BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Season 4 Episode 8
“Sine Qua Non”
Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Rod Hardy
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Twelve Cylon models
Seven are known
Four live in secret
One will be revealed

“Because I can’t live without her…”
Aww, man, ol’ Rockface just slays me…
By the gods, if the rest of this season continues to get harder and harder to sit through, I’ll end up a quivering, blubbering, whiny puddle of emotional jello by the time the last R&D closer airs.

So the entire episode passes without us knowing what happened to the base ship after its jump, and more to the point, what happened to Roslin, Baltar, and a whole bunch of Galactica pilots, including Helo.
Meanwhile, chaos and panic ripples throughout the Fleet, with Zarek poised to take over the Presidency. A whole lot of other bits take place in this installment, so let’s take ‘em all on, one bit at a time.


Natalie’s rushed to Doc Cottle, but she expires, while having glimpses of some other, forest-y place…
Athena’s arrested, and there’s a really scary scene with Adama, as he fumes and angrily reminds her that she’s betrayed his trust. He then has her thrown in the brig, and later on, mindful of her claim that the Cylons want to take Hera away from her, has Hera sent to the brig as well, so Athena can be with her. (Not sure that thrilled Hera, though; Daddy gets taken away by a jumpy Hybrid, and I get to roost in jail with murderer Mummy. Oh, the joys of childhood.)
What I don’t get though, is why Athena just doesn’t talk to Caprica about her fears regarding Hera. At least that way, she can figure out whether she’s right about that feeling or not.
Of course, it does seem like Caprica may be the very particular Six that wants to take Hera away from her mum, so maybe Athena should just stay as far away from Caprica as Cylon-ly possible. But now that they’re both in the brig…


And speaking of Caprica Six, to try and find out where the base ship jumped to, Adama has Tigh visit her, a subplot that eventually leads to the reveal that, gasp! Caprica’s preggers! With Tigh’s baby!
Okay, I certainly didn’t see that coming. I honestly thought Tigh’s private time with Caprica was largely chatty therapy as he grappled with the whole, “Frak, I’m a toaster!” thing. Turns out Tigh was doing the nasty often enough to put a little, heh, toaster in the oven…
And doesn’t this also present a new evolutionary development as well? Hera (and Nicky) being the half-human/half-Cylon hybrid, and this baby being, what? A new kind of Cylon?
Anyway, Adama’s really ticked off about this development, and the two friends get into some nasty fisticuffs that demolishes (yet again) Adama’s model ship.
The two make peace later on though…


We are treated to some tantalizing hints as to the fates of Roslin and the missing base ship, when a damaged ship jumps back to the Fleet’s coordinates. The pilot (Pike) is dead, but they trace back the ship’s origin point, where they find the debris of a lot of Vipers, and a base ship.
So while some conjecture that, perhaps, this is the debris from the base ship the President was on, Adama would like to think otherwise.
So ol’ Rockface gets fixated on finding the President, putting the entire Fleet in danger as a result.
Adama is made to realize he’s lost his objectivity though, by Romo Lampkin, of all people. (And we’ll get to why he shows up in this installment in a teeny bit…)
And once Adama realizes that he can no longer put the Fleet at risk, but also cannot stop holding out the hope that Laura is still alive, he surrenders command of Galactica (and the Fleet), to… Toaster Tigh!
Not only that, but he also elects to stay behind in a Raptor, to await Roslin’s return to these coordinates, while the Fleet goes off on its merry way!
Both Tigh and Lee try and dissuade him from these actions, but like the man said, he can’t live without her…
And that’s how the episode ends, as Galactica and the Fleet jump off, leaving Adama in his Raptor, the damaged copy of Searider Falcon in his hands.
But there’s still one more important bit…


Even as Zarek attempts to wrest control of the Presidency, Lee sees that his father will never accept Zarek in the seat, and the whole military/government alliance will just crash and burn, taking the Fleet with it.
So Lee aspires to find another interim President, who can shepherd the Colonial government in Roslin’s absence. (You can see where this is going, can’t you?)
Lee gets Lampkin to help him run through possible candidates, and two things were fairly evident in this subplot: a) this was going to end up, however improbably, with Lee taking on the Presidency; and b) there was an undue amount of focus on Lampkin’s cat.


The first did indeed conclude with Lee ending the episode as interim President Leland Joseph Adama, while the second had a curious reveal of Lampkin’s cat actually being dead.
So Lampkin sort’a goes nutzo since the cat’s the only thing he has left of his wife, and though he’s been seeing the cat up and about (and talking to it, mind), it’s actually been dead and rotting in a bag for weeks.
At any rate, once all other candidates have been found wanting, and Lampkin has winnowed out Lee’s “repressed ambition” towards the Presidency, he also determines that Lee needs to die(!), since he would represent something hopeful for the Fleet, and Lampkin firmly believes there can no longer be any hope for the human race.
So Lampkin is holding Lee at gunpoint, but Lee manages to talk his way out of a life and death situation with a possibly certifiable lunatic, and into the office of the President.
Smooth.
Not bad for Mr. Passive-Aggressive Repressed Ambition.
Oh. Sorry. President Passive-Aggressive Repressed Ambition.
And Lee’s apparently first act as President, hand over New Caprica resistance hero Jake, into Lampkin’s possibly certifiable lunatic care.
Sure, let’s let the poor doggy guide Lampkin back towards mental stability…


Now, the bits that really worked for me had to do with Adama and his reactions and decisions in the wake of Laura’s little jaunt to gods-know-where.
The painful clarity of his love for the woman becomes the core of Bill Adama. This is, after all, the woman who taught him of hope, and faith.
So he stays, floating in the middle of nowhere space, her favourite book in his hands, while the Fleet leaves him behind, so he can wait for her to return.


The bits I’m not entirely sold on, were the ones involved in the “let’s make Lee president” subplot. The whole “Lampkin’s cat is dead” thing just seemed a bit too contrived, and like I said, Lee sliding his way into the President’s seat seemed vaguely improbable.
In the wake of it, I just didn’t get the sense that the Old Man was proud of his son’s achievement. (Then again, he was worried about Laura…)
Having said that, it does put a new spin on things, and I am curious to see where the writers take this. Will Lee turn out to be the President the whole Fleet’s been waiting for? Is this his true calling? Or will this—as we’ve seen sometimes happen before where Lee is concerned—all end in tears?
And with Tigh steering the Galactica now, well…

Having mentioned Tigh, I’m also intensely curious where the “Tigh as expectant Toaster father” subplot goes.
And what’s to happen to Hera? I really hope Athena gets to keep her. I certainly don’t condone what she did to poor Natalie, but Athena’s gone through too much to have Hera get taken from her because of some visions.

Crap. Mid-season break’s looming.

COUNTDOWN: 12.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Season 4 Episode 6
“Faith” (Part 2 of 2)
Written by Seamus Kevin Fahey
Directed by Michael Nankin
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Twelve Cylon models
Seven are known
Four live in secret
One will be revealed

“Thus will it come to pass.
“The Dying Leader will know the truth of the Opera House.
“The missing Three will give you the Five, who have come from the home of the Thirteenth.
“You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end.
“End of line.”

Okay, another tough one to get through. Whoo!
This one’s divided into two major subplots, the Demetrius mission, and President Roslin’s cancer.


Even as Laura has completely lost all of her hair, she’s left a large amount of her office’s responsibility in the hands of Toaster Tory.
And while Gods know what that murdering cyberslut is up to, Laura takes some rough rounds of treatment in the infirmary, where she strikes up a friendship with Emily Kowalski (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor, who is also set to appear as Jason’s mum, Mrs. Voorhees, in the upcoming Friday the 13th remake), also stricken with cancer.
Laura engages Emily in a debate on religion, sparked by Emily’s listening to Baltar’s pirate broadcasts.
What emerges from the discussion:
If this is indeed the One True God that Baltar is preaching about, then He is a God for everyone, not just the Cylons.
Laura actually still thinks of the gods as metaphors (though how she can reconcile metaphors and her belief in the prophecies, I’d like to hear).
In an incredibly moving scene, Laura talks about her mother, also a teacher, also taken by cancer, who firmly believed in the gods.
We are also told that Emily had a dream about being on a boat, on a river, and about seeing her deceased loved ones, waiting for her on the shore. (A river that, incidentally, Baltar preaches about, the river that separates life from death.)

Later on, Laura has the same dream, and she first sees Emily join her loved ones on the shore, then sees her own mother and her own loved ones, likewise waiting for her, though she tells them, I’m not yet ready.
Waking from the dream, Laura finds Emily’s bed empty, the teeny radio transmitting Baltar’s words to no one.
She then has a conversation with Adama, where she professes there may be something to Baltar’s preaching. Adama begins to despair of all he has lost, and all he may still stand to lose (the Demetrius is overdue).
In one of those great tender Roslin-Adama moments, Laura tells him, I’m here. And we’re going to find Earth. Together.
Adama muses that at the beginning, Earth was just a carrot he dangled in front of the fleet, to give everyone a sense of purpose. Now, though, it’s a reality, and it’s because of Laura’s belief that Adama has changed his mind.

Meanwhile, on board the Demetrius, the Helo-led mutiny is short-lived, as Sam ends up shooting Gaeta in the leg. The serious injury makes Starbuck realize she would be putting everyone in danger if Leoben turned out to be a big fat lying Toaster.
She decides to let the Demetrius return to the fleet, while she takes Leoben on a Raptor to jump to the coordinates of the allegedly damaged base star. Sam volunteers to go with Kara, who also needs Athena, since she’s walking into Toaster territory. Helo doesn’t like it, but Athena says she’ll go. Also along for the ride, Barolay (Alisen Down), who’s apparently always been a firm Starbuck believer.
Helo ends up giving Starbuck and crew 15 hours before he has to jump back to the fleet. This, however, puts Felix in a very iffy position: the longer he goes without serious medical attention, the bigger the chances that when they do get back to the fleet, he’ll wind up losing his leg. (Felix makes Helo promise not to let Doc Cottle take his leg…)


Starbuck and crew make the jump, and find the floating debris of base stars, corroborating Leoben’s tale of civil war.
When they spot the base star, it turns out to be the comet in Kara’s vision.
On board the base star, there’s understandably a whole lotta tension.
Natalie disapproves of allowing Starbuck access to the Hybrid, but Kara shoots back with, You want an alliance, I get to see the Hybrid.
Athena is also approached by the Eights, who—looking on her as the first to have ever gone against the Cylon Plan—actually ask her to lead them in a revolt against the Sixes (who they feel have made one mistake after another). Fairly disgusted by this turn of events, Athena tells them, “… you pick your side and you stick! You don't cut and run when things get ugly. Otherwise you'll never have anything. No love, no family, no life to call your own!”

Meanwhile, plans are made to link the base star to the Raptor, so they can all make the jump, but that would require unplugging the Hybrid.
There’s also a couple of violent deaths, as one Six kills Barolay, who apparently murdered her back on New Caprica. Incensed, Sam holds a gun to the Six’s head, refusing to stand down as Starbuck is ordering.
Realizing they’re at a stalemate, and with time running out, Natalie takes matters into her own hands. Understanding, the Six tells Natalie, I’m glad it’s you, before being given a kiss, and getting shot in the head as Natalie squeezes the trigger for Sam.

And at the Hybrid’s chamber, Starbuck listens to the endless stream of prattle, completely unable to decipher its meaning.
Finally, it’s time to unplug the Hybrid so the jump can be made, but even as an Eight is doing so, the Hybrid screams, and the nearby Centurion shoots the Eight. As the Eight’s blood seeps into the Hybrid’s bath (sorry, not entirely sure what they call that gunk), Starbuck asks, What do you want from me?
And she is treated to the quote above.
A quote that, if the on-screen analysis is spot-on, seems to say, that they do need to unbox the Threes, as D’Anna can identify the Final Five, who, gasp, come from Earth!
Laura will also apparently discover the significance of her Opera House dream (a dream she shared with both Athena, Caprica Six, and Hera).
Oh, and Kara will lead everyone to their doom.
(Which makes me wonder though, if the Cylons present heard the Hybrid talk about “the missing Three” and “the Five,” didn’t they also hear the part about Starbuck being “the harbinger of death”?)

There’s also a bit with the dying Eight, who reaches out for Athena, who very nearly takes her hand, but in the end, doesn’t, letting it fall to Secret Cylon Sam to be there for the poor Eight as she died for the very last time…
(Secret Cylon Sam also tried to interface with the base star at one point, but was interrupted by Kara…)

Back at the Demetrius, the clock is running down, and it looks like they’ll have to make the jump back to the fleet, leaving Starbuck and her crew behind, but even as the clock runs over, the Raptor and the damaged base star appear…


So faith and mortality loom large in this episode, not just because of the cancer subplot, but also on board the base star, as the Cylons, isolated from the Resurrection Ship, are facing true deaths, and we lose a Six and an Eight.
But what really intrigues me though, as far as the base star goings-on are concerned, is the Hybrid’s apparent claim that the Final Five originated from Earth.
Does that mean they’re the true humans? Or does that mean they were created on Earth, which would then mean that the Earth is already at a point in history where technology allows the creation of advanced life forms. (One of the big questions, of course, about Galactica’s imminent Earthfall is, what year will it be on Earth when the fleet gets there?)

And, having mentioned the fleet, I’m still not completely sold on Baltar’s conversion, and thus, his message is still suspect to me.
I do love the fact, however, that here, in this episode, we see the old Laura, the one before the “I’m above petty laws and conventional morality now ‘cause I’m dying and can’t be bothered by all that” Roslin. This is the Laura I know, the Laura I’ve come to care about.
So why am I being convinced now, more than ever, that the Final Secret Cylon will turn out to be Laura? She did have that Vulcan mind-meld with Caprica Six and Athena. And why else did she respond so well to the blood transfusion from Hera?
Honestly, at this point, I’m not entirely sure how I feel if this turns out to be the case.
Cylon or no, all I do know is, I’m so not looking forward to a Roslin death scene…
After everything she’s gone through, I just want her to see Earth. I want that bit of the prophecy to be wrong…

COUNTDOWN: 14.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and twitchfilm.net.)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Season 4 Episode 5
“The Road Less Traveled” (1)
Written by Mark Verheiden
Directed by Michael Rymer
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Twelve Cylon models
Seven are known
Four live in secret
One will be revealed

Is it possible to love a show and yet despair of its characters, to fear and feel anxiety over the very dark places its characters find themselves in? To enjoy and not enjoy a show simultaneously?
I guess it is, ‘cause that’s the way I feel right now, after having seen this episode.
Bad enough to witness the changes in President Roslin, but now we get Skinhead Chief and Loony Kara.


First stop, the Demetrius.
The two-month window Adama gave Kara is almost up, and the grumblings on board the creaky tub are being heard, long and loud. It’s really probably only Helo who’s still covering Kara’s a$$, while everyone else, including Athena, are voting for chucking all this insanity in and heading back to the Fleet.
Things get even hairier when they come across a Leoben in a damaged Raider, a Leoben who Kara ends up consulting, to try and make sense of how she can find Earth again.
Needless to say, this consultation pisses everyone off, particularly Sam. And after finding out that Kara was housing Leoben in her quarters, Sam has the Toaster thrown out and locked up.
Leoben eventually tells Sam that Cylon civil war has broken out, and that the others he left on the damaged base star (presumably Natalie and her crew of dissenters) need Kara’s help, but not as much as she needs theirs. Leoben claims that the Hybrid can help Kara find Earth.
Everyone except Kara is, understandably, leery of Leoben’s claims, and even Kara whales on him when Sgt. Mathias gets killed in what could (or could not have been) an accident involving Leoben’s damaged Raider.
After a hasty memorial for Mathias though, everyone thinks Kara will realize they should at least rendezvous with the fleet first, before pursuing the coordinates on Leoben’s Raider which will take them to the purportedly damaged base star, but Kara insists they need to make the jump now.
Helo tries his level best to continue to follow orders, but after a final push from Athena, he opts to join everyone else (except Sam, perhaps) in a mutiny against Kara…
Hoo-boy!


Next stop, the fleet, and three of the four Secret Cylons.
Though we do get to see Tigh once, and a little more of Toaster Tory, who’s still frakking the hell outta Baltar, and trying to convert Tyrol to Baltar’s monotheistic creed, it’s Skinhead Chief we see the most of in this installment.
Aaron Douglas is having a hell of a time acting up a scary, unsettling storm as he continues to weather the immense amount of grief he’s feeling in the wake of Cally’s “suicide.” (Damn you, Toaster Tory!!!)
And while Tigh calls Skinhead Chief on his duty-slacking (as per the previous episode, where was he re-assigned to, anyway?), Skinhead Chief calls Tigh on his visits to Caprica Six.
Then Baltar gets on the “let’s convert the heathen” train and starts to make religious advances on Skinhead Chief. When his first attempt—underscored by an annoyingly presumptious “this is what Cally would have wanted” plea—is greeted by Skinhead Chief with an angry neck-throttle and a strangled roar of “You didn’t know her!”, Baltar makes a house call to Skinhead Chief’s quarters, and proceeds to have a heart-to-heart that succeeds in at least getting Skinhead Chief to take Baltar’s hand.
In friendship? In common religious belief?
Who knows at this point?


I, for one though, am still dubious about Baltar the Holy.
I still honestly don’t completely buy his conversion, his self-professed attempt to redeem himself of all his past sins.
Somehow, I still see the smarmy little sh!t he’s always been, and it still feels like he’s stringing all these people along, with his pirate broadcasts and his services and his frak sessions with Toaster Tory.
And as I stated last episode, his preaching has basically given Toaster Tory license to be the superior being she believes herself to be, without apology or remorse.
And if that handclasp means Skinhead Chief is going along for the Baltar the Holy ride, yeeesh!
I appreciate the stress Skinhead Chief’s psyche is undergoing, what with the “Watchtower” epiphany, and then Cally’s “suicide,” but I don’t, at the moment, see what he apparently saw in Baltar’s demeanour that would make him take that sniveling, would-be evangelist’s hand.
Or is it just me and I can’t see past Baltar’s sins?

COUNTDOWN: 15.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and twitchfilm.net.)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Season 4 Episode 4
“Escape Velocity”
Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Edward James Olmos
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Twelve Cylon models
Seven are known
Four live in secret
One will be revealed

All right. A particularly dark and weighty installment here, so let’s get to it.


After the first truly shocking moment of the season (Cally’s murder at the hands of Toaster Tory), we see the descent of a number of characters into darkness and despair.
Obviously, the Chief, who blames himself for Cally’s “suicide,” so he starts to frak up on the job. Poor guy can’t even turn to Toasters Anonymous for help and support, since, after all, they need to stay anonymous to the rest of the fleet.
Finally, bitter and disillusioned, he stars to rant and mouth off to Adama at the bar. Angrily, he claims to have settled for Cally, “… because the ones we really wanted, the really loved, were dead, or dying, or turned out to be Cylons and they didn’t know it.”
He basically spits on the memory of Cally, and pushes Adama to the point where ol’ Rockface pulls the Chief off flight deck duty and orders him up for reassignment.
Poor Chief.


Then there’s Tigh, who’s taken to paying Caprica Six daily visits. Trying to find answers to questions he can’t really voice, Tigh begins to see Ellen in Caprica Six’s place, mouthing her words.
Tigh needs to know if there’s a switch that turns off all the pain and the guilt, but Caprica Six reassures him that she is just like any human, and that she likes the pain, because that’s how she learns. She also uses the pain as a focus, and when Tigh seems desperate for some kind of absolution, or at the very least some respite from the guilt and the confusion, Caprica Six starts to whale on Tigh (after he’s dismissed the guards on monitor duty, so he’s all alone with Caprica).
Eventually, Caprica stops, and though Tigh asks her to go on, she realizes pain is not what he needs.
And she kisses him.
I’d say “Poor Tigh,” ‘cause he’s so tortured and all, but hey, we left him in a liplock with Tricia Helfer! Ain’t nuthin’ “poor” ‘bout that!


Then there’s the President, who is reacting to her impending death with a growing disregard for the rules and conventional morality.
In dealing with the religious persecution going on against Baltar’s cult (more on that later), she passes a law that prohibits them from assembling more than a dozen individuals at once, thus effectively keeping them from holding services, and also keeping most of them out of their own home (since only 12 can be in there at any given time).
And to be fair, Roslin has a point: given what happened on New Caprica under Baltar’s leadership, who can say what will happen when he’s at the head of a group of blind, religious zealots?
Propelled by Lee however, the Quorum votes, and overturns Roslin’s law, allowing Baltar to continue preaching and conducting services. (Lee attends the episode’s climactic service, where Baltar reassures his faithful, God loves you exactly as you are, for you are all perfect. His followers are enraptured by Baltar’s words; Lee seems a lot less so.)
Poor President Roslin, wearing a wig and becoming more acclimated to being above everything now that her days are numbered. (Yes, she’s really scary right now, but I still feel for her…)


Then there’s Tory, who’s taking Baltar’s words to her evil little Toaster heart, as she’s basically become drunk on the possibilities of who she knows she is now, a Cylon, better than human, and, if Baltar is to be believed, perfect, and still loved by God, exactly as she is.
Now, this skin job, I have absolutely no sympathy for. The woman’s a dangerous sociopath that needs to be put down like the rabid dog that she is.
And you know, things might not have been so bad were it not for Baltar’s preaching, which sounds, really, on a certain level, as justification for all the evil he’s done—consciously or otherwise.
It’s all right. I’m a bad, bad person, but it’s all right. God still loves me. Because I am perfect, flaws and sins and all. (I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of Baltar’s climactic teaching.)
I’m sorry, but isn’t that just the sinner giving himself leave to sin because, in the end, he is still perfect in the eyes of God? Because God still sees the inherent worth in the lowliest of scum?
Not sure if I nodded off during the service, Gaius, but where’s the personal responsibility? Where’s the need for atonement?
Don’t we need to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love? Don’t we need to strive for the perfection God sees, instead of telling ourselves that we already are perfect?


See? What did I say about this episode being weighty?
And the thing is, above and beyond my questions concerning Baltar the Holy’s doctrines, one really must ask, Are we really going to fall under the sway of a deranged, clearly frakked-up lunatic? I mean, come on! This is a man who’s allowing Head Six to jerk him around like a marionette!
I honestly used to think, Okay, maybe there is something to this Baltar the Holy, Divine Instrument of the One God thing (let’s face it, Head Six could sell ice to an Eskimo), but lately, Baltar’s just looking really loony, like this is the only way he’s had to deal with being culpable in the near-extinction of the human race. By believing he is the chosen of the One God.
And of course, Lee’s just doing what he believes is the right thing to do (allowing the people freedom of religion), but letting this madman stand at the pulpit, and preach to a collective desperate for answers?
Like I said, as scary as Prez Roslin is at the moment, I understand—and agree—with her point. Having said that, I don’t necessarily subscribe to suppressing Baltar’s right to whatever the frak religion he chooses, either. So we’re still stuck with a volatile loony at the head of a growing army of zealots-in-training. (Thank the Gods I’m not in charge.)

So while we have the episode’s main conflict of religious freedom vs. religious persecution, we also have characters acclimating to their new situations, either by continuing to fight for what they believe is right (as with Lee) or by re-aligning their mindsets to the new contexts they find themselves in (as with Tigh, the Prez, and Toaster Tory).
Hoo-boy! Things are definitely getting hairier…

COUNTDOWN: 16.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and twitchfilm.net.)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Season 4 Episode 2
“Six of One”
Written by Michael Angeli
Directed by Anthony Hemingway
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Twelve Cylon models
Seven are known
Four live in secret
One will be revealed

“They will not harm their own. End of line. Limiting diffusions to two dimensions increases the number of evolutionary jumps within the species. Rise and measure the Temple of the Five. Transformation is the goal. They will not harm their own.”
-- The Hybrid

Man, this was a difficult episode to sit through, and I imagine it’ll only get tougher as we get further into this final season.

A lot of this episode’s moving bits came from the “Apollo musters out” subplot, as he takes his leave of the cockpit and prepares to take that government position (Caprica’s representative on the Quorum of Twelve).
There’s a rowdy pilot’s party, with toasts aplenty, as well as a full parade dress event on the flight deck, where we have a great Moment between Lee and Dualla (“Looks like you get the house,” he says, as he prepares to leave Galactica).
I only wish he’d had a Moment with the President, and truly hope that ended up as a deleted scene which will find its way onto DVD…
There’s even Lee’s solitary Moment in the Briefing Room, where snatches and echoes of the past ring out.
Hey, sorry for all the Season 3 trash talk, dude. You’re a decent enough guy, when your head’s on straight…

Then there’s the Secret Cylon subplot, which sees Toasters Anonymous trying to divine who the Fifth is, and in attempting to get at that truth, they enlist Tory to seduce Baltar, who may know something, given his presence at the Temple on the Algae Planet, and his… errrr… dealings with D’Anna.
And though Tigh tells Tory, You don’t have to end up on your back, she does so anyway… while crying…
Sigh.
Ah, well. Baltar’s presence in this though makes this overlap with the Baltar the Holy subplot, which as I’ve said before, I’m still iffy about, so I’ll wait and see…
Oh, and apparently, Baltar now has a Head Baltar. Gods, the man is certifiable…

Starbuck’s Resurrection, meanwhile, also affords Katee Sackhoff some great scenes, one of which is her face-off with the President, and her subsequent arrest, where it was truly startling to see Kara in a way she’s never been before.
Good stuff.
Within this subplot, there’s also a fantastic scene between Adama and Roslin, as they come to loggerheads about Kara: Roslin is still convinced it’s some kind of trap; Adama is arguing for, What if she’s telling the truth?
Miracles and faith (and Adama’s atheism) come into the conversation, certain hard and harsh things are said (Adama certainly is a mean drunk), and the President’s hair starts falling out.
Graaaah!!! This episode slays me.
Of course, it takes them all of this episode before Adama comes to the conclusion I posited last time: he gives Starbuck a sewage treatment ship (the Demetrius) and she’s to go off with a crew and find Earth. (At this point, I’m not sure if Adama meant that Helo would accompany Kara, so I’ll just have to wait till next episode to see if Karl is along for the smelly ride.)

Meanwhile, over on the Cylon front, the Sixes, Eights, and Twos sense what the Raiders determined: that the Final Five are in the fleet.
The Ones will hear no such nonsense. As far as Cavil and the rest of the Ones are concerned, the Raiders aren’t fulfilling their programming, and need to be fixed. This proposed lobotomy of the Raiders becomes the bone of contention within the ranks of the Cylons.
With the Fours and Fives on the Ones’ side, the issue is deadlocked, until Boomer makes the unprecedented move of voting against all the other Eights and coming down on the “lobotomize the damn Raiders” side.
Backed into a corner and convinced the sentience of the Raiders, along with the Final Fives’ presence (and Boomer’s decision as well) means there’s some kind of massive change taking place, a Six called “Natalie” takes it upon herself to remove the inhibitor which suppresses higher functions in the Centurions.
And when the Centurions are told that the Raiders have been sentenced to lobotomies, they side with Natalie and voila, Cylon coup d’etat.

It’s here, in this subplot, where a lot of the heady stuff lies: even as Four of the Final Five are allowed their epiphanies and awakened to their true natures, the Cylon race is experiencing some kind of evolutionary surge.
Sentience—and the free will that comes along with it—becomes an issue which fractures the union of the race.
It’s interesting that the Cylons are still continually progressing to becoming, for lack of better terms, more human. And with all that Hybrid prattle about not harming their own, could this be where BSG is headed?
Some ultimate union of both species, a mutual recognition that they are all one and the same after all, equal, in the eyes of God/the gods?

COUNTDOWN: 18.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and twitchfilm.net.)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Season 4 Episode 1
“He That Believeth in Me”
Written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by Michael Rymer
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Twelve Cylon models
Seven are known
Four live in secret
One will be revealed

It’s been just over a year since that shocking use of “All Along The Watchtower” and the shattering reveal that the Chief, Tigh, Sam, and (to a far lesser degree of “shattering”; “vaguely surprising”?) Tory, were four of the Final Five.
Oh, and Starbuck’s return from the (apparent) dead and her claim that she’d just found Earth…
After that year-long wait, we’re rewarded with the Season 4 opener, which is basically broken down into three main subplots: how the four newly revealed Cylons are reacting to their epiphany; the repercussions of Starbuck’s return; and Baltar’s finding himself at the centre of some loony cult.
It’s that last one that I’m still kind of iffy about, but let’s cover the first two first.

The Secret Cylons.
That scene where the four are assembled and make an unspoken pact that should any of them sense any of the others (or themselves) about to turn bad, that the solution would be the gun was both very potent—reinforcing Tigh’s climactic Season 3 pronouncement that he is the man he has always believed himself to be and not some damn toaster—and vaguely amusing (in a very nice way, mind you), as they didn’t seem to be anything so much as a Cylon support group, Toasters Anonymous, if you will.
There were some powerful scenes in this subplot: Tigh’s vision/delusion/anxiety of shooting Adama while “Watchtower” played maddeningly in the background; Sam’s reluctance to get into his Viper and the Chief’s impromptu pep talk for him.
And then there were all the little looks, the tiny asides, and of course that Raider scanning Sam, and subsequently bugging out, taking the entire Cylon fleet with it…
(Did it just scan Sam, or could it have downloaded some secret message or code through Sam’s retina, right into his toaster brain? Or am I falling for the same paranoia that may—or may not—be plaguing our Secret Cylons?)
I love this subplot!

Starbuck’s Resurrection.
The polarization caused by Kara’s return is amazing. Most, of course, think it’s all some sort of dirty toaster trick.
Kara’s back after two months (she believes it’s only been about 6 hours) with some muddled story about finding Earth (she can’t remember how she got to Earth, nor how she got back to the fleet, but she does have some pretty pictures to corroborate her story), in a ship that looks impossibly pristine, as if it just rolled off the assembly line, with a totally blank nav comp (so we conveniently can’t determine where the ship has just been).
This subplot is particularly potent when we witness the different reactions the characters have towards Kara’s return: father and son Adamas want to believe it really is Kara (and Lee is more inclined to accept this), President Roslin thinks it’s all a Cylon deception and insists on keeping Kara under watchful guard, while continuing to follow the course apparently dictated by the Eye of Jupiter.
The thing is though, they seem to be jumping farther away from Earth, and Kara warns that if they keep on getting farther from Earth, that she’ll never be able to “feel” her way back to it.
Which all leads to the episode’s truly evil cliffhanger, as Kara determines she needs to talk to the President, so she overpowers her guards and cold cocks Sam, makes her way to Adama’s quarters (where the President is staying while she’s getting her cancer treatments), and points a gun at the groggy (and we can assume, weak and medicated) Roslin…
We also get some great moments in this subplot, with Kara putting forward the theory that she’s some sort of Starbuck clone created by the Cylons (they did steal her eggs, right?), and Sam trying to convince her that, Hey, if you were, I’d still love you, and Kara going, Well, you’re better than me, ‘cause you know, if I ever found out you were a Cylon, I’d shoot you in the head.
There’s also a great Adama family moment as Bill offers Lee’s wings back, but Lee says he thinks he can do some more good in the government as opposed to the cockpit. I just so wanted Adama to say he was proud of his son right at that moment (yes, despite all my trash talk about Apollo last season, I’m a proven sucker for good father and son moments), whatever he chose to do, but of course, ol’ StoneFace doesn’t give any indication of that at all…
Oh, and Roslin visits Caprica Six, wanting to know if she thinks Kara is one of the Final Five; Caprica Six tells her, The Five are near. I can sense them.
Ohhh, yeah!
(I do have one gripe though about this subplot: if we’re really in serious doubt about Starbuck and we don’t want to endanger the fleet without any substantive proof that the Earth she’s ready to lead us to isn’t some sort of Cylon trap, then why don’t we just let her go off alone on her merry way, then get in touch with us once she’s found Earth again? Once that happens, when she’s actually on a very real world that could or could not be Earth, then we can decide whether we risk the “it could be a trap” scenario.)

Baltar the Holy.
So he’s spirited off by some loony (and conveniently enough, predominantly female) cult, being kept in some unused compartment on Galactica, and though I think I can scent where this plot thread could eventually lead (Baltar the Martyr, anyone? Dude does need to redeem himself, after all), what troubles me in this episode is that initial moment of selflessness as he prays for God to take his life instead of the boy dying of viral encephalitis.
That instance of self-sacrifice honestly seemed to come out of the blue for me.
Of course, once that takes place, it seems pretty clear that the boy will recover, and, lo and behold, a miracle! Granted though that this opens the way for Baltar to begin to preach the Cylon’s brand of monotheism to this cult seemingly disenchanted with the Colonies’ gods, so I’m willing to cut this one some slack, to see how this works itself out.
There is also one particularly potent scene, as Baltar is given a much-needed shave in the head, where he and his cultist helper, Paulla (Lara Gilchrist, who voiced Sue Storm on the animated Fantastic Four!) are accosted by a man whose little boy died on New Caprica.
The bereaved father is about to slit Baltar’s throat while his friend is choking Paulla to death, when the woman breaks free and goes totally postal on the two attackers, clubbing both of them bloody with a pipe. Messy.
Like I said though, I need to see some more of where this is going for me to truly say whether I’m crazy about it or not.

At any rate, fantastic episode, and it’s just brilliant to see the show again.
It truly is one of the bigger crimes that BSG’s cast has not been recognized by the award-giving bodies. I mean, people. This is one of the best ensembles working on TV at the moment (and, ever, for that matter), in one of the best shows on TV at the moment (and, ever, for that matter).
And I know that isn’t hyperbole.

The fact that this is the final season has also made each and every remaining moment rarefied, so, as with Lost, I’ll be instituting this here as well…

COUNTDOWN: 19.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and twitchfilm.net.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (42)

42.1 WHO CRUSHED THE JUSTICE LEAGUE?!
So how all-mighty is the Writers Guild? They’ve already reduced the recently concluded Golden Globes night to a whimpering, awkward mess, and now, they’ve just whupped the collective a$$ of the world’s greatest superheroes.
Is that scarier than Darkseid, or what?

As of January 16, Wednesday, George Miller’s Justice League film adaptation is on “indefinite hold,” this confirmed by Warner Bros., and reported by Variety.
The studio has also allowed the options on the cast chosen by Miller to lapse, leaving them free to take on other projects, though the studio did inform the actors that they are “determined to make the film with them in it.”
To be completely fair though, aside from admitting that the present script could “benefit from a little more work” (impossible at the moment due to the WGA strike), there was also the matter of tax breaks, or some such financial gobbledygook, as the reasons for the project’s failure to be greenlit.

Of course, the Australian government has already made this subsequent statement: “We understand the postponement of filming is absolutely confined to creative issues and especially to delays in refining the script due to the writers’ strike,” this, from a spokeswoman for arts minister Peter Garrett. (Naturally, they’d say that. I mean, who wants to be keeping company with the likes of Lex Luthor and the Joker, right?)
This has shed some light on the whole “let’s film in Australia” deal, at any rate, as it seems like WB was going for some sort of Aussie quota, to get that 40% rebate. (And some people wondered why Australian model Megan Gale was in the mix…)

Whatever the case may be regarding all that money talk though, the production of the Justice League film could begin, at the earliest, in late summer or early fall (provided the WGA strike is resolved soon).
All of which leaves WB, for the time being, without a superhero tentpole for 2009 (one of the main reasons why they were so hot to get Justice League in gear in the first place).
There still hasn’t been any movement or official word regarding Bryan Singer’s next project following the Tom Cruise-starrer Valkyrie. It’s still unclear whether his next film will indeed be the previously reported The Mayor of Castro Street, as Gus Van Sant’s Milk (also about slain San Francisco mayor Harvey Milk) is supposedly still an active proposition. If Castro Street stalls, then Singer could get serious about The Man of Steel again.
But there’s a whole lotta “ifs” in there.

Which leaves me a sad little camper at the moment. If there wasn’t gonna be any Man of Steel in ’09, then I could at least have looked forward to Miller’s take on the League.
Right now though, things are so up in the air, it isn’t even funny.

42.2 BUT THEN AGAIN…
On the other side of the coin though, with NBC searching high and low for fresh programming in this lean, struck TV season, the network has indicated to the SciFi Channel to take the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica, off the limbo shelf for a serious second look, to determine whether it should be greenlit for production.
After all, there is a complete script ready to go.
And we, of the BSG faithful, are keenly aware of the final 20 episodes before we will be forced to bid adieu to the crew of the Galactica, so maybe a little love in this lean, struck TV season could be a good thing, yes?

42.3 AND SPEAKING OF A LITTLE LOVE…
So word has come down the pike that the DGA and the AMPTP have signed on the dotted lines, which, hopefully, will encourage negotiations with the WGA to be rekindled.
Variety’s got extensive coverage of the DGA deal, and you can go here (“DGA makes big gains in new media”) for a lotta numbers and mathematical whatchamahoozies outlining the agreement, here (“Industry reacts to DGA deal”) for, well, industry reactions to the agreement, and here (“Showrunners showing enthusiasm”) for, uhhh, showrunners’ reactions to the deal.
In that article is the following passage:

“Meanwhile, should a deal [with the WGA] be hammered out within the next month, network and studio insiders have said that portions of this TV season—as well as pilot season—could still be salvaged.
“It would be on a case-by-case basis. Some series could power back up relatively quickly and churn out at least a few more episodes this year, if not an entire back nine order.”

So here’s hoping, right?
I mean, come on, the fate of the Justice League depends on it!

(JLA artwork by Ariel Olivetti, courtesy of upperdeck.com; Battlestar Galactica image courtesy of scifi.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (1)

1.1 Sci Fi Channel has upped its order for Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica to 22 episodes, and a special two-hour BSG “event” which will air in the 4th quarter of 2007, and will also be released on DVD. The “event,” which will reportedly deal with Battlestar Pegasus, is presumably meant to tide us over till Season 4’s premiere in early 2008.
There’s also the in-development prequel spin-off, Caprica, which will be set over half a century before BSG and will focus on the Adama family, as well as depict the technological advances that will eventually lead to the Cylon revolt.

1.2 Congratulations to the following composers, for ending up on Visions In Sound’s Best [Soundtracks] of 2006: Elia Cmiral (Pulse: #17); Dario Marrinelli (V For Vendetta: #9); John Ottman (Superman Returns: #4); and Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica: Season 2: #1).