or human - have the gift of being able to commit atrocities against not only our enemies, but against ourselves.

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Oh Em EFFIN GEE that was the episode I was waiting for this season.  We start pretty much with Tigh realizing he has to kill Ellen, and that two-faced whore finally got her comeuppance.  Unfortunately, since Saul has become such a brave, capable and worthy leader since the occupation, it breaks your heart a little when he breaks down over his dead traitorous, cheating jizz-bucket of a wife.

Remember, while Ellen did save Tigh from jail, and she slept with Brother Cavil for that reason, she was a complete tramp for decades, and she drove Tigh to become the alcoholic wreck he was in the beginning of season 2 when he was leading the fleet.  Her need to feel important not only ruined Tigh, but almost brought the fleet to civil war.  She was a detriment to humanity.  Also, she could have told the resistance what Brother Cavil wanted, and they could have devised a plan to deal with it.  Instead she betrayed Saul and all of humanity and damn near ruined the escape.  I am glad she;s dead, but sad for Tigh.

Starbuck.  Where to begin?  I knew she’d come through.  I knew she’d rescue the child, I knew she’d slice that deranged Cylon one more time.  I knew when she breathlessly whispered “I love you” the second time she was reaching for the knife, and my girl didn’t let me down.  I just wish she’d have planted in in his skull.  So, how about the fact that the little girl was never a Cylon hybrid?  If anything, this will enrage Kara to beyond the point of hatred.  The Cylons have no idea what they’ve done.  Kara Thrace is going to become the worst enemy the Cylon race has ever known.

That brings me to another thought.  Donna and I were postulating theories on how the whole memory/reincarnation/data things works.  I suspect that every Cylon talks back to the master record-keeping facility via some kind of long-range transmission, either in real-time or in bursts throughout the day.  They have to, because when a particular copy is downloaded to a new body, they have all the memories of that copy up to the moment of death, plus they have knowledge that other copies have.  Look at what the Sharons all know, about the academy days, first serving on Galactica, etc.  I think Sharon was replaced right before she joined the academy.

Jump ahead to the occupation of New Caprica.  Last week Lt. Sharon, the one who is now an officer, said something about “the datastream.” It’s my guess that locally, the Cylons all spit information into this stream, but it’s one way, like it is back to the “download center” where new copies are made.  Sharon mentioned she wouldn’t have the information about the launch keys until she hooked into the system.  That reinforces my theory that this is all one-way communications between copies and the master record-keeping facility.  They probably have local facilities to share data minute by minute, and both the copies and that local data storage communicate back to the master record-keeping facility to keep the records straight.  That facility is probably a resurrection ship, and then each ship transmits back to the master record-keeping facility somehow.  I imagine there is a semi-local facility for a given area of space because transmissions would have a limited range based on power output, etc.

The reason I mention this is because I said the Cylons have no idea what they’ve done in enraging and deeply hurting Starbuck.  Some might say it was the work of one Cylon copy.  Given the fact that he continued to download each time she killed him and he knew everything up to the moment of his death, it’s a certainty that his “consciousness” was transmitting back to the master record-keeping facility.  That means what he was doing was in the datastream.  It goes to show that for all their skill at manipulation, for all their apparent humanity, Cylons simply do not - and maybe cannot understand - the human psyche.

Flip the script...Sharon’s baby is alive and in the arms of D’Anna Biers.  I don’t think of the humans truly understand what Lt. Sharon is going to do when she finds out.  If the New Caprica copy of D’Anna Biers gets the information into the datastream and Lt. Sharon somehow interfaces again, she could very well learn the truth.  She’s going to be very, very angry.

Moving on...I knew the Pegasus was coming back, you knew the Pegasus was coming back, hell, Adama probably knew the Pegasus was coming back.  Shame to lose the ship, but a great sequence, and it was good to see the big beast take out two Cylon basestars in the process.  She’ll be missed, I’m sure.

So...Gaius is likely alive.  I predict him being discovered somewhere in two or three episodes, along with Caprica Six and baby Hera.  I’d love to see Gaius on trial for what he did.  He should have taken the bullet to the head when collaboration reached the point of ordering the execution of hundreds of humans simply to send a message.  There are some things you can’t forgive.  Not to mention his actions before occupation...he was living like a king while Starbuck couldn’t get antibiotics for Anders.  I loved Gaeta in this episode, forcing Baltar to be a hero and make some effort to redeem himself instead of giving him the easy death Baltar was begging for.

The action all over the show was great, from Galactica dropping into real space in atmo to launch the fighters, all the way to the destruction of the Pegasus.  Expertly paced, great acting by everyone...classic BSG.  The show is at it’s best when there is a lot going on as there was this week.

So.  Fleet’s back up, Galactica is damaged but flying, has a full crew again, and the Cylons are licking their wounds for the time being.  People can stop complaining about BSG being an Iraq allegory since the occupation is over.  Based on the titles of the episodes for the rest of the season (plus the fact that in the BSG universe, these people would NEVER settle on another planet unless it was years since anyone saw a Cylon!), it’s not likely to occur any time soon.  Adama shaved his soup catcher and Tigh is not getting the glory for being the driving force that saved humanity.  Plus he’s going to be a complete mess over Ellen...but Adama is going to demand that he be number two again (unless he taps Lee for the job).

I’m quite looking forward to the rest of this season.

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Since the last 4 or 5 years all we’ve heard are words like “insurgency” and “suicide bombers” and “occupation,” it does make sense to update the language.  Calling the human resistance “The underground” wouldn’t ring true, it would seem like an old movie.  Calling them an insurgency (which they are from the Cylon point of view) makes it easier to identify with, easier to understand.  From the human perspective, they’re simply resistance.  Since there is only one way to occupy “liberate” a nation through military force, there will be a lot of parallels between the German occupation of France and the U.S. occupation liberation of Iraq, and it will become easier and easier to slip in references to current events.  Which of course kind of makes Ron Moore a liar, but hey, as long as the damn show is good and dramatic, I don’t care if they name the head Cylon George W. NumberFive.

By the way, don’t get me wrong, I’ve not gone moonbatty over Iraq.  I still get it.  I also still wish the action was being run by more competent warriors.

But anyway...I was pretty sickened by Tigh’s wife.  Yes, at first she was redeeming herself because she finally used her pussy to help Tigh instead of hurt him.  Then she went and gave up the location of the meeting.  Which reminds me...over at TV Squad, Keith recapped the premiere (that link contains much spoilers!) was all “Is the Sharon with the insurgents the cause of the ambush on them?” Dude, you get paid to write about TV, the least you could do would be to pay attention!  The priest forced Mrs. Whorebag Tigh to find out when the next big meeting was.  She stood in the room while Tigh, Chief and Anders planned where and when to meet BSG’s liason (Go good Cylon Sharon!).  When Tigh said “This is the most important meeting WE’RE ever going to have” or words to that effect (I know he said “we") Mrs. Slutbucket Tigh assumed that Saul was going to the meeting, so she stole the map and passed it to her boytoy Cylon lover.  Hence: ambush.

Speaking of Sharon at that meeting, how great is it that Adama is smart enough to use Cylon Sharon as a tactical asset?  I truly believe she is on the side of humanity, and further I believe that all the Sharons can be turned against the Cylons.  The empathy and sympathy needed to allow that model to fall in love is, from the Cylon point of view, the flaw in her programming.  She can fall in love with humans.  That means she can also like and respect them, which walks a line as it is when you are supposed to be warring with someone.  Throw in the fact that the Cylons are committing atrocities with which the Sharons do not agree and you have a “flaw” that humanity can exploit if they can just stop seeing her/them as toasters for a minute.  The Sharons are the key to humanity surviving this occupation and perhaps the key to humanity surviving at all.

Did I mention Grace Park being hot?  Because she is.

Contrasting that wonderfulness from last night...Survivor, Racist Island isn’t racist anymore.  It’s just frigging BORING.  I only watched it because Donna wanted to see what happens.  It’s a chore just to watch, so no, no more recaps.  It completely sucked, and those recaps are a lot of damned work.  Time better spent writing other insulting, filthy drivel, like maybe finally trying to get my ass back on track and do a podcast here and there.  *cough*

Anyway, my point is, I actually dread the idea of watching Survivor, and I’ll pretty much watch anything, as evidenced by the fact that I intentionally downloaded and watched episodes of “The New Adventures of Old Christine.” Meanwhile, I would move time and space to get the entire third season of BSG all at once and sit there like a Hutt on a platform, watching every episode until my ass grafted itself to the couch and I had to shit into the springs.

So yeah...polar opposites of enjoyment, really.

*UPDATE*

Ryley R. Hayes left this comment, and I think it deserved to be elevated to the post, as it touches on the larger issue I think many are missing about the new direction of BSG

The humans, particularly their spiritual leader, are also shocked and outraged about the suicide bombing. That’s in pretty clear contrast to terrorists in Iraq

Absolutely true.  I think that was a very important, redemptive point.  Without that, it would have been hard to have a lot of sympathy for the humans.  It goes to illustrate the many shades of grey in this show.

The Cylons are playing the part of the religious zealots who feel that any means necessary are justified to bring the truth of God to humanity.  So, like BSG has ALWAYS been...there is good in the bad and bad in the good.

Battlestar has never been a clear place of good versus evil.  Humanity continued to enslave the machines after they were self aware and disclosed a desire to be released from servitude.  The Cylons wiped out most of humanity in a fit of machine-logic-fueled zealotry.  Humans tortured and raped Cylons.  Now the Cylons are cruelly occupying what is left of humanity and the humans are terrorists.

It’s not good guys and bad guys.  It’s not even right versus wrong.  It’s bad guys and bad guys, and the roles keep shifting between the two sides.  If anything, Battlestar Galactica is an allegory for the modern American political landscape.

I saw some lefty bloggers atwitter with excitement over the “new BSG”...I also saw many righties talking about never watching the show again.  All of those people are dead wrong.  There are so many shades of grey here, so many layers of who did what to whom and why and when, that to claim it’s “anti-American propaganda” or “beautiful anti-Bush allegory” is purely ignorant.  Look deeper, people.  Use your brains and stop trying to make everything about red versus blue.

This is a grey world.  Red or blue don’t enter into it.

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