{"id":704,"date":"2011-11-02T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T20:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=704"},"modified":"2012-12-21T00:15:45","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T08:15:45","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s04e02-six-of-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/11\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s04e02-six-of-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S04E02 – Six of One"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, Admiral Adama must come to terms with Starbuck’s insistence that she knows the location of Earth. Meanwhile, the Cylons argue over the existence of the Final Five. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This episode is proof of the reason why I watch Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, why I love it so much, and why I’ll continue to count myself as a fan of this show.<\/p>\n

First of all, I don’t know how<\/em> I have not made this connection four seasons into the show, but the unbelievable thematic references to The Prisoner<\/em> have been here since the very beginning, once the Cylons revealed that they had numbers that represented their identity. I implore each and every one of you to seek out the original British version of The Prisoner<\/em> to witness one of the most perfectly-executed television series in the history of humanity. The final two episodes are as close as we will ever get to God himself coming down to earth and writing a television show for the general populace. I don’t care that that is fucking ridiculous. The show is everything one could ever want from serialized fiction and the series finale is so euphoric, so bewildering and shocking and viscerally poetic, that it will ruin your television watching experience for any other show because you will always know that there’s another show that did this better than anything else. Oh, and it was done in 1967-1968. Oh, and why aren’t you watching it now.<\/p>\n

Once I saw the name of this episode, “Six of One,” and recognized it as the same name of the fan club\/”appreciation society” surrounding The Prisoner<\/em>, it was much like a bulb flashing on in my head. OH. The Cylons are referred to by numbers, and their society is built around these specific “numbers” behaving in a collectivist manner. IT’S THE PRISONER<\/em>. How did I not notice this before??? OH GOD I AM THE WORST FAN OF THE PRISONER<\/em> IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.<\/p>\n

But listen. LISTEN. Even if you’ve never seen this show (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW<\/em>), this episode is still one of the best written and best acted hours of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>. Katee Sackhoff, the very fact that you weren’t given every single Emmy in 2008 (and I mean every<\/em> single one, as in the Emmys just took every award and handed it to her) is proof that there is no justice in this universe. The cold open to “Six of One” is horrifying to watch. We have never seen Starbuck so desperate, so emotive, and so frantically upset; we can see the fear on President Roslin’s face as she comes close to believing that Starbuck might actually harm her. And Starbuck brings up an important thought I’d not considered: the Galactica<\/em> had trusted Roslin’s impossible visions, so why is it so hard for her to trust Starbuck? Obviously, the context of the two is different, but it’s something that I could ignore. Technically, she was<\/em> right. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6well, people aren’t generally very receptive to such things with guns pointed at one another.<\/p>\n

“Six of One” deals a whole lot of shocking twists, too, the first one being Roslin firing upon Starbuck\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.and somehow missing. I was glad that Adama later addressed this because I thought it was a bit glaring that Roslin would miss Starbuck at such a close range. Still, I’m at a point where I’m pretty sure any of these characters could die. (Again, in the case of Starbuck.) It’s the final season, so it’s not like there’s much left. Though maybe Starbuck is pretty safe at this point, especially since she’s already “died,” and she’s a bit too important to get rid of at this point.<\/p>\n

But we also get something else in this episode that is both hilarious and mind-melting at the same time: Head Baltar. SEEN BY BALTAR<\/em>. I’m sorry, I fucking LOST IT<\/em> when he appeared to Baltar while he was talking to Tory Foster. I couldn’t stop laughing at how amazing this was, how this new twist was brilliant and confusing. WHY DOES BALTAR KEEP SEEING THESE PEOPLE? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? At this point, the show has<\/em> to answer this, right? It’s too obvious to be ignored by the end of this all, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.WHAT THE FUCK. I loved how similar Baltar’s Head Baltar was to Caprica Six’s Head Baltar, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6IS THAT A CLUE TOO? Are they the same vision? OH GOD I CAN’T GET OVER HOW HILARIOUS THIS WAS.<\/p>\n

If there’s anything in “Six of One” that’s not quite as perfect as the rest, Tory Foster’s story just feels\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.weird? I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with it, but it is<\/em> kind of awkward. I was fascinated by Baltar telling her about music, almost activating something inside of her, and their relationship in this episode has an interesting dynamic, since she’s now the third Cylon that Baltar has had sex with. The writing at least portrays her side of things and the confusion and emotional turmoil that she’s going through concerning her identity, but I think I wanted a bit more from it. What is she going to learn from Baltar, and how will this affect her?<\/p>\n

Oh, hey. Cylons. CYLONS. CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS<\/strong>. Okay, is that a new copy of Six? She looks different from the ones we’ve seen before, and Caprica Six is on Galactica<\/em>, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.yes? Either way, the mystery of the Final Five is the centerpiece of “Six of One.” I am dying to know why it’s forbidden to think of the Final Five Cylons, and this episode shows Six questioning Cavil directly about this, since all they Cylons know is that it’s a divine order to not think about them. That’s it. It’s an act of faith, and I was enamored with the idea that three models finally decided to fight against this. These three models are convinced that the Cylon Raiders resisted the attack in the previous episode because they sensed that the Final Five Cylons are in the fleet. (Which we know to be true for at least four of them. OH GOD WHO IS THE LAST ONE.) We’ve never really seen the Cylons have such a desperate disagreement, and it seems that they’re setting this up to have a greater affect on the future than we’re used to.<\/p>\n

And how will the Final Five play into this? I found a specific line that the Hybrid said interesting: “They will not harm their own.” Okay, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the Hybrids haven’t been wrong yet, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN. The four new Cylons can resist their programming? ARE THEY EVEN PROGRAMMED? oh god i have so many unanswered questions and IT IS DESTROYING ME. I feel like I know even less<\/em> than I did at the end of season three.<\/p>\n

Well, that’s not entirely true. There are two new things we learn about the Cylons: the Raiders have their own free will (which Cavil, Simon, Doral, and Boomer all vote to remove by lobotomizing them), and the Centurions do not possess the capacity for reason. Well, until Six reveals that she removed the telencephalic inhibitors and told them what Cavil was doing to the Raiders. AND WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON. Is this going to erupt into a civil war? Though the Cylons killed by the Centurions are just going to wake up in resurrection tanks\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6so how is this going to be dealt with? OH GOD THIS SEASON IS GOING TO BE UNBEARABLE TO WATCH ISN’T IT.<\/p>\n

And it’s not like there aren’t happy moments in this. We do get to see Lee’s departure from the Galactica<\/em> to take a place on the Quorum, and it’s unabashedly joyous. Even Lee’s goodbye to Dualla, which seems to confirm that they’ve officially separated, really isn’t as depressing as it could have been. Lee is off to bigger and better things, and the entire ship sends him off with love and pride, and it’s honestly one of the only feel-good moments of the whole series. And I love it, genuinely!<\/p>\n

But that’s not what I mean about this all being unbearable. I think we might see more moments like this towards the end of the show, but for now, these characters are all in truly awful places. While we see a lot of Starbuck’s internal (and vocal) battle with the people around her not believing in her, the conversation that Adama and Roslin have in Adama’s quarters is horrific in its verbal brutality. COULD MOM AND DAD STOP FIGHTING IT IS REALLY PAINFUL. <\/em>I thought there might be a moment they would agree when Roslin, full of glee, wanted “atheist Adama” to admit that a miracle might have happened. But the conversation quickly takes a very personal tone when both characters seem to correctly read the situation: Adama wants to trust Starbuck simply because he can’t deal with losing her again, and Roslin fears dying a meaningless death. And then Roslin finds out her hair is starting to fall out and she cries and I want to bury myself in my blankets and never come out from under them ever, ever again.<\/p>\n

As I started contemplating what horrible direction Starbuck’s story was going to take at this point (SINCE IT LOOKED SO GODDAMN BLEAK ALREADY), I got a sign of hope. And I latched on to that sign like it was a lone plank of wood in the sea that is Continual Awful on BSG: Lee tells Kara Thrace that he believes her. I initially thought his visit to her was saying this in an unspoken way, but I was even happier to see him just say it. It’s what Starbuck needed, fighting against an entire ship that doesn’t believe her at all. That kiss was not just a gesture of love, but one of faith.<\/p>\n

And faith is really what plays into the final moment of “Six of One”: “atheist” Adama concedes Roslin’s point, that he is too resistant to make difficult choices when his beliefs are challenged. In an ironic turn, he takes her advice, deciding to send Starbuck and a small crew aboard the Demetrius<\/em> to go find earth. It’s actually a brilliant, practical solution; this way, the entire fleet doesn’t have to take the same risk when following Starbuck’s trip back to earth.<\/p>\n

But I can’t forget the Hybrid’s words. Is Starbuck leading her crew to disaster and death? Is she being pulled into a trap, or did she really find earth?<\/p>\n

JESUS CHRIST THIS GODDAMN SHOW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"