Last week’s Battlestar Galactica episode, “Faith,” rocked the house. This whole season, though, has been incredible, delving into complex, challenging issues such as religion, mortality and politics. This is not TV lite, therefore I rarely watch it on Friday nights at 10 p.m., since by then my brain is fried from the previous week’s work and I can’t concentrate with the appropriate amount of attention.
So, after watching “Faith” on DVR delay, I have a few observations to share with you about this most recent episode of BSG. (Please note: No attempt at synopsis has been made; for a synopsis, go here. This post is pure critique and conjecture.)
1. Starbuck has a fan base in the BSG world, too.
When Jean Barolay (Alisen Down) volunteered to go with Starbuck, Anders and Athena to the Cylon base ship to talk to the Hybrid, Starbuck told her she wasn’t looking for volunteers. Jean countered that yes, Starbuck had asked for volunteers back on the Galactica, that Starbuck had been a super-hot badass leader since forever, and Jean would like nothing less than to be ordered around by Kara “Lesbian Icon” Thrace. (OK, maybe I’m paraphrasing a little, but didn’t Jean seem to have a little crush on Starbuck? Too bad that crush got her killed.)
2. Six kisses Six.
After the Six who accidentally killed Jean Barolay was shot by Natalie, she confessed to Natalie that she had not been able to deal with the trauma of being killed by Jean on New Caprica. Natalie called her “sister” and kissed her before she died. I saw this as a grand, poetic statement of blood calling to blood, as well as a reflection of the fact that each Cylon model is so closely linked – closer than family, even – to the others of their model. Here’s hoping most folks didn’t see it as gratuitous girl-on-girl action starring hottie Tricia Helfer in a fantasy twin lesbians scenario.3. Welcome back, Number Three!
The Hybrid, once she is unplugged in a disturbing and somewhat grotesque manner, declares that the Three will be used to find the Five. What does that mean? Natalie thinks it means that Cylon model Number Three, aka D’Anna Biers (Lucy Lawless) and her sisters, need to be “unboxed” so that they can reveal the identities of the final five Cylon models. All I thought was: I’ve missed you, Lucy, and your strange threesome with Gaius and Six, too! 4. Sometimes I think the BSG writers screw up.
I was shocked to find that I thought the mostly awesome BSG writers messed up in this episode. Not during the majority of the episode, but with the sub-story line involving President Roslin’s cancer treatments. Basically, I didn’t understand why she was having all those intimate conversations about mortality and religion with a total stranger in the sick bay who was going to die at the end of the episode, when she could have been having them with Admiral Adama, her true love! Sci Fi/Justin Stephens
OK, fine, maybe she needed to talk to someone on the verge of death, but this is one time I docked the BSG writers some points here. In my opinion, Adama and Roslin don’t get nearly enough screen time together, and to give such an intimate scene to someone we viewers have no connection with when there’s a character available who would give the scene much more bang for the buck – well, it just didn’t make sense to me. And it made the story line less affecting to me than it should have been.
5. Starbuck is the harbinger of death!
As the Hybrid said in this episode and as another Hybrid said at the end of Razor, Kara Thrace is part of the prophecy to lead the human race to its end. Does this mean that Starbuck should not be trusted? Or, does this mean that the Hybrid is just plain crazy? I am not sure whether the ramblings of the Hybrid really should be believed or not, and yet at the same time it seems like it would make a twisted kind of sense that Starbuck would inadvertently bring destruction upon the human race. She’s well-meaning and all, but she’s also a bit hotheaded and not, perhaps, the best kind of leader. On the other hand, maybe Starbuck really is a Cylon. She heard that weird music and all.
What did you think about last week’s episode? Please mark any discussion of upcoming episodes with clear spoiler warnings!
