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Battlestar Galactica: Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2

Number Six: "Welcome back to Caprica. Like what we've done with the place?"

Everyone made tough decisions here. Roslin decided to buck Adama's authority, and then she decided to prevent bloodshed by surrendering – good for her. Lee decided to follow his heart and back her play, which took some serious courage.

"I'm terminating your presidency as of this moment." The implication being that Adama has allowed her to be president, and despite his willingness to consult her, she's just a figurehead with no real power. How military of him. Both thought the other was bluffing. Neither of them was bluffing.

Why did Adama use Sharon One to take out the base star? Did he pick her because she was suicidal? Or because she was the next best pilot who wasn't his son? (I think it was the second choice. Adama believes he doesn't show favoritism, but he does.)

Crashdown has lived up to his name, and is way too inexperienced to be commanding in the life and death situation on Kobol. Chief Tyrol has far more critical decision-making experience. Frankly, the whole noncom thing has never made sense to me; Chief should be in charge before Crashdown gets them all killed.

The whole Six in a white dress auditorium white light baby girl thing was just weird and confusing. Was it in Gaius' head? Did it mean that his former girlfriend Six back on Caprica was alive, and pregnant, just like Sharon Two? At any rate, so now Gaius is the "guardian and protector of the next generation of God's children." I'm confused again.

That final moment, Sharon One shooting Adama, was a heavy-duty shocker because it was so completely and totally unexpected. It shocked the hell out of me. Is he dead? He sure looks dead. I hate cliffhangers.

Bits and pieces:

— My favorite part of this episode (other than the shocking cliffhanger at the end) was the brutal confrontation between Starbuck and Number Six. This was so far beyond a girlie fight.

— Sharon One and Racetrack going into the Cylon base star to plant the nuke felt like the end of "Independence Day," except for the whole dozen naked Sharons thing. Why naked? Did it have anything to do with why she shot Adama? Did they strengthen her weakened programming or something?

— The Starbuck/Helo reunion was lovely. But unfortunately brief.

Quotes:

Adama: "She was coerced."
Tigh: "No one coerces Starbuck. Believe me, I've tried."

Adama: "If she can turn Starbuck against us, she's capable of anything."

Lee: "We cannot sacrifice our democracy just because the president makes a bad decision."
Gee, how currently applicable.

Four out of four stars. Excellent.

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

6 comments:

  1. Patryk, I'm sorry but I had to delete your comment. It contained a potential sort-of spoiler for another show, and I didn't want to risk ruining such a key moment for anyone.

    But I'm really glad you've been enjoying BSG!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sure no problem. But it's hard to not comment from a current perspective. :) Too bad there is no edit option, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Patryk,

    Thank you for understanding.

    Here's your comment with the spoiler removed:

    Great too see tv shows that can shock and suprise me. I totally didn't see that coming.

    Too bad the episode was only normal lenght. I would want to see Starbuck rescue Helo from Caprica. Baltar and the others rescued from Kobol, but i guess that's season 2.

    Cliffhanger: I won't be able to start season two till mid august so it feels almost like when BSG was on tv. I have to wait for a resulution. But seeing it so late allows me to say...

    ReplyDelete
  4. OK -- this was worth the wait. What a great way to end the season. Wow!

    What a set-up for the second season. We've got the crew on the ground; we've got Starbuck and Helo on Caprica; we've got a shot Commander and a President in the brig.

    For the first time ever, Six did not irk me beyond the telling of it. Interestingly, I took the whole baby thing to mean Sharon's baby -- a hybrid (for lack of a better word) of human and Cylon. I, too, am now not at all sure how much of what we see through Gaius' POV is in his head and how much we are meant to believe. For some reason, this felt very real to me.

    The end floored me. I did not see that coming at all. Even re-watching 'our' Sharon with the others, I still cannot see how she was turned. Guess they're going to know who the fourth Cylon is now.

    It took a while, but I am now a fan. I'm not sure why. The story is fascinating and I think parts of it are exceptionally well told. Some of the characters I love; some I hate with a fiery passion. But, what has finally sucked me in is that it makes me think.

    How much of our lives are destiny? Like 'I Robot', when do the things we create begin to take over? Is there a god or gods, and if so, how much is s/he controlling? These are big questions and I am glad that the show does not provide pat/easy answers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved the finale! Nice mixture of action, mystery and suspense.

    Was totally shocked by the shooting, and was in awe of the performances of everyone in that scene!

    Time to start season 2 methinks...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow. I did not see that ending coming.

    I think Adama used Sharon One to take out the base star because her ship (or whatever it's called) has jump capabilities and the others don't, making her a more obvious choice.

    ReplyDelete

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