Resistance (204)

[Easter Lily]

*slaps self on the head*
I forgot to mention how much I loved the characters on BSG... thanks for the reminder Jonisa... I've had such a heady discussion else where today that my grey matter has been fried...

Yeah... where were we...? Oh yes, characters...

BSG has reached social pathology status for me. The plotting is contrived. The characterizations are black and white, with some GOOD and others BAD. They are also inconsistent. The holocaust of humanity premise that supposedly makes the show realistically gritty is violated in the grossest way, with more civilians shown on Caprica than in the fleet! what do you people like about the show?

I really don't believe that any of the characters are the caricatures that you make them out to be. Maybe I have a very low view of human nature in general... but I think in BSG, people act pretty consistently with who they are. I don't think the characters on the BSG that I'm watching can so easily be categorized as being "good" or "bad". The fact that you can point to so many character flaws in your review suggests to me that the characters aren't so cut and dried. Actually, it also suggests to me that there's nothing at all good about any of them...
The way I look at BSG is that there are a bunch of people stuck together at the end of the world. They are human beings all trapped together in a situation that they don't want to be in. They do what they can to survive... They do what they, individually, THINK is right... (which is probably half the problem) To me, it's a fascinating look at choices and consequences. When these people make mistakes, boy... do they pay... dearly...
You blame Adama for the whole situation... which is interesing... I blame Roslin, first and foremost, but I also believe that Adama needs to shoulder some responsibility for his own actions in putting Roslin under arrest for what can also be perceived as a reckless move. But maybe we should just blame the cylons for the attack... or the original humans for constructing the cylons in the first place Blame is irrelevant... how far do you want to go... What is more interesting is how these actions are played and what are the consequences of action or inaction.

Personally I don't notice plot holes... I'm too busy emersing myself in the situation at hand and enjoying the way these people interact with each other on this show and on other shows...

[NiM]

Anyone else catch the 'honorific' reference to Richard Hatch as Cpt. Apollo in the original series?

Zarek:"Good to see you madam president"
Roslyn:"Captain Apollo!"
*silence as Roslin is halfturned towards Zarek not quite turning away*
"What is Mr. Zarek doing here?"

Atleast i found it pretty funny

[sharky277]

I think Billy didn't leave because he love's Duella, well that's part of the reason anyway.

[kiwigater]

Wow PM, that is quite the..... rant
I agree with what the others have said, I don't watch this show because it strictly adheres to reality, and in my opinion BSG is one of the few shows where the characters don't easily fall into good or bad categories. Is Tigh good or bad? No, he's both, and flawed. Same goes for Zerick, I want to hate him, but then again I also partially admire the goals he's trying to achieve, even if I think he's gone about it the wrong way and endangered everyone.
Eventually it all comes does to suspension of disbelief, are you willing to accept something that is unlikely in RL as furtherance to the story - and for me the series is so enthralling that yes, I am.
As a scientist this radiation meds thing is the one thing that ALWAYS drives me batty - the only anti-radiation meds we have on Earth, right now, is basically iodine which protects against one very specific form of radiation - it's not a cure all, and frankly in this situation is butt all use. However, I try to remind myself that this is NOT Earth, their culture is not our culture, and just cos WE haven't discovered "anti-radiation" meds doesn't mean it's not possible. Why can't another civilisation have discovered different things than us?

Anyway, no one is forcing anyone to watch the show, if you have that many issues with it, don't watch.

[FeloniousMonk]

One thing about the Caprica scenes that always bugged me is the presence of virtually undamaged structures. Granted there's some serious wreckage around but the majority of Caprica City is standing. In the miniseries they showed us dozens of mushroom clouds yet the only evidence of such decimation is a few broken pillars and some shattered windows. With explosions like that the heart of the city would've been leveled.

Now I can buy that the Cylons wanted to keep Caprica City intact for their own purposes but I expected at least one solitary comment akin to "why are all the buildings still standing?" to coincide with the "where are all the bodies?" question posed previously.

[LoneStar1836]

One thing about the Caprica scenes that always bugged me is the presence of virtually undamaged structures. Granted there's some serious wreckage around but the majority of Caprica City is standing. In the miniseries they showed us dozens of mushroom clouds yet the only evidence of such decimation is a few broken pillars and some shattered windows. With explosions like that the heart of the city would've been leveled.

Now I can buy that the Cylons wanted to keep Caprica City intact for their own purposes but I expected at least one solitary comment akin to "why are all the buildings still standing?" to coincide with the "where are all the bodies?" question posed previously.

I was reading on another board and people were discussing this. Helo probably didn’t head for Caprica City when GalBoomer left him since it got nuked, so he and CapBoomer have been in other smaller cities that didn’t warrant a bomb being dropped on them. Like they were in Delphi in KLG. Well if the US, for example, got nuked, you’re not going to nuke every moderately populated city (50,000-100,000 pop) so it’s safe to assume that the Cylons only targeted strategic cities and left others alone.

[Liebestraume]

Plot mechanic, thanks for another thought-provoking post. Though I watch the episode just once -- only hours before no less -- I feel compelled to respond to your comments. Apologies in advance if I have to snip your original post here and there to keep this one from getting even more "necessarily extraordinarily long."

what do you people like about the show?

I don't presume to speak for "us people" -- personally I've certainly discussed in these threads (sometimes at great length and doubtlessly to the chagrin of my fellow posters ) some of the reasons I liked this show. And I think there is plenty to not dislike, even within the confines of the plot/character quandary you brought up.

The notion that there would be too much traffic to and from "Cloud Nine" (That name! Can we get any campier?) to track also stands out. ...

This would have been a plot hole if taken at face value. However, if memory serves (and I'll check again), the notion was brought up by Gaeta, whom the episode had established as a sympathizer, if not a direct participant, to the so-called revolution. Thus I think it made sense within the context.

Logically, the freeing of the President is a climactic point of the revolution, not the beginning! ...

Freeing-of-the-opposition-leader-as-climax-of-the-revolution has been overused in movie-making, often with mixed results. I am not sure what's so logical about it, given neither proposition nor deduction is actually involved; IMHO it's no more than dramatic choice and execution. In this particular instance, Roslin's escape in and of itself does not IMHO make compelling story-telling. Of more interest to me was what part each individual played in her escape, what choices he/she made, and the reasons for those choices.

... Actually, Roslin's surrender in the season finale would in the real world pretty much finish her politically, as someone who didn't do her duty in defending democracy. Or as a loser who wasn't brave enough to stick up for herself. I suppose this absurdity was impelled by the conviction that a real woman doesn't resort to violence, or that democracy is not worth defending or that you can't have an actual confrontation between Adama and Roslin which reflects badly on Adama. Take your pick.

I won't belabor the Adama-v-Roslin issue here, since it has been addressed by many posters (with your truly duely to follow ). Suffices it to say that the whole mess did make Adama look bad (and will continue to look worse, I think) -- and that's part of the charm of this show.

I strongly disagree with the notion that Roslin's "surrender" was in any way an indication of her failure "in defending democracy" or being "a loser who wasn't brave enough to stick up for herself." Bravery is defined in many different ways, and sometimes it is about putting others' lives before one's personal honor. You were quite correct in that Roslin didn't stick up for herself, but that was only because she knew The Articles of Colonization were bigger than a single person and did what was necessary to avoid the bloodshed which would surely endanger their democracy in its fragile state. IMHO she behaved with grace and statesmanship, but I fail to see how that has anything to do with her gender.

...These people should be starving, in ships out of fuel. Period. The guff about tyllium refining is ridiculous. The idea that there will be food freighters is just insane. There's no way that it could be cheaper to ship food from another planet. If there were Star Trek style replicators, you would expect the ships to carry on normally. But pretending in one episode that you've confronted the shortages issue for one of the few commodities you can recycle and/or find in abundance (namely, water,) then to blandly pretend in another you just have this stuff? ...

Unless I missed something, Hand of God was about fuel resourcing -– which made it reasonable to assume the existence of a refining tanker within the rag-tag fleet. Water supply was of particular interest only as the result of sabotage, which would explain why the food shortage hasn't come up. Perhaps it would come to ahead somewhere down the road -- as of now, they are only, what, less than 60 days into their forced exile? It would not be too much of a stretch to say they still had enough to go around within the fleet.

I agree that it was quite a coincidence that there happened to be food freighters when cylons launched their attack, as was that there happened to be refining tankers. Then, by the same token, it was also very lucky for the fleet that Adama happened to be on a ship about to be decommissioned, or that Apollo happened to be flying Dad's old viper, etc. etc. I'm sure the list goes on –- suffices it to say that BSG needs these happy circumstances to establish its premises as does any other show (Star Trek included). The point is, however, all that the show has to do is to stay true to the premises it previously established –- and I think BSG has.

The discovery of the survivors on Caprica is a gigantic hole in the holocaust of humanity premise of the series. Survivors because they were in "the" mountains. If mountains were all it took to survive those nuclear explosions in the mini, a planet full of mountains means lots of survivors. ... Incidentally, there are no radiation meds that can prevent or heal damage from ambient radiation. Not even in the BSG universe. Because, you remember, radiation damage causes cancer, among other things. But: It is well established that the BSG universe, despite FTL and artifical gravity, cannot prevent or cure cancer. I suppose this means that the Caprica "survivors" are actually characters in a Cylon virtual reality training scenario! ...

A couple of things here.

First, I agree with you that the apparent mutual trust between Kara/Helo and the band of star athletes seemed a bit strange, given the respective personal experiences of Kara and Helo, as well as what recounted by the said athletes. Your mocking of the survivors being characters in cylons’ training program might in fact not been too far off the mark, case in point being the acute observation by LoneStar. Methinks there are reasons other than their surviving skills at play here because, let’s face it, they are lousy shots and terrible strategists.

But the issue with radiation is not as clear-cut as you suggested. At least not to me. For instance, do we even know if the cylon attack was entirely nuclear? It is a common mistake to equate mushroom cloud with nuclear bomb, but I'm sure most of us are aware of the difference. Therefore, could the actual bombing be conventional, or neutron, or some combination thereof? Along this line of reasoning, high-altitude indeed helps one's chance of survival -- so long as most of these bombs were leveled against the cities -– and radiation level should drop fairly rapidly, even within the said cities.

Earlier in the series, Adama sent marines to help keep order on the ships. ... The whole mess is Adama's fault.

This part is the good stuff -- my response in a separate post duely follows.

As usual, plot contortions are accompanied by bungled characterizations. The Doctor's assistance to the President is particularly thickwitted. ... Dualla's sudden discovery of Apollo ass is not quite so out of character. If you remember her few scenes, she is actually a very erratic character, to put it generously. ... Billy's turn against the president when he refuses to go with her to divide the fleet was foreshadowed. The problem is that he says this after he has already done everything she needed! ... Tigh's disintegration wasn't quite convincing either. I mean, a big part of the mini was how he rose to the occasion under stress. Now it's the opposite. There is a difference now, which is Ellen. This character is not inconsistent: We never knew what she wanted! But she is BAD. BSG's penchant for black and white characterization is in full flower here.

Admittedly, I consider Doc Cottle a very peripheral character, whose function was not much beyond moving the plot forward and providing the occasional snark; as such, I hardly paid much attention to him. So, perhaps there is something to what you said about him. On the other hand, perhaps he was fed up with Tigh's rule just like a lot of the others, so much so that he takes perverse glee in antagonizing Tigh. Or perhaps in his medical opinion the hallucinogen in Chamalla(??) was not enough to impair Roslin's judgment – not that I personally believe that, but it was possible.

Dualla had a fairly consistent development as far as I could see, so perhaps I fail to spot the erratic behaviors you attributed to her characterization. The only time she behaved in a manner anywhere near "mean" was during a recent conversation with Billy; but there I thought she had ample cause to be mad at him. Yes, she said some stuff that was uncalled for, but who amongst us hasn't said something then immediately wished it unsaid? Her aiding and abetting Roslin's escape was not abrupt but with foreshadowing -– it had been clear, at least to me, that her loyalty to the command resided largely, oe perhaps even singularly, with The Old Man. (As a side, there have also been some telltale signs that she might be a cylon, but I'm not into the "guess who is cylon" game.)

I could see why Billy waited till the last minute to draw that proverbial line in the sand. His opposition to Roslin's arrow-retrieval plan was well-established in KLG, yet he stood by her during the standoff with the military. Though he always had reservations about Roslin's Chamalla use, he chose to get it for her when she was suffering from withdraw. He has great affection for Roslin's person as well as tremendous respect for her office, but he'd stop before the point of no return -- IMHO because deep down he did not believe in what she was doing. No big surprises there.

Though Tigh's downward spiral was a bit faster than I had liked, it was ultimately inevitable. A competent officer in all matters military, he lacks the temperament, political savvy, and respect for civilians to deal with the chores of governing. I see him as a personality in constant need of guidance by another stronger than him, which would explain his relationship with Ellen as well as that with Adama –- which in turn explains why he fell apart when Adama was not around. As for Ellen, I do agree that she fits every cliche of a "b**tch."

(to be continued ... )

[Liebestraume]

(cont'd ...)

I suppose one of the "fun" things about the episode was Baltar's little trick on Boomer. First, I don't think even the execution drugs kill so quickly. Second, there is no drug so easily, quickly and reliably reversed. Third, there's no brain stem death in ten seconds. Fourth, Baltar has no way of knowing that Boomer doesn't know this, or even understands it. Fifth, Baltar has no way of knowing that Boomer has any knowledge in her unconscious. Sixth, Baltar has no way of knowing that Boomer didn't just spout any old number, just to save the chief. Seventh, Baltar doesn't even know that Boomer had to override Cylon programming by sheer force of her love for the chief, since she may have just picked a number.

Despite all this, we may safely assume that this nonsense actually revealed true information. ...

Who are "we"? Personally I never for a minute assumed what "we" apparently did.

I don't think the whole interrogation sequence should be taken at its face value, simply because doing so makes absolutely no sense. It has been known that there were 12 models, 4 of which have been exposed. That means there are still 8 unknown faces, and possibly copies of the other 4, among the entire fleet. Baltar knew this. Then why would he bother to ask?

I think he asked as part of the proposed experiment on Boomer. He didn't care what the answer was, or whether or not Boomer knew it. He wanted to know if cylons experiencing genuine emotions, how deep those emotions could run, and –- most importantly –- how to use it to his own advantage. I saw the whole scene as mostly about Baltar and how far along he'd come along since Kobol. And I thought it was well done.

... And, eighth, the chief should remember that Baltar said the detector actually worked. I doubt that he will for some reason, but Baltar couldn't know that.

I fail to see the logical connection to your previous 7 points. On the one hand, it is not quite true -- Baltar did know that or, at least, counted on Tyrol believing it, because that was how he tricked Tyrol into letting him stick in that big needle. On the other hand, even if Tyrol could remember at the most inopportune moment, Baltar still could easily side-step the issue -- just like he did Tigh's questioning.

... The civilians killed were somehow not killed by an actual soldier, despite being in a relatively small corridor at close quarters. ... Can you say copout, children?

Notwithstanding the amusing "children" remark, I didn't see that sequence as a copout at all. What happened there was good people doing stupid things while under duress, and it could very well happen in real life -- and it did. The soldiers who shot civilians need not be bad people; in fact, I'll argue it's a prime counterexample to the "black-and-white" characterization that you have been so eloquently raging against not so long ago.

The Ruby shooting Oswald scene at the end was also notable. There is no sensible reason for transferring a prisoner from a brig to a makeshift cell. There is no sensible reason for a mob to come out of nowhere, unless you think Adama was such a crap commander that none of his people have any discipline at all. Last, there is no point to a Ruby/Oswald reference. It's just pretention to meaning.

I quite agree that the mob scene in the corridor was somewhat arbitrary -- one would think people serving aboard a battlestar should be better trained in military discipline. As to "pretension to meaning," however, who suggested the Ruby/Oswald reference in the first place?

I think there are two ways to view this. Number one, it could be another case of good people (i.e., Cally) doing stupid things under duress -- in which case, any attribution to Oswald (i.e., conspiracy) was entirely on the part of the individual viewer. And secondly (and conversely), if the reference was intended by TPTB, then the suggestion there would be Cally was a cylon -- in which case, there was no pretension for there was indeed meaning.

The bookend drops of blood on the deck are ambiguous. ...

Perhaps, but why is that necessarily a deficiency? I actually like a show that leaves its viewers to draw their own conclusions, which again is what I like about this one (to answer your opening question).

As it happened in this case, the bookend blood drops did make me ponder, among other things, what made "us" human and "them" cylon. However, I did not "seize upon it as a sign" that this show actually address these issues. It merely made me think about them -- but that's enough for me.

[Liebestraume]

Missed both showings as the result of being out of town, I've just had the chance to watch the episode. Ditto to all the good stuff being said up thread.

I'd like to pick up the discussions re military vs. civilian and Adama vs. Roslin. However, these are two separate issues, as neither character is wholly representative of either side.

Back in the mini, Roslin and Adama reached an agreement – he would be in charge of military operations, and she civilian affairs. It was a sensible compromise that utilizes the relative strength of each. Though trying their cooperation had been at times, it held and worked well till KLG. I think it was because till then they each genuinely believed in the practicality of the arrangement and duly honored it.

Fast-forward to KLG. By then Roslin had already discovered her spirituality. She believed in the prophecy and thought the only way to fulfill via a valuable military asset the use of which Adama already denied. Out of desperation, and perhaps a sense of righteousness, she manipulated Kara into running the errand.

Ever wary of leadership seized by religious fervor, I nevertheless believe Roslin was trying to do the right thing, and that she reached her decision through sound reasoning (as opposed to drug-induced hallucination). She needed to give the fleet a true sense of purpose -- for Adama knew not where Earth was (or even if it existed) –- and she thought the arrow would do that. She was aware of her role in the prophecy, as well as the fact that her time was running out. She truly believed in what she was doing and, as the president, had the authority to deploy military asset.

But I still think she made a mistake –- as a president –- to act upon a religious belief. She is supposed to be the president of an entire democracy which, if our world is any indication, would consist of atheists, agnostics, monotheists, or even people ascribing to different interpretations of the same scriptures. Would any of these people believe in what she was doing? And these people's opinions should matter to her, if for no other reason than the fact that what she was about to do would indeed endanger their lives.

I also think that was the only mistake she made, but Adama made it worse by making one of his own. Because his surrogate daughter was co-opted, he let his emotion impair his better judgment and summarily disposed the president. Perhaps he had fully intended to talk it over with Roslin once things (and himself) calmed down a little, but we'd never know because he got shot soon after. Although Tigh's ineptitude made matters infinitely worse, I still hold Adama –- who is among my favorite characters, if not the favorite -- accountable. Because he was the one who set the military wheels in motion, the one who put Tigh in a position of responsibility.

So now we have this apparently escalating conflict between military and civilian government as direct result of their respective leaders making poor choices. As a viewer, I found my loyalty surprisingly undivided. And not alone.

Ugh. I hate how this show is almost forcing me to take sides. I want to support both sides. I want my democracy, but right now my loyalties lie with the military, and Lee has really betrayed the military with this move....

One of the reasons, I think, is because military personnel, by and large, have been shown to great advantage up this point. This is in direct contrast to the civilian population, for the most part, felt like a bit of a nuisance. And, when I looked upon the Quorum of 12, I thought of Tom Zarek as the bright spot –- that was when I knew my priorities were totally messed up.

All kidding aside, though, I don't think the matter military-vs-civilian debate has an easy answer even if it's in the abstract. Being indoctrinated into the democratic principals since early ages, we are likely to equate civilian government with democracy and look upon military coup as trumping of liberty. But histories proves that this is not always the case.

And even our world is not just the U.S. I think if you are familiar with some of the totalitarian coutries in our world, you will think differently about the military in the sense how it is sometimes (ab)used by the persons in power as always that "nice". History does not always play out as it was in North America.

This is the reason why people have democracy.

Yes, but there are also examples where a strong military served as the underpining of stability in the country, which although ostensibly democratic was verging on oligarchy or theocracy. So I think it's all in the context.

To bring it back on topic, I suspect many viewers –- despite of their loftier aspirations -- would find more sympathy for the military side now that Adama is up and walking about. The rest of the season should be very interesting.

[keshou]

BSG has reached social pathology status for me. The plotting is contrived. The characterizations are black and white, with some GOOD and others BAD. They are also inconsistent. The holocaust of humanity premise that supposedly makes the show realistically gritty is violated in the grossest way, with more civilians shown on Caprica than in the fleet! what do you people like about the show?

Wow - you've got some major problems with the show. Don't think anything we say will change your mind and that's okay. You like what you like. But see Liebestraume's posts just above. Maybe she can convince you.

All I can say is that ultimately I like a show because it entertains me, engages my emotions, makes me anxious to see what happens in the next episode to characters I've grown to love. I'm sure there are plot holes and nits to pick in every episode but I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on those - I just enjoy the fact this show engages me on every level.

*The characters. I think they're *anything* but black or white - in fact I'd say that's one of the main reasons I enjoy BSG. It's a character-driven show and I find the characters wonderfully complex. The heroes have flaws, the villains have layers.

*The theme. I'm a big fan of the apocalypse theme in scifi where a civilization is nearly destroyed and forced to start over. What - we've seen 50+ survivors on Caprica? I don't find that unbelievable. We know there are almost 50,000 people in this fleet. The fact we haven't "met" many of the civilians yet doesn't mean they aren't there. The focus of the show is on the military ship.

*The multi-episode story arcs. I can understand that others may get bored with stories that overlap several episodes - like we're seeing in the first part of S2 - but I love that style of story-telling. Sometimes things drag on too long but overall I think it allows them to give the stories a lot of depth. Events in one episode carry over and have real consequences in the next episode.

*The grittiness of the series. You may not find things to be very realistic but I do. At least they're admitting they have to find food and fuel to survive. I've also really enjoyed all the battle scenes. Messy, dirty business and I feel that when I watch the show.

*The mixing of politics, religion and scifi. Religion is such a big part of many civilizations and I appreciate that the writers are treating it with respect and as a major part of this fictional society.

*The villains. Honestly, the Cylons creep me out. The "toasters" - with those flashing eyes give me the willies. The human Cylons are both the ultimate evil and yet at times extremely sympathetic.

[Mr. Seven]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned yet...

Did anyone notice that the marine on the left during Tyrol's interrogation/beatup scene was played by the same actor as the Marine who came through the Gate at the start of SGA: The Siege Part 2?

Having started watching a lot of SG-1 reruns it looks like there might only be about 50 actors in Vancouver to star on SCIFI shows

[entil2001]

A lot of plot threads come to a head in this episode, which is exactly the way I like it. The first six or seven episodes are supposed to let the consequences of the first season finale take their natural and inexorable course, and this is an important step in that direction. The President is finally out of prison and able to move against the military dictatorship that Tigh has established (intentional or not), Adama is back to pick up the pieces, and one of the Boomers has met an untimely end. All in all, a rather momentous episode.

So Adama is willing to let Tigh off the hook, claiming that command has more pressures than anyone can understand, and mistakes happen. Adama really has a blind eye in that regard. While it fits his character, one wonders how happy he’ll be when facing down a religious resistance movement with ties to a former convicted terrorist. Nothing comes easy on this series, given the fragile nature of their lives, and this is another shining example.

Does Adama figure that Tigh will learn his lesson through the process of fixing his mistakes? It’s more likely that the mistakes will be overshadowed by other concerns. I’m wondering just how much the Cylons are getting away with while the Colonials are focused on their own internal strife. After all, look at how much Baltar is able to get away with, and he’s one of the least trusted people in the fleet, as far as Tigh is concerned.

Speaking of Baltar, he takes a wonderfully dark turn in this episode. His gambit with Tyrol was rather evil, and it’s not at all clear what he intends to do with the information he acquired from Boomer (who could have been lying, for all that he knows). Baltar still sees himself as God’s instrument among the humans, and if that thinking continues to drive his actions, it could be nasty when his agenda is finally revealed. After all, Roslyn is going to be looking to someone to give her guidance to Earth, and Baltar is in the perfect position to play Judas.

Based on Ron Moore’s podcast, I’m not sure about Ellen Tigh anymore. I was leaning towards the possibility that she’s a Cylon as well, given how similarly she manipulates Tigh as Six manipulates Baltar. But that similarity could be reflective of another goal of the writing staff. Six has a clear agenda with Baltar, but Ellen’s actions are haphazard. Ellen and Saul Tigh are not far from the kind of self-defeating animals that the Cylons believe the humans are.

I love how Tyrol is forced to admit to himself that he really did love Boomer. This adds to Helo’s comments about his own Sexy!Boomer 2.0 back on Caprica. The humaniform Cylons, especially the ones programmed to believe that they are human, are able to slip right past the emotional defenses of their intended prey. That quality was one of the things being explored by the Cylons themselves in the first season, so it must be key to their ultimate plans. It adds more fuel to the speculation that the Cylons are trying to bring perfection to their own (flawed) creators by becoming more human themselves.

So what’s the situation on Galactica? Adama is back in action and ready to support Tigh, but he’s got to be aware that there’s an unknown number of his own people supporting Roslyn. Whatever trust was between Tyrol and Kally is probably out the window. Baltar is running his own operation, and somewhere in the fleet, Adama’s son has joined a movement with Roslyn that threatens to boil over into a civil war between military and religious factions. These people don’t need the Cylons to fire a shot!

Of course, it gives the writers plenty of time for Starbuck and Helo to gather a small task force of survivors (and likely red-shirts) on Caprica. Even money says that this task force will get Starbuck into a Cylon facility where their plans will be partially revealed, thus justifying her presence on the planet for so long. Will Sexy!Boomer 2.0 be there to, ready to be trussed up and taken back to Galactica, baby on board? Wouldn’t that just mesh with the Baltar plot thread on Kobol!

Honestly, I feel like I’m just touching on all the things I love about this episode. There were some minor things that bugged me: the riot and the standoff didn’t quite work for me. Then again, from the podcast, I gather that Ron Moore agrees on that account. It wasn’t enough, however, to take away from all the things I did like. The series is maintaining its high standard of quality, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

[LoneStar1836]

I’m hoping that Adama does not turn a blind eye to Tigh’s conduct (i.e. the drinking) because that is inexcusable, imo. His speech at the end of “Resistance” seems to be him accepting and understanding Tigh’s actual command decisions which I can see him not having much problem with (though I’m not sure if that was an informed commentary or not on his part), but I will be sadly disappointed if he doesn’t give Tigh a good chewing out about the drinking and reprimand him somehow. I’d strip him of his access to liquor & boot that wicked wife off Galactica. I doubt he’ll do that but I would. Though the wife would go out the airlock and not to another ship.



For those that have listened to RDM’s podcast for this episode, is it safe to listen to it after next week’s episode? I was reading on another board that he drops a big spoiler right in the middle of it so I have yet to listen to it since I don’t know what the spoiler pertains to.

[LordHart]

The only thing in this episode I didn't like was the fact that they changed the name of Triad to Pyramid, which was the card game in the original... that is just odd. And seeing thats all I can say that I didn't like, thats great.

Perhaps we will begin to see regular Pyramid games in the fleet like in the original series, with a few colonial warriors making up the teams when Starbuck and the Buccaneers get back. Hell, anything to see the new Starbuck in that skimpy outfit that Dirk used to wear.

[rosewood]

Ron Moore said in one of the Season 1 podcasts that the name changes of the card game and ball game got switched accidentally, and they didn't realize it until it was too late to fix.

I listened to all of Ron Moore's season 1 podcasts immediately after the show ran, and he did drop one or two upcoming episode spoilers unintentionally. For Season 2 I've been listening to them about a week later.

The only spoiler I recall (and I just listened to the podcast) for this episode is

Spoiler:

when RM talks about the fight between the soldiers and civilians over supplies and calls it the "Gideon Massacre"

. That seems minor to me, and certainly nothing to ruin when I watch a future episode.

I think if anyone waited two weeks to listen from when an episode ran, they'd stay spoiler free. I love listening to his podcasts.