{"id":591,"date":"2011-09-13T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=591"},"modified":"2011-09-11T16:21:12","modified_gmt":"2011-09-11T23:21:12","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s02e16-sacrifice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/09\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s02e16-sacrifice\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S02E16 – Sacrifice"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixteenth episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, a group of terrorists take various crew members hostage, demanding only one thing: Sharon Valerii. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, the ending to “Sacrifice” was painfully obvious, but I never saw it coming. They couldn’t actually<\/em> do that, could they? OH GOD, MY PRECIOUS NAIVE HEART<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It seems the writers knew they were leading to this point, as the opening of the episode directly deals with Billy and Dualla’s relationship. The lead-in to this introduces Sesha Abinell’s obsession with Sharon because of her husband’s death, and the revelation that most of the Fleet knows about the existence of Sharon on Galactica<\/em> anyway. The development is off-screen, but it seems that Billy’s relationship with Dualla has inspired him to be more direct, which is seen when he tells Adama what he should do about Sharon Valerii. Even Roslin notices (and appreciates it), so there is at least this precedent for when Billy proposes to Dualla. I think to us, in the vacuum of this show, that does seem a bit sudden, and I’ll admit to feeling that when it started. I’m not sure how much time has passed since “Scar,” but there are motivations for this proposal that help it to make more sense. As I said, Billy has been becoming far more blatant and direct than he ever was before. I can’t imagine a more forward act in a relationship than a marriage proposal. Yet it is also quite reminiscent of his inability to be successful with women. Billy’s awkwardness is all over<\/em> this episode.<\/p>\n

Truthfully, though, I haven’t really put much thought into the logistics of this because the scope of the episode is so much more than a marriage proposal. It’s about Billy’s reaction to being rejected by Dualla, who herself is confused about her feelings for two men, Billy and Lee. Even if you take away the fact that Dualla still has feelings for Lee, her rejection of Billy still makes sense. I think it’s too sudden and too much for her.<\/p>\n

Of course, this confusion and awkwardness is compounded on Cloud 9, when she, Billy, Lee, and Ellen all come colliding together in the lounge. The tension is two-fold: it’s inevitable that Lee and Billy will run into one another, and Sesha and her “friends” are being fucking weird as shit<\/em> in the bar. At this point, I was still unsure whether Sesha was obsessed with the Cylons for a negative or a positive reason, and I hadn’t the slightest idea what she was planning to do. To make matters worse, it becomes clear that Ellen Tigh is totally down with Lee Adama and this is awkward<\/em>. I think I’ve stopped thinking of her as a Cylon anymore. She’s just a hot mess<\/em> as far as I’m concerned, yet I can’t deny how much I love it when she shows up. She’s feisty!<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Lee notices how terrible Sesha is at being secretive, and he pulls Ellen into the washroom (LOL AT HER THINKING IT IS TO HOOK UP) right as the gunmen seal off the area and Sesha fires her gun into the air as a warning. (And seriously, thank you, Lee, for pointing out how monumentally foolish it is to fire a gun in a ship. As soon as she did that, I thought it would almost be kind of hilarious if the whole ship exploded or something when she did that, but then I didn’t want the others to die. Maybe she could get sucked out or something?) SHIT’S GETTING REAL, Y’ALL. So what does Ellen do while Lee tries to trick the oxygen sensors? She walks boldly out of the washroom and announces who she is. Sorry, I take back every negative thing I may have ever said about Ellen Tigh. Favorite new character. Who does that??? She is so goddamn fierce and self-centered and I love it.<\/p>\n

Sesha finally reveals her demands and while I do think she’s a big misguided about a few things, Battlestar Galactica<\/em> doesn’t stray from giving us uncomfortable moral realities. Sesha’s husband died because of the Cylons, and in retribution for that, she wants Sharon delivered to her. That might have been simple enough, but Sesha goes further: the Cylons are the enemy, and housing Sharon in a military ship is nothing short of a fatal risk. Adama is compromising the fleet’s security, just as the security of the human race was compromised when a Cylon infiltrated the Defense mainframe. She’s a bit off the mark, as Sharon and Six aren’t comparable in this instance. Six manipulated Baltar in order to get access, and her intentions were clearly malicious. As Sharon will point out later, she has saved the fleet and the Galactica<\/em> multiple times since she was taken on board. As much as I adore Sharon and want nothing but the best for her, I am terrified that I am wrong. I would be so heartbroken if Sharon’s actions were all part of a long con to manipulate Adama and put the fleet at risk. I just can’t<\/em> believe that she would do such a thing, but can you blame those who weren’t close to her for thinking that she’s merely there to carry out a Cylon mission? Fear of the Cylons has spread rampantly throughout the fleet, and I don’t imagine it’ll lessen any time soon. Yes, Cylon information is limited, which is why I agree with Billy and Adama that giving up Sharon, personal reasons aside, is a truly awful idea. They would have no<\/em> resources to fight the Cylons at all without her.<\/p>\n

So who’s right? There’s no way of telling at this point, but I am glad that at least as a basic premise, the actions of Sesha and her partners are portrayed negatively. The show continually reminds us that these people are<\/em> terrorists, that taking hostages never validates whatever crusade or cause you are fighting. From a military perspective, we are also shown how the Marines will handle a hostage situation. Roslin, in this case, represents the political foundation that terrorists should not be bargained with. It sends a terrible message of weakness to the fleet, and it would be one they could never live down again. So the military’s first step is information gathering, and then infiltration. This is where Starbuck comes in, and then my heart breaks AGAIN<\/em> for her. Coming off of “Scar,” this girl has been the receiving end of a whole lot of emotional trauma. Can’t you give her a break, writers?<\/p>\n

Anyway, she “volunteers” to act as the technician sent to repair the air system in the lounge, which was tripped by Lee. I had this idea in my head that Starbuck would somehow get trapped in there, and we’d have to deal with the massive love\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6square? If we count Ellen having the hots for Lee, that would be a love pentagon<\/em>. There need to be more of those. Because that’s what I believed the hostage stand-off would turn into: a character study on all these folks who have ~feelings~ for one another. And I know I would have liked that! It would have been unexpected. But it would not have been as unexpected as Ellen blowing Starbuck’s cover IN JUST THIRTY FUCKING SECONDS<\/em>, and an eruption of gunfire breaking out, and people die, and STARBUCK ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS LEE. oh my god are you kidding me<\/em>. Hasn’t they had enough to deal with? So instead of some magical meet-up of confused lovers, it’s FUCKING TRAGEDY. Ugh, that scene where Starbuck reports to Adama what has happened, and she uses the term “friendly fire,” finally admitting that it was probably her<\/em> that did it, is just too much<\/em>. This show has finally made me feel too many feelings<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Admiral Adama finally decides he needs to confront what is torturing him: Is keeping Sharon alive and on the Galactica<\/em> worth it? When he meets with her, she insists that this is the case. She’s proven that time and time again. But he chooses to ask her, very plainly, if she will tell him the names and locations of any Cylons on the fleet. She denies him this, and surprisingly, this<\/em> is what makes him realize how valuable she is to him. Why this? Because he knows she is telling the truth? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate sign that she is not siding with the Cylons? Though I suppose I understand her reluctance. Look what’s happened to her since she was found to be a Cylon. She could trust Adama to treat prisoners fairly, but Adama doesn’t control every ship. She might be dooming other Cylons to the same fate as Pegasus <\/em>Six. WHAT A STRANGE MORAL QUANDARY.<\/p>\n

Billy is having his own moral quandary, and Dualla calls him out on it because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6well, Billy’s not the most subtle man around. She can tell he is thinking of stealing a gun from one of the terrorists in some heroic stand, and she assures him that he has nothing to prove, that he’s not trained in the slightest. But you can imagine that he’s got an internal monologue running through him, telling him that the girl he loves will suddenly reciprocate those feelings if he pulls off some macho bullshit attack. It is<\/em> foolish, and Dualla knows this. That’s why she specifically<\/em> says that he has nothing to prove. But as the body is being brought in, Billy gets starts to get antsy. DON’T DO IT, BILLY. LET THE MARINES HANDLE IT.<\/p>\n

For a second, I thought Adama might send Sharon’s live body and maybe have her kick ass as a Trojan horse of sorts, but when the body is wheeled into that lounge, it’s obvious it’s the first copy of Sharon. Oh, I thought, this is a really<\/em> good plan. A trick! I like tricks! Oh. Sesha fired into the body. Isn’t she going to notice the lack of any blood? Oh. Kern pulled back the sheet to see the autopsy scars. Oh. OH THIS IS A FUCKING DISASTER. And you could see it a mile away: Billy was going to use this opportunity to grab a gun. He does, quite predictably, shooting one of the terrorist before he himself is shot. As the Marines and Admiral Adama pour in, I wondered why no one was heading for Billy. Obviously, the Admiral’s son is important, but no one but Dualla was going to Billy’s side.<\/p>\n

The camera flashes to him and he’s not moving. He’s not looking at Dualla. Oh. OH FUCK<\/strong>. No, he’s just unconscious, right? He’ll wake up later and Dualla will scold him, and she’ll feel guilt over this, and it will further complicate their relationship. I could see it happening, and I could the various story lines that could spring from this. But then we flash to the morgue with the dead body of Boomer, and you can see Billy Keikeya in the background.<\/p>\n

Billy is dead. There will be no more plot twists for him, and there will be no marriage. Holy shit<\/em>, BSG, what the FUCK?<\/p>\n

I slipped into shock, but it lasted all of about two minutes, because I cannot handle Roslin crying. I cannot handle her brushing Billy’s hair off his forehead and telling him it looks better. I cannot handle her breakdown when she cries out that he was so young<\/em>. And now he’s gone, and Roslin has lost one of her best friends. One of her only<\/em> friends. Was it worth it? Was it worth it to lose Billy in order to keep Sharon alive? There’s no easy answer to that question, and I imagine we’ll see more of this in the near future.<\/p>\n

But “Sacrifice” ends with a reversal of roles. Dualla sits at Lee’s bedside, wishing him well, begging him to stay, while Starbuck merely watches in the background. What a haunting parallel to see, and one depressing way to end this all.<\/p>\n

Fuck. Billy is dead. Goddamn it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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