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.

33

I saw this episode before I saw the miniseries (Netflix screw up - in fact it was actually more tha a year before I saw the miniseries, after I finally decided to buy Season One myself). I'm bringing this up because I thought I had missed something the first time I saw this episode - that "33" started immediately from where the miniseries left off.

After I saw the miniseries I realized this was a deliberate choice. Viewers are dropped into the middle of a desperate situation and then learn how the main characters behave under extreme stress.

It says a lot about the writing, editing, and directing that you can figure out quickly what is happening. "33" opens with a series of scenes that quickly cut back and forth between Gaius Baltar's thoughts, vipers shooting out the tubes flown by pilots who are obviously having trouble concentrating, the CIC where Tigh is slapping a soldier on the back to keep him awake, and the deck where everyone is watching the clock. This series of scenes take about 2 to 3 minutes. When the Cylons do arrive we see multiple clocks, digital and analog, showing that time is up (This sequence actually reminds me a little of the pendulum clock in "High Noon.").

In other words, I didn't know much less than anyone who had seen the miniseries knew.

"33" is, without question, the best episode of Season 1, precisely because of this tension and the way the characters' reactions reveal their nature.

OK, to quote Callie, "Why 33?" My first instinct (which reveals my advanced age) is that it is referencing LPs that play at 33-1/3 RPM. Beyond that 33 is divisible by only 2 numbers, 3 and 11 (1 and 33 don't count). 3 and 11 are very cool prime numbers and I am not a geek for thinking this. I remember hearing George Burns say in an interview that 7 is a very funny number. So there.

My only quibble with the episode is that it is simply not possible for the crew to go 5 days running without sleep - they must have had some down time or else they would be incapable of functioning. As Baltar said, "there are limits...." Trust me, I know what I am talking about. When our twin sons were infants they did not sleep at the same time, and I went for about 3 months getting 3-4 hours of sleep at night but only about 45 minutes at one time, which meant that I got little or no REM sleep. Going without sleep is pure torture (although not, apparently, if you are working for the Bush administration interrogating suspected terrorists).

There are two scenes that stand out in my mind. Tigh falling asleep sitting on a sofa in the middle of a conversation with Adama is probably my favorite, but there is also, as usual, a lot of background detail. I especially like one scene in the CIC, while Adama is talking to Tigh, you can see right behind Adama a guy wearing a headset, slumped over fast asleep.

This episode has one of my all-time favorite scenes - Starbuck refusing to take stims. Lee tries to wheedle her into obeying and she bursts out with this speech telling Lee in no uncertain terms how she thinks he should be handling her insubordination. They stand glaring at each other for a short pause that goes just a millisecond longer than is comfortable, ratcheting up the tension a little bit, before they burst out laughing. This dialogue reveals a lot about Kara. The scene also gets a little more texture when Kara glares at the Chief, who has witnessed the exchange, and says "What" and he just rolls his eyes and walks away. The whole exchange is pitch perfect. 

I watched this episode again after Season 4.0 ended, and I was struck by the tentative nature of Roslin's and Adama's relationship in the beginning. At this point they are strangers who have been thrown together by circumstance and now share the burden of protecting what is left of the human race. In this episode they are on separate ships and all their conversations are by radio. In the middle of a discussion about the tactical situation (bad) there's a surprisingly intimate moment. After a pause in the conversation Roslin tentatively asks, "Are you there?" and Adama says, "Yeah."

Galactica has a special resonance in the post-9/11 world. Even in the midst of this exhausting crisis people are trying to find loved ones, and Roslin is trying to get an accurate count of the number of survivors. When Dualla tries to hand over photos of her family to track them down, she is instructed to post them on a wall. As she walks down the long corridor to post the photos she (and by extension we) is overwhelmed by the number of pictures posted, the makeshift memorials, and the messages to the dead. The photos include pictures of babies and children, as well as adults, and convey the remorseless nature of the losses. The camera holds still as she walks further down the corridor, until she is a small figure turning around in confusion, stunned by the magnitude of the catastrophe as expressed in the pictures of lost family members. These types of memorials and photo montages sprang up all over New York within hours of the collapse of the World Trade Center, and became synonymous with the event. Galactic is deliberately recreating these to provide a symbol we can recognize and use to provide a context for the apocolyptic events the characters have survived.

Galactica returns to this corridor periodically so that the viewer never forgets why the ship is wandering in space with no place to go home to. In the last episode of Season 4, when they do find earth, the scene cuts to Starbuck in that same corridor, looking at the photo of a lost pilot, and behind her is a woman standing in a different part of the corridor, crying while she presumably looks at pictures of lost loved ones.

Miniseries - Roslin and Adama and the path to leadership

Roslin and Adama are on parallel paths that converge at the end of the miniseries. Both are minor players in their respective spheres and both are at critical turning points in their lives. Roslin has just learned that she has terminal breast cancer and Adama is on Galactica, preparing to retire and give up the command of a ship so obsolete that it is being turned into a museum.

Their first meeting on Galactica, before the attack, is not a success.

They are on different ships when they receive news of the Cylon attack, and they each take on responsibilities that expand rapidly as the news deteriorates and the existing leadership structures disappear.

On what is supposed to be his last night as commander, Adama is sitting in his quarters reading when he gets a call from the CIC which has just received word of the Cylon attack. He responds in a matter of fact voice, "I'll be right up," and sits for a moment without moving. From that point on, as the situation becomes more desperate he remains calm and even taciturn.

In Roslin's part of the story, she learns of the attack after breaking down in private as news of her prognosis finally comes home. She immediately goes to the cockpit to find out what is going on, and reaches out and holds the pilot's shaking hand while she reads the news transmittal. This single gesture immediately establishes her as the leader, ready to take command when others are  overwhelmed. In the midst of panic and uncertainty she sets a goal (to find everyone trapped in ships above the planets and lead them to safety) and gives instructions necessary realize it.

Both Roslin and Adama make painful decisions with terrible consequences.

Tigh, Adama's surrogate, makes the most painful decision on Galactica when he vents 85 deckhands into space in order to put out fires that threaten the ship. Afterward Adama makes it clear that he would make the same decision himself, and I never doubt that is the case.

I think this scene is also interesting because Tigh, thrust into the middle of the crisis and forced to quickly make a critical decision, hesitates for a few seconds and looks off at Adama, as if for guidance. Once he makes his decision Tigh is clear and resolute, he doesn't look back. This type of moment happens elsewhere in the series (in "Scattered" Tigh must make several decisions immediately after Adama is shot. Once again he takes several seconds to decide and proceeds only after recalling advice from Adama from an earlier time).

I also like these scenes because the perspective moves to a view of Galactica from space and you can actually see the fires and bodies thrown out into space. In other words, the human costs of this decision are immediately made tangible. This happens at other points in the miniseries when ships explode - it's not unusual to see the pilot's body thrown out of the cockpit. (Aside from all the people thrown out of airlocks, take a look at "Epiphanies." It wasn't until the second time I watched this epdisode that I saw bodies thrown into space.) I always contrast this with "Star Wars" where we see ships blow up, but no person in them seems to get hurt, so the special effects of the explosion give a vicarious thrill detached from pain and death.

In Roslin's subplot the human costs are even higher. Roslin's mission is to find as many survivors as possible, and she manages to put together a fleet of ships holding 60,000 people. Roslin visits one of these ships, a cruise ship filled with families with young children. She promises the captain that she will take care of them, and chats with a little girl. Soon after she makes the decision to abandon this and other ships containing 10,000 people to the Cylons because the ships cannot travel fast enough. Roslin decides to break her promise and in the process condemns the little girl (and thousands of others) to death in the interest of saving the other 50,000 survivors. She sits in the cabin of Colonial One listening to the transmissions of people screaming and begging for help as the Cylons appear, attack, and quickly destroy the ships left behind.

Roslin and Adama also learn almost simultaneously that they are the most senior people left alive after the attack.

Mary McDonnell's body language and posture are very effective at conveying Roslin's state of mind at this moment. When she is sitting talking to Lee about her position (43rd)  in succession, we see her from the side. She is sitting with both feet flat on the floor, wearing black pumps and a business skirt. Instead of wearing her suit jacket she has a blanket draped around her shoulders. Her appearance expresses total exhaustion. At this point she learns that all 42 people ahead of her are dead and she must now be sworn in as president. She sniffles quietly, puts on her suit jacket and calmly says, "We need a priest."

An aside about the swearing-in ceremony - it is deliberately reminiscent of Johnson taking the oath of office on Air Force One after President Kennedy's assassination. This is not the only reference to the Kennedy assassination (at least to my eyes). When Callie shoots Boomer ("Resistance") it is strikingly similar to the news clips of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Johnson, btw, did not need to be sworn in, the line of succession meant that he became president as soon as Kennedy died. Johnson arranged for the swearing-in ceremony as a symbolic gesture.

Immediately after Roslin becomes president, Adama learns that the rest of the fleet has been destroyed and he is the senior military officer left alive. This is the last of a series of disastrous military reports conveying news of the annihilation of the Colonial military forces at the hands of the Cylons. Olmos continues to underplay Adama's reactions. Dualla is holding back tears as she gives the last transmission to Adama. He reads it, conveys the news to the crew, announces that he is now in command of Colonial forces, and then carries on with little discernable change in manner. Adama's voice is not quite, but almost a monotone, and it works to great effect in this scene.

Adama and Roslin, formerly low on the totem pole, are now in charge.

Each pursues their own priorities until their ships converge at Ragnar Anchorage, where they meet again, and come into conflict over the next move. Adama, a military man, wants to stand and fight, and Roslin, as a civic leader, wants to secure the lives of the remaining citizens.

The meeting is fascinating. It is noteworthy for its banality in the middle of Armaggedon. Roslin sits at a desk on Galactica listening to a report from Billy on problems in the fleet. Adama steps in, Billy stands up to leave, and Roslin tells him to sit down and asks Adama to wait (a nice little power play). Adama sits down quietly, crosses his legs, folds his hands in his lap, and acts as if this is a normal business meeting. In his turn, he calls her "Ms. Roslin" and not "Madame President," (a small subversive action, although expressed civilly). Even the following conversation, although heated, is well within the norms of polite behavior. In fact, the entire scene is prosaic despite the enormous stakes and the passion behind each character's words.

Roslin's statements are powerful ("The war is over, we lost." And "If we are going to survive as a race we'd better start having babies."), and the audience is on her side. The tension is whether, when and how Adama's priority of continuing to fight the Cylons will switch to Roslin's goal of running with the survivors under Galactica's protection.

In the end, Roslin wins out when Adama looks across the CIC to see two young people flirting and echoes her line: "They'd better start having babies." In one of the great comebacks in television history Tigh asks, "Is that an order?"At that point, Roslin's and Adama's separate paths meet and they start to move forward with one goal in mind - to save the remaining population and find a new home.

Admiral Adama

I found it very difficult to write about Adama in part, I think, because so much of his emotional life is below the surface. He appears to be a tough, dedicated military man, and a great leader. In a lot of ways he is the father to his crew (and they show their respect by calling him "The Old Man"). At the same time he is very complicated and difficult to understand because he so seldom expresses his feelings and is terse when he does so. It is really important to pay attention to what he does, since small gestures will betray more of what he is thinking or feeling than anything he actually says. 

I really like Adama a lot, but it is not always obvious to me why.

His speech is even and concise. Although he may raise his voice he seldom yells or emotes (unlike, say, William Shatner on the original Star Trek, who is sort of famous for that). Adama is in control of his feelings most of the time, the episodes where he does lose control are more significant because they are so rare. (I would also add that I think some of these scenes are a mistake, but more on that when I do my evaluation of each episode.)

In one of the podcasts Ronald Moore says that Edward James Olmos incorporated into Adama a practice of not making eye contact. I was kind of surprised because failure to make eye contact is often a sign of deficit in social behavior (autism mom speaking here). In any event, I started looking for this trait when I was watching, and sure enough, he doesn't make eye contact. In Adama's case it is not a failure in social skills, but a deliberate decision not to provide facial clues while he is taking in what others say and making decisions.

I really noticed this in the CIC where they are always standing around the greenish light board in the middle of the room. Adama is usually looking down and his glasses reflect the light and obscure his eyes more, making him something of a cipher. When he is reviewing photos of the resurrection ship on Pegasus, he talks to Admiral Caine but doesn't look at her until she tells him that she is reassigning his crew to her ship. He looks up rapidly at this piece of news, immediately betraying his disquiet.  His response is clipped and even-toned, although it is apparent that he is angry.

Adama's glasses are also a clue to his state of mind. He usually appears relaxed when he is not wearing them, and he seldom smiles unless they are off. His smiles are warm and genuine, and more significant because they are rare. When he is about to announce a difficult or unpopular order or to disagree with someone he often takes them off and looks directly at the person he is speaking to.

For all his reserve, Adama is not afraid to be honest about his feelings. When Roslin tells Adama and Lee that they haven't gotten over Zak's death ("You Can't Go Home Again"), Lee says, "I think she's wrong, we have." Adama looks right at him and says, "I haven't." He says it clearly and succinctly without a lot of drama, while still conveying the depth of his feeling.

A large part of the miniseries and the first season is about Adama's transition from military officer to a much broader role as leader and protector of the community. After the Cylon attack Roslin immediately grasps the implications for the human race and understands what she must do. I think this is in part because Roslin's background is in the political arena. In any event, Roslin understands her place in the new scheme of things, while Adama must learn his.

The first step in the transition takes place in the miniseries. Adama prepares to take on a hopeless military confrontation with the Cylons (who have already destroyed all other military defenses). I suppose you can say that he is acting in accordance with his programming as a military officer, which is to fight the enemy. Roslin, who has spent the time immediately after the attack rounding up survivors, repeatedly points out the futility of fighting. ("How many times do I have to say this? The war is over. We lost.") Adama finally understands when he sees Billy flirting with Dee and repeats Roslin's statement "We gotta start making babies." From that point forward he is committed to the fleet of survivors. 

Later on in the first season Adama removes the civilian government and imprisons Roslin, the acts of a military man used to giving orders and seeing them obeyed. The last episode of Season 1 ("Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2") and most of season 2.0 are about the frailty of the alliance between the military and the civilian government. The government is disproportionately dependent on the military to keep the civilian fleet safe, compared to the pre-war state of affairs, and Adama has yet to understand his obligations to the civilian government.

There are several themes at work in the episodes, but a critical part is the role played by Adama's expanding insight into his place in the new order of things. His return to Kobol to find the rest of the fleet ("Home, Part 2") is important because it is the second time that Adama has changed his mind and abandoned one course of action to pursue another one. In this case it means swallowing his pride and setting aside the sense that he has been wronged. When he officially welcomes Roslin back into the leadership of the government, he leads the clapping and cedes his position on the podium to her, literally demonstrating the need to have a civilian government with authority over the military ("Home, Part 2"). It doesn't hurt, of course, that Roslin turned out to be right about finding a clue to the location of Earth in the Temple of Athena on Kobol.

From this point on, the military, under Adama, allows the direction to be set by the civilian government (at least as it is embodied by Roslin). This is why he moves to protect the civilian fleet from Admiral Caine, and is also why he is the first to clap when Roslin announces a general amnesty for everyone who has returned from New Caprica ("Collaborators").

When Pegasus shows up, he is unable to go back to the pre-war status quo of limited autonomy and following orders given by his military superiors (of course it doesn't help that Admiral Caine has strong dictatorial tendencies, a contempt for civilian government, and, on top of all that, is a total bitch). Moreover, his first concern is to protect the remaining human population, while Admiral Caine is indifferent to their well-being and ruthless in pursuit of military goals ("Pegasus" - I much prefer the expanded version, and "Resurrection Ship" Parts 1 and 2).

In one of the videoblogs, Edward James Olmos says that after Adama is shot by Boomer he becomes more emotionally vulnerable ("Scattered"). It is hard for me to put my finger on any one event that makes this obvious. I do think that Adama's increasing respect and growing emotional attachment to Roslin is part of this process. I like this relationship a lot - it is a relationship between adults who treat each other politely (old-fashioned, right), and work collaboratively. 

I am really interested in seeing where Adama goes in the last season. What will be his new role after Roslin dies? How will this affect him emotionally? (We already have an idea when Roslin has a vision of her own death in "The Hub.") What will his relationship with the new president?  (The new president will presumably be his own son, but more about THAT later, when I discuss "Sine Qua Non" - the only absolutely horrible episode of Galactica) How will he behave now that some of the action will move from Galactica (a well-defined physical space that he rules) to Earth, where the boundaries will presumably be more amorphous. My only certain knowledge is that he will be up to these new challenges.