A few spoilers might be found here.
Battlestar Galactica Official Site
The Time: Fridays, 9:00 PM, Sci-Fi Channel
The Show
In
this reimagining of the 1978 space epic, the human survivors of the
Cylon massacre of the Twelve Colonies struggle to survive in a ragtag
fleet of ships led by the last human warship, the Battlestar
Galactica. Shepherded by Admiral William Adama and President
Laura Roslin, the Colonial Fleet are under constant threat of attack by
the Cylon Armada, who seek nothing short of their
extermination. Adding to the danger is the fact the Cylons
have infiltrated the fleet with twelve models that look
human. Eleven of those models have been discovered, but one
still remains. The quest to find Earth, the mythical
thirteenth colony, has just been fulfilled, with devastating
results. As the joint human / renegade Cylon alliance
discovers a destroyed planet, the question remains of what to do next
as this storied television series counts down its final ten episodes.
The Stars
• Edward James Olmos – Admiral William Adama
• Mary McDonell – President Laura Roslin
• Katee Sackhoff – Captain Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
• Jamie Bamber – Lee “Apollo” Adama
• James Callis – Dr. Gaius Baltar
• Michael Hogan – Colonel Saul Tigh
• Tricia Helfer – Cylon Model Six / Caprica / Natalie / Head 6
• Grace Park – Cylon Model Eight / Sharon “Athena” Agathon / Boomer
• Aaron Douglas – Galen Tyrol / Cylon Final Five
• Tahmoh Penikett – Captain Karl “Helo” Agathon
• Allessandro Juliani – Felix Gaeta
• Lucy Lawless – Cylon Model #3 / Deanna
• Dean Stockwell – Cylon Model One / Cavil
• Richard Hatch – Vice President Tom Zarek
The Episode: “A Disquiet Follows My Soul”
Despair is turning into unrest within the fleet as anti-Cylon sentiment is brewing in every level of the society. Gaeta resents being made to wait in the infirmary while Cylons are treated ahead of him. He also has issues that he feels like taking out on Starbuck, who’s in no mood for them whatsoever. Meanwhile, Zarek is riling up the Quorum to oppose any alliance with the Cylons whatsoever as Lee tries to keep the acrimony to a minimum. Baltar is mad at daddy (God) and Tyrol finds out a big secret about his half Cylon son. Finally, Roslin is contemplating life as a private citizen while the government falls apart without her.
The Lowdown
This is a much more sedate episode than the premiere as things in the fleet get back more toward situation normal – all frakked up. It’s not really what I expected as there are now only eight episodes left. I actually figured there would be more running and gunning toward the finale, more major revelations coming more often, and that things would be, in a word, bigger, considering how much was revealed and posed in the premiere. There’s still a lot of stuff to be answered and time’s running out. However, what happens here is that it’s more squabbling in the fleet between various factions about various things and this is a much more scaled down affair. It’s also the calm before the storm.
One thing that jumped out about how the post-discovery of Earth situation in the fleet is that in many ways it’s very much like the pre-discovery situation. And truth be told it’s territory that’s already been covered before. Zarek’s not happy with the power situation – especially about collaborating with the Cylons – and is threatening a power play. I’m not sure the producers have always known what to do with Zarek. First he’s the dissident, then later the enemy and collaborator, then the president, then not, then the trusted advisor, now he’s back to being the dissident.
Since Roslin’s basically telling the presidency to go frak itself, Zarek is stepping up and making trouble. But it begs the question that if this is the case, what was the whole point of Lee’s ascension to the office in the first place? The whole rigamarole with Romo and his dead cat? There’s been a revolving door in the presidency over the run of the show and it’s now become one of the areas that’s interested me the least. This Zarek causing trouble material is old hat and not what I’m really looking to revisit in the closing episodes of the series.
Then there’s Gaeta, who’s got axes to grind with almost everybody. He’s become a bitter bastard, hasn’t he? He’s really not feeling the Cylons and he has a good and acerbic exchange with Starbuck. And apparently he’s having issues with his HMO which will just make you want to shoot a Cylon bitch right in the head. Gaeta was probably near the top of everybody’s “Who’s the final Cylon” list, and now he’s about as far from that as anybody on the show. His upcoming mutiny could be interesting, but I’m hoping it doesn’t go more than a few epsidoes at most because this is also tread ground with Adama and Cain.
Found the big reveal about Tyrol and his son interesting. Wasn’t expecting that, but it does clear up a fairly unspoken issue about how Hera was unique and what role she still has to play. I’m also over the Baltar cultist / radio jock bit. Baltar seems to have stagnated and I’m hoping he gets back into the thick of it before everything wraps up. Overall, I’m generally looking past this episode to next week when the fireworks begin.