Battlestar Galactica 2.8 — "Final Cut" (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

As always, thread is padded with content-free OP to protect the virgin eyes of UK fans from accidentally learning in mouseover preview that we got to see Starbuck break open a chrome toaster, spilling an astonishing amalgam of licorice treats and kitty litter.

Spoiler policy: If it’s been aired, or if it’s just speculation, no need for a box. If it’s something you know happens in the future based on other sources (say, the video blogs on the official site), or you’re speculatin’ based on same, box that bastard.

So say we all.

2

Okay, tonight is the third-to-last new episode to air in the U.S. until 2006. We get two more after this, including… (minor spoiler about plot and guest star of final episode)“Pegasus,” starring Michelle Forbes, aka Ensign Ro, as Commander Cain of another Battlestar. And yes, it’ll be a cliffhanger.After that, the UK will start getting the episodes we’ve seen up to this point, and then, the bastards, they’ll continue into the unknown, leaving us to catch up starting in January.

So, where we’re at:

We seem to have turned a major plot corner in the last show. Adama has forgiven the insurrection, realizing that as far as anyone can tell Roslin the Prophet is the real deal. Whether that’s true, or if the Cylons are just frakkin’ with 'em, we don’t know yet.

So they’ve got the Arrow, they found the Holodeck, and they have a Map of sorts. The narrative ambiguities they’d been building are starting to dissolve, and the future direction of the plot is beginning to become clear. This is a dangerous time for the show: No matter which road they start to go down, they’re going to alienate some viewers. If it turns out Roslin really is a prophet, for example, and there’s a mystical undercurrent to a previously hard-edged show, I’m going to grumble, and I don’t think I’ll be alone. We’ll have to see where this goes; including tonight, they’ve got three installments to show that their new direction will be just as compelling as where they’ve come from so far.

Oh, and now Baltar knows he definitely doesn’t have a metallic chip in his head, but what that proves is anybody’s guess.

Tonight: Lucy Lawless (!) plays a journalist, sort of Bob Woodward in Ashleigh Banfield’s body, chosen to show the good people of the fleet just how stressful Adama’s job really is. Given his tense relationship with the press (“remind me not to do that again”), this should be fun. Plus, fun with Saul and Ellen! Woot!

3

first things first…where the frak do I get a spoiler box?

second things second…I dont really have a prediction for tonights ep other than I think Xena will keep her mouth shut about my favorite cylon.

4

I haven’t seen this episode yet, and probably won’t until my school gets the fracking cable online (no cable at home, so I record from school). I think, however, that it would be cool if the Pegasus actually does have a shiny, somewhat Star-trekky interior - it would be a nice change of scene.

5

Now that was a well-crafted episode, looks like Lucy “Xena” Lawless’s character did an excellent job suppressing her Toaster persona i did start getting suspicious when she showed interest in the O2 tanks in the beginning, and especially on the Bridge/CAC, when she seemed to be focusing on the tactical displays

the other question is was the cameraman also a Toaster, or a plain, mundane meatbag like the rest of us

6

Replace {} with

{spoiler} Adama gets AIDS from Curious George{/spoiler}

Adama gets AIDS from Curious George

And I think this episode kind of sucked. Two things will piss me off:
As stated, a mystical religious thing; the already discussed “Cylon of the Week”.

Apparently Cylons have a very short gestation period?

7

Somewhat better in the execution than in the concept. Man, you gotta be low on concepts when the best thing you’ve got is “Hard-edged journalist follows heroes of BG!” A neat twist in the end (no, I didn’t see it coming) to have Lucy Lawless turn out to be a bread-burning unit, but still just a reasonably well-executed spin on a boring cliche,

(How come Cylons never gather with more than one of the same model we’ve already seen?)

8

I liked this installment quite a bit. Yeah, kind of a hoary premise, but I thought they pulled it off, effectively giving us an opportunity to see our familiar heroes as if through fresh eyes. I especially liked the use of the classic theme at the end, having it subtly creep into the score and then bursting into the foreground. Nice.

And I’m sure there are some fans who will appreciate the younger Adama’s near-flash via the slipping towel, too… :slight_smile:

9

Oh, and Gaeta, chain-smoking, and showing a tattoo? Hi-larious.

10

Man it would be interesting to know what the humanish-Cylons’ capabilities are. We know they want to kill Adama, or at least have some programming or tendency to do so, as the Boomer Cylon shot him. We also know that they have the ability to shatter steel (or some other presumably hard metal) manacles and rip tables from the floor, from the Starbuck interrogation episode. Yet numerous times they’ve had Cylon agents standing right next to Adama (including the Boomer ones) who presumably, with such strength and speed, could tear his freaking head off (or at least break his neck), with no success or even attempt.

It is interesting that they seem to have almost forgotten the concept of a Cylon detector, and have forgotten security protocol to a large degree. Knowing that there are potential Cylon agents, would you let random untested people wander around the bridge of the only military ship left?

Baltar is still behaving like a bumbling idiot in public, yet none of this appears to have affected his status as vice president.

Well, they’ve got Lucy Lawless now, so perhaps we’ll at least get some pseudo-lesbian interaction between her and Six before too long. “Cylon - The Warrior Reporter”

11

I liked the episode. It’s not among my favorites, but I went in expecting it to suck since the concept seemed so cheesy. I was pleasantly surprised. As mentioned, they pulled it off well.

How many cylon models have been revealed since the mini series? If I recall correctly, there have only been two: the doctor and now this one. I think the other four were all revealed in the mini series.

For some silly reason, it cracked me up that Gaeta’s first name is “Felix.” I must have missed that earlier. Now I’m picturing him as Felix Unger, running around neatening up Galactica!

How long has Boomer been pregnant now? I’ve lost track of how much time has passed. I’m wondering if she’ll start showing soon.

Random thought: the actress who plays Dualla has very expressive eyes. When she looks straight at the camera, they can be quite powerful.

12

Ellen Tigh actually came across as human in this episode; I’m amazed.

13

It didn’t come off to me like labor and delivery, but threatened miscarriage. (“We’re trying to save your baby!”) For one, she wasn’t showing yet. For two, that blood was not a normal (human) thing to have pre-delivery, and she didn’t look like she was in labor, she looked sick - feverish and scared.

Bright red blood like that during pregnancy is a bad, bad thing. It usually means you’re losing the baby, or at least a large portion of the placenta.

And, yes. having just been through that myself, I found it a very hard scene to watch. OTOH, I have a healthy baby girl out of it, but not without lots of intensive care for months. I doubt they have a subspecialty NICU onboard Galactica.

So, unless Cylon pregnancy is very different from human pregnancy, we either have a dead baby, a very sick baby or a very tenuous pregnancy requiring bedrest for the duration (if they were able to stop the bleeding.)
Assuming, of course, that the writers know more about pregnancy than they do about sound in space. :rolleyes:

14

You’re whooshing, right? :slight_smile:

Thanks for explaining “saving the baby”.

15

Why would I be whoosing?

Compare Lee and Anastasia (i.e. Apollo and Dualla; I’m using the first names because they were a novel addition to this episode; “Felix,” heh). Lee has loosened up somewhat, and his character has come a long way, but this ep reminds us that the face he chooses to show the world, and possibly the man he really is, is an overly uptight prig. Anastasia, on the other hand, uses that as a mask to get her job done, but she’s really got a lot more going on. We already knew that, but this episode, contrasting our familiarity with the perspective of an outsider, throws the complexities of the characters into stark relief.

And I gotta say, that’s why I watch the show. I’m interested in the overarching Cylon storyline only to the degree that it serves as an effective framework for exploring the personalities of its cast, showing us how they deal, emotionally and practically, with their tragic circumstances and with each other. If the Big Plot starts to get wonky or dumb or overly complicated on a regular basis (e.g. more stuff like the holodeck), it’ll distract from what I see as the core value of the show. As long as the framework stays at least serviceable, and as long as the characters remain interesting, I’ll continue to be invested in the show.

This episode, for me, is a good example. It advances the overall narrative not a whole lot (possible problems with the Boomer’s ovenbun, revealing another Cylon), but it gives us another handful of revealing days in the lives of people whose personalities and situation I find worthwhile of fascination.

16

This ep was somewhat slow to evolve, but by the end I was so caught up in it I literally didn’t even think of the “could she be a Cylon” plot device until the last possible second!! :smack:

Random thoughts:

Edward James Olmos continues to amaze as Adama. What I thought might turn into a one-note type of performance throughout the series (a la “Miami Vice”) he has given this character so much depth. He is astounding to watch.

Stupid towel!!!

Starbuck imitating Rocky Balboa (with a little Jean-Claude VanDamme thrown in for good measure): :rolleyes:

Experiencing the Vipers battle the Cylon Raider from the perspective of the bridge crew - interesting decision but it worked. Not to mention saved on production costs!

I’m now wondering if Balthar is just going to be comic relief from now on. It’s hard to believe how anyone could take him seriously. Loved when the reporter said “What a strange little man”. I really can’t figure out what they are going to do with his character, but I like him for some reason.

I thought the death threat and attack on Ellen Tighe (why did he take the tape off her mouth!! :smiley: ) was a little cheesy, but the denoument of this plot arc was handled well by Tighe.

LOVED LOVED LOVED the original BSG theme playing in the background of the news piece!!!

17

Dualla tells a reporter and thereby everyone in the fleet, “I told him I never wanted to see him again.” That’s just to corny.
The towel was too 7 of 9. :slight_smile:
Good scenes for Tigh.

18

I actually got a little misty-eyed when the janitor started whistling the tune… and then it segued into the full theme.

I’d forgotten how good that music was. Now I miss it.

19

Meh. Lots of cliches, not much character development. Except for Dualla, who has climbed up to my Favorite Character[sup]tm[/sup] list, joining both Adamas, Boomer and Chief.

At the very least, we have another Cylon model. Now that we know that the Cylons always know where the humans are, what next?

I hope next week’s show is better. I could see a few plot threads being set up, and a lot more being ignored.

20

I can’t believe it was Frank Grimes Jr who was trying to kill Tigh all along.
What this show needs is a bad-ass soul brother like the original Boomer.