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Battlestar Galactica: The Oath

Adama: "It's been an honor to have served with you, my friend."

Frakking wow. It's a mutiny. And I was worried that the final episodes would be an anticlimax. Silly me.

The characters of Bill Adama and Saul Tigh are sort of a microcosm of the whole human/Cylon conflict. They may have broken apart when Tigh told Adama the truth, but it wasn't enough to trump forty years of friendship. I absolutely loved the two of them overpowering their guards (they didn't reach the top of the chain of command for nothing) and Adama confronting the soldier that was marching them to the brig ("You wanna shoot, go on. Let's see if you've got a pair"). Yes, it's too big a story for one episode, but that cliffhanger at the end was a killer. Did we just lose Adama? Tigh? Both?

We've been on the Galactica for years now. We know the good guys. We know the mutineers. Because we're so near the end of the series – because poor Larry, who was just doing his job, died in the opening teaser – because Dee, a continuing character for the entire series, just died two episodes ago – I kept thinking anyone could die. Anyone. There has been too much death already, and it all hurt, every death, on both sides. Even the mutineers, who are almost certainly going to be executed. When this mutiny fails. If it fails. I can't believe I just said that, but they tend to do the unexpected on this show.

And, as Lee said to Tigh, it's not as if Gaeta and Zarek don't have good reasons for what they just did. The Cylons did wipe out the twelve colonies. Gaeta believes he's doing the right thing. Outstanding performances by everyone, but I'm going to single out Alessandro Juliani; you could actually see his emotions tamped down beneath his calm as he took one irrevocable step after another, knowing there was no turning back.

Bits and pieces:

— This week's survivor number: 39,643. You could see 39,644 on the white board, but Larry's death hadn't been recorded. Doesn't matter, because the number will be a lot lower by the time someone updates it.

— The long, passionate kiss between Adama and Roslin as they said goodbye, possibly forever, actually overshadowed Starbuck unexpectedly planting one on Lee. They were wonderful scenes, and wonderful kisses. Thank you, Battlestar writers. It's about time.

— Roslin was finally pushed to take back her power, but it might be too late. I loved Gaius telling Roslin that they had both made mistakes choosing their vice presidents. And I liked what Roslin did with Gaius' secret wireless. Very cool, and a great story payoff for Roslin forgiving Gaius.

— Algae coffee and algae cream of wheat. A reminder that they're still eating dreck.

— I should have mentioned in the previous episodes that they're doing a good job with Gaeta's CGI missing leg. It must have something to do with him becoming a mutineering kamikaze. In fact, I wonder if this whole thing would have happened if Gaeta hadn't lost his leg.

— There was a commercial for the continuing auction of the Battlestar props. And more frakking good chicken. :)

Quotes:

Adama: "I'll try to make it home for supper."
Roslin: "I'll have it ready."

Starbuck: "Look at you. The proud papa. When I named you Hot Dog, I sure as hell got that right."

Adama: (to Gaeta) "If you do this, there will be no forgiveness. No amnesty. This boy died honoring his uniform. You? You'll die with nothing."

Gaeta: "We can fine tune our rationalizations later."

This is the type of episode you watch with your heart in your mouth. And then you swear out loud when they leave you with a cliffhanger. Four big stars, and next week can't come soon enough,

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

9 comments:

  1. Hi Billie,

    Definitely a four star episode! For two weeks now we've watched every man, woman and Cylon fall apart. No one's been immune to the terrible depression that's descended over them. Yet this week, though a single act of mutiny, everyone's focused again. Roslin's picked herself up off the floor.....Adama and Tigh again look like the leaders they once were. And it felt good to see Lee and Starbuck toting pistols and kicking ass again.

    Like you said, at this stage of the game no one's safe. We could lose absolutely anyone.

    And I loved Adama's speech about there being no amnesty this time. Strong words indeed. Poignant too were Kara's words - "They're not your men anymore". Ain't that the truth! Best friends are now sworn enemies.

    With one episode they're frakked everything up big time....yet somehow it feels glorious.

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  2. Hiya Billie. As usual this is an episode to watch multiple times to grasp the profoundness of the actions within. I still have the phrase, 'what the frak!' rolling around my head through most of the episode.

    Love Roslin finally picking herself up and getting back into the fight. There's nothing like telling her that Zarek is determined to get the presidency to kick her into gear. Like bloody hell, he will. And I soooo loved the look on his face once he heard her on the wireless; he was definitely surprised that a) she wasn't in the brig, or b) dead. Because he's definitely seeming to have murder on his mind, and he thinks its justified. And that top she had on when the kids (Apollo & Starbuck) came to the door: very nice.

    I liked Roslin's appealing to Baltar's self-preservation skills to gain access to the wireless. It was wonderful, and you could tell from the looks on the quorum's faces that she'd already done damage to the seeds of Zarek's mutiny. She's still in the fight.

    Not as many favourite quotes or bits and pieces but it might just take time to sort through it all.

    And now for a wee bit of brevity. I was on Twitter last night and found some BSG twitters. See my blog for links. :)

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  3. Hi Billie

    Oh My Frakking Gods!!!!! Can this show get more tense?!

    Still can’t believe just how many of our beloved supporting characters sign up with Zarak and Gaeta’s bloody coup; Racetrack, Seelix, Skulls, Conner, Nacho, Kelly… that tit w**k from Pegasus. Hope if he tries something Athena pulls a Cally and bites more then his ear off.

    I always expected the final season would be a blood bath but I was wrong, this is flippin’ carnage. No one is safe (thank you, Sci-Fi promo people). Adama will keep his word. No Amnesty. No Forgiveness. The mutineers crossed the line. The corridors of Galactica are stained with blood. There’s no coming back from this.

    Heck, forget Adama they should be more worried about Kara Thrace, harbinger of death, heralded of the apocalypse, the one and only Starbuck. She’s back! Yay!!!

    Seven episodes to Daybreak, people.

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  4. I am not really all that interested in the rebellion story. I want to dwell on the big questions: the overall mythology, how the thirteenth tribe of Cylons fits in, what exactly is Starbuck, what is the deal with Ellen, who nuked Earth. Still, that was one exciting episode. I really got wrapped up in the conflict. The only problem with the cliffhanger is that no way do I believe that they will kill Adama. Killing Dualla was one thing, killing the Admiral - not going to happen. I also do not think Tigh will be killed. Kate Vernon has said that she is in most of the last episodes and having Ellen without Saul just makes no sense. However, Helo, Athena and Caprica are definitely in jeopardy.
    As far as who is to die, I am routing for Zarek and Gaeta. Never much liked Zarek (nor Richard Hatch) and I have never cared about Gaeta one way or another. This episode did change my feelings toward Gaeta - I want to rip off his artificial leg and beat him with it. When they finally get around to air locking him, I would love to push the button. I guess my hostility toward Gaeta is a indication of how well Alessandro Juliani performed. It takes an excellent performance to generate that much vitriol. I am especially angry with Thorn's friend who wants to "interrogate" Athena. Last time they did that, it resulted in Gena setting off a nuke. The efficacy of torture demonstrated.

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  5. Peter said.....This episode did change my feelings toward Gaeta - I want to rip off his artificial leg and beat him with it. When they finally get around to air locking him, I would love to push the button.

    Lol...I had a very similar reaction. Gaeta was aware of what he was doing every step of the way. I was quite angry with him too...and Racetrack and the others. When Adama said "no amnesty this time" I though to myself. Good! They don't deserve it. So you push the button and I'll hand out the popcorn ;-)

    The situation aboard Galactica is so frakked up at the moment I can't help but feel that Dualla was one of the lucky ones.

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  6. Wow, this episode was excellent, but I still won't be satisfied until there is some type of explanation for Dualla's suicide.

    You just don't go from Joy to suicide in a heartbeat.

    I need an explanation.

    Other than that, this was top notch.

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  7. sloth15,
    I don't think you are going to get any more of an explanation than what has already been provided. On the raptor back from the planet, she appeared to be quite unhappy and dejected. I think at this point, she just gave up and decided to end it. She had a happy moment with Lee and I think she wanted to go out on that note and that she realized that happiness was fleeting and that she would soon again feel hopeless. She said she wanted to savor the feeling and then - blam.

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  8. Sloth 15,

    I think Dee was happy and relieved because she'd finally given up the battle and decided to kill herself. Sometimes people who have been suicidally depressed for a long time will seem to change in character right before they do it. Peter is right -- we probably won't get any further explanation.

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  9. They really have made Tigh much cooler since he realises he was a Cylon :)

    Very cool episode, I'm still hating the new Gaeta, but starting to like Gaius some more.... Tyrol seems to have gotten over his issues now too.

    Can't wait for part 2, and Im pretty sure Rambo 1 and Rambo 2 will have survived (for now!)

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