As I did last week, I’m padding this thread with a content-free OP to preserve our UK contingent from the risk of spoilers.
Everything aired in the US up to this point can be unboxed; anything you know for certain will happen in future episodes must be boxed; and speculation about future developments doesn’t need to be boxed unless it’s based on something you heard about somewhere.
Okay, so, where are we at with the show—
Starbuck and Helo are going mud-boggin’ in Kara’s Hummer.
No sign of the Boomer who stole Starbuck’s ride.
Roslin’s still imprisoned, and she and Apollo are still on Tigh’s shitlist.
Adama appears to no longer at immediate risk of death.
…But Baltar is having visions about him in which he mistakes him for God.
On Kobol, Tyrol obviously thinks the Lieutenant (whose callsign, amusingly enough, is Crashdown) is not a competent leader for their survival effort, but so far he hasn’t become openly insubordinate.
(By the way, for anyone who’s worried about the characterization of Crashdown, it may be worth noting that the character has been around for a while, and has been competent in other areas. For example, he was Boomer’s co-operator in the episode when they found the Cylon-run tylium station last season. And yes, he’s always had that name. Heh.)
From the preview for this episode:
Zarek’s back. Tigh declares martial law. Discipline among the Kobol group is breaking down.
So: Who is the target of the episode title’s verb?
I have a guess, based on the preview, but more on the guest cast listing available for the next few episodes on IMDb:Sam Witwer, who plays Crashdown, does not appear in any episodes after this one. Link. 
O. M. G. I don’t know how they are doing it, but they manage to get better every week.
Plot points, in no order:
Ellen Tigh’s lust for power. The President is losing her mind as a withdrawal from the kamalah (?) she’s been taking for the cancer. Ellen wants to use this as ammo to discredit her and push Tigh to the top of the chain. Foiled at the last minute, buetgood bit of dramatic irony there for a moment. Is Tigh gonna think that Ellen sold him out on purpose?
Roslin revealed. The President comes clean to the Quorum that she thinks she’s the prophet of the scrolls and that she’s fulfilling her destiny. They seem to accept it pretty well, and the rep from Gemonon bows down before her. Tigh thinks she’s gone off the deep end, but he misreads the audience and they obviously don’t appreciate his belittling. We’ve already had quite a bit of civilian v military tension, but are we gonna start seeing the religious v secular that we’ve not?
Gaius: “Today, I am a man!”. Murder is our heritage? He seems to start really questioning Six’s purpose when she hits him with that. He may start rebelling against her plan, maybe not openly. Double meaning to the “act like a man” comment may start to surface as he asserts himself.
Apollo freed? He seems to be out of the brig on a trial basis, because Tigh needs him to run the show. But it seems that he may be right back in there RSN, at Tigh’s pleasure.
Martial law. Tigh reveals to the press that he has dissolved the Quorum and the President will be in the brig for the foreseeable future – I quite literally got goosebumps at this press conference. He has basically declared himself supreme commander until Adama awakens to take his place.
Much that I’m missing – all of Kobol, f’rinstance – but I gotta run and I’m gonna watch it again when I get a minute.
But wow. Just wow.
The implications of Six’s comment “Today you are a man” are myriad. I wonder of Baltar will move further away from Six now, or closer.
Based on the looks given, both the Chief and Gaius are in for some nasty sex if they want it. The way the gals looked at them when they were all brave and shit… 
Okay. I’ve officially decided I don’t care for the new opening credits. It lacks the mournful quality and the quick segue into action that we had last season. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
I was on the edge of my seat when Tyrol almost bought it. Part of me was thinking “that characters becoming more and more central to the show! They can’t kill him!” And the other part was thinking “Wouldn’t it be a great way to just hook people into the show by killing off an almost-central character right at the beginning of the season?” Bastards are playing with my emotions.
Tigh has screwed everything up massively, and the only thing that’s going to save his ass is Adama waking up. The only good thing he’s got going for himself right now is that he knows he’s not up to the job. He’s been faking it for years, and now he’s finally been called on it. And for all this, Adama’s lucky. There’s a lot that Tigh’s doing (albeit with absolutely no tact) that Adama would’ve been forced to do himself. This way, when he wakes up, people’ll be happy he’s back in charge, and will accept a whole buttload of changes to the status quo just to make sure that Tigh is no longer making any important decisions. Not that he can now, mind.
Best part of the show? Fully 75% of the cast is Canajun. Woo!
I didn’t like this week’s show as much as last week’s, but then again, I prefer sapphires over rubies. The Kobol drama featuring Chief Tyrol and Callie and the others was fantastic - my weekly tearing-up moment came when I thought Tyrol was going to sacrifice his life for the others. I was emotionally restored when the Raptor took out the Cylons.
I’m such a sucker for this show, and I’m proud of it. The religious/political stuff didn’t appeal to me as much - probably because I’m not too impressed with the Quorum or the hippified president. I’m just not proud of any of them the way I’m proud of Apollo, Callie, Tyrol, etc. I was glad to see the non-Gaius doctor. His character is classic McGruff.
Also, I finally caught up with the rest of you on the Baltar/Number Six business. I’m starting to doubt that the hallucinated version of her is actually the Cylon version. Perhaps she’s just a figment of Baltar’s diseased imagination. That would explain her “manipulation” of him - his subconscious is just using her as an attractive face to his own self-improvement. Or something. To put it another way, when Hallucinated Number Six says “This has happened before, and will all happen again…” or sledgehammers the religious symbolism, I won’t call it clunky exposition, I’ll just say, “Damn, that Baltar has lost it. Good work, writers.”
Again, I got totally lost in the show. I feel like I’m living this story with them. I said “No!” out loud when Crashdown held the gun to Callie’s head. You can’t kill off my favorites!! :eek:
I don’t mind the music, but the recap text ("…there are many copies / and they have a plan") is too quick and choppy now, without the rhythm it used to have, and I really miss the fast-forward preview they did last season. On the other hand, it’s ten seconds of screen time they buy back for more Galactic-y goodness during the actual episode, so I guess I can deal.
Plus, someone pointed out last week that the number of survivors is being updated in each intro, which I verified by looking at the previous two episodes off the TiVo. Ep 2.1: 47,875. Ep 2.2: 47,874. This episode: 47,862 (meaning ten people bought it during the Cylon assault last week, plus the two on Kobol). Next episode, presumably: 47,861 (RIP Crashdown), unless I missed someone, or unless they add or subtract to indicate deaths or births that aren’t actually shown on screen. (It’s safe to assume somebody’s gonna squeeze out a squealer every now and then, and along the same lines it’s not surprising if somebody pops a vein straining to pinch off a dirt snake, or whatever.) However they handle it, it’s a neat touch.
The portrayal of Tigh has become the highlight of the show for me. As much of an insufferable jerk as he is, as much as he fraks things up with his complete tone-deafness for politics and basic interpersonal relationships, his story is still a huge tragedy. It’s a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God thing; how many of us would similarly collapse under the weight of that kind of responsibility? It’s your basic Shakespearean tragic-flaw storyline, and doggone if it doesn’t deserve the comparison. I mean, that scene at the beginning, where Tigh is clearly trying so hard to retain control that he’s losing it, and Apollo quietly confronts him (“Am I in command or not?”) while everyone in CIC watches intently, is just kickass drama.
(Oh, and how funny was Dualla’s “he’s been drinking” gesture to Gaeta, and Gaeta’s “oh crap, not again” expression in response?)
(And speaking of funny: Tigh, to Billy: “Why aren’t you in the brig?” Billy: “Because… nobody… put me in there?” Heh heh.)
Re the whole President-as-prophet thing, I said last season I wasn’t a huge fan of mystical stuff in my sci-fi, and I hold to that, but I’m going to give the show the benefit of the doubt for a while. It’s obvious the writing staff knows what they’re doing with the human characters (the jury’s out on the Cylon plot, as we’ve discussed a few times), and they’re structuring things more like epic literature than episodic television, so I’m going to reserve judgment until it’s clearer what role the prophecy thread is going to play in the overall story.
Oh, and this week, Starbuck is the best at being a regular cast member who doesn’t appear on screen at all during the hour.
Summary: Man, how frackin’ good is this show? 
And P.S., since I mentioned checking the cast list above: Did anybody know that the guy playing Hotdog (the neophyte pilot who was Starbuck’s wingman in the crashing-on-the-moon episode and who puked in his helmet a week or two later) is Edward James Olmos’s son? I saw the name in the actor lists (see link above) and I thought, can it be a coincidence? And nope, it ain’t.
While he might have gotten the read of the crowd wrong when dealing with the Quorom in the prison, I think Tigh was giving them all the respect and deference they deserve. None of them have a good reason, including the (former) President, sticking themselves into any military situation. There is only one battlestar standing between the Cylons and the non-fighters. Don’t piss them off. And if you’ve got absolutely no military experience, don’t interject with those who do (and don’t complain when they don’t give you each and every little detail up front).
When Tigh got around to kicking the press off the ship, he should have added, “And if you aren’t coming to join up and help fight the Cylons, stay away from my ship!” This is a fight for survival, not a staged raid on a beach in Somali. Anyone or thing getting in the way should be shown the nearest airlock.
I like the updated countdown of survivors, but I have to agree with Augecheek. I think the earlier version with it’s morose tunes followed by a quick “hup” and military drummy bits really set the stage.
This is just spot on:
It’s especially effective since Tigh didn’t want command to begin with. I wouldn’t say Tigh is my favorite character at this point, but he’s definitely the most interesting.
I’m just loving this show more and more. I was completely torn during the scene where Crashdown bought it. I mean, he was about to shoot Cally, and the mission was fracked up to begin with. But, dammit, she’s a soldier and she has to move! I really wasn’t sure who I was rooting for. While I’m still reeling from that, we get the scene where Tyrol nearly gets killed. Normally, there wouldn’t be any tension there. I’d assume there’s no way the writers would have a nearly-main character get shot so close on the heels of another powerful death. But this show? Hell yeah. I’m not going to have any fingernails left at the end of the season!
It just shows how well things have been done that you (and I, too) were thinking “wow, are they actually gonna kill him?”. Most shows…no doubt that he would have survived.
Was I the only one just plain happy to see Crashdown bite it? I mean, hell, I hated him from the moment I saw him…even before people started dying because he’s not a leader.
Oh yeah, and does anyone else think that Tyrol put on a noticable bit of poundage between seasons? His faces seems a whole lot pudgier than it was last year.
Aguecheek - I totally agree on the credits. I liked 'em a whole lot more in the first season. But what does “Best part of the show? Fully 75% of the cast is Canajun. Woo!” mean?
Does anyone know if the constantly-smoking doctor is a reference or throwback to anything in particular?
Helo and Starbuck - I really hope they don’t forget the whole deal of those two not knowing where Galactica is!
-Joe
Tigh has screwed everything up massively, and the only thing that’s going to save his ass is Adama waking up. The only good thing he’s got going for himself right now is that he knows he’s not up to the job. He’s been faking it for years, and now he’s finally been called on it. And for all this, Adama’s lucky. There’s a lot that Tigh’s doing (albeit with absolutely no tact) that Adama would’ve been forced to do himself. This way, when he wakes up, people’ll be happy he’s back in charge, and will accept a whole buttload of changes to the status quo just to make sure that Tigh is no longer making any important decisions. Not that he can now, mind.
Best part of the show? Fully 75% of the cast is Canajun. Woo!
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Neither was I. One hand – poor, inexperienced Cally who just can’t walk into the fight. Other hand – military obligation. And I was completely unable to see how the writers were going to resolve this. I know the series well enough to know that Crashdown could very easily have killed her as well, so that added so much to the scene. In most shows, a standoff like that would have resolved with a surprise attack from the Cylons, but I knew they wouldn’t do that.
I don’t at all mind mystic mumbo-jumbo in my sci-fi whatsoever – it was among my favorite threads in DS9 – so I’m enjoying that immensely. I also like how they didn’t try to shove anything from Caprica into this episode.
Between this, Firefly, and the Stargates, I actually look forward to a night of TV again. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to say that.
I’m torn about the opening credits. I liked the old way, but yeah, the new way gives us more of our precious show time, and considering how many more or less “significant” deleted scenes there were last season, this show needs all the screen time it can get.
I’m not convinced Tigh has truly screwed everything up yet. He’s XO of a Battlestar. His primary responsibility is keeping the Battlestar intact so it can carry out its mission, and its primary mission is to keep the fleet alive. He’s no politician, never was, never wanted to be, probably never will be. What’s this Quorum think it’s doing?? They just destroyed a Basestar, got attacked by another Basestar, were boarded and before the dust has even settled the Quorum shows up issuing demands? Screw them. “No, you don’t have permission to dock aboard the Galactica. Go back to your ships and thank the gods you’re still alive.”
It’s hilarious how Tigh has that little giggle in his voice everytime he starts drinking though, and yeah, Dualla’s little hand gesture was pretty funny.
It was interesting when Six said something to Baltar about what happens on Kobol not being her god’s doing. Like her god can’t operate there. Kinda sounds like a chink in her god’s armor. How powerful can he be, if there’s a planet more or less off limits to him? I’m almost surprised the Cylons would even land on Kobol, if that’s what they truly believe. Maybe Centurians don’t care about all this “god’s plan” stuff.
I liked Crashdown last season, but once they crashed on Kobol, they made him a complete jerk. He was mostly responsible for Tarn’s & Socinus’ deaths, and I kinda figured he was going to pay for it. I assumed he’d go out in a heroic act of redemption, not get shot in the back by Baltar. I’ll take it as a mercy killing so Sam Witmar doesn’t have to run around with the worst military haircut on television anymore.
And what about Baltar. You go dude! He’s never handled a weapon before, and he was kicking ass on those Cylons. Way to become a man, indeed! I think, despite the fact he shot a man in the back, he’s nevertheless earned a lot of respect within the military, which is exactly what he needs. I hope he can get back to Galactica and take over the presidency before too much hits the fan back there. “A dock is where you load things. My title is Doctor or Mr. Vice-President.” Heh.
Cally was disappointing, but I figured they wouldn’t off her. She’s got a pretty big fan-base, and a lot of fanboyz & girlz would have rioted. OTOH, it was pretty realistic, her become paralyzed with fear. Not every soldier is really a soldier. Many of them do just join up to pay for school, etc. I’ve read that the reason the US Army modified their M16s from fully automatic fire to semi-automatic fire was because most soldiers, in a real combat situation where they’re being fired at, will just wildly and blindly fire off all their rounds in one burst, without actually aiming at, or hitting anything. The percentage of soldiers who can actually aim, shoot at, and kill the enemy is relatively small.
Oh, yeah, they did have me going there for a few seconds with Tyrol. I thought the way the show is going, they just might kill him. So glad they didn’t. He’s one of my favorites now. Let’s see. Tyrol was dating Boomer, a Cylon. Baltar knew Boomer was a Cylon. Tyrol knows Baltar shot a man in the back. He might figure out Baltar knew about Boomer being a Cylon. Should make for an interesting relationship between Tyrol & Baltar. I wonder if Baltar’s going to have to “deal” with Tyrol eventually.
No Boomer, Helo or Starbuck this episode. Can’t wait for Tyrol to get back and find out about Boomer. Can’t wait for Helo & Starbuck to get back to Galactica with pregnant Boomer. Can’t wait for Tyrol to find out a Boomer is carrying Helo’s kid. That slut.
I think that means most of these shows are now shot in Vancouver, BC, and other than some of the big name, main actors, most of the supporting actors you see these days are casted from the Vancouver area, and are largely Canadian.
What levdrakon said. The show’s shot in Vancouver, and besides Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell and Katee Sackhoff (all American), a large majority of the cast is Canadian - Tyrol, Tigh, Six, Boomer, Billy, Helo, Gaeta. Baltar and Apollo are British.
At any rate, just enough to make this hometown boy proud.
And for me that’s one of the best parts of the whole thing. It is a classic tragic-flaw storyline with one exception - Tigh recognizes the fault, not before everything goes to hell in a handbasket, but right from the start. And he knew, the second he was put in that spot, that he couldn’t hack it.
I was want to ask:
Wasn’t there a Basestar over Kobol during back during the first episode of the season? Where is it now? Those raptors didn’t seem to have any problem other then the SAM battery.
Which one did Boomer and her tattle telling side kick nuke?
The Basestar over Kobol was the one Boomer blew up, I believe. It’s a bit confuserating, but this is what I remember:
Boomer finds Kobol. Jumps back to Galactica and reports.
Galactica sends a recon of three Raptors.
Raptors arrive, find a Basestar. One Raptor destroyed, one Raptor crash lands, third Raptor jumps back to Galactica.
Boomer is sent to blow up Basestar over Kobol. Succeeds, jumps back to Galactica and shoots Adama.
The fleet decides to jump to emergency coordinates following Adama’s assassination attempt.
Galactica jumps to the new emergency coordinates, the fleet jumps to the old coordinates.
Galactica has to jump back, (for some stupid reason) recalculate where the fleet jumped, and hold off another Cylon Basestar until they can jump.
They jump, and rejoin the fleet where the Quorum seems to feel their political interests outweigh the fact that there are Basestars in the surrounding systems and they could be destroyed at any moment.
But what happened to the Basestar that was near Kobol when they were making their calculations?
That’s my question. We have one basestar that got blown up, and another that appeared and disapeared.
I just watched the scene planning the SAR in Fragged.
The basestar at Kobol was the one destroyed.
As for the other, I guess Starbuck will take it out with the handgun she was going to shoot her stolen raider with. 
That Basestar is probably still at the coordinates of where the Galactica, and the fleet, was originally. Presumably, they don’t know the fleet’s emergency jump coordinates, but they must know their Basestar at Kobol just got blown up. They’d start searching from that system, or just searching that and all the surrounding star systems within jumping distance from Galactica’s original jump point. Stay tuned, I guess.
We know they’re nearby, relatively speaking. They don’t know where the Galactica is exactly, but it can’t be too many places based on what the Cylons know of the Colonials jump technology.
Then again, space is vast.