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.
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