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Spoilers.
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 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
• Kate Vernon – Ellen Tigh / Final Cylon
The Episode: “Someone To Watch Over Me”
The issue of who or what Starbuck really is, as well the terium of routine on Galactica continues to weigh heavily on her. She has disturbing nightmares and visions of her dead self from Earth. As an escape, she begins hanging with the local piano player from the bar and reminiscing about her father. Meanwhile, the Rebel Cylons want to punish Boomer for her actions during the recent Cylon civil war and Tyrol, who discovers he still loves her, can’t let that happen.
The Lowdown
I’m starting to think there was some kind of budget crunch this season as this is the umpteenth Galactica internal episode. They must be saving up for the big finale, in which Cavil is certainly coming to wipe everybody out, especially once he knows Galactica’s location and that she’s not doing so hot. But when that episode comes, will Galactica even be there? She looked like she was deteriorating faster than a Hybrid’s coherency.
Two major stories going on this week, one with Starbuck and the piano man and Tyrol and Boomer. Starbuck is continuing to have visions of the blonde skeleton in the crashed viper on Earth, during the day and night. Plus, as the weeks have gone on, Starbuck’s job as CAG has become such routine she can recite it from memory. She goes to the bar to drown her sorrows and is at first annoyed by the piano player, who continually plays the same song over and over as he is composing it. Starbuck mouths off to him, but eventually mellows and engages him in conversation. She even confides in him about her dead other and her father, who taught her to play piano before abandoning her and her mother, the latter subject still very painful.
Meanwhile, the Fleet Cylons want to extradite Boomer for trial for siding with Cavil during the civil war. Considering that she also shot Adama twice, things aren’t looking good for Boomer. Tyrol makes regular visits to see her and discovers her little getaway place, an idyllic house on Picon that she projects into his mind. This brings them closer to what they were and Tyrol realizes that he can’t lose her again and helps her escape by replacing her with another Eight in the brig. But what Tyrol doesn’t know is that Boomer takes Hera with her as she plans to escape Galactica. If that had been a plot to get Hera, it was pretty damn intricate.
All in all this was another low key episode. On the Starbuck story, I’m pretty done with the subject of what she is. I have a sinking suspicion that her father might have been Daniel, which makes her part Cylon perhaps, or she’s related to that final Cylon in some way. Way back when I thought it might have been a take on the original series’ light beings that showed Apollo, Starbuck and Sheba the way to Earth. But it doesn’t look like that’s the case anymore. So still not sure how that plays into her resurrection, visions, destiny, etc. She does articulate that she’s been drifting ever since they found Earth, but hell, I think she’s been drifting longer than that. I used to really like Starbuck, but with all of the soul searching crap they’ve had her do for the entire run of the show, it had worn thin long ago. She’s been consistently the most inconsistent character on the show.
On the flipside with Tyrol, he’s also been through a hell of an arc to get back to loving Boomer. I kind of figured he’d set her free once Roslin essentially signed her death warrant. I’d nearly forgotten about Cylon projection because we haven’t seen it in so long. Really liked Boomer doing whatever it took to make her escape, including beating Athena’s brains out and frakking Helo’s out. You know he’s going to be in deep shit when Sharon collects her wits and grills him about “what do you mean you didn’t know it wasn’t me?” Helo probably should have gotten on that Raptor with Boomer, it might have been safer for him. We also get back to Hera’s specialness, which had also gone by the wayside long ago.
Finally, Galactica. Wow, looks like she might not make it to the end, or if she does she’ll more than likely be destroyed in the impending battle. I almost consider these final ten episodes Season 5 because Season 4 was so long ago. But the show isn’t going out as good quite as other series. The entire season is an exercise in the tedium and hopelessness of the fleet since Earth turned out to be a goose egg. And also drawing out the last few secrets – namely Starbuck – as much as possible, and vomiting out the rest. We know there’s a final battle coming, but this season is a sedate attempt to wrap up a few loose ends and meander to the finale.