{"id":667,"date":"2011-10-17T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-17T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=667"},"modified":"2011-10-13T11:40:15","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T18:40:15","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s03e15-a-day-in-the-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/10\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s03e15-a-day-in-the-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S03E15 – A Day In The Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth episode of the third season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, Adama’s past is paralleled with a horrifying situation onboard the Galactica<\/em> when an airlock seals two crew members inside. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I have a lot of things to feel about “A Day in the Life,” and many of those emotions came to the forefront simply during the “Previously On\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6” segment. Generally, I skip them, as they tend to clue me in to the narrative focus for the upcoming episode, but I was watching with a friend and ended up seeing the ones attached to this particular story. There was a lot of Cally and Tyrol, and the first thought that popped into my head was, “Well, shit, one of them is going to die this episode.”<\/p>\n

I’m at a point in this series where I have stopped feeling that anyone who is not a primary character is safe from death. And the primary characters themselves are certainly not<\/em> safe from tragedy, either. On top of this, I have a new terrifying fear planted in my brain because of the events of “Rapture”: one of the characters that I see on this show is a Cylon, and they either have no idea that this is the case, or they’ve been deceiving everyone the entire time. When you combine these two thoughts of imminent death and Cylon deception, and then<\/em> you watch the first five minutes of “A Day in the Life,” everything is wrong and awful and terrible and what might have been a slow, yet insightful episode, turns into an exercise of self-inflicted suspense.<\/p>\n

Without this context, I don’t know that I would have enjoyed this episode quite as much; my opinion might change on a re-watch, but for now, I think this episode is a fascinating addition to season three. Besides giving us a much-needed look into the marriage of Tyrol and Cally (and explaining why Tyrol was at that bar so often a few episodes ago), we finally get to see what Admiral Adama’s ex-wife was like and how that marriage shaped his character. In fact, marital relationships are contrasted throughout this story as Adama parallels what is happening to Tyrol and Cally with what he went through.<\/p>\n

Now\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.I have nothing insightful to say about marriage. I don’t! I grew up genuinely believing I could never get married, so I never wanted it. I still don’t. If the Defense of Marriage Act was repealed tomorrow, and then Idris Elba asked me to marry him, I would\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.okay, wait, that’s a terrible example. I would do whatever he asked me to<\/em>. Ridiculous hypothetical aside, I’ve lived a life believing marriage was for everyone but me. I’ve known I was gay since I was very young, and the institution of marriage was meant for one man and one woman–at least, that’s what was drilled into my head. Knowing that I wanted to be with men (well, boys<\/em> at the time\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.I wasn’t dreaming of sugar daddies when I was seven), I just gave up on any hope of being married.<\/p>\n

So when I watch “A Day in the Life,” and I hear Cally say that their relationship is different because they’re married, or when I hear Tyrol say he wants to “work” on his marriage, it is akin to a person rattling off theoretical equations in quantum physics. I don’t know what this means. I genuinely have no clue how it changes a relationship. How do you “work” on a marriage? Is it like a car? WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST TYPE?<\/p>\n

What I do understand is that when Cally and Tyrol got trapped in that airlock, I knew that they’d have to face the problems they were discussing in the cold open, that they were overworked, that their child was essentially being raised in daycare. (There is daycare aboard the Galactica<\/em>??? Did I miss this before?)<\/p>\n

I will admit to being slightly distracted the entire episode by the exponentially-increasing fear that this was the end for Cally or Tyrol. Well, it’s not even that; as the episode pressed on, I started believing that both<\/em> of them would die. It’s a scary thought because Tyrol is so nonchalant about the existence of a leak in the airlock until he patches over it and a larger hole appears in its place. The thing is, I didn’t know if there was more story to tell with them. Like Kat’s final episode, it seemed that the show could go on with a tragedy befalling this couple’s child, left alone on Galactica<\/em>. And I hated admitting that, that it was totally possible for both characters to die in a single episode. It certainly made for a thrilling story, but it was agonizing at the same time. I truthfully enjoy both Tyrol and Cally, and Cally always feels criminally underused by this show; now, getting the chance to be in the spotlight, would this be her final performance?<\/p>\n

All of this is rather brilliantly framed through the eyes of Admiral Adama. I admit to being horrifically shocked when we see a glimpse of a blonde woman sleeping in Adama’s bunk. UM WHY IS THAT NOT PRESIDENT ROSLIN. HOW DARE YOU RUIN MY SHIP<\/em>. But then, when XO Tigh arrives, she seems to have disappeared. WHAT. WHAT???<\/em> Did I imagine that?<\/p>\n

But after the Tyrols are trapped in the airlock, we start to get flashbacks of Adama when he was still married. Well, I thought<\/em> they were flashbacks, but that’s not the right term, is it? Because Adama can control and operate in these memories from the present. But are they even memories? I thought. It didn’t take long for a horrible thought to creep into my brain: Admiral Adama was experiencing the same “projections” that Baltar and Caprica Six had. Oh god, he’s not a Cylon, is he? But he couldn’t be. We’d seen his past, and the show would retcon that out, would they? WHAT IF IT’S ALL A LIE.<\/p>\n

I think “A Day in the Life” makes it clear that it’s a combination of memory and a coping mechanism for Admiral Adama. In Cally and Tyrol, he sees the choice to work hard over spending time with children, something he himself was guilty of with his own children, especially Lee. The episode suggests pretty heavily that this is why Adama is so distant, why he’s not quick to be affectionate, and why Lee isn’t used to positive praise from his father.<\/p>\n

Yet my favorite aspect of Adama’s “visits” to his ex-wife concern President Roslin. ARE YOU AT ALL SURPRISED BY THAT<\/strong>. The Adama\/Roslin shipper in me gets so much material to work with in “A Day in the Life,” starting with the chance to see the two flirt with one another and just be goddamn cute<\/em>. Of course, Roslin has no idea of the turmoil in Adama’s brain, but I’m okay with that. She’s a perceptive woman, but she’s tired and OBE, as Adama puts it. Plus, the real<\/em> shit hasn’t quite happened yet, and after it does, Adama and Roslin have a much more meaningful conversation.<\/p>\n

When it becomes clear that the hole in the hull of the ship is intensely serious, we are given an impossible solution, and I resigned myself to tragedy. As much as I wanted to believe that the two could survive under ten seconds of exposure to deep space, I have to admit that there’s not much room for hope on this show. WHICH I DEEPLY LOVE, BY THE WAY<\/strong>. But I’ve had to adapt over time when watching Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, similar to how I’ve had to adapt to reading A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em>. This is a bleak and brutal universe with a frightfully accurate take on humanity. But even that aside, the reality of a space-borne diaspora is that things break down and people die because of it. The universe doesn’t give a shit that Cally and Tyrol are in love, nor that they have an extremely young child. And I could sit here and wax poetically about the existential nature of deep space and start comparing it to Firefly<\/em>, but instead, let’s just spell this shit out: there is no reason these two can’t die.<\/p>\n

This episode does not ignore this reality, and as Adama shares the plan with the couple, listening to them apologize to one another for their failures as parents, we are not treated to a hopeful and exciting rescue attempt. Instead, everything feels like a depressing disaster. No one rushes in to be a superhero, screaming FUCK YEAH LET’S DO THIS. Starbuck and Athena act as if this is the end. It’s not like they feel as if they aren’t skilled enough; the fact of the matter is that even if they get Cally and Tyrol into their open Raptor quick enough, the two will still have been exposed for more time than any human should. (All this made me think about was how horrible Jammer’s death must have been.)<\/p>\n

I honestly expected one of the two Tyrol’s to accidentally let go, or for one of them to slam against Athena’s Raptor, or for both of them to just miss the ship all together. So you can imagine how pleasantly surprised (AND RELIEVED) I was when they both make it inside the Raptor in one piece. Oh. So they didn’t<\/em> die. This is good! The show doesn’t ignore that even though the mission is a success, though, that doesn’t mean the two survive. So when I see Cally in a hyperbaric chamber, all I can think of is, “YOU BETTER NOT DIE I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU, SHOW<\/em>. And then I made a bunch of hideous faces when Tyrol holds up his son to the glass and Cally touches her hand to it and Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, what the fuck are you doing to me. Stop it. Oh my god, you are making me feel so many things and it hurts why why why.<\/p>\n

So. I am glad Cally and Tyrol are alive. I need to say that. I would have been a hot fucking mess<\/em> had either one of them died. Just no<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And at the same time, I felt all of these wonderful things after getting chance to see a more ~sensitive~ side of Admiral Adama. I approve of all attempts to dissect and analyze the man’s masculinity; for him, his fatherhood is directly tied to that. Inspired by what he witnessed with Cally and Tyrol, he decides to confront his son. Well, I’m not sure if “confront” is the correct word. Haunted by the fact that perhaps he did make the wrong choice all those years ago, he needs to know if his son believes that Carolanne is indeed truthful in claiming that he was never around.<\/p>\n

There’s a lot of daddy issues surround Lee’s behavior, but this is a chance for him to have control in the dynamic, and I’m glad that, at the very least, Admiral Adama doesn’t do much of anything to refute what his son tells him: he wasn’t there for his sons, and his ex-wife really wasn’t there for them either. I complained that the love square business going on in season three is getting tiresome, so allow me to compliment this: despite that we’ve revisited the relationship between Admiral Adama and his son many times, this does not feel repetitive at all. If anything, the new dynamic to this discussion leaves Adama more vulnerable than we’ve ever seen him before.<\/p>\n

And it’s with that in mind that the end of “A Day in the Life” takes my shipper heart and warmly caresses it. A day has eclipsed in the life of Admiral Adama, and he ends that day with another briefing with President Roslin. More so than ever before, we are made aware of the fact that the two are in positions of authority, and that they must be careful about what they are doing, lest they be charged with an inappropriate intimate relationship. While I would love nothing more than for these two to be together, I can’t deny the fascinating tension that exists between them that allows them to flirt with one another, to bend the rules a bit. They both want<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0one another, but they hide that behind hypothetical questions.<\/p>\n

Well, Roslin doesn’t hide by the end of it. By telling Adama that she would<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0have built that cabin on New Caprica, it feels like an invitation. She is confirming to him that her feelings for him are real. And I melt in my seat and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. NOTHING<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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