For Baltar this experience starts in "33," and "Six Degrees of Separation" expands on the theme. Both of these episodes, however, are restricted to dealing with threats to Baltar. In this episode Baltar's seemingly random choice of target ends up saving the fleet. This has an enormous effect on his world outlook, since he makes an irrevocable decision to move away from his rationalist, materialist mindset to a faith-based understanding of reality. The final scene, where Baltar stands in his robe looking up at the sky (and we are looking down at him) is typical of Baltar's ego and his sense of grandiosity (it's also pretty funny), but it has a core of truth since it appears that divine intervention DID guide his hand to the right target.
I find the fact that Six is the source of religious instruction fascinating. She seems unlikely since she is essentially a seduction machine, very jealous and capable of violence. (In "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I" she says, "I can rip it [Baltar's heart] out whenever I want to.") There's nothing warm and fuzzy about her, but she still mouths pieties like, "God doesn't take sides. Give yourself over to his love." and ".... surrender your ego, remain humble."
Roslin's evolution starts in "Flesh and Bone," when she has dreams that predict the future. Now, however, she is having visions (or hallucinations, depending on your point of view) that require explanation. Roslin's use of chamallah as an "alternative" treatment for cancer soon becomes the vehicle for her understanding of the Colonials' founding story and her place in that story.
The episode opens with Roslin's press conference about the latest crisis. She starts out in usual presidential form, but as the vision of the snakes becomes more disturbing she becomes incoherent and distracted. The snakes are a particularly creepy symbol (at least to this writer).
Like Baltar, Roslin's personal experience convinces her that she is playing a role given to her by the gods. Like Baltar, she is a rationalist and is even ignorant of her society's religious belief system, making her "conversion" seem a logical and legitimate change in her sense of self. Mary O'Donnell's expression depicts with stunning verisimilitude Roslin's version of falling down on the road to Damascus. Unlike Baltar, this transformation doesn't seem (much) to inflate her ego. It does however give her a sense of purpose that offers more than just safety, but also hope.
The end of the episode offers a nice touch when Six's interpretation of events matches Elosha's.
The rest of the episode is a ripping good yarn. The special effects are great and it is a lot of fun watching the battle scenes, especially as Lee & co. destroy the refinery. There are also some nice twists as Lee takes on qualities of Starbuck and Starbuck is forced to step back and assume a role inimical to her personality. This is a rite of passage for Starbuck (as Adama says, "Welcome to the big league.")
Of course we are forced to sit through the usual Lee histrionics when he bitches and moans that everybody likes Starbuck more than they like him, and his daddy has to sit by his side and stroke his ego and prove that he loves Lee more than he loves Starbuck, blah blah blah. In fact, the only Lee moment I liked was at the end, when he looks at his father while he is smoking a cigar. Not surprisingly, Lee doesn't say anything, which is probably why the little scene is a success.
What I really liked
- Elosha, whose personality conveys a magisterial authority. Her deep voice and cynical reaction towards Roslin's initial description of her experiences, as well as her embrace of Roslin's role in bringing the prophecies to fruition lend credence to this important new story line. After Elosha dies, she is replaced briefly by the priest who delivers the oath of office. The guy looks like a typical mainstream Protestant minister, who matches our (or at least mine) experience of traditional religion. By season 4, however, the representative of religion is this wishy-washy new age type that I personally cannot take seriously.
- When Tigh says, "It'll cost us." His tone of voice, which is slightly hoarse, and his serious and even pained facial expression convey the image of a leader embracing a necessary evil (the death of his men) to achieve a larger purpose (the safety of the fleet). I suppose that this is the whole point of war, even though the only "just wars" I can think of are the American Civil War and World War II.
- The depiction of an active, free press during a press conference that resembles U.S. presidential press conferences. Despite the extraordinary circumstances, the structure of colonial society survives, including a legitimate government following rules established before the Cylon attack, and journalists playing their role as conveyers of information as well as devil's advocate.
- Adama's and Roslin's glasses reflecting the green light from the light board. I also noticed that once the mission completes Adama briefly takes off his glasses, his equivalent of letting his guard down.
One thing I thought was really really stupid
Everyone standing around the light table (which I guess served as a map) while models of ships are pushed around to indicate how the battle is progressing. Come on, CNN can do better than that, why can't Galactica? I realize that this is one of Galactica's deliberate anacronisms and I assume that the intent was to allude to those old RAF / Battle of Britain movies where everyone stands around stiff-upper-lipped, but I thought it was stupid for the following reasons:
- Space is 3-dimensional but the model was 2-dimensional
- I couldn't figure out why they weren't in the CIC in the first place
- Gaeta's function seemed to be restricted to repeating everything Adama or Starbuck said. I kept wondering why they couldn't just speak to Dualla directly and eliminate the middleman. It kind of reminded me of the movie "Galaxy Quest," where Lt. Tawny Madison's job was repeating other people's commands to the computer, and then repeating what the computer says to everyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment