In the first episode of the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck returns to the fleet to find that her friends and crew don’t necessarily view her as she would expect. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
Well, everything is going to continue to be fucked up, isn’t it? It’s weird to say that I enjoy Battlestar Galactica because it is so uncomfortable to watch, but the premiere of the final season of this show (well, one half of it, that is) was immensely satisfying to watch, giving us a tonal context for how this season might play out. Unlike season three, we open pretty much immediately after the events of last season’s finale. Right off the bat, the Galactica has to deal with the impossible return of Kara Thrace, impossible because we saw her explode. We saw it! It didn’t happen off screen. Lee witnessed it himself!
This is in the midst of a massive Cylon attack, and four of the Final Five Cylons have their own problems to deal with, too. I mean…hell, how do you cope with the knowledge that you’re a Cylon? That’s what “He That Believeth In Me” begins to answer. We see this manifest in different ways: Tory Foster is distant and silent; Anders is still fighting the notion, but after being scanned by a Cylon Raider, he’s forced to accept that there’s no denying it anymore; Tyrol appears to be the one Cylon who simply accepts the reality of this all, refusing to let it interfere with his job. Tigh, however, reacts worse than anyone else.
And that’s fascinating to me, because Tigh has literally become what he most despises. There’s no Cylon reveal that is more intriguing to me than Saul Tigh because of this. In a waking nightmare, he shockingly shoots Admiral Adama. (Which I believed was entirely real for a moment and SWEET BABY JESUS WHAT.) His fear of turning on the people he cares about manifests this way, most especially because he has historically been the most vocal anti-Cylon member of Galactica. OH, THE IRONY. It’s too much! But I am curious to see how this pans out. Why would the Cylons plant four of their own on the Galactica and wait all this time to activate them? How is “All Along the Watchtower” related to it? And will all four of them be able to resist their “programming” like Athena has, or will it be more like Boomer at the end of season one, where a switch goes off in their head and they can’t control their actions?
This is a dense episode because not only do we witness all of these plot threads, but we’ve also got Gaius Baltar’s increasingly bizarre story on our hands. I am not at all surprised that there’s some sort of cult based on who people perceive him to be. And that’s what’s important: even if the “answer” is muddled in ambiguity, we, the viewers, know that Gaius is not some mystical godly being who can grant wishes or prayers or has some direct line to God. Well….I suppose that addresses a different point, too. I think that half of my joy in watching Battlestar Galactica comes from the ambiguous nature of the story, which never gives us the answers. And that’s not done in a way that’s insulting either. With Gauis, we know that it is in his nature to do whatever he needs to do. He needed to “escape” with the women who dragged him away at the end of season three to avoid certain death at the hands of an angry populace. But now he’s dealing with a group that worships him as a deity.
The show has repeatedly shows us that Head Six has some tie to the version of the Cylon God and that plotline rears its head up again in “He That Believeth in Me,” giving us a parallel reference to both Baltar and Starbuck. Belief (and the ambiguous essence of it) play into the stories we are told. Is the Cylon God actually real, and do Baltar’s actions genuinely affect the outcome of the people on the Galactica? We saw Baltar’s renunciation of his lack of faith in season one save his life; now, when he genuinely begs for Connor to take his life instead of Schaffer’s, Derrick miraculously recovers. Head Six seemed rather content with this turn of events, so now I wonder more than ever: What if the Cylon God is real in some sense? Maybe it’s not a god in the sense that we understand, but Head Six represents some force acting through Baltar. As for the purpose of this all? I can’t even begin to guess what this all means.
For Starbuck, her return to Galactica is also an issue of faith, and it’s a rather difficult one to watch. It’s made all the worse to me because the writers never give us the information we are used to getting: not once does the show tell us whether Admiral Adama, Roslin, Lee, or Starbuck are in the right. But we are used to this by now, and as I said earlier, it’s what I’ve come to love about the show. It’s much more fascinating to me to see the issue of identity addressed in this way. Starbuck’s sense of self deteriorates when she finds out that she has been gone for months, not six hours, as she thought. And how does she cope with the reality that her ship appears to be brand new? Or that she blacked out during her trip from earth and back, despite bringing back what appear to be genuine photos? And on top of that, we know from Razor that the first Hybrid warned Kendra Shaw: Do not believe Starbuck. She is the harbinger of death, the bringer of the apocalypse. But how?
I think what’s so hard to watch about Starbuck in “He That Believeth In Me” is that her resurrection is not a joyous moment for her. It’s no secret that she’s my favorite character on the whole show, and “Maelstrom” pretty much cemented that for me. So, like Lee Adama, I want to believe her. I want her to be right. I want her to be the hero who brings the humans to Earth, who saves the day, who finally finds happiness. Yet I cannot ignore the inconsistencies. I can’t ignore that this does feel like a giant trap. I am ecstatic that Starbuck has returned, and I’m glad it’s in this way, since it doesn’t feel cheap, but I….I just want things to be puppy dogs and rainbows.
While most of this episode focuses on how Starbuck deals with this unfortunate reality, I think one of my favorite scenes out of all of this concerns Lee and his father. Lee can’t stop watching the damning footage of Starbuck’s Viper exploding. It’s there on camera, so there is at least part of her story that isn’t true. It’s a rare moment to see these two actually get along, even when Lee later brings up his career change. Both of them are conflicted by Starbuck’s return, even if they ultimately are opposite sides, because neither one of them can ignore the appeal of believing she’s real or a Cylon trick. (Which…perhaps it’s possible there’s a third option, right? That she did die in the explosion, but it was not the Cylons who brought her back. Right? OH GOD, I KNOW NOTHING.)
We have also seen that the two aren’t necessarily the most talkative father and son, at least not in a direct sense, though most of that falls on Admiral Adama’s side than Lee’s. So their conversation has an entire unspoken subtext that I find insightful and brilliant, from Lee asking if Roslin is still staying with Adama, to Adama offering Lee’s wings back. Even if there might be an accusatory edge to Lee’s question, that perhaps Adama is siding with Roslin because of some romantic notion, I think Lee actually asks the question with a more genuine intent in mind. The same goes with Adama: he doesn’t come out and outright apologize to Lee for what he said at the end of season three, but it’s part of him offering the position back to his son.
It was both a shock and a completely believable twist to have Lee confirm that he is leaving the military, that he’s going to pursue some “opening” in the government. Never have I seen a character who can use silence to speak volumes like William Adama, who remains entirely quiet during this segment. Perhaps Adama is disappointed in his son leaving, but also feels guilty for essentially pushing him in that direction. Perhaps he’s proud of his son, but also to prideful himself to admit this. Either way, Lee breaks this silence with a pointed question: If Zak returned as Kara had, and if he turned out to be a Cylon, would that mean that Adama would stop loving him?
I think it’s a wonderful way to set up the inevitable: Adama is going to have to discover that two people he’s worked closely with for many years, Colonel Tigh and Tyrol, are Cylons. God, how is Adama going to deal with Tigh’s revelation? That is going to be a horrific moment on this show, isn’t it? I can only imagine it being much worse than Tigh’s reveal in “Crossroads, Part II.” But I think it speaks to something else regarding the Cylons: is it enough to merely be a Cylon to be hated? The four of the Final Five that we know of now have really never done anything to deserve the condemnation for being Cylons. If anything, haven’t they all been helping and supporting the human survival this entire time? (Though….oh shit, I just realized that Tyrol being a Cylon might explain how he was able to find the Temple of the Five. HOLY SHIT REVELATION.) So do they deserve the hatred and scorn from humanity for just finding out they’re Cylons?
We even get a bit of setup for Laura Roslin, too, when she visits Caprica Six. I still don’t know why those two and Athena share visions of the Opera House, or why they’re connected, but they’re drawn to one another. But FUCK. Caprica Six tells Roslin that the Final Five feel “close.” THAT IS NOT HELPING THINGS AT ALL. But I am actually more interested in why the Cylons are programmed not to think about the identity of the other models that haven’t been released.
I had no idea until I finished “He That Believeth In Me” that this aired as a two-parter. I thought this episode would end on a somber note as Starbuck battled with the thought that she might be a Cylon, or at least a Cylon experiment, especially since the Cylons stole part of her during “The Farm.” AND HOLY IRONY TO STARBUCK SAYING SHE’D KILL ANDERS IF SHE FOUND OUT HE WAS A CYLON. oh my god this is not going to end well. I don’t have a guess for why Starbuck’s mind seems wired to respond to the physical location to earth, and it seems like another clue that this might not be the same Starbuck who disappeared in “Maelstrom.” And it certainly doesn’t help when Starbuck KNOCKS OUT TWO GUARDS AND ANDERS AND THEN GOES AND AIMS A GUN AT LAURA ROSLIN.
Fuck you, “To Be Continued.” FUCK YOU VERY MUCH.
I can’t ignore that this does feel like a giant trap.
<img src=http://imagemacros.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/its_a_trap.jpg>
“V guvax gung unys bs zl wbl va jngpuvat Onggyrfgne Tnynpgvpn pbzrf sebz gur nzovthbhf angher bs gur fgbel, juvpu arire tvirf hf gur nafjref. Naq gung’f abg qbar va n jnl gung’f vafhygvat rvgure.”
Lrg.
On the plus side, Laura Roslin will, in fact, be in Bill Adama's bunk.
Everyone else can go home because you've just won everything.
<img src="http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq100/nebula908/Gifs/k0s.gif"/>
IT IS MY PORN. I'm gonna keep saying it till the end of time, YOU CANNOT STOP ME.
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I love the scene where Lee asks Adama if the President is still staying with him. Like…I want to know…but I kind of don't…
[youtube yjPAx5-vD_A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjPAx5-vD_A youtube]
Lyrics:
(We gather in shadow
Beneath your altar
Your image in blood and flame
By your command, deliver us
Unto the One True God
Gaius Baltar, our divine savior
Now and for eternity
So say we all.
STOP BEING BRILLIANT, BEAR MCCREARY.
I love how complex Lee's relationship with his father is. It's not magically healed or never to be healed for ridiculous reasons. it's nuanced and realistic and true to the characters, IMO.
Shallow comments first: Grace Park looked gorgeous in the 3 seconds she was on screen. And Helo's back after an absence on Razor *happy sigh*. Jamie Bamber's eyes looked really good in that green sweater…as did the rest of him.
Okay, back to content. Original Hybrid and Kendra Shaw were putting a damper on my "Return of Starbuck" parade since Saturday and now you are too, Starbuck. But you're right, Sam is a much better person than you are. You accepted Athena even though she's a Cylon but you say you'll kill your husband if it turns out he's a Cylon? So very uncool. Clearly you know that even the Cylons can make choices that don't harm others. Ahh, why must you and Roslin make me so angry all the time? I love both of you and you both make me yell in frustration more than any other characters.
Speaking of making choices, Tigh refered to Boomer as "she." I don't think he's ever referred to her or Athena as anything other than "it" or some other inanimate object. Realizing he's a Cylon has changed him. I like it. I was so happy when he was revealed to be a Cylon because he's been so callous when it comes to them, but this is working for me. That thought he had when he shot Adama very much freaked me out.
And Tory had lines! This is exciting progress for her. Maybe soon some character development.
The opening sequence is so jarring coming right after Razor. The survivor count dropped 10,000. But I like the new story. I need to know who the other Cylon is.
On another note, Baltar's Jesus beard is gone! What good news, even though the other parallels have never been more obvious. And I like how the women who whisked him to safety hoped nobody would notice somebody covered in a bright orange blanket hurriedly being led in the opposite direction that almost everybody else is going. Very subtle.
I've only known the scruffy to full bearded Gaius. He was HOT with it it. Without it, I keep thinking he's the character he played in Bridget Jones' Diary. DNW.
I hate these surprise to be continueds!
I know it doesn't make any sense, but in spite of Starbuck's death and reappearance in a shiny new ship, the whole harbinger of death thing, and her vague memories of how she got to Earth and back, I still trust her. The hinkier her story gets, the more I want to believe that she's right, that they're on the wrong path to Earth, and that she's not actually going to doom humanity. Oh, so you get terrible headaches whenever they jump and you've got a gun to Roslin's head? MUST BE TRUSTWORTHY. I think I've given up logic completely just because I want Starbuck to be one of the good guys.
Man, I am not looking forward to Adama finding out that Tigh is a Cylon. Gonna break his heart. Or really, really piss him off.
I like your reasoning. I think I felt the same.
I need the next episode like I need air. I watched this right before bed last night and like, what, BSG, you expect me to be able to sleep after that? I dreamed all night of what might happen between Starbuck and Roslin now. You can't pit two of my favorite characters–hell, two of the most awesome female characters on TV in recent memory–against each other and expect me not to weep myself to sleep.
I'm still curious as to how Nicky plays into the Cylon's plan now that we know Tyrol is a Cylon. If Hera's a big deal to them for being a hybrid, then either Callie is the final Cylon (I really don't think she is) or Nicky's got to be a big deal, too. I'm still betting on the he's the Adam to Hera's Eve theory, but IDK. I know nothing, either, Mark. TRAGIC.
The space battles just keep getting more and more beautiful on this show. The Battle of the Ionian Nebula that opens is just so gorgeous with the added colour of the nebula. I am sad to see my favourite ship, the one with the big ring (I can't remember if we've been told its name yet, I don't think so), getting damaged. I have inexplicable love for that ship.
There's something about the way Kara describes what she's seen, "big blue oceans, fluffy white clouds" and "yellow moon and star". They're not the most detailed descriptions but there's something poetic about them anyway.
The scenes of Kara's return to Galactica are so well done. Lee and Anders' joy at having her back compared to the shock and disbelief on everyone else. Tyrol's "I don't have one for you" when she asks for her checklist always gets to me. The scene later on when Helo takes over from Gaeta in helping her go over the maps, he's still her BFF no matter what she's gone through.
And so, with the shaving of Gaius' presidential scruff/Jesus beard all of the New Caprica hair has been defeated. Huzzah!
I don't know if it's my hearing, my copies of the season or if there is in fact some change to the sound but everything sounds a lot deeper in this episode. Adama and Tigh in particular sound a lot gruffer than they used to but Athena's few lines sounded off as well.
AND HOLY IRONY TO STARBUCK SAYING SHE’D KILL ANDERS IF SHE FOUND OUT HE WAS A CYLON.
Such an uncomfortable moment but I LOVE the little eyebrow raise and smirk she gives him after that line.
I am sad to see my favourite ship, the one with the big ring (I can't remember if we've been told its name yet, I don't think so), getting damaged. I have inexplicable love for that ship.
That's always been my favorite ship too! Well, besides Galactica. I always wonder what it's function could possibly be with a design like that, but I love it.
The "ring ship" is named the Zephyr, according to the Wiki, and Ron Moore demanded that it only be damaged in this scene instead of destroyed like the ship they lost, because he likes the ring thing so much. Hee.
Oh I knew it was the Zephyr, I just couldn't remember when that was confirmed on screen and wanted to play it safe. The name's been mentioned before but it wasn't obvious which ship they were talking about. I know at one point the wiki listed it as Space Park, no idea where they got that name from.
Space Park. Ahahahaha That is awesome!
I really wish I had known that "Episode 1" on Netflix was Razor! We ended up huddled around my laptop watching a horrible download from Amazon (so bad that I want my $2.99 back). Next time I guess I will check these things out lol.
Anyway, man, this show has gotten so good that I literally want to call in sick to work and mainline it. I can barely stand to stop watching!! I really love everyone's storylines, and ever since the revelation of Tyrol, Tigh, Tory and Anders, I have been breathless with anticipation for where this is going and who the last Cylon is. I have so many questions that I feel like one season is not enough to answer them all and I am beginning to worry that the ending cannot possibly be as satisfying as the show itself.
Okay, I still remember my reaction to the Tigh-shoots-Adama-scene. I'm normally very stoic if I'm watching something sad or distressing(that's not to say that I'm not crying on the inside or anything), but when that scene happened I let out the biggest moan of distress. I might even have let a whimper slip out. If I had had a keyboard nearby it would have been smashed so badly.
I fell for that scene hook line and sinker. Seriously, I thought Oh.My.Gods. He fucking shot Bill, IN THE EYE! How poetic. I just couldn't imagine that it was Tigh's hallucination because Laura reacts, Helo reacts EVERYONE on the CIC reacted as though it was real.
Frakkin' show totally nailed me on that brilliant bit.
I didn't fall for it, I knew from the start that it was a dream. Maybe I watched too much TV, or too much Whedon, I don't know.
Weirdly, it felt really shocking to me still, because he was THINKING about it, and it was done so beautifully, that I could feel what Tigh could feel. And I knew that he was having problems grasping onto reality, so – wow.
I remember letting out a shriek of horror when Adama was shot at the end of season one. 😛
I think this time it just all happened so fast i didn't even have time to process before it was revealed as fake.
Me neither. I was just stunned, and then the camera spun around before I could react!
We've now reached the point where I started watching these as they aired, so I finally can post some of my as-I-was-watching it comments!
… erm. I'll just edit out some of the swearing/talking about my own things that are not relevant. The random all caps will have to stay. I guess I was super excited. Anyway!:
Let me just get this out first:
OH MY GOD BALTAR AND THE 'YOUR POLYTHEISTIC RELIGION IS A LIE PROMULGATED BY THE RULING CLASS AND MONOTHEISM IS THE TRUE PATH' AND SIX TELLING HIM AND OH JFIOADJFOISUDF.
Uh. So that. All that. I doubt it's going to remain Baltar's personal group of female followers for very long, and it is worth noting that though we rarely hear about them, women are often the earliest followers of the prophets in a lot of traditions, particularly those whose messages involve action against the ruling class.
(ALSO THEY COULD HAVE DONE SOME STUPID SEXUAL THREATENING WITH THAT WOMAN WHO WAS WITH HIM BUT SHE KICKED THEIR ASSES AND SAVED HIM. YES.)
Uh. Ok. Done talking about that.
Yes, Kara, kidnapping the president is an excellent way to prove you're not a Cylon! I'm sure that's going to go fantastically well for you.
I don't think she's a Cylon, and I do think she'll probably end up being right. But you'd also think that … that whole setup with the Eye of Jupiter was there for a reason, unless the reason was to get them there at the same time and… something to do with the Final Five. Which is also possible. Either way, the Cylons and the humans are extremely interconnected in this, so… anything seems possible and I'm not going to speculate on it too much.
But. As I do see Kara as the sort of polytheism-style oracle, I… do think it'll end up that she's sort of like Cassandra here. Maybe.
Poor Anders. Though it's interesting that we're even bringing up this 'someone could be a Cylon and that wouldn't change how we feel about him or her' thing. I didn't expect to get there so quickly.
/my original comments. I'll just say that it's super weird to look back on them now.
Who is Cassandra?
I think they are referring to this Cassandra:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra
Who was a prophet in Greek mythology who made accurate predictions that no one ever believed.
Dude! Wow.
Yep, that was it. Thanks!
I just want things to be puppy dogs and rainbows.
If only, if only.
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Yay, new opening sequence! The thing that intrigues me the most is how the final four are handling being Cylons and how everyone else might react to it. I can see a lot of people's reactions going either way so it's hard to predict. I mean Adama trusts Athena, but that took a long time. I can't imagine how he'd react to someone like Tigh who he's known and been best friends with for so long being a Cylon. I also wonder how the other Cylons and the final five fit together. I mean they're apparently not supposed to think about them but they retreated when the raider recognised Anders. So many questions.
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I swear to god Starbuck if you shoot Roslin I won't be able to be held responsible for my actions.
I loved, loved, loved…FLOVED this whole sequence. Sam has the most WTF look of all time. Just amazing work. Sam asked they question of himself that I asked when I watched it the first time. Did Sam turn off the attack? Or did the Raider do it of it's own accord?
Ah, that eye thing freaked me out so much! I can't stop staring at this gif.
Andeeeers. He's clearly freaked out by and struggling with his new Cylon identity,. And that conversation between him and Kara is so sad because it's clearly him dealing with finding out that he is a Cylon and then Kara is all like "if you were a Cylon, I'd shoot you dead." 🙁
I just want these two kids to work out.
Oh gods, his face when she said that…
Michael Trucco does not get enough credit for the great work he did on this show. Terrific actor.
I think it's him dealing but on the other hand, he really meant for it to be about her. And he'd probably have said the same if he wasn't a Cylon.
So it hurts all the more when Starbuck makes it all about herself (and I love Starbuck, for the record).
I think it's a conversation that works on both levels. He did mean it for her, but the way that he phrased it seemed to be influenced by what he was going through at the moment.
Which makes it awesome, but we knew that already.
I have to say…putting a gun to Roslin's head? Probably not the BEST way to get Adama on your side, Starbuck. I imagine he'd be pretty ticked off if you shot her.
"AND HOLY IRONY TO STARBUCK SAYING SHE’D KILL ANDERS IF SHE FOUND OUT HE WAS A CYLON. "
It's just a joke to her – it has to be impossible as far as she knows but he's sitting there, knowing it's true and barely able to handle it as it is, and then she says basically THE WORST THING POSSIBLE TO HIM JUST BY ACCIDENT. (Trucco gives a great reaction there). Why can we never have unicorns and rainbows? *sigh*
lbh guvax vg'f vebavp abj? whfg jnvg, gur vebal bs gung yvggyr wbxr jvyy trg RIRA JBEFR. Gung jubyr fprar va gur unyy vf yvxr haornenoyr sbe zr abj, pbafvqrevat jurer naq ubj vg trgf ersyrpgrq yngre. zl cbbe xvqf, fb gentvp.
Tigh's reaction to the hallucination of him shooting Adama is one of the most heartbreaking things on the show. Again, Michael Hogan deserves all the awards.
I couldn’t even wait a week . Yeah I know, I have no idea how I would have survived watching in real time. In fact, right now I’m having to use all of my willpower not to just drop all my responsibilities, lock myself in my room, and watch the rest of the season in two days flat.
– New cylon introduction sequence thing!
– Tigh’s frakking vision. HOLY FRAK THAT WAS SO REAL FOR JUST A SECOND I THOUGHT IT HAD ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
– Anders sent the raiders back? Or they somehow recognized him? Maybe his eye got all red because they were taking his picture. (hey, it always happens to me :P) That whole sequence was so visually stunning though.
– Starbuck and her time jump. WHAT. As soon as she appeared all happy and excited about earth, and everyone was just staring at her suspiciously, my heart sank. The fact that she expected to be welcomed more or less as a hero made the actual reception so much harder. And there are explanations for why she only thoughts he was gone for six hours, or why she in a brand new viper, but none that I care to think about.
– That constantly in motion roller-coaster of my personal feelings that is Gaius Baltar. One minute he’s pissing me off for complaining about the people who saved him and quite literallyworship him(ok, so I admit the shrine was pretty damn creepy) and the next he’s showing genuine remorse and concern for the suffering of another person. AND THEN. HE ACTUALLY IS WILLING TO TRADE HIS LIFE FOR THE KID’S AND IT WORKS. How did that work though? Does he have to be really willing to die in place if someone else in order to heal them?
– Aww, Anders is such a great cylon husband. <3 Kara however is a less-than-great potential cylon wife. 🙁
– Starbuck, really, what about holding the President at gunpoint do you think will convince anyone you’re not a cylon? More importantly though, WAS ROSLIN IN ADAMA’S QUARTERS ON HIS BED? OR DOES SHE HAVE HER OWN QUARTERS ON GALACTICA NOW? I ask all the important questions.
Haha, I like your theory about Anders having "red-eye" from a photo. Those Raiders need to work on their flash-photography technology, or else the family pictures are going to be SO embarrassing.
Seriously. They turned out bad enough as it is: Six was having a bad hair day, Leoben's always looking somewhere else, and no matter how many times you tell them, the centurions just never smile.
Looking back from the end of season three, I read Tyrol's finding the temple and the way he coped better with the explosive decompression in "Day in the Life" as being foreshadowings of the Cylon reveal. I thought it was very clever and subtle.
However, nothing in RDM's podcasts supported this, so go figure. Apparently the decision as to who was to be revealed in the finale was made quite late in the season.
And, hello everyone.
Looking back from the end of season three, I read Tyrol's finding the temple and the way he coped better with the explosive decompression in "Day in the Life" as being foreshadowings of the Cylon reveal. I thought it was very clever and subtle.
I thought so too, but then they might not have decided he was a Cylon then? It's still cool, anyway.
Another bit of unintentional foreshadowing is way back in "33." Everyone's nonfunctional from lack of sleep, and Boomer is one of the ones holding up the best–and she gets teased for being a Cylon, even though at this point she has no idea she is one. You know who else holds up pretty well in that episode? Tigh.
I don't know, I think Ron always had it in his back pocket for Tyrol to be a Cylon. He may not have always intended to pull the trigger on it (I think there were things laid for Gaeta, too) , but Tyrol also had the weird dreams and the great "I've never seen you at the Cylon parties" line which DIRECTLY copies a line Head Six says to Baltar about Doral in the miniseries. So at least there was always kind of an inevitability about him (as there wasn't with the other three so much).
Just so everyone knows, I watched this episode (I normally don't rewatch for the reviews) and now I'm on my 4th episode of the evening and I have an 8 page rough draft of a research essay for my theatre history class due tomorrow. And I'm starting another. Frak.
It's unfair that there's only one really hot male Cylon (Anders). Not that Simon, Leoben and Tyrol are plain, but they aren't at the same level. And Tigh, Cavil and Doral have the attractiveness of nil.
So yeah, Starbuck's viper is all shiny and new. Is it a Cylon? CAN VIPERS RESURRECT? OH GOD if they opened it up would they find blood and tissue inside I AM WILLING TO BElIEVE ANYTHING AT THIS POINT. EVEN THOUGH I HAVE SEEN THE SHOW ALREADY I AM STILL NOT PREPARED. ALSO I FORGOT A LOT OF STUFF.
And then Tigh's fears about becoming Boomer rear their heads. Even though Tigh is made of pure awesome and has DECIDED to side with the humans no matter what, now he has fears that his own body is going to betray that choice. How awful would that be.
"Samuel T. Anders." It'd be funny if the T didn't stand for anything and he just now realized that. "MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE" okay this stuff is funnier in my head.
LOL SAM IS TELLING EVERYONE WHERE HE WENT TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
omg THE RAIDER KNOWS, YOU GUISE. IT KNOWS!! Does this mean the Raiders have knowledge of the Final Five that the other Cylons don't? That'd be weird. I guess it's not like they can talk to the other Cylons. (OR CAN THEY?)
BALTAR, THE CULT OF BALTAR IS WAITING FOR YOU. Oh god they even have a Shrine of Baltar. And he's just like "well, of course they do."
Aww, Anders gets Kara's second hug. The fact that this show keeps giving their relationship second-fiddle status to the Lee and Kara show continues to annoy me.
Head Six put on a business suit for some reason. (The wiki actually speculates that this is a ~symbolic reason~, that she's no longer interested in him sexually or whatever but is now just trying to get him to spread The Word.)
Of course the Cult of Baltar is a Cult of Having Sex with Baltar. Ugh.
Wait so they still have no way of identifying who's a Cylon and who's not? They can't like… irradiate a tissue sample or check the blood for antibodies or whatever? Come on, after all the physical differences we've seen Cylons display–different shape of the blood or whatever Gaius's reasoning for the cancer-fighting baby blood was, susceptibility to different kinds of radiation, susceptibility to that one virus that humans are immune to–there HAS to be a way. Or just play her 'all along the watchtower' and see if she gets any weird feelings.
Does Starbuck still have her tattoos? Or is she "brand new" like the Viper? That'd be a huge clue as to whether she's a Cylon or not, right? I assume if a Cylon got a tattoo on one body they wouldn't resurrect with it on another body, because the bodies are pre-made. Somehow.
Adama's fake blue eyes look really fake in these shots. Blue eyes are supposed to be lighter, and you can't lighten someone's eyes by sticking blue contacts over them. It'd be like me, if I tried to dye my hair blue without bleaching it first. It'd be mostly brown with just some hints of blue-ishness. Wait, that'd actually be pretty awesome. If I weren't job hunting right now I would totally dye my hair blue.
When Gaius is like "he can't have sinned against you, he's not even had a life yet," it makes me think of Stephen Fry: You can't just say, 'There's a God, because the world is beautiful.' You have to account for bone cancer in children. You have to account for the fact that almost all animals, in the wild, live under stress with not enough to eat, and will die violent and bloody deaths. There is not any way that you can just choose the nice bits and say, 'That means there is a God,' and ignore the true fact of what nature is. The wonder of nature must be taken in its totality.
"I cut myself shaving." CLASSIC.
"Is it possible that they grew me, another me, in a petri dish?" CHECK YOUR TATTOOS! Come on Kara.
According to the wiki, the lines when Chief is yelling at everyone to get in their Vipers are all ad-libbed. The one that did make it in was "your momma isn't gonna save you today," or something like that, but his favorite was "drop your dicks and grab your sticks!" which was cut out for obvious reasons.
I guess it's not like they can talk to the other Cylons. (OR CAN THEY?)
Maybe the human models can understand the whirring noises. Which makes me picture one of them, possibly an Eight, standing in front of a Raider asking it questions Lassie-style. "What is it boy? A Cylon in the fleet?"
I assume if a Cylon got a tattoo on one body they wouldn't resurrect with it on another body, because the bodies are pre-made. Somehow.
I always wondered about things like scars. I imagine someone like Kara who has been in combat would have a few of those too. I guess if the cylons were really commited to detail they would find a way to replicate each new physical marking on each body, assuming they know about it.
ONE WILL BE REVEALED. Bum bum bummmmmmmmmmm.
Gotta say, the whole "Tory is a CYLON" thing would have been so much more shocking if we'd had any real indication that Tory was, you know, a human. At any time. In the entire series. (Although, interestingly, on rewatching the miniseries, I think I spot her on not-yet-Colonial-One, in a stewardess uniform. Hee.)
"(Which I believed was entirely real for a moment and SWEET BABY JESUS WHAT.)" Me too, Mark, me too. There may or may not have been sitting bolt upright and yelling NO WAY.
Go Jeanne! Swing that … chair leg … or whatever it is. That's right, once again the woman saves her own damn self.
Does Connor ever do anything besides make trouble?
You know. I was beside myself when I thought Laura Roslin was going to be executed on New Craprica. I honestly started to mourn. But at this point, I've moved beyond tension and suspense to this place where I just want to get it over with. I'm like dammit, Starbuck, if you're going to blow her head off, don't keep me waiting. I got other plotlines to bite my nails over.
Can someone remind me of the viewing schedule henceforth?
I love that three of the final five were the three major leaders of the human resistance on Cylon-occupied New Caprica.
THAT STILL BLOWS MY MIND.
Tori was part of it too, only more on the Roslin/civilian side, maybe. But she organized things too when the battle went down.
Naq gura gurer'f Ryyra jub nyzbfg shpxrq vg nyy hc. (V ybir ure. Naq vg jnf haqrefgnaqnoyr, naq V fgvyy guvax gurl, rfcrpvnyyl Gvtu, jrer znwbe nffubyrf sbe xvyyvat ure naq gura univat gur areir gb znxr vg nyy nobhg uvzfrys.
Qhqr! Lbh xvyyrq lbhe jvsr! FUR vf gur ivpgvz.)
I believe yI believe you Starbuck and always will!!! Love you forever!!
Oh and Roslin/Adama bunking together…..SO AWESOME!!!! 😀 😀
I can't wait for more!ou Starbuck and always will!!! Love you forever!!