{"id":508,"date":"2011-08-12T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=508"},"modified":"2011-08-09T13:02:18","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T20:02:18","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s01e011-colonial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/08\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s01e011-colonial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S01E011 – Colonial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh episode of the first season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, Tom Zarek’s political maneuvers threaten the stability (and possibly the life) of President Roslin. Meanwhile, Helo makes a horrifying discovery as he and Boomer try to escape off of Caprica. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>. No, seriously, how the fuck<\/em> does this show continue to keep up the momentum of intensity for eleven straight episodes<\/em>??? I don’t think I have ever experienced anything quite like this, and the closest comparison I can think of is Breaking Bad<\/em>, though it is nowhere near as immediate as the chaos in Battlestar Galactica<\/em>. (Can I also take this moment to recommend that each and every one of you watch Breaking Bad<\/em>? It’s the best show on the air right now. DON’T SPOIL ME FOR SEASON FOUR, BY THE WAY. I haven’t started it yet!) There’s so much here in “Colonial Day” that pretty much confirmed that I’d fallen deeply in love with Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, so let me just spell that out for everyone: I’m pretty hooked on this show, and I’m really<\/em> happy that I started watching it. And its not that I didn’t enjoy it before now, that this was the first episode that really sold me on all of this. I proclaimed my joy over Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0a lot quicker. But this was so good<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0that I was waiting for the inevitable fall down to…something not as good. Eleven episodes of AWESOME is a pretty good run if you ask me. So, you know what this momentous occasion deserves? A GODDAMN LIST, THAT’S WHAT.<\/p>\n

Things In The “Colonial Day” Episode of Battlestar Galactica<\/em> That Made Me Realize I Really Like This Show<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1) I am enamored with the idea that this show, by using the varied fleet that survived the Cylon invasion\/massacre, can utilize sets that look nothing like one another. I know I said in before when watching, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” but I honestly did not expect that much of this show could<\/em> exist outside of scenes set in space flight, or the interior of the various ships. Well, technically, Cloud Nine<\/em> is a ship, but aside from the shifty horizons, it doesn’t look like one, and it was definitely filmed in an actual location. I was just happy to see sunlight<\/em> and green grass and shrubbery. <\/em>BRING ME A SHRUBBERY!<\/p>\n
2) Even if we don’t think about it, “Colonial Day” is rife with massive amounts of info-dumping regarding the history and political processes of the Twelve Colonies. Through the process of this political thriller, we learn about the Quorum of Twelve, more about the Articles of Colonization, the process by which nominations and elections occur, and how remarkably similar the political climate is to what we’ve experienced.<\/p>\n
3) Scenes of political process and grandstanding are not boring<\/em>. I’m a political person and I’m not prone to boredom, but I understand that others don’t necessarily feel the same way. By injecting Tom Zarek and Valance into the plot, we’re forced to pay attention to see if we can catch any piece of information that might help us figure out what’s going on.<\/p>\n
4) The writers manage to bring back Tom Zarek in a completely refreshing way. I love that we now see him respected, wearing a suit, shaking hands with various representatives and politicians. The violence that seemed to follow him before is now hidden away in black briefcases, in shifty glances, and in suggestive handshakes. It’s an entirely different context and it is fascinating. <\/em>Plus, we get to see<\/em> the support he has instead of it merely being a concept. Clearly, people support what he stands for, and it presents a complicated situation for the viewer, at least until the end of the episode.<\/p>\n
5) Lee and Starbuck playing with a water hose. Enough said.<\/p>\n
6) Baltar’s transformation from being the bored Quorum of Twelve representative to the Vice President. It’s such a brilliant explanation of his character, once you think about it. Baltar finds anything that doesn’t benefit him personally to be dreadfully trite and uninteresting, but any chance of bettering his situation brings out the genius in him. (Question, though: How is he going to run the Cylon blood tests while also being the Vice President?)<\/p>\n
7) It’s not ignored that there are<\/em> positive aspects to Zarek’s work, especially the fact that he and his men have performed technical favors on other ships, or that the ideas he holds really aren’t that far from being quite admirable. SORT OF<\/em>.<\/p>\n
8) ROBERT WISDEN. Oh my god it’s ROBERT PATRICK MODELL FROM THE X-FILES<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 oh my god he is Pusher THOSE ARE TWO OF MY FAVORITE EPISODES EVER. <\/em>Ok, seriously, everyone, The X-Files\u00c2\u00a0<\/em> is on Netflix still (I THINK???), but y’all need to download or stream or buy the episode in season three called, “Pusher.” The final ten minutes are unlike anything you have ever seen on television and that goddamn show was so ahead of its time FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. Ugh i love it so much<\/em>.<\/p>\n
9) Ok, now actually about the episode itself: I have no idea who that man is that Lee argues with a couple times throughout “Colonial Day,” but they couldn’t have picked a better character actor. Just sayin’!<\/p>\n
10) THAT AMAZING FIGHT SCENE. Holy christ, it’s so unbelievably intense, and Starbuck doesn’t even give a fuck that she’s got a crutch or is still limping. She still goes after Valance as soon as she spots a gun. Christ, I love her forever. I’d want her on my side for….EVERYTHING<\/em>.<\/p>\n
11) THAT AMAZING INTERROGATION SCENE. Lee and Starbuck are getting along better and better with each episode, and whenever they are on the same wavelength, as they are here, they knock it straight out of the park. I wouldn’t say that I ship them, necessarily, but I do enjoy seeing them interact with one another.<\/p>\n
12) Baltar’s impromptu, unplanned speech about Roslin. Holy shit<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0that man is good.<\/p>\n
13) Roslin asking Baltar to be her vice president in a bathroom<\/em>.<\/p>\n
14) Baltar accepting this with almost no thought and probably doing so because he doesn’t want Roslin to know he was having sex with a reporter in one of the stalls. (Also EW PUBLIC BATHROOMS HAVE SO MANY GERMS I WOULD DIE)<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em> 15) Not ignoring the fact that Wallace Gray would be less than excited about Roslin dropping him. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to watch, and maybe Gray’s words are a bit harsh, but they’re understandable.<\/p>\n
16) Lee’s warning to Zarek, telling him they have Valance and that he is next. UGH BAMF.<\/p>\n
17) Starbuck in a dress. Hot damn<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0she looks good.<\/p>\n
18) The continued use of Ellen Tigh. This show does not forget characters or events introduced in previous episodes, and all of her interactions with Zarek are made even more suspicious and creepy because we still don’t know if she’s a Cylon. Plus, it seemed all too convenient that after she spoke with Zarek, who was looking for his “friend” named Valence, he’s discovered dead in his cell the next day.<\/p>\n
19) Maybe I ship Roslin and Adama? MAYBE<\/em>. But their dance scene at the end….god, that is so adorable.<\/p>\n
20) Zarek’s “threat” at the end of the episode. OH GOD WHAT IS HE DOING WHY ARE YOU MAKING A WONDERFUL DANCE SCENE SO CREEPY.<\/p>\n
21) And yet as great as all of this was, the scenes on Caprica stole the show. I guess I was right in assuming that Helo would<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0have to figure things out quickly. He’s a smart man, and it wasn’t hard for him to put two and two together in order to determine why he just saw two of the same person. The entire episode teases us with hope. Boomer tests the water with Helo, seeing if she can get him to admit that maybe the Cylon-humans still possess human emotions, that perhaps they were just “misled.” But he refuses to believe such a thing, given the destruction of humanity.<\/p>\n
It’s all one damning set-up. I genuinely believed we were going to see Helo and Boomer leave from Caprica, that we’d have to deal with Boomer Galactica meeting Boomer Caprica. As they plan to steal a Cylon ship, Helo sees a copy of Boomer. I mean…oh my god. NO. NO THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY FOR THIS TO GO<\/em>. And even though Boomer shoots…herself? WHATEVER. Even though Boomer fires on her copy, Helo just runs<\/em>. I mean, that is just so fucking depressing<\/em>. He gives not a second of attention to Boomer’s dejected, defeated cries. He just leaves, Boomer standing behind with a look of loss on her face.<\/p>\n
No, seriously, FUCKING AMAZING<\/em>. ugh my god. I can’t believe I’ve already made it to the two-part season one finale! EXCITED!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the eleventh episode of the first season of Battlestar Galactica, Tom Zarek’s political maneuvers threaten the stability (and possibly the life) of President Roslin. Meanwhile, Helo makes a horrifying discovery as he and Boomer try to escape off of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[112,48,115,120,119,9,110,113],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-battlestar-galactica","tag-edward-james-olmos","tag-featured","tag-grace-park","tag-jamie-bamber","tag-katee-sackhoff","tag-mark-watches","tag-mark-watches-battlestar-galactica","tag-mary-mcdonnell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}