The opening is similar in its way to that of "Living Legend" with the surprise of finding the Pegasus. Tigh remarks "the entire fleet was destroyed". Well, when exactly was that? I know that there was the computer virus that attacked the ships in the miniseries, but how would they know the entire fleet was destroyed? Did they just assume so? In the original series, all the ships were together, and then the Cylons clearly wiped them out. I just think that was clearer. I do like the explanation for Pegasus not succumbing to the virus. Also, this may be the first time we are clearly told of Cylon attack on colonies other than Caprica.
Cain is changed in this episode and I have very mixed feelings about it. First of all, they have yet again changed genders. I really don't know why they always feel the need to do this. It's getting very tired to me. Besides that, she now outranks Adama. In the original, there was conflict between Cain and Adama, but it stemmed more from Cain wanting to do things his way and he got away with it because he was famous. There's a hint of this Cain's notoriety in a corridor scene where Adama tells Roslin about her background, but primarily the shift all goes into the chain of command. (side note: this reminds me of the TNG episode "Chain of Command"; Adama is the Picard and Cain is the Jellico.) I think it loses something by doing this. It almost feels to easy to me for Cain to just be able to say "I outrank you". In "Living Legend" Cain did essentially take over and do things his way, and the crews were at odds, but it came down to issues of ideology and hero worship rather than mere military protocol.
The Pegasus is a more modern battlestar. Her design element seems to be based on the hexagon, in much the same way that Galactica's is based on the pyramid. The hexagonal corridors kind of remind me of the halls on the Enterprise-D or Voyager.
I love Michelle Forbes. I really do. I don't think I've ever seen her in anything I didn't like. I have definite reservations on having her be a female Cain, but I don't fault her portrayal at all. I loved her on TNG, and later on 24. She is one of the reasons the second season of that show sits in my memory so well. I wonder how long she'll be on the show!
It was only a matter of time before Baltar really came in contact with another version of Six. The treatment of the Cylon prisoner really gets to him, but it's interesting how much it gets to Six. She was never this emotional when Sharon was the topic of discussion. We've seen brutality toward Cylons (thrown out an airlock!), but this really seemed on a different level. What was to be gained by the torture? Is this the "Guantanamo Bay episode"? After all, a lot of it comes down to treating prisoners like human beings, even if they essentially aren't. I really like the scene where Baltar brings her food and talks about how he loves Six. It's all summed up so nicely when he says "I never stopped thinking about her", which really is true!
There are points where it seemed to me the show was trying to be more like a "cable" show. Callie says "bullshit" at one point. I don't know if this is in the hour-long cut. This was around the time when TV shows were all trying to say "shit". It started on Chicago Hope and everyone talked about it, leading to an entire South Park episode with a running tally of uses (curiously the moral of the episode was NOT to use the word). Later shows like ER would slip it in as well, but people stopped noticing. This is nothing new; Kirk said "Let's get the hell out of here" at the end of "City on the Edge of Forever" and it aired and no one said anything about it. That may well be the first instance of televised cursing. Anyway, Callie's line is in good company for its time, but it raises logic issues for me. First, I miss "felgercarb" for "shit". But second, "bullshit" means they must have something they call a "bull". What is it? Is it just a cow like ours? Do they call it something different? Why have we never seen any animals on the show, and only once heard birds?
The second "cable show" moment is the prison rape of Sharon. This is graphic and harsh. I'm not totally against graphic and harsh; I watch Breaking Bad. But it was shocking in that it hit a level the show never had before (I'm presuming it was cut down some for the short version). I think having the scene was good, but maybe I could have done without Thorne with his pants down, or the glimpse of Sharon's bum. But all the rest I was okay with because it SHOULD be traumatizing. You need to want the guys to stop it in time. Grace Park did an amazing job in the scene. There's something really sick too about all the Pegasus guys essentially having gang-raped the other Cylon. They talk about Cylon women as if they are that blind heiffer in The Last Picture Show (the book; thankfully it was not in the movie).
I can understand to a point wanting to punish the guys because Thorne died, but come on! Execution? Are you kidding? They prevented a stinking rape! And how are they both responsible? Surely only one of them killed Thorne.
The show breaks its own rules about shooting style here. The hand-held look is abandoned at the end in favor of spinning steadicam shots. We cut from spinning Adama to spinning Cain, back and forth. I don't like it. I think it's overused on TV as it is, and it just made me think of ER. Rarely is it done well, and I'd have preferred not seeing it, or maybe seeing the shots of Cain spinning in the opposite direction (like Kevin Smith sort of did with Dante and Randall in Clerks II).
Adama and Starbuck assigned to the other ship! Starbuck secretly taking the stealth ship! Tryol and Helo might die! Adama sending Vipers at her, and Cain sending Vipers at him! Like "The Living Legend", this becomes a multipart story. I think this may be the first two-parter that I really anticipate the next part of. I really want to watch the next episode. I guess despite the changes that I still hate, they hooked me with this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment