Okay, this episode rocked. It’s not perfect, as others have noted (another nitpick, which I think I’m the first to point out unless I missed it: it’s rather a massive coincidence for Starbuck to be introducing her “kid” juuust as the real mother is walking by, which got a fleeting :rolleyes: from me) But… the stuff that’s good? is reeeeeeeeeally good. I counted three (four? have to look at it again) moments where my jaw simply fell open.
One of those (I’m joining the crowd here) was the death of Ellen. They didn’t redeem her, exactly; far from it. But they pulled off an even neater trick: they took this horrible, awful, selfish and manipulative woman, whose death we’ve been looking forward to for a season and a half, and instead of trying to reverse that opinion, they deepened her, by stripping away any perception of senseless evil and showing that while she’s a bad human being because she’s self-centered and short-sighted and not very smart and ultimately self-destructive, she’s still a human being. And Tigh, despite everything, loves her, and she really, really loves him. Her death, in this context, is not so much justice, as it is tragic, in the old Greek sense, that is, she’s undone when her own flaws and misjudgments catch up to her.
And all the political parallels come into focus here, and pay off. I have no idea what Roslin thinks she’s doing, simply taking charge without a mandate, but knowing this show, I’d be enormously surprised if they simply let it slide. There will be consequences to this.
(Incidentally, watching last week’s episode and this one back-to-back, my viewing companion and I reflected on all the people who are trying to argue that the show’s story is some sort of explicit and deliberate allegory on Iraq and Iraq alone. These people, obviously, have never seen the classic film The Battle of Algiers. The issues in the show have much greater historical resonance than simply the headlines of the moment. Just thought I should point that out.)
And next week looks hugely intense, and like a totally logical follow-on to the plot so far. As always, as long as the Cylons are at arm’s length, and there’s no unifying enemy, humans are perfectly happy to resurrect old battles and fight with one another. Gaeta is screwed.
So: A couple of minor speed bumps here and there, but otherwise, a totally, totally satisfying pile of Galacticky goodness. Two glowing red thumbs up.
