{"id":649,"date":"2011-10-06T13:00:57","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T20:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=649"},"modified":"2011-10-06T14:01:33","modified_gmt":"2011-10-06T21:01:33","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s03e08-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/10\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s03e08-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S03E08 – Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth episode of the third season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, Admiral Adama’s past literally<\/em> returns to haunt him, and Three has a vision of the future. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This season is so satisfying to watch. The Cylon occupation. The war on New Caprica. “Collaborators.” CYLON VIRUS AND GENOCIDE. And in “Hero,” we get a new chapter on the man in charge, and it is a horrifying<\/em> addition to his character.<\/p>\n

“Hero” constantly fucks with our perception from the very beginning. We believe the Cylons have found the fleet, but we’re instead given some sort of trick. Why are the Cylons firing on their own? Impossibly so, Adama recognizes the voice and the callsign that comes from that third Cylon Raider, and our perceptions shift again. It has<\/em> to be a human, but whom?<\/p>\n

When Daniel Novacek, known as Bulldog, drops out of the bottom of the raider, I swear you could hear bee sneeze in that flight deck. I adore how eerily silent that scene was as everyone waited for Adama to give some<\/em> sign that everything was fine. So he salutes<\/em> the stranger in return. I’m so glad the camera shows us the reactions of Starbuck and Tyrol because RIGHT. How confusing would this be? But it actually ties in directly to a later moment: what are the sheer odds that Cylon Raider, piloted by a human, would land on the Galactica<\/em> and the pilot would know<\/em> Adama?<\/p>\n

To be fair, that does play a huge part in what happens as Roslin and Adama go over Bulldog’s disappearance and his escape from Cylon captivity. My first thought was that he was a new model of Cylon. The story was too<\/em> good to be true, but Dr. Cottle confirms from a blood test that this is the actual man himself. Okay, so he’s not a Cylon, but…this doesn’t feel right. This episode does a great job of giving us both this sense of dread on top of an uncomfortable reality. That uncomfortable moment is in the history of Admiral Adama, as we learn during Roslin’s meeting with Bulldog that Adama left his pilot behind on a secret recon mission. Which instantly put everything in a new light: is this why Adama was so intent all these episodes to never leave anyone behind? It’s never outright said in the episode, but I can’t ignore what happened on Kobol or New Caprica.<\/p>\n

But OH. MY. GOD. I did not expect this to turn into what unfolds before my eyes. Roslin is like Adama’s mother<\/em> throughout “Hero.” The very first thing she says when she dismisses Bulldog is a demand that Adama tell her the truth. She can see right through him in a heartbeat! WHICH I LOVE. Because your mother knows the second you are lying AMIRITE. In Adama’s case, Roslin can see that the shame and guilt runs far deeper than merely leaving Bulldog behind. It’s not just an unfortunate accident, but she doesn’t know why<\/em>. Adama is incredibly evasive during this meeting and I knew she was right. There was more to being left behind in this story.<\/p>\n

So the writers stick Bulldog with both the best and worst person imaginable in this situation: Saul Tigh. It’s an interesting choice because they are both scarred by war. They both have experienced something that few others have, making them feel vacant, lonely, as if they are a disparate part of the military, and it becomes nearly impossible to rectify their past military life with who they are now. (Remember, Tigh feels the man Adama once knew is no more.) Tigh had Starbuck in “Torn” to feel supportive with, but now the universe has dropped a man into his life who might just despise existence as much as he does. I know that’s a depressing thing to say, but both Bulldog and Tigh had part of their lives taken from them. In Bulldog’s case, three years of his life were stolen by the Cylons. And there’s no escaping that for him. Regardless of what your opinions are on Tigh’s execution of his wife, it’s a situation he was put into because of war, because of the military culture and rules he came to live in, and his wife is gone.<\/p>\n

But it can’t be that<\/em> bad, I though. This cannot be some horrific secret of Adama’s beyond being left behind. It’s understandable, if tragic, that Adama thought he was dead. It’s a horrible situation. It explains why Adama is so awkward around Bulldog, but Tigh insists the truth is worse<\/em> and then ADAMA AGREES<\/em>. What could be worse than being left to die when you’re alive?<\/p>\n

“Hero” gives us that answer in a split scene, a visual dichotomy between father and son, war hero and war hero, and we learn the unsettling truth: Adama thought that Bulldog was dead because he ordered the missiles that destroyed his ship<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I had to stop the episode. I paused it, and I sat there, and I thought about it, and I thought about how no matter what military justification Adama I had, I knew Bulldog would be upset. I knew that Adama would be unable to forgive himself for this, and now the man he ordered dead was right there on his ship. We get to see exactly this as Tigh reveals the truth to Bulldog and Adama confesses emotionally to his son. I will forever love that this show repeatedly gives us multiple sides to a story in this way because it allows a much deeper focus for the audience.<\/p>\n

In this case, we see Tigh’s vindictive actions. We see Adama’s tragic guilt. We see Bulldog’s palpable rage. We see Lee’s frantic panic and then his disappointment that his father would blame all of this on himself. That<\/em> detail, that Adama believes he may have helped start the Cylon war in the first place, has been eating him alive the past three years. Lee is right to insist that to blame it all on one person is almost offensive in its lack of foresight. (Which is funny to think about because Baltar believes that he<\/em> was the sole cause of the genocide of the human race. Will there come a day when Adama and Baltar see each other for what they’ve done?) Adama was following orders<\/em>. He was a part of a larger effort of a massive military force; it is not comparable to where they are now.<\/p>\n

But then Adama damns himself:<\/p>\n

“It only takes one.”<\/p>\n

And Lee’s desperation to convince his father that he is in the moral right disintegrates instantly. It’s one of the most disturbing things this show has given us, and for all the violence and gore and fucked-up-ness of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, that one line seems more haunting than anything else. It only takes one person and one decision to set the tide for the future of humanity. And we have<\/em> seen examples of that within the show. It took Baltar’s insistence on colonizing New Caprica for disaster to strike and for the Cylons to occupy that planet. It took Baltar’s affair with Six for the Cylons to infiltrate the defense mainframe. It took Tyrol ignoring the signs that Boomer was a Cylon for her to try to assassinate Adama. And it works the other way as well, as Starbuck’s individualism has saved the fleet time and time again. It took Sharon Agathon’s determination to be her own person, separate from the Cylons, to be a hero, to save the people she loves, and to basically be the best badass who ever badass-ed.<\/p>\n

AND THEN STARBUCK FIGURES OUT THAT THE CYLONS ALLOWED<\/em> BULLDOG TO ESCAPE. <\/em>Look, BSG<\/em>, I was already upset and full of ~all of the feelings all of them<\/em>~ at this point, so was it necessary to bring back the doubts about Bulldog’s identity? OF COURSE IT WAS. You’re Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, and you want my insides to turn to jelly<\/em> out of terror.<\/p>\n

Author’s Note: <\/strong>Okay, I have no idea what happened, but WordPress ate the last thousand words of this review. They’re just POOF! Gone. I wrote this in the actual WordPress admin section, so I don’t even have the rest of it saved anywhere else. So this is why this review just seems to end<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0all of a sudden. I’m sorry about this! Here’s all I can remember from what I wrote:<\/p>\n