Cable for One – Battlestar Galactica – Episode 3-19

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This week’s episode of Battlestar Galactica was an odd one. It was so focused on building up to next week’s season finale that it is kind of hard to judge some aspects on their own merit (such as the whole business with the song only some people could hear). This episode will either gain or lose a lot of weight depending on how things turn out next week.

One thing this episode had me asking is, “When did Baltar become a religious icon?” Yes, I know the writers have been pushing messiah images in relation to Baltar for quite a while, but the reporter asking Baltar to bless her sick child seemed quite random. Baltar has managed to gain some sympathy and even some admiration through his recent writings but, from what we know of his writings, they do nothing to set Baltar up as a divine figure. It makes no sense for people to be suddenly asking for his blessings.

I’m quite suspicious of Roslin’s cancer relapse. Lee Adama found out she was taking chamala extract and forced her to reveal that in open court. Taking a hallucinogenic drug in order to have visions which you then use to guide public policy? That doesn’t seem like it would go over well with the less religious segments of the population. When put on the spot, it is definitely within the realm of possibility that Roslin would lie about her health, if only to protect her credibility. If she is lying, that would also explain why we haven’t seen her receiving any medical care and why she hasn’t mentioned the cancer outside of a public setting.

As a whole the courtroom scenes were pretty effective this week. As I’ve mentioned before, they are trying Baltar for the wrong crimes (mostly because they don’t know about the crimes he was really responsible for) so it’s not surprising that Lampkin and Lee have been mounting a pretty solid defense thus far (though considering that the first witness (we saw) was drunk and the second thinks she gets visions from the gods, it’s not like they needed to do very much). I almost wish Tory had succeeded in strong-arming the prosecuting attorney to charge Baltar with genocide, if only to see Roslin try and use her hallucinations as evidence.

Less effective were the scenes with the Adamas. While it was easy to see both sides of their argument, Lee’s little hissy fit was much more hilarious than the writers presumably intended. Lee basically pulled the sci-fi equivalent of taking his ball and going home just because he had an argument with his dad. Both Adamas have said worse to each other before, so it was silly for Lee to resign over what his father said. And since we all know there’s no way he’s going to stay resigned, the whole thing is all the more silly.

Despite their fight, the Admiral did still go along with Apollo’s less than stellar plan. Obviously it would be nice to throw the Cylons off course but using the most vital ship in the entire fleet as a decoy seems like a monumentally stupid thing. While acting as a decoy, the tillium ship is only being escorted by a couple of raptors. If the Cylons really were following it (it doesn’t seem like they are, luckily for the fleet) and the ship had some minor engine trouble, forcing it to stop for repairs, the Cylons could easily capture or destroy it, leaving the entire fleet without a source of fuel. The risks far outweigh the rewards on that one.

It seems like the Cylons are actually following a different signal. We don’t really know a lot about the signal yet but presumably it has something to do with the music a handful of people were hearing throughout the episode. Whether the music itself is supposed to be the signal, or if it is supposed to act as some sort of subliminal trigger, or what, we don’t really know just yet.

The only people (that we know of) who seem to be able to hear it are Colonel Tigh, Tory Foster and Sam Anders. Of those three, Tigh and Tory are looking the worse for wear, while Sam seems to be fine (and, in fact, seems to be far more cheery than he was in “The Son Also Rises”). The camera seemed intent on us making think Sam’s reactions when Tigh and Tory were hearing the music were meant to be suspicious. The camera’s intent was so heavy-handed however that there’s no way that Sam actually is responsible for the music (even though it does seem to be effecting him differently).

The ending to this week’s episode was odd. The scene itself (with Tigh deciding that the music was coming from inside the ship) was fine, but it wasn’t anywhere near as climatic as one would expect immediately before the words ‘To Be Continued…’ end the episode. It kind of reminded me of watching season 22 of Doctor Who in syndication. Unlike most of the series’ original run, season 22 was composed of one hour episodes; when these episodes air in syndication, two one hour episodes become 4 thirty minute episodes. Many of the episodes didn’t have a cliffhanger near the midway point however so many of the episodes end after a relatively minor development. “Crossroads, Part 1” felt much the same way.

There’s lot of buzz on the Internet about “Crossroads, Part 2” and some big development that happens during the season finale. Fortunately, I haven’t run in to any unmarked spoilers for the finale yet (a trait I only wish Doctor Who could share), so I’ll hopefully be able to enjoy the suspense until next Sunday.

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