{"id":565,"date":"2011-09-02T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T20:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=565"},"modified":"2011-08-31T15:28:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T22:28:04","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s02e11-resurrection-ship-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/09\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s02e11-resurrection-ship-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S02E11 – Resurrection Ship, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, Starbuck’s actions prevent what surely would have been a disaster, only to inadvertently create another one. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Admiral Cain, I love to hate you. I really do. I cannot believe we’ve been given such a fantastic character who, in the course of just two episodes, just transformed into EVERYTHING I WANT FROM FICTION. I’m going to go out on a limb here and take a guess: this character got a lot of sexist backlash from the fandom. A strong woman who takes control of the situation and does bad things? I wouldn’t put it past the sci-fi community to do bigot-y things, but maybe the fact that this show talks about so many difficult issues might mean that this is an exception to the rule. But I could easily imagine all the nasty, misogynistic terms thrown her way.<\/p>\n

And look, I get that she is kind of <\/em>revolting. I am not a fan of her actions for the most part, but I am a HUGE fan of her character. She’s got so much hidden beneath that facade of hers and I WANT TO KNOW ALL THE THINGS<\/em>. I love that even if she is doing incredibly douchetastic things, I am still endlessly intrigued by her. (Plus, seriously, Michelle Forbes is so perfect for the role it kind of hurts a little<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Like many things this show makes me think about, I’m stuck in conflict. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show that does this to me! How should I feel about Cylons? Are Cylons humans? How should Cylons be treated? Is Cain’s approach to warfare necessary, even if it seems unethical? Should personal ethics be discarded during wartime? Should you help a person die if they want it more than anything? DO YOU ASSASSINATE POLITICAL LEADERS YOU THINK ARE DANGEROUS? <\/em>OH, ROSLIN, YOU ARE FULL OF SO MANY SURPRISES.<\/p>\n

It’s one of the most difficult episodes of the show so far when it comes to watching and digesting what we see. We’re thrown so many details that tease us with the idea that anything on screen can be split into a simple dichotomy, but the truth is that nothing here is that simple. Even during the opening, we’re faced with the imminent destruction of a large swatch of Vipers from either ship. I don’t even need to comment on it in a way that reflects a personal morality: the Pegasus<\/em> Vipers’ are SO ANNOYING. My god, it is SO FRUSTRATING TO WATCH. Obviously, it’s made worse by the thought that they have better ships that have taken less damage and that, by just a word from Cain, they can destroy the Galactica<\/em> Vipers.<\/p>\n

Bless Starbuck. Yet again, she goes off on her own, taking the initiative to get shit done, and she does so without any back up. I mean, seriously, what’s not to love about her? Through this process, she discovers what is later called the Resurrection Ship, which resembles a bunch of giant metal spiders stacked on top of one another, laying on its side. Using the Blackbird, she’s able to fly through<\/em> the ship and take photos of it for Admiral Cain. I actually laughed at myself later when the ship’s purpose is revealed because the title of the episode was obviously what it was called<\/em>. I seriously can dissect the most banal minutia of meaning and subtext and can’t see the obvious just sitting right in front of me.<\/p>\n

But what might otherwise be a victorious moment of surveillance is tainted by a disturbing fact: the Resurrection Ship is full<\/em> of unused Cylon copies of Six. (I assume there are other models on the ship and I was ACHING<\/em> to see if another model would be revealed.) There are living creatures, ostensibly in hibernation, all over. It’s assumed to be used as a sort of defense mechanism if any of the humanoid Cylons die on the fleet so that their consciousness can still be downloaded to a new body.<\/p>\n

Pegasus Six confirms this, and she adds another<\/em> wrinkle to this mess: she doesn’t want to be downloaded to another body. She wants to die, plain and simple. I said yesterday that Baltar’s moral transformation was astounding to me (in a good way) and that continues here. (Which is not to ignore that Tricia Helfer gives yet another jaw-dropping performance. Seriously. Give her all the awards<\/em>.) He feels a compassion for this Cylon, whatever his hang-ups or romantic obsessions are, and now he’s faced with a difficult road: Does he kill Six? Does he let her kill herself? Does he even understand why<\/em> she would want to do this? Actually, even if his scene in Part I is brief, I think he does. I think he can see how she’s treated, especially when Cain visits her herself and continues the abuse and dehumanization of her. (God, even using that<\/em> word is strange. She’s not a human, but she is<\/em> made to feel inferior, broken, and dysphoric about her own life. THIS SHOW YOU MAKE ME FEEL <\/em>ALL THE THINGS<\/em><\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

But I don’t think that all of these themes are random and disparate, and by the end of “Resurrection Ship, Part I,” I came to feel that all of this was a commentary on what it was like to be human, both from the perspective of the humans and the humanoid Cylons. The fleet is still struggling with the concept of humanoid Cylons, though those on the Galactica<\/em>, more than anyone else, are suddenly realizing just how difficult it is to “other” the Cylons once you get to know any of them. (No one knows that more than Tyrol and Helo my heart<\/em>) Is it really that easy just to execute them all? Is it really that easy to disassociate them from the human experience? Sharon and Pegasus Six have shown us, the viewer, that beyond any shred of doubt, Cylons still go through exactly the same emotional, intellectual, and physical experiences as we do. It’s why two men are in jail, why Adama isn’t content keeping Sharon in the brig, and why Baltar is contemplating a mercy killing of a copy<\/em> of someone he once loved. (Still loves? The terminology and vocabulary I use is constantly challenged by all of this. Do you realize how much I love this??? YOU REALLY DON’T WORD DECONSTRUCTION RULES.)<\/em><\/p>\n

And if we’re talking about the human experience, it would be a crime not to mention President Roslin, who continues to get worse due to her cancer. It’s like this show is specifically<\/em> teasing me and my growing ship obsession between her and Adama, because we get yet another scene of the two of them being so gosh darn cute and lovable and squishy and JUST KISS. SERIOUSLY. That joke about making Roslin a blond Cylon? DEAD<\/em>. My god, they are so comfortable together these days! GUSH GUSH GUSH GUSH GUSH GUSH I don’t care.<\/p>\n

Y’all, I get shipping<\/em>. It has happened. THE ANGELS MUST TRUMPET THIS FROM THE HEAVENS. Oh god, wait, does this mean I am diametrically opposed to another shipping? Will I have to join sides in a shipping war? WILL I LEAD THE REVOLUTION IN THE GREAT SHIPOCALYPSE OF 2011?<\/p>\n

Yeah, so I’m being silly because it’s right about at this point in “Resurrection Ship, Part I,” becomes so real <\/em>that I literally lost my sense of humor. I was physically and mentally unable to tell a joke. Sure, Starbuck gets promoted, Lee visits Helo and Tyrol, and you think<\/em> this is all going to be okay, but that’s where you are so wrong<\/em>. I mean, this is<\/em> a two-part story, right? It can’t just end on a pleasant note with no anticipation carrying over to the second part, right? They can’t just plan to attack the Resurrection Ship and then end it on, “Well, I guess will do this later, LOL SEE YOU NEXT WEEK,” can they? (Actually….I would probably do that if I ran this show. It’s a good thing I didn’t.)<\/p>\n

In one of the most poetically brilliant moments of the show, we end this part of the story on two intercut scenes, a parallel between two leaders intent on doing things their way, desperate to regain control, and willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want.<\/p>\n

They both ordered their most trusted officer to go to the other ship and, on their signal, execute the commanding officer.<\/p>\n

……….<\/p>\n

…………………….<\/p>\n

……………………………….<\/strong><\/p>\n

WELL, THIS IS A DISASTER<\/strong>. I don’t care much about Fisk, as funny as he’s been in the past two episodes, so let’s just talk about STARBUCK. Look at her face. LOOK AT HER FACE. I expect that reaction GIF to be posted a couple thousand times in the comments because holy shit<\/em>. Think about what this means for her! She just went off on her own mission to get photos of the Resurrection Ship, she’s Adama’s most trusted pilot, and he just asked her to murder someone. I mean, sure, she might be flattered that he trusts her so much, but WHAT THE FUCK. what the fuck!!!!<\/p>\n

OH MY GOD. I have never been so unprepared in my whole life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck’s actions prevent what surely would have been a disaster, only to inadvertently create another one. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.<\/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":[112,119,9,110,113,127,128,117],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-battlestar-galactica","tag-edward-james-olmos","tag-katee-sackhoff","tag-mark-watches","tag-mark-watches-battlestar-galactica","tag-mary-mcdonnell","tag-michelle-forbes","tag-shipping","tag-tricia-helfer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","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=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}