In the second season finale of Battlestar Galactica, what the fuck. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
It’s been three days now. I don’t know how to write this.
I know that many of you understand this, and those of you who watched this show in real time, I’m sure you went through something similar. In the seventy-two hours since I finished “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II,” I’ve started this review four times, erased it, and worked on something else. That night I watched it, I didn’t fall asleep until nearly two a.m. Surprise! I was thinking about what I’d just seen.
This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, but it feels like the first time it’s happened to this degree. Until I started Mark Watches, I hadn’t seen very many television shows to completion, and I wasn’t even following any shows in real time. Since LOST had ended, I’d tried a few things and found nothing to fill in the gap that show left behind. On top of that, I was just busy. Did I have the time to invest in another show? Would I even want to try? The truth is that I am obsessed with completeness. I do the same thing with music and books. I am not content merely reading a single book in a series or by a particular author. I don’t listen to singles. I want full records, and then I want to explore that artists discography.
In trying to cope with the final twenty minutes or so of the season two finale, I’ve thought about the few finales I’ve been able to witness live, and how they’ve affected me. Mark Watches is largely about the experience of traveling through shows, and I think that it’s just as important as the content of these programs. So it got me thinking: Why do I have these reactions to a television show? What is it about the story and the visuals that triggers such a response in me?
Back in 2008, the season four finale of LOST aired on the night before I was leaving Los Angeles to head to San Francisco to participate in my very first AIDS/LifeCycle ride. (Shameless self-promotion: I already signed up to do my fifth year on the ride. GONNA HIT $10,000 THIS YEAR.) I was already incredibly nervous; the idea of riding my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles was terrifying. I was doing some last-minute packing in my studio, and my boyfriend at the time, and two other friends were there with me. We were all mildly freaking out about the ride, and decided it would be best to distract ourselves with the finale. (Plus, I’M SORRY, NOT WAITING A WEEK TO SEE IT, TYVM.)
I’m not going to talk about the content of that episode. If you’ve seen it, obviously you know what I’m referring to, but it’s one of a few game-changers during the run of that show. (Actually, seasons three and five also had ridiculous finales as well, but they didn’t hold the same weight because of the environment I was in for season four.) But when that thing happened, and then that other thing happened, and nothing made sense and there was a clear sign that this show could not go back and write away what we just saw, it was like my mind broke. WHAT. WHAT WHAT WHAT.
That is about 50% of what my experience was watching “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II.” Maybe that.
There was nothing particularly special about this evening. As I revealed in the comments of “Sacrifice,” I have a wedding coming up that’s going to cut into my normal writing schedule, so I’m using my free time these days to get ahead of myself instead of only being a few eps/chapters ahead of my real-time posting. I had finished all my Battlestar Galactica reviews, so on Monday, the twelfth, I thought…what the hell. I need to be ahead of myself anyway, so why not watch the episode?
I had ideas of what I wanted to write about as I was watching the episode: The moral crisis Roslin faces; Adama’s wonderful statement that stealing an election would eat Roslin alive (and it would); the dismissive and rude comments from Starbuck to Lee and the pain it caused him; Cally forgiving Tyrol; the reveal that Cavil is a Cylon, and the subsequent “message” he delivers, showing us that Caprica Six and Boomer’s message of peace and misguided violence got through to the other Cylons; Gaeta’s own desire to do what’s right, even if it means reporting his fellow crew; Gina Six rejecting Baltar’s request to go to New Caprica. I had the whole review written in my head. It was only a matter of seeing the final image at the end that would frame the whole thing.
I didn’t check to see how long this finale was. I just pressed play on Netflix. It’s part of the reason this hit me so hard. I thought it was a standard forty-five minute episode. But suddenly we’re at that point, and we’re watching Baltar be sworn in as president, and everything just feels wrong, it just feels so terribly awful, and he orders Adama to begin the colonization of New Caprica. God, the name. New Caprica.
Nothing feels right.
And we cut to Gina, who sits next to the nuclear warhead that Baltar gave her, and it’s been activated, and I know in my heart that this is how this will end. Baltar gave her this bomb as a gesture of good will, and she is returning the favor. On Baltar’s first day as President of the fleet, she’ll set off a bomb and it’ll cut to black.
It doesn’t. The bomb destroys Cloud 9 and a number of ships around it. It’ll cut to black now, right? This is how season two ends, right? You all had told me I was never prepared for the cliffhanger this season gave me, and this was one hell of a way to go out. I would have been very pleased, my brain would have been sufficiently turned to mush, and I would have praised the second season of Battlestar Galactica until the cows came home. I don’t have cows, and they couldn’t even fit in my apartment if I wanted them to, but that’s neither here nor there. I thought this was the end. And I was happy.
A report is dropped on Baltar’s desk. Adama says this might be the prelude to a Cylon attack, and you can see in Baltar’s eyes that he knows who set off the bomb, and deep down, he thinks he knows why she did it. But he ignores all of this. Colonization must continue. They must press forward, and he orders Adama to carry out the colonization of New Caprica.
One.
Year.
Later.
No. NO WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? A year later? You’re going to show me the future? Wait, it’s the same desk Baltar sat at but…………oh. oh my god. It’s really a year later. Baltar is still president. It’s a disaster. Oh my god, GAETA WORKS FOR BALTAR? oh my god he’s drunk and hung over and what the fuck is going on. This is how it’s going to end, isn’t it? A sign that Roslin was right, that having Baltar as president was the worst thing for the fleet.
And it’s here that I briefly paused “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II” and saw that there was AT LEAST TEN MINUTES LEFT. As I tried to comprehend this, I knew that every warning y’all gave me was not enough. This isn’t just being unprepared. This is not realizing you’ve stepped out onto a busy highway and Ronald Moore is controlling the 18-wheeler that’s barreling down on you, and just when you realize where you are and what’s going on, a gigantic pterodactyl swoops out of the sky and eats you for breakfast.
There is no turning back. No, read that again: THERE IS NO TURNING BACK. Moore and the writers have taken Battlestar Galactica into a frightening new direction and there is no way to write themselves out of it. The fleet is on New Caprica. They’ve been there for a year. You cannot erase this. You can’t make it a dream. You can’t make it a hallucination. The fleet is on New Caprica, and they’ve been there a year.
It’s here that I came to realize that all those plot threads left hanging at the end of “Part I” of this finale were not stories seeded throughout season two to be resolved neatly in the end. The story of Tyrol’s descent into depression and identity crisis was not going to end with him finding out he’s a Cylon or anything of the sort. Starbuck’s romantic feelings for Lee and Anders would not lead to her choosing one or the other in order to provide dramatic tension. Roslin’s campaign was not leading to the war between her and Baltar. These were all parts of the story, yes, but they were parts of the early chapters. Because in this final episode, this show has been hinting all along that there was something much larger waiting for us.
New Caprica is real. And it is fucked up.
I have watched the “One Year Later” portion four times since the twelfth. I can’t believe it. That’s not a statement about it being incredulous or unnecessary or ridiculous. It’s precisely the opposite: it’s the most sensical direction for this story to go. It takes every bit of character growth over the course of season two and expands it to its logical conclusion. We don’t wait until season three to see this. It’s in the finale.
WHO DOES THIS. Who takes a risk so gigantic and enormous and possibly fan-enraging? I could see people hating this, despite that I loved it with all of my heart. I could see this being written, but botched in execution. I could even see a future where this was written poorly. But none of those things happened. This show took a risk and gave us a season finale that not only contextually rewrites everything we’ve just experienced over the previous nineteen episodes, but quite firmly places events on a path that is unmistakable and rigidly defined. (Not in the sense that there’s only one way the story can go from here, but in the sense that there’s only one way by which the story got to this point.)
There’s no turning back.
And so, in just ten minutes’ time, we are given an entirely new world. Baltar’s New Caprica is an administrative failure, a collision of bad ideas, bad planning, and rampant corruption from a man who believes he is too good to deal with what he’s created. The military fleet, included both Battlestars, have been rendered useless. Admiral Adama (WHO BROUGHT BACK HIS SWEET STACHE THANK THE LORD) seems to have returned to the same carefree person he was at the beginning of the miniseries, only this time he’s quietly disillusioned by the events of the past year. His son is still running the Pegasus, with Dualla at his side as the XO. (I think? I mean, that seems like the position she’s in.) On the Galactica, Helo seems to be working Adama. Did he take Gaeta’s position? Who knows at this point? The team is rusty, slowed by the lack of any real action needed for the past year.
The contrast between the fleet, which acts as security, and New Caprica is blatant and painful. New Caprica is a mess, and we see all of this through the eyes of Starbuck, who, by the way, looks flawless with long hair. And I know that I’m essentially explaining this to death, but LOOK IT’S WHAT I DO. By using Starbuck, whose appearance alone is shocking, the writers take this familiar, comforting character (UM SHE COMFORTS ME SHUSH) to introduce us to one WHAT THE FUCK after another. Tyrol is a union leader. Cally is with him and pregnant. Starbuck and Anders are MARRIED. ANDERS IS PROBABLY DYING OF PNEUMONIA and when Starbuck calls Lee on the Pegasus to see if she can get antibiotics, it’s clear that her actions upon her return hurt Lee quite badly. AND ROSLIN IS A TEACHER! Oh god, there’s so much awkwardness here, but ROSLIN IS TEACHING. IT IS SO PERFECT. And Maya is her assistant? AND HERA IS THERE. WHAT THE FUCK. WHERE IS SHARON. WHERE IS SHE.
WHAT ARE ALL THESE FEELINGS RUNNING THROUGH ME??? I AM CONFUSED. I AM LOST. I AM EXCITED. I AM TERRIFIED.
Giving us life on New Caprica, however small of a glimpse it is, is not enough for the people who create this show. And I should have known. I should have known every second of this finale that whatever ended the entire thing, it would be something that would remind me that I am in control of nothing, and that half of the enjoyment from Battlestar Galactica comes from the fact that I’ve placed my trust in people who routinely take me to dark, uncomfortable, and shocking places. I should have known.
I didn’t. And when the Cylons arrive, and I stare, gaping at the terror on Dualla’s face when she realizes what happens, and as I start shrieking at the screen when Adama orders the fleet to LEAVE THEM ALL BEHIND and make a jump away from New Caprica, I know that there is not a second of anything y’all could have done short of spoiling me that would prepare me for the future.
The Cylons arrive, and the Conoy model searches for Starbuck while copies of numbers five, six, and eight meet with President Baltar. But it’s Caprica Six and Boomer Eight. THE very Cylons who convinced the others that their extermination of the human race was wrong. They came back. And how did they come back?
Traces of the nuclear explosion set off by Gina Six.
Baltar begins to cry. I don’t even think it’s fear. I think it’s an epiphany. An epiphany over the fact that the very event that began his presidency is probably what will be his undoing. And maybe there’s a part of him that just thought, “My god, what have I done?” Any way you put it, he choose to surrender, giving control of New Caprica to the Cylons.
Starbuck, meanwhile, is not as giving as Baltar. (Has she ever been?) We close out “Lay Down Your Burdens” with a message from her rebellious heart: She’ll resist the Cylon occupation until she can’t.
Never. Fucking. Prepared.
It Has Been Five-and-a-Half Years Since This Episode Aired
You know a good place not to watch BSG? In the same room with a paper shredder and a screaming fourth grader.
What the frak was that? No, really…what the frak was that? I…don't know what to say.
It was like a string of anticlimaxes tied around a basket of WTF.
I'm glad Dean Stockwell's a Cylon, and I hope we see his model again. He's very amusing. I am pretty annoyed that we didn't actually get to see the Cylon Revolution, but I understand that the show's not about them and "Downloaded" was a gift. It would make their "Oh, yeah, our bad" a little easier to swallow, though.
The election-rigging plot was pretty good, and it showed us a bit of the old Dualla. Plus, it gave Gaeta something to do. And it provided for one of those delicious moral dilemmas the show relishes. Very nice conversation between Adama and Roslin.
Why didn't Sharon tell anyone about the Cylon coming back with them? Is it her time for suicidal angst? Does the show care anymore? Helo does, the poor sap.
Why is the planet named New Caprica? What about the other eleven colonies? Is there a Caprican majority? And where the hell did Baltar pick up a British accent?
By the way, I'm going to miss seeing the CYLON-OCCUPIED CAPRICA card. CYLON-OCCUPIED NEW CAPRICA doesn't have the same ring to it. But I get ahead of myself.
Baltar and Pegasus Six, huh? Nicely done scene there with the intercutting. My uncle commented that the music made it sound like he was going to his death. If he only knew.
And then. KABOOM.
The awful thing about Baltar is you realize that he's actually crying for his dead girlfriend, not for however many people died in the blast.
But he's just as great a president as expected: "I don't have to listen; I'm the President!" What are you, five? Yes, he's five. And he has no idea how to handle a responsibility like that.
Up until the nuclear blast, the episode has been distinctly unexciting with some good moments, but it is at this point that the episode goes to hell.
The last half hour is like some sort of cracked-out fanfic AU thing.
ONE. YEAR. LATER.
TO. BE. CONTINUED.
Okay: nicely done transition, I'll give them that. But Jesus Christ, what a wasted opportunity to show us…I don't know, EVERYTHING. They never even told us the extent of the destruction from the nuclear blast. I don't know; I can understand that maybe showing us a broken, torn-apart race trying to rebuild a civilization in the wake of political upheaval could be boring. OR MAYBE NOT. I feel like way too much happened in this episode in order to get them to the finale cliffhanger. It was like we were being told a story rather than watching it. They could have cut some of the filler eps out and stretched this content out longer to A) make it more exciting and interesting and B) ease the transition (when I said "nicely done" I meant in respect to what they were going for).
Now: what the HELL happened to everyone?
Gaeta is the new Billy, and Helo is the new Gaeta. Adama has a really bad mustache. Kara has longer hair and is MARRIED to Anders?! MARRIED? Because their relationship is based on love and trust and not, say, survivor sex? Doc Cottle managed to age TEN YEARS in the course of 380 days? Chief never shaves anymore, and he's now knocked up Cally? Lee and Dee are STILL TOGETHER?! Because they have ANY REASON TO BE TOGETHER? Roslin is a schoolteach—wait, that one makes sense.
So the Cylons arrive, as of course they were always going to, but why? What happened to "Our bad"? What happened to AND THEY HAVE A PLAN? Was it all lies?
And, see, by this time, I've become so disillusioned with the show that I can't even appreciate the utter coolness that I know is coming, of however many Cylon models are going to walk through that door. First: Doral! Second: Sharon! Third: Six! Is it Six? I think it is. Oh, it is. But I can't even appreciate this moment either because nothing makes sense anymore.
Now the Cylons just want to subjugate humanity for the fun of it? Because it's cool?
One thing I did love was that it all went right back to Baltar again, and you can see that horrifying realization dawn on him when he learns that it was Pegasus Six's nuke, the one that he gave to her, that alerted the Cylons to their location. But for some reason it took an ENTIRE YEAR for them to bother to pay a visit?
I really don't know what to say. Do I chalk it up to a bad viewing environment? I don't know what the frakking hell happened to my show, and I don't know where they're going with this, and I won't have that hard a time waiting till October now. Which is unfortunate because I really wanted to be awesomed by this finale.
Props to Bear McCreary, though. The music was excellent throughout.
They said they detected the radiation signature when they were a light year away. Which would make it one year later. Or just before they arrived at New Caprica.
They picked it up a light-year away. They picked it up not long before jumping to New Caprica, but it took a year for the radiation to reach the part of space where they were when they detected it.
It didn't take them a year to get to New Caprica. It took a year for the signal from the nuclear blast to get to them, at which point they just jumped to New Caprica.
Also, I think you meant Adama's AWESOME mustache.
I wondered that about Baltar's accent since the first episode lol.
Kara has longer hair and is MARRIED to Anders?! MARRIED?
(my own paraphrased observations from five years ago)
Not to mention she and Lee are no longer friends, and I have a bad feeling the two facts are connected somehow (not sure how, but has to be something MAJOR because he wouldn't let go of her just for having someone else, right?).
And: OMG CYLONS CAME BACK BALTAR WHAT DID YOU DO WHAT THE FRAAAAAAAKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!
And: OH SHIT the creepy one's looking for Starbuck PLEASE LET HER NOT BE CAUGHT AND PLEASE LET HER BE BADASS.
*sigh* oh, show, you motherfrakker.
"I don't have to listen; I'm the President!" What are you, five?
It's such an interesting contrast to Roslin's whole being president means you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone, exactly because of the difference in how they say it. With Roslin you can't help but respect it but from Gaius you want to tell him to grow up and accept his responsibility.
re: Baltar's accent, it's not that hard – if we have the number of accents we do on just a single planet, think of how people would sound if there were fifty billion of them across TWELVE different planets.
The trick is not to think of them as countries (with a single typical accent from each) , though effectively they pretty much are.
The awful thing about Baltar is you realize that he's actually crying for his dead girlfriend, not for however many people died in the blast.
If by awful you mean awesome. I mean, awesome in that he's well-characterized. Not awesome as in yay for people dying and selfish dudes.
This episode features the premiere of one of the more amusing characters in this show: Fat!Lee. I'm sorry, I cannot ever believe Jamie Bamber in a fat suit. Despite the ~omg seriousness~ of this show, he still makes me giggle when he's on the screen.
Never, ever prepared Mark.
I cannot ever take Fat!Lee seriously as a character. I'm sorry, it's just…it's not that he's fat. It's that it just looks like Lee in a fat suit.
how dare you! I love Fat!Lee!!! and Pornstache!Adama
No, pornstache Adama is awesome, I'm with you there. 😛
Fat!Lee looks like a bloated hamster or a fat, grumpy cat. I can't not love him!
Pornstache!Adama is the shit. Fat!Lee just makes me want to hire a new makeup department.
Truth. I get it, but they didn't quite pull that one off.
That's totally it. I would be fine if it didn't look so completely ludicrous.
Fat!Lee is the greatest thing ever. The first time I saw him, I was like…wait, is that…is he…IS HE WEARING A PROSTHETIC DOUBLE CHIN?
Apollo spent the year pigging out on octagonal donuts.
Between that and the hair, he looked ten years older. My god.
Every time I think about Fat!Lee my boyfriend and I end up singing Fat Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee tulibu dibu douchooooooooooo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQt-h753jHI
WHAT JUST HAPPENED. I thought this show would forever take place in space with the humans hiding from the Cylons, and maybe the very last episode they’d find Earth. Super boring, I know, but I was DEFINITELY DEFINITELY not expecting this AT ALL.
– Cally 🙁 I wasn’t expecting to see her like that, especially not at the very beginning. So, so sad
– CYLONS, WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?! Was Caprica!Cavil lying? How did Six and Eight convince all the Cylons to go along with them?
– Totally thought there was going to be a Lee+Kara+Sam threesome BUT NO it turned super awkward and sad and so much second hand embarrassment! SO MUCH.
– ROSLIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!! EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT.
– D’AAAAW GAETA I LOVE YOU!
– I love fat Lee
– OMG IS THAT CAPRICA SIX?
– So why do the Cylons want New Caprica? I’m guessing it’s not because they want to be friends. OH GOD WHAT IF THEY’RE DOING IT JUST TO BREED WITH HUMANS? That’s really frightening and I’m ashamed I thought of it.
ETA: Are we starting the first episode of season 3 tomorrow? I can’t remember if Mark is taking a break or not
It's my understanding we get the Season 3 Predictions tomorrow. And the web series that bridges Seasons 2 and 3 after that.
Yep!
You mean I can't start watching season 3 tonight?????? MY CREYS.
TV denial: making thumbscrews obsolete.
Oh also, what is this web series of which you speak and where can I find it?
There are probably many places you can find it online, but the best option I just turned up was this: http://www.hulu.com/playlist/13966
thank you!
It's a series of ten mini-episodes (about half an hour long total) that aired between this season and the next.
You'd think that the Sci Fi Channel would have it featured prominently on their BSG page, but it looks like the link to that page is broken. It also looks like they had it in single-video format at one point, but when I clicked on the link it said "video not found," so I guess they took it down for some reason. Annoyingly, there's a short episode summary right underneath each episode, and the page formatting means that you can't scroll up or down so it's not in view.
Hulu also has the webisodes, but I couldn't find a playlist and the main page for it is pretty darn spoilery, with loads of episode titles and screencaps from episodes.
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
Episode Five
Episode Six
Episode Seven
Episode Eight
Episode Nine
Episode Ten
ETA: And someone else found a playlist, so this comment was pretty pointless.
Thank you both for these, we just watched them and they were awesome!
thank you!!
I think there is a t-shirt somewhere that says 'I <3 FAT LEE.' I kinda want it.
I can't believe I didn't think of your last point! God, that's awful.
I really hope Gaeta wasn't ostracized by the military after going over Tigh's head. 🙁 I think working with Baltar is punishment enough.
He wouldn't have considered it a punishment*, he has a total man-crush on Baltar, remember?
* at least at first.
There was totally a whole subset of fandom devoted to fat!Lee.
is it too late for me to join?
– Totally thought there was going to be a Lee+Kara+Sam threesome
I would have been completely on board with this.
In fact, there are only a handful of TV triangles where I don't support cutting through the bullshit with some good old fashion group sexy times. Fandom has corrupted me. My Lutheran mother would be so disappointed.
All I can say is…I LOVE ADAMA'S PORN-STACHE WITH ALL MY HEART AND WILL DEFEND IT TO THE END OF TIME.
GOOD. I AM ON YOUR SIDE.
OMG. HOW COULD YOU? THE PORNSTACHE IS AN ABOMINATION.
CAN THIS TURN INTO A HUGE FAN WAR? I WILL FAN THE FLAMES OF NO-STACHE.
TEAM NO-STACHE
STACHE! STACHE! STACHE! STACHE!
SHAVE! SHAVE! SHAVE! SHAVE!
I'LL SHAVE YOUR FACE
TEAM NO-STACHE.
(in fact, I want ALL THE SUPERFLUOUS HAIR GONE – Papadama's 'stache, Tyrol's beard and yes, even Starbuck's long hair because SHE LOOKS MISERABLE WITH IT and I don't like my bb to be sad :()
Starbuck's hair is SO BAD.
I don't mind the long hair, but I spend the entirety of these two seasons wishing her hair would un-grow and be as short as it was in the first few episodes of season 1, because she was ADORABLE.
Well, Katee Sackhoff is gorgeous no matter what length her hair is, and as Kara I really love the longer hair when it's just a couple of inches past her shoulders, but the short hair is the epitome of Starbuck to me (I have a major soft corner for the little ponytail too – a practical badass? what's not to love?).
LET US CALL THE BANNERS AND POUND THE DRUMS OF FANDOM WAR.
or…something.
Chief Tyrol's beard will make a mighty ally in the coming conflict.
I think it falls into the same catagory as Gibbs' porn-stache in NCIS. "You've got that thing in a box, don't you?"
Facial hair is on Ron Swanson’s Pyramid of Greatness. It’s necessary that Adama has some too
‘You try to steal this election you’ll die inside. Likely move your cancer right to your heart’
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I love you Roslin, really, I do. And I get that Gaius is a horrible person and possibly one of the worst choices for President but you can’t change the will of the people. Just because you’re not happy doesn’t mean you can rig the vote. You once said that politics mean you can die multiple times, this is just another death. You can come back from it and work with or in opposition to Gaius but not being president doesn’t mean you’re completely out of the game, not if you don’t want to be. I’m glad Roslin and Adama talked about because it’s clear from her reactions throughout that it would have torn her apart in the end.
You know there’s a moment, one brief moment, where I feel a bit sorry for Gaius as his head slowly falls to the desk as he mourns Gina (oh Gina) and begins to realise exactly what being the president entails and how truly fraked he is. And that moment disappears fairly sharpish when we see his office (and I hate having to call it his office) and instead of Roslin’s white board with the current population written, representing survival, the future and hope, is a portrait of Gaius. And really, doesn’t that just say everything that needs to be said about Gaius as president.
Life on New Caprica doesn’t seem all that great. Just like the initial surveys predicted, it looks like it’s a tough place to live and judging by Chief apparently organising a strike, I’m guessing Gaius’ presidency isn't helping. It’s a year later and everyone seems to be living in tents, there’s no medicine and the fleet looks to be falling into disrepair. I know it’s something people in politics do but I’m just so angry with him for taking advantage of the fleets want for a little bit of land to call their own again, especially when he knew it wasn’t going to go well.
It’s hard to think how things can get much worse. Oh, wait, the Cylons turn up led by a nuclear explosion. Clearly everything bad that happens to the fleet is in some way because of Gaius.
‘On behalf of the people of the twelve colonies, I surrender’
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Well frak
God, those Cylons marching through town. Way to lay on the Nazi imagery, show.
That scene with all of the centurions marching in is so chilling.
And you're still not prepared!!!
I'm looking forward to your Season 3 Predictions tomorrow, your review of the web series Thursday, and your review the Season 3 premiere Friday. It's kind of an intermittent week as far as the heavy duty stuff goes, eh?
I'm not going to lie, I love it when shows pull shit like this. Take all my expectations and throw 'em out the window.
On a BSG related note, I moved into my new office at work (my first office with a window in 4 years, DAYLIGHT!) and put up my BSG prints. They're these really cool vintage style posters that look like war recruitment posters from the 40s. See: here. I will weed out the nerds in my office through this recruitment tool, I swear it!
I have those posters at work, too! The one with the upraised fists (because I love me some Triumph of the Will shit or something) is on my wall, and I handed out the others to fellow fans to decorate their spaces. It's a warning and invitation to those who visit us: Here Be Geeks.
Oh, I need those! We have the Victory of the Daleks poster at my new apartment, and I'm thinking of making "vintage-looking posters from various fandoms" a theme of sorts. I could add this, this and this as well. IT WILL BE AWESOME.
I fist-pumped when Adama's mustache made it's triumphant return.
Also, do you stick around to the end of the credits to watch the little RDM and David Eick animation? It's different every time. This time Eick summons a snake that chomps down RDM, then turns to the audience and says "payback". It was lovely and warmed my heart.
I do love how Gaius ascending to the Presidency has brought him nothing but trouble and grief, but Roslin looks so happy working as a teacher. It's just so nice seeing her back where she really wants to be!
And on a shallow note, I really like her big woolly jumper.
Say what you like about New Caprica, it's really done wonders for everyone's hair, hasn't it? Though it looks almost as rainy as Kobol.
I have been DYING for you to get to this episode. The gamble that the showrunners took with this episode is monumental. I love, LOVE the decision to go here – to show how horrible settling on this horribad planet is… to show that humans still haven't worked out the issues that made civilization fall apart in the first place.
I love that Kara and Sam are married, but that's because I ship them like it's my job. MORE ON THAT LATER.
I loved listening to the podcast of this episode. Ron Moore's wife talked about how much she hated this episode at first and how angry she was, but in retrospect, she quite liked the decision. That was pretty much my thought as well.
In directorial thoughts, I loved the push in on Baltar's hair and push back out with "one year later." I thought it was so effective.
In directorial thoughts, I loved the push in on Baltar's hair and push back out with "one year later." I thought it was so effective.
The Year in Baltar's Hair, as I think we were calling the time-skip on TWoP. 🙂
Ahh, the rage and incredulity and shock screaming around the internet when this aired. Good times, good times.
More of the genius that is Bear McCreary:
[youtube kwHh3NNn_IQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwHh3NNn_IQ youtube]
(seriously, goosebumps. EVERY SINGLE TIME. HOW DOES THIS MAN NOT HAVE ALL THE MUSIC AWARDS?)
PS: wait, why is that not embedding properly, I feel like a doofus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwHh3NNn_IQ SO BLOODY GOOD.
One Year Later is actually one of my ringtones. Makes it a bit confusing when I'm just listening to music and it comes up on shuffle though.
I adore this episode. This is an episode that I will just re-watch every now and then, because the ending just comes out of nowhere (IMHO) and bam! Punches you in the face! There's political intrigue, the demands of settling on a new planet, the hardship that everyone endures, and of course, the questions of what exactly happened in that one year period to lead to the events we see depicted onscreen.
I remember my reactions to this finale to a friend of mine, telling him that it changed EVERYTHING. Such a great episode.
Man I wish I had seasons 3 and 4 on DVD…at least I recently watched season 4, so that's fresh enough. It'll be even more fun to re-discover season 3 through your eyes though!
In response to "Why do Lee and Dee have any reason to be together?"
Well, why not? There's about what, 47,000 people left in the universe. That's it. The refrain that the Forever Alone people (hey, how y'all doing?) is that "there are more fish in the sea" and "there's someone out there for you, you just haven't found them yet."
That's a lot easier to swallow when there's a total of 7 billion people. As Dan Savage says, "there's no settling down without settling for." Being Forever Alone sucks, and even if there isn't the need to try and repopulate the species, there's the desire to be WITH someone, to snuggle with them at night, to talk to them about their day, to just have someone with you, and holding out for Perfection is noble and ultimately stupid. There's a limited number of people in the fleet who would be acceptable as a partner for either Lee or Dee. They both find each other to be acceptable.
Sometimes, that's enough. There's no settling down without some settling for.
Love this. They do seem to work on some level because they missed out on the other options (Billy and Starbuck). I think Dee would have eventually made it work with Billy if he had lived. There's less drama there and that's really nice in the long run. But if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with
Exactly so. Not all love stories are big, earth shattering passion. Not everyone gets to rip time and space apart for their partner- not everyone can be Rory and Amy. Sometimes your partner is the person you want sitting in the balcony with you and you snark everyone else. The Stadler to your Waldorf.
So you're saying Stadler and Waldorf don't have earth shattering passion?
Fair point.
omg the mental images!
why can't I stop myself from looking to see if there's fanfic of that?
Rule 34. Rule. Thirty. Four.
Actually my cursory google search(es) didn't find any. FOR WHICH I AM THANKFUL!
But apparently Waldorf's wife, Astoria, looks like Statler in drag.
<img src="http://www.thechicagoloop.net/tzikeh/ontd/mst3kwaldorfstatler.jpg">
I agree. And Lee and Dualla (can't bring myself to type Lee and Dee except I just did) do feel nice. You know, if there wasn't the entire Lee/Starbuck thing.
And I just deleted a whole lot of rambling about the entire Lee/Dee/Kara/whatever thing. I don't even know what I feel about that anymore.
You know, if there wasn't the entire Lee/Starbuck thing.
And that's just it. There IS.
Aren't there a lot fewer than 47,000 now? 🙁 I hope Roslin is keeping count using colorful chalk.
Yeah, I think it said there were something like 39,000 settlers on New Caprica. Obviously there's still some up in the fleet, but the bomb took out a lot.
I wasn't sure what the number was, but Lee and Dee started before the bomb, so… that's kind of the number I was using.
Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean for that to come off as a geeky nitpick, I was just curious about the actual number! I agree with your point, and thought that the fact that there were even fewer people now, plus Lee and Dualla are working even closer together, further proves your point. They found someone they're comfortable and happy with, and it isn't like they're running into too many other potential partners.
That would be a somewhat depressing classroom mural.
ha ha ha, love the chalk comment! Seriously, I wonder how much she misses being in charge especially with baltar's fail hanging over her.
Yeah, I'm with this on Lee and Dee. I'd agree that it's not the most well-developed relationship ever, but aside from having been interested in other people, I don't see a lot of reasons for why they wouldn't work together. They're in close quarters, they clearly care about each other – I guess I'd say while it wasn't necessarily well-executed, it never felt particularly forced.
That being said, I love Dualla a lot and so am kind of just happy when she gets screen time, and I… suck at shipping when it comes to this show. For the most part it's been 'okay, you're a person, go… do what you want to!" I can get a meta criticism, but in-universe, I don't think it's OOC for either, and that's kind of enough for me to be cool with them as a pairing.
Sometimes, that's enough. There's no settling down without some settling for.
Which would be true, but when there is this tangled, painful relationship with his best friend for whom he has had major feelings (that too, feelings that are reciprocated in some measure), it doesn't bode well.
Sometimes, that's enough. There's no settling down without some settling for.
Which would be true, but when there is this tangled, painful relationship with his best friend for whom he has had major feelings (that too, feelings that are reciprocated in some measure), it doesn't bode well. And it's obvious that those two need each other fairly badly and are absolutely miserable when they're not getting along, so it's not something you can just tell them to get over.
I really love Dee, but sometimes I do wonder how well she really knows Lee – whether she understands him quite that well, or whether at least part of her feelings are tied up in her hero-worship of the old man (Lee's dad) – she did see him as a father figure of sorts earlier in the season, too.
First of all, Mark are you going to do predictions for season 3? Because those would be interesting.
I think you've pretty much said everything about this episode. It's one hell of a way to end a season.
Oh Dean Stockwell, I'm not particularly fond of Cavil as a person but he's INCREDIBLY funny ("Take me to your leader" indeed). He plays off himself so damn well, the scene where the two copies meet in the brig is amazing.
There's not as many callbacks as there were in the last episode but Adama greeting Starbuck with the little brush of her hair, just like their reunion on Kobol is a lovely touch. I'm no fan of Dee but DAMN Kara is harsh about her. The rest of that scene is good though, damn Kara and Sam are so cute then and have so much chemistry.
The transition between the timelines is one of my favourite moments. Neatly highlights just how different the Baltar administration is to the Roslin one. The difference in set decoration alone (the damn portrait in place of the population count speaks volumes).
Bill confronting Laura about the election rigging is such a gorgeous scene, the line about "moving the cancer right you your heart" shows just how well he knows her at this point. EJO and Mary McDonnell are amazing as always.
Stupid shallow moment: I love Ellen's pink coat on New Craprica (shamelessly stolen from WikiFrakr), normally I don't care for her wardrobe but that coat is awesome. Also, Doc Cottle wearing a peacoat, just when you think he can't get more awesome.
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/xbefz9.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
The Starbuck/Adama reunion is adorable. And I love how it's followed up with Starbuck's slightly awkward must introduce new boyfriend to spacedad.
I love how adorably awkward she is in that scene. Have we seen Starbuck awkward like that before?
The nose-scrunch. Oh, Katee. How so awesome?
*sigh* and is that also the last appearance of Starbuck's ponytail? I miss Starbuck's ponytail later 🙁
I love the little daddy-and-daughter moment they have here. They're the cutest.
Yes, predictions!
I want to read those, please.
Or have you already watched ahead?
Maybe you could then do predictions after … hmm. No, basically, I just really want your predictions NOW. 🙂
DAMN Kara is harsh about her. [Dee]
I couldn't help thinking it was funny that she waited till she had her own boyfriend rescued and right there with her, before she began with the snark on Lee's new gf. Gaaaaaah, such a complicated pair, the two of them (Lee and Kara, I mean).
I love Kara and Sam's reunion, though. Girl could use a break once in a while, and she was ADORABLE when introducing her new boy to Daddy – which is what Papadama effectively is to her.
What I think is interesting about Cavil at this point is he's the first Cylon atheist we've seen. (And he's a priest. Way to be ironic in your choice of profession there.)
Gauntlet: thrown down. Humanity' shit: ruined. Mark: not prepared.
That's how you do a season finale.
"we see all of this through the eyes of Starbuck, who, by the way, looks flawless with long hair … UM SHE COMFORTS ME SHUSH"
Uh-huh, "comforts" . You'd go straight for Starbuck, don't even deny it.
I'D go straight for Starbuck, only she'd probably kick my ass.
And yeah: Season 3. YOU ARE SO NOT PREPARED.
We'd all go … whatever we're not, for Starbuck, let's just leave it at that, m'kay?
As the immortal phrase goes….." I SO would."
…but…I don't have to not-be-something-I-am to go for Starbuck?
Basically, you SO would. Without having to be something-you're-not, too.
(unless you hate her, in which case it's WAR.)
Oh Mark, I've been dying for you to post this. I love this post. I believe that finale is the most jawdropping WTF cliffhanging game changer of any show ever. And let me tell you, you still are NOT prepared. Sorry. You're just not.
I must say, when I FIRST SAW THIS I was almost (don't hit me!) disappointed, because I was
1) sleep-deprived, so clearly not thinking well
2) sure the show could never pull the Cylon Occupation off. After all, no show could ever pull that shit off. Maybe I'd just seen too much TVD, where they never pull anything off and nothing ever has any consequences.
Tynq gb fnl, V jnf jebat.
Ohg juvyr V jnf unccl gung gur fubj jnf cynarg-obhaq sbe 4 rcvfbqrf, V jbhyqa'g unir zvaqrq vs vg unq tbar ybatre. Ohg gur fgbel erfbyirq va n tbbq jnl, fb V'z abg pbzcynvavat.
the dismissive and rude comments from Starbuck to Lee and the pain it caused him
Well, that and the fact that he's painfully and obviously in love with her and doesn't seem to have a clue what to do about it (especially given that she has her own conflicted feelings to deal with and was, at that very moment, cheerily with her lovely new boyfriend). The longing in that scene just slays me.
God, I hate it when these two are not friends. SO MUCH PAIN.
PS: why are my earlier comments not showing up? No spoilers in them, only loads of crying gifs because of my UTTER AND COMPLETE DEVASTATION following this.
They could've gone to moderation. Sometimes random comments get sent there for no reason but the mods usually mark them okay quick enough.
I have to say that Leoben with a beard looks very fetching…
This episode broke my brain when I first watched it.
Leoben.
He can wear Hawaii T-Shirts and still look hot. He can do anything. He can even look stupid and braindead and creepy and dumb but the underlying SEX cannot be repressed.
I'm so glad he's back!!!
lol, I had the reaction as you to the "One Year Later" part of the episode. I didn't look at the length of the episode, and I figured it would end with Baltar's election, but no. And not the declaration, either. It just kept going, and I had to pause it and see how long this was going to go on! Aside from the fact that it ended up feeling like two different episodes, I liked it. I want to see more about how everyone settled into their new lives, though not (necessarily) through flashbacks. I'd especially like to see more of Starbuck and Anders (please don't die of pneumonia), and Helo and Sharon (that was a nasty last scene they had, but I'm on Sharon's side. I hope she's okay.) And Starbuck and Tigh hugging?! This must be a dream.
I'm glad Roslin didn't steal the election, mostly because I am still angry about Things in Real Life and I would have probably hated her by association. You know, I wouldn't put it past Zarek to have had agents stuffing ballots on ships that are friendly to him. Damn, I just want Baltar's presidency delegitimized. Argh. I hope Head Six has been ignoring him all year until she piped up during the Cylon invasion, just to ensure that he's been suffering. And I'm excited to see Caprica Six and Boomer, but I also want Starbuck to kill everyone and get things moving again. And maybe lose those extensions, because Starbuck looks good with long hair, just not in close shots.
Well, by the beginning of Season 3 Katee Sackhoff's hair had actually grown out to that length so maybe wait to see that before you decide whether you like it or not?
(I prefer Starbuck with short hair too. Katee is gorgeous no matter how long her hair is, but somehow she's most Starbuck-y when it's short or in a ponytail).
I'm glad someone else noticed Starbuck and Tigh hugging each other! They were the closest thing to mortal enemies (besides humans vs. Cylons) that this show had when it first started, and now they're like HAY GREAT TO SEE YOU WHAT'S UP!!
[youtube kwHh3NNn_IQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwHh3NNn_IQ youtube]
Love this piece of music.
Reposting, because this was in fact what I looked and felt like at the end of Season 2:
<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lohgqtqoNV1qkqi1lo1_500.gif" />
(and my pilots, they aren't friends any more GOD THIS WORLD IS WRONG AND BAD AND AWFUL AND I DON'T NEED CYLON OCCUPATION TO TELL ME THAT)
<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg9uym8L8z1qab9hro1_500.gif" />
<img src="http://zackthemacgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cute-cry-animation-4.gif" />
Nausicaä!
Nausicaa! <3 I haven't blubbered through the end of that recently, so I think I'll watch it tonight!
Studio Ghibli!! Nausicaa gave me nightmares for MONTHS when I first saw it. All those legs and eyes on the bugs O_O
I approve of the Howl's Mowling Castle gif.
I'm torn about this episode. I really loved all of the stuff with the election (again, a concept that *sounds* boring but ends up being interesting, yay), and I was all over the place with my ~feelings~ about who should be president. I mean, obviously Roslin is the better choice no matter how much I like Baltar (no lie, I dig him, it's probably the accent), but Baltar did win the election. So yeah, I think Adama was right in that Roslin could not have lived with the lie, so fine Baltar is president.
Oh, also the Cylons! I don't believe them about the revolution and think this is all just some new Cylon plot. I am just suspicious like that, I guess.
And then everything goes to hell. I was shocked at Pega!Six's actions in detonating the bomb and watching all those ships blow up was surreal. And then it's a year later. A YEAR!! I both loved and hated this, lol. Sometimes I dig a show doing a fast forward (loved it on True Blood) but here I am torn, because I really wanted to see the characters dealing with the fallout of what just happened.
However, seeing New Caprica and the way everything has changed was pretty damn interesting in itself, so I guess I am ok with it lol. I am full of questions, but thank God I don't have to wait months to start getting some answers. This makes me think that perhaps I should never watch shows in real time and just wait for them to be complete, lol.
I'm a fan of the one year later. I felt like it was used to great effect here and everything was so logical that I could see exactly how it got to there without needing the blanks filled in.
I do have one very serious question, though: will Gaeta ever get a storyline of his own? Because I want to know more about him and all he really does is report When Things Are Amiss and it feels like he's a plot device more than a character. Give me more Gaeta, show! He's awesome from what we've seen, so tell me more about him!
I'd die of happiness if Gaeta got his own storyline. Please, show, I'm begging you.
lrf, ur qbrf.
I am with you on the Felix love, too. He's one of my favourite characters, rira vs gur jnl uvf fgbel raqrq oebxr zl urneg (ntnva!)
and just when you realize where you are and what’s going on, a gigantic pterodactyl swoops out of the sky and eats you for breakfast.
And even after this, let me say it, YOU ARE NOT FRAKKING PREPARED.
Just you wait for Season 3, if you haven't already started.
ADAMA'S PORNSTACHE IS THE WORST.
THE WORST.
Fat Lee is hilarious though.
Anyway, I love Sam and Kara's rapport. I think they just have a lot of sparkage between them. I think that the time jump did them a big disservice though. I love all their interactions, but I wish we could have seen more and seen how they went from happy reunion to married. I thought it was super adorable when Kara was introducing Sam to Adama because Adama is a father figure and the whole scene DEFINITELY felt like she was taking her boyfriend home to meet the parents. It was cute.
The revelation of Cavill as a Cylon was pretty brilliant. And idk. I'm not sure if I missed something because I wasn't paying 100% attention when watching this, but how did the Cylons go from wanting to declare a truce with the humans to invading New Caprica?
Oh thank god, someone else hates Adama's pornstache. I WAS BEGINNING TO THINK I WAS ALONE IN MY REVULSION!
It's terrible. The Adama Porn-stache is a symptom that this New Caprica bullshit is BAD for Adama.
You are not alone! I am also in the no stache camp!
I fucking LOVE the Cavil reveal. "What makes you think I'm a Cylon? I'm not a Cylon! You have no proof that I- Oh. Well, okay. You got me there."
One of my favorite parts of the episode. He's like, eh screw it, no point in denying it now. And then the other Cavil apologizes! It cracks me up every time!.
And upon rewatching the series, his earlier line to Tyrol, "Maybe because I'm a Cylon, and I've never seen you at any of the meetings", gets at least an order of magnitude funnier.
My experience was much like Mark's watching it on dvd and with no idea how long the episode was. So yeah "Just how frakking long is the episode and what the frak just happened" was pretty much what I was thinking in those last 15 minutes.
I'M SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER HOW AWFUL THE PORNSTACHE IS
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/25ouxjd.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I'M SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER HOW AWFUL THE PORNSTACHE IS
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/25ouxjd.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I'M SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER HOW AWFUL THE PORNSTACHE IS
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/25ouxjd.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I know I was spoiled re: the bomb going off in this episode, but the "previously" section really made it glaringly obvious, didn't it?
I had to rewatch that section to even partially catch it, but apparently Hera's new name is "Isis?" Could this mean that we now have three religions represented, maybe?
My first thought was that the reason Helo had taken over Gaeta's job is that Sharon is still being held in the brig and the only way for him to see her regularly is to keep working aboard the ship in some capacity.
I know I was spoiled re: the bomb going off in this episode, but the "previously" section really made it glaringly obvious, didn't it?
I had to rewatch that section to even partially catch it, but apparently Hera's new name is "Isis?" Could this mean that we now have three religions represented, maybe?
My first thought was that the reason Helo had taken over Gaeta's job is that Sharon is still being held in the brig and the only possible way for him to see her regularly is to keep working aboard the ship in any capacity he can, even if it's not really not a job he likes/is particularly adept at. 🙁
I know I was spoiled re: the bomb going off in this episode, but the "previously" section really made it glaringly obvious, didn't it?
I had to rewatch that section to even partially catch it, but apparently Hera's new name is "Isis?" Could this mean that we now have three religions represented, maybe?
My first thought was that the reason Helo had taken over Gaeta's job is that Sharon is still being held in the brig and the only way for him to see her regularly is to keep working aboard the ship in any capacity he can, even if it's really not a job he likes/is particularly adept at. So while that would mean they're both safe in the short term, it still means that they're probably going to be fighting off Cylons on a severely understaffed ship (more than half gone, I think they said?) where people are probably going to have to do jobs they're not really trained for. 🙁
The subtitles agree that Hera's adoptive name is Isis.
Crbcyr ernyyl arrq gb or pnershy jung gurl jvfu sbe…
This episode floored me when i watched it originally. Your recap just brought all the pain back.
WHY KARA, WHY????????
Mark. You are not prepared. 😉 Just wait.
Hahahah I love you guys!
WORD.
I'm just about up to listening to the OST. Still can't face the actual end again.
(Joe Hisaishi, he makes me cry hard enough)
By the way, does this look familiar?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voh3I2h6PBo
The best part: Ron Moore didn't legally need permission from Savio's widow to use the speech, but made sure he had it anyway.
UGH YES. I love that speech. It plays before "Here Comes The Pigs" by Good Riddance, so I have it MEMORIZED because I've heard it so many times.
And Aaron Douglas studied the video several times so he could deliver it exactly the same.
I did not know this.
Thank you.
Well: I was not expecting this! I mean I wasn't totally shocked by the end revelation but I was most definitely very pleased with it.
Mostly I was just more than happy that they took Baltar's development in the only direction that it could possibly go and the nerdy marxist stuff.
Oh man Callie: my prediction that I wouldn't like this relationship is so far accurate! I know Tyrol didn't really know what he was doing but the whole scene where she's going on about how she loves him and she can't talk properly is really something. I remember those days when I was enjoying the story of a girl who did not hate her boss and that was it and it was awesome and I want them back.
What bothers me more is why cylon priest wants them to be together so bad, even though I actually suspect he's telling the truth about Tyrol being human.
I heard "I was not expecting this!" in Matt Smith's voice, btw.
Nerdy Marxist stuff = <3. And I agree with you on Tyrol/Cally.
SO SAY WE ALL!
Ahh Dude, you have no idea how unprepared you are for next season.
Mark, oh Mark. I'm worried about you, I have to be honest. I'm afraid that one of these days your head might actually explode. Please don't die from the awesome, okay?
OK, not excusing Kara's behavior at all, because she really is rather awful to Lee in that scene. And yet…I have a hard time feeling too much sympathy for Lee in that moment. Dude, the woman you're not so secretly in love with just got back from rescuing her honey, and they are currently alone in a room, drunk off their asses and making out, and you think it's a good idea to walk in? What good could have possibly come from that, honey. You're the only one sober, you should have had the mental capacity to recognize a BAD IDEA when it was sucking face in front of you.
"You don't have to get me drunk, I will sleep with you. I figure I owe you…" I love these two and their fun sexy times and drunk flirting and JUST BE HAPPY FOR A LITTLE MORE AND PLEASE DON'T DIE BB. How cute was Kara kissing his forehead while tucking him in? Yeah, I'm a shipper, deal with it.
ALL THE HEARTS FOR THIS COMMENT.
I still can’t get over Kara’s precious excited face when they get back to Galactica either.
I went back to my LJ for the airing of this episode and despite having remembering ALL THE THINGS, I wrote nothing down! WTF self?
Basically, anyone Kara loves, I love. It's that simple.
And I agree with everything, too.
I am late to the party. But I have some gifs, so what the hell.
Favorite bit: Starbuck’s face.
That and I enjoy Cavil’s snark.
Least favorite bit (I hate it worse than love triangles and other such polygons, which is saying something): election fraud. Good on Gaeta, though. But I really really hate even the idea of politicians messing with votes no matter their intentions and no matter who their opposition is.
(Not-so-stealth edit: Am firmly team ick mustache oh Adama no.)
she's so adorable! I love her laugh too
I really like Dee, and I kind of hate Lee/Starbuck, so while I don't really have much concern for Lee in general, I still think it's a ship I should support. But while I don't have an issue for them being together, I just think the execution is so off that I can't really ship it. I don't think there's anything outlandish at the idea of them together since as you say, I don't think there's much reason to think they wouldn't work together. But it's just so annoying that it's this random relationship in the midst of Starbuck/Sam and Starbuck/Lee. I feel like the show does a disservice to Dee's character by making her a part of this weird love quadrangle when there's little focus on her character outside of Lee and formerly Billy, and so much less explanation of why Dee/Lee is a thing compared to the other 2 relationships.
Basically, I wish the show cared more about Dee and at least gave us more development on her relationship with Lee, just so we could at least understand her character better.
I really liked Dee, while also totally shipping Lee/Kara (if I could hate them my life would be so much easier and this show would have caused me so much less pain), so it was a little bit strange to watch how their relationships with other people developed.
I mean, Sam/Kara makes total sense despite the fact that Sam hasn't yet been that well-developed as a character and at this point in time is not much more than Starbuck's boyfriend – you can see why Kara would go for him and the show has made her motivations fairly plain there.
Dee on the other hand, despite being a more well-rounded character independent of Lee or Billy, doesn't get much development on her relationship with Lee. It's easy to see why they'd be attracted to each other (obviously), but when it comes to a more lasting relationship it's not quite so clear.
Yeah, I agree with everything you say. I generally dislike love triangles-quadrangles-whatever anyway. I guess to me it's just like – Dee/Lee in and of itself isn't the issue, the issues are the way it's been developed and its general place in the story (like you say, along with the Love Quadrangle Stuff). And I think I make a point of distinguishing it because I saw a lot in fandom that was really either people preferring Lee/Kara, or not liking Dee/thinking Dee "got over" Billy too quickly (it would've been nice to see more on that from her side, but this tends to be a lot just calling the character awful, which I'm… not so cool with). But yeah, I don't really disagree with you.
Right, so I watched this ep about a week and a half ago, and I've been dying to get to this ep. Even the third time through it's mindblowing and surprising and stunning. Normally when I'm watching the eps and the commentaries, I'm doing other things: sewing, knitting, cooking. But I can't NOT watch the last part of the ep with my full attention. And then I actually watched this again on Friday because I was excited we were getting closer to it and I watched both parts of the finale.
But the moment that just kills me, that actually made me cry was Starbuck (always my girl!). When she says, "We fight em until we can't," I just started sobbing. There's just SO MUCH there. Strength and pain and anger and fear…. I love her SO MUCH. Right, rambling.
I don't know that I have anything coherent to say other than that. In the last few days I've been basically bedridden with back pain (I'm disabled with chronic pain), and I've watched about half of Season 3 already, so all my feelings are tied up in the first part of that season. But, yeah, this is only one of two completely mind-blowing season finales that this show has, in my opinion.
cally and chief!! cally and chief!!
fat lee!! fat lee!!
strarbuck with long hair – gaaawwwwrgous. =)
can't wait for season 3 predictions!!!
SHAVE ADAMA'S FACE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT
Aw man, THIS EPISODE. ugh. One of the best finales I've ever seen tbqh. I don't really have anything else to say other than that it's totally flawless. SO MUCH LOVE.
Oh and Mark? Don't even entertain the idea that you're prepared for season three BECAUSE YOU'RE DEFINITELY NOT. EVER.
“Lay Down Your Burden, part 2.” Alternate title: “Gaius Baltar screws up absolutely everything there is to be screwed up ever.” Seriously, he elevates irresponsibility, self-centeredness and incompetence to an art form. If they ever get cars or something similar on New Caprica, I bet the “Don’t blame me, I voted for Roslin” bumper sticker will be a big seller.
I kind of love the Cavil Cylon, just because of his comic timing. “I’m not a cylon! (Sees the other model in the brig.) Oh. Okay then.”
I actually wasn’t a fan of the Cally-and-Tyrol-getting-together-storyline, just because I wish it had been fleshed out more instead of going straight from “I forgive you for beating me up because I know you didn’t mean it” to Oh look, she’s preggers!
One Year Later. One. Year. Later. ONE. YEAR. LATER. Who does that? The only things I’ve ever seen with time jumps THAT LONG are SERIES finales or the epilogue of movies- never ¾ of the way through a SEASON finale. BSG breaks ALL THE CONVENTIONS.
BOOMER! CAPRICA SIX! WHAT THE HELL, GUYS? WHAT. THE. HELL. I believed in you! Granted, that probably wasn’t the wisest idea, since you’re CYLONS, but I thought you were GOOD cylons, as in, not the kind to be cool with INVADING AND OCCUPYING THE HUMAN SETTLEMENT. What happened to “going our separate ways?” Sooo disappointed in you.
Never. Ever. Prepared.
If they ever get cars or something similar on New Caprica, I bet the “Don’t blame me, I voted for Roslin” bumper sticker will be a big seller.
Hee, I like that. I bet there would also be something similar to the "COEXIST" bumper sticker we have here on Earth, only about the Cylon God and the human gods. And some stuff about the abortion issue. "Do your part: repopulate!"
She seems to relish all the problems he now has to deal with.
It did feel forced to me because half of their relationship took place in the Previouslies. We were told their relationship rather than shown it.
I agree that it's realistic that they'd get together, but I don't have to like it. 😛
I don't really equate forced with, like I said, bad execution. Using another fandom to side-step the issue of spoilers: I find a pairing like Ron/Luna to be forced because they don't seem very compatible in my mind. I could even agree that there's some minimal canon evidence for it, but it's hard for me to see the characters working together. When people in HP fandom tried to do it, that seemed forced to me. But I don't find that to be the case with Lee and Dee.
However, showing their relationship exclusively in the previouslies is bad execution, I won't deny that.
And I don't think you have to like any pairing if you don't want to (I've pretty much liked almost every pairing on this show by default because I just don't care that much, and nothing short of Inconsistent Characterization or Serious Meta Issues really pushes me out of my stupor on that); I just disagree with the notion that as a pairing Lee and Dee are obviously bad for each other or don't make sense. And I will say I think it's something that could have been well-executed, but yeah, that hasn't happen, and that is in itself problematic.
Hmm, with regards to how compatible Lee and Dee are, I don't think we've seen enough of Dualla's actual personality for me to make that call. She's mostly been shown in the ways she relates to the dudes in her life, which is unfortunate.
"I'm not a frakking Cylon! I'm not– Oh. Well. Okay then."
"It's been decided that the occupation of the colonies was an error." Uh… oops? "Sorry about the genocide. Our bad!"
Lrnu, Pnivy qbrfa'g npghnyyl oryvrir nal bs guvf jnf na reebe, qbrf ur? Vg jnf uvf senxxvat vqrn.
And here's the part where they try to steal an election. Uh… yay? This whole season, Roslin keeps doing things that make me not like her. First she tried to force an abortion on Sharon. Then she stole Sharon's baby's blood without her consent. Then she banned abortion. Then she STOLE SHARON'S BABY. Now she's trying to steal an election? Sigh. I used to like you so much, Laura.
I used to love that this show put us in the position of seeing the "good guys" do awful things, but after so many, they stop being the "good guys" anymore.
Oh Gaeta, you're such a Lawful Good.
Bye, Cloud 9. Wow, that bomb took out a bunch of ships, didn't it? Also, what happened to "suicide is a sin"?
One reason why Baltar is such a bad idea for President is because he doesn't work with Adama like Laura did. "I don't have to listen. I'm the President." I AM TAKING MY BALL AND GOING HOME.
LOL at the big portrait of Baltar on the wall.
ONE YEAR LATER.
I have a LOT of respect for the show for doing this, frankly. So many shows are formulaic, and have to go back to the status quo at the end of every episode for fear of losing viewers if they deviate from the usual plot of the show. Battlestar just took that expectation and THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW. Fuck yeah. I love major game-changers in shows.
Anyway, this scene shows us precisely HOW awful Baltar is at being President. Laura felt the weight of her role on her shoulders, and accepted the responsibility as best she could. She felt an obligation to the people of the Colonies, and it showed. Baltar is more concerned with how the people's demands affect his own desire to frak ladies and smoke cloves.
Poor Gaeta. I imagine he's completely disillusioned by his former hero.
AdamaStache!
And now everyone gets together with the wrong person and things go to hell forever. (Well, I love Starbuck/Anders. I hate Dee/Lee and Tyrol/Cally.)
OH MY GOD TIGH AND STARBUCK HUGGING. MOST SURPRISING THING IN THIS EPISODE Y/Y
Okay so what happened to this whole "peace, no more fighting, cylons and humans will coexist" stuff? Why did the Cylons chase after them in the first place? Why didn't they just leave them alone?
OH HEY IT'S GAIUS'S SIX! I kind of want those two wacky kids to work it out. I love when they recognize each other and both get teary-eyed. Plus, Gaius's ability to love Six is pretty much his only redeeming character trait at this point.
I like the poetry of PegaSix's suicide being what leads the Cylons to New Caprica.
"On behalf of the people of the twelve colonies, I welcome our new Cylon overlords."
WHERE IS SHARON INDEED. Did they just keep her in Galactica's brig this whole time??
Small spoilery question: Qb jr rire trg na rkcynangvba sbe Fnz naq Xnen'f gnggbbf? V erzrzore gurz orvat fvtavsvpnag naq V fcbggrq Fnz'f ba uvf nez guvf rcvfbqr, ohg V pna'g erzrzore vs gurl'er rire rkcynvarq.
Qb jr rire trg na rkcynangvba sbe Fnz naq Xnen'f gnggbbf? V erzrzore gurz orvat fvtavsvpnag naq V fcbggrq Fnz'f ba uvf nez guvf rcvfbqr, ohg V pna'g erzrzore vs gurl'er rire rkcynvarq.
V'z abg fher vs gur rkcynangvba rire znqr vg bagb gur fubj, V bayl erzrzore ernqvat vg bayvar. Ybir gubfr gnggbbf, gurl'er tbetrbhf.
Univat abj purpxrq oftjvxv, ab vg'f arire fnvq ba fperra, gur vasbezngvba vf sebz vagreivrjf jvgu Fnpxubss naq Gehppb.
I guessed that Calvil was a Cylon before the reveal because of his line, "I haven't seen you at any of the meetings." Head!Six said something similar about Boomer to Baltar in season one. So now it's my head canon that the undercover Cylons are programmed with this snarky comeback.
ugh i hate my back pain!!