Saturday, September 24, 2005

BSG: PEGASUS: Criminy. They really set it up so we wouldn't miss these frackers at all when they inevitably get bumped off, eh? Thoughts:

--The Cylon interrogator with the attempted Dr. Light was completely intense and completely unexpected, for me anyway. The whole of the Pegasus--it's just what happens when a military mindset is completely removed from its civilian underpinnings, is I guess is what the lesson is here. The disfunctional Galactica is to be preferred to the orderly and depraved Pegasus.

--And it's nice that they use all the old names from the old show, even though names like "Pegasus" and "Cain" have no mythic resonance on the new show. That is to say, all the old Galactica names were meant to mean something; in the new Galactica they're just names. It's one fictional reality built over another one. I have no other point here.

--I guess the Boomer model is built for head trauma, huh? Shot through the cheek, punched by Tigh, punched by Six, choked by Adama, doesn't flinch no matter how many guns are pointed at her skull, and now beaten by a raper of Cylons. Callie was right: aim for the gut.

--Helo and the Chief on the raptor to Pegasus was so crying out for "Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into" moment. I'll just imagine that did, in fact, happen.

--This was Baltar's most sympathetic episode yet. He's a conniving, self-loathing narcissist, yet his love for his female simulacrum is completely legit. You get the feeling that love is going to be the thing that saves the fleet, in one way or another, however corny that sounds in the abstract.

--I'm sure this has been asked and answered across the Internets before--but I guess the Six model is the only one with superstrength.

--When Helo and the Chief rescued Sharon I was so afraid we were going to get a Reservoir Dogs "He was trying to kill the cop" "What, this cop?" BANG! ending there. Thankfully it did not happen. Grace Park is under contract, so there will always be a Boomer somewhere, but maybe not one we know and love. Hey yeah, Galactica Boomer; does she wake up somewhere brimming with love for the Chief and begin to thaw the cold vast Cylon heart? Sure!

--Hot XO on XO drinking ACTION! The Pegasus seems like it's full of Tighs who don't hate themselves.

--CLIFFHANGER! We know the Galactica will survive; we've read the rumors that the Pegasus crew will not remain for very long. But the new Battlestar Galactica is completely unspoilerable. Shoot, last season we Americans knew everything that was going to happen thanks to the British spoilers--and we still watched. It's not solely the twists you watch Galactica for, it's the way they're implemented and who they affect on the show that's the important thing. So, yeah, I am looking forward to next season, but because I want to see how Baltar interacts with the tortured Six, more than I want to see how Helo and the Chief get rescued. It's just the kind of show BSG is.

--And, oh yeah, Helfer was great in the dual role tonight. If you told me Baltar's Six was always an externalization of his psychosis after tonight, without any actual non-Baltar existence, I'd believe you.

--So we've gone from the Cylons as the villains at the end of last season to a renegade Battlestar at the end of this one. Interesting, that.

--Oh, and Adama goes from embracing tyranny at the end of last season, to moving away from it halfway through this one, to embracing mutiny at the end of this season. Also interesting. Perhaps indicating an inconsistency in his character that should be addressed at some point.

That's all. They sort of replicated last season's finale, except they had the fabulous characterama last week and the "Oh SHIT!" moments this week. Good on them.

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