That was superb. A self-contained story in effect, but one that has all kinds of lasting ramifications and also picks up on story threads that I’m not sure if any of us were expecting to be revisited. It also managed to be emotionally satisfying and had all sorts of fascinating character work between the Sixes and the Boomers, who are fast becoming the most interesting characters in the way in which they appear in different aspects and versions of each other. Some great effects work too.
Baltar is better in Six’ head than he is in reality, whatever he may be – Human, Cylon or something else. I can buy that he survived the nuke and that Caprica 6 died shielding him from the blast, as the detonation seemed sufficiently far away in terms of silly sci-fi physics, but I’m liking the fact that they’re keeping the ambiguity in place. Despite what they say in the podcast they’ve also kept hallucino Baltar and Six ambiguous in the text itself, and so they haven’t yet written themselves into a corner in terms of the show itself. They’ve given themselves room to change their minds, but part of me hopes they’ll leave it unexplained… after all, they’ve established that altered states can make one susceptible to some pretty useful visions (Roslyn’s drug induced prophecies, for example).
Boomer 8 and Caprica 6 are both alive at the episode’s end, both of whom have a new agenda to work towards… also Caprica 6 knows that Baltar is alive and Boomer 8 knows about Baltar’s involvement in the destruction of the human race as well as suspects him of continued involvement with the Cylons. Also it leaves Anders with plenty to mull over in terms of his understanding of Cylons, in that he previously had no qualms with indiscriminately killing them and now there are seeds of doubt planted in his head (I can’t remember whether he knew that Baby Boomer was a Cylon or not, although I’m pretty sure it is).
Meanwhile Baby Boomer (a name that I’m using as I don’t want to call her Galactica Boomer or Caprica Boomer, as they’ve effectively switched places now) has had her brief and fragile allegiance to the Fleet shattered by the apparent death of her baby, which could possibly turn her and Helo into renegades… yet more characters who may potentially have their perspectives altered enough to pursue a different agenda. As is Cottle… unlike Sleaze I can buy that Cottle is only vocal up to a point, that he is a man who focuses on compassion for the individual people he is working for and therefore has no great perspective on the bigger picture and is unaware of exactly how much influence he might have (assuming he is as much of an asset as Sleaze seems to think). I’d like it if he could only be pushed so far before turning against Roslyn, or at least pursuing his own goals. In terms of Hallucino-Six and Baltar, it’s business as usual. They’re inextricably linked it seems, and I’ve no doubt she’ll return to him even after her latest wall-slamming tirade.
The fleet seems to be concealing rather a lot of simmering problems at the moment. There’s Pegasus Six and her anti-war movement + nuke, unresolved/unmentioned tensions on Pegasus (that may only have been made worse by Apollo's promotion and incompetent command choices), Helo and Baby Boomer, the hidden Human/Cylon hybrid baby, Baltar for president, Zarek and whatever he’s plotting this week… and that’s without even mentioning Tigh’s wife, Starbuck’s rapid coming apart at the seams and quasi-religious quest for a lost Earth and Roslyn’s precarious role as the Emissary to the Prophets, with her being able to find no home/peace on Bajor/Earth… oops, I’m referring to this as a simultaneous DS9/Original Galactica remake again. Look at where a lot of the writing staff came from. DS9 seems to Galactica as Gunbuster does to Evangelion, although I'd prefer this show to exhibit some of the other's strength of characterisation.
I wonder exactly how many of these plot threads might feature in the two-part season finale. |
