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I think it's perfectly valid to criticize the show's lack of forward planning when it results in a revelation as random as Tigh's a cylon. This fundamentally alters the cylon/human dichotomy, and Moore is going to have to address that fact next year. Last year, they brought out a huge cliffhanger that promised to change everything, and six episodes later were back to business as usual. When the New Caprica arc started, I assumed this is what the show would be from here on out, and maybe in a season we would get back to the Galactica. It was a major disappointment when everything was resolved in four episodes. Yes, it cast a shadow over the whole season, but everything was much more interesting down on New Caprica than up in space.
But everything wasn't resolved in four episodes, was it? The effects of New Caprica reverberated throughout the entire season, all the way to Lee's speech in the courtroom. From the division between the people that were stuck there for the year, and the people on the ships to Baltar's complicity to the relationships between Anders/Starbuck, Starbuck/Lee, Tyrol/Cally. The labor union, the class stuff that Baltar is talking about, etc. They weren't on the planet for more than four years, but they dealt with the effect that arc had on the fleet all the way through the season.
And I fear that we'll see the same thing next season. Tigh and co. will disrupt things for a while, but after that we'll be back to business as usual, moving towards Earth and having random standalone adventures along the way. I'm not bothered by the episodes that don't advance the arc, I'm bothered by the ones thata come randomly out of nowhere, like evil doctor. I'd love to see more standalones like 'Unfinished Business,' which did some really great, lasting character work.
It's probably more likely that the Fab Four will cause some issues, but those issues will be resolved into an evolution of the show's Cylon/Human dynamic, taking it's cue from Athena's acceptance.
I feel like most of the standalones have stuff happen to the characters, but don't give us any lasting consequences. Look at Helo kills the cylons, they literally said let's just forget about this at the end of the episode, same for Chief and the dock workers.
Either they acknowledged this complaint in Lee's speech or they recognized that it's part and parcel of their story. Either way, I feel like Lee's speech tied a lot of what makes life in the fleet odd or fly-by-night to us.
This all said, I'd much prefer a more tightly planned show ala Babylon 5, but let's face it, it's insanely rare, and insanely hard to pull off well in the American TV landscape. Hardcore fans don't pay for television to be made, the vast contingent of 'normals' pay for it. Sad but true.
Ron Moore is enough of a sci fi geek to probably want things to be more tight, but there is only so much he can do, when it's the parent companies who are taking the risk in money. |
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