In the sixth episode of the fifth season of Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck and Tigh begin to lash out at the crew at the perceived disparity between their experience on New Caprica compared to those who remained in the fleet. The Cylons attempt to find earth and a basestar is decimated by a brutal disease that they blame on Baltar. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
What are you doing to be, BSG? Why do you make me feel so many things at the same time? WHY DID YOU SECRETLY MAKE THIS A TWO-PART EPISODE AND NOT CONSOLE ME AHEAD OF TIME?
“Torn” presents one hell of a parallel between the humans and the Cylons, giving us an emotional journey on the fleet while handing us a gigantic dosage of Cylon mythology that I have so desperately needed since the beginning of time. I found it rather clever, too, that the title of this episode means so many things to each of the people affected by the events of “Torn.”
We split time between Baltar on the main Cylon basestar and the Galactica. For both parties, what has happened on New Caprica directly informs their next step, though the Cylons prove to be one step ahead of the human fleet. It is PAINFULLY ironic that they are both heading to find earth and with Baltar on the Cylons’ side, it seemed to me that they had a distinct advantage. (Though I do admit to being excited that Gaeta is getting more involved, especially given the last episode.) The humans also set course to find earth, using the notes Baltar left behind, and they finally have a distinct purpose that doesn’t involve Cylon occupation.
The fleet begins training again, too, and it’s through this that we first see that Starbuck is having a very difficult time adjusting to any sort of “normal” life. (Relative to her, I mean.) She is reckless, aggressive, and distant. Which is all understandable, for the record. I think that’s what makes me feel so many ~conflicting feelings~ about “Torn.” (I swear, I almost typed that I felt “torn,” but that is too much right now. I do love a good pun, though!) Starbuck is suffering from grief, from the after effects of being imprisoned, and of dumping her husband. Where is Anders, by the way?
We see that Tigh is hurting a lot as well, the vacancy left behind by his dead wife eating him up inside. What proves to be detrimental to the crew is when those two get together. While I ultimately agree with Adama that the two are doing more harm than good to the crew, I also can’t ignore that those two specifically had the worst time on New Caprica. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. The amount of suffering they went through justifies their cynicism, so it’s hard for me to really say anything negative about it.
It’s weird thinking about it this way because I then feel comfortable stating that I think Baltar also suffered a great deal on New Caprica as well. He did make bad decisions. He allowed his office to become corrupt. Hell, I’d say that first year on New Caprica is what allowed the Cylon occupation to happen so easily: they simply were not prepared, and that is largely Baltar’s fault. Yet I do feel pity and sorrow for what happened after this, and I imagine that if Baltar ever does return to the fleet, it’s going to be the most uncomfortable thing ever. The fleet is not going to see Baltar as suffering, though we know his life was certainly not peachy under Cylon rule.
For now, though, it’s all of this that inspires him to give the Cylons what information he does know about the possible location of earth. Gaeta says in this episode that Baltar possesses a sense of self-preservation unlike anything else. (YOU BIG SLYTHERIN, YOU.) It’s true, though, and that’s part of the justification for helping the Cylons.
And that’s when we are given the concept of Projection.
Just…HOLY SHIT. As soon as Caprica Six started explaining it, I thought it seemed familiar. I connected the dots just moments before Baltar did and….ohhhhh my god. That cannot be true, can it? I suppose the thought may have crossed through my mind a few times, but it always seemed so absurd. But now, with the series about halfway through its run, I’m realizing what a big deal the remaining five Cylon models is. (I like that Baltar calls them the Final Five. That is an awesome term, PLEASE TELL ME THAT FANDOM ADOPTED THIS.) Even further, wouldn’t this concept–that Baltar is an unknown Cylon–completely explain his visions of Six? AHHHH SO MANY FEELINGS! And why can’t the Cylons discuss the other models, and why don’t those models show up before they are used? I AM SO CONFUSED.
As if my brain needed anything more to process, the show dumps two humongous plot twists in my lap concerning the Cylons. First of all, the Cylons can get sick. And while the symptoms manifest in ways to affect their “human” bodies, it seems that the sickness would have to be a computer virus. Right? Unless there’s some specific type of virus that affects humanoid Cylons. But that doesn’t make sense either. Baltar goes to the Basestar that’s been infected near the lion’s head pulsar thingy (I swear I am good with words), and he finds that strange probe object that might be the source of the virus. If we accept that those who colonized earth, the Thirteen Tribe, were responsible for it, then that opens up another unanswerable question: How the fuck could they have known to create a probe with a virus that would infect a being that did not exist yet?
AND THEN THERE IS A CYLON HYBRID. Now I feel weird for having used that term in the past to talk about Cylons because I HAD NO IDEA THIS THING EXISTED. When we were first shown her face, I thought the show had just revealed another Cylon model. But keeping in line thematically with what we’ve seen of the Cylons, the Basestar is run by an organic, living creature. In this case, it’s a hybrid that powers the entire ship, and she speaks in non-sensical phrases and words. The Hybrid is strangely beautiful to me, and I really love the set design of this show. It’s actually fascinating to me to see the plain, metallic, and nearly colorless halls of a Basestar and compare that to the cramped and littered Galactica. It’s yet another thing to show us the differences between the cultures of humans and Cylons.
But are the two that different? The human fleet is dealing with the chaos sown by Tigh and Starbuck just as the Cylon fleet is dealing with the chaos created by Baltar. (I do genuinely believe Baltar had no clue what was there.) Both use ultimatums to attempt to bring order back to their ships. And they both clearly want to find Earth first.
Yet on Galactica, Adama, who has the right idea behind his attempt to stop Starbuck and Tigh from further bringing down morale, may have…well. Again. I AM CONFLICTED. Both parties are in the wrong, and both aren’t. Adama certainly should have confronted the two of them. SHOULD HE HAVE KICKED STARBUCK’S CHAIR OUT FROM UNDER HER. Maybe not. Should he have basically disowned her? DEFINITELY NOT. Adama, could it have hurt to ask ONE QUESTION before you barged in? You know, maybe like, “Hey Starbuck, what happened to you on New Caprica?” That might have also been a good question to ask Tigh, too! You know, so you could find out TIGH HAD TO POISON HIS OWN WIFE or maybe that THE CYLONS TRICKED STARBUCK INTO BELIEVING SHE HAD A CHILD AND THEN IT WAS TAKEN AWAY. You know, THINGS THAT PERMANENTLY SCAR AND TRAUMATIZE PEOPLE.
Tigh’s final line is integral to understanding this: he is not the man Adama knew. Starbuck is not the same woman. That is what is the real issue here, and something they all have to acknowledge. The events on New Caprica scarred these two humans, and simple re-integration as if nothing is wrong is not going to help things, and neither is the two of them insisting that others accept their experience as some universal truth. What they went through is horrific, but the others did not experience it and it is not fair to hold that against them.
I should just be hired as the professional mediator onboard the Galactica so that none of us had to see Tigh sob while getting drunk. Michael Hogan is like the best face actor, I fucking swear.
You know who needed a sassy gay friend in this episode more than anyone, though? Gaius Baltar. I understand his horror at the discovery onboard the dying basestar. I do! It makes sense. But Baltar. Look, honey. You took photos of everything there. And the Cylons asked you if anything seemed strange. AND YOU DID NOT DELETE THE PHOTOS OR TOSS THE CAMERA. Might that have been A GRIEVOUS MISTAKE? I mean, it clearly is, as Caprica Six spots the very thing you photographed. HOW. HOW DID YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA. I mean, did you need to lie about that in order to cover up the fact that you STRANGLED A CYLON? Or did your guilt override everything else?
Can we talk about shit getting real? Because Caprica Six knows something is wrong, and Athena and Racetrack discover the dying basestar at pretty much the same moment. Goddamn, what an awful “To Be Continued…”
THOUGHTS
- Sharon becoming Athena is a HUGE moment for that character. It seems obvious that the whole crew has finally accepted her. This is a wonderful moment. Which means it will be ruined soon because BSG doesn’t like joy.
- I’m glad to see short-hair Starbuck return, but the manner in which she did it makes me sad. Please don’t leave, Starbuck. 🙁
- Wow, I actually liked Kat in this episode.
- Adama, you are way into physical manifestations of metaphors. I mean, I totally get why you did the gun thing, but it was a bit dramatic.
- MORE GAETA. MORE ROSLIN. thanks.
- Wow, that fat suit disappeared quickly.
Dr. Baltar, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cylons
Battlestar Galactica is so depressing. At least this week, we got an actual plot for Baltar. Yay. Baltar among the Cylons! I love that he's such a supergenius that he remembers all the work he did on locating Earth OVER A YEAR AGO. And hee to Gaeta's reason for trusting that work.
I think some people were expecting the colonists to have an adverse reaction to Sharon, having been oppressed by her other versions down on New Caprica. Instead…they seem to love and adore her. I guess because she did help save their asses. Athena: aw! That's still going to take some getting used to.
Tigh and Starbuck, however, totally read my last post and are acting just as I said! And, hell, Kat, as much as I want to slap her most of the time, is the voice of reason here, calling them on their shit. Yeah, they get that they weren't IN THE SHIT like them, but they did save their goddamn asses. Yet, Starbuck and Tigh do have their points: the folks on Galactica did not make NEARLY the sacrifices the people on New Caprica did. Not even close. They can't even begin to understand. That scene is classic Galactica: they're both right and they're both wrong.
Lee is magically slim again! That…was all sort of pointless, really.
So it's pretty freaky that the prophecies specifically lead to a place that kills Cylons but not humans. This is all very strange and neato. And while I love Baltar, I really have to give that love pause when he fucking kills a Six to shut her up. That's…not cool, yo. I don't expect that kind of behavior from Baltar. He's the reluctant villain.
I'm still confused on all the talk of hybrids and the woman in the tank spouting divine nonsense. Who is she? What is she? Do all the baseships have one of her? What about the Raiders?
Adama's smackdown of Starbuck and Tigh was fucking awesome. "I used to think of you as a daughter. No longer." OUCH. And Tigh, man. New Caprica fucked him up good. It's pretty tragic, really.
SYMBOLIC HAIRCUTTING YAY. I love symbolic haircutting because it pretty much can't fail. There's just something inherently dramatic about cutting your damn hair. Besides, she looks better like that.
So. The look on Kara's face when Kacey hugs her, the look that's so unsure yet so grateful? Kills me. Has Katee Sackhoff won any awards? She should win some damn awards. Give some to Michael Hogan too. And Edward James Olmos. And, hell, give some to that little girl who plays Kacey. Because I noticed in the previously that she has this glorious show of recognition on her face when she sees her real mom, and it's so genuine I have to figure that either that kid is actually that woman's daughter, or she's a born actress. Also, "Kawa, Kawa, Kawa" is terribly cute.
I hope to God Sharon doesn't get the Cylon plague.
Upvoting for the title alone. Baltar as an amoral genius advisor to his former employer's enemies…hmm. Starbuck's not gonna throw on a cowboy hat and set off a doomsday device, is she?
Dammit, I will be so pissed if Sharon gets Cylon plague just as she's been quasi-accepted.
Seriously, why hasn't everyone on this show won all of the awards.
BECAUSE WE LIVE ON A CRUEL EARTH.
BECAUSE EMMY VOTERS ARE MORONS. (MORONS!!!!)
That, and WE LIVE ON A CRUEL EARTH.
I always imagined that they'd strapped some sort of giant cookie to the mom actress' face to get that reaction from the Kacey actress.
Haha! I don't care if they *did* use a cookie to get that reaction (I'm on team Kacey-Actress-seeing-her-real-life-parent), I love that they cared enough to DO it. I hate seeing toddler and baby characters handed around like meat without the slightest appropriate reaction at Very Important Emotional Plot Moments. Little tiny people have emotional reactions just as much as big people and they're just as important to the tone of a scene.
One of the things that made that scene so powerful was that there was NO question that was Kacey's mom, no possibility that she could be lying or a Cylon or part of a plot. Just like you can always tell when the lost dog's real owner arrives to pick it up, haha — there's no faking it.
I meant to say this on the last one, but the actress playing Kacey's mom is Emelie Ullerup ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2422305/ ), who went on to play Ashley on the Sci-Fi show Sanctuary. And while I'm talking Sanctuary actors, the guy who lost his son and was part of the jury in collaborators? His name is Ryan Robbins and he plays Henry on Sanctuary.
Oh, and the point is that I kinda doubt that was actually her mom. Looking for it, here is the girl playing Kacey: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2264355/
Must have been a cookie after all then!
For that title, you've secured yourself a place in my pantheon of awesome.
Oh my goodness, I'd almost forgotten all the stuff with Starbuck and Kasey in this episode, that kid is so ridiculously cute it is unbelievable. How Katee managed not to break character and just give her a huge hug I don't know.
Katee won a Saturn award for Best Actress in 2006, but Emmy voters are dickface morons who think genre work is lame and never nominated ANYONE from the show for an acting award (MORONS!!!!!). I don't care, she is still my queen.
And the Kacey storyline is more reason than ever to give it to her – Katee went out of her way to create a bond with the kid, playing with her between takes and so on – and it shows.
Without her, they'd never have got the kid to react to Kara the way she does because normally, tiny kids have a very hard time emoting on screen – Ron and David say as much in the podcasts, that you basically have to treat them like furniture/not ask too much of her by way of emoting.
Please don't use "lame" on this site to mean anything generally bad.
What words are we not allowed to use here? I mean, if there's a blacklist I'd like to know what's on it so I can avoid.
There's no defined list or anything. In the site rules Mark specifically asks people to avoid "crazy" and "lame," and I suppose I would add "insane" and "bitch" to the list of words I have commonly asked people before to not use here.
Re: Athena,
Qba'g jbeel, fur jba'g! Bhe tvey vf fnsr sbe abj!
There's just something inherently dramatic about cutting your damn hair.
Right? It just WORKS. I don't even know.
This episode raises some very interesting ideas and plot threads, and contains some great character moments for Tigh and Starbuck in particular that I'd like to talk about, but every time I remember the episode's title my brain just flashes to this
[youtube 4TM3GbxaNLI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TM3GbxaNLI youtube]
I have memorised all the actions. I am not even a little bit ashamed
That. Is. AWESOME.
That was awesome sauce. And I may have almost fallen off my chair when she joined in with the hand motions.
That is epic.
Oh, thank goodness Athena is finally Athena. I kept wanting to correct you when you called her Boomer, when that’s clearly the Sharon that’s with the Cylons and spoilers are bad, okay!
Oh, believe me, “The Final Five” is so the name for “The Final Five”. What else could they be called?
Starbuck and Tigh need all the hugs. All of them!
Fun fact: Katee Sackhoff actually cut her own hair in this episode- that was not a wig.
The Fat!Lee storyline was supposed to drag on longer with Lee joining the Marines, but the writers couldn't figure out a way to spin it out well so they just dropped it ~magically~
I'm so glad we can now refer to Galactica!Sharon as Athena. Getting around that was waaaaay too difficult. And yes, fandom did adopt the Final Five moniker.
[youtube _3viTpO9io8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3viTpO9io8 youtube]
Bear McCreary wrote on his blog that he never really felt this fit into where RDM put it in the episode, but since RDM was pleased, it stayed. I think it actually works quite well since it doesn't quite sound like anything we've heard so far and fits with the mood of the Basestar scenes.
I love that piece of music It's so sad and thoughtful.
So my eyesight is kind of bad sometimes and the title of this episode, with the font Netflix uses, looked like "Tom" instead of "Torn". So the whole time I was like "WHERE IS ZAREK? WHY WOULD YOU CALL AN EPISODE WITHOUT ZAREK 'TOM?'"
Yep. My life.
I have the opposite problem. One of my favorite fashion bloggers calls her stomach her "tum," but I always read it as "turn," and I'm wondering why she's talking about her turn and what the hell that means and how it relates to fashion.
One of my favorite episodes! Athena's callsign, the Hybrid, projection, the first mention of the Final Five. And that Six had great black hair.
Looking forward to 3.07, 3.08 and the extended 3.09.
I have to give Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, the actress playing the Hybrid, so much credit because DAMN that has to be an awkward role to play. So many words to deliver at such high speed, most of which don't seem to make much sense AND she has to sit in, essentially, a bathtub the whole time? Yet she pulls it off so beautifully. "The ones you know as Leoben think every word out of her mouth means something." Well they would.
Sharon has a callsign! We can finally refer to her as Athena! Yay! I love the scene where they name her. All the joking Cylon-y names they come up with before settling on Athena. People are being nice to her! YAY! And Yay for Hotdog coming up with the final name. Clearly Adama and Roslin knew what they were doing when they sent Athena and Racetrack to find the nebula, they're the characters that ALWAYS find stuff.
While I do kind of roll my eyes at Lee managing to drop the extra weight so quickly I can't help but AWWWW at Helo helping him. He's just friends with everyone isn't he?
AWWWW at Helo helping him. He's just friends with everyone isn't he?
That's why so many characters have guest appearances on the Starbuck and Helo are BFFs show.
I love that BSG is always reinforcing my instant love of Helo.
I was kind of surprised that the Threes don't think anything of the Hybrid since it was one of them who spoke to the human Oracle and got an accurate prediction. The Hybrid babbling in her smoky tub reminds me a lot of the Pythia sitting on her tripod, breathing in noxious fumes, and speaking nonsense to be "translated" by priests (though, in the Hybrids case, she's actually speaking words.) Anyway, I agree, the actress did a great job playing a haunted, mysterious character, and I hope we see more of her.
The Athena naming scene is so cute and wonderful, she is finally accepted! Plus, pretty call-sign.
J'adore the Helo love on the show and in the comments.
BZT gur arkg rcvfbqr vf gur orfg rire sbe guvf, pna'g jnvg, pna'g jnvg!
think of how pruney Tiffany's hands must have been
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/sqwonk/dnw-todd.gif">
In all seriousness though, she did an AMAZING job <3
I feel so bad I thought Helo was just a red shirt at the very beginning -_- I need to add him to my list of characters/people I'd like to be friends with
<3 that gif! So tempted to go watch that movie now.
but it's so sad!!! I've actually only seen it once because I apparently cried so hard the first time it scarred me for life 🙁
Awwww *hug* I think it helps that I didn't watch it until fairly recently (like, in the last few years) which probably made the sadness easier to deal with.
thanks *tear* maybe it's time I re-watch it. I will be brave!
One of my favorite character's callsign is my favorite goddess. This pleases me. So I agree, this means bad stuff is gonna happen because this show exists to make me sad. Based on what she said at the end of the episode, I'm guessing god is pissed at everyone?
So, why don't the Cylons talk about the other five? Were they boxed? Was there a rift between two groups? I take it this means that we won't be meeting any new models any time soon, but I'm also wondering about Baltar and how his brain works. Could he be a secret Cylon? Bad idea lying to the Six, btw.
I agree that Starbuck and Tigh had it the worst down on New Caprica, and that Adama's brand of tough love isn't always the best tactic, but what else was he supposed to do? They think that everyone who stayed on the ship is soft and untrustworthy, and I think Adama's only option was to come at them bluntly and not give them the opportunity to harm the pilots even more. That being said, I feel awful for Starbuck; he didn't even disown her after finding out about Zak. I don't want her to leave, but I do want her to get better. I hope this is a start.
Everything is weird and I love it!! The Cylon Hybrid is THE COOLEST THING EVER!!! I hope we get to see more of them 😀 As much as I love the Galactica crew, at this point I just want to know all the things about the Cylons and was getting kind of impatient every time we’d go back to the humans (although I loved everything from Adama’s confrontation on).
Original Cylon Hybrid concept art!: http://media.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/File:Hybrida…
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/gP2W2.gif"/>
THAT'S SO COOL!! I'm really glad they decided to go with the simpler design- it's more haunting, but I like how in the original design it is literally a hybrid.
MORE GAETA. MORE ROSLIN.
FOREVER AND ALWAYS!
Bear McCreary continues to be amazing with ‘Battlestar Sonatica’.
[youtube 5vcFFf9aa7k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vcFFf9aa7k youtube]
All of the information to do with Cylons, projection and the Hybrids are fascinating and gives one of my favourite visuals on the show, the cables coming out of the Hybrid leading to code flowing down like blood in a drip.
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/2jd52ef.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
‘They both know better’ ‘I don’t think they care sir’
As much as what Starbuck and Tigh are doing is detrimental to the crew, it’s hard to dislike them for it when all you want to do is hug them. They have both been through horrible experiences on New Caprica and there’s no way it can’t have changed them or that they can magically go back to normal. Starbuck seems like she’s possibly trying at the end with her hair cut but her face as she hugs Kacey (saddest hug ever) shows that she’s far from being okay.
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/200wuaf.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
’When god’s anger wakens, even the mighty shall fall.’
Well that doesn’t sound ominous at all.
The gif with Kara and Kacey is a tie between the cutest and the saddest thing I have ever seen in my life.
Now I just want a blonde toddler to hug.
"All of the information to do with Cylons, projection and the Hybrids are fascinating and gives one of my favourite visuals on the show, the cables coming out of the Hybrid leading to code flowing down like blood in a drip."
As much as the Hybrid freaked me out at first, I adored that visual.
Haha, did he really name a track Battlestar Sonatica? ILU Bear.
I actually think Starbuck's crying in that gif (omg sadface) is a step forward for her. Instead of pushing all of her pain and trauma aside and turning it into anger and bitterness, she's at least facing some of it. I think that's huge.
"WHY DID YOU SECRETLY MAKE THIS A TWO-PART EPISODE AND NOT CONSOLE ME AHEAD OF TIME?"
Perhaps it would save you some pain if you just think of Battlestar Galactica as one big 73-part episode.
That's how I've started thinking about it. Or a movie that was so long it had to be cut into 73 forty-five minute installments.
I think you mean 72. We all know that there's no episode 14 in season 2…
Which means it will be ruined soon because BSG doesn’t like joy.
Now you are truly one of us, Mark, for you have internalized this eternal truth.
HAH! I just wrote basically the exact same thing. FAN UNITY!!!
High-five!
Battlestar Galactica fanhood = MASOCHISM
This is the truth.
I've been sitting on my hands for so long regarding Baltar with the Cylons and the Final Five, and now we're finally here!
Also, Athena was the name of Adama's daughter in the original series (yes, they all had only one name, i.e. Baltar, Apollo, Boomer, ect. but I digress) however RDM is quoted on the wiki saying that she didn't have any point besides being beautiful and a love interest for Starbuck (both starbuck and boomer were men) so he didn't use her. But athena is really a perfect callsign for Sharon!
"Which means it will be ruined soon because BSG doesn’t like joy."
Congratulations Mark, you have now realized the central tennant which unites all of BSG fandom. 😀
Yup, great minds think alike. 😀
FOREVER HIGH FIVE! 😀
Forever FINALHIGHFIVE
So Say We All
the central tennant which unites all of BSG fandom
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WZQOtyxqHCk/TK-IDStjAQI/AAAAAAAABNw/Z9rkUJULyFA/s1600/XDELDWdavid-tennant-2.jpg">
Also. Helo is awesome. He's awesome from the pilot and hasn't ceased in his awesomeness.
Urrrrg this episode is great and all but I'm slowly dying from lack of Roslin here.
Mark, you are still NOT FRAKKIN PREPARED!!!! Not even close. 🙂
Yesssss we can finally call her Athena now!!!!!!!!!!
And shallow note: YAY FOR ALL THE SUPERFLUOUS END-OF-S2 HAIR BEING FINALLY GONE!!!
In this order:
1. Tyrol's beard
2. Adama's pornstache
3. Kara's long hair (sorry bb, you've had no luck with it so far).
Dunno if someone's mentioned it already, but in the haircutting scene Katee Sackhoff actually cut her own hair on-camera with that knife – it wasn't extensions. I love her so much, I was sad to learn she cried afterwards 🙁
I never thought Tyrol was that hot, but holy cow that beard and spectacles worked for him. Hubba.
Same here, and I normally hate facial hair.
I feel the same about beardos in general and yes I totally third this.
I'm not against a bit of scruff (Lee and Anders look excellent when they've got it going on, though Lee hasn't had any since 33) but I prefer my Chief clean-shaven (the glasses though, PHWOAR!!).
Facial/extra hair = more misery than usual in BSGverse anyway.
Aw, she cried? It's amazing how much psychological meaning we humans give to our hair, isn't it?
I kind of miss Scruffy Tigh and his Scruffy Beard and wool cap, but I might be the only one who loves him that way so much. I JUST WANT TO PET HIS SCRUFFY BEARD AND TELL HIM EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.
Hey! Cylons can get Martian Death Flu too! Now you know how I feel once every winter, you toaster bastards. SHARE MY SUFFERING. Oh but not Athena. Athena can share my honey and lemon tea and my handfuls of decongestant.
How cute are all the call signs for Sharon? At first when I heard things like "Chrome Dome" I worried there would be chairs overturned and punches flying but they were just razzing her! She can be razzed now! Not gonna lie though, I would have loved it if her call sign was Chrome Dome.
Aw, look, Kacey has a line, Kacey has a line. I feel so proud of her and her adorable little line it's ridiculous. I know I'm on record as not loving the New Caprica Kacey storyline for Starbuck, but damn that kid is cute. And I like this ep's handling of it better anyway — it has a more "fellow survivor" feel to me. (Starbuck's only fellow survivor is someone who can't even ask for a cookie by herself yet, how damn sad is that?)
That hybrid is … kind of disturbing. Someone already pointed out the parallel to Greco-Roman mythology and the Sybils. Cool.
Lee and the fat suit. Sigh. The minute I saw that stupid fat suit, I knew that eventually the Galactica would rescue the New Caprica survivors, or temporarily chase off the Cylons or make some other significant victory, and Lee would ~come back~ and the damn fat suit would vanish. It's just such lazy writing. Ugh, BSG, I am disappoint. I guess you already used alcoholism, and drug addiction would have been too hard to write back out, so fatness was your go-to symbolism for self destructiveness and hopelessness. Thanks.
"Not gonna lie though, I would have loved it if her call sign was Chrome Dome."
I liked that one, but my favorite suggestion was Raptor Adaptor. 😉
Lee and the fat suit. Sigh. The minute I saw that stupid fat suit, I knew that eventually the Galactica would rescue the New Caprica survivors, or temporarily chase off the Cylons or make some other significant victory, and Lee would ~come back~ and the damn fat suit would vanish. It's just such lazy writing. Ugh, BSG, I am disappoint. I guess you already used alcoholism, and drug addiction would have been too hard to write back out, so fatness was your go-to symbolism for self destructiveness and hopelessness. Thanks.
Dude, this.
Mark, this series is going to lay waste to your heart when it's done, and several times before that too.
For your own sake, I'd suggest taking a few days off (AT LEAST) before starting to watch the next series, you will need it.
NOOOOOOOOOO! I need his reviews. It's like BSGcrack rewind
I meant after he's done with BSG, he WILL need time off to recover before he starts watching whatever's next. I went off tv for months and months afterward, jumping into something the next day is too much.
Well, he's mentioned that he is planning to do a one-off again (like he did with Sherlock). So it'll probably be something cool, but not quite so involved.
Uninvolved followup or no, he's not prepared.
(understatement of the millennium up there)
“Torn”, AKA “Everything you ever wanted to know about the Cylons, but were afraid to ask… and couldn't have, because you never could have guessed this stuff!” Projecting, the Hybrid, computer-codey stuff everywhere… I guess since they ARE machines, not humans, it wouldn’t make sense unless we got some strangeness. And this is some wonderfully fascinating strangeness.
I’m not sure what to think about the Tigh and Starbuck issue. You might not go there, but I will- I'm torn.
I realize that they were both put through hell, maybe more than the other colonists, but honestly, they were starting to make me mad by insinuating that the people on Galactica were just sitting around twiddling their thumbs for four months. I felt like crying when Adama told Kara that she USED to be like a daughter to him, but not anymore.
Sharon (or should I say Athena?) gets a call sign! And we finally get a good way to distinguish between her and Boomer. It’s a sign that she truly is one of the crew now. Awwww. <3
What I really need to talk about is the five Cylons that are NOT AROUND. WHAT. Well, at least we finally get an explanation for why we only see the seven that we’ve met so far, but…. Why do the other cylons “never talk about them”? Are they “boxed”? Did they malfunction in some way? Were they not on board with the whole annihilating humanity plan and want nothing to do with the others? Are they members of the cylon fight club? At any rate, I don’t for a second believe that this is the last we’ll hear about it- they wouldn’t bring this up unless it’s going to come into play later on. It better had, because it’s going to bug me for the duration of the series if it doesn’t.
One by one, everyone is setting their hair right again. 😛
And their fat-suits.
the hybrid makes me think of the borg queen. except the hybrid can't detach her head, and the borg queen can move around and speak coherently to people.
it has been a struggle to not refer to Caprica Boomer as Athena in comments up until now. what an ENORMOUS weight lifted off my shoulders (that might be a little overdramatic).
i LOVE LOVE LOVE the scene where kara reunites with casey. of course, this by no means heals the scars from her imprisonment, but it shows that maybe she's headed in the right direction again.
i think that adama's intervention with tighe and starbuck was purely the admiral being the admiral. yes, he has very complex personal relationships with these people, but he also knows when to lay down the Admiral Hammer. things have gotten REAL and if these two instigators wanna hate, adama ain't gonna play that game.
Yes, that fat suit did disappear quickly. If only we all could put in as little effort as Lee Adama to lose weight, we'd all have a body that wouldn't quit.
FINALLY. I can refer to my favorite character in the series by the name I think of her by. ATHENA~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, if you think you've been unprepared up to this point, let me warn you, sir… YOU ARE NOT FRAKKIN PREPARED for the next episode.
Well, let's see. Tigh's drinking again, Starbuck is flying dangerously and Lee is yelling at her, Gaius is making shit up to save his own ass… they DID press the reset button on this show! Har har, I kill me.
ATHENA TIME! 😀 😀 😀 I forgot that Hotdog is the one who names her. I think it's a perfect name for her because she is so awesome and Athena is the Goddess of Awesome. (What? She is.)
"Who are the final five?" AND A FANDOM NAME FOR THEM IS BORN. Thanks Gaius.
And our first look at a Hybrid! One of my favorite things Jacob Clifton ever wrote was that he could translate the Hybrid's babblings because he did time in "Tori Amos purgatory." I was a Tori fan for YEARS, and I laughed out loud when I read that because IT'S SO TRUE. HER LYRICS ARE LIKE THAT.
Vg'f jrveq gung gur Guvegrragu Gevor jbhyq yrnir n ornpba gung vasrpgf Plybaf. V zrna, V thrff gurl jrer n qvssrerag xvaq bs Plyba–jbhyq gur qvfrnfr vasrpg gur Svany Svir?
Adama is so frakking badass the way he gets Starbuck and Tigh back in line. I love him. I know they went through a horrible time, and in an ideal world they'd be given leave to work out their issues (hopefully with the help of trained professionals) before they went back into combat. But Adama knows this isn't an ideal world and they are short on people and time, so they have to shape up or get out. I just… can't deal with how great that scene is. ADAMA HOW ARE YOU THE BEST COMMANDER OF EVERYTHING EVER.
Yay Starbuck's short hair is back! And a symbolic rejection of her forced domestic life with Leoben and her experiences on New Caprica and cutting the old diseased parts of the tree away so new limbs can grow but WHATEVER, SHORT HAIR IS HOTT.
Tigh 🙁 🙁 does he plan on drinking himself to death, now? I got that impression when he said "you won't be seeing me again."
WHY are the Cylons looking for Earth too? Do they just… WANT more war and awfulness? Surely they know the humans are looking for a new home, and that they can't both live there. Unless they pick opposite sides of the planet and stay there. That sounds good. They can each take a hemisphere.