I think she’s just an enabler who wants her husband to be important.
Anyone else finding themselves increasingly disliking this show? The original BSG, for all its copious cheese, was pretty much all about the indomitable human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. The current show is just unrelentingly grim. Precious little humor, sordid human politics, and unlikeable characters (who apparently aren’t even allowed to wash the blood and grime off their faces lest the viewer forget that this is Drama.)
Callie is a mechanic, not a soldier. Everyone down on Cobol was way out of their depth - operating in a role for which they were neither trained nor experienced. While Callie can probably do her job under fire, going and doing the commando thing is outside her experience. That’s what they have marines for (and soldiers, I assume).
The only one down on the surface who really shined was Tyrol
The lesson we all should have learned by now: Colonial pilots* are not particularly good at leading infantry.
*Starbuck and Apollo excepted, I assume
What I have a hard time believing is how the Cylons cannot find the Colonial Rebels. The rebels said they were blowing up stuff, so the Cylons know there is a group of rebels. They are machines and can work 37 hours a day, so they should just be flying in circles out from the nearest bombing until they locate the camp. The rebels cannot travel far. Infrared scanning is still going to work. The scouts could at least see the pyramid game court setup. And they should spot Starbuck and Helo’s Hummer (… maybe I should reword that?)
But you see, she is a soldier. She has, at least in basic training, been trained to do what Crashdown ordered her to do. She may not be cut out to be a combat soldier. You never know how someone’s going to react when under fire. But, she’s been through basic training and had to qualify with a rifle. She proved she knew how to use one when she was going through that mantra, “cock the rifle, click the safety, open the scope.” She’s rusty, trying to refresh her memory, but she knows.
And Sean Factotum, she was also armed with the rifle when she was supposed to run out and distract the Cylons. They were all armed.
I can certainly see how that would turn some people off, and I know some people who don’t like the show for precisely that reason. It’s a fair complaint. Personally, I disagree, because I think the situation calls for exactly that sort of show, and am enjoying it for just that reason.
Now then, I’ll be the lone voice in the wilderness here and defend the Pyramid game. Here’s how I see it:
Imagine the situation with an NBA team in place of the Pyramid team. We have some good players of a championship level team (but not necessarily the stars of that team). They’ve gathered up a number of other survivors and, over time, have had some relatively relaxed moments that allowed them to set up a small ball court to play some 2-man in order to break the tension.
Onto the scene walks a talented amateur. Someone who isn’t a pro by any means, but has played a lot of “street” games and knows the tricks. Of course, our pro knows these tricks, and works to avoid them, not the least reason is to avoid injury. Our pro knows all to well what an injury would mean in the current circumstances. On top of that, our pro isn’t really going to bring their “A” game. I mean, it’s just a little man-on-man play, it ain’t the world championships.
On the other hand, the talented amateur will go all-out. I mean, you’re playing against a Big Name Star!! And doing well! So you push it, play the dirty tricks, and manage to “win” the game.
Didn’t she mention that she only joined the fleet in order to pay for dental school? I agree with everything you said, but I think she likely didn’t really consider her ability to handle combat. She probably figured (as do many who join the service and the reserves after a long period of peacetime) that she’d never see actual combat.
It does bug me that she was so able to shoot an unarmed Boomer, but she frooze when faced with risking her own life. However, since the mission on Kobol did seem like a suicide run, I can’t fault her *too * much for that. It remains to be seen whether she can show strength only when she has a clear advantage or if she can take risks.
She’s gone 'round the bend, as those lucky so-in-sos who got to see the First Season before us would say.
She’s whacked out over Crash trying to kill her, over Balthar killing Crash and over the Chief’s troubles due, as she sees it, to Boomer.
Why do…er, did they call her Boomer, anyway?
Very different circumstances, that particular issue does not bother me at all. I could see doing a lot of things when I have time to psych myself up over it (which she had with Boomer, but not on the planet), when I have personal interest (risking your life for a plan you don’t fully agree with, versus killing someone you believe has wronged your friends and your secret love), etc.
I thought she just said teh first number that came into her head, just to make Baltar save Tyrol, not that she really knew. More ambiguity.
We just can NOT be done with Boomer. Yes, I know she’s gone the way of the Evil Alternate Universe Tasha Yar now, but we absolutely must see Grace Park continuing to play a prominent character.
On the original BSG, one of the Viper pilots flying with Starbuck and Apollo was named Boomer. The current series is reusing the names of most of those characters, although making them different. (The only things the original Starbuck was good at, besides flying, was finding cigars in the emptiness of space.)
And I know it’s been quoted earlier, but I’ve just got to say it again:
“What do you think genius? You put a pilot in charge of crowd control.”
Heh heh heh.
Balthar asked her why she was called Boomer. I became curious.
Do not despair, we have the Caprica Boomer last seen stealing Starbuck’s ride.
Somehow, I don’t think the show is likely to disappear a pregnant Cylon.
Now didn’t they imply that the pregger boomer was somehow working aganist the cylons trying to find Helo.
So what’s with her taking off in Starbuck’s cylon ship? Things got a little tense when Starbuck showed up, but what is she supposed to be doing now?
Did she go back to the cylons?
Yep, he’s been too passive lately; nobody needs a hallucinating Dr. Smith.
Poor Boomer – Tyrol tells her she has no feelings because she’s a machine, then Baltar disproves that by using her love of Tyrol against her. Sometimes I’m not so sure I’m on the humans’ side in this show.
Did I hear Starbuck say something like “I was gonna go pro [as a Pyramid player] if it weren’t for my knee”? Maybe she’s not really good at everything; maybe she’s just a major bullshitter. (Was her knee always messed up? I thought it only got hurt when she punched out on that planet where she acquired the Cylon fighter.)
Speaking of which, Pyramid looks like a fairly cool game. Didn’t they have something like that in the original show?
I don’t see Ellen Tigh as a Cylon. However, her mysterious sudden appearance would be a really irritating red herring if there isn’t something wrong about her (besides being an evil bitch). I wonder if she could be a human collaborator.
Lastly – I hope we’ll be seeing more of Richard Hatch now. Who knew he could act?
All the humans know the Boomer model’s a Cylon now. She can’t have any more normal interactions with them; it’s all going to be machine talk. Unless we see Cylon society evolve greatly, all we’re going to get from her anymore will be grim pronouncements along the lines of “The humans must be destroyed. God’s will must be done” and so forth.
Something else:
As much as I’ve admired the writing so far, I think Ron Moore reached another peak with Adama’s reappearance in Tigh’s quarters. Normally one would expect a chewing-out scene there (like Lt. Castillo gave Crockett and Tubbs every week), but he didn’t even raise his voice. Tigh seemed to expect a chewing out after fracking up just about everything, and to be relieved of the duty he never wanted, and then it would be over - but what Adama did to him was far worse.
He simply commented about how he always hated being second-guessed by people who’d never known the awful responsibilities of command and that he wasn’t going to do it either. That let Tigh know he was never going to be allowed to get the experience behind him. Then, instead of the relief Tigh wanted, Adama gently asked him to work together to fix the mess. True, Adama had no other XO material available and couldn’t dump Tigh anyway, but he told him in such a way as to make Tigh give every gram of effort to regain his old friend’s trust. And neither man had to say a word of that.
Hehe, excellent. Now I’m picturing a red ahem moving back and forth, and…well…let’s just say my imagination’s depravity writes itself at this point 
Yeah, I can’t see Lorne Greene handling it any better. Although in the previews for Friday’s show, it looks like Adama loses his temper on the bridge. Wonder if he busts a stitch doing it?
Speaking of Richard Hatch, is this the BSG project he was shopping around in the late '90s? I know he was at a few SciFi conventions with film of a ‘new’ BSG he was trying to get made.
As for who knew he could act, when has he had the chance? This seems to me to be the first time he’s been given a quality script.
No, it is not. Hatch’s project was, essentially, BSG:TNG; i.e., set 20 years in the future, and assuming BSG:80 never happened (which, in fact, it didn’t).
At first, he was quite peeved that this new BSG was a “re-imagining” of the original series and not a sequel. Apparently, after he saw the pilot he “converted” and decided he liked it after all.
Did he change his mind before or after he was offered a role?