"This isn't happening. Please tell me this isn't happening."I'm sooo confused.
Tigh, Tyrol, Tory and Anders (whose name should start with a T) got switched on by "All Along the Watchtower" and now they believe they are Cylons. This raises so many questions in itself that I could just present a list as the rest of my episode review. (But I won't.) (Okay, there will be some questions.)
Are the so-called Four like the previous seven, models with many duplicates, or are they individuals? When were they "planted" as sleepers in human society, if indeed they were? In childhood? They said the music felt like it came from childhood. (Childhood on Earth?) And if you think about the odds, how did all of them survive the attack on the Colonies without knowing what they were?
Tigh is a good bit older than the other three, a hard core military man who has been in the fleet for forty years. Forty years! How is it even frakking possible that he's a Cylon? He's almost the last cast member I'd believe was a Cylon, after Adama and Roslin. But maybe that was why Tigh was instructed to develop such a cover. It does make limited sense that these four sleepers were leaders in the resistance, with Tory the assistant to the President. (What if Billy hadn't died in that bar? Would she have killed him?)
Of the four, Chief Tyrol was the most likely Cylon. He covered for Boomer's Cylon-ness back in season one and had those weird suicidal nightmares. But Tyrol also had parents. How could he have had parents? He's also a father. Is baby Nick a human/Cylon hybrid, then, just as important to the universe as Hera?
We know the least about Anders and Tory. Anders was rescued by Caprica Six and Boomer, who may have been unknowingly programmed to do so. But Anders also had pneumonia on New Caprica, and I had the impression that Cylons don't get the same sorts of diseases that humans do. And why was Tory running to the toilet? Is she pregnant or something?
With all of the Cylon stuff, the resolution of Gaius' court case and the return of the previously dead Starbuck were almost afterthoughts. I liked what Lee did on the witness stand. He spoke the absolute truth, that everyone else had been pardoned for outrageous, rebellious, and sometimes treasonous acts, and that Gaius was the exception, their scapegoat. Lee did it all without testifying against Adama, too. And I really liked that Adama changed his mind and voted to acquit Gaius. Adama needs to apologize to Lee, in a great big way. Possibly with groveling. Although his actions during the trial actually were sort of like an apology.
But as a whole, the trial didn't have enough... something. Fireworks, perhaps. I wanted Lampkin to call Caprica Six to the stand, or something. I wanted a mob stampeding the courtroom and trying to string up Gaius. Maybe we should have had Adama on the stand yelling, "You can't handle the truth!" Maybe I'm just hard to please right now.
Finally, how can Starbuck still be alive? Has Lee been hitting the chamalla extract? How did she get into viper three? How did she get to Earth and back, and bring an old rock song with her? Not that I'm exactly complaining that she's alive, because I absolutely hated the thought of her being permanently gone. But how can they explain this one? Is she a different Starbuck? Is she Cylon number five?
They usually shock the crap out of us with the season enders, and yes, they did it again. But this one left a bad taste in my mouth. It was more of a WTF than a shocker. Dan says that people have been unhappy with BSG lately not because it's not good, but because it's making them uncomfortable. He may have a point.
Bits and pieces:
— No credit sequence again, and no survivor number. Katee Sackhoff got a credit screen at the end. And no bonus scene. Thank the gods.
— Why an American song from Earth? Why that particular American song from Earth? It's sort of apocalyptic; go here for lyrics, and here for the Wikipedia entry on the song.
— The continuation of Roslin's visions in the Opera House was also confusing. I noticed that Gaius was in it this time, with he, Six, and Hera acting like a family. How is Roslin connected to Athena and Hera? Is Roslin the Fifth Cylon?
— When did Anders become a nugget? I must have missed that somehow. I usually pay pretty close attention, too. Seelix looked disappointed that Anders was with Tory. Seelix likes Anders.
— Gaius managed to land on his feet and escape the mob after the trial, and I'm glad. I love what James Callis has done with that character.
— Gaeta perjured himself. That surprised me.
Quotes:
Lee: "I'm the coward. I'm the traitor. I'm forgiven." Does this include the Cylons? Is that where this is going, to a unification of the two races?
Gaius: "What a glorious moment in jurisprudence."
I have no idea how to rate this episode. I'm just hoping it all makes sense sometime in 2008, and I'll look back on it and think it's brilliant,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I have absolutely nothing to add to Billie's review because it says it all. It's one thing to shake up a show, but this feels like too much. I, too, am going to withhold judgment to see if it all begins to make sense in the next season.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did have to post something about Jamie Bamber's performance on that witness stand. I have been a mild fan of his for years (he was very good in the UK version of 'Law & Order'), but this performance was outstanding. The reined in emotion, the belief in what he was saying and the constant looks over at his father had me struck dumb. Excellent, excellent job.
Well if they are really the 5 Cylons then it's better then main characters I presume. And isn't it a rule of televison that the longer someones identity is concealed the more likely he's one of the people we already know?
ReplyDeleteOn the other Hand Tigh looks old enough to be older then the first Cylons or almost the same age. So how can he be one if during the first war there were only toasters and no skinjobs?
I must admit though that the musical buildup to the final was just so haunting and eerie that despite all the questions I really got into it. :)
At least now I have time on my side and I don't have to wait for season 4. Here's to the power of DVD.
Wow. Where to begin...? I loved this episode, it's probably my favourite of the season finales to this point.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of the trial was fantastically done, Lee blew everyone out of the water with his monologue and was right on every count - interesting to hear that he sees himself as a traitor and a coward - interesting parallels with Balthar considering how different they are.
The ending with all along the watchtower and panning out to find Earth gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. And while I'm not sold on the four Cylon reveal, I hope that the explanation pans out...
Now very excited for the last season!
On rewatch, I found the trial didn't work as well for me as I remember it working at the time. While Lee's final monologue is great, this time it really struck me as bizarre that the defense waited to the end to point out that Roslyn had (for good reasons IMHO) declared a blanket amnesty for all crimes committed on New Caprica. And the prosecution decided to base their entire case on New Caprica rather than probe how the nuclear weapon from Baltar's Lab wound up detonating. There were some curiously absent witnesses too. Where was Tom Zarek? I understand why they decided not to put Caprica Six on the stand, but why not call on Athena, who presumably knows how the Cylons got the codes. Maybe that would just be hearsay evidence? And revealing Roslyn's kamala use seemed completely irrelevant to her testimony, which could be corroborated by many other people--Gaeta's (perjured) testimony was far more of a problem.
ReplyDelete>>"— Gaius managed to land on his feet and escape the mob after the trial, and I'm glad."
ReplyDeleteI was (bitterly) amused that his relief lasted only a second before he went right back to gloating and then had to deal with the fact that Romo-san and Ree-san were essentially done and bored with him. I did love, REALLY love, that when Baltar finally comes closed to being charged with something thanks to Gaeta's perjury it's, for once, something he didn't actually do. Kudos to whoever in the writer's team came with that little bit, it's so funny and oddly even more satisfying than justice even if it didn't work out. BUTTERFINGERS! (And also his outraged 'whot?!' when Romo just drops it and says 'no further questions' lol). Gaeta did nothing wrong, and I wish he was revealed as one of the cylons here because each one had a strong connection to one of the main human characters (Tigh to Adama, Tory to Roslin, Anders to Starbuck, and Tyrol to uhh... well, he's a main character himself) and Gaeta could've been Baltar's connection.
Visually/non-verbally I liked all of Tyrol's expressions in that closed room with the other Final 5s, it was somehow more palpable from him than the others about the truth of being a cylon dawning on him. Part of that expression's captured in the precap for the last season and I always liked it.
Sweaty palms for the science geeks who must be sniffing the genre shift that continues unabated hehehe, but I was fully into it... you have all your other shows anyway.
Also, poor Seelix.