Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2

Part 1 ends with three crises: the crash on Kobol, Starbuck's jump to Caprica, and Adama's realization that Roslin influenced Starbuck's decision to go AWOL with the Cylon raider. Part 2 deals with the outcome of these decisions, as well as translating Boomer's ongoing internal conflicts into an overwhelming trajectory towards violence. By the end of this episode Adama has been "betrayed" by his son, by Starbuck, by Roslin, and by Boomer.

The conversation between Roslin and Adama after Starbuck jumps away is the best (IMHO) dialogue in the episode. There are really two conversations taking place at the same time - the formal conversation between the military commander and the leader of the government, and the informal conversation between two people who had a friendly, respectful relationship but are now at odds. I think this is best captured when Adama says, "I don't want bloodshed" and Roslin immediately replies, "No, of course you don't, neither do I." Her tone of voice drops and she speaks more urgently, in contrast to the measured pace and careful wording of the rest of her lines. The way she says it indicates that she knows Adama enough to speak more personally and and say with confidence what she knows he wants. It's an interesting moment.

It also took me a while (duh) to figure out why, Roslin says "yes" after Adama tells her that the Raider has jumped away. It always sounded sort of odd, because it's as if she is responding to a question instead of the statement Adama actually makes. I finally realized that Roslin didn't know that Starbuck had left for Caprica until this moment. So interpret the "yes" to mean the yes you say after the Buffalo Bills, your favorite team, has scored a touchdown, even though Roslin doesn't say it with that kind of vehemence.

Everything Roslin says after this conversation is couched in very formal terms (notice how she does not use contractions - she says "will not" instead of "won't." She does this in part because she knows this is a historical moment, and in part because she is trying to present a calm demeanor in the face of a dangerous situation. Her body language and facial expressions are clues that she is nervous and frightened, but her tone of voice is forceful.

When it is clear that the standoff is one-sided and that bloodshed will be the inevitable outcome (I don't necessarily think, btw, that Lee's decision to mutiny would necessarily be a determining factor, although it is certainly the final straw), she chooses to end it on her terms. She doesn't say that she surrenders, she says, "I will not permit bloodshed," and then she says to Tigh, "Let's go," leading the way although she is ostensibly the prisoner. In fact, Roslin and Adama have a lot of qualities in common and conduct themselves in very similar ways so that it is obvious they are equals.

Finally, both have followers that are loyal to their leaders, but in disagreement with their decisions. In Part 1 Billy advises Roslin to accept Adama's decision and is skeptical of her religious faith. In Part 2, if you look closely, after Adama orders the marines to proceed through Colonia One, the camera focuses on Gaeta, who shakes his head.

Another strength of this episode is the way the settings and pacing contribute to the sense of impending crisis. I really like the way each setting has its own color (they also do this on New Caprica and the algae planet). Orange/yellow conveys a powerful feeling that Caprica has been irradiated and that it is literally a desert. Kobol is green and lush, giving a sense of virgin forest (I assume parts of British Columbia actually look this way", and the ruins of the opera house (white) in the valley stand in stark contrast. The ships continue to be blue/gray with patches of bright, artificial light (including the green light from the screens in the CIC), emphasizing the unnatural, claustrophobic setting. Each setting has its own story (identified with that color) and the episode switches between these settings at an accelerating rate until, at the end, the camera is spinning around Baltar and Six, and then cutting over to the CIC where Adama's body lies on the light board.

Moving right along..... I'm not going to discuss events on Kobol here. I will save that for the next episode in the interest of not testing my readers' (such as they are) patience. I'm not going to discuss Boomer's experiences on the baseship at all, since I think they pretty much speak for themselves. I'll have some comments on Caprica in the free-for-all section below. I want to go right into the cliffhanger ending in the CIC.

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when they were filming the scene when Adama is shot, since I think that every actor's movement must have been carefully choreographed to look completely spontaneous. This is right up there with my favorite scene from the mini-series, when the nuke hist Galactica. In both a very complicated set of reactions to a single event is shown from multiple perspectives in a CNN-evening-news format, and yet it is completely clear what is happening. The pace switches between slow motion and real-time, adding to the sense of confusion and shock, although the slow motion makes it easier to see each character's reaction without detracting from the sense of chaos.

The gap between the first bullet and the second one lengthens the dramatic moment. Adama is literally blown off his feet and onto the light board. Lee starts racing across the room. Gaeta, in the background, goes from standing at attention to instinctively ducking. In contrast to everyone's shock, Boomer's face is a blank - she is now on auto pilot. After the second shot, each character is doing something different. Gaeta is calling for help, the marines are tackling Boomer, but the most compelling sight is the trio surrounding Adama. Tigh is literally trying to stop the bleeding with his own hands, Lee is cradling Adama's head, crying out in despair, and Dee has taken Adama's hand and is crying quietly.

Thus ends Season 1. WOW.

Meanwhile, back on Caprica ....

It's kind of interesting (and unexplained) how all three parties manage to run into eachother at the Delphi Museum, but one doesn't question God's will.

I dislike the dialogue between Athena and Helo, even though the information conveyed is critical. While Helo's lines are more naturalistic, Athena's lines strike me as very stilted. As I said in a previous post, Grace Park just gets better and better as the season progresses, so I don't think her delivery is the problem. Considering that her decision to escape with Helo was traumatic and driven by emotion, she uses very unemotional language to describe their relationship (she says, "I genuinely feel something for you," while Helo says, "I don't love you.") I don't know if this is bad writing or if the intention is to make Athena sound more robotic. It may also be setting us up for the shock of the next line, when Athena utters those two words that all men dread hearing, "I'm pregnant."

Let's be honest, the only point of this conversation is to let Helo know he's gonna be a daddy. We know, of course, because we saw Athena throwing up. Chekhov once wrote, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." To paraphrase that rather freely, if a woman is puking in the first act, then in the next one we should find out she is pregnant.

The hilight of events on Caprica, though, is that amazing fight between Starbuck and one of the Sixes. The traditional fight on screen between women is your basic catfight (the sexist term denoting the scratching and hair pulling stuff that women are supposed to do over some guy who is probably not worth the time of day).

The Starbuck-Six fight is a scary, go-for-broke slugfest. The Six is skinny but powerful (actually, all Sixes are like that), and she is wearing one of her sexy spandex outfits. In contrast, Starbuck is her usual slobbish self, wearing fatigues and combat boots. (Not to imply that Starbuck isn't sexy, quite the contrary.) Starbuck is obviously outmatched, but she manages to keep coming back after each blow. The final moment, when Starbuck throws herself at Six and they both plunge over the edge is just fabulous in the extreme. It is also a very smart way to let Starbuck win the fight against the odds.

Lee loses his shirt & spits in his father's face

Every faithful reader of this blog (both of them) knows that Lee is not my favorite character (gross understatement). However, Lee cannot be blamed for the fact that once again he somehow loses his shirt (the first time was in "Bastille Day"). Lee was wearing it on Colonial One, but it magically disappears when he shows up in the CIC. His hands are also tied in front, which I assume serves to emphasize his bulging muscles, since I can't think of any other reason why that would be necessary. Of course the restraints also add to the sense that Lee is a martyr, which is SO tiresome.

As for the other sin, spitting, I know that actors do this on a regular basis (I happened to find this out when I once had a front-row seat). I did think that Edward James Olmos probably asked for a towel as soon as they were done shooting.

An Aside About Galactica Sex

I bet this post gets more hits than all the rest combined. I was writing this post on the train into NYC, and the guy next to me was definitely reading it.

All inappropriate comments will be deleted immediately.

IMHO the Baltar/Starbuck sex scene from "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1" is the best in the series. (Baltar/Six from the miniseries is a close second.) It helps that James Callis and Katee Sackhoff have a lot of on-screen chemistry. The main reason this is so good, though, is that this is the only one I have come across where the man is on top, which means their bodies are intertwined in a way that appears more intimate than when the woman is on top (I am speaking as a 3rd party watching the action). The way the comera moves from Starbucks feet to her knees, which are wrapped around Baltar's body (sort of), and then her hands moving on Baltar's back, to her face makes the scene explicit without showing them naked. Which just goes to show that the brain is the most important erogenous zone.

In general, it seems to me that if the actors on Galactica are filmed naked (as I suspect may occasionally be the case. It's obvious that sometimes the women are topless), you don't actually see any important body parts. I am quite sure that this is part of the rules when broadcasting on television. This means that sexual activity is conveyed by body position, facial expression, and vocal sounds, which are, frankly, pretty effective.

One other thing that I noticed about Galactica is that it's probably the only time I have seen on screen women put on their underpants after having sex. The camera focuses on the feet stepping into a pair of underpants and sliding up without showing anything above the knees. This prosaic act conveys a lot without showing much. I also like it because in a lot of movies when I am watching lovemaking scenes I find myself wondering, "this is very sexy but HOW did they do it? When did the underpants come off?"

For example, "Atonement" has this great sex scene (the only one in the film) set in a library where both the characters are fully clothed. You can pretty easily figure out that the man is adjusting his pants in preparation for the big moment, but what about the woman? She's still wearing her dress, but they show her feet and trust me, there are no nether garments down around her ankles. Is she not wearing any? That strikes me as a very un-English thing to do. I assume that filmmakers consider this small but critical detail to be a passion-killer.

For Battlestar Galactica, though, it is precisely these details that add to the sexuality of the characters and their actions.

Over time I have often wondered, "How do actors do this? How / why do they appear naked (or almost naked) and engaging in very intimate activities in front of an audience?" I finally concluded that actors are so emotionally naked on stage or screen, that being physically naked is not that big a leap.

Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1

This is an absolutely critical episode because the fleet's goal moves from simple survival to having a specific destination. Faith and reason collide in this episode, reflecting both Roslin's and Baltar's changing "world view." (In German this is called weltenshaaung and in Russian it is mirovozrenie. I don't think there is an English equivalent.) This episode also moves really fast, but without feeling as though any plot thread is cheated to get thing done by the end of 43 minutes. I appreciate this after "Colonial Day," which moved a little too slowly (IMHO).

I am always struck by the cinematic quality of the filming and editing, especially at the beginning of the episode. With the exception of "Act of Contrition," "You Can't Go Home Again," and, of course, "33," most of the episodes in Season 1 are high-quality self-contained television episodes, with relatively straightforward plot lines. ("Colonial Day," "Tigh Me Up Tigh Me Down," and even "Litmus" are good examples.)

I think this quality is obvious in the opening 5 minutes, which signal immediately that this episode is different. The action switches back and forth between multiple scenes, a technique use in many of the best episodes (like "33," for example, and later in "Occupation"). Each scene tells a different story, but also shares high dramatic points with the other scenes, bringing them together thematically. Moreover, there is very little dialogue so that the viewer has to infer each character's psychological state (what they are doing, of course, is not exactly a secret).

In the first scene Adama and Lee are boxing. Lee is younger and faster, but Adama has experience and the patience. Moreover, Adama is clearly enjoying himself, so when Lee punches him in the stomach and asks, "Are you okay?" Adama just smiles.

Meanwhile, in Baltar's quarters .... If you watched the dance at the end of "Colonial Day" carefully, you will have noticed Baltar and Starbuck dancing together while Lee wanders around looking lost. Starback and Baltar always generated some heat, so now, fueled by alcohol, they are making love. When they start to climax Starbuck cries out "Lee!" putting the kibosh on the process. At exactly this moment Adama punches Lee, and Lee's face is pushed in the direction of the camera. What's his expression - shock? This anticipates Lee's expression during the card game when he watches Baltar and Starbuck and puts two and two together. IMHO Adama's remark to Lee - "You don't lose control" - is a metaphor for Lee's relationship with Starbuck. This explains why Starbuck is in bed with Baltar while Lee still hasn't figured out how to ask her to the senior prom. This character trait turns the Starbuck/Lee so-called romance into one of the most infuriating relationships in the history of television.

Interspersed between the Lee-Starbuck snippets, Boomer is in her quarters with a gun in her mouth, and Helo, on Caprica, discovers Athena. Athena puts her gun away and says, "Just do it." Helo shoots, misses, and wounds Athena instead of killing her. Is this deliberate or by accident? As Boomer tries to muster the courage to pull the trigger, her name is called over the PA, as if calling her back to life. When the sequences end both Boomer and Athena are still alive. The call to Boomer keeps her alive and functioning long enough to fulfill her destiny which, I think, is not just to shoot Adama, but also to find Kobol.

Baltar interrupts Boomer during her second suicide attempt and is probably responsible for taking her to the next (ultimately successful) step of pulling the trigger. This is one of those moments when Baltar really rises about himself. Six, who is a stand-in for the viewer, is deeply moved by his behavior and for once doesn't have anything to say. Baltar's compassion and concern for Boomer are especially touching given that he is gently steering her towards suicide. Boomer is completely isolated and fearful, and this is the only scene where she actually connects with someone who understands her state of mind. I am very ambivalent about Boomer in Season 1, and this is one of those moments when she is especially sympathetic because she is trying to do the right thing even though it means death. Boomer's destiny is fixed, and her efforts to control it are futile but nevertheless courageous.

The discovery of Kobol takes Roslin further down the road that she believes has been prepared for her. Unlike Boomer, Roslin embraces her destiny. When she describes what she sees on the surveillance photos to Elosha and Billy, she's looking at them and talking to them, but doesn't glance down to watch the gestures her hands make. My impression is that Roslin is also talking to herself. This experience is the final act that changes Roslin's understanding toward the prophecies. Elosha's (and Roslin's) interpretation of the experience (which is qualitatively different from the other visions), guides them to the next step, which is quite specific and concrete. I think that Roslin is now happy about her place in the story - the cancer that is killing her is also part of her role as a savior.

Roslin's new belief system does not change her underlying behavior, which is straightforward and business-like (pretty ironic, actually). This gives her credibility when she speaks to Starbuck. Based on Roslin's advice Starbuck does ask Adama about their journey to earth, and figures out for herself that Roslin is telling the truth and Adama is lying.

Meanwhile, back on Caprica ... The conversation between Helo and Athena, "You're not Sharon" / "I am Sharon," continues the exploration of the distinctions between Boomer, Sharon, and all the other Sharons. This is an ongoing debate throughout the series, and I have talked about this in previous posts. When does Athena's distinct personality emerge, and how does this affect Helo's love for her? Is he in love with both women? In later seasons it's clear that Helo's love is specifically directed to Athena and not (to paraphrase Roslin in Season 4) the whole line. The question of the 8's identity is extremely complex and interesting, and Gaeta also gets sucked into it in "The Face of the Enemy" webisodes.

By the end of this episode there are several story lines (Kobol, Roslin/Adama conflict, Starbuck's defection, and what will Boomer next). IMHO it is easy to keep them separate which says a lot about the exposition, and yet art has not been compromised along the way. That's a pretty big accomplishment. The tension for most of Season 2.0 is devoted to resolving these conflicting stories.

Some other thoughts

Reason Number 11 why Lee is a jerk

Actually this is Reason Number 12 if you count the the suggestion that wearing a pinstriped suit counts as Reason Number 11.

Anyways, regardless of your numbering convention, here is the next reason:

He is not smart enough to make a pass at Starbuck himself, and he gets pissed off when someone else does. He is just incredibly out of line, on both a personal level and as her commanding officer, when he basically calls her a slut in front of the whole deck crew. Me? I would have reported him for sexual harassment. Instead, Starbuck apologizes later in the episode. Why is she apologizing?

BTW, I don't completely hate Lee. I just hate it when he opens his mouth. Jamie Bamber has a great physical presence, and when he is moving around and not talking, Lee comes across as a more complex person (I feel the same way about the boxing in "The Dance" in Season 3). I also thought the card game was pretty good, Lee figures out what happened between Baltar and Starbuck based on eye contact and things unsaid, and his facial expression tells exactly when he puts two and two together.

Other Stuff

• James Callis does a great drunk. Is this based on personal experience (haha, no offense)? His sentences are coherent and they sound like Baltar, but they are slurred. He sounds exactly like a drunk trying to sound sober. He drops is guard, though, and his emotional twists and turns are there for everyone to see. The transition from arrogant to despairing is just perfect.
• How does Boomer know the planet is Kobol? How does Leoben know that the fleet will find Kobol? Just throwing it out there. I don't care because it adds to the sense that there are unseen forces at work, and I just go with the flow.
• When I first heard the phrase "Lords of Kobol," I had a good laugh. I don't think I have ever seen the word written in the course of the show, but close-captioning always spells Kobol with a "K," making it a homonym for Cobol (Common Business-Oriented Language). It is the first coding language to use English-like statements, making it accessible to ordinary mortals like me. My employer (and this is not unusual) is still maintaining a few COBOL programs developed before the dawn of humans. The history of COBOL is awfully interesting. Grace Hopper, a woman working for the US Navy, wrote the first COBOL compiler, which is the same as saying she wrote the software for the Cylons. In an interesting little aside she won the first "man of the year" award from the Data Processing Management Association.