BSG 4.1 He that believeth in me

[hazelk]

I admit it. I made some pretty harsh comments about Ron Moore and his state of narrative undress at the end of S3. To be honest though the S1 finale was just as cracky, what with the temple and the Angel of Six and the miracle baby waving its little tentacles and that worked out just fine.

Time mellows everything (even Dylan) and I went into the S4 premiere with mostly warm, glowy ”Show, you’re back!” feelings and no great preconceptions of what to expect. If I had a wish list it ran to little more than:-

1. More Roslin/Six interaction –check



2. More civilian stuff – check



3. Baltar gets a shave –check, check, check

So wishes fulfilled and more, so much more it’s hard to process. I knew it was going to be good as soon as Tigh shooting Adama turned out to be in his head. Because I believed it was real for a brief gasp of disappointment (they did the Manchurian sleeper agent already, the final Cylons should be something different) and then they didn’t disappoint. I love how they’re playing the Final Four. Tigh cleaving to his human past, loyal to it until death, Anders still incredulous, wanting to believe it doesn’t matter (and then Kara shoots him down). Tyrol I’m not sure of and I’d like to hear more from Tory but the sense you have of them reading every chance phrase differently, struggling for purpose or explanation permeates the episode. Plus wonderful battle choreography and believable, by sheer force of unexpectedness, victory. Interesting. Can’t wait to see what’s going on on the basestars.

Kara: Kara was broken when she left and has come back whole, as unscathed as her viper only to find the whole world conspiring to take that away from her. Lee believes her at least a little because she’s Kara and because he’s already remade himself, left the service and survived. Laura understandably rejects Kara's vision even though she of all people ought to give crazy visionaries some credit. The cliffhanger ending really made me flashback to Starbuck’s original (Roslin ordered) assassin gig during the Pegasus affair.

The Baltar storyline is fascinating and not a little skeevy (as befits him). A cult of nubility but them having God’s strength was oddly cheering. The thing about Gaius is that his ego is so monstrous it sometimes transcends mere pettiness in its urge to know himself perfectly. His intellectual disdain for the cult is utterly believable and his exploiting that genius memory to appear caring but so was the sudden flash of remorse triggered by the dying child – he had something similar with Gina. It sounded genuine at some level but was also exactly the right thing do in order to survive and even prosper in his new situation. I suppose geniuses know (consciously or not) that when the improbable has been eliminated only the impossible remains. Like head!Six in her red Supernanny suit. I don’t give a frak about the identity of the Son and the Father but head!Six for Holy Ghost. Although everything she says could be Baltar’s subconscious speaking, subtle as a serpent and no less wise.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: Baltar using his memory - I also thought of that scene in Take out your troubles... when Roslin pretended to have him thrown out of the airlock, and when they passed the wall with the photographs, he rattled off the story of his assistant and the assistant's wife, complete with place of origin. I don't think he made it up, it probably would have checked out (not that Roslin cared one way or the other), but it was an attempt at an emergency life saving measure.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Yes, although there I think it might have been more like his relationship with Felix except that he was like a junior post doc rather than a tech. I secretly rather fancy Baltar when he's being smart (I know I shouldn't). What's the Crazy Dukat story that people hope this isn't going to turn into?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, good comparison. BTW, until s3 I thought that was all rather one sided (i.e. poor old Felix having his hero-worship/crush but Baltar simply thinking the guy is useful), but his s3 confrontations with Gaeta were all really emotional even when the guy wasn't holding a gun at his head. But what really swung me around was the deleted scene from the DVDS from the mid-s3 episode where Baltar is on Galactica with the Cylons, and shares a cigarette with Gaeta. (While also giving him the hint about the sun.)

Dukat: alas, alas. Once upon a time, or rather, for almost six seasons, he was a morally ambiguous character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. By no means a good guy - he was the last head of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor before the Bajorans regained their freedom, with all that entails - but a character with positive sides as well as negative ones, and presented forming some interesting relationships with two of Our Heroes. And then, come the last third of season 6, he went crazy and one dimensional. A voice over of Sisko informed us some people aren't shades of grey, they're simply evil. And Dukat spent the reminder of the show being a crazy cult leader and an evil sneering supervillain wannabe. I love DS9, it's my favourite Trek, and otherwise it specializes in shades of grey, but what happened with Dukat sort of traumatized me; ever since, when I get emotionally attached to a morally grey character who isn't protected by being a lead's love interest, I am afraid of the show pulling a Dukat...

(The whole thing is particularly relevant for BSG, of course, because Ron Moore was such an influential writer for DS9. He wrote some wonderful episodes there, truly, but unfortunately also the one where Dukat goes crazy and becomes an evil cult leader (tm).)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen some of the episodes when Dukat was still grey, the BBC was even more random about scheduling DS9 than later season Buffy. It was a series that always looked good but was scary to get interested as there were already so many seasons to potentially catch up on. Hopefully Moore can use Baltar's cult as a penance for Dukat's?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I hope so, and you must watch DS9. It had a shaky first season (with, however, some classic eps) and then quickly became the best written of the Treks. Rent it on DVD. I love it to bits, occasional criticism not withstanding. (The dialogue between Garak and Quark from my icon is from the show.)

[c-mantix.livejournal.com]

I must bookmark the phrase 'cult of nubility' for future reference... ;)