Number Six: "You're not my type."
Adama is such a good man that I expected him to have second thoughts about killing Cain. But Cain coming to the same conclusion was a real surprise.
In fact, Admiral Cain was shown throughout this episode as much more human, particularly with Starbuck. That conversation where Cain said, "Sometimes terrible things have to be done" and "I want you to promise me that when that moment comes, you won't flinch" made it almost appear as if Cain were advising Starbuck to go through with Cain's assassination. (Yes, I know Cain was talking about other stuff, but you know what I mean.) What a wonderfully written scene.
And now Cain is dead. They put her in a body bag, covered her with flags, and floated her out an airlock, just as she said. I'm not sorry about it or anything, and I certainly didn't shed a tear. But I like that they made her death more ambiguous, because things in real life are rarely black and white. Was she a hero or a villain? Probably both. But I'm certain the fleet will be better off without her.
The conversation Adama had with Sharon was another exploration of shades of gray. Why do the Cylons hate humans? Why does humanity deserve to survive? Are humans really any better than Cylons, more deserving of victory? Well, the Cylons did wipe out several billion humans. But the point is, we are indeed starting to see Sharon and Number Six as people.
Number Six is corporeal now, and a total wild card. I really like Gaius' compassion for her, and his preference for her over his hallucination Six. Was Gaius saying goodbye to his imaginary mistress when he repeated her story about going to the pyramid games? Was she really all in his head, all along? No, I just don't believe it.
Lee's depression – now, that was new. It's completely understandable, considering the end of the world conditions and all. In real life, Doc Cottle would probably put half of the fleet on Prozac. (And who knows? Maybe they are.) I think Lee needs a new lover to help him regain interest in life, and of course, it should be Kara. But they seem to be setting up something with Dualla, don't they?
Colonel Jack's motivations throughout were unclear. Stopping his brownshirts from beating up Helo and Tyrol was certainly a good thing. But was he just saving his men from getting court martialed? Yes, Jack looked upset about assassinating Adama, but he was following orders and I think he would have gone through with it. And now he's in command of the Pegasus. Fortunately, Adama is now an admiral. With two battlestars.
Bits and pieces:
— This week's survivor count: 49,604, same as last time.
— We got a really spectacular space battle: one of the best. The music in this episode was wonderful, too, even better than usual. And that's saying a lot, because it's usually very good.
— I often watch an episode the second time with the close captioning on to catch all of the dialogue. The close captioning on this episode was off, a lot. There were many lines cut, and several changes. No difference in the basic plot, though.
— We saw Adama's scars. His brush with death is making him more introspective.
— The Blackbird is gone. I was sorry to see it go, but it served its purpose. And there are a lot more vipers available now.
— Adama kissed Roslin. I think it was a goodbye. She's not doing well.
Quotes:
Helo: "He was trying to rape a prisoner."
Jack: "You can't rape a machine, Lieutenant."
Now, see, that's faulty reasoning. They were using rape on Number Six as torture. If she really were a machine, it wouldn't affect her, and what would be the point?
Cain: "You drink, Thrace?"
Starbuck: "Only to excess, sir."
Cain: "From what I've read about your XO, maybe he needs to get popped in the mouth every once in awhile." See, they really made her a lot more human here.
Six: "Suicide is a sin. But I need to die."
Gaius: "What you need is justice."
Just wonderful. Three out of four stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
If Strabuck and Adama would not stop the plan then the epsiode would be a five out of four. But having Gina kill Cain was the easy way out so only four out of four.
ReplyDeleteGreat space battle, I liked how it was out of focus most of the time. Also good that they showed the bodies flying out of the ressurection ship. It made me think if it wasn't genocide.
Adama is finally admiral, Helo and the Chief were released, but shouldn't they stand trial at least symbolically?
Fantastic three parter. Full of the grey areas that this show does so well.
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated to see what happens with Gaius and the new Six. Will the old Six still haunt him? That would prove interesting.
I am not at all interested in a romance between Lee and Dualla, although it looks as though that is where this is headed. First of all, I like her with Billy -- they seem very cute together. More importantly, both Lee and Kara have to move beyond their issues and figure it out. I think they would both be much better off.
I agree with Patryk, I think it would have been a more interesting choice to have had Adama kill her, even more so if she had chosen NOT to kill Adama.
ReplyDeleteThough I still think this is a 5 :)
Overall this was an excellent 3 parter and my favourite episodes of the series so far! Cool space battles and excellent drama, tho I think everyone knew after parts 1 and 2 she would have to die.
Fabulous episode. Yes, Cain had to die but interesting how they managed to make sure that neither of the Adamas nor Starbuck had to live with the guilt. I also loved, simply loved how Roslin promoted Adama. Not only does he deserve, but she's doing what she can to make sure he doesn't get outranked in the future.
ReplyDeleteI seemed a weird way to get rid of Cain. I was fully expecting her to congratulate Starbuck on "not flinching" as she died. I didn't really understand why she and Adama both had a sudden change of heart. And I found it a little hard to believe no one would stop the cylon from reaching the Commander, as just as her revenge might be.
ReplyDeleteSomething that's been bothering me a bit since the end of season 1: In the U.S. presidential system, the President is Commander-in-Chief, so it seems to me that both Starbuck and Apollo were justified in disobeying Adama. I know Roslin has said she wouldn't interfere in military decisions, but I assumed that was a gentleman's agreement not a limit to her powers as president. Granted, I wouldn't expect Cain to accept her authority, but it seems to me she could have ordered Adama not to transfer Helo and Chief to the Pegasus, or promoted him to Admiral earlier.
>>"But Cain coming to the same conclusion was a real surprise."
ReplyDeleteAbsofruitly, never forget (as I keep forgetting). I didn't really need one of them to kill the other, because I find it more affecting to think Adama was willing to accept not just the guilt of ordering the hit but also forcing Starbuck to do it smack-dab in the middle of enemy territory where she was unlikely to make it back alive. To see that really play out would be to see her escape somehow again, and I'd buy that even less than Gina ex machina. And also the fact that I don't see Adama finding it an acceptable trade-off so I like that the whole thing is unfulfilled and just something in my head that's pleasingly dreadful to imagine as an endgame scenario. Starbuck looked adorably child-like/young/innocent there before Cain with her face shining with sweat.
But I would've liked to see how Cain and Adama would navigate the uneasy truce... I really thought it's what they were going for and even on a rewatch the clean conclusion is kind of surprising.
Standout of the episode is of course the battle. It really did feel like endgame... listen to that music, it had a foregone conclusion to it. I also loved the haunting but easy to miss shot of those missiles fired at Pegasus all arcing away as Pegasus's electronic defenses intercept and compromise their aim, proving Pegasus really is a powerful, possibly unmatched addition. And I loved the shot of all those Vipers passing through the Resurrection ship's exoskeleton or whatever, shooting at the windows as they all breeze by and because there's no gravity they're all facing in slightly different directions but moving along the same line. It's just really cool to look at. I love this shit, I don't know why spacecraft destruction (NOT including the Challenger disaster!!!!! ;_;) is so pretty to look at. I even liked the Blackbird's destruction, the sound design more than anything I liked the groaning of it as it splintered away spinning and exploding. It's still really funny to me, how sudden it is and basically from a collision with space debris or whatever. What a loss though!
Also loved the scene where Baltar gives Gina the gun with his blessing... her touching his face. I really love the track they used for it called Gina Escapes. Haunting again, there's just no other word for a lot of this.
Lee-san... he must've read all those comments calling him wishy-washy and insecure and fell into a depression. Poor Lee