Gaius: "Simply put, Admiral, you have already used the stick. It's time to use a carrot."In one episode, we went from group hugs and the joy of finding another battlestar, to a possible shooting war. And we got another killer cliffhanger.
I was pretty much amazed at the themes they chose to tackle here. There are correlations to what is happening in the world today that are easy to make. By showing the extreme brutalization and sexual abuse of two of our main characters – both Cylons – they're saying that it truly doesn't matter what Number Six and Sharon really are, because their humanity is not at issue. The soldiers on the Pegasus have themselves become inhuman.
Somehow, conditions on Pegasus degenerated, while conditions on Galactica did not. I can attribute this directly to the police state slash military dictatorship initiated by Admiral Cain, who used a "time of war" as an excuse for brutality and executed – on the spot, in front of her people – an officer who wouldn't carry out her orders. Faced with similar challenges, Adama found ways to compromise, to keep the peace, to retain (or regain) the loyalty of his people. Humanity won on Galactica, and we can now see this achievement for what it is.
The situation with Gaius and the latest, quietest version of Number Six was especially intriguing, and even touching. I finally believe that he truly does love her, although I still think he holds some loyalty to humanity in reserve. He's proven more than once that he isn't Six's puppet; he has his own agenda.
The fact that Helo and Chief are not in the cast makes it more likely that we could actually lose them. They are both favorites of mine, and I absolutely loved the way they put aside their differences and literally dashed to Sharon's rescue.
Bits and pieces:
—- This week's survivor count: 49,605, meaning the Pegasus has a crew of 1,752.
— Star Trek veteran Michelle Forbes did a fine job as the despicable Admiral Cain, commanding the Nazi ship Pegasus. Interesting Biblical name. Cain and Abel, Eve ... and Adama?
— Tigh's opposite number on Pegasus was a lot like him, but worse: he made Tigh look good. That story he told, while laughing uproariously, was a horror.
— I found it particularly interesting that Cally, who killed Sharon One, was revolted by the sexual abuse of Sharon Two. I think that was more evidence that her assassination of Sharon One was motivated chiefly, pun intended, by jealousy.
— They flashed a parental warning on the Sci-fi channel right before the attempted rape scene.
— The red dress was back. Actually, I think it was a new version of the red dress.
— This week's Most Obvious Symbolism: when we first saw the imprisoned and helpless Number Six, it looked as if she had no arms.
— Cain: "Madam President, you look as if I just shot your dog." Was that a way of calling Adama an obedient puppy?
Omigod, this was such a four. And now the long wait until January. I can't stand it.
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Wow, they supposedly filmed an even more graphic scene but decided not to use it.
ReplyDeleteThe best episode of the season and the entire show so far. But despite what happened in the end I really loved the beginning and middle parts. The beginning had wonderful music, first full of pathos and triumphant but quickly turned ominous as Cain appeared on screen.
The middle part had scenes that slowly peeled the layers of the Pegasus state of things. Things were boiling under the surface even since Adama and Cain shook hands.
I just hope the next two parts will be just as good. And don't kill Helo and the Chief for the love of the gods. So say we all. :)
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Billie that Adama (great catch on the Biblical names!) is, by far, the more human of the two commanders. Yet, how much of this humanity is the result of the fact that he has, more or less, shared power with Laura and not been an absolute dictator. I like to think that he would never stoop this low, but it's hard to know for sure.
The rape scene was extremely disturbing. One shudders to think what has happened to the Six on the Pegasus. I have not been a fan of Six, but the scene with Gaius and her moved me. I honestly didn't think that Gaius was capable of love, let alone admitting it to anyone.
We have seen several instances throughout the series of members of his crew being insubordinate to Adama. I am so excited to see him acting the same way. I guess the chain of command ceases to matter when his men are at risk.
Wow. Disturbing in the extreme, I think this goes a long way to showing how good our leadership team of Roslin and Adama are - and while they've both made some mistakes I just can't see them stooping so low as the Pegasus crew.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to watch Razor when I get to that point (whenever that is - I'll probably watch it in "Doux order"!) to see if that explains things on Pegasus some more...
I can't remeber for the life of me how they got out of the situation they find themselves in at the cliffhanger, but I can't wait to find out! (Also very glad I'm re-watching on DVD and don't have to wait Like you did Billie!)
Another super episode. And what's best about it is that by any conventional military thinking, Cain is absolutely in the right. Adama's speech a few episodes about Galactica being a family was very revealing. He does run Galactica like a family; you don't jettison family members when they make mistakes. And maybe he's right that under these circumstances, you can't afford to replace officers with specialized skills, even when they commit offenses that would normally get you thrown out of the military or worse. But it's not hard to see why reading the logs would make Cain seriously question Adama's judgement, particularly when one of the offender's is his own son. From her point of view, his laxness encourages further offenses and risks a complete breakdown of military discipline.
ReplyDeleteIf the episode were just to have been about how far the rules should be allowed to bend, it would be interesting enough. But it goes farther, exploring the impact of separating the Pegasus from any civilian oversight and the effects of dehumanizing your enemies. Brilliant stuff from a series really hitting its stride.
<3<3<3 I am of course GALACTICA's bitch all the way, but... look at how frakkin pretty Pegasus looks... easily the most aesthetic space ship design I've ever seen. Those "eye holes" make such a huge difference. It's gonna be my desktop's wallpaper for a time. Firefly's "Serenity"'s a close second, but I honestly don't really know that many to begin with. I should buy a model/figurine of it... AFTER one of /classic, not relic/ Galactica of course. You gotta dance with the one what brung ya, no exceptions.
ReplyDeleteMan look at that one shot of the fleet, with Galactica and Pegasus in the same shot. It's almost too much.
Pretty much everything in the episode worked. I know the flashy exciting stuff is what we all remember but I loved the quiet moments of Bill and Roslin dealing with the new regime every bit as much. Well not just them, but
"You know, if President Adar stepped off that Raptor, I'd be elated. Grateful to have someone take over, and yet..."
"I don't want to go to the And Yet part... I've been taking orders my entire career. This is no different."
Liked the conversation they had with Cain just before too. Seriously, every conversation just the way it's acted... the subtle faces (Adama's little expression when Cain says "Well you know what they say about a good defense")... it's great. I really savour every second of it.
Other random dialogue bits I liked:
(Adama talking about context mattering and the pilot's scenario where they shot down the civilian transport)
Tigh: "We should ask Admiral Cain for her logs. Just so we could put HER in context"
Adama: "Hm. Wouldn't that be nice."
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Adama: "That's what I'd call... a tempting target."
Cain: "Hm. And here I was getting ready to do a whole song and dance about combining resources for a joint strike mission."
Adama: "Any chance to hit the cylons where it hurts? My pleasure."
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Tigh: "I just talked to Fisk. Court martial's over."
Adama: "Over? When did it start?!"
I still keep expecting sitcom laughter at this one lol
And of course I just absolutely tireless love the shit out of the ending scene... zooming in from the pegasus vipers' POV to the fleet and galactica's own approaching them in formation. Those drums. Goosebumps.
>>"The fact that Helo and Chief are not in the cast makes it more likely that we could actually lose them."
Heyyyy, what D: Well come to think of it, I never do notice Helo's nor Chief's pictures in all the promos I've seen for the show and its different seasons. Helo maybe isn't so big, but goddamn it took a whole season to even bring him back to the fleet.
>>"— I found it particularly interesting that Cally, who killed Sharon One, was revolted by the sexual abuse of Sharon Two."
Why?? I don't think it's expected of her to have "I wish high octane sexual violence upon you!" levels of hatred. And she did have an altercation on that prison ship back in season 1. I'd say it's more interesting that Cain would be OK with it being a woman herself, **SPOILERS** but for the fact we found out how personal this Six's outing as a Cylon was for her. It doesn't make it OK, of course, but it's less.. careless and callous I guess. And tbh I advocate for women's right to not give a shit nor feel special sympathy about it. Even though that's really ugly.