Yet again we get an episode that flashes back 48 hours. And didn't they use to spell "Cloud Nine" out and not use the numeral?
The President seems shocked that there's a black market. Well, of course there's a black market! I was expecting this at some point. One of my biggest criticisms of the old series was that they still seemed to use money even though it had no real value. At least there they stopped at planets now and then and got more money. But this fleet never stops. It's only a matter of time before they go to a barter system, which naturally means extortion at some point. Withholding medication? How horrbile! ...oh wait, I've seen that. It's called Lost.
What was the President's plan? Was she just going to establish rules for trade? Do they still play cards for cubits, or has the game developed into a high stakes game for goods (like when Baltar offered up his jacket)?
I wasn't particularly interested in Lee's "spacewalk", so I'm not particularly interested in the aftermath. We finally learn there are "socialator" equivalents on this show, as Apollo visits a prostitute on Cloud Nine. But it's okay, 'cause she's got a little girl, which makes her the hooker with a heart of gold. And the blonde with the girl reminds Apollo of another blonde he used to know. I just don't care. We only just met this woman, so I'm not close enough to her to care that she tells Apollo off.
I know they are supposed to be linked in Lee's mind, but the two blondes look so similar it's hard to keep them apart, especially when this is all new information. It's even messier because sometimes the hooker scenes are real-time, and sometimes they are glossy flashbacks. And then there are times when there are flashbacks in those flashbacks, while the whole episode is a flashback! It's a mess.
As to the rest of the episode, it's a standard murder procedural with Lee playing Columbo. I'm going to miss Fiske. The show felt like CSI meets Lost. The "criminal element" was so obvious as the cigar-chomping gangster type. And what's with the child slavery going on? Was there child slavery on any of the colonies before? What makes someone say "I'd like to buy a five-year-old if you've got one"? I also got to thinking that if they were going to have kids involved in this underbelly story, it would have been a great opportunity to re-introduce Boxey. Let us find out what became of him. Maybe he's a young hustler. Maybe he takes care of those kids. I just started missing Boxey again because I hate not knowing where he went. I don't need to see him every week, but I want to know where he is.
The one good moment was when Baltar told off the President. "I've never wanted to be Vice President until this very moment." Good for him. But besides that scene, there was nothing engaging. As it is, flashback episodes don't really do much for me, as I don't think they've ever properly worked on this show. Here was an episode with murder, whores, shootings, mystery, Tom Zerek, and narrow escapes; why was it so darn boring?
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