In the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica, Tyrol and Kara struggle with their identity post-Earth and then SHIT GETS SO GODDAMN REAL. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
I haven’t commented on it in a while, but it bears repeating that the people who ran Battlestar Galactica had a penchant for using the medium of television to compose a visual poetry that is rare for TV. The opening minutes of “Someone To Watch Over Me” tell us of the repetitive and vacant nature of Starbuck’s routine; they communicate a senseless portrait of mere cause and effect. She moves from one thing to another, her entire pattern memorized and repeated. Even see glimpses of her own corpse are common these days, and in the weeks after discovering this, she’s no closer to finding out who or what she is. The fleet is no closer to find earth. Tyrol is no closer to feeling comfortable with himself.
The story is split pretty evenly between Tyrol and Starbuck, and it traces how the two of them try to find ways to move beyond what has left them feeling listless and motionless. For Tyrol, it’s the appointment of Sonja, a new Six we’d not seen before, to the Quorum that provides his motivation: the Cylons’ first request will be to transfer Boomer to them so they can hold a trial for her. With the loss of resurrection, the Cylons can actually use capital punishment.
If there’s one thing I did not like about “Someone To Watch Over Me,” though, it was the very quick jump that Tyrol made from feeling hopeless to feeling a connection to Boomer without once really acknowledging Cally. What’s strange about it is that I actually do understand a marked detachment on Tyrol’s part. He does seem to have accepted her death. If the handling of Nicky was a bit sloppy, at least it’s there. But to not acknowledge even once that the two were together and had a kid? It’s weird, and it feels dismissive of a really important character to the show’s history.
Otherwise, though, I am completely enamored with Tyrol’s story. It is flawed in that respect, but I was overwhelmed by how touching and emotional it was for Tyrol to not only see Boomer after all that time, but cope with the fact that he’d never really stopped thinking of her. That is something that’s believable to me, and the flashback to when he once said, “How many of us ended up with the people we really wanted to be with?” confirms it. Tyrol is haunted by possibility: What might his life be like if he had stayed with Boomer? What if they’d both known they were Cylons long ago? What if neither one of them were a Cylon?
That’s why I think he’s so revolted and triggered when Boomer projects for him. I’d forgotten that was a thing, and now I feel a bit silly about my speculation about it in the last review. I think that most of the Head characters and visions could be explained by projecting, though some are more like…hallucinations? Given what happens to Starbuck at the end of the episode, though, there must be a connection between Cylon projection and non-Cylon characters, though I imagine I’m going to have to wait for it.
Anyway, can I just…can I just gush at how beautiful the scenes in the projected Picon house are? I mean, JESUS here come the waterworks. The place was gorgeous enough, but when Tyrol’s gaze fell on the hand-drawn size chart on the wall…IT’S JUST TOO MUCH Y’ALL. Boomer created a cute-as-hell daughter in her mind for her and Tyrol.
What, am I crying? No, no, of course not. Of course not. There’s just a lot of dust in the air, right? Just a whole lot blowing around and stuff. No, I’m just rubbing my eyes a lot that’s all.
There’s a part of me that feels like Bear McCreary snuck in a lot of lines about music because…y’all, music is my lifeblood. It’s what keeps me going. When Starbuck’s projected father says that the best songs make you “happy and sad at the same time,” I just wanted to reach into the screen and hug him. Which is really weird when you think about it because he’s double fake! Because even if I could touch things on TV shows (THAT’S A WEIRD FUCKING SENTENCE STARTER), he still wouldn’t be there.
So it made me incredibly happy that music is what helped Starbuck move closer to finding herself and her identity. That did mean that the second Hera handed her the drawing, I yelled THOSE ARE MUSICAL NOTES, STARBUCK, once again proving that I continually forget that the stuff on my fancy screen isn’t real at all. Regardless, that wasn’t the surprise. Starbuck repeatedly met with the man at Joe’s Bar because he was the first person she connected with at any level in a long time. (Well…she thought she was. THIS IS SO STRANGE TO WRITE ABOUT.) Of course, there were weird coincidences with her past, so I started to assume this would have something to do with her in a uniquely personal way. The revelation that he was her father, or at least a projection of him at some point in time, was a nice touch to things.
But honestly. HONESTLY. Let’s just talk about what we need to discuss. HOW THE FUCK DOES STARBUCK (and her father, technically) KNOW ABOUT “ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER”??? I’ll just be completely honest here: I don’t have a single goddamn clue as to what Starbuck is or what she’s supposed to represent. How is she tied to the Final Five and Earth? The worst thing about this is that I feel like the answer is sitting right in front of my face and I’m going to facepalm once it’s revealed. So…she had to have come from Earth, but…she’s not a Cylon. There’s only one model left and we know he’s called Daniel, so….OH GOD I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS AT ALL.
It is just as agonizing (and maybe more so) to watch Tyrol’s story as well. It’s like the project that Boomer showed him is a drug; so enamored with the idea of a possible future that really isn’t all that possible anymore, he begs Roslin not to send Boomer to the Cylons. Oh god, THE WORST PART IS THAT ROSLIN WAS RIGHT. ahhhhhhhhhhhh my goddamn emotions. She even says that Boomer preys on personal feelings THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE.
Once Tyrol set out to free Boomer and replace her with a different Eight, I thought I knew where this was headed, but as soon as Boomer showed up in the locker room, it was clear this episode wasn’t going where I thought it was. I just…she did this on purpose. She used Tyrol on purpose. Maybe she didn’t go to Galactica to steal Hera in the first place, as Ellen suggests. How could she have known that would happen? Instead, I think she saw Tyrol’s vulnerability and she went after it. She beat up Athena, she had sex with her husband, and she stole their child. (AHHH GOD, HELO EVEN SAID SHE SMELLED DIFFERENT. HE WAS SO CLOSE.)
It seems that Cavil finally got to her. I feared the many things that could have happened as Boomer basically smuggled Hera out in that box. Would she allow herself to be shot down? Would she purposely crash and kill them both just so that the humans wouldn’t have Hera? I still don’t understand the importance of Hera, but suddenly, inexplicably, Roslin knows that Hera is gone. Well, holy shit, her visions of her were important, but why? What is so special about that child?
The escape of Boomer has horrific consequences. It’s an emotional blow to Tyrol, and bravo to Aaron Douglas for his heartbreaking reaction to the knews. And the same goes for Grace Park, who played THREE versions of herself in this episode, all of them completely different. WHERE ARE THE EMMYS. WHERE ARE THEY. Oh god they got airlocked didn’t they DAMN IT.
But the most shocking thing about it all is that we get to see what happens when someone jumps so close to another ship. All the work Tyrol and Adama have ordered and done on Galactica might very well be worthless. The Galactica is falling apart, and the effects of Boomer’s jump ripped a hole in the ship. It’s a telling and depressing sign that we are rapidly approaching the end of this all. The day when Galactica is no more is coming a lot sooner than I’d like.
I’m left with a lot of questions at the end of “Someone To Watch Over Me,” and I’m left feeling, once again, immensely satisfied with the complex and emotional stories that Battlestar Galactica gives me. Still!!! Oh god, only one more episode before the finale. hold me.
(PS: Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!)
This is the only episode of this show I've only seen one time. The Boomer and Helo scene just…well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.
What you said about Tyrol and the way this episode just kind of brushes over Cally is one of the reasons I could be kind of mixed on his character, or at least the way his character was handled. It's difficult, because I definitely agree with all of it and was really frustrated because of it, but at the same time, I can also sort of appreciate what's going on with him and with Aaron Douglas as an actor. It's known behind-the-scenes knowledge that Douglas' wife passed away between filming for seasons 1 and 2, and having that in mind really colors how I see his performance generally, but especially in this episode. It's really, really heartbreaking.
And I feel like I put up with a lot of the dark shit this show does, but man my reaction to Boomer raping Helo could be summed up as: WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY STOP IT STOP STOP STOP RIGHT NOW WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. To quote myself after it aired: Boomer having sex with Helo with Athena watching from inside a locker was, to me, the sickest thing that has happened on this show. Ever.
But I do come back to this episode because I kind of love the sequences with Kara and her father. They are all pretty gorgeous. And I love that (other behind-the-scenes knowledge!) the actors were actually playing the music during the filming, rather than the music being played over the scenes after the fact.
(Also, I love Helo so much, but the way Kara just leaves him with all the stuff he'd managed to get back for her was like the funniest thing in this episode. Ugh I'm so mean.)
And just one small portion from what I wrote at the time:
Galactica
And that I mean the ship's functions, as well as Roslin.
They more directly addressed in this episode what was already somewhat apparent in the last – that they lost a lot of pilots and officers either due to being hurt or killed in the mutiny, or because they participated in it. Apparently the podcast from last week mentioned that people like Racetrack are over in the Astral Queen now. The obvious irony is that rather than achieving its goals of separating the humans and the Cylons, the mutiny actually more quickly necessitated the blended fleet. Even though we knew Cylons were flying in conjunction with humans, it was still kind of a shock to see those Sixes and Eights in the ready room.
(Though, apparently Twos just don't do anything ever but sit around and talk about Stalking Kara Thrace. I'm going to imagine they do all the cooking and cleaning and uniform-making. Or something.)
I apparently didn't really elaborate on my first sentence much, but I think what I meant was that I really sort of honed in on things like the final sequence, in which Galactica's creaking following Boomer leaving was shown against Roslin somehow realizing something had happened to Hera, as well as my feeling that Adama's comment about "not giving up on the old girl just yet" didn't just apply to the ship.
I'm going to imagine they do all the cooking and cleaning and uniform-making. Or something
Maybe they've all joined the Arts and Crafts program?
I would watch that show. (but with the stalking of Kara Thrace too, please.)
"(Also, I love Helo so much, but the way Kara just leaves him with all the stuff he'd managed to get back for her was like the funniest thing in this episode. Ugh I'm so mean.) "
Hahaha this part really bothered me and NOBODY UNDERSTOOD.
I did not know that about Aaron Douglas, also I agree about Cally.
[i]And I love that (other behind-the-scenes knowledge!) the actors were actually playing the music during the filming, rather than the music being played over the scenes after the fact. [/i]
I wish I knew where I read/ saw that, but I am very very sure that the music that we can hear in the endproduct is not the actors playing.
They played on set and Bear McCreary was there to supervise and later he STUDIED the video to exactly reproduce their movements.
ETA: For heaven's sake, how do I write cursive?
Use < > instead of [ ].
I think what we hear probably isn't whatever was recorded in the actual filming, but the point (it was in Bear McCreary's blog) is more that they didn't just have the actors faking it so they could play music while talking to each other – which is often the case while those sorts of scenes are filmed, and can look kind of silly, as it'd be rather difficult to play a piece of any complexity and carry on a conversation. So I appreciated that 🙂
'And I feel like I put up with a lot of the dark shit this show does, but man my reaction to Boomer raping Helo could be summed up as: WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY STOP IT STOP STOP STOP RIGHT NOW WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. To quote myself after it aired: Boomer having sex with Helo with Athena watching from inside a locker was, to me, the sickest thing that has happened on this show. Ever. '
So…according to RDM's podcast for this episode, they didn't actually go that far in the script. But the director called Ron and was like, 'let's do this because we are BSG and we live to crush the hopes and dreams of everyone ever.' And Ron was like, 'Yes! Why didn't I think of that?' (Because rape is the perfect way to add drama, of course. Clearly.)
Jung obguref zr rira zber vf gur snpg gung guvf cnegvphyne cybg cbvag vf arire shyyl erfbyirq. Nguran naq Uryb unir na nethzrag naq gura gurl erfphr Uren naq gura gurl yvir unccvyl rire nsgre. Rira gur nqqrq fprarf va gur rkgraqrq irefvbaf bs 'Vfynaqrq' naq 'Qnloernx' qba'g qb zhpu gb nqqerff gur vffhr. V pbhyq haqrefgnaq gur ernfbavat bs gur Nguran naq Tvan encr cybg guernqf. (V'z abg n sna bs gurz, ohg V npxabjyrqtr gung gur jevgref unq yrtvgvzngr ernfbaf sbe tbvat gurer.) Guvf bar, ubjrire, enaxf jvgu Pnyyl'f nffnhyg ba gur cevfba fuvc va grezf bs cbvagyrffarff.
At least with Cally's assault on the prison ship, you got the first inkling of something ABOUT HER CHARACTER – i.e. that she would fight to the death if cornered, even if it was suicidal (cue clobbering her husband with a wrench and trying to airlock herself when she believed she was a Cylon) , or if she believed she was in the right (cue shooting and killing Boomer, or refusing to move to her own death when Crashdown ordered her to on Kobol – despite the fact that he had a gun pointed at her head).
sorry, I meant when she found out HE was a cylon – good gods, imagine Cally if she'd ever found out that she herself was one of the cylons!
Fair point about Cally's character. I still wish they'd cut that part out, because you get the same information from the scenes you've mentioned above.
And if she'd found out that she was a Cylon, I think there would have been a lot less crying, and a lot more sprinting towards the airlock.
I still feel like it's an early moment that establishes important character traits for Cally – otherwise, the idea of this sweet girl who looks like she wouldn't hurt a fly taking a gun and killing a prisoner, or committing violence against her husband, would really come out of nowhere.
The way Bastille Day showed it, it was about her and not about the rape – which is why I'm ok with it. She's capable of violence, and by the time of Boomer's death, we've seen it once already.
Oh, and I totally agree with this: if she'd found out that she was a Cylon, I think there would have been a lot less crying, and a lot more sprinting towards the airlock.
Though poor girl, she'd have been at a loss for what to do once she reached the airlock, since Cylons couldn't even die properly when she found out about the Five.
ha! my poor (often fairly) maligned Twos! To be fair, we got a couple shots of them working with the Sixes and Eights on the ship repairs. But apparently they are basically good for (a) hard labor, (b) communications repairs [see mutiny], and (c) obsessing over religious figures and prophesy.
, but man my reaction to Boomer raping Helo could be summed up as: WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY STOP IT STOP STOP STOP RIGHT NOW WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
Which is a cruel, cruel full circle to the fact that when Helo first had sex with his own wife, (future)Athena had tricked him into believing she was Boomer and he was an inadvertent recruit for Project Make-A-Baby.
In some ways I suppose Sharon's imprisonment and the fact that they have a family together helped them work through that (though it sucks that they never really addressed it beyond the "all right, I'll save your ass and turn on my own side" and "you are the mother of my child!"), but at least they had a stable, happy relationship. Which is tempting the BSG fates – you're happily married with a toddler? Here, we will send in your messed-up twin to frak your husband and steal your child! While you watch! Ta, bye!
LOVED this episode!! This song! Best I've ever heard! This is my most played song of BSG soundtracks!
[youtube 9c2ZJPKz5u8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c2ZJPKz5u8 youtube]
Mine too. God, This frakking song.
Thirded. When I got this soundtrack, I looped this song for days on my iPod.
I couldn't embed the video, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE how Kara's connection with music goes all the way back to nuked Caprica when she and Helo find her old apt and sit down and listen to her father's piano playing (a.k.a. Phillip Glass' Metamorphosis One):
http://youtu.be/kCrxDsuwXjI
The embed button in the right-hand corner of your comment box didn't work?
touché, thanks
[youtube kCrxDsuwXjI&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCrxDsuwXjI&feature=youtu.be youtube]
You're welcome.
This should be spoiler-free now, and is absolutely amazing, watching Katee playing her piano part with Bear, then the transitioning into the Final Five theme and ultimately All Along the Watchtower!
[youtube 5RqYwOTJK-4 http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RqYwOTJK-4 youtube]
Frak me running. Chills.
This is the episode that completely killed my liking of Boomer. What she does to Athena, Helo and Hera here just…NO! BAD BOOMER! But the fact that I hate her so much and continue to love Athena just shows how good Grace Park is. Athena's screams when she and Helo realise that Boomer must have taken Hera are so terrifying. I guess that "recognising her mother" and freaking out around Boomer was just something she did as a baby then? She doesn't react at all to Boomer picking her up.
Kara visting Helo and Hera is one of my favourite scenes of the episode because it's so sweet. Helo continues to be her BFF by getting her stuff back. Hera's quiet little "Thank you" after Kara compliments her drawing is so sweet.
Daddy Thrace (who's name is really complicated and I can't spell from memory) is hot, that might just be me though. The actor plays really well against Katee Sackhoff, the scene where he coaxes her into playing the piano is a particular highlight.
Kara visting Helo and Hera is one of my favourite scenes of the episode because it's so sweet. Helo continues to be her BFF by getting her stuff back. Hera's quiet little "Thank you" after Kara compliments her drawing is so sweet.
Where is our spin off dammit! None of this depressing stuff would happen and everything would be sunshine and rainbows and Hera's drawings stuck to the walls.
I recall a lot of people wished that Bear McCreary could have played the piano player. And I never really figured that he was Starbuck's father, just that she was having memory flashes from being taught to play again.
Nu, cbbe Znex, guvaxvat jr'yy npghnyyl trg na rkcynangvba sbe nalguvat gb qb jvgu Fgneohpx. Gung znl pehfu uvz whfg nf zhpu nf Ebfyva'f qrngu.
Bear actually did audition for the part. Based on what he's said on his blog about that, he's a much better musician than actor.
One of the casting requirements for Kara's dad/Ghost Piano Player man was that the actor had to be able to play the piano – and Bear had to sync his own piano up with the out-of-tune one on the set, let's just say it was….difficult (massive understatement).
The first time I saw this, the Starbuck stuff didn't play as powerfully as it did this time. I'm realizing that I never really went back and rewatched this final strip of episodes after the first time, though I've seen the rest over and over. And I'm really picking out new things and enjoying the slow emotional moments more. I choose to believe this is really the ghost of Starbuck's father, who did love her very much despite being a very selfish person, and it lends a needed bit of warmth & hope to this bleak episode.
Here was some of my original response to this episode:
The moment at the beginning with Boomer/Tyrol where Boomer was all, "it's okay, now we both know who we really are," I turned to my sister & was like, "aw, shit. Boomer's going to fuck him over. Because what Boomer thinks she's learned? Is that SHE'S A MACHINE."
And it really tells you what this show is like, what it has done to me, when my first thought upon realizing it was Athena instead of random!8 in that stall/closet was, "oh man — but at least she's not dead!"
BSG: Drastically Lowering the Bar on the Definition of Happy Endings Since 2003.
I knew Daddy was a Head!Person within his first few seconds. Because (a) new piano player on Galactica? wtf? and (b) it's dead!Kara we're talking about, here. I declared that I would not believe he was real until someone else talked to him. And lo, no one else did.
However, I must say that I never guessed that Boomer would take Hera. Probably because that is just unimaginably horrible.
I was unexpectedly touched by Kara's mourning of Sam here (and the last couple episodes). It's not that I want her miserable for the rest of her life, but some lamenting is nice to see as he's still her husband and someone she deeply cared for, even if she did love Lee first/longer/equally/different/whatever their deal is.
BSG: Drastically Lowering the Bar on the Definition of Happy Endings Since 2003.
Trufax
I loved watching this episode the first time, because as Starbuck was playing with her dad, even when it was barely much of anything, since I'm a musician I was going "Wait… Is that? It's the same chords… Uh… HOLY SHIT!"
my feelings about this episode are best summed up thus: NO BOOMER. NO BOOMER. NO BOOMER. FUCK YOU BOOMER.
True story: When Starbuck's song shifted into the recognizable notes of "All Along the Watchtower," I sat bolt upright on my couch and shrieked, clapping my hands over my mouth too late for the neighbors to not freak out (sorry, neighbors). I've never done that with a TV show before. I've never done that, period. You're good, BSG, you're real good.
This episode aired for the first time on my nineteenth birthday. It was the first time that I utterly refused to so much as LOOK at a forum for it beforehand- I spent the night baking so I wouldn't have the opportunity. TOTALLY WORTH IT. When the chords Kara was playing morphed into the familiar it was like- CHILLS
Kara Remembers
<img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/35n3i35.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
<img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/rwp6is.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
My thoughts exactly Tigh. My thoughts exactly.
The rest of the ending? What ending? Chief didn’t kill(?) an Eight to help Boomer escape. And Boomer didn’t betray them again by knocking out Athena, having sex with Helo, kidnapping Hera and destroying part of Galactica. They wouldn’t do that after Boomer and Chief were the one ray of potential happiness. And Roslin most certainly didn’t collapse on top of all that. I mean the show wouldn’t do that to us because that would be a whole new level of angst and woe that’s just not physically possible. Right? Right?
Bear Mc Creary does an excellent job (as usual) with the music in this episode. Aside from Kara Remembers I also love Elegy and Dreilide Thrace Sonata No 1
(should've guessed there'd be an early review for Thanksgiving)
Tigh's eye speaks for all of us.
When "All Along the Watchtower" kicked in it was a hair raising moment and still is. Holy shit.
blargh, too much turkey! I can't think or type! I will express my feelings using my only Tigh gifs
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/MWosr.gif">
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/aG09b.gif">
FRAKKKKKKKKKKK. BOOMER, YOU BETRAYED ME. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME??!?!?!? I BELIEVED IN YOU! (btw, in my head, that last line sounds a little bit like Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On, but with some changes) WHY DO I KEEP THINKING THAT NICE THINGS MIGHT HAPPEN? SHOULDN'T BSG HAVE TAKEN AWAY ALL ABILITY TO HOPE? COME ON, MAKE UP FOR THIS, BOOMER, PLEASE.
I spent most of the last episode wondering where my Fighting Agathons were, and this is what I get. Boomer, who I actually really liked, beating the crap out of Athena and tricking Helo. And kidnapping Hera. Why would you do this to me?
Fun fact: When I was watching the mini series on Netflix, it's the Season 4 artwork and I was so confused. Why was Boomer hugging a man that wasn't Chief? I really liked them together (and those moments they had together in this episode, I was still cheering for them – you know before the breakout/kidnap/deception). Other things I got wrong by looking at that picture: I thought Sam was Lee and that Lee was Billy :(. I had no idea who that pointing blond lady is and I still don't.
New ridiculous theory: Is Kara's dad Daniel? My theory at the beginning of the episode was that Kara was Seven and that Cavil had somehow altered DNA or something. Look, I don't know. That whole theory was based on the memory that Kara paints and Daniel was an artist. But now, if Daniel was her dad (and I would say being a pianist is being an artist), then she's half Cylon. Hera just knows things since she's half Cylon, it appears. Maybe Kara does too and that's why she kept painting the Eye of Jupiter.
Why are Sixes such ~super speshul snowflakes~? Don't get me wrong, I like most of them. But why do they alone get to have different names and hair styles/colors? Everybody else seems like they have to cut their hair at the same time and wear the same outfits.
And Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it!
FRAKKKKKKKKKKK. BOOMER, YOU BETRAYED ME. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME??!?!?!? I BELIEVED IN YOU!
I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!
lol that was my exact reaction while watching! Tyra Banks has permanently warped my mind. God help me.
I had no idea who that pointing blond lady is and I still don't.
It's Natalie, the Six who was acting as the leader against Cavil during the first half of the season and ends up being shot by Athena.
Oh, thanks, that is actually what I thought, but she died so suddenly that I thought it couldn't be her. Then I thought maybe it was Ellen, but we haven't seen her in ages. So I stopped thinking she was anyone specific and just went on with my life.
The picture was released before the Season 4 premiere, so before we saw Natalie.
I'm pretty sure the pointing blonde ady is D'Anna Biers.
My thoughts at the time I first saw this (not saying it was right or wrong):
Kara can't be Daniel's daughter, she was conceived almost ten years after the Sevens were all wiped out and I don't see Cavil missing one. Her father Dreilide Thrace and Sam Anders both wrote the same song, in different mediums, because they were both divinely inspired.
Remember the next episode has an extended version. I assume you're planning to see the extended "Disquiet" sometime too, so you're caught up on that? Right?
Fun fact: The imaginary Boomer/Tyrol kid is called Dionne.
I'm watching the extended version of the next episode tonight. for the first time! WHOO!
[youtube PLlw7EzNgQ4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLlw7EzNgQ4 youtube]
[youtube LCO7684LN5Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCO7684LN5Q youtube]
Mark, you're so close to the end….KEEP THOSE TISSUES STOCKED. TRUST ME YOU WILL NEED THEM.
Oh and I of course LOVE this. A live concert with Katee Stackhoff as a guest player!
[youtube 5RqYwOTJK-4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RqYwOTJK-4 youtube]
So frakin' awesome!
"[Roslin] even says that Boomer preys on personal feelings." this makes me so sad seeing Boomer's transition over time from naive but capable and brave raptor pilot, to manipulative and vindictive cylon.
Grace Park and Tricia Helfer deserve ALL THE EMMYS if not because they played enough version of themselves to literally fill all the nomination slots.
I feel like Tory and Boomer had kind of similar reactions to discovering they're Cylons, except that Boomer's was delayed-reaction.
Tory flipped right away into "I'm a machine" mode and using that to feel more self-confident & remove responsibility and adherence to human morality. Boomer didn't flip like that first, but this outlook was the siren song that Cavil offered and after such disappointment she bought it. It's the easy choice, to hide behind the constraints of what a Cylon purportedly IS" and ignore what they CAN BE and CAN BECOME.
While the Cylon Rebels were choosing mortality, consequences, change, faith… Cavil, Tory, Boomer, and the 4's & 5's were trying to hide from their fears and softer (more vulnerable) parts of themselves.
I think Boomer's reaction was more about being a machine to remove herself from the parts of being human that had hurt her.
"Maybe she didn’t go to Galactica to steal Hera in the first place, as Ellen suggests. How could she have known that would happen?"
Well, if that was her mission, she would have used whatever means presented itself.
I LOVED the piano music playing throughout this and the atmosphere it creates. Absolutely haunting. This might be my favorite so far in terms of music and tone.
I was feeling very proud of myself, because I guessed pretty early on in the episode that the pianist was Starbuck’s father. As soon as she said something about chasing a car after someone you love who is leaving, I knew she was talking about her own past. What I didn’t get was that he wasn’t actually there. Yes, I really thought her remarkably young father had been living in the fleet all this time and they had never realized the other was there. Perhaps he was living under an assumed name, like Kat? And maybe he knew Kara was there but didn’t want her to know he was alive because he was afraid she’d blame him for leaving her? Yeah. I don’t know.
I have two theories: either he’s a Daniel model who managed to escape Cavil and live among humans, or Kara herself is Daniel. I know, it seems ridiculous, but didn’t Ellen say he did something to Daniel’s DNA? Maybe that was changing the sequence so Daniel became female. Cavil has been shown to be pretty misogynistic, so “I’m going to punish you by TURNING YOU INTO A WOMAN” seems like him.
One thing that has fascinated me through the series is how Athena’s and Boomer’s character arcs have run parallel to each other. When the show began, they both were loyal to the side they belonged to (or believed they belonged to, in Boomer’s case), but as the series progressed, they have “switched places” so to speak, totally loyal to their adopted cultures and hateful towards their original people. But Grace Park needs all the awards and she needs them now for making them both such unique, distinctive characters.
Well, there goes my hopeful theory that Boomer was actually a Snape-like character who’s been staying with Cavil to support the rebel cylons from within. I kind of understand her resentment towards the humans and her bitterness over the way things worked out, but now she’s gone too far.
Well, Galactica is truly fucked now, isn’t it? THANKS, BOOMER.
Well, Tyrol is truly fucked too, isn’t he? SEE ABOVE. I have the horrible feeling this is all leading up to him dying-maybe in an attempt to save Hera. 🙁
God, by the time this is all over the Agathon family is going to need a full six-month vacation on the vacation planet.
"but didn’t Ellen say he did something to Daniel’s DNA? Maybe that was changing the sequence so Daniel became female. Cavil has been shown to be pretty misogynistic, so “I’m going to punish you by TURNING YOU INTO A WOMAN” seems like him. "
But then Ellen would know that, if it was based on something she said.
And a relation to Daniel really wouldn't explain Kara's specialness any better than having none.