Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (109)

[EarthandBeyond]

Funniest episode ever.

[The_Carpenter]

Funniest episode ever.

and it served as a nice change of pace.

So I'm guessing that Tighs wifes a cylon given No. 6s comment would make some sense if shes programmed to drive a wedge between Roselind, Adama and Tigh, but she also seems to be too unhinged to implent that plan.

[Trek_Girl42]

Just rewatched this ep along with the commentary, every single time I see it, I love it even more (easily one of my most rewatched eps). The comedic chops that all of the actors show are fantastic; the dinner party is still one of my favourite scenes of the series- showing that these characters normally so serious can be very funny and still in character.

"That's a thermonuclear bomb for frak's sake." One of the best lines of the series.

Also interesting to listen to the podcast and hear RDM talk about Col Tigh. Crossroads and Beyond Spoilers

Spoiler:

The whole backstory confuses me. Now obviously everything RDM talks about in the podcast isn't necessarily canon- though so far it sounds pretty accurate with the bits and pieces of this story that have been revealed on screen. So Tigh fighting in the first war still confuses me.....I really want to know the answer to this.

However it was indeed confirmed that Adama and Tigh didn't know each other during that war, that has been confused, and that they met later.

[SoulReaver]

Just rewatched this ep along with the commentary, every single time I see it, I love it even more (easily one of my most rewatched eps). The comedic chops that all of the actors show are fantastic; the dinner party is still one of my favourite scenes of the series- showing that these characters normally so serious can be very funny and still in character.

"That's a thermonuclear bomb for frak's sake." One of the best lines of the series.

Also interesting to listen to the podcast and hear RDM talk about Col Tigh. Crossroads and Beyond Spoilers

Spoiler:

The whole backstory confuses me. Now obviously everything RDM talks about in the podcast isn't necessarily canon- though so far it sounds pretty accurate with the bits and pieces of this story that have been revealed on screen. So Tigh fighting in the first war still confuses me.....I really want to know the answer to this.

However it was indeed confirmed that Adama and Tigh didn't know each other during that war, that has been confused, and that they met later.

the fact that this episode - albeit enjoyable (hey a bit of comedy relief is most welcome in a series such as this) - is chock full of plot holes (or rather, chasms) is the 1st thing that struck me when I watched it : like why the hell did Baltar conceal Boomer's identity as a cylon ? (especially with a survival instinct such as his). sure he didn't dare tell her directly lest a switch go off & she freak out on him, but why didn't he make a beeline for Adama's HQ & denounce her later on ? and what's the deal with everyone passing the test at the end of the ep ? had Baltar completely lost his will to survive or had he simply gone mad ? did he actually test them ? (in which case he really had gone bonkers knowing who was a cylon yet not doing anything about it) or did he skip the tests altogether & "play ostrich" instead ? we know his detector works, so logically Tigh should've registered as a cylon right ? if so why didn't he denounce Tigh, if not on the spot at least 2 years later during his trial so as to compromise the colonel ? (who just happened to be his worst enemy at that point btw). and finally, how many of the "main" characters were actually tested ? the detector appeared to simply vanish into oblivion after this ep with nary a mention of it in subsequent eps...

the part about him not turning in Boomer was the most blatant actually
RDM & co still have to answer this, if they haven't yet

[Trek_Girl42]

the fact that this episode - albeit enjoyable (hey a bit of comedy relief is most welcome in a series such as this) - is chock full of plot holes (or rather, chasms) is the 1st thing that struck me when I watched it : like why the hell did Baltar conceal Boomer's identity as a cylon ? (especially with a survival instinct such as his). sure he didn't dare tell her directly lest a switch go off & she freak out on him, but why didn't he make a beeline for Adama's HQ & denounce her later on ? and what's the deal with everyone passing the test at the end of the ep ? had Baltar completely lost his will to survive or had he simply gone mad ? did he actually test them ? (in which case he really had gone bonkers knowing who was a cylon yet not doing anything about it) or did he skip the tests altogether & "play ostrich" instead ? we know his detector works, so logically Tigh should've registered as a cylon right ? if so why didn't he denounce Tigh, if not on the spot at least 2 years later during his trial so as to compromise the colonel ? (who just happened to be his worst enemy at that point btw). and finally, how many of the "main" characters were actually tested ? the detector appeared to simply vanish into oblivion after this ep with nary a mention of it in subsequent eps...

the part about him not turning in Boomer was the most blatant actually
RDM & co still have to answer this, if they haven't yet

Wrong ep. I think he discovered Boomer the ep before "Tigh Me Up Tigh Me Down" (she was the test run- at the beginning of TMUTMD Baltar is begining widespread testing)- Six was messing with him and Baltar freaked when he saw what Boomer really was. He didn't even want to do the cylon detection project in the first place, at this point Baltar is confused about the cylons, and more scared that one of them will out him for his role in the attacks, than what a sleeper agent might do. And Baltar NEVER saw that Tigh was a cylon. He pre-set the test so that when the result came through the computer, it automatically read green. Even he saw everyone come out green- there is a line in the ep that goes "I'll never tell" whether Ellen is a cylon, I think that's more an error than anything, there is just absolutely no way that he knows the identity of the final five. He's been desperate to find out since the beginning of season three on the basestar!

The audience doesn't need it spelled out to assume that they "boxed" the cylon detection project after Boomer shot Adama and turned out to be a cylon, even though the test "read" that she wasn't (I'm pretty sure there was some mention of it somewhere by Baltar, but I'd have to re-watch the entire first half of season two to find it). They wouldn't have seen any point in continuing the testing, and Baltar couldn't very well admit that he'd faked the result! Hence no cylon detector after season one.

[SoulReaver]

there is a line in the ep that goes "I'll never tell" whether Ellen is a cylon, I think that's more an error than anything

yeah that was the line (though I'm not sure he was talking specifically about Helen). if he really did rig the test to show green regardless of input then I guess we can add that line to the "list of things to be retconned" for it would completely contradict the 'rigged test' theory (by that line he's unequivocally stating that he knows who is & who isn't a cylon in that room)
btw has RDM ever been called out on it ?


on the other hand I can accept the fact that Baltar wasn't too keen on testing people & wanted to bury his ehad in the sand if we take into account the fact that he was as you said "confused" about the cylons (not to mention the fact he was completely bewitched by Head6 - and who wouldn't be -)

but Boomer was a different story, he already knew what she was : a walking timebomb that could go off any time. he had every reason to turn her in, other cylons going after him was less of a problem knowing he could get a security detachment to guard him 24/7 (wouldn't have upset his life much as he was already spending all his time cooped up in a lab anyway) especially since his prototype detector worked like a miracle (incidentally they dumbed down its efficiency in the following episode, another inconsistency looks like)

btw when interrogating Boomer he said he withheld Boomer's true nature from the rest of the fleet "for his own purposes" (whatever the hell these were ) which means that fear was not the reason behind his actions (or lack thereof) when it came to Boomer

[AresLover452]

I love this one, not only because Tigh's wife gets drunk, EJO directed it, but because of the Roslin and Adama Flirting that happening in the beginning of the episode.

[X-U]

There's one thing I don't get though:

They're saying it takes 11 hours to find out if somebody is a ceylon or not, but in the previous episode Boomer asks Gaius to test her, and in that episode it seems as if they test her in a few minutes.

Did I miss something there?

[AresLover452]

there is a sort of absence of time in the show. it happens a lot in this series but it plays to the seriousness of it though.

[EvilSpaceAlien]

I didn't know where else to post this, but here's a link to a place where you can read a white draft of the episode's script. Although i have no idea what white draft means...
http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/battle...actica-109.pdf

[AresLover452]

i love how EJO directed this. he kept the seriousness of the show but some how managed to incorperate a little humor as well. i loved this episode and I love it even more every time i watch it.

[TBA]

I love it even more since the show doesn't have any other humour episodes The bit with Baltar was just great, imo.

Baltar: Lieutenant Thrace, so, uh, what I can I do for you?
Starbuck: You can zip up your fly...

[AresLover452]

Or Ellen and Tigh in the hall... lmao!! that was hilarious

[Pharaoh Atem]

Or Ellen and Tigh in the hall... lmao!! that was hilarious

we're almost home.... LOL just around the weapons storage there home is just one small room ...

quite funny

[Ulkesh47]

I enjoyed this one, but it was a flawed construct in some respects in that some of the "you could be a Cylon" and "I wanted to keep her away from him for as long as possible" motivations seemed to not hold their water for me.

Also, this episode contains probably the only missteps of the series' musical scoring when the dreaded "funny music" comes along. This brings flashbacks of the B5 episodes "The War Prayer" and "Grail" - history repeats itself; a show with great music yields isolated cases of funny music in the first year and wisely never goes there again.

Highlights: "Boo!" (that was genuinely funny), "You saved our ship" (best scene of the episode, also rather an iconic one), and the artful final shot.

Pretty much your average quality for a BSG episode (funny to say "your average episode" when referring to the one and only comedy story, but so it goes).

5/10