Collaborators

It seems everything I hated about the miniseries is starting to rear its ugly head again! (the grammar there is poor; I apologize.) We seem to have gone back to a humanity that is brutal and has to live with stupid decisions; a humanity that really has little hope; a humanity that is tearing itself apart. A show where the good guys are just as bad as the bad guys. The show is getting too bleak for me. I thought we had finally pushed past that.

I really hated the opening scene. Poor Jammer! I do support capital punishment, but only in certain circumstances. Here they executed out of vengeance. Jammer should have gained a reprieve for saving Callie. Gaeta was let off the hook; Jammer deserved to as well. Maybe some kind of punishment, but not blown out an airlock. This is vigilantism. This is Ox-Bow Incident style lynching. I don't care that there's a legal document giving them the authority; the fact is, as Roslin says, everyone has the right to representation. Now, I'm with Zerek, I don't think every trial needs to be a public spectacle. They can be secret tribunals for all I care, so long as the accused has a fair shot. In these cases, the six convicted on their own. Tigh is really not thinking clearly these days. I'm glad he told off the other guy and said it was about justice, not vengeance. That may well be in theory, but it seems they hid behind Presidential signatures to cover their own butts. In this manner, they are no different from the Cylons who needed Baltar's signature to keep things "legal" and keep their consciences clear. These are the kind of ridiculous death ordinances passed in secret that remind me of the book of Daniel. At least he got out of the lion's den; there's no coming back from the harsh void of space!

I am so terribly confused about the succession to the Presidency. Last episode it seemed that Roslin had usurped the office. Now we find that Zerek is the acting President. Was he Baltar's VP? We were never explicitly told. (And may I ask, doesn't that make Zerek as culpable as Gaeta, and shouldn't he be executed too? Oh they can't do that; he's the one who gave them the authority.) So he's the President now. Okay. Wait, why does Roslin become President at the end of the episode? Didn't they need to hold an election?? I though Zerek was a big proponent of that sort of thing? Did he just make her his VP, then resign the office and give it to her? And in the end, doesn't this make her every bit the power-hungry dictator that Zerek accused her of being in "Bastille Day"??

Hey, they changed the opening back again! I wondered what they would do with New Caprica out of the way. And did you see that survivor number? In a little over a year they lost over 8000 people! Were a lot of them killed on New Caprica during the escape?

I like the slow reveal of Gaius' dream. Though I was annoyed that they quoted the Incredible Hulk again.

I realized the interesting parallel about there being twelve Cylon models, just as their are Twelve Colonies. They vote as a group, all the Sixes together, all the Threes together, etc. This gives the Cylons something of a Quorum of Twelve. Do they have a Presidential equivalent? Is there an Imperial Leader in this version?

The one nice thing about the collaborator plotline is that Baltar is also being tried as a collaborator, but on the other side. I like that the Sixes are conflicted. I'm not even sure the Six who came to see him was really Caprica Six; they might have sent another one to trick him, just as a way of assessing him.

I meant to point this out earlier, but when did Kara get that tattoo on her arm? It must have been on New Caprica. I wonder, did Katee Sackoff get a new tat and they just went with it, or did they specifically decide that Kara needed one?

I still don't much like Starbuck, and I don't really know how to read her anymore. Anders is starting to grow on me though. He takes a stand for justice even before Tyrol does. 

Anyway, this episode was very frustrating. Tigh is even worse than he was before. But at the same time, I don't completely agree with Roslin's blanket pardon for all of them either. Execution seems extreme in most cases. It seems a very Klingon thing to do (which is maybe why it appeals to Ron). There were just a lot of extremes. Having said all that, I do think it's important to point out some good. The exterior camera is slowly moving away from the constant shaky-cam zoomy stuff. In this episode we got a great majestic pull back from inside the base ship out to the rest of the Cylon fleet. The last episode had a similar great reveal of the Pegasus. I think it's good that the show do things like this. Shots like this work. You don't need to constantly re-frame to be interesting. Sometimes the zoom thing works, but I'd like it if they keep mixing it up. It also seems to me that they've recently slightly redesigned the Centurions. I like the current version because they seem a lot less top-heavy. Their limbs seem like they can really support the weight.

There's a lot of baggage left over from New Caprica. I hope things move forward with less insanity. I really wish Laura wasn't President right now though. 

Exodus parts 1 & 2

Well, wouldn't you know it, the whole execution was a fake-out. As soon as it went "one hour earlier" I knew where it was going. This is the same thing that happened on X-Files when Mulder supposedly shot himself. But not only did they fake us out, they changed things! When Callie was running away here, it looked nothing like the location she was running in the previous episode. And we heard the gunshots while she was running last time, but here they don't fire until after Tyrol has taken her to the ground. That sort of thing really annoys me.

Why did Tyrol shave his beard all of a sudden? Is he just preparing for return to Galactica?

I do not understand why they left the Cabbal Cylon for dead. Why not cuff him and take him prisoner so he can't download? He's maybe the only witness to what happened. Why let him report back?

Apparently my question has been answered and Cylons do indeed dream. I find it curious that the Oracle states she has a message from the Cylon God. Similar things do occur in biblical narrative. Balaam, a heathen prophet, does get revelation from the God of the Hebrews. But this is the first time we've seen such a thing here. And the Oracle is the first person to acknowledge the existence of both the Lords of Kobol and the Cylon God. Before now the polytheists believed they were right and the Cylon god was a myth, and vice versa.

I was so glad somebody finally stated the obvious. When Number 3 interrogated the doctor about cremating Hera, I said, "Thank you, Number 3!" Truly, why WOULD they just incinerate this miracle of biology? The baby had magical cancer curing blood! Why did nobody question this? 

We learn in this episode that it causes the Cylons pain when the download; pain that seems to increase each time. This adds a flavor to why they would try to avoid death. It is funny though for the Cylons to decry humanity's barbarism for leaving the guy with a bullet in his gut, even though they just planned a mass execution! And follow it up with the suggestion to nuke them all. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. If Cylons are so reactionary, it's no wonder Caprica and Boomer can't get through to them. Having said that, the humans do seem to have started the whole thing.

There's a really clunky line towards the end. When Anders asks what's so important about Hera, Roslin answers "She may very well be the shape of things to come." That's not an answer. That's just a fancy call-back to season one. It's the sort of line that sounds all good and "televisiony" like it's supposed to mean something but doesn't. I thought this series was about avoiding TV convention. 

Speaking of TV conventions, we get another one when Boomer says, "Adama wouldn't lie to me." There's never been a time that line was used and it was true. Writers only use that when the person has indeed lied to them. The dramatic irony that we know that equals "drama". But it is really quite annoying to see it yet again. Will she learn the truth? And will the resulting outburst be just as predictable?

With each Kara scene I realize how little I care about her. I never sit there wondering "What's going on with Kara?" I do wonder about other characters. But I never wait for Kara scenes. She doesn't enter my mind. I frankly don't care about her. And the scenario they put her in I find very uninteresting. It's as redundant as the Cylon she killed six times. The Kara stuff is basically the Helo stuff on Caprica from season one. They are scenes that have little to nothing to do with everything else, and aren't really about much.

Was anyone surprised when she stabbed him after the kiss? No? That's another thing we've seen elsewhere. Should she really be stabbing people in front of a small child? Will Casey remember this for years to come? 

I am very disappointed in the resolution of the Ellen story. Was she so much a liability he had to kill her? Why is it that when she is causing him nothing but trouble, he keeps her around. When she professes her undying love for him, he poisons her. There are dysfunctional relationships, and then there's nonsense. I just could not get behind this. And he seems all wrought up about it. Fine, then DON'T DO IT.

There's an interesting exchange between Baltar and D'Anna. She suggests that if they just leave, the Colonists will spread stories to their children of the evil Cylons who oppressed them and then left. This might very well be true. So Cylons, it turns out, are ultimately paranoiacs concerned about their reputation.

I really like the Baltar/Gaeta scene. When Baltar admits to being a bad President he is right, but isn't it funny that Gaeta never held a gun to his head then. He served that way for a year, but Gaeta didn't do anything. I like the line about "hot and cold running interns". In the end, I don't think Gaeta ever would have really shot Baltar. The Gaeta who was undermining the Presidency by passing information doesn't have the guts to pull the trigger. If he did, he would have done it a long time ago. And I'm glad he didn't because Gaeta is not an assassin.

So they finally got rid of the Pegasus. I like this end for the ship. Lee taking the ship in knowing that it can't survive is a welcome return to the original ending of the ship on the old show. In that case, Cain took the ship to take out two base stars. Lee does pretty much the same thing here.

Okay, Maya is dead. Never mind where Anders is. Wasn't he supposed to protect her and the baby? Anyway, she's dead, Baltar finds the baby. And he still doesn't get to raise it! I thought for sure this would be how they would link up the nonsensical story threads about the baby, but no! D'Anna just walks off with it!

Of COURSE the baby was not hers. I just laugh at Kara here. I know it's mean, but she should have known better. Didn't I say before that it didn't make sense? It does add another layer of Cylon evil; they kidnap children just to be pawns in their little love games. At least they didn't snap her neck. How old is this girl? Unless they had some kind of accelerated breeding process, any child of Kara's would have to be about a year old, 16 months, tops. So how old is Casey?

Is Roslin just going to usurp Presidential power? That's not right! I don't care if they are the best of buddies now, Zerek needs to say something about that!

Overall, I'm glad the New Caprica stuff is done with. The story was kind of irrelevant. Some elements really dragged. It was just a lot of angry people doing irrational things. So getting back to Galactica is a relief. What kind of fallout will there be from all of this? The funny thing is, despite the growing tendency to fall back on standard TV elements, and an increasing reliance on technobabble, the New Caprica parts were some of the best technically the show has ever done. The effects have never been as seemless. The world created was believable (minus the trucks). I hope they channel that energy and skill into something good. And the most important lingering question of all: how long will Lee stay fat?

Favorite line: "The last thing your son wants is me and Ellen for parents." It works because on some level it is undoubtedly true.

Precipice

One of my big concerns as this episode got underway was why Caprica and Boomer don't stop the Cylons from doing the terrible things they do. As the show went on, it became clear that they had very little sway (which seems a bit odd, since their being here was all their idea). 

Is Casey really Kara's daughter? Were they really able to save her ovary, wherever it was, when Kara took out the farm? I have a hard time believing it is her daughter. It seems to me the sort of thing that is just a ruse to get her to cooperate. Even the injury seemed like it might have been staged, though it probably wasn't. You can totally understand Kara's reaction, though. Hurting kids is not cool. Even if she's not her daughter, she feels responsible.

...Having said all that, I think the introduction of Casey is a silly complication and one that yet again smacks of The X-Files. In fact, Scully had not one, but TWO miracle babies on that show. 

Doesn't it seem like if Casey is really a human/Cylon hybrid that she would be more of a big deal than she seems to be?

Just when I was really starting to like the idea that Caprica Six and Baltar could connect without their fantasy counterparts, they go and shoot Caprica in the head! Now, she will just download of course but it frustrated me. We then got yet another fantasy Six scene and I am just so tired of those. And we have to question the motivation of fantasy Six now, since Caprica Six didn't want Baltar to sign the thing, but fantasy Six did.

Even though he eventually buckled with a gun to his head, I was proud of Baltar for refusing to sign the order. He still refused for a good minute even with the gun to his head. Moments like this are why I have a hard time seeing him as a villain. He's really just a patsy in this scenario.

The dissent among the Cylons proves to me that they do not have a plan. They have a bickering committee. And I truly do not understand their motivations. They have gotten to the point where they are rounding people up and executing them for no reason. Great, suddenly they are Nazis. But WHY? How is that even remotely justified? A few scattered terrorists blow up your buildings and you execute them? If they just want humanity dead, surely they should let the bombings continue! The Cylons can always download again. Rounding up innocents truly will only anger the humans more. Surely they realize this? I feel like there hasn't been enough time for the situation to build to this place yet. It's only been four months. The Cylons really have to show good faith, but they aren't.

Brother Cabbal (or however you spell it; the Dean Stockwell guy) suggests rounding up people and executing them publicly as a deterrent to crime. The problem with this scenario is that when they finally do start rounding people up, they DON'T execute them publicly! The "death squads" drive them out to a secluded area to kill them. How does that deter anything? That sort of action only riles people up!

With Sharon made an officer, I guess we have a Boomer again. And we learn that she got married too! She married Helo. Odd how that came about. That would never have happened if Roslin were president.

I flatly disagree with Tigh. He suggests that sending people on a suicide mission is the same as what they are doing here. "Dead is dead" he says. I'm not certain he's thinking straight. This must just be about vengeance for the eye. It doesn't really make tactical sense otherwise. What WOULD make sense is to recruit Sharon and Caprica Six as suicide bombers because they can just download again afterwards. Though it was good to see people actually arguing the point. I couldn't believe that everyone just went along with the idea.

Some time ago I compared Baltar to Lando Calrissian. And in a way he is. He's constantly being played by the Cylons. He isn't really responsible for most things he does; he's doing the will of the Cylons. But there's another Lando in this episode, and that's Ellen Tigh. She will do whatever she has to for Saul, but that means doing underhanded things. Sneaking secrets to the Cylons is the equivalent of putting Han in carbon freeze. It seems traitorous, but in her own way she was just trying to help. I am waiting now for someone to use the line "This deal is getting worse all the time."

Can we question the logic of having trucks to move prisoners in? Not that I'm totally against trucks on the show. They've already been established last season on Caprica. But this is a whole new planet. Where did they come from? It is doubtful the planet had trucks lying around, and certainly not the Cylons. So who built them? Were they built by the Colonists? Were they built by the Cylons? Where do they get the raw materials? Do they run on gasoline? It felt like an image used just to be shocking and familiar when there is no logic for having them on New Caprica. And as I noted above, there's no real logic for driving them out to shoot them anyway.

It was good to see Zerek again, and that he sort of made peace with Roslin. Though it is unfair of them to blame Baltar. This would have happened regardless.

And then the episode ends with Callie running away from the sound of gunfire. Rather a predictable television moment. I highly doubt they will be dead, since they wouldn't kill Roslin. Well, we shall see.

Occupation

What do you know, they changed the pre-cap and opening titles again! They changed most of the shots in the pre-cap and went back to the order "They rebelled, they evolved" which I like better. The opening no longer refers to Earth (which is a big mistake), or the number of survivors, which would have to be a total guess since they jumped ahead a year. Now we get text reading how they are "far from home, fighting for survival". Well, maybe if they'd stuck to their mission, they wouldn't HAVE to fight for survival. And are they really fighting for survival? I thought the Cylons were trying to make friends? The changing opening reminds me of Millennium, which had a different opening every season.

What happened to Tigh? Why was he captured, and why did they take his eye? I don't really see how they can pop a guy's eye out but then say they just want peace. Does Caprica Six know about this? Oh, and if I were a real jerk I would mention that a certain Star Trek series that a certain guy used to write for featured a Klingon general who lost his eye in an alien prison camp, but I'll refrain.

In Roslin's opening diary entry, she says that it is Mars Day. Does that mean it's Tuesday? The days of our week are named after heavenly bodies and pagan gods. Sun-day, Moon-day, Saturn-day, and Tuesday is named for Mars (actually for the Germanic god Tiw, but it's Mars in the romance languages). The context doesn't make it sound like just a Tuesday. Still, they generally use Greek names for their gods, but Mars is Roman. So I don't know; I like to think it's Tuesday.

Roslin also mentions that killing the Cylons is useless since they just download into a new body. This is a major point of the Kara story, where she has killed the same guy five times. I guess they must have brought a new resurrection ship with them to New Caprica? Or else set up a resurrection facility on the planet. Essentially this means that the two-parter "Resurrection Ship" last season was useless. The whole point was to stop their ability to reproduce, hoping that would stop their chasing and bring finality to those killed. But now they are downloading again, so it was a waste of time.

I don't often comment on deleted elements, but Ron mentioned on the podcast for this one that the original plan for the resistance was to capture Cylons and keep them alive so that they couldn't download. This is a good plan! Why don't they do this? Instead, they just cause destruction.

Isn't it funny how everyone is married now? We never see people get married when we're watching their everyday lives, but skip ahead a year and characters will always marry in the interim. TNG even went the one step further, having the future Picard marry Crusher, then divorce her. It just strikes me as odd that everyone we saw dating last season is married now. Does no one take it slowly? 

Much is made about the New Caprica police force and how those involved are nothing short of collaborators with the Cylons. Color me naive, but shouldn't there be a police force? Shouldn't they have set one up a year ago when they got there? How do they maintain order? I doubt they put marines in charge of everything, considering how they feel about martial law. At the same time, I doubt they will all run to the President whenever there is a problem. If there was no police before, that's just stupid. Now, whether the Cylons can be trusted to run a fair system is a different question, but they all seem opposed to the very idea.

Have Caprica and Boomer made their plea for peace publicly? It seems that everyone on both sides just expects war. Why then are we even going through the motions on this?

I have a real problem with the resistance movement here. I don't know why it has become a television idea that resistance always means acts of sabotage and terrorism. What is gained for humanity by blowing crap up and angering Cylons? That's not resisting anything; that's just being stubborn. Now I'm all for them getting off the planet, and sending secret transmissions to the orbiting Raptor is a good idea. But suicide bombings? When did that become a good idea? I'm annoyed that the webisodes end up being just set-up for Duck to kill himself. It's one thing to go into a mission knowing you won't walk out. It's quite another to go in with the expressed INTENT not to walk out. Walking into a room where there is a bomb is heroic. Walking into a room WITH a bomb is pathetic. I think maybe what bothers me most about this is these are the heroes. These are the guys we've been rooting for for two seasons, and now they resort to things like this. Suicide bombing is a Cylon strategy. What does it gain, anyway? What do they gain by killing Baltar? What do they gain by taking out the police recruits? The can't really kill the Cylons. I don't see the point. Duck dies for nothing, and that is stupid.

I have many more thoughts on the nature of resistance in general, but I'll save them. Perhaps I'll post them seperately when I've wrapped my head around them. I like that Gaeta is the informant. Though Duck's death is more pointless considering Baltar wasn't even there.

It's good to see Caprica Six and Baltar reconnected. With the real thing, there's no need for the fantasy Six, which is good. I was feeling like that whole element was played out.

What does whats-his-face want with Kara? He has "seen" them together? How did that work, I wonder? What was her plan? Was she just going to keep killing him indefinitely? And why did she seem so surprised when she was locked in? Surely she knew she was trapped, or she would have escaped the last four times she killed him. And just how long has she been here? Anders said she's been missing for four months. Surely she would have killed more of them in four months!

"Occupation" is a passable season opener. I'm not enamored with many of the ideas floating about right now, but it's executed pretty well. The "invisible" effects work is really good in this one. I think this is the best the effects have ever looked. I'm still not sure that I care about these goings-on though. Get them back on the ships already.

Crossroads -- Resistance webisodes

This post covers the "webisodes" that are set between seasons 2 and 3. On the DVD, they are called The Resistance, but the actual listed title is "Crossroads". 

Callie had her baby! And it must have been remarkably soon after we last saw her, since New Caprica's only been occupied for a week. 

Already there is a resistance movement against the Cylons. Much of these ten webisodes is about the attempt to recruit Duck into the group. Duck kind of reminds me of my uncle. 

Tigh says without new recruites the resistance will "die in its crib". This is a line obviously meant to resonate, as we've just seen Callie's baby, and learn that Duck and his wife are hoping for one.

I don't like that the Cylons are called "infidels" for entering the temple. If the temple is so holy, why are they keeping weapons in it? I might also ask, why are Centurions allowed to shoot unarmed people? If none of the New Capricans are allowed weapons, how is that fair? Does the new police force get to carry weapons?

The Cylon occupation reminds me of the Cardassian occupation of Deep Space Nine in the sixth season. Is Ron repeating himself here? It's not exactly the same of course, but elements are similar.

Of course, Duck decides to join the resistance only after his wife his killed. What makes him stand out is that he's decided to infiltrate the New Caprica Police as a double agent. This is a good idea. What will become of him? What will become of Jammer? Will this inform the coming season, or be mostly background stuff?

I noticed that people began smoking cigarettes in season two. Watching them smoke again here, I wonder if there is a tobacconist in the fleet. Are they just smoking through their entire store of cigarettes until they run out, or are they making more? 

The webisodes were a little pedestrian in places, but give the world of New Caprica a little more life than we got so far. I wonder what made them decide to do these webisodes. Did they just realize that they had too many ideas floating around? Maybe this is a better outlet for the writers then, instead of scripting long shows that have to be cut. I'm not much of a fan of webisodes in general, but these weren't bad.

On another note, I've been thinking about the nickname toasters. I remembered on TNG once when Data was on trial and the JAG used the line "Data is a toaster." Now I wonder if it was an unintentional connection. I forget, did they use the word on the old series?

Favorite line: "This is war. War is messy, people die. Good people. Nice people."

BSG: Season 2 review

The second season got to a bit of a rocky start with changes to the opening and the need to resolve prior storylines. There was some good and some bad there. A number of things happened in season 2. While Season one can generally be summed up: Sharon's a Cylon, they find Kobol; it's not so easy for this one. The introduction of Pegasus was a good way to reference the original show, though it went in a completely different direction. 

I simply do not understand what Baltar and Six's involvement was ever going to be regarding the baby. He was never going to raise it. And what would be gained if he did? 

Some of the mythology was cleared up, while other bits became more muddled. I'm not sure I ever know where the show is going anymore. A number of new Cylon models were introduced. We also had some good guest stars appearing.

Bad Caprica Shannon was bad, then became good, then started going bad again. Meanwhile Good Galactica Boomer went from good to bad, then started going good again.

I don't know that the show really knew where it was going all the time this season. After the Caprica story was resolved, they seemed to want to continue swapping between locations. The new location became the Pegasus. Some episodes mid-season suffered from trying to be too much inside the fleet. And now the new location is New Caprica. The over-reliance on Cloud Nine, and never the lush garden spot parts we saw last season, became a problem. The show at its most confused was set here, and I think it was a message from the writers when they blew up the ship at the end of this season. They know it didn't work, and they won't have that crutch now.

I was unhappy with the way some of the threads were resolved (her cancer), and others were a bit dropped. We saw more supporting characters come to the front. There was too much jumping ahead in time. Suddenly it was a month later. Then it was three months later. Then it was a whole year later.

Bits of the New Caprica settlement are interesting, but I'm not sure it works. This sort of thing is very hard to pull off. Lost does it reasonably well, but even they have hiccups. And I still haven't forgiven Lost for its "two islands" development. Desperate Housewives jumped ahead five years. So BSG isn't alone, but it was one of the earlier shows of the bunch to do it. It doesn't feel like a move that matters. It feels like one of those Simpsons episodes where everyone is in the future. It annoys me in the same way that 24 annoyed me by starting season 3 a full three years later, ignoring the cliffhanger at the end of season 2. I think what bothers me most about it is that it took the Cylons a year to find them. I just don't believe that. And aren't there still Cylons among them? Where are they? Who are they? If we had jumped ahead and found the Cylons already in charge, I might have believed it. The move seems like a way to quickly create new story threads and divorce themselves from prior ones. Honestly, it's a Galactica 1980 move. Give everyone a mustache and say it's the future!

Season two had some ups and some downs. Despite some very good elements in season two, I think I much prefer season one. The show seems to be losing its way. I started my BSG viewing in season three, and it turned me off the show. Will I still feel that way? I'm not looking forward to finding out. 

Best episodes: Flight of the Phoenix, Fragged, Pegasus

Worst episodes: Black Market, The Farm

Lay Down Your Burdens parts 1 & 2

If "Downloaded" was a game-changer, the two-part season finale is the "let's play something else" moment. There is some good here, but it becomes buried in the rubble of the epilogue.

Adama tells Roslin that his father used to break pencils before trials. I'm very curious to know whether this detail will feature in the new Caprica series. If any of the writing staff is reading this, make sure it does!

Hey, it's Dean Stockwell!! His presence reminds me that I've recently been wondering what this show would be like if Donald Bellisario wrote for this version as well. And hey, we'd have less NCIS. Would that be a bad thing?

I'm starting to think I'm getting to be one step ahead of things. When Stockwell came to see Tyrol, he told him that prayer was a waste. I cannot abide priests who discount prayer. It seemed to me that the only good reason in this universe to say that the gods don't hear is if you don't believe in the gods at all. For instance, if there is only the one Cylon god, then praying to false gods is futile because they will not answer. Lo and behold, the priest is a Cylon! So I was absolutely right! Though this priest later goes on to further elucidate that he finds the concept of the supernatural to be a superstitious construct. 

In this episode, the elections are held. I'm going to sound extremely picky again, but I just cannot help it. Why are the elections being held so late? We were told in season one that Roslin's term would end in "six or seven months" which time coincided with her death by cancer. When she did not die, the elections should have been held right then. Why did they wait another THREE MONTHS for it? I simply do not understand that.

Nor do I understand why Roslin failed to mention  during the debatesthat Baltar was in collusion with Cylon terrorists. She obviously believes it a key reason he can't be President. She even rigs the election because of it. So why not just tell the people that?

I was really disappointed with the whole rigged election story. Firstly, because it undermines Roslin's character. She is becoming more and more unstable. I bet she wishes Tom Zerek were her opponent now! Secondly, because it is far too easy a shot at the 2000 American Presidential election. This connection however does not really hold. I do not understand why the Twelve Colonies have a one man-one vote system, but America does not. Our President is chosen by electors. Therefore, this episode calls to mind ideas that Bush stole the Presidency which is simply untrue. Whether or not the populace voted for him is irrelevant. There is no popular vote for President in this country. We are not a democracy, but a democratic republic. Electors' votes are cast on an entirely different day. Looking at things in this light, truly every American election for the past 100 years at least has been rigged. We are made to believe a lie that our votes matter, but they do not. Nor do I want them to. I would however like to see electors chosen differently. In any case, the storyline just felt false to me, like an attempt to be relevant.

What is going on with Tyrol? He's having nightmares. He attacks Callie (oh no!). At least she forgives him, even with her jaw wired shut. The one saving grace of the silly epilogue was that they end up together, with one on the way. But what do the nightmares mean? I truly hope that he doesn't end up being a Cylon. Do Cylons even have dreams? Does this get back to the Phillip K. Dick question about electrick sheep?

I don't understand why the Cylons suddenly abandoned Caprica. Did Starbuck make any attempt to free those in the "farms" when they left?

When the Caprica Dean Stockwell arrives, Tyrol accosts him because he realizes he's a Cylon. When the two are put in the same room, they confess to being Cylons. Um... I guess nobody in this universe has ever seen identical twins. I just realized today that they are so set against there being duplicates of people. Wouldn't the Cylons have an easy excuse just saying they are twins? I know in this case it was all about a "message of truce" from the Cylons. I'm just wondering.

Why did they name the planet they found New Caprica? Why not New Picon or New Virgon? What's so special about Caprica? If I were of one of the other Colonies, I'd resent that Capricans are foremost in everything. The only reason I could really come up with is that with the action finally moving off Caprica, the show can now switch between Galactica and NEW Caprica. 

The whole nuclear bomb story makes no sense to me. Baltar was told by the Six in his head to get it, then convinced to give it to prisoner-Six. Then she blew up Cloud Nine. Um, why? What was gained by that? I do not buy that it all comes down to that radiation signature being what lured the Cylons to New Caprica. There are at least 7 Cylons still in the fleet. Are we to believe that none of them had contact with the others? And if it was simply the bomb that brought them, why did it take over a year? If this is truly the reason, then I am even more disappointed. That bomb story basically went nowhere.

I questioned during the miniseries the logic of the zooming shots in space. Were we to believe someone was actually shooting this stuff? Well, then we got the most indulgent moment in the history of the show, when debris from the explosion HIT THE CAMERA in space! So now we are supposed to believe there really is a camera shooting this. If so, where is it, and who is it? On another show I might not mind. Given a certain tone, this can work. But here it just feelt so out of place. The camera became a character, and that immediately took me out of the world again. It raised far too many questions. Undoubtedly, I'll turn on the commentary (which I haven't yet) and Ron will be saying how much he loves that shot.

I absolutely hate the "one year later" thing. It is such a lazy storytelling device. I also resent that we are back once again to Baltar making decisions with his, shall we say, joystick. I find this sort of thing sexist. Settling New Caprica is a terrible idea. It smacks of other science fiction stories I've seen where the entire crew somehow finds itself moving down to a ship something and it turns out to be an alien plot (see for example numerous TNG episodes, such as "11001001"). I can't believe they were so surprised that the Cylons found them. I don't like Kara with long hair. It's like just when I couldn't dislike her enough... And why did Adama grow that stupid mustache back? And what's with Lee's hair? Roslin's back to teaching again. How nice for her. Again, a missed opportunity to put Boxey back in the show. And President Gaius Baltar? He may just be the worst genre President since Lex Luthor.

They are supposed to go to Earth. Anyone who knows stories knows you NEVER turn away from your course and settle somewhere else. If the mythology is indeed tied to Judeo-Christian history, and leaving Kobol is the expulsion from Paradise, surely the journey to Earth is the quest for the Promised Land. In Abraham's case, he stopped in Egypt and settled for a time. There he ran into problems. Or when the sons of Jacob settled in Egypt, only to soon have their people made slaves. New Caprica is Egypt. The Colonists are now trapped in a snare of their own making, subjugated by Cylon overlords. And this Biblical interpretation is the only thing I find remotely interesting about the scenario. I am bored to death of it otherwise. I frankly don't care a lick about New Caprica. 

To summarize, the episodes started out all right, but once part 2 began in earnest, my interest waned. I spot several circling fins. Not knowing how it all turns out I can't be sure, but this episode may be the point where BSG ultimately FTL-jumps the shark.