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Battlestar Galactica: Collaborators

Roslin: "Everyone by law is entitled to a trial with representation. Everyone. It is not an option to be discarded at the president's whim."

Is there any uncomfortable current event or extreme moral issue that this series is afraid to tackle?

If humans were plentiful on the ground – in space – executing traitors would be somewhat understandable. But with so few humans left, and with their situation so precarious, executing anyone for any reason just felt wrong. They actually put Jammer out an airlock, and he tried to save Cally's life. Nearly putting Felix Gaeta out an airlock too, after all he did to help the Resistance, was reason enough to call a halt. You can't take back an execution if it's a mistake.

Since the Circle kept saying it was authorized, I figured out that the order was coming from Tom Zarek, and that he was doing it without telling Adama. If there was anything wrong with this episode, it was Zarek readily giving up his power to Laura Roslin. It felt out of character for someone as power hungry as he is, even after she saved his life, even after what happened on New Caprica.

But at least Roslin is president again, as she should be, with Adama firmly behind her, ready to enforce every decision she makes. Amnesty was the only way for her to go. Tom Zarek unintentionally pushed her in that direction by telling her that it would fragment their society. And actually, if he was sincere about his motives, and honestly trying to take the onus of it off Roslin, that was rather cool of him. Maybe he should be vice president. At the very least, he would articulate every opposing viewpoint and give her balance.

Meanwhile, back on the Cylon base star, it looks like we're going to get a guided tour of the Cylon side, as seen through the eyes of Gaius Baltar. Except that he's losing Caprica Six's love. Tell me it ain't so. I thought their cross-species love affair was forever. Talk about star-crossed. D'Anna talked about only seven models voting on what to do with Gaius. What's with that? Were they the only models on the base star?

That dream Gaius had was telling. Gaius wanted to be back with the humans, and forgiven for what he did. If he manages to return, will they make an exception to the general amnesty, and execute him? But then again, what if he had major intelligence on the Cylons?

Bits and pieces:

— They returned to the survivor number. It was 41,435. The last one, at the beginning of the second season finale, was 49,550. That means they've lost 8,115 people. How many still remain on New Caprica? How many died? (And if Gaius stopped D'Anna from nuking New Caprica, was he responsible for saving thousands of lives?)

— Even with the loss of eight thousand people, there are crowded conditions on Galactica. What's with that?

— Are planetside marriages dissolving already? Starbuck was obviously uncomfortable with Anders in front of her old shipmates. And just when I was growing to like Anders. Especially when he said, "I didn't sign up for this."

— I thought Starbuck would go to Adama about the Circle, but four months as Leoben's prisoner left her with some serious rage issues. Not that she was all that balanced before.

— I'm going to make the obvious reference to Bush, habeas corpus and Guantanamo, and move on.

— Tigh is still XO. And we thought he was an erratic drunk before. Adama really needs to do something about that.

— What's up with Lee? Is he still a commander? Commanding what? At least he's apparently on a weight loss program. The mildly contemptuous way Adama was treating Lee sort of got my back up. I mean, did Lee save the Galactica and thousands of human lives in the last episode, or what?

Quotes:

Harvey Six: "Don't make me angry, Gaius."
Adama: "You wouldn't like her when she's angry."

Roslin: "I've always wanted you."
Gaius: "Oh, no. I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

Starbuck: "My gods, the whole thing is like a bad dream. Only we woke up and the traitors are all still here."

Jammer's death really got to me. So did Roslin's decision to go with amnesty. This show keeps going where no science fiction show has gone before. Four out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

4 comments:

  1. Maybe some ships were lost and some parts of galactica are unsueable. Look at the holes we saw from outside.

    Zarek might have changed during that 1 year on ground and 4 months in Cylon detention. It's good that the 6 judges had some legal backup but still can't accept their quickness to kill.

    And what temple massacre? The one in the webisodes was done by Cylons and before Jammer joined NCP. Something off-screen then?

    Baltar on the basestar was the most boring part of the episode, but I bet most important for what's going to happen next.

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  2. Phew Gaeta survived! It wouldn't have surprised me to see him die only for the Chief and Tigh to realise their mistake too late - would be in keeping with the tone of the show for sure!

    While Zarek tried to put a political approval on the executions, how is it that at least 3 of the original 6 jury were mentally unstable? Certainly makes it look like they were looking to kill as many as possible.

    Gaeta IS a hero, but I'm sure he'll never get the recognition he deserves.

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  3. And we had one last great episode to finish the New Caprica cycle. I loved the way the show navigated the tricky territory of how to deal with collaborators rather than just sweeping the question under the table after the rescue mission.

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  4. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH my heart split in two seeing that first space shot of Galactica. I adjusted to not catching Pegasus anymore but I somehow forgot about the visible damage from the atmo-jump. ;_; She finally looks her age now... still love you. But it's so immediate...

    I loved the photograph of younger Gaeta there on the table when his name comes up to the makeshift tribunal. Effectively haunting shot even knowing he survived the trial.

    Great episode, it holds up JUST as well as I remember praising it for... not much to say besides stray complaints about listening to the commentary lol. This guy is just too comfortable doing it and it annoys me for some reason haha. Well it's an aural nightmare for someone who doesn't enjoy ASMR. Huffing sounds, gulping sounds, moist mouth sounds. I needed to use the 'Simulate Surround Sound' option on my desktop's audio manager so it doesn't feel it's all happening right on my ear.

    Jammer did nothing wrong. RIP

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