This episode also introduces Tom Zarek who will be a thorn in everyone's side until season 4.5, when .... well, I don't want to give it away. I do think including a prison ship in the fleet was a terrific idea, the survivors are now a more diverse group and coping with them will make life complicated. In addition, it also makes clear that the Colonies were not an egalitarian utopia. There are haves and have nots, sometimes defined by cultural differences, and these distinctions carry social and economic consequences.
Lee spends all his time in this episode demonstrating to Zarek how he is a truly intellectual person and how much he values social justice blah blah blah blah. The crowning moment is when Lee goes I read your book in college, and Zarek goes but it's banned and Lee goes like, yes I read it anyway. Yeah right. And John McCain read Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth. Oh, and Lee even saves Zarek's life, and is thanked by him. Of course, Zarek's gratitude lasts about 10 minutes.
So Lee shows all sorts of psychological insight while at the same time getting to deck a few really powerful looking guys. AND he manages to lose his jacket. One scene he is wearing it and the next scene we have a front row view of his biceps.
We also get to learn something about Tom Zarek, whose arrival on the scene is extraordinarily dramatic. He obviously views himself as a "prisoner of conscience," and yet speaks in the kind of vague generalizations that led me to suspect from the start that he is a demagogue at heart. He certainly evokes widely divergent reactions. He blew up a government building - is he the Oklahoma City bomber or a member of the Weather Underground? Is he the Unabomber? He produced writings from prison - is he Nelson Mandela or Adolph Hitler? He talks about freedom - is he Barack Obama or George W. Bush?
He talks a good talk, but my decision is based on the attempted rape of Callie. When Callie defends herself from rape and gets shot by a prisoner, Zarek stands around spouting slogans about the oppression suffered by her would-be rapist, implicitly absolving him for an act of violence against women. Callie is a typical (if such a thing is possible) Galactica woman. She doesn't go down without a fight, notwithstanding the fact that she doesn't look old enough to babysit my kids. (I will be dedicating a future post to the portrayal of women in Galactica).
Some other thoughts....
Whose side are you on? I just wanted to point this one out - Adama pére asks the question and Adama fils seems, by his actions to give his answer. This will bite them in the ass by the end of Season 1.
They would have destroyed themselves anyway. Six and Doral have a short conversation about the destruction of the Colonies. Doral speaks of the Cylons as being the children of humanity. This is an important theme that will be referenced many times in the course of the series, and is thematically related to Adama's question from the mini-series - is the human race worthy of survival?
My favorite scenes
Based on the above, it should be obvious that none of them includes Lee Adama.
I love Starbuck's briefing of the pilots, with Boxey by her side. It is funny and showy, with just the right touch of insolence. It's a shame that somewhere in Season 2.0 (probably after "The Farm") Starbuck, understandably, begins to lose her sense of fun.
I also got a lot of pleasure out of Baltar's meeting with Adama. He is obsequious and talks too much. The more he talks the more suspicious Adama (who says almost nothing) looks. Six is in great form scaring the shit out of Baltar until Baltar requests the nuke. In fact, Baltar is at his most convincing when he is thinking aloud about how he would use the plutonium to build a cylon detector, which probably explains why Adama gave it to him.
And finally, for once Tigh gets the last word in a conversation with Starbuck. This is a nifty response to Starbuck's snotty remarks about Tigh's alcoholism in the ready room, and also (looking back) her smart-ass remarks at the end of the mini series.
No comments:
Post a Comment